Proximity and force detection for haptic effect generation

Abstract

The present invention may provide a device including a haptic driver to drive a coupled actuator causing the actuator to generate a vibratory haptic effect. A touch screen may display a user interface and may include a sensor to detect user interaction with the touch screen within a predetermined range above the touch screen. A controller may calculate a proximity event based on the detected user interaction above the touch screen, and to control haptic driver operations according to the proximity event.

1 . A device, comprising:
 a haptic driver to drive a coupled actuator causing the actuator to generate a vibratory haptic effect;   a touch screen to display a user interface, wherein touch screen including a sensor to detect user interaction with the touch screen within a predetermined range above the touch screen; and   a controller to calculate a proximity event based on the detected user interaction above the touch screen, and to control haptic driver operations according to the proximity event.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the proximity event includes a rate of approach. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a capacitive sensor grid that is scanned at a scanning frequency rate. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the scanning frequency rate is dynamically adjusted based on prior calculated user interaction properties. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to pre-charge the haptic driver to a voltage level based on the proximity event. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to calculate touch and force events. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the device is configured to generate multiple haptic effects based different proximity, touch, and/or force events. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein force events are detected based on an area of user touch on the touch screen. 
     
     
         9 . A method of generating haptic effects, comprising:
 detecting a user interaction above a touch surface within a predetermined range;   calculating location coordinates of the user interaction;   calculating user interaction properties based on the location coordinates;   applying voltage through a haptic actuator based on the user interaction properties.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprises:
 pre-charging the actuator to a first voltage level based on the user interaction properties;   detecting a user touch on the touch screen;   calculating touch location coordinates of the user touch;   driving the haptic actuator to generate a haptic effect based on the user touch from the first voltage level.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprises:
 detecting an amount of force of the user touch;   driving the haptic actuator to generate a second haptic effect based on the amount of force.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein detecting the amount of force is proportional to an area of the user touch on the touch screen. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user interaction properties include a rate of approach. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the detecting is performed by scan reads of a capacitive sensor grid at a scanning frequency. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the scanning frequency rate is dynamically adjusted based on prior calculated user interaction properties. 
     
     
         16 . A user interface controller, comprising:
 a sensor input to receive sensor data related to user interaction above a touch screen within a predetermined range;   a memory to store program instructions and a plurality of haptic profiles;   a processor to calculate user interaction properties from the sensor data, to match a haptic profile from the memory to the user interaction properties, and to generate a haptic command associated with the haptic profile; and a   a haptic driver output to send the haptic command.   
     
     
         17 . The user interface controller of  claim 16 , wherein the user interaction properties include a rate of approach. 
     
     
         18 . The user interface controller of  claim 16 , wherein the haptic command includes an instruction to pre-charge an actuator. 
     
     
         19 . The user interface controller of  claim 16 , wherein the sensor data also includes also relates to a user touch on the touch screen and to an amount of force of the user touch. 
     
     
         20 . The user interface controller of  claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to generate multiple haptic commands based the sensor data.