Device for generating haptic feedback

Abstract

Device for generating haptic feedback on a surface (6) used as a control element with several touch-sensitive functional areas (4), characterized in that a transmission structure (5) is coupled to a component (2) having the surface (6) and is arranged on the side of the component (2) facing away from the surface (6), which has contact surfaces (7) and webs (8) connecting the contact surfaces (7), wherein the contact surfaces (7) are coupled to the component (2) having the surface (6) in the area of ​​the functional areas (4), wherein the webs (8) are decoupled from the component (2), and wherein the transmission structure (5) can be excited to vibrations by at least one actuator (10).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a device for generating haptic feedback on a surface used as an operating element with touch-sensitive functional areas.

[0002] Haptic feedback is always desirable in modern control elements that utilize a surface with touch-sensitive functional areas, and is also fundamentally known from the state of the art. If contact is made with a touch-sensitive functional area, for example, touched with a finger to activate it, haptic feedback is triggered. This can be achieved, for example, by generating a short, programmable vibration that can be felt with the finger to indicate that the desired command has been triggered by touching the functional area.

[0003] It is generally known from the general state of the art to generate such vibrations using an actuator, in particular a piezo actuator. This actuator is applied to a suitably hard base, such as glass, as a touch-sensitive surface. Using a variety of actuators, haptic feedback can then be generated locally at the location where the touch-sensitive functional area is located. However, this is correspondingly complex and time-consuming. Other touch-sensitive surfaces, such as trim or panel parts used in vehicles, also have the problem that they are typically rather soft and, unlike the glass plate of a touchscreen, for example, they dampen vibrations, making targeted haptic feedback at a specific location on this component difficult.

[0004] Further prior art is disclosed in DE 10 2010 026 910 A1. Haptic feedback is provided by actuating a microswitch and thus by its mechanical feedback. In order to reliably provide both the switching function and the mechanical feedback generated by the microswitch only when a specific button on a surface encompassing multiple functional areas is touched, a relatively complex mechanical design with a complex process is described. The movement of the component comprising the functional areas in the direction of the microswitch is mechanically enabled only when a maximum of one button is touched, so that the touch can be assigned to this button and the one microswitch that operates multiple buttons can always trigger the actually desired functionality.

[0005] The haptic feedback from the microswitch's mechanics can only be reliably perceived at touch positions relatively close to the microswitch. With a larger component, especially if it is made of a plastic, a foamed material, a natural material such as wood or leather, or even a material with a subsequent covering, such as a textile covering, it is almost impossible to feel the microswitch's haptic feedback at more distant positions, or to feel it in such a way that it is assigned to the corresponding position and is not perceived in a distorted manner due to the distant touch position.

[0006] EP 2 849 033 A2 discloses a user interface with touch-sensitive areas. When a user approaches, a light, sound, or vibration signal is emitted as feedback.

[0007] According to US 2013 / 0 002 584 A1, tactile feedback on a touchscreen is provided by an overlay structure. In a first state, the overlay structure has a uniformly flat surface; in a second state, the upper side of the overlay structure has statically raised areas to provide tactile feedback. The raised areas of the overlay structure are created by local elastic deformations, thus limiting the surface used as a control element to elastically deformable materials.

[0008] US 2012 / 0 133 494 A1 discloses a deformable user interface with a plurality of elastic regions enclosing a smartgel. Changing the temperature of the smartgel causes the regions to rise or fall, allowing the creation of haptic, perceptible surfaces. Each of the deformable regions encloses a smartgel, the temperature of which can be changed by passing current through wires. In addition to the limitations regarding the choice of surface material, the user interface comprises a multitude of components.

[0009] US 2014 / 0 104 047 A1 discloses a user interface that includes a plurality of magnetic actuators for providing haptic feedback to a user. By activating one of the magnetic actuators at a time, haptic feedback can be generated at a touch position. Due to the high complexity caused by the large number of actuators, such a user interface cannot be manufactured cost-effectively.

[0010] DE 10 2015 008 184 A1 discloses an operating device for a motor vehicle comprising a touchscreen with a surface element that forms a contact surface. The surface element has an elastic region and an adjustment device, wherein in a first position, the elastic region is flush with the surface element and, in a second position, the elastic region assumes a raised or recessed position relative to the surface element. The operating device intended for outputting haptic feedback requires the use of elastic surface elements as the operating surface, which significantly limits both the design and the durability of the operating surface.

[0011] The object of the present invention is to provide an alternative device of simple construction for generating haptic feedback on a surface used as a control element with several touch-sensitive functional areas.

[0012] According to the invention, this object is achieved by a device having the features in claim 1, and here in particular in the characterizing part of claim 1.

[0013] Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the device according to the invention result from the dependent claims dependent thereon. In the device according to the invention for generating haptic feedback on a surface used as an operating element with multiple touch-sensitive functional areas, it is provided that a transmission structure embodied as a further component and arranged on the side of the component facing away from the surface is coupled to a component having the surface. The component itself can be any type of component with a surface used as an operating element. According to an advantageous development of the device according to the invention, it should be designed as a decorative or trim part, in particular as a decorative or trim part for a vehicle interior. However, the component is not fundamentally limited to such a decorative or trim part.

[0014] The transmission structure is designed in such a way that it has webs connecting these contact surfaces and the contact surfaces to one another. The webs therefore connect at least two of the contact surfaces to one another, although in the case of multiple contact surfaces, a design of the webs in the form of a network is also conceivable and expedient. The contact surfaces themselves are coupled to the component having the surface in the region of the functional areas, so that the contact surfaces can be used to transmit oscillations or vibrations to the component and in particular to the surface of the component having the functional areas. The webs, on the other hand, are decoupled from the component in order to transmit oscillations or vibrations in the region of the webs between the individual contact surfaces that the webs connect, but not to the component itself. The transmission structure can then be excited to oscillate by at least one actuator.This results in a targeted introduction of vibrations into the transmission structure. The webs connecting the individual contact surfaces distribute the vibrations across the entire transmission structure, so that the contact surfaces themselves vibrate and are capable of exciting vibrations in the areas of the component coupled to them, and thus ultimately in the surface with the functional areas. The transmission structure with its at least one actuator thus enables the targeted generation of haptic feedback in the area of ​​the touch-sensitive functional areas on the component having the surface used as the control element.

[0015] According to a very advantageous development of the idea, the modulus of elasticity of the transmission structure is greater than the modulus of elasticity of the component. Additionally or alternatively, it would also be conceivable for the ratio of the modulus of elasticity to the material density of the transmission structure to be greater than the ratio of the modulus of elasticity to the material density of the component. These two advantageous developments of the device according to the invention, implemented jointly or alternatively, ensure that the design is selected such that good transmission of the oscillations or vibrations is possible via the transmission structure, so that even a relatively large transmission structure can be excited to realize haptic feedback with one or a few actuators. At the same time, according to this embodiment, the modulus of elasticity orthe ratio of the modulus of elasticity to the material density of the component itself is correspondingly smaller, so that in the case of the decorative or trim part already mentioned, for example, the transmission module is used to transmit the vibrations to generate the haptic feedback, and the corresponding component itself would dampen the vibrations much more strongly and would therefore not be suitable for transmitting them. An example structure could be a decorative part made of wood or wood with a foamed structure that lies behind the wood from the visible side, as is often the case with decorative parts. Plastics, decorative films or the like could also be used instead of the wood. The transmission structure itself is then made of a much less dampening material with a higher modulus of elasticity orIt is formed with a higher ratio of elastic modulus to material density. This can be made, for example, of a fiber-reinforced plastic, as provided in a very advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention. This fiber-reinforced plastic can, in principle, be reinforced with any type of fiber, for example, Kevlar fibers, aramid fibers, glass fibers, or the like. To realize a stable, rigid, yet very lightweight structure, carbon fibers, in particular, can also be used as the preferred type of reinforcing fiber.

[0016] According to a very advantageous development of the concept, the transmission structure itself is located on the side of the component facing away from the surface, thus remaining invisible to a person observing the component. It can nevertheless be designed as a support structure for the component, thus serving not only to transmit the haptic feedback to the individual functional areas, but also to ensure the mechanical stability of the component.

[0017] A further very advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention provides for the decoupling of the webs from the component by maintaining a gap between the webs and the component to decouple them, while the contact areas of the transmission structure are firmly connected to the component or its surface. To further improve the decoupling, the gap can also comprise a vibration-damping material, according to a very advantageous development of the concept.

[0018] Such a design of the transmission structure allows oscillations or vibrations to be transmitted very specifically and with very little effort in terms of actuators to generate haptic feedback in the area of ​​the individual functional areas, in order to realize a comfortable operating situation in which the user receives reliable feedback when touching a functional area to trigger a corresponding functionality.

[0019] Further advantageous embodiments of the device according to the invention also emerge from the exemplary embodiment which is described in more detail below with reference to the figures.

[0020] Showing: Fig. 1 an example view of the interior of a vehicle; Fig. 2 a schematic diagram of a decorative part used as a component according to the invention with a transmission structure; Fig. 3 a view of the transmission structure according to the section line III - III in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 an alternative embodiment of a structure analogous to that shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 a view along the section line V - V in Fig. 4 without the vibration-damping material.

[0021] In the presentation of the Fig. 1 shows a section of the interior 1 of a vehicle not shown in its entirety. In the area of ​​this interior 1, a trim part 2 is shown purely as an example as a horizontally extending trim part. This can be made of wood, for example, or with a wooden surface on a carrier, for example, made of plastic. In the illustration of the Fig. 1 To the right of an indicated steering wheel 3 are three functional areas 4 within the trim part 2. These functional areas can, for example, represent backlit touch-sensitive buttons integrated into the surface of the trim part 2. In the event of contact, for example by the person driving the vehicle with their finger, any desired functions can be triggered via the functional areas 4, for example, switching devices on or off, switching vehicle functions on or off, or the like.

[0022] These touch-sensitive functional areas 4, which are mounted on the surface of the trim part 2 as control elements and represent buttons that are virtually integrated into the trim part 2 and invisible without backlighting, are known from the prior art. The desired functionality is triggered by touching the corresponding functional area 4 in a manner that is also known per se.

[0023] Now, with the touch and the triggered function, a haptic feedback is to be generated in the respective functional area 4. For this purpose, a haptic feedback is to be generated in the basic sectional view of the Fig. 2 recognizable transmission structure 5 is provided. In the Fig. 2 shows the trim part 2 in section. In the Fig. 2 The interior 1 of the vehicle is to be located above the decorative part 2. The surface of the decorative part 2 designated by 6 is therefore the surface 6 facing the person viewing the decorative part 2. The three functional areas 4 are analogous to the representation in Fig. 1 is schematically indicated in the trim part 2. Its touch-sensitive design, as well as the manner in which the control signals generated by the touch are transmitted, is not relevant to the present case and is, in principle, known from the prior art. Such details have therefore been omitted from the illustrations in the figures.

[0024] The decisive factor is now the transmission structure 5 on the side of the decorative part 2 facing away from the surface 6. This consists of contact surfaces 7, wherein each of the contact surfaces 7 is assigned to one of the functional areas 4 and is coupled, for example, glued, to the decorative part 2 as the component 2 carrying the touch-sensitive surface 6. The individual contact surfaces 7 are connected to one another via webs 8. These webs 8, which connect the contact surfaces 7 of the transmission structure 5 to one another, are in turn decoupled from the decorative part 2, which is achieved here by a gap 9 between each of the webs 8 and the decorative part 2.A single actuator 10 for generating oscillations and / or vibrations is then sufficient to provide haptic feedback via the transmission structure 5 into the functional areas 4 and thus also into the touched functional area 4 in the event of a signal being triggered via the touch of one of the functional areas 4.

[0025] The representation of the transmission structure 5 is in Fig. 3 again without recognizing component 2. The individual contact surfaces 7 are, for example, round here and connected to one another via the webs 8, so that the actuator 10 can transmit the oscillations and vibrations registered from the central contact surface 7, to which it is directly connected, via the webs 8 to the other contact surfaces 7 in order to provide the desired haptic feedback in the functional areas 4. The contact surfaces 7 do not necessarily have to have the same shape and size as the functional areas 4, even if this is indicated as such in the representations of the figures.

[0026] The construction can, for example, be realized in such a way that the transmission structure 5 is made of a fiber-reinforced plastic, in particular a plastic reinforced with carbon fibers, while the decorative part 2 itself is made of a plastic or wood or the like, for example, wherein this material has a lower modulus of elasticity than the transmission structure 5 in order to achieve a reliable transmission of the vibrations exclusively via the transmission structure 5 and not via the decorative part 2.

[0027] In the Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 is analogous to the Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows another alternative embodiment. Here, too, the decorative part 2 with a larger number of functional areas 4 is located above a transmission structure 5 with individual contact surfaces 7 and webs 8. To further improve the decoupling of the webs 8 from the decorative part 2, the gaps 9 are additionally provided with a vibration-damping material 11.

[0028] The further difference arises mainly from the representation in Fig. 5. There is analogous to the representation in Fig. 3 shows a top view of the transmission structure 5 without the decorative part 2 and also without the vibration-damping material 11. In this illustration of the Fig.5 shows that the transmission structure 5 has six individual contact surfaces 7, which are interconnected via the webs, partially in the form of a mesh structure. A single actuator 10, which is positioned here on the center left contact surface 7, can thus control all of the contact surfaces 7, which are implemented here, for example, with a rectangular shape. This allows the six individual functional areas 4 in the trim part 2 to be provided with haptic feedback from a single actuator 10 when one of the functional areas 4 has been touched.

Claims

[1] Device for generating haptic feedback on a surface (6) used as an operating element with several touch-sensitive functional areas (4), characterized by in that a transmission structure (5) designed as a further component, arranged on the side of the component (2) facing away from the surface (6), is coupled to a component (2) having the surface (6), which transmission structure has contact surfaces (7) and webs (8) connecting the contact surfaces (7), wherein the contact surfaces (7) are coupled to the component (2) having the surface (6) in the region of the functional areas (4), wherein the webs (8) are decoupled from the component (2), and wherein the transmission structure (5) can be excited to oscillate by at least one actuator (10). [2] Device according to claim 1, characterized by that the elastic modulus of the transmission structure (5) is greater than the elastic modulus of the component (2). [3] Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the ratio of the elastic modulus to the material density of the transmission structure (5) is greater than the ratio of the elastic modulus to the material density of the component (2). [4] Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by that the webs (8) are decoupled from the component (2) by a gap (9) between the component (2) and the respective web (8). [5] Device according to claim 4, characterized by that the gap (9) has a vibration-damping material (11). [6] Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by that the transmission structure (5) is connected to exactly one actuator (10). [7] Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by that the transmission structure (5) is formed from a fiber-reinforced plastic, wherein the reinforcing fibers are designed in particular as carbon fibers. [8] Device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized by that the transmission structure (5) forms a supporting structure for the component (2). [9] Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by that the component (2) is designed as a decorative part or covering part, in particular as a decorative part or covering part for a vehicle interior (1).

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