Electromagnet-laden glove for haptic pressure feedback

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10055019-B2
Application number	US-201514717915-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2015
Priority date	May 20, 2015
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A glove interface object is provided, including: a plurality of magnetic objects positioned on a first side of the glove interface object; a plurality of electromagnets positioned on a second side of the glove interface object opposite the first side, the plurality of electromagnets being positioned substantially opposite the plurality of magnetic objects, wherein each electromagnet is configured when activated to attract one or more of the magnetic objects; a controller configured to control activation and deactivation of the electromagnets based on received haptic feedback data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A glove interface object, comprising:
a plurality of magnetic objects positioned on a first side of the glove interface object;
a plurality of electromagnets positioned on a second side of the glove interface object opposite the first side, the plurality of electromagnets being positioned substantially opposite the plurality of magnetic objects, wherein each electromagnet is configured when activated to attract one or more of the magnetic objects;
a controller configured to control activation and deactivation of the electromagnets based on received haptic feedback data;
wherein the haptic feedback data is at least partially defined based on contact by a virtual hand holding a virtual object in a virtual environment, the contact being modeled to determine pressures correlated to different regions of a first finger of the virtual hand and different regions of a second finger of the virtual hand by the virtual object over time, wherein the haptic feedback data provides for activation and deactivation of portions of the electromagnets that are configured to attract corresponding portions of the magnetic objects,
wherein the portions of the magnetic objects being positioned on regions of a first finger of the glove interface object and regions of a second finger of the glove interface object that respectively correspond to the regions of the first and second fingers of the virtual hand that contact the virtual object;
wherein the haptic feedback data defines a strength of activation and a duration of activation for each of the portions of the electromagnets of the glove interface object based on the determined pressures over time, wherein the strength of activation for each of the portions of the electromagnets is respectively correlated to a level of pressure exerted on each of the regions of the first and second fingers of the virtual hand that contact the virtual object.

2. The glove interface object of claim 1 , wherein the haptic feedback data provides for deactivation of a second portion of the electromagnets that are configured to attract a second portion of the magnetic objects, the second portion of the magnetic objects positioned on a region of the glove interface object that corresponds to a region of the virtual hand that does not contact the virtual object.

3. The glove interface object of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of magnetic objects includes at least one magnetic object defined on at least one phalange segment of each finger portion of the glove interface object;
wherein the plurality of electromagnets includes at least one electromagnet defined on at least one phalange segment of each finger portion of the glove interface object.

4. The glove interface object of claim 1 , further comprising at least one sensor configured to generate data identifying a pose of at least a portion of the glove interface object.

5. The glove interface object of claim 1 , wherein each of the magnetic objects includes a ferromagnetic material.

6. The glove interface object of claim 1 ,
wherein the first side is a palmar side of the glove interface object; and
wherein the second side is a dorsal side of the glove interface object.

7. The glove interface object of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of magnetic objects are distributed throughout the first side of the glove interface object, including at least one magnetic object on each finger portion of the glove interface object and at least one magnetic object on a palmar portion of the glove interface object;
wherein the plurality of electromagnets are distributed throughout the second side of the glove interface object, including at least one electromagnet on each finger portion of the glove interface object and at least one electromagnet on a the palmar portion of the glove interface object.

8. The glove interface object of claim 1 , wherein the pressures exerted on the different regions of the first and second fingers of the virtual hand change independently in response to translational movements of the glove interface object during the holding of the virtual object by the virtual hand.

9. The glove interface object of claim 8 , wherein the changes in the pressures exerted on the different regions of the first and second fingers of the virtual hand cause respective changes to strengths of activation of corresponding portions of the electromagnets on the first and second fingers of the glove interface object.

10. A system, comprising:
a glove interface object, including,
a plurality of magnetic objects distributed throughout a first side of the glove interface object,
a plurality of electromagnets distributed throughout a second side of the glove interface object opposite the first side, the plurality of electromagnets being positioned substantially opposite the plurality of magnetic objects, wherein each electromagnet is configured when activated to attract one or more of the magnetic objects,
a controller configured to selectively control activation and deactivation of the electromagnets based on received haptic feedback data;
a computing device configured to execute an interactive application to generate a virtual environment, and generate the haptic feedback data based on contact by a virtual hand holding a virtual object in the virtual environment, the contact being modeled to determine pressures correlated to different regions of a first finger of the virtual hand and different regions of a second finger of the virtual hand by the virtual object over time, wherein the haptic feedback data provides for activation and deactivation of portions of the electromagnets that are configured to attract corresponding portions of the magnetic objects,
wherein the portions of the magnetic objects being positioned on regions of a first finger of the glove interface object and regions of a second finger of the glove interface object that respectively correspond to the regions of the first and second fingers of the virtual hand that contact the virtual object,
wherein the haptic feedback data defines a duration of activation for each of the portions of the electromagnets of the glove interface object based on the determined pressures over time.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the haptic feedback data provides for deactivation of a second portion of the electromagnets that are configured to attract a second portion of the magnetic objects, the second portion of the magnetic objects positioned on a region of the glove interface object that corresponds to a region of the virtual hand that does not contact the virtual object.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the haptic feedback data defines a strength of activation of the portion of the electromagnets based on the determined pressure over time, wherein the strength of activation is correlated to a level of pressure exerted on the regions of the virtual hand that contact the virtual object.

13. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein the plurality of magnetic objects includes at least one magnetic object defined on at least one phalange segment of each finger portion of the glove interface object;
wherein the plurality of electromagnets includes at least one electromagnet defined on at least one phalange segment of each finger portion of the glove interface object.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the glove interface object further includes at least one sensor configured to generate data identifying a pose of at least a portion of the glove interface object.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the magnetic objects includes a ferromagnetic material.

16. The system

Assignees

• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Beran Erik

Classifications

• A63F13/24

  Constructional details thereof, e.g. game controllers with detachable joystick handles · CPC title

• G06F3/014 Primary

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

• A63F13/285

  Generating tactile feedback signals via the game input device, e.g. force feedback · CPC title

• G06F3/016

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

• A63F13/577

  using determination of contact between game characters or objects, e.g. to avoid collision between virtual racing cars · CPC title