Systems and methods for a shared haptic experience

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10067566-B2
Application number	US-201414219882-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2014
Priority date	Mar 19, 2014
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

One illustrative system disclosed herein includes a processor configured to: receive a first haptic effect signal, the first haptic effect signal based at least in part on a haptic event and adapted to cause a first haptic effect to be output by a first haptic output device to a first user, determine a second haptic effect based at least in part on the first haptic effect and a characteristic independent of the haptic event, generate a second haptic effect signal based at least in part on the second haptic effect, and transmit the second haptic signal to a second haptic output device. In the illustrative system, the second haptic output device is in communication with the processor, and the second haptic output device is configured to receive the second haptic effect signal and output the second haptic effect to a second user.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
receive a first haptic effect signal from a first electronic device, the first haptic effect signal based at least in part on a haptic event and associated with a first haptic effect to be output by a first haptic output device coupled to the first electronic device;
determine a type of the first haptic output device;
select a second haptic output device from among a plurality of haptic output devices coupled to a second electronic device, the second electronic device being separate from the first electronic device, wherein the second haptic output device is selected based on the type of the first haptic output device, and wherein the second haptic output device is usable to output a second haptic effect;
determine the second haptic effect based at least in part on the first haptic effect and a type of the second haptic output device;
generate a second haptic effect signal based at least in part on the second haptic effect; and
transmit the second haptic effect signal to the second haptic output device, wherein the second haptic output device is configured to receive the second haptic effect signal and output the second haptic effect.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second haptic effect is further based on at least one characteristic that is independent of the haptic event.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises an environmental characteristic.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the environmental characteristic comprises one of: an ambient temperature, a characteristic of a barrier, a humidity level, or a density of a medium.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the environmental characteristic comprises a virtual characteristic.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to determine the at least one characteristic that is independent of the haptic event based on a sensor signal indicating a relative position of a first user in real space with respect to a second user.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic that is independent of the haptic event comprises a virtual position of a virtual character in a virtual environment.

8. The system of claim 2 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to determine the at least one characteristic that is independent of the haptic event based on a sensor signal indicating a relative position of a vehicle in which a first user is traveling with respect to a second user.

9. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises a virtual size of a virtual character.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic further comprises a Doppler effect.

11. The system of claim 2 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to determine the at least one characteristic based on a distance between a game system and either the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

12. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises a relative size of a first virtual character to a second virtual character.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to detect a trigger event indicating that the first haptic effect should be stored for subsequent playback.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the trigger event comprises a software-generated event.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the trigger event comprises a button press event.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the processor to select the second haptic output device from among the plurality of haptic output devices based on a relationship between the first haptic output device and the second haptic output device in a haptic actuator lookup table.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the haptic actuator lookup table comprises relationships between different types of haptic output devices.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second haptic output device comprises plurality of actuators for outputting the second haptic effect, and wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
select a particular actuator of the plurality of actuators based on a sensor signal indicating a relative position between two objects.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first haptic effect comprises a first plurality of haptic effects;
the second haptic effect comprises a second plurality of haptic effects; and
wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
determine the second plurality of haptic effects based on the first plurality of haptic effects; and
store the second plurality of haptic effects for subsequent playback.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first haptic output device comprises a first actuator and a second haptic output device comprises a second actuator of a type that is different than the first actuator, and wherein the type of the first haptic output device comprises the type of the first actuator.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first electronic device is of a different type than the second electronic device, and wherein the first haptic effect is of a different type than the second haptic effect.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second haptic effect comprises determining at least one of a type, an amplitude, or a frequency of the second haptic effect.

23. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second haptic effect comprises determining at least one of a waveform or a duration of the second haptic effect.

24. A method comprising:
receiving, by an electronic device, a first haptic effect signal from another electronic device, the first haptic effect signal based at least in part on a haptic event and associated with a first haptic effect to be output to a first user by a first haptic output device coupled to the other electronic device;
determining, by the electronic device, a type of the first haptic output device;
selecting, by the electronic device, a second haptic output device from among a plurality of haptic output devices coupled to the electronic device, wherein the second haptic output device is selected based on the type of the first haptic output device;
determining, by the electronic device, a second haptic effect based at least in part on the first haptic effect and a type of the second haptic output device;
outputting, by the electronic device, the second haptic effect to a second user via the second haptic output device.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the second haptic effect is further based at least in part on at least one characteristic that is independent of the haptic event.

Assignees

• Immersion Corp

Inventors

• Wang Yiting
• Grant Danny

Classifications

• A63F13/285

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

• A63F13/65

  automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition · CPC title

• A63F13/843

  involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player · CPC title

• G06F3/016 Primary

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

• A63F2300/1037

  being specially adapted for converting control signals received from the game device into a haptic signal, e.g. using force feedback · CPC title