Granted Patent B2

US 12,632,115 · App. 18/585,146 · Granted May 19, 2026

Inventors: Michael Eder (London, GB); Jesus Lucas Barcias (London, GB); Philip Cockram (London, GB); Lucy Hattersley (London, GB); Mandana Jenabzadeh (London, GB)

Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

G06F3/016

Abstract

Claims (36)

1 . A haptic feedback system comprising:

a wearable device comprising one or more enveloped regions filled with a non-Newtonian fluid;

one or more force providers configured to provide, to at least one of the enveloped regions, a force that modifies a viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid to change a resistance to deformation of the wearable device in at least one direction; and

a processing device configured to receive a signal from an entertainment system and control the one or more force providers in response to the signal to provide haptic feedback to a user of the wearable device via the at least one of the enveloped regions,

wherein the at least one of the enveloped regions comprises a plurality of sections separated from one another by at least one impermeable membrane.

2 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein at least a respective one of the force providers is configured to provide a force to a respective one of the plurality of sections.

3 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sections are arranged in a shape that is configured to provide a complementary resistance to deformation of the wearable device in at least another direction.

4 . The haptic feedback system of claim 2 , wherein a respective direction of the resistance to deformation, and/or of the complementary resistance to deformation, is responsive to a respective force provided by at least a respective one of the force providers.

5 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein

at least one of the sections comprises a first non-Newtonian fluid; and

at least another one of the sections comprises a second non-Newtonian fluid having properties different to the first non-Newtonian fluid.

6 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device comprises at least one of the force providers.

7 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the force providers is separate to the wearable device.

8 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more force providers comprise one or more of

i) a piezo-electric actuator;

ii) a electro-mechanical vibrator;

iii) a speaker driver; and

iv) an electromagnet.

9 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the enveloped regions is positioned at a location of the wearable device corresponding to an expected location of a joint of a user when the wearable device is worn by the user.

10 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device comprises a cushioning layer between the at least one of the enveloped regions and an expected position of a user when the wearable device is worn by the user.

11 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one impermeable membrane does not extend continuously and linearly across an entirety of the at least one of the enveloped regions.

12 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is configured to process the received signal, wherein the received signal indicates a status effect or an interaction applied to an avatar in a virtual environment of the entertainment system.

13 . The haptic feedback system of claim 1 , wherein two or more adjacent sections of the plurality of sections are arranged in a tessellated pattern.

14 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing:

instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform operations for controlling a wearable device, the operations comprising:

receiving a signal indicating a status effect or an interaction applied to an avatar in a virtual environment;

processing the received signal indicating the status effect or the interaction;

generating a control signal in response to the processed signal; and

providing the control signal to one or more force providers of the wearable device to modify a force applied to one or more enveloped regions filled with a non-Newtonian fluid of the wearable device, wherein the one or more force providers are configured to provide, to at least one of the one or more enveloped regions, a force that modifies a viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid to change a resistance to deformation of the wearable device in at least one direction, wherein the at least one or more enveloped regions comprises a plurality of sections separated from one another by at least one impermeable membrane.

15 . A method of controlling a wearable device of a haptic feedback system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processing device of the haptic feedback system, a signal indicating a status effect or an interaction applied to an avatar of a user of the wearable device in a virtual environment;

processing, by the processing device, the received signal indicating the status effect or the interaction; and

generating, by the processing device, a control signal to one or more force providers of the wearable device; and

sending the control signal to the one or more force providers to modify a force applied to one or more enveloped regions of the wearable device, wherein the one or more enveloped regions are filled with a non-Newtonian fluid configured to change in viscosity in response to the force applied by the one or more force providers, wherein a change in the viscosity is configured to change a resistance to deformation of the wearable device in at least one direction, wherein at least one or more enveloped regions comprises a plurality of sections separated from one another by at least one impermeable membrane.

16 . The method of claim 15 , comprising:

changing the resistance to deformation of the wearable device to correspond to the status effect or the interaction applied to the avatar in the virtual environment.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (16)