Low-frequency effects haptic conversion system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9519346-B2
Application number	US-201414277870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

A system is provided that produces haptic effects. The system receives an audio signal that includes a low-frequency effects audio signal. The system further extracts the low-frequency effects audio signal from the audio signal. The system further converts the low-frequency effects audio signal into a haptic signal by shifting frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal to frequencies within a target frequency range of a haptic output device. The system further sends the haptic signal to the haptic output device, where the haptic signal causes the haptic output device to output one or more haptic effects.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to produce one or more haptic effects, the producing comprising:
receiving a multichannel audio signal comprising a low-frequency effects audio signal;
extracting the low-frequency effects audio signal from the multichannel audio signal;
converting the low-frequency effects audio signal into a haptic signal by shifting one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal to one or more frequencies within a target frequency range of a haptic output device;
embedding the haptic signal in a data stream that encodes at least the multichannel audio signal, wherein the haptic signal is encoded within the low-frequency effects audio signal; and
sending the haptic signal to the haptic output device, wherein the haptic signal causes the haptic output device to output one or more haptic effects.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the haptic signal is sent to the haptic output device in real-time.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the haptic signal is encoded within a container or a streaming data format that supports haptic data encoding.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the haptic signal is encoded within a target frequency range of the low-frequency effects audio signal.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the producing further comprises resampling the haptic signal to a target drive frequency of the haptic output device.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the producing further comprises down-mixing the multichannel audio signal.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal are within a limited frequency range.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the limited frequency range comprises a range of 20 Hz-120 Hz.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal further comprises shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal outside of the limited frequency range.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal further comprises shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal completely outside of the limited frequency range.

11. A computer-implemented method for producing one or more haptic effects, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a multichannel audio signal comprising a low-frequency effects audio signal;
extracting the low-frequency effects audio signal from the multichannel audio signal;
converting the low-frequency effects audio signal into a haptic signal by shifting one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal to one or more frequencies within a target frequency range of a haptic output device;
embedding the haptic signal in a data stream that encodes at least the multichannel audio signal, wherein the haptic signal is encoded within the low-frequency effects audio signal; and
sending the haptic signal to the haptic output device, wherein the haptic signal causes the haptic output device to output one or more haptic effects.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising resampling the haptic signal to a target drive frequency of the haptic output device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal are within a limited frequency range.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal further comprises shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal outside of the limited frequency range.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal further comprises shifting the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal completely outside of the limited frequency range.

16. A system for producing one or more haptic effects, the system comprising:
a memory configured to store a low-frequency effects conversion module; and
a processor configured to execute the low-frequency effects conversion module stored on the memory;
wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is configured to receive a multichannel audio signal comprising a low-frequency effects audio signal;
wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to extract the low-frequency effects audio signal from the multichannel audio signal;
wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to convert the low-frequency effects audio signal into a haptic signal by shifting one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal to one or more frequencies within a target frequency range of a haptic output device;
wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to embed the haptic signal in a data stream that encodes at least the multichannel audio signal, wherein the haptic signal is encoded within the low-frequency effects audio signal; and
wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to send the haptic signal to the haptic output device, wherein the haptic signal causes the haptic output device to output one or more haptic effects.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to resample the haptic signal to a target drive frequency of the haptic output device.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal are within a limited frequency range.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to shift the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal outside of the limited frequency range.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the low-frequency effects conversion module is further configured to shift the one or more frequencies of the low-frequency effects audio signal completely outside of the limited frequency range.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to produce one or more haptic effects, the producing comprising:
creating a multichannel audio signal comprising a low-frequency effects audio signal;
extracting the low-frequency effects audio signal from the multichannel audio signal;
creating a haptic signal;
encoding the haptic signal within the low-frequency effects audio signal of the multichannel audio signal; and
storing the multichannel audio signal within a container or a streaming data format that supports haptic data encoding.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the encoding the haptic signal within the low-frequency effects audio signal further comprises encoding the haptic signal within a target frequency range of the low-frequency effects audio signal.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , the producing further comprising transmitting the multichannel audio signal.

24. The computer

Assignees

• Immersion Corp

Inventors

• Lacroix Robert
• Bhatia Satvir Singh
• Birnbaum David
• Ullrich Christopher J
• Weddle Amaya Becvar
• Cruz-Hernandez Juan Manuel

Classifications

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• G10L19/008

  Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing · CPC title

• H04R2499/11

  Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's · CPC title

• H04S3/008

  in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02) · CPC title

• H04R3/14

  Cross-over networks · CPC title