Vibration control system, vibration control method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with executable vibration control program stored thereon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10328345-B2
Application number	US-201715656222-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2017
Priority date	Jul 26, 2016
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

A vibration control system includes a first vibration command generation module that generates first vibration data defined by a combination of a first frequency and a first amplitude, a second vibration command generation module that generates second vibration data defined by a combination of a second frequency and a second amplitude, a vibration data synthesis module that outputs third vibration data defined by a combination of a third frequency and a third amplitude, and a vibration control module that causes a terminal to vibrate based on the third vibration data. The vibration data synthesis module includes a first amplitude determination module that determines the third amplitude by adding the first amplitude and the second amplitude to each other and a frequency determination module that determines a frequency within a range from the first frequency to the second frequency as the third frequency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vibration control system for a hardware terminal, comprising:
a first vibration command generator that generates first vibration data defined by a combination of a first frequency and a first amplitude;
a second vibration command generator that generates second vibration data defined by a combination of a second frequency and a second amplitude;
a vibration data synthesizer that outputs third vibration data defined by a combination of a third frequency and a third amplitude when the first vibration data and the second vibration data are input; and
a vibrator configured to cause the terminal to vibrate based on the third vibration data,
the vibration data synthesizer being configured to:
determine the third amplitude by adding the first amplitude and the second amplitude to each other, and
determine the third frequency from the first frequency and the second frequency based on a computation involving the first amplitude and the second amplitude, such that the third frequency is within a range from the first frequency to the second frequency as the third frequency.

2. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency is calculated as being a weighted arithmetic mean of the first frequency and the second frequency, the weighting being based on a weight coefficient dependent on the first amplitude and the second amplitude.

3. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency is calculated as being a weighted geometric mean of the first frequency and the second frequency, the weighting being based on a weight coefficient dependent on the first amplitude and the second amplitude.

4. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency is set as one of the first frequency and the second frequency, based on which of the first and second amplitudes is greater.

5. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency is calculated as being a median between the first frequency and the second frequency as the third frequency.

6. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the third frequency is calculated as being a geometric mean of the first frequency and the second frequency.

7. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the vibration data synthesizer is further configured to:
set one of the first amplitude and the second amplitude as the third amplitude, and
select, in response to a selection instruction, whether the third amplitude should be determined to be (a) the addition of the first and second amplitudes, or (b) one of the first and second amplitudes.

8. The vibration control system according to claim 7 , wherein the first vibration command generator is further configured to generate, in addition to the first vibration data, fourth vibration data defined by a combination of a fourth frequency and a fourth amplitude,
the second vibration command generator is further configured to generate, in addition to the second vibration data, fifth vibration data defined by a combination of a fifth frequency and a fifth amplitude, and
the vibration data synthesizer is further configured to output sixth vibration data defined by a combination of a sixth frequency and a sixth amplitude in addition to the third vibration data when the fourth vibration data and the fifth vibration data are input in addition to the first vibration data and the second vibration data.

9. The vibration control system according to claim 8 , wherein the vibration data synthesizer is configured to output the third vibration data from two pieces of vibration data of the first vibration data to the fourth vibration data and to output the sixth vibration data from two remaining pieces of vibration data in accordance with a frequency of input vibration data.

10. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second vibration command generators are configured to update vibration data in accordance with change per unit period in vibration waveform with which the terminal is to be vibrated.

11. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the vibration data synthesizer is configured to accept as an input, vibration data output from another vibration data synthesizer.

12. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a game progress processor configured to execute a game application,
wherein the first and second vibration command generators are configured to generate vibration data in response to an event generated by the game progress processor.

13. The vibration control system according to claim 12 , wherein
the first vibration command generator is configured to generate the first vibration data in response to a first event generated by the game progress processor, and
the second vibration command generation generator is configured to generate the second vibration data in response to a second event different from the first event.

14. The vibration control system according to claim 12 , wherein the game progress processor is configured to generate the event in response to an operation by a user.

15. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first vibration data is generated to exhibit weak and continual vibrations, and
the second vibration data is generated to exhibit strong and short vibrations.

16. The vibration control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the vibrator has a plurality of resonance frequencies,
the terminal comprises the vibrator, and
the first frequency and the second frequency are set in accordance with the resonance frequencies of the vibrator.

17. An electronic device, comprising:
at least one processor and a memory;
a first vibration command generator that generates first vibration data defined by a combination of a first frequency and a first amplitude;
a second vibration command generator that generates second vibration data defined by a combination of a second frequency and a second amplitude;
a vibration data synthesizer that outputs third vibration data defined by a combination of a third frequency and a third amplitude when the first vibration data and the second vibration data are input; and
a vibrator configured to cause the electronic device to vibrate based on the third vibration data,
the vibration data synthesizer being configured to:
determine the third amplitude by adding the first amplitude and the second amplitude to each other, and
determine the third frequency as being within a range from the first frequency to the second frequency,

wherein the vibration data synthesizer determines the third frequency, from the first frequency and the second frequency, based on a relation between the first amplitude and the second amplitude.

18. A vibration control method comprising:
generating first vibration data defined by a combination of a first frequency and a first amplitude;
generating second vibration data defined by a combination of a second frequency and a second amplitude;
outputting third vibration data defined by a combination of a third frequency and a third amplitude when the first vibration data and the second vibration data are input; and
causing a terminal to vibrate based on the third vibration data,
the outputting third vibration data comprising
determining the third amplitude by adding the first amplitude and the second amplitude to each other, and
determining the third frequency from the first frequency and the second frequency based on a computa

Assignees

• Nintendo Co Ltd

Inventors

• Aoki Takafumi
• Yamashita Kei

Classifications

• A63F13/50

  Controlling the output signals based on the game progress · CPC title

• A63F13/24

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

• A63F13/235

  using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet · CPC title

• A63F13/285 Primary

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

• A63F13/92

  Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing · CPC title