Control point manipulation techniques in haptic systems

Abstract

A method for blending new control points into the field is described. A more costly but conceptually simpler method, measuring the extant field and recreating a copy of that field interpolated with the actually desired value at a new control point is first described. Further, traditionally predicting the output of phased array systems involves taking each element and evaluating its contribution to the field. When focusing phased arrays, predicting the output and the fringing field is necessary for multipoint focusing and acoustic cloaking applications. In the limit of a large enough number of discrete transducer elements, the evaluation of a single approximation will inevitably outperform even a linear summation over the linear acoustic properties of the elements. Further, to resolve the misalignment of expected and realized output of the mid-air haptic array, interactable objects are subdivided into customizable, uniform, intersection 'regions' that are then used to compute a volume of 3D positions in which the haptic focal point is then moved between. Positions can be produced and assigned in different ways, and volumes can be produced from any object as long as they have their regions pre-computed. Rather than directly targeting the hand of the user, the virtual intersection of the hand are used and these regions create a generally larger volume in which mid-air haptics can be produced.