KR20060075135A - Haptics device and mouse device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a haptic device and a tactile mouse using the same. A tactile mouse for expressing a feeling of contact of the present invention includes a case; A tactile expression unit that is installed insulated and sealed within the case to express tactile sensation by a change in fluid; And a tactile device including a driving circuit unit for driving the tactile expression unit. The tactile expression part is inserted by ER fluid or MR fluid between two electrodes or magnetic poles, and is fixed by a support such as a spring or a small damper that prevents the two poles from contacting between the two electrodes or magnetic poles, and the ER fluid or MR fluid The and electrodes are enclosed and sealed by an insulator such as silicone or rubber, and the entire case is designed to be lower than the tactile representation, including ER fluid or MR fluid. In addition, when the ER fluid is used, the driving circuit is configured as a high voltage circuit, and when the MR fluid is used, it is configured as a circuit for creating a magnetic field. Such a tactile device using ER fluid and MR fluid has not been developed yet, and it is possible to express various contact feelings such as a feeling of rubber, a balloon of water, a metal feeling, and a reaction feeling when touching silicon. Do. It is possible to use lower power than other haptic devices, and to be smaller than other haptic devices.

Description

Haptics device and mouse device using the same

1 is a view for explaining the operation principle of the electric rheology fluid or magnetic rheology fluid applied to the present invention.

2 is a schematic view for explaining the tactile device according to the present invention.

3 is a schematic perspective view of the tactile mouse according to the present invention.

4 is a bottom view of the tactile mouse of FIG. 3.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the combined state of the haptic device applied to the tactile mouse according to the present invention.

6a to 6d are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation of the IR sensor applied to the tactile mouse of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10 ... insulator 20, 22 ... electrode or magnetic pole

30.Fluid 40.Supports

50 case 60 drive circuit

70, 130 ... tactile or tactile projection 100 ... tactile expression

150 ... tactile 200 ... tactile mouse

The present invention relates to a tactile device and a tactile mouse using the same, and more particularly, to a tactile device using an electric rheological fluid and a magnetic rheological fluid and a tactile mouse using the same.

The interface of the next generation of PCs is not just a keyboard and a mouse, but a combination of human senses. For example, it is interfaced in a form that can exchange information with each other only by shaking hands.

 At present, various methods for exchanging information between computers and humans using human senses have been studied. It provides a variety of information such as tactile sense and sense of smell compared to exchanging information using only past audiovisual information. For example, in a movie, think about moving the chair to feel it, and sending and receiving information as if you are smelling it to stimulate your sense of smell. In particular, the mechanical interface has been studied in various ways, such as a joystick that really shakes when shooting in the game, and a mouse that makes you feel like you are actually touching a minute part.

 Using dual tactile sensations is called haptics. Talking about haptics is a technology that combines an actuator, such as a motor, with a mechanism to make a computer feel power or tactile. Haptics is a Greek haptesthai which means to touch and connects touch and power to virtual environments created by computers. Real people respond faster to touch than to sight or hearing. However, tactile sensation is difficult to describe as a delicate response to force, vibration and temperature. If Haptics' technology is realized, haptic devices that output tactile sensations will be applied to all computers and game machines, compared to monitors and speakers that are currently used as computer output devices. Currently developed and used tactile devices can be used to play a game on a PS2 or Xbox. Device.

Among the haptic devices, a device that allows a feeling of contact has been mainly developed in such a manner as to express tremor and roughness of an object. For example, a method of expressing a change in the shape of a surface by generating a pressure distribution of a portion in contact with a finger or expressing it by vibration by ultrasonic waves has been developed. However, one of the important touch feelings is expression of the hardness and softness of the object and the feeling of pressing when pressed. For example, there is a clear difference between touching metal and touching human flesh, but a device that expresses this has not been developed yet.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tactile device for expressing a feeling of contact using a magnetic rheology (MR) fluid or an electrical rheology (ER) fluid, and a tactile mouse using the same.

The present invention provides a tactile device for expressing a feeling of contact through a tactile part, in order to achieve the above technical problem, a case; A tactile expression unit provided with an insulating seal in the case to express tactile sensation by a change in fluid; And a driving circuit unit for driving the tactile expression unit.

The present invention provides a tactile mouse for expressing a feeling of contact through a tactile part, in order to achieve the above technical problem, a case; A tactile expression unit provided with an insulating seal in the case to express tactile sensation by a change in fluid; And it provides a tactile mouse comprising a haptic device including a drive circuit for driving the tactile expression.

Preferably, the tactile expression part is inserted by ER fluid or MR fluid between two electrodes or magnetic poles, and fixed between the two electrodes or magnetic poles by a support such as a spring or a small damper which prevents the two poles from contacting each other. The fluid or MR fluid and the electrode or magnetic pole are characterized by being surrounded by an insulator such as silicone or rubber.

In addition, preferably the entire case is designed to be lower than the tactile expression including the ER fluid or MR fluid.

In addition, when the ER fluid is used, the drive circuit is configured as a high voltage circuit, and when the MR fluid is used, the circuit is configured to create a magnetic field.

The tactile mouse uses a vibration motor inside the mouse to drive the vibration motor according to the situation so that a person feels trembling (vibration) and adds an IR sensor in addition to the existing IR sensor at the bottom of the mouse. It is characterized in that the height and the slope can be known.

Hereinafter, a tactile device for expressing a feeling of contact using a magnetic rheology (MR) fluid or an electrical rheology (ER) fluid according to the present invention, and the structure and operation of the tactile mouse using the same will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. I will explain.

In the present invention, a magnetic rheology fluid (MR fluid) and an electrical rheology fluid (ER fluid) are used to express such a feeling of contact.

As shown in FIG. 1, the magnetorheological fluid (MR fluid) and the electric rheological fluid (ER fluid) 30 are surrounded by an insulator 10 such as rubber or silicon, and the electrode or magnetic pole 20 in a space surrounded by the insulator. The flow of the dispersed fluid particles is caused by the driving force applied to the air, 22). That is, under no load, the particles of fluids are scattered as shown on the left side of FIG.

In more detail, MR fluid is a non-colloidal solution in which micron-sized particles are dispersed in a non-conductive solvent such as silicone oil or mineral oil, and when the magnetic field is not loaded, the dispersed particles have Newtonian fluid properties. However, when the magnetic field is loaded, the dispersed particles are polarized to form fibers in a direction parallel to the loaded magnetic field, thereby having a shear force or a resistance to flow. In addition, the ER fluid has a resistance against the movement of the fluid and the shear force applied from the outside by forming a fibrous ring in parallel with the electric field toward both electrodes when the particles dispersed in the fluid generate an induced polarization when the electric field is loaded. There is this.

A haptic device according to the present invention utilizing the properties of such a rheological fluid is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the tactile device 150 of the present invention includes a case 50; A tactile expression unit 100 installed in the case 50 to express a tactile sensation by a change in the fluid 30; And a driving circuit unit 60 for driving the tactile expression unit 100.

The tactile expression unit 100 inserts an ER fluid or MR fluid 30 between two electrodes or magnetic poles 20 and 22, and a spring which prevents the two poles from contacting between the two electrodes or magnetic poles 20 and 22. Alternatively, it is fixed by a support 40 such as a small damper, and the ER fluid or MR fluid 30 and the electrodes or magnetic poles 20 and 22 are enclosed and sealed by an insulator 10 such as silicone or rubber. As a result, the fluid is insulated and sealed by the insulator 10 and is also insulated and completely sealed by the case 50. In addition, the entire case 30 of the tactile expression unit 100 is designed to contain the ER fluid or the MR fluid 30 and is lower than the portion surrounded by the insulator 10 so that the tactile part 70 contacts the human body. Make it easy.

The driving circuit is a driving source for providing a driving force to the electrode and the magnetic pole. When the ER fluid is used, the driving circuit is constituted by a high voltage circuit. Since the driving circuit is a general power supply circuit, a circuit for generating an electric field and a magnetic field may be omitted.

In addition, in the present invention, when using not only one tactile device but also a plurality of arrays, the tactile feel can be felt.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, by using the above-described tactile device using the fluid to feel the touch in the mouse used as a computer input device and at the same time put a vibration unit to feel the vibration (vibration) or by using an IR sensor Feeling tilted.

The mouse of the present invention uses a vibration motor inside to drive the vibration motor according to the situation, so that a person feels tremor (vibration). In shooting games, it can give the same tremor as shooting a gun, and it can give tremors like an earthquake in an earthquake scene. In today's popular golf game, you can feel the ball hitting a tee shot or putt. By using a motor on the mouse and making a sense button, we can feel the softness and rigidity of the object.

In addition, by using the existing optical mouse to operate like a conventional mouse, the addition of four IR sensors in addition to the existing IR sensor to know the height and tilt of the mouse when you lift the mouse, flying games or. It can be applied to flight simulation.

In the future, such a tactile device may be widely used in various fields such as a game simulator, a vehicle simulator, an aircraft and a fighter simulator.

3 and 4 are perspective bottom views in which a tactile mouse is applied to the appearance of a commercially available optical mouse. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the designed tactile mouse has a tactile part or tactile protrusion 130 on the left side of the mouse 200 and a heater 120 on the upper surface of the mouse. In addition, four sets of IR sensors 310-340 were added to the bottom surface in addition to the existing IR sensor 300. In addition, by placing a vibration motor (not shown) inside to feel the vibration, the tactile protrusion 130 was a sense button using the ER or MR fluid to feel the degree of rigidity of the object. In addition, by using a conventional mouse buttons (150, 152, 154) having a mouse was used as it is.

The operation of the tactile mouse is largely explained by four structures. It's a sensory button that lets you feel the texture, a vibration that lets you feel the vibration, and an IR sensor that can grasp the tilt and height of the mouse.

As shown in Figure 5, the sense button (130 of Figure 3) is to know the degree of the softness and hardness of the object, the swelling of the object, like the tactile device 150 of Figure 2 described above, Using the rheology fluid to feel the touch through the button 130.

Although already described with reference to FIG. 2, the mouse 200 of the present invention is formed with the tactile device 150 of FIG. 2 in the mouse 200, and includes an electrode or an electrode in a space surrounded by the insulator 10 in the mouse 200. When the magnetic poles 20 and 22 are disposed opposite to each other and the rheological fluid 30 is contained between the electrodes or the magnetic poles 20 and 22, the driving force is applied to the electrodes or the magnetic poles 20 and 22. will be. As described above, the rheological fluid is a magnetic rheological fluid (MR fluid) and an electric rheological fluid (ER fluid), and particles dispersed in the fluid cause induced polarization and rearrange toward both electrodes or stimuli, It is to feel the texture expressed by the property of resisting the shear force applied from the outside.

Vibration unit (not shown) in the tactile mouse is a part where a person can feel trembling by holding a mouse, and implemented using a vibration motor inside the mouse. The vibrator may vary depending on what game a person plays. For example, in a baseball game, you can tell the batter how the batter feels when hitting the ball, when shooting a gun, or when driving a tank. The degree of vibration can be given differently according to the number of vibration motors. Currently, three vibration motors are designed, but considering one's taste and age, one can be used or three or more vibration motors can be used. This technique is widely used in portable devices such as mobile phones, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 6A to 6D, the IR sensor unit applied to the tactile mouse is used to determine the distance according to the amount of incoming light. Using this, four sets of IR sensors are installed at the bottom of the mouse. 6A to 6D show a state in which the current state of the mouse can be known according to the state of the sensor. 6A shows the same distance as the bottom of the four sensors while the sensor is in close contact with the floor, and FIGS. 6B, 6C, and 6D show that the distance between the sensor and the floor is different with the bottom of the mouse being lifted. Able to know. 6A shows a state in which the mouse is in close contact with the plane, and FIGS. 6B, 6C, and 6D show a state in which one side of the mouse is lifted. Using this principle, you can determine how much the mouse is tilted in which direction. When simulating flight. You can adjust the aircraft by holding the mouse and tilting it.

As described above, the haptic device using the rheology fluid of the present invention and the tactile mouse using the same, using the ER fluid and MR fluid, the rubber feeling, the feeling of the balloon into the water, the metal feeling, the reaction feeling when touching the silicone It is possible to express various touch feelings, to use lower power than other haptic devices, to be smaller than other haptic devices, and to develop a haptic device that can express hardness and gelling, such as gel. In the development of tactile mice, in addition to the tactile mice currently used, it is possible to serve as an accelerator for the development of various tactile mice. Thus, the present invention can be applied to the development of tactile mice, stations used for entertainment, the field of immersive cinema, and immersive computers.

Claims (6)

In the tactile device for expressing the feeling of contact through the tactile part, case; A tactile expression unit provided with an insulating seal in the case to express tactile sensation by a change in fluid; And And a driving circuit unit for driving the tactile expression unit. According to claim 1, wherein the tactile expression is placed between the two electrodes or magnetic poles ER fluid or MR fluid, between the two electrodes or magnetic poles is fixed by a support such as a spring or a small damper to prevent the two poles contact. And the ER fluid or MR fluid and the electrode or magnetic pole are enclosed and sealed by an insulator such as silicone or rubber. The tactile device according to claim 1, wherein the entire case is designed to be lower than the tactile expression unit including the ER fluid or the MR fluid. The tactile device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the driving circuit comprises a high voltage circuit when using ER fluid, and a circuit for creating a magnetic field when using MR fluid. In a tactile mouse for expressing a feeling of contact through a tactile part, case; A tactile expression unit provided with an insulating seal in the case to express tactile sensation by a change in fluid; And A tactile mouse comprising a tactile device including a driving circuit unit for driving the tactile expression unit. According to claim 5, Using a vibration motor inside the mouse to drive the vibration motor according to the situation to make people feel trembling (vibration), when the mouse is added to the bottom of the mouse by adding an IR sensor in addition to the existing IR sensor Tactile mouse, characterized in that the mouse height and inclination can be known.

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