Vibro-tactile feedback method and device

1. A method of providing vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback to a user of a user interface device comprising at least one actuator adapted to provide vibro-tactile force feedback and kinesthetic force feedback to the user and communicatively coupled to an application device, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining acoustic information from the application device;

(b) generating vibro-tactile force feedback control information on the basis of the obtained acoustic information, the vibro-tactile force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be provided to the user;

(c) obtaining kinesthetic force feedback control information from the application device, the kinesthetic force feedback control information defining at least one kinesthetic force feedback to be provided to the user;

(d) mixing the vibro-tactile force feedback control information and the kinesthetic force feedback control information to generate mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information, the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be outputted to the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback to be outputted to the user, wherein at least one of the vibro-tactile force feedback control information and the kinesthetic force feedback control information is modified before the mixing step such that the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information does not exceed an output limitation of the at least one actuator; and

(e) controlling the at least one actuator of the user interface device in dependence of the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information to generate both at least one vibro-tactile force feedback for the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback for the user.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the output limitation of the at least one actuator is at least one of:

a static maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide for a period,

a dynamic or instantaneous maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide dynamically or instantaneously,

a periodic maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide in periodic manner, and

a time varying maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide in time varying manner.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the kinesthetic force feedback control information, vibro-tactile force feedback control information, and the mixed kinesthetic and vibro-tactile force feedback information is modified, at least partially, by at least one of:

scaling,

pitching,

frequency shifting,

filtering,

bandwidth limiting,

equalizing,

truncating,

compressing,

delaying,

convoluting.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the generating of vibro-tactile force feedback control information comprises at least one of:

scaling at least a part of the acoustic information,

pitching at least a part of the acoustic information,

frequency shifting at least a part of the acoustic information,

filtering at least a part of the acoustic information,

bandwidth limiting at least a part of the acoustic information,

equalizing at least a part of the acoustic information,

truncating at least a part of the acoustic information,

compressing at least a part of the acoustic information,

delaying at least a part of the acoustic information,

convoluting at least a part of the acoustic information

buffering of at least a part of the acoustic information,

content generation of artificial, continuity-maintaining acoustic information,

resampling of acoustic information,

modulation of a resampling rate to buffer a desired number of acoustic information samples,

encrypting acoustic information,

packetizing acoustic information.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acoustic information comprises acoustic information from at least two different acoustic information sources, wherein the obtaining of the acoustic information comprises at least one of selecting acoustic information from the at least two different acoustic information sources, preprocessing acoustic information from the at least two different acoustic information sources and mixing acoustic information from the at least two different acoustic information sources.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one actuator comprises two motors, wherein the controlling the at least one actuator comprises operating the two motors with a fixed or variable torque offset there between, wherein the torque offset is preferably controlled such that a first one of the two motors provides the torque offset in a first rotational direction and a second one of the two motors provides the torque offset in a second rotational direction being opposite to the first rotational direction.

7. A vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback providing device for providing vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback to a user of a user interface device comprising at least one actuator adapted to provide vibro-tactile force feedback and kinesthetic force feedback to the user, the device comprising:

(a) a control unit;

(b) a mixer;

(c) a processing device for processing acoustic information;

(d) a processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information;

(e) an input communicatively coupled to the processing device for processing acoustic information and being adapted for obtaining acoustic information from an application device and providing the obtained acoustic information to the processing device for processing acoustic information; and

(f) an input communicatively coupled to the processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information and being adapted for obtaining kinesthetic force feedback control information from the application device and providing the obtained kinesthetic force feedback control information to the processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information, wherein

the processing device for processing acoustic information is adapted to process the obtained acoustic information to generate vibro-tactile force feedback control information, the vibro-tactile force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be outputted to the user,

the processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information is adapted to process the obtained kinesthetic force feedback control information,

the mixer is adapted to mix the generated vibro-tactile force feedback control information from the processing device for processing acoustic information and the processed obtained kinesthetic force feedback control information from the processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information and outputting mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be outputted to the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback to be outputted to the user,

wherein at least one of the processing device for processing acoustic information is adapted to modify the generated vibro-tactile force feedback control information and the processing device for processing kinesthetic force feedback control information is adapted to modify the obtained kinesthetic force feedback control information such that the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information does not exceed an output limitation of the at least one actuator, and

the control unit is adapted to control the at least one actuator of the user interface device in dependence of the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information from the mixer to generate both at least one vibro-tactile force feedback for the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback for the user.

8. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the output limitation of the at least one actuator is at least one of

a static maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide for a period,

a dynamic or instantaneous maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide dynamically or instantaneously,

a periodic maximal actuator output that the at least one actuator may provide in periodic manner,

a time varying maximal actuator output the at least one actuator may provide in time varying manner.

9. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit is adapted to modify at least one of the kinesthetic force feedback control information, vibro-tactile force feedback control information, and the mixed kinesthetic and vibro-tactile force feedback information, at least partially, by at least one of the following:

scaling,

pitching,

frequency shifting,

filtering,

bandwidth limiting,

equalizing,

truncating,

compressing,

delaying,

convoluting.

10. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit is adapted to generate the vibro-tactile force feedback control information by at least one of:

scaling at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

pitching at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

frequency shifting at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

filtering at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

bandwidth limiting at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

equalizing at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

truncating at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

compressing at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

delaying at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

convoluting at least a part of the obtained acoustic information,

buffering of at least a part of the acoustic information,

content generation of artificial, continuity-maintaining acoustic information,

resampling of acoustic information,

modulation of a resampling rate to buffer a desired number of acoustic information samples,

encrypting acoustic information,

packetizing acoustic information.

11. The device according to claim 7 ,

(a) wherein the input of the processing device for processing acoustic information is adapted to obtain or select acoustic information from at least two different acoustic information sources and to mix acoustic information from the at least two different acoustic information sources, wherein the mixed acoustic information is used to control the at least one actuator; and

(b) wherein the processing device for processing acoustic information is adapted to generate for each of the obtained acoustic information from at least two different acoustic information sources vibro-tactile force feedback control information, so that at least two vibro-tactile force feedback control information is generated, each thereof defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be provided to the user.

12. A system, the system comprising:

(a) a device according to claim 7 ; and

(b) a user interface device comprising the at least one actuator adapted to provide vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback to the user.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one actuator comprises two motors, wherein the control unit is adapted to control the two motors with a fixed or variable torque offset there between, wherein the torque offset is preferably controlled such that a first one of the two motors provides the torque offset in a first rotational direction and a second one of the two motors provides the torque offset in a second rotational direction being opposite to the first rotational direction.

14. A computer-readable medium having a set of instructions executable on a computing device for providing vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback to a user of a user interface device having at least one actuator adapted to provide vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback to the user and communicatively coupled to an application device, wherein the executable instructions of the computer-readable medium comprise:

(a) obtaining acoustic information from the application device;

(b) generating vibro-tactile force feedback control information on the basis of the obtained acoustic information, the vibro-tactile force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be provided to the user;

(c) obtaining kinesthetic force feedback control information from the application device, the kinesthetic force feedback control information defining at least one kinesthetic force feedback to be provided to the user;

(d) mixing the vibro-tactile force feedback control information and the kinesthetic force feedback control information generate mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information, the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information defining at least one vibro-tactile force feedback to be outputted to the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback to be outputted to the user, wherein at least one of the vibro-tactile force feedback control information and the kinesthetic force feedback control information is modified before the mixing step such that the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information does not exceed an output limitation of the at least one actuator; and

(e) controlling the at least one actuator of the user interface device in dependence of the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information to generate both at least one vibro-tactile force feedback for the user and at least one kinesthetic force feedback for the user.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein

at least two user interface devices are communicatively coupled to the application device,

the at least one actuator is at least one actuator of a first user interface device of the at least two user interface devices,

the method further comprising

controlling at least one actuator of a second user interface device of the at least two user interface devices in dependence of the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information for the first user interface device to generate both at least one vibro-tactile force feedback for a user of the second user interface device and at least one kinesthetic force feedback for the user of the second user interface device.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein

the mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information for the first user interface device is stored, and

the at least one actuator of the second user interface device is controlled in dependence of the stored mixed vibro-tactile and kinesthetic force feedback control information.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acoustic information is preprocessed.