Technische Universitat Munchen

Andreas Noll

Eckehard Steinbach

Kevin Kuonath

Martin Piccolrovazzi

Basak Gülecyüz

Matti Strese

Lars Andreas Nockenberg

Encoding device for encoding vibrotactile multichannel signals, includes an encoder input module configured to receive a multichannel signal; a transform module adapted to execute a discrete wavelet transform of each channel of the multichannel signal and to generate a respective frequency range representation of each channel; a psychohaptic model unit designed to allocate to each channel, based on the respective frequency range representation, a mathematical representation of human perception of the channel; a clustering module configured to group, based on the allocated mathematical representation and a similarity measure of the channels, the wavelet-transformed channels of each multichannel signal into clusters, wherein each cluster is allocated a reference channel; a reference encoding module designed to quantize and compress wavelet coefficients of the reference channels which result from the performed discrete wavelet transform of the reference channels; a differential encoding module configured to encode the channels within a cluster, which are not a reference channel, in relation to the reference channel or at least one other channel of the cluster; and an encoder output module which outputs the clustered, compressed channels of each multichannel signal as a bit stream.

Encoding device and encoding method for multichannel encoding of vibrotactile signals and decoding and decoding method

An encoding apparatus for encoding a vibrotactile signal includes a first transforming unit configured to perform a discrete wavelet transform of the signal, a second transforming unit configured to generate a frequency domain representation of the signal, a psychohaptic model unit configured to generate at least one quantization control signal based on the generated frequency domain representation of the sampled signal and on a predetermined perceptual model based on human haptic perception, a quantization unit configured to quantize wavelet coefficients resulting from the performed discrete wavelet transform and adapted by the quantization control signal, a compression unit configured to compress the quantized wavelet coefficients, and a bitstream generating unit configured to generate a bitstream corresponding to the encoded signal based on the compressed quantized wavelet coefficients. The subject matter described herein also includes a corresponding decoding unit, an encoding method and a decoding method.

Encoding/decoding apparatuses and methods for encoding/decoding vibrotactile signals

The disclosure relates to a manually operable tactile input/output device for a data processing system, in particular a tactile computer mouse, which is configured with a housing and a plurality of actuators in operative connection with the housing and in which the actuators are arranged and jointly controlled in the housing to cause at least temporarily a tactile perception by a user in manual contact with the housing, by which simultaneously at least two and in particular all five tactile perception dimensions of microscopic roughness, macroscopic roughness, friction, hardness and heat are simulated. Furthermore, the disclosure relates to an operating method for a manually operable tactile input/output device and a data processing system.

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Munich, Germany

Andreas Noll