Vibration presentation device and method

Abstract

To provide a vibration presentation device which does not increase transmission capacity according to a portion number, and can reproduce vibration on multiple parts on a body on a position A at a position B.SOLUTION: A vibration presentation device 20 comprises: a first portion vibration presentation part 22 for presenting vibration corresponding to an input time vibration waveform; a second portion vibration presentation part 23 for presenting vibration corresponding to an input time vibration waveform; a presentation signal generation part 21 for inputting to, the first portion vibration presentation part 22 and the second portion vibration presentation part 23, a mixed time vibration waveform which is a time vibration waveform which is obtained by, mixing the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first portion of a first person, and the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second portion of the first person, and transmitting the mixed time vibration waveform from a position A to a position B; and an attracting information presentation part 24 for presenting information other than vibration, as presentation for attracting attention of the second person, to at least any of the first portion of the second person or the vicinity of the first portion of the second person, and the second portion of the second person or the vicinity of the second portion of the second person.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the transmission of haptic information to remote locations. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional technique for tactile transmission involves acquiring time-domain vibration waveforms from multiple parts of a person's body, transmitting each of the acquired time-domain vibration waveforms, and presenting each of the transmitted time-domain vibration waveforms to different parts of another person's body (see, for example, non-patent document 1). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] Basil Duvernoy, Sarah Mcintyre (2022) Human-to-Human Strokes Recordings for Tactile Apparent Motion HAPTICS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, APPLICATIONS, EUROHAPTICS 2022, p. 376-378<URL: https: / / arxiv.org / pdf / 2205.02135.pdf> Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, when the point where tactile information is acquired is different from the point where the tactile information is reproduced or presented (hereinafter also simply referred to as "presented"), using the technology of Non-Patent Document 1 requires that vibrations be acquired and that a time-dependent vibration waveform be transmitted from the point where the tactile information is acquired to the point where the tactile information is presented, depending on the number of parts to be presented. In other words, Non-Patent Document 1 has the problem that the transmission capacity increases depending on the number of parts.

[0005] Therefore, the present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide technology that can give a person (human) at the point where tactile information is presented a sensation equivalent to the sensation of vibrations in multiple parts of the body at the point where the tactile information is obtained, without the transmission capacity becoming large depending on the number of parts. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a vibration presentation device of one embodiment of the present disclosure is a vibration presentation device that, assuming a certain point as point A, a certain point different from point A as point B, a predetermined part of a person's body as a first part, a predetermined part of the person's body different from the first part as a second part, a certain person as a first person, and a certain person different from the first person as a second person, allows a second person at point B to perceive a vibration that occurs in a correlation between the first part and the second part of the first person at point A. The vibration presentation device is for presenting vibration to a first part of a second person, and includes a vibration presentation unit for a first part that presents a vibration corresponding to an inputted time vibration waveform, and a vibration presentation unit for a second part that presents a vibration corresponding to the inputted time vibration waveform, and further includes a presentation signal generation unit that inputs a mixed time vibration waveform, which is a time vibration waveform obtained by mixing the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first part of the first person and the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second part of the first person and transmitting it from point A to point B, to the vibration presentation unit for the first part and the vibration presentation unit for the second part, and a guidance information presentation unit that presents information other than vibration to at least one of the first part of the second person or the vicinity of the first part of the second person, and the second part of the second person or the vicinity of the second part of the second person, as a presentation to guide the attention of the second person. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a person at the point where tactile information is presented with a sensation equivalent to the sensation of vibrations in multiple parts of the body at the point where the tactile information is obtained, without the transmission capacity increasing depending on the number of parts. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a vibration presentation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a vibration acquiring device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process flow of a vibration acquiring method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the vibration presentation device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process flow of a vibration presentation method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a vibration acquiring device according to a modified example of an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, components having the same functions will be given the same reference numbers and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0010] [Vibration presentation system] The vibration presentation system according to this embodiment transmits one time-domain vibration waveform, which is a mixture of vibrations measured at two parts of the body (hereinafter also referred to as the "first part" and the "second part"), from point A to point B, and at point B, the same time-domain vibration waveform is presented to both parts (e.g., the hands and the feet) of the body of a person (human) at point B, and the attention of the person at point B is guided to at least one of the two parts. Here, "vibrations measured at two parts" includes not only vibrations measured at both the first part and the second part, but also vibrations measured in the vicinity of each of the first part and the second part. It also includes vibrations measured at the first part and vibrations measured in the vicinity of the second part. Alternatively, it also includes vibrations measured in the vicinity of the first part and vibrations measured at the second part.

[0011] In this embodiment, point A is a certain point, and point B is a certain point different from point A. A person at point A is also referred to as "person X." A person at point B is also referred to as "person Y." Therefore, using the above definitions and expressing it from another perspective, the vibration presentation system according to this embodiment is a system for making person Y at point B perceive vibrations that occur in a correlated manner between a first part and a second part of person X at point A.

[0012] By using this system, a person (person Y) at point B will focus their attention on the first and second parts (the hands and feet in the above example), and will be able to experience a sensation close to (similar to) the sensation felt by a person (person X) at point A, even though a single mixed vibration is presented to the first and second parts of person Y.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, a vibration presentation system 1 according to this embodiment is configured, for example, so that a vibration acquisition device 10 and a vibration presentation device 20 are capable of communicating with each other via a network 8.

[0014] In this embodiment, it is assumed that the vibration acquisition device 10 is located at point A (or in the vicinity of point A), and the vibration presentation device 20 is located at point B (or in the vicinity of point B). However, as long as vibrations of multiple parts of person X at point A can be acquired, the entire vibration acquisition device 10 does not necessarily need to be located at the same point A (or in the vicinity of point A). For example, the transmission information generation unit 13 does not necessarily need to be located at point A or in the vicinity of point A. Also, as long as vibrations generated from a time vibration waveform for presentation (described later) can be given to multiple parts of person Y at point B, the entire vibration presentation device 20 does not necessarily need to be located at point B (or in the vicinity of point B). For example, the presentation signal generation unit 21 does not necessarily need to be located at point B or in the vicinity of point B.

[0015] [Vibration acquisition device] 2, the vibration acquiring device 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes, for example, a first part vibration acquiring unit 11, a second part vibration acquiring unit 12, and a transmission information generating unit 13. The vibration acquiring device 10 performs the processing flow shown in FIG. 3 to perform the vibration acquiring method of the present embodiment.

[0016] The first part vibration acquisition unit 11 acquires the vibration of the first part and outputs a first time vibration waveform, which is an analog vibration signal (step S11). The first part vibration acquisition unit 11 may acquire the first time vibration waveform by any means as long as it can acquire the first time vibration waveform. For example, it may be an acceleration sensor or a microphone.

[0017] The second part vibration acquisition unit 12 acquires the vibration of the second part and outputs a second time vibration waveform, which is an analog vibration signal (step S12). The second part vibration acquisition unit 12 may acquire the second time vibration waveform by any means. For example, an acceleration sensor or a microphone may be used. Note that the order of steps S11 and S12 does not matter as long as the mixing process by the transmission information generation unit 13 described later can be appropriately performed. That is, the order of steps S11 and S12 may be reversed, or the steps may be processed in parallel.

[0018] The transmission information generating unit 13 generates a digital mixed vibration signal by mixing and digitizing the first time vibration waveform and the second time vibration waveform, and outputs the signal to the network 8 (step S13). The mixing of the first time vibration waveform and the second time vibration waveform by the transmission information generating unit 13 is performed so that there is no time lag between the vibration waveforms. The signal mixing process by the transmission information generating unit 13 may be performed before or after AD conversion of the first time vibration waveform and the second time vibration waveform. The digital mixed vibration signal may be compressed and encoded using a known encoding technique to obtain a code, and the code may be output to the network 8. In addition, when the vibration acquisition device 10 and the vibration presentation device 20 are connected by a cable such as a copper wire instead of the network 8, the transmission information generating unit 13 may be configured to mix the first time vibration waveform and the second time vibration waveform as analog signals, and output the mixed signal to the network 8 as an analog signal without AD conversion.

[0019] [Vibration presentation device] As shown in Fig. 4, the vibration presentation device 20 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes, for example, a presentation signal generating unit 21, a first part vibration presentation unit 22, a second part vibration presentation unit 23, and a guide information presentation unit 24. The vibration presentation device 20 performs the processing flow shown in Fig. 5 to perform the vibration presentation method of the present embodiment.

[0020] The presentation signal generating unit 21 receives the digital mixed vibration signal from the network 8, converts the digital mixed vibration signal into a digital signal, generates a time vibration waveform for presentation, and outputs the time vibration waveform for presentation to the first part vibration presentation unit and the second part vibration presentation unit (step S21). That is, the presentation signal generating unit 21 inputs the time vibration waveform for presentation generated from the digital mixed vibration signal, which is a time vibration waveform in which a first time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first part of the person X and a second time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second part of the person X are mixed and transmitted from point A to point B, to the first part vibration presentation unit 22 and the second part vibration presentation unit 23. When a compressed and encoded code is input from the vibration acquiring device 10, the compression encoded code is decoded to obtain a digital mixed vibration signal, and then a time vibration waveform for presentation is generated. In addition, when the connection between the vibration acquisition device 10 and the vibration presentation device 20 is made not through a network 8 but through a cable such as a copper wire, and an analog signal is input from the vibration acquisition device 10, the signal is output as is to the vibration presentation unit for the first part and the vibration presentation unit for the second part.

[0021] The first part vibration presentation unit 22 is disposed in direct or indirect contact with the first part. The first part vibration presentation unit 22 converts the time-domain vibration waveform for presentation into vibration and outputs it (step S22). That is, the first part vibration presentation unit 22 is for presenting vibration to the first part of the person Y, and presents vibration corresponding to the digital mixed vibration signal input to the vibration presentation device 20 (the time-domain vibration waveform for presentation input to the first part vibration presentation unit 22).

[0022] The second part vibration presentation unit 23 is disposed in direct or indirect contact with the second part. The second part vibration presentation unit 23 converts the time vibration waveform for presentation into vibration and outputs it (step S23). That is, the second part vibration presentation unit 23 is for presenting vibration to the second part of the person Y, and presents vibration corresponding to the digital mixed vibration signal (the time vibration waveform for presentation input to the second part vibration presentation unit 23) input to the vibration presentation device 20. Note that the order of steps S22 and S23 does not matter as long as the process of presenting the sensory information P by the guidance information presentation unit 24 described later can be appropriately performed. That is, the order of steps S22 and S23 may be reversed, or they may be processed in parallel.

[0023] The guidance information presentation unit 24 is disposed at or near the first and / or second part, and presents information for guiding attention (step S24). That is, the guidance information presentation unit 24 presents "sensory information other than vibration" (hereinafter also referred to as "sensory information P") to at least one of the first part of person Y or the vicinity of the first part of person Y, and the second part of person Y or the vicinity of the second part of person Y, as a presentation for guiding the attention of person Y.

[0024] Light is one specific example of the sensory information P presented to guide the attention of person Y. In this case, there is no limitation on the color of the light, but a color that is more likely to attract the attention of everyone or person Y may be selected.

[0025] The perceptual information P may be arranged to be time-varying or time-non-varying.

[0026] An example of the case where the sensory information P varies with time is to convert the time vibration waveform itself into the sensory information P. For example, when the sensory information P is light, the sensory information P may be configured to vary with time so that the magnitude of the light is maximized at the maximum of the time vibration waveform of the received signal. In this case, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 4, the time vibration waveform for presentation may be input as it is to the guidance information presentation unit 24, converted into light, and output (lighted). Alternatively, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 4, the presentation signal generation unit 21 may obtain a signal obtained by passing the time vibration waveform for presentation through a low-pass filter as the guidance signal, and input the guidance signal to the guidance information presentation unit 24. When the time vibration waveform for presentation is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the signal has a predetermined magnitude (first magnitude), and when it is not, the signal has a predetermined second magnitude smaller than the first magnitude, and the guidance signal may be input to the guidance information presentation unit 24. The guide information presentation unit 24 presents the sensory information P such that the intensity of the presented sensory information P becomes maximum at the time when the amplitude of the mixed time vibration waveform becomes maximum.

[0027] An example of the case where the sensory information P does not vary with time is, for example, keeping the light on at all times when the sensory information P is light. When the sensory information P is presented as light that does not vary with time, there is no need to input to the guidance information presenting unit 24, and the light may simply be turned on.

[0028] The guidance of the presentation of the sensory information P by the guidance information presentation unit 24 may be configured to present the same information to both a first part of the person Y or the vicinity of the first part of the person Y and a second part of the person Y or the vicinity of the second part of the person Y. Alternatively, the guidance information presentation unit 24 may be configured to present the sensory information P only to either the first part of the person Y or the vicinity of the first part of the person Y, or the second part of the person Y or the vicinity of the second part of the person Y.

[0029] The present embodiment has been described above. By using the above-mentioned vibration presentation system 1, the person Y's attention is drawn to the sensory information P presented by the guidance information presentation unit 24. By drawing attention to the sensory information P, the person Y feels the vibration generated based on the digital mixed vibration signal at the first and second parts, which is close (similar) to the vibration felt by the person X at the first and second parts, respectively. A specific example of this feeling will be described in the following usage example of the vibration presentation system 1.

[0030] (Example of using vibration presentation system 1) An example of the use of the vibration presentation system 1 described above will be described using a basketball dribble.

[0031] For example, suppose that a person X at point A is fitted with an acceleration sensor as the first part vibration acquisition unit 11 on the hand (first part) of the person X, and another acceleration sensor as the second part vibration acquisition unit 12 on the foot (second part) of the person X. Suppose that a person Y at point B is fitted with an actuator for vibration transmission as the first part vibration presentation unit 22 on the hand (first part) of the person Y, and another actuator for vibration transmission as the second part vibration presentation unit 23 on the foot (second part) of the person Y. Suppose also that a light emitter (light emitter L1) is installed near the hand of the person Y, and another light emitter (light emitter L2) is installed near the foot of the person Y, as the guidance information presentation unit 24. The light emitters L1 and L2 use the signal of the dashed line from the presentation signal generation unit 21 shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, it is configured so that the light emitters L1 and L2 are turned on (emit light) in the case of the first size, and the light emitters L1 and L2 are not turned on in the case of the second size. The threshold for determining whether to turn on or off is set to the smaller maximum amplitude value of either the vibration when person X bounces a basketball or the vibration when the ball hits the floor. Therefore, the system is configured to determine that vibrations with amplitude values ​​greater than this threshold are of a first magnitude, and vibrations with amplitude values ​​smaller than this threshold are of a second magnitude.

[0032] In the above-mentioned configuration, when the vibration presentation system 1 is used, it is assumed that person X at point A dribbles a basketball on the spot. In this case, the attention of person Y is drawn to the perceptual information P (light emitters L1, L2), so that the vibration sensation generated from the presentation time vibration waveform at the first and second parts of person Y becomes close (similar) to the vibration sensation felt by person X at the first and second parts. That is, although vibration generated from a single signal called the presentation time vibration waveform is transmitted to person Y, person Y feels that the first and two parts of person Y at point B are alternately receiving vibration. In other words, the presentation time vibration waveform from which person Y feels the vibration sensation is a single time vibration waveform with a period that is substantially half that of the first time vibration waveform or the second time vibration waveform, when focusing on the maximum part of the time vibration waveform. By receiving the vibrations from this single time vibration waveform at the first and second locations at the same time, person Y can sense as if the vibration sensation caused by person X at point A dribbling a basketball has been transmitted to person Y at point B.

[0033] The light emitter L1 and the light emitter L2 may be configured to light only one of them. The above-mentioned sensation felt by the person Y is not necessarily limited to the case where both the light emitters L1 and L2 are turned on at the same time, but can be obtained even when only one of them is turned on.

[0034] In the above example, the light emitters L1 and L2 are configured to be turned on / off, but this embodiment is not limited to this, and the light emitters L1 and L2 may be constantly turned on. Even when the light emitters L1 and L2 are constantly turned on, the person Y can obtain the above-mentioned sensation. In this case, the light emitters are not limited to being turned on both at all times, and only one of the light emitters L1 and L2 may be constantly turned on.

[0035] As described above, the vibration presentation system according to this embodiment transmits one time-domain vibration waveform that combines vibrations of two body parts from point A to point B, and at point B, the same time-domain vibration waveform is presented to both body parts (e.g., hands and feet) of the person (human) at point B, and the attention of the person at point B is guided to at least one of the two parts. Therefore, it is possible to provide the person (human) at the point where the tactile information is presented with a sensation equivalent to the sensation of vibrations of multiple body parts at the point where the tactile information is acquired, without the transmission capacity increasing depending on the number of parts.

[0036] In this embodiment, the guidance information presenting unit 24 does not perform control such that the first and second parts are presented alternately. In the above-mentioned use example, the light emitters L1 and L2 are not alternately turned on. It is possible to give person Y a feeling similar to that of person X by alternately turning on the first and second parts. However, to achieve this, it becomes necessary to transmit information for that purpose from point A to point B. Alternatively, advanced signal processing such as separation processing of vibration signals at point B is required. In this embodiment, such transmission and processing are not necessary. Without increasing the transmission capacity depending on the number of parts, it is possible to give a feeling equivalent to the feeling of vibration of multiple parts of the body at the point where the tactile information is obtained to a person (human) at the point where the tactile information is presented.

[0037] [Modification of the vibration acquisition device 10] The vibration acquiring device 10 shown in Fig. 2 may be configured as a vibration acquiring device 10A as shown in Fig. 6. The vibration acquiring device 10A includes a first part vibration acquiring section 11A and a transmission information generating section 13A.

[0038] The first part vibration acquisition unit 11A has the functions of both the first part vibration acquisition unit 11 and the second part vibration acquisition unit 12 described above. That is, the first part vibration acquisition unit 11A acquires vibrations of both the first part and the second part of the person X. The first part vibration acquisition unit 11A is, for example, a microphone arranged near the person X. The installation location of the first part vibration acquisition unit 11A is not limited to a specific location as long as it can acquire vibrations of both the first part and the second part of the person X. That is, it may be installed directly on the floor, or may be installed at a predetermined height from the floor.

[0039] The transmission information generating unit 13A does not have a function of mixing time vibration waveforms, which is performed by the transmission information generating unit 13 of the vibration acquiring device 10. The first part vibration acquiring unit 11A acquires vibrations of both the first part and the second part of the person X. Therefore, the transmission information generating unit 13A does not need to perform the mixing process of time vibration waveforms, which is performed by the transmission information generating unit 13.

[0040] Although the embodiment and the modified examples of this disclosure have been described above, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and it goes without saying that even if there are appropriate design changes within the scope of this disclosure, they are included in this disclosure. For example, in this embodiment, the number of parts is two, the first part and the second part, but the number of parts may be three or more. In that case, it is possible to configure the vibration acquisition device 10 to add a vibration acquisition unit according to the measurement location. Also, in the above description of "(Example of use of the vibration presentation system 1)", acceleration sensors were attached to both the first part (hand) and the second part (foot) to measure vibration. This disclosure is not limited to this, and for example, for the second part (foot), an acceleration sensor or a microphone may be attached to the floor on which the ball is dribbled to measure vibration, and the positions of the first part vibration acquisition unit 11 and the second part vibration acquisition unit 12 may be changed as appropriate. Also, the various processes described in this embodiment may not only be executed in chronological order according to the order described, but may also be executed in parallel or individually according to the processing capacity or necessity of the device that executes the processes. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1. Vibration Presentation System 10,10A vibration acquisition device 11,11A 1st part vibration acquisition part 12 Second part vibration acquisition section 13,13A Transmission information generation section 20 Vibration presentation device 21 Presentation signal generation section 22 Vibration presentation unit for the first part 23 Vibration presentation unit for second part 24 Guidance information presentation section 8 Network Point A,B L1, L2 light emitter P Perceptual information X,Y people

Claims

1. Let a certain point be point A. A point different from the point A is designated as point B, A certain part of a human body is designated as a first part; A second part is a part of the human body that is different from the first part, Let a person be the first. A person different from the first person is designated as the second person, A vibration presentation device for allowing a second person at the point B to perceive a vibration generated in a manner having a correlation between the first part and the second part of a first person at the point A, a first part vibration presentation unit for presenting a vibration to the first part of the second person, the first part vibration presentation unit presenting a vibration corresponding to an input time vibration waveform; a second part vibration presentation unit for presenting a vibration to the second part of the second person, the second part presenting a vibration corresponding to the inputted temporal vibration waveform; and a presentation signal generating unit that inputs a mixed time vibration waveform, which is a time vibration waveform obtained by mixing a time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first part of the first person and a time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second part of the first person and transmitting the mixed time vibration waveform from the point A to the point B, to the first part vibration presentation unit and the second part vibration presentation unit; a guidance information presentation unit that presents information other than vibration to at least one of the first region of the second person or a vicinity of the first region of the second person, and the second region of the second person or a vicinity of the second region of the second person, as a presentation for guiding the attention of the second person; Characterized in that it comprises Vibration presentation device.

2. The vibration presentation device according to claim 1 , The guidance information presentation unit presents light as a presentation for guiding the attention of the second person. Vibration presentation device.

3. The vibration presentation device according to claim 1 or 2, The presentation by the guidance information presentation unit for guiding the attention of the second person is presented without time fluctuation. Vibration presentation device.

4. The vibration presentation device according to claim 1 or 2, the guide information presentation unit presents the same information to both the first region of the second person or a vicinity of the first region of the second person and the second region of the second person or a vicinity of the second region of the second person. Vibration presentation device.

5. The vibration presentation device according to claim 1 or 2, The guidance information presentation unit presents the guidance information such that the intensity of the presentation is maximized at a time when the amplitude of the mixed time vibration waveform is maximized. Vibration presentation device.

6. Let a certain point be point A. A point different from the point A is designated as point B, A certain part of a human body is designated as a first part; A second part is a part of the human body that is different from the first part, Let a person be the first. A person different from the first person is designated as the second person, A vibration presentation method for allowing a second person at the point B to perceive a vibration that occurs in a manner having a correlation between the first part and the second part of a first person at the point A, the vibration presentation method comprising: A mixed time vibration waveform is input, which is a time vibration waveform obtained by mixing a time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first part of the first person and a time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second part of the first person and transmitting the time vibration waveform from the point A to the point B; presenting a vibration corresponding to the input temporal vibration waveform to the first part of the second person; presenting a vibration corresponding to the input temporal vibration waveform to the second part of the second person; presenting information other than vibration to at least one of the first region of the second person or a region near the first region of the second person, and the second region of the second person or a region near the second region of the second person, as a presentation for guiding the attention of the second person; Vibration presentation method.

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