Haptic signal generator

1. A haptic signal generator comprising:

an event generator having an event generator input configured to receive an audio signal, and an event generator output configured to output an event signal comprising a plurality of pulses generated from a characteristic of the audio signal;

an additive synthesizer having an input coupled to the event generator output and the additive synthesizer further having a haptic signal output;

wherein the additive synthesizer is configured to receive the plurality of pulses through the input and generate haptic pattern at each pulse and configured to output a haptic signal through the haptic signal output, wherein the haptic signal comprises the summation of a haptic pattern triggered by a first pulse and at least one further haptic pattern triggered by at least one further pulse;

wherein the event generator comprises an audio characteristic extractor coupled to a pulse calculator and is configured to generate an event signal by generating pulses dependent on a comparison between a determined characteristic of the audio signal and an estimated characteristic; and

wherein the pulse calculator further comprises a resynthesis module and a series arrangement of a comparator and a pulse generator, wherein the comparator comprises a first comparator input coupled to the audio characteristic extractor, a second comparator input coupled to a resynthesis module output, and wherein the resynthesis module input is coupled to the pulse generator output and the pulse generator output is coupled to the event generator output, and the resynthesis module is configured to derive an estimated characteristic value by adding values of independent representations of the one or more haptic patterns generated at previous time events, and wherein the pulse calculator is configured to generate a pulse if the estimated characteristic value is less than the determined characteristic of the audio signal.

2. The haptic signal generator of claim 1 wherein the haptic signal is only generated when the audio signal is above a predetermined threshold.

3. The haptic signal generator of claim 1 wherein the characteristic of the audio signal comprises at least one of the audio signal envelope, the signal envelope of the filtered audio signal, and a measure of the change in signal envelope.

4. The haptic signal generator of claim 1 , wherein the independent representation of a haptic pattern comprises a scaled first-order impulse response comprising an amplitude and a time constant.

5. The haptic signal generator of claim 1 wherein the time-delay between start times of at least some consecutive haptic patterns is less than the time duration of the haptic pattern.

6. The haptic signal generator of claim 5 further comprising a plurality of event generators having an input coupled to the audio input and a respective output coupled to a respective input of one of the additive synthesizers.

7. The haptic signal generator of claim 1 comprising a plurality of additive synthesizers, wherein the outputs of each of the plurality of additive synthesizers is coupled to an adder and wherein the output of the adder is coupled to the haptic signal output.

8. The haptic pattern signal generator of claim 1 wherein the audio characteristic extractor comprises a series arrangement of a filter and an envelope calculation module.

9. The haptic pattern signal generator of claim 1 wherein the haptic pattern and the at least on further haptic pattern are substantially identical.

10. A method for generating a haptic signal comprising:

receiving an audio signal;

generating an event signal comprising a plurality of pulses determined from a characteristic of the audio signal;

generating haptic pattern at each pulse and output a haptic signal, wherein the haptic signal comprises the summation of a haptic pattern triggered by a first pulse and at least one further haptic pattern triggered by at least one further pulse;

wherein the generating an event signal comprises generating the event signal by generating pulses dependent on a comparison between a determined characteristic of the audio signal and an estimated characteristic and derive the estimated characteristic value by adding values of independent representations of the one or more haptic patterns generated at previous time events, and wherein the pulse calculator is configured to generate a pulse if the estimated characteristic value is less than the determined characteristic of the audio signal.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the characteristic of the audio signal comprises at least one of the audio envelope, the signal envelope of the filtered audio signal, and a measure of the change in signal envelope.

12. The method of any of claim 10 wherein generating the haptic output signal comprises adding the haptic pattern and the at least one further haptic pattern, wherein the haptic pattern and the at least one further haptic pattern are substantially identical.