Resisting user movement using actuated tendons

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10025387-B2
Application number	US-201615372336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2016
Priority date	Dec 8, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

An input interface configured to be worn on a portion of a user's body includes tendons coupled to various sections of the garment. A tendon includes one or more activation mechanisms that, when activated, prevent or restrict a particular range of motion. The tendon may include a tendon web that controls multiple portions of the user's body with an activation mechanism. The tendon may connect to the garment through a textile mesh that distributes force over a wider area of the user's skin. An activation mechanism may apply force to the textile mesh to modify the stiffness of the textile mesh or to modify the pressure applied by the textile mesh. The tendon may be a wire or have a form with variable width. The activation mechanism may be a solenoid using a permanent magnet, which may have multiple alternating magnetic poles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a console coupled to an electronic display in a head mounted display, the console configured to provide content to the electronic display for presentation to a user; and
a glove configured to be worn on a hand of the user and coupled to the console, the glove comprising:
a feedback mechanism including a tendon coupled to a portion of the glove, the tendon comprising:
a distal section coupled to a distal connector, the distal section having a width in a dimension that is wider than a width of the distal connector in the dimension;
a middle section coupled to the distal connector and to a proximal connector, the middle section having a width in the dimension that is wider than the width of the distal connector in the dimension and that is wider than a width of the proximal connector in the dimension; and
a proximal section coupled to the proximal connector, the proximal section having a width in the dimension that is wider than the width of the proximal connector in the dimension; and
an actuator coupled to the tendon, the actuator configured to tension the tendon to apply force to the portion of the glove coupled to the tendon in response to receiving information from the console.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback mechanism comprises an anchor configured to mechanically couple the tendon to the portion of the glove and to constrain laternal movement of the tendon relative to the portion of the glove.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the anchor is configured to allow longitudinal movement of the tendon relative to the portion of the glove.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the glove coupled to the tendon comprises a rigid portion of the glove.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the glove includes multiple layers and the tendon and actuator are enclosed between two layers of the glove.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the glove further comprises one or more sensors configured to determine an orientation of the glove relative to gravity and communicate the orientation of the glove to the console, and wherein the actuator is configured to receive commands from the console that vary tensioning of the tendon based on the determined orientation.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the commands from the console that vary tensioning of the tendon modify tensioning of the tendon by the actuator to provide force to the portion of the glove having a consistent orientation relative to the user.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tendon comprises a magnet coupled to the end of the tendon and the actuator comprises a coiled wire through which an electrical current is applied in response to information from the console to induce a magnetic field that exerts a force on the magnet coupled to the end of the tendon.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the actuator further comprises a spring configured to provide a restoring force to the magnet when the electrical current is not applied to the coiled wire.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actuator includes a magnet and the tendon comprises a coiled wire mechanically coupled to an end of the tendon and electrically coupled to the actuator, the actuator configured to apply a current to the coiled wire in response to information from the console to induce a magnetic field that exerts a force on the magnet included in the actuator.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback mechanism further includes:
a textile mesh coupled to the tendon and configured to distribute force applied by tensioning of the tendon.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the textile mesh comprises a lattice of textile segments.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the width of the distal section in the dimension increases as a distance from the distal connector increases.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the width of the middle section in the dimension increases as a distance from the distal connector increases and decreases as a distance from the middle connector decreases.

15. A system comprising:
a console coupled to an electronic display in a head mounted display, the console configured to provide content to the electronic display for presentation to a user; and
a garment configured to contact one or more portions of a body of the user and coupled to the console, the garment comprising:
a tendon segment coupled to an anchor configured to mechanically couple the tendon segment to a portion of the garment and to constrain lateral movement of the tendon segment relative to the portion of the garment;
an additional tendon segment coupled to the anchor and to an additional anchor, the additional anchor configured to mechanically couple the tendon segment to an additional portion of the garment and to constrain lateral movement of the additional tendon segment relative to the additional portion of the garment
an actuator attached to an end of the tendon segment, the actuator configured to tension the tendon segment to apply force to the tendon segment and to the additional tendon segment.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the end of the tendon segment comprises a magnet coupled to the end of the tendon segment and the actuator comprises a coiled wire through which an electrical current is applied in response to information from the console to induce a magnetic field that exerts a force on the magnet coupled to the end of the tendon segment.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the actuator further comprises a spring configured to provide a restoring force to the magnet when the electrical current is not applied to the coiled wire.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the actuator includes a magnet and a coiled wire is mechanically coupled to the end of the tendon segment and is electrically coupled to the actuator, the actuator configured to apply a current to the coiled wire in response to information from the console to induce a magnetic field that exerts a force on the magnet included in the actuator.

19. A system comprising:
a console coupled to an electronic display in a head mounted display, the console configured to provide content to the electronic display for presentation to a user; and
a garment configured to contact one or more portions of a body of the user and coupled to the console, the garment comprising:
a feedback mechanism including a tendon coupled to a portion of the garment, the tendon comprising:
a distal section coupled to a distal connector, the distal section having a width in a dimension that is wider than a width of the distal connector in the dimension;
a middle section coupled to the distal connector and to a proximal connector, the middle section having a width in the dimension that is wider than the width of the distal connector in the dimension and that is wider than a width of the proximal connector in the dimension; and
a proximal section coupled to the proximal connector, the proximal section having a width in the dimension that is wider than the width of the proximal connector in the dimension; and
an actuator, the actuator configured to tension the tendon to apply force to the portion of the garment coupled to the tendon in response to receiving information from the console.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the feedback mechanism further includes:
a textile mesh coupled to the tendon and configured to distribute force applied by tensioning of the tendon.

Assignees

• Oculus Vr Llc

Inventors

• Keller Sean Jason
• Trutna Tristan Thomas
• Ochs Garett Andrew
• Luanava Selso
• Corson Nicholas Roy

Classifications

• G06F3/016 Primary

  Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user · CPC title

• G06F3/014

  Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves · CPC title

• A41D19/0024

  with accessories · CPC title