Vincent Lévesque

Granted Patent

Systems and Methods for Haptically-Enabled Interactions with Objects

Vincent Levesque, Wei Zhu, Eric Gervais, Fengtian An, Eric Lajeunesse, Johnny Maalouf

US Patent 9,658,693, filed December 19, 2014, issued May 23, 2017.

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Abstract

One illustrative computing device disclosed herein includes a sensor configured to detect a user interaction with a physical object and transmit a sensor signal associated with the user interaction. The illustrative computing device also includes a processor in communication with the sensor, the processor configured to: receive the sensor signal; determine a characteristic of the physical object based on the sensor signal; and determine a function based at least in part on the user interaction and the characteristic. The processor is also configured to determine a haptic effect associated with the function; and transmit a haptic signal associated with the haptic effect. The illustrative computing device further includes a haptic output device in communication with the processor, the haptic output device configured to receive the haptic signal and output the haptic effect.