Method and apparatus for determining energy availability for a haptic-enabled device and for conserving energy by selecting between a braking and non-braking mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10413817-B2
Application number	US-201715429382-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2017
Priority date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

A haptic-enabled device, comprising a haptic actuator, an energy storage device configured to provide energy to the haptic actuator, and a control unit communicatively coupled to the haptic actuator is presented. The control unit may be configured to determine an energy availability level for the haptic-enabled device. The determination is based on an energy level of the energy storage device or an energy usage rate thereof. The control unit may further be configured to determine an energy conservation setting for the haptic-enabled device based on at least one of (i) the energy availability level, and (ii) an input received by the haptic-enabled device for controlling the energy conservation setting. The control unit may be configured to determine, based on the energy conservation setting, whether to generate the haptic effect in a braking mode or in a non-braking mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A haptic-enabled device, comprising:
a haptic actuator configured to generate a haptic effect;
an energy storage device configured to provide energy to the haptic actuator to generate the haptic effect; and
a control unit communicatively coupled to the haptic actuator and configured,
to determine an energy availability level for the haptic-enabled device, wherein the energy availability level indicates a level of energy available to the haptic-enabled device in an upcoming time period, the upcoming time period being calculated by the control unit or being predetermined, wherein the determination is based on an energy level of the energy storage device or an energy usage rate thereof,
to determine an energy conservation setting for the haptic-enabled device based on at least one of (i) the energy availability level, and (ii) an input received by the haptic-enabled device for controlling the energy conservation setting, and
to determine, based on the energy conservation setting, whether to generate the haptic effect in a braking mode or in a non-braking mode, wherein
in response to a determination to generate the haptic effect in the braking mode, the control unit communicates a first drive signal to the haptic actuator, the first drive signal including a driving pulse having a driving segment followed by a braking segment to reduce the haptic effect, to generate the haptic effect in the braking mode, and
in response to a determination to generate the haptic effect in the non-braking mode, the control unit communicates a second drive signal to the haptic actuator, the second drive signal including a driving pulse having only a driving segment followed by a zero-magnitude signal to reduce the haptic effect without a braking segment, to generate the haptic effect in the non-braking mode.

2. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein when the determination is made to generate the haptic effect in the braking mode, the control unit is further configured to include a kick-in segment in the driving segment of the driving pulse of the first drive signal, wherein the kick-in segment is a pulse segment that is at a start of the driving segment and has a higher amplitude than a remaining part of the driving segment.

3. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein when the determination is made to generate the haptic effect in the non-braking mode, the control unit is further configured to refrain from including any kick-in segment in the driving segment of the driving pulse.

4. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to control, based on the energy conservation setting, at least one of (i) an intensity of a driving segment of a driving pulse of the first or second drive signal used to generate the haptic effect, and (ii) a duration of a driving segment of a driving pulse of the first or second drive signal used to generate the haptic effect.

5. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to generate the haptic effect to simulate a texture, wherein the control unit is configured to control, based on the energy conservation setting, a complexity level of the texture to be simulated by the haptic effect.

6. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to apply, in the respective first or second drive signal, a plurality of driving pulses to the haptic actuator, wherein the control unit is configured to control, based on the energy conservation setting, a total number of driving pulses to apply to the haptic actuator in a predetermined unit of time.

7. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the haptic actuator is one of a plurality of haptic actuators of the haptic-enabled device, and wherein the control unit is further configured to select the haptic actuator from among the plurality of haptic actuators to generate the haptic effect, wherein the selection is based on the energy conservation setting.

8. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the haptic effect is generated in response to an event recognized by the control unit to trigger the haptic effect, wherein the control unit is configured to control, based on the energy conservation setting, which events trigger the haptic effect.

9. The haptic-enabled device of claim 8 , wherein the haptic-enabled device is configured to receive communication associated with respective user identities, and is configured to execute a communication application that processes the communication as communication events, and when the energy conservation setting has a first value, the control unit is configured to recognize all communication events associated with any user identity to trigger the haptic effect, and when the energy conservation setting has a second value, the control unit is configured to recognize communication events associated with a determined set of one or more user identities to trigger the haptic effect and to ignore all other communication events for determining whether to trigger the haptic effect.

10. The haptic-enabled device of claim 8 , wherein the haptic-enabled device is configured to execute a game application, and when the energy conservation setting has a first value, the control unit is configured to recognize a first event and a second event in the game application to trigger the haptic effect, and when the energy conservation setting has a second value, the control unit is configured to recognize the first event to trigger the haptic effect and to ignore the second event for determining whether to trigger the haptic effect, wherein the first event is associated with a higher priority level than the second event in a game application profile stored on the haptic-enabled device.

11. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the energy availability level further based on an estimated availability level of any external energy source for providing energy to the energy storage device of the haptic-enabled device in the upcoming time period.

12. The haptic-enabled device of claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the estimated availability level of any external energy source based on at least one of (i) a geographic location of the haptic-enabled device, (ii) a moving speed of the haptic-enabled device, and (iii) an amount of time that has elapsed since the energy storage device of the haptic-enabled device was most recently charged.

13. The haptic-enabled device of claim 12 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine, based on the geographic location of the haptic-enabled device, whether the haptic-enabled device is at an outdoor location or an indoor location, and is configured to determine the estimated availability level of any external energy source for providing energy to the energy storage device of the haptic-enabled device based on whether the haptic-enabled device is at the outdoor location or at the indoor location.

14. The haptic-enabled device of claim 12 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine, based on the geographic location of the haptic-enabled device, whether the haptic-enabled device is at a home location or a work location, and is configured to determine the estimated availability of any external energy source for providing energy to the energy storage device of the haptic-enabled device based on whether the haptic-enabled device is at the home location or at the work location.

15. The haptic-enabled device of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to generate the haptic effect in the braking mode when

Assignees

• Immersion Corp

Inventors

• Rihn William S
• Ramsay Erin

Classifications

• G06F1/325

  Power saving in peripheral device · CPC title

• G06F1/3203 Primary

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• G06F3/016 Primary

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

• A63F13/285 Primary

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

• A63F13/24

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