Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Co.

Hiroaki Gomi

Ryoma Tanase

Tomohiro Amemiya

Yasunori Oishi

Tetsufumi Shoji

Katsuyuki Ochiai

Sho Ito

Shinya Takamuku

Daiki Nakamura

To provide a technique for presenting a guided person with a direction in consideration of a relative orientation of a force sense presentation device with respect to an orientation of a camera. A direction presentation apparatus includes an instructed direction calculating unit which calculates, using a first angle in an external coordinate system representing an orientation of a camera that takes an image in front of a guided person and a second angle in the external coordinate system representing an orientation of a force sense presentation device that presents the guided person with a predetermined direction, an instructed force sense vector (hereinafter, referred to as a second instructed force sense vector) in a force sense presentation device coordinate system representing a direction to be instructed to the force sense presentation device from an instructed force sense vector (hereinafter, referred to as a first instructed force sense vector) in a camera coordinate system representing the direction to be instructed to the force sense presentation device.

Direction presentation apparatus, direction presentation method, and program

Provided is a technique for more accurately calculating a direction to be presented to a guided person using a force sensation presentation device held by the guided person. In particular, the device uses geomagnetic distortion. A direction calculation apparatus includes a circuitry configured to calculate a direction to guide the guided person. The calculating uses a geomagnetic map that includes a geomagnetic vector and a gravitational acceleration vector of a reference posture of the device in a reference coordinate system at a position included in a predetermined range. The calculating includes calculating a first matrix and a second matrix to calculate an instructed force sensation vector, which indicates a direction to guide the person. The first matrix includes vectors of the reference posture of the force sensation presentation device. The second vector includes vectors at a current posture of the force sensation presentation device in the reference coordinate system.

Direction calculation apparatus, direction calculation method, and program

To implement a video processing device, a video processing method, and a video processing program capable of estimating a movement vector from a video content and providing processing information based on the movement vector to a haptic device or other force sense presentation devices, a video processing device according to the present disclosure includes a scene identification unit to estimate scene class information that is information identifying a scene class for a video content and a plurality of movement information estimation units to estimate a movement vector from the video content. One movement information estimation unit that is selected from the plurality of the movement information estimation units in response to the scene class identified by the scene class information estimates the movement vector.

Image processing device, image processing method, and image processing program

An operation on a vibration device presenting a force sense based on vibration to a human body is simplified. The vibration device includes: a base mechanism; an actuator configured to perform a physical motion based on a supplied control signal; a slide mechanism configured to perform a periodic reciprocating slide motion in a predetermined direction and an opposite direction to the predetermined direction with respect to the base mechanism based on the physical motion of the actuator and to give a force based on the reciprocating slide motion to a part of a human body with which the slide mechanism comes into direct or indirect contact; and a detection unit located in the predetermined direction with respect to the slide mechanism and configured to detect displacement of a specific portion included in the slide mechanism. The specific portion is movable in the predetermined direction by a width greater than an amplitude at the time of the reciprocating slide motion when a force is given to the slide mechanism from the part of the human body with which the slide mechanism comes into direct or indirect contact. Driving control is performed on the actuator when the detection unit detects the specific portion moved in the predetermined direction by the width greater than the amplitude at the time of the reciprocating slide motion.

Vibration apparatus

Provided is a pseudo force sensation providing device that can accurately measure an external magnetic field despite a small size thereof. Provided is a pseudo force sensation providing device including: an electrical actuator that performs physical movement based on a control signal supplied thereto; a contact mechanism that performs periodic asymmetric movement that causes a user to perceive pseudo force sensation, based on physical movement of the actuator; a magnetic sensor that measures an external magnetic field; and a shielding member that is provided between the actuator and the magnetic sensor, and surrounds a portion of the actuator on the side of the magnetic sensor, to block a magnetic field on the side of the magnetic sensor generated by the actuator.

Pseudo force sense generation apparatus

To achieve a video processing apparatus, a video processing method, and a video processing program capable of relatively accurately estimating, from a moving image, a motion of a camera that has captured the moving image, and reducing a calculation load, a video processing apparatus () according to the present disclosure includes a spatial frequency filter unit () configured to extract a low spatial frequency component of a moving image, and an angular velocity calculation unit () configured to calculate angular velocity of a camera that has captured the moving image, based on the moving image that has been passed through the spatial frequency filter unit ().

For efficient presentation of pseudo force sense, a pseudo force sense generation apparatus includes: a base mechanism; and a contact mechanism that performs periodical asymmetric motion relative to the base mechanism and gives force based on the asymmetric motion to skin or mucous membrane with which the contact mechanism is in direct or indirect contact. A mass of the contact mechanism is smaller than a mass of the base mechanism, or the mass of the contact mechanism is smaller than a sum of the mass of the base mechanism and a mass of a mechanism that is attached to the base mechanism.

A simulated force sensation based on an external object is presented without making contact with that external object. Asymmetrical movement based on a first physical quantity or a function value of the first physical quantity is carried out, and a simulated force sensation based on the asymmetrical movement is presented, the first physical quantity having been obtained by measuring a distance from an external object to a simulated force sensation presenting apparatus.

Provided is a mock force sensation presenting device that is easily integrated with information equipment and has more degrees of freedom with respect to the directions in which mock force sensation presenting is provided. A mock force sensation presenting device including: a case; a holder formed on a backside of the case; a plurality of mock force sensation presenting modules contained in the holder, the mock force sensation presenting modules being able to provide mock force sensation presenting at least in a positive direction and a negative direction of predetermined two axes; and an information device contained in the case and communicably connected to the mock force sensation presenting modules, the information device including a control unit that controls the mock force sensation presenting modules.

Pseudo-haptic device

The present invention provides a pseudo-force sense to the user without requiring the user holding onto an apparatus. The pseudo-force sense generation apparatus includes: a first contact member and a second contact member that are disposed along an outer peripheral surface of a mounting region, which is a three-dimensional region occupied by a body of the user; a joining member that joins the first contact member to the second contact member; and a vibration element that performs cyclic first asymmetric vibration along a line passing through a virtual point in the mounting region and the first contact member, and transfers a force in a direction along the line based on the first asymmetric vibration to the first contact member. The virtual point is disposed between the first contact member and the second contact member, and the is also transferred to the second contact member via the joining member.

A pseudo force sense generation apparatus including a base, and first to nth vibrators that make asymmetrical motions where relative positions of the vibrators to the base are fixed is provided. An ith vibrator included in the first to the nth vibrators is each capable of presenting pseudo force sense in an ith straight-line direction. The pseudo force sense generation apparatus makes a rotary motion centered at a neighborhood of a center of gravity of a system by driving of the vibrators.

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Tokyo, Japan

Hiroaki Gomi