Impedance shaping for haptic interfaces on wearable devices

• Main Authors: Valerio Parise, Cesare, Mukherjee, Gaurav, Shimasaki, Kevin, Piazza, Daniele, Gatti, Elia, Samad, Majed Jamal, King, Raymond, Israr, Ali, Corson, Nicholas Roy
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 12.07.2022
• Subjects: ALARM SYSTEMS; CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRICITY; FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL; GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL; METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICALVIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; SIGNALLING; SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; TRANSMISSION; TRANSPORTING

An apparatus for creating and tuning haptic feedback is provided. The apparatus includes (A) a brace with first and second portions, (B) a vibrotactile actuator, coupled to the first portion of the brace, configured to apply haptic stimulations to a user, and (C) a linear actuator, coupled to the second portion of the brace, configured to (i) obtain a signal generated based on information about the user's body at a target location of the user and (ii) adjust a tension of the brace according to the signal. In some embodiments, the apparatus also includes one or more sensors configured to generate the information about the user's body at the target location. Furthermore, a controller may be configured to: (i) generate the signal based on the information about the user's body at the target location generated by the one or more sensors and (ii) provide the signal to the linear actuator.