Vibration display device and vibration display 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 tactile information to remote locations. [Background Art]

[0002] As a conventional technique for tactile transmission, there is a method in which time-vibration waveforms at a plurality of sites on a human body are acquired, each of the acquired time-vibration waveforms is transmitted, and each of the transmitted time-vibration waveforms is presented to each site on another person's body (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). [Prior Art Documents] [Non-Patent Documents]

[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, in a case where the point at which tactile information is acquired differs from the point at which the tactile information is reproduced or presented (hereinafter also simply referred to as "presented"), the use of the technique of Non-Patent Document 1 results in a need to transmit time-vibration waveforms from the point of acquisition of tactile information to the point of presentation of tactile information, in accordance with the number of sites at which vibration is acquired and presented. That is, Non-Patent Document 1 has the problem that transmission capacity increases depending on the number of sites.

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

[0006] To solve the above problems, a vibration presentation device according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a vibration presentation device that causes a second person at point B to perceive vibrations that are related to the first part and second part of the first person at point A, with a certain point being designated as point A, a certain point being designated as point B, a certain predetermined part of a person's body being designated as the first part, a certain person being designated as the second person, a certain person being designated as the first person, and a certain person being designated as the second person, who is different from the first person. The vibration presentation device is for presenting vibrations to a first body part of a second person and includes a vibration presentation unit for a first body part that presents vibrations corresponding to an input time vibration waveform, and a vibration presentation unit for a second body part that presents vibrations corresponding to an input time vibration waveform, and further includes a presentation signal generation unit that inputs a mixed time vibration waveform, which is a time vibration waveform transmitted from point A to point B, obtained by mixing the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first body part of the first person and the time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second body part of the first person, to the vibration presentation unit for a first body part and the vibration presentation unit for a second body part, and a guidance information presentation unit that presents information other than vibrations as a presentation to guide the attention of the second person to at least one of the first body part of the second person or the vicinity of the first body part of the second person, and the second body part of the second person or the vicinity of the second body part of the second person. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to this disclosure, it is possible to provide a person at a location presenting tactile information with a sensation equivalent to the sensation of vibrations from multiple parts of the body at the point where tactile information is acquired, without the transmission capacity increasing depending on the number of body parts. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] Figure 1 shows an example of the functional configuration of a vibration presentation system according to the present disclosure. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows an example of the functional configuration of a vibration acquisition device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a processing flow for a vibration acquisition method according to the present disclosure. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a vibration presentation device according to the present disclosure. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of the vibration presentation method according to the present disclosure. [Figure 6] Figure 6 shows an example of the functional configuration of a vibration acquisition device according to a modified embodiment of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures. Furthermore, components having the same function will be numbered identically, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

[0010] [Vibration feedback system] The vibration presentation system according to this embodiment transmits a single time-time vibration waveform, which is a mixture of vibrations measured at two parts of the body (hereinafter also referred to as "first part" and "second part"), from point A to point B. At point B, the same time-time vibration waveform is presented to both parts of the body (e.g., hands and feet) of the person at point B, and the person's attention 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 and second parts, but also vibrations measured in the vicinity of each of the first and second parts. It also includes vibrations measured at the first part and vibrations measured in the vicinity of the second part. Alternatively, it includes vibrations measured in the vicinity of the first part and vibrations measured at the second part.

[0011] In this embodiment, location A is a certain location, and location B is a certain location different from location A. Also, a certain person at location A is referred to as "person X," and a certain person at location B is referred to as "person Y." Therefore, using the above definitions, from another perspective, the vibration presentation system according to this embodiment is a system that causes person Y at location B to perceive vibrations that have been generated in relation to a first body part and a second body part of person X at location A.

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

[0013] As shown in Figure 1, the vibration presentation system 1 according to this embodiment is configured such that the vibration acquisition device 10 and the vibration presentation device 20 can communicate 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 near point A), and the vibration presentation device 20 is located at point B (or near point B). However, if vibrations can be acquired from multiple body parts of person X at point A, the entire vibration acquisition device 10 does not necessarily need to be at the same point A (or near point A). For example, the transmission information generation unit 13 does not necessarily need to be at point A or near point A. Also, if vibrations generated from the presentation time vibration waveform (described later) can be applied to multiple body parts of person Y at point B, the entire vibration presentation device 20 does not necessarily need to be at point B (or near point B). For example, the presentation signal generation unit 21 does not necessarily need to be at point B or near point B.

[0015] [Vibration acquisition device] As shown in Figure 2, the vibration acquisition device 10 according to the embodiment of this disclosure includes, for example, a first part vibration acquisition unit 11, a second part vibration acquisition unit 12, and a transmission information generation unit 13. The vibration acquisition device 10 performs the vibration acquisition method of this embodiment by carrying out the processing flow shown in Figure 3.

[0016] The first part vibration acquisition unit 11 acquires vibrations from 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 can acquire the first time vibration waveform by any means necessary. For example, it may use an acceleration sensor or a microphone.

[0017] The second part vibration acquisition unit 12 acquires vibrations from 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 can acquire the second time vibration waveform by any means necessary. For example, it may be an acceleration sensor or a microphone. The order of steps S11 and S12 does not matter as long as the mixing process by the transmission information generation unit 13, which will be described later, can be performed appropriately. That is, the order of steps S11 and S12 may be reversed, or they may be processed in parallel.

[0018] The transmission information generating unit 13 mixes the first time-domain vibration waveform and the second time-domain vibration waveform to generate a digitized digital mixed vibration signal, and outputs the signal to the network 8 (step S13). The mixing of the signals of the first time-domain vibration waveform and the second time-domain vibration waveform performed by the transmission information generating unit 13 is performed such that there is no time shift between the two vibration waveforms. The signal mixing process performed by the transmission information generating unit 13 may be performed on the first time-domain vibration waveform and the second time-domain vibration waveform before AD conversion, or may be performed after AD conversion. The digital mixed vibration signal may be compression-encoded using a known encoding technique to obtain a code, and the code may be configured to be output to the network 8. Note that in a case where the vibration acquisition device 10 and the vibration presentation device 20 are connected not via the network 8 but via a cable such as a copper wire, for example, the transmission information generating unit 13 may mix the first time-domain vibration waveform and the second time-domain vibration waveform as analog signals, and the mixed signal may be configured to be output 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 presenting unit 22, a second part vibration presenting unit 23, and a guidance information presenting unit 24. The vibration presentation device 20 implements the processing flow shown in Fig. 5 to perform the vibration presentation method of the present embodiment.

[0020] The prompt signal generation unit 21 receives a digital mixed vibration signal input from the network 8, performs DA conversion on the digital mixed vibration signal to generate a time vibration waveform for presentation, and outputs the generated waveform to the first-site vibration presentation unit and the second-site vibration presentation unit (step S21). That is, the prompt signal generation unit 21 inputs the presentation time vibration waveform generated from the digital mixed vibration signal, which is a time vibration waveform obtained by mixing the first time vibration waveform of the vibration of the first site of person X and the second time vibration waveform of the vibration of the second site of person X and transmitted from point A to point B, to the first-site vibration presentation unit 22 and the second-site vibration presentation unit 23. When a compression-coded code is input from the vibration acquisition device 10, the code is decoded to obtain the digital mixed vibration signal, and then the time vibration waveform for presentation is generated. It should be noted that, when the connection between the vibration acquisition device 10 and the vibration presentation device 20 is formed not through the 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 directly output as it is to the first-site vibration presentation unit and the second-site vibration presentation unit.

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

[0022] The second body part vibration presentation unit 23 is positioned in direct or indirect contact with the second body part. The second body part vibration presentation unit 23 converts the time vibration waveform for presentation into vibration and outputs it (step S23). That is, the second body part vibration presentation unit 23 is for presenting vibration to the second body part of person Y, and presents vibration corresponding to the digital mixed vibration signal (the time vibration waveform for presentation input to the second body 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 processing of perceptual information P by the guidance information presentation unit 24, which will be described later, can be performed appropriately. That is, the order of processing steps S22 and S23 may be reversed, or they may be configured to be processed in parallel.

[0023] The guidance information presentation unit 24 is positioned in or near at least one of the first and second parts of person Y and presents information to guide attention (step S24). Specifically, the guidance information presentation unit 24 presents "perceptual information other than vibration" (hereinafter also referred to as "perceptual information P") to at least one of the first part of person Y or near the first part of person Y, and to the second part of person Y or near the second part of person Y, as a presentation to guide the attention of person Y.

[0024] One concrete example of perceptual information P used to attract person Y's attention is light. In this case, there are no limitations on the color of the light, but it may be constructed by selecting a color that is more likely to attract attention from everyone, or from person Y.

[0025] The perceptual information P may be configured to vary over time, or it may be configured not to vary over time.

[0026] An example of a case where perceptual information P varies over time is to convert the time-oscillating waveform itself into perceptual information P. For example, if perceptual information P is light, the system can be configured to vary over time such that the magnitude of the light is maximized at the maximum of the time-oscillating waveform of the received signal. In this case, as shown by the dashed line in Figure 4, the time-oscillating waveform for presentation may be directly input to the guidance information presentation unit 24, converted into light, and output (lit up). Alternatively, as shown by the dashed line in Figure 4, the presentation signal generation unit 21 may obtain a signal obtained by passing the time-oscillating waveform for presentation through a low-pass filter as a guidance signal, and input this guidance signal to the guidance information presentation unit 24. If the time-oscillating waveform for presentation is greater than or equal to a threshold, it may have a predetermined magnitude (first magnitude), and if not, it may have a predetermined second magnitude smaller than the first magnitude. This guidance signal may be obtained as a guidance signal and input to the guidance information presentation unit 24. The guidance information presentation unit 24 presents the perceptual information P at the time when the amplitude of the mixed-time vibration waveform is at its maximum, so as to maximize the intensity of the presentation of the perceptual information P.

[0027] An example of a case where perceptual information P does not change over time is, for instance, if perceptual information P is light, the light can be kept on at all times. When perceptual information P is presented as light that does not change over time, there is no input to the guidance information presentation unit 24, and it may simply be configured to turn on the light.

[0028] The guidance information presentation unit 24 may be configured to present the same information to both the first part of person Y or its vicinity and the second part of person Y or its vicinity. Alternatively, it may be configured to present the information to only one of the following: the first part of person Y or its vicinity and the second part of person Y or its vicinity.

[0029] The embodiment has been described above. By using the vibration presentation system 1 described above, person Y's attention is drawn to the perceptual information P presented by the guidance information presentation unit 24. As a result of being drawn to the perceptual information P, the sensation of vibration generated by person Y based on the digital mixed vibration signals in the first and second body parts becomes similar to the sensation of vibration that person X perceives in the first and second body parts, respectively. A specific example of this sensation will be explained in the following example of using the vibration presentation system 1.

[0030] (Example of use of Vibration Presentation System 1) As an example of using the vibration feedback system 1 described above, we will explain it using the example of dribbling a basketball.

[0031] For example, suppose a person X at point A has an acceleration sensor attached to their hand (first body part) as a first body part vibration acquisition unit 11, and another acceleration sensor attached to their foot (second body part) as a second body part vibration acquisition unit 12. Suppose a person Y at point B has a vibration transmission actuator attached to their hand (first body part) as a first body part vibration presentation unit 22, and another vibration transmission actuator attached to their foot (second body part) as a second body part vibration presentation unit 23. Furthermore, suppose a light-emitting device (light-emitting device L1) is placed near the hand of person Y as a guidance information presentation unit 24, and another light-emitting device (light-emitting device L2) is placed near the feet of person Y. Light-emitting devices L1 and L2 will utilize the dashed-dotted signal from the presentation signal generation unit 21 shown in Figure 4. Specifically, the devices L1 and L2 will be lit (illuminated) when the size is first, and will not be lit when the size is second. The threshold for determining whether the light is on or off is the vibration with the smaller maximum amplitude between the vibration caused by person X bouncing the basketball and the vibration caused by the ball hitting the floor. Therefore, vibrations with an amplitude greater than this threshold are judged as the first magnitude, and vibrations with an amplitude smaller than this threshold are judged as the second magnitude.

[0032] In the configuration described above, if the vibration presentation system 1 is used, suppose person X at point A is asked to dribble a basketball in place. In this case, as person Y's attention is drawn to the perceptual information P (light emitters L1, L2), the sensation of vibration generated from the presentation time vibration waveforms in the first and second parts of person Y will be similar to the sensation of vibration felt by person X in the first and second parts, respectively. That is, even though person Y receives vibrations generated from a single signal, the presentation time vibration waveform, person Y will feel as if they are receiving vibrations alternately in two parts of person Y: the first part of person Y and the two parts at point B. In other words, the presentation time vibration waveform from which person Y feels the vibration is, if we focus on the maximal portion of the time vibration waveform, a single time vibration waveform whose period is essentially half that of the first or second time vibration waveform. Person Y receives vibrations from this single time-series vibration waveform at the same time in both the first and second body parts. This allows Person Y to perceive the vibrations transmitted to Person Y at point B as if Person X at point A were dribbling a basketball.

[0033] Light emitters L1 and L2 may be configured to light up only one of them. The sensations perceived by person Y described above can be obtained not only when both light emitters L1 and L2 are lit simultaneously, but also when only one of them is lit.

[0034] Furthermore, in the example described above, the light emitters L1 and L2 were configured to be either lit or not lit, but this embodiment is not limited to this, and light emitters L1 and L2 may be kept lit at all times. Even when light emitters L1 and L2 are kept lit at all times, person Y can still obtain the sensation described above. In this case, the light emitters are not limited to both light emitters L1 and L2 being kept lit at all times; either one may be kept lit at all times.

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

[0036] In this embodiment, the guidance information presentation unit 24 does not control the presentation to alternately show information between the first and second body parts. In the example of use described above, no process is performed to alternately light up the light emitters L1 and L2. It is possible to give person Y a sensation similar to that of person X by alternately lighting up the first and second body parts. However, achieving this would require transmitting the necessary information from point A to point B. Alternatively, it would require advanced signal processing, such as separating vibration signals at point B. This embodiment eliminates the need for such transmission and processing. Without increasing the transmission capacity depending on the number of body parts, it is possible to give a person at the point where tactile information is presented a sensation equivalent to the vibration sensation of multiple body parts at the point where tactile information is acquired.

[0037] [Variable example of vibration acquisition device 10] The vibration acquisition device 10 shown in Figure 2 may be configured as a vibration acquisition device 10A, as shown in Figure 6. 10A consists of a first part vibration acquisition unit 11A and a transmission information generation unit 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 and second parts of person X. The first part vibration acquisition unit 11A is, for example, a microphone placed near 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 and second parts of person X. That is, it may be installed directly on the floor, or it may be installed at a predetermined height from the floor.

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

[0040] While embodiments and variations of this disclosure have been described above, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that any design changes, etc., made as appropriate without departing from the spirit of this disclosure are still included. For example, in this embodiment, the number of parts was described using an example of two parts, a first part and a second part, but the number of parts may be configured to be three or more. In that case, it is conceivable that the vibration acquisition device 10 may be configured to add vibration acquisition units according to the measurement location. Also, in the description in "(Example of use of the vibration presentation system 1)" above, acceleration sensors were attached to both the first part (hand) and the second part (foot) to measure vibration. This disclosure is not limited thereto, and for example, for the second part (foot), the positions of the first part vibration acquisition unit 11 and the second part vibration acquisition unit 12 may be changed as appropriate, such as by attaching an acceleration sensor or microphone to the floor where dribbling takes place to measure vibration. Furthermore, 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 as needed, depending on the processing capacity of the device performing 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 unit 22 Vibration presentation unit for the first part 23 Vibration presentation unit for second part 24 Guidance information presentation section 8 Networks Point A,B L1, L2 light emitters P Perceptual Information X,Y people

Claims

1. Let a certain point be point A. Let B be a different location from the aforementioned location A. A specific part of a person's body is designated as the first part, A predetermined part of the human body that is different from the first part is designated as the second part. Let's designate one person as the first, Let a person different from the first person be referred to as the second person. A vibration presentation device for causing a second person at location B to perceive vibrations generated in relation between a first body part and a second body part of a first person at location A, A device for presenting vibrations to the first body part of the second person, comprising a vibration presenting unit for the first body part that presents vibrations corresponding to an input time vibration waveform, A device for presenting vibrations to the second part of the second person, comprising a vibration presenting unit for the second part that presents vibrations corresponding to an input time vibration waveform, Including, and further, A mixed time vibration waveform, which is a time vibration waveform transmitted from point A to point B by mixing the time vibration waveform of the first body part of the first person and the time vibration waveform of the second body part of the first person, is input to the vibration presentation unit for the first body part and the vibration presentation unit for the second body part by a presentation signal generation unit. A guidance information display unit that displays information other than vibration as a presentation to guide the attention of the second person to at least one of the first body part of the second person or the vicinity of the first body part of the second person, and the second body part of the second person or the vicinity of the second body part of the second person, Features including, Vibration presentation device.

2. A vibration presentation device according to claim 1, The aforementioned guidance information display unit displays light as a presentation to guide the attention of the second person. Vibration presentation device.

3. A vibration presentation device according to claim 1 or claim 2, The information presented by the guidance information display unit to guide the attention of the second person is presented in a manner that does not change over time. Vibration presentation device.

4. A vibration presentation device according to claim 1 or claim 2, The guidance information display unit displays the same information to both the first body part of the second person or the vicinity of the first body part of the second person, and the second body part of the second person or the vicinity of the second body part of the second person. Vibration presentation device.

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

6. Let a certain point be point A. Let B be a different location from the aforementioned location A. A specific part of a person's body is designated as the first part, A predetermined part of the human body that is different from the first part is designated as the second part. Let's designate one person as the first, Let a person different from the first person be referred to as the second person. A vibration presentation method for causing a second person at location B to perceive vibrations generated in relation between a first body part and a second body part of a first person at location A, A mixed time-vibration waveform, which is a time-vibration waveform transmitted from point A to point B by mixing the time-vibration waveform of the first body part of the first person and the time-vibration waveform of the second body part of the first person, is input. A vibration corresponding to the input time-oscillation waveform is presented to the first part of the second person, A vibration corresponding to the input time-oscillation waveform is presented to the second part of the second person, Information other than vibration is presented to at least one of the following to attract the attention of the second person: the first body part of the second person or the vicinity of the first body part of the second person, and the second body part of the second person or the vicinity of the second body part of the second person. Vibration presentation method.

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