Friction modulation for three dimensional relief in a haptic device

1. A haptic device comprising:

a display configured to display an image;

a haptic output device configured to output a haptic effect, the haptic effect configured to simulate a texture of the image or a contour of the image in three dimensions;

a processor coupled to the display and the haptic output device; and

a memory device including instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

detect a movement in one or more directions across a surface of the display;

determine a plurality of haptic-effect maps corresponding to the image, each haptic-effect map of the plurality of haptic-effect maps specifying an intensity of the haptic effect at different locations of the display and being associated with a different direction of movement across the surface; and

select a haptic-effect map from among the plurality of haptic-effect maps as a function of a direction of the movement across the surface of the display; and

modulate the intensity of the haptic effect based on the selected haptic-effect map and the direction of the movement across the surface of the display.

2. The haptic device according to claim 1 , wherein the haptic effect comprises electrostatic friction.

3. The haptic device according to claim 1 , wherein the haptic effect comprises ultrasonic vibration.

4. The haptic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory device further includes instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to specify areas of the image to be textured using vector graphics primitives.

5. The haptic device of claim 1 , wherein the haptic effect is modulated by selecting different haptic-effect maps according to the direction of the movement across the surface of the display with interpolation between haptic-effect maps.

6. The haptic device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of haptic-effect maps are generated at least in part by determining gradients of a three-dimensional surface of an object associated with the image by converting the image to at least one of a grayscale bitmap or a single channel of a color bitmap.

7. A method comprising:

receiving information associated with an image displayed on a display;

detecting a movement in one or more directions across a surface of the display;

determine a plurality of haptic-effect maps corresponding to the image, each haptic-effect map of the plurality of haptic-effect maps specifying an intensity of a haptic effect at different locations of the display and being associated with a different direction of movement across the surface;

selecting a haptic-effect map from among the plurality of haptic-effect maps as a function of a direction of the movement across the surface of the display;

outputting the haptic effect via a haptic output device, the haptic effect being configured to simulate a texture of the image or a contour of the image in three dimensions; and

modulating the intensity of the haptic effect based at least in part on the selected haptic-effect map and the direction of the movement across the surface of the display.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the haptic effect comprises electrostatic friction.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the haptic effect comprises ultrasonic vibration.

10. A system comprising:

a touchscreen video display configured to receive a video signal and display an image based on the video signal, the touchscreen video display comprising a haptic output device configured to output a haptic effect, the haptic effect configured to simulate a texture of the image or a contour of the image in three dimensions;

a processor coupled to the touchscreen video display; and

a memory device including instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

detect a movement in one or more directions across a surface of the touchscreen video display;

determine a plurality of haptic-effect maps corresponding to the image, each haptic-effect map of the plurality of haptic-effect maps specifying an intensity of the haptic effect at different locations of the display and being associated with a different direction of movement across the surface;

select a haptic-effect map from among the plurality of haptic-effect maps as a function of a direction of the movement across the surface of the touchscreen video display; and

modulate the haptic effect based on the selected haptic-effect map and the direction of the movement across the surface of the display.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the haptic effect comprises electrostatic friction.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the haptic effect comprises ultrasonic vibration.

13. The system according to claim 10 , further comprising a video camera configured to capture images of a user, and a communication system configured stream the captured images of the user to another location.

14. The system according to claim 13 , further comprising a video display located at said another location, the video display configured to display the captured images of the user to a second user.

15. The system according to claim 13 , further comprising a second video camera and a three dimensional video image scanner located at said another location, the second video camera and three dimensional video image scanner configured to capture an image of a second user, and wherein the image displayed by the touchscreen video display is the image of the second user.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the memory device further includes instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to specify areas of the image to be textured using vector graphics primitives.

17. A method comprising:

displaying, on a display, a video stream comprising images;

determining a plurality of haptic-effect maps corresponding to one or more objects associated with the video stream, each haptic-effect map of the plurality of haptic-effect maps specifying an intensity of a haptic effect at different locations of the display and being associated with a different direction of movement across a surface of the display;

selecting a haptic-effect map from among the plurality of haptic-effect maps as a function of a direction of a movement across the surface of the display; and

outputting and modulating the haptic effect based at least in part on the selected haptic-effect map and the direction of the movement across the surface of the display, the haptic effect being configured to simulate a texture of an object or a contour of the object in three dimensions.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the haptic effect comprises an electrostatic friction effect, and the intensity is based on analyzed gradients.