Tactile evaluation device, material presentation device, tactile evaluation method, and material presentation method

Abstract

The present invention efficiently selects a material related to a combination from the viewpoint of the comfort of a tactile sensation. This tactile evaluation device 1A includes a reception unit 10A, an acquisition unit 20A, a calculation unit 30A, and an output unit 40. The reception unit 10A receives a plurality of pieces of material identification information I. The acquisition unit 20A acquires degrees of pleasure (Gk) of tactile sensations corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of material identification information I. The calculation unit 30A calculates, from the degrees of pleasure (Gk), a degree of pleasure (degree of pleasure Pi) of the tactile sensation when materials indicated by the plurality of pieces of material identification information I are combined.

Description

Tactile evaluation device, material presentation device, tactile evaluation method, and material presentation method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technique for evaluating the tactile feel of an object, and in particular to a technique for evaluating the pleasantness of the tactile feel.

[0002] Previously, there was a report on the evaluation of tactile comfort of objects, in which nine types of object surfaces were investigated with only softness varied. According to this report, when the softness of an object was varied, the softer the object, the higher the evaluation of comfort.

[0003] Pasqualotto, A., Ng, M., Tan, ZY et al. Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness. Sci Rep 10, 11189 (2020), <URL: https: / / doi.org / 10.1038 / s41598-020-68034-x>

[0004] The sense of touch is also evaluated by the five-dimensional physical properties of the feel of an object (R: rough-smooth, H: hard-soft, S: sticky-slippery, W: warm-cold, B: uneven-flat). Therefore, the collection of a large amount of data is required to evaluate the tactile comfort of an individual object that combines these physical properties (hereinafter simply referred to as "comfort"). In addition, in order to evaluate the tactile comfort of a combination of individual objects made of different materials, such as when evaluating the tactile comfort of a combination of two materials from N (N≧2) types of object materials, the quantity to be evaluated is O(N ２ ), which resulted in the problem of enormous evaluation costs.

[0005] Therefore, the present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a technology that enables efficient selection of materials to be combined from the perspective of tactile comfort.

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, a tactile evaluation device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a receiving unit that receives a plurality of pieces of material identification information, an acquiring unit that acquires a tactile pleasure rating corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of material identification information, and a calculating unit that calculates, from the pleasure ratings, a tactile pleasure rating when each material indicated by the plurality of material identification information is combined.

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to efficiently select materials to be combined from the perspective of tactile comfort.

[0008] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining Experiment 1. FIG. 2 is a scatter plot showing the relationship between the tactile comfort ratings for a combination of two materials and the average tactile comfort ratings for the two materials. FIG. 3 is a scatter plot showing the relationship between the tactile comfort ratings for a combination of two materials and the tactile similarity of the two materials comprising the combination. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a tactile evaluation device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of a tactile evaluation method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a tactile evaluation device according to a modified example of the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of a tactile evaluation method according to a modified example of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a material presentation device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of a material presentation method according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a material presentation device according to a modified example of the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of a material presentation method according to a modified example of the second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a material presentation device according to the third embodiment. Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow of the material presentation method according to the third embodiment. Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a computer.

[0009] <Character notation> The symbol "￣" (overline) used in the text should be written directly above the character immediately following it, but due to limitations in text notation, it is written immediately before the character in question. In mathematical formulas, these symbols are written in their proper position, that is, directly above the character. For example, "￣p J " is expressed in the following formula: Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Components having the same functions are designated by the same numbers, and duplicated descriptions will be omitted.

[0010] The present disclosure has been created based on the results of the following two experiments (hereinafter also referred to as "Experiment 1" and "Experiment 2").

[0011] <Experiment 1> Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining Experiment 1. In Experiment 1, 20 types of materials were molded to a predetermined size, and two materials were selected from them, arranged side by side as shown in Figure 1, and 16 evaluators j (j = 1, 2, ..., 16) were asked to touch these materials simultaneously with their right hands. The 20 types of materials were plastic grass, artificial turf, uneven silicone sheet, woven wire mesh, silicone rubber, bubble wrap, stone, perforated aluminum, cork board, Japanese paper, carpet, soft sheepskin, towel, white oak, urethane foam, poplar, pig suede, aluminum, sheepskin boa, and faux boa. In Figure 1, to facilitate understanding, the material on the left side is labeled material M1, and the material on the right side is labeled material M2. In Experiment 1, the method was standardized by having participants touch material M1 on the left side with their index finger and material M2 on the right side with their middle finger, as shown in Figure 1. Evaluator j was asked to evaluate the overall comfort resulting from combining these materials (M1, M2) on a 7-point scale ranging from "not comfortable at all" to "very comfortable." This evaluation was carried out for 190 pairs of the 20 types of materials mentioned above. Here, the evaluation level regarding the evaluation of tactile comfort is referred to as the "pleasantness level." The pleasantness level of the ith pair (i=1, 2, 3, ..., 190) by evaluator j is expressed as the "pleasantness level p ｉｊ In this experiment, the pleasure level p ｉｊ The mean value of the evaluation results by the same evaluator j is set to 0 and the variance is set to 1. Ｊ and its standard deviation σ ｊ The comfort level P is standardized using the following formula: ｉｊ obtained. Calculated pleasure level P ｉｊ The average of the values ​​obtained by the raters is calculated as follows: ｉ obtained. Next, the 20 types of materials mentioned above were presented to evaluator j one by one, and he / she touched each material with his / her right hand. After that, he / she answered the pleasantness of the material he / she touched using the seven-point scale mentioned above. Here, the pleasantness level of material k (k = 1, 2, 3, ..., 20) by evaluator j (j = 1, 2, 3, ..., 16) was calculated as "pleasantness level q ｋｊ " It is standardized using the same method as in equation (1), and the comfort level Q is calculated as follows: ｋｊ obtained. Here, q Ｊ is the average value of the evaluation results by the same evaluator j, and σj is its standard deviation. ｋｊ The pleasantness level Q is calculated by averaging the values ​​across evaluators as follows: ｋ obtained. Here, the pleasantness Q of a certain material M1 ｋ to "Q Ｍ１ " and the pleasure level Q of another material M2 ｋ to "Q Ｍ２ " The pleasantness level P for the combination of material M1 and material M2 is ｉ (Q Ｍ１ +Q Ｍ２ ) / 2, and for the 20 materials mentioned above, ｉ and (Q Ｍ１ +Q Ｍ２ ) / 2, a high positive correlation of r=0.88 was obtained. ｉ and (Q Ｍ１ +Q Ｍ２ A scatter diagram showing the relationship between Q and (Q Ｍ１ +Q Ｍ２ ) / 2.

[0012] The 20 types of materials used in Experiment 1 were selected by comprehensively considering the stimuli of the physical properties of the materials (R: rough-smooth, H: hard-soft, S: sticky-slippery, W: warm-cold, B: uneven-flat) (see, for example, Reference 1). Therefore, the correlations shown in Figure 2 are not limited to the 20 types of materials mentioned above, and can be used for any combination of materials.

[0013] (Reference 1): Yokosaka, T., Kuroki, S., & Nishida, S. (2021). Describing the Sensation of the ‘Velvet Hand Illusion’ in Terms of Common Materials. In IEEE Transactions on Haptics (Vol. 14, Issue 3, pp. 680-685). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). <URL: https: / / doi.org / 10.1109 / toh.2020.<3046376>

[0014] <Experiment 2> When we want to select two materials with similar tactile sensations from materials with as similar tactile sensations as possible, let's consider the evaluation of comfort based on similarity. In Experiment 2, the comfort evaluation P for the combination ｉ and the relationship with the similarity of the tactile sensations of the two materials (M1, M2) constituting the combination were investigated. Fig. 3 is obtained from the results of Experiment 2, and it is a scatter diagram showing the relationship between the evaluation of the tactile comfort (pleasure degree P ｉ ) for the combination of two materials and the similarity A of the tactile sensations of the two materials constituting the combination. From Experiment 2, when the correlation between the pleasure degree P ｉ and the similarity A was calculated, it was revealed that the correlation value r = 0.49.

[0015] Hereinafter, embodiments and modifications of the present disclosure will be described. Components having the same function are denoted by the same numbers, and redundant descriptions are omitted.

[0016] <First Embodiment> As shown in Fig. 4, the tactile sensation evaluation device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a reception unit 10, an acquisition unit 20, a calculation unit 30, and an output unit 40. The tactile sensation evaluation device 1 is a device that outputs information (evaluation result Y described later) indicating the pleasure degree of the tactile sensation for the combination of the two types of materials by inputting the identification information of the two types of materials (material identification information I1, I2 described later). The tactile sensation evaluation device 1 performs the tactile sensation evaluation method of the present embodiment by implementing the processing flow illustrated in Fig. 5.

[0017] (Reception Unit 10) The reception unit 10 receives identification information for two materials (step S10). Specifically, it receives input of material identification information I for two types of materials, material M1 and material M2. The material identification information I is information that identifies the type of material. The material identification information I may be, for example, the name of the material, or may be assigned a specific number or symbol. Hereinafter, when distinguishing between the material identification information I for material M1 and material M2, they will be referred to as material identification information I1 and identification information I2. The received material identification information I1 and material identification information I2 are sent to the acquisition unit 20.

[0018] (Acquisition Unit 20) The acquisition unit 20 acquires the tactile pleasure level corresponding to each of the two pieces of material identification information (Step S20). The acquisition unit 20 uses the material identification information I1 and I2 to obtain the pleasure level Q standardized by Equation (4) for the material identification information I1 from a predetermined database (hereinafter also referred to as "database DB1"). ｋ (hereinafter also referred to as "pleasantness level Q1") and the standardized pleasantness level Q for the material identification information I2. ｋ Here, the database DB1 acquires the material identification information I and the corresponding pleasure level Q. ｋ In other words, it is assumed that information on the comfort level is added (annotated) for all N types of materials. The acquired comfort levels Q1 and Q2 are transmitted to the calculation unit 30.

[0019] (Calculation unit 30) The calculation unit 30 calculates the tactile pleasure level P when the two materials indicated by the two pieces of material identification information (material identification information I1, I2) are combined from the pleasure levels (pleasant level Q1, pleasant level Q2). ｉ (The following are other pleasure points ｉ The calculation unit 30 calculates the pleasantness level Py (also referred to as "pleasantness level Py" to distinguish between the two materials). The calculation unit 30 calculates the pleasantness level Py based on predetermined data (hereinafter also referred to as "data D") that indicates the relationship between the average pleasantness level of the tactile sensation for two materials selected from predetermined materials and the pleasantness level of the tactile sensation when the two materials are combined. Data D is data or a table that includes the relationship shown in FIG. 2 obtained from Experiment 1 described above.

[0020] That is, the calculation unit 30 calculates the tactile pleasantness (Py) when the materials indicated by the material identification information I1 and I2 are combined, which corresponds to the average (hereinafter also referred to as "Q") of the tactile pleasantness (pleasantness Q1, pleasantness Q2) corresponding to each of the two pieces of acquired material identification information (material identification information I1, I2). Specifically, Q is calculated by ((Q1 + Q2) / 2), and the pleasantness Py corresponding to the calculated Q is calculated based on the data D. As shown in FIG. 2, the data D is scatter data with a correlation value r = 0.88. Therefore, the calculation of the pleasantness Py uses a regression line obtained from the data D, and the pleasantness Py corresponding to the calculated Q is calculated. ｉ The calculated tactile pleasure level (pleasantness level Py) is transmitted to the output unit 40.

[0021] The database DB1 and the data D may be provided as components within the tactile evaluation device 1, or may be provided as devices separate from the tactile evaluation device 1. The data D and the database DB1 may also be configured as a single database and provided within or outside the tactile evaluation device 1.

[0022] (Output Unit 40) The output unit 40 generates and outputs an evaluation result (evaluation result Y) by converting the pleasure rating Py into information that is easily recognized by the user (Step S40). The evaluation result Y is generated based on, for example, the following idea: ｉ (This is called "Pleasure Level P" ｍｉｎ ") and the maximum pleasantness P ｉ (This is called "Pleasure Level P" ｍａｘ The pleasure level Py obtained in step S30 is evaluated based on these two pieces of information. In other words, the pleasure level Py is calculated by ｍｉｎ From Pleasure Sensitivity P ｍｉｎ It is expected that the value is in the range ｍａｘ is the most pleasant sensation (the most comfortable touch), P ｍｉｎ is regarded as the minimum pleasantness (the most unpleasant touch), and the pleasantness Py is evaluated.

[0023] For example, P ｍａｘ100 points, P ｍｉｎ is defined as 0 points, and Py × (100 / (P ｍａｘ -P ｍｉｎ )) the pleasure level Py may be converted into a number of points out of 100, and the converted result may be output as the evaluation result Y. Alternatively, the pleasure level Py may be calculated by ｍｉｎ is the minimum value, P ｍａｘ It is possible to assume that the result is positioned within a normal distribution with a maximum value of , and output the top percentage of that distribution (or the percentage below that) as the evaluation result Y. The generated evaluation result Y is presented as an output by the tactile evaluation device 1. Note that if the output content of the calculation unit 30 is used as is as the output result of the tactile evaluation device 1, the output unit 40 does not necessarily have to be provided as a component of the tactile evaluation device 1.

[0024] The tactile evaluation device 1 according to this embodiment has been described above. The tactile evaluation device 1 uses data D that can be used for any material, and can calculate the pleasantness level Q, which is the pleasantness level of each material alone, for each of the two types to be combined. ｋ If this information can be obtained, it will be possible to evaluate the tactile comfort of a combination of the two materials.

[0025] In the above-mentioned database DB1, when data on N types of materials exists, when two materials are extracted and combined, adding (annotating) information on comfort evaluation for all combinations requires N×(N−1) / 2 times, or O(N ２ ) is required. On the other hand, annotating the comfort ratings for all N types of materials requires only N times, i.e., O(N) calculations. Therefore, the method of this embodiment, which predicts the results of combinations based on the comfort ratings of each material, is more effective in reducing the amount of calculations as the number of materials increases.

[0026] Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to efficiently select materials to be combined from the viewpoint of tactile comfort.

[0027] <Modification of the First Embodiment> The concept based on the first embodiment described above can also be applied to combinations of three or more types of materials. That is, by specifying multiple types of materials (n types, (n≧2)), it is possible to evaluate the tactile comfort of a combination of the n types of materials. That is, the tactile evaluation device 1 may be configured like the tactile evaluation device 1A shown in FIG. 6. The tactile evaluation device 1A differs from the tactile evaluation device 1 in that the reception unit 10 is replaced by a reception unit 10A, the acquisition unit 20 is replaced by an acquisition unit 20A, and the calculation unit 30 is replaced by a calculation unit 30A. Accordingly, the flow diagram of FIG. 5 is changed as shown in FIG. 7. That is, step S10 is replaced by step S10A, step S20 is replaced by step S20A, and step S30 is replaced by step S30A. The basic functions of the reception unit 10A, the acquisition unit 20A, and the calculation unit 30A are the same as those of the reception unit 10, the acquisition unit 20, and the calculation unit 30, respectively, and therefore the following description will focus on the differences.

[0028] (Receiving Unit 10A) The receiving unit 10A receives multiple (n types (n≧2)) pieces of material identification information (step S10A). The received n types of material identification information I (material identification information I1, I2, I3, ..., In) are sent to the acquiring unit 20A.

[0029] (Acquisition Unit 20A) The acquisition unit 20A acquires a tactile pleasure level Q corresponding to each of the plurality of material identification information. ｋ The acquiring unit 20A acquires the tactile pleasure level (pleasantness level Q) for each of the n types of materials from the database DB1. ｋ The acquired n types of comfort levels (Q1, Q2, Q3, ..., Qn) are transmitted to the calculation unit 30A.

[0030] (Calculation unit 30A) The calculation unit 30A calculates the tactile pleasure level P when each material indicated by the plurality of material identification information (I1, I2, I3, ..., In) is combined from the pleasure level. ｉ That is, from the n types of tactile pleasure levels, the tactile pleasure level P when all of the n types of materials are combined is calculated (step S30A). ｉThe calculation of the tactile pleasantness level Py by the calculation unit 30A is performed based on the above-mentioned data D. The tactile pleasantness level (Q) corresponding to each of the acquired n types of material identifying information I is calculated. ｋ ) corresponding to the average of the tactile pleasure level P when the materials indicated by the n types of material identification information I are combined. ｉ Specifically, the pleasure level Q of each of the n types of materials obtained is calculated. ｋ Then, the average (hereinafter also referred to as "Q") is calculated based on the following formula, for example. From the data D, the pleasure level P corresponding to this average Q is ｉ The pleasure level Py is calculated in the same manner as in step S30 described above. The calculated pleasure level Py of the tactile sensation is transmitted to the output unit 40.

[0031] The tactile evaluation device 1A according to this modification has been described above. With the tactile evaluation device 1A, by using data D that can be used for all materials, it is possible to obtain a single pleasantness rating Q for each of the n types of materials to be combined. ｋ If this information can be obtained, it is possible to evaluate the tactile comfort of the n types of combinations.

[0032] Generally, the number of combinations of n types of materials from N types of materials is O(N ｎ ) On the other hand, calculating the comfort of a combination of materials from the comfort of each material requires only O(N). Therefore, materials for combinations can be efficiently selected from the perspective of tactile comfort.

[0033] 8, the material presentation device 2 according to this embodiment includes a receiving unit 10B, an acquiring unit 20B, a calculating unit 30B, and an output unit 40B. By inputting one piece of material identification information Im, the material presentation device 2 calculates a pleasantness level P that indicates the pleasantness level of the tactile sensation when the material is combined with another material. ｉis a device that outputs a material (presented material G) for which Pmax is maximized. In other words, the material presentation device 2 is a device that presents the best material as a combination material from among the materials in the database DB1 in terms of tactile comfort. The material presentation device 2 performs the tactile evaluation method of this embodiment by implementing the processing flow illustrated in FIG.

[0034] (Reception Unit 10B) The reception unit 10B receives one piece of material identification information (hereinafter also referred to as "material identification information Im") (step S10B). The reception unit 10B has the same functions as the reception unit 10 described above. The reception unit 10B may be configured to receive multiple pieces of material identification information I at once. In that case, the material presentation device 2 outputs a presentation material G for each piece of material identification information I. The received material identification information Im is sent to the acquisition unit 20B.

[0035] (Acquisition unit 20B) The acquisition unit 20B acquires the tactile pleasure level Q corresponding to the material identification information Im. ｋ (Hereinafter, “Pleasure Sensitivity Q ｍ The acquisition unit 20B acquires the tactile comfort level Q standardized by the formula (4) for the material identification information Im from the database DB1 using the material identification information Im (step S20B). ｋ The pleasure level Q ｍ Obtain the obtained pleasure level Q ｍ is transmitted to the calculation unit 30B.

[0036] (Calculation unit 30B) The calculation unit 30B calculates the comfort factor Q ｍ From the data D, the calculation unit 30B calculates the tactile pleasantness rating (hereinafter also referred to as "pleasantness rating Qy") of the material that has the highest tactile pleasantness rating when combined with the material indicated by the material identification information Im (step S30B). That is, the calculation unit 30B calculates the tactile pleasantness rating Qy of the other material in the combination that results in the highest pleasantness rating, based on the data D. Specifically, the calculation unit 30B calculates the tactile pleasantness rating Qy based on the following formula. Here, Pmax is the comfort level P obtained from the data D. ｉ The calculated tactile pleasure level (pleasantness level Qy) of the combination partner is transmitted to the output unit 40B.

[0037] (Output unit 40B) The output unit 40B outputs information indicating the material corresponding to the calculated pleasure rating Qy (step S40B). That is, the output unit 40B identifies a material from the database DB1 that has a pleasure rating closest to the pleasure rating Py, and outputs it as presented material G (step S40B). The presented material G may be output in the form of material identification information I, or may be output after being processed into another expression that is intuitively understandable to the user.

[0038] The above has described the material presentation device 2 according to this embodiment. By using the data D, the material presentation device 2 can select the material with the highest pleasure level for the input material identification information Im, provided that information on the pleasure level Qk of each material is stored in the database DB1.

[0039] If there are N types of materials in the database DB1, adding (annotating) information on the comfort evaluation for all combinations of materials requires N×(N−1) / 2 times, or O(N ２ ) is required. On the other hand, annotating the comfort ratings for all N types of materials requires only N times, i.e., O(N) calculations. Therefore, the method of this embodiment, which predicts the results of combinations based on the comfort ratings of each material, is more effective in reducing the amount of calculations as the number of materials increases.

[0040] Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is also possible to efficiently select materials to be combined from the viewpoint of tactile comfort.

[0041] <Variation of the Second Embodiment> The material presentation device 2 described above may be configured as a material presentation device 2C shown in Fig. 10. The material presentation device 2C differs from the material presentation device 2 in that the reception unit 10B is replaced by a reception unit 10C, and the calculation unit 30B is replaced by a calculation unit 30C. Accordingly, the flow diagram of Fig. 9 is changed as shown in Fig. 11. That is, step S10B is replaced by step S10C, and step S30B is replaced by step S30C. The material presentation device 2C is a device that receives one piece of material identification information Im and a degree X, which is a desired combination degree, and outputs a material My (presented material G) that is a combination partner that satisfies the degree X.

[0042] The receiving unit 10C receives a desired degree (degree X) of evaluation of tactile comfort when a material identification information (material identification information Im) is combined with a material My that is to be combined with the material identified by the material identification information Im. The received material identification information Im and degree X are transmitted to the acquiring unit 20B.

[0043] (Calculation unit 30C) The calculation unit 30C calculates the tactile pleasantness level (pleasantness level Qy) of a material (material My) to be combined with a material indicated by one piece of material identification information Im, based on the data D, such that the tactile pleasantness level when combined with the material indicated by one piece of material identification information Im becomes level X. The calculation of the tactile pleasantness level Qy by the calculation unit 30C is performed based on the following formula. Here, Px is calculated based on the reverse concept of the output unit 40 of the tactile evaluation device 1. That is, for example, when the degree X is input as a predetermined point out of a full score of 100, Px is calculated from the data D. ｍｉｎ 0 points, P ｍａｘ is regarded as 100 points, and the pleasantness level Px is calculated from the input degree X. ｍｉｎ is the minimum value, P ｍａｘ When the user inputs the percentage of the user's tactile sensation that is in the top percentile (or the percentage below), the system calculates the corresponding pleasantness level Px. The calculated pleasantness level of the tactile sensation (Qy) is sent to the output unit 40B.

[0044] This modification also allows efficient selection of materials to be combined from the perspective of tactile comfort.

[0045] Third Embodiment This embodiment uses the results of Experiment 2 described above.

[0046] The similarity of the texture of two materials can be calculated from the Euclidean distance of the evaluation of five-dimensional physical properties of texture (R: rough-smooth, H: hard-soft, S: sticky-slippery, W: warm-cold, B: uneven-flat). For example, the dissimilarity A between materials m and n can be calculated using the following formula: Therefore, when we want to find a material that, when combined with material Mi, improves the evaluation of tactile comfort, we search for an arbitrary number (for example, 10) of materials that have a small dissimilarity A with material Mi, and then calculate the dissimilarity A (Q ｉ +Qy) / 2 is output as presentation material G.

[0047] As shown in Fig. 12 , the material presentation device 2D according to this embodiment includes a receiving unit 10D, a selecting unit 50, an acquiring unit 20D, a calculating unit 30D, and an output unit 40D. The material presentation device 2D selects materials similar to the material identification information Im from the database DB1, the number of which is equal to the narrowed-down number z. The material presentation device 2D calculates the tactile pleasure rating for each combination when the material indicated by the material identification information Im is combined with one of the selected materials, identifies the combination with the highest pleasure rating from the calculated pleasure ratings, and outputs information indicating the material of the other material identified by the material identification information Im in the identified combination as the presented material G. The material presentation device 2D performs the tactile evaluation method of this embodiment by implementing the processing flow illustrated in Fig. 13 .

[0048] (Receiving Unit 10D) The receiving unit 10D receives one piece of material identification information (material identification information Im) and a desired narrowed-down number (hereinafter also referred to as "narrowed-down number z") (step S10D). The narrowed-down number z (z≧2) is the number of material identification information I selected by the selecting unit 50, which will be described later. The received material identification information Im and narrowed-down number z are transmitted to the selecting unit 50.

[0049] (Selection Unit 50) The selection unit 50 selects z materials similar to the material indicated by the material identification information Im from the database DB1, starting with the material with the highest degree of similarity (step S50). When the database DB1 contains information on N types of materials, including the material identification information Im, the selection unit 50 calculates the dissimilarity A for each material in the combination with the material identification information Im, where n is the other material, using the above-described formula (8). From the calculated N-1 dissimilarities, z pleasantness ratings corresponding to the material identification information I are selected in descending order of similarity (i.e., ascending order of dissimilarity A). The material identification information I constituting the selected z pleasantness ratings are transmitted to the acquisition unit 20D together with the material identification information Im.

[0050] (Acquisition unit 20D) The acquisition unit 20D acquires the tactile pleasure level for the material indicated by the material identification information Im and each of the z number of materials selected by the selection unit 50 (step S20D). The acquisition unit 20D acquires the pleasure level Q from the database DB1 using the material identification information Im and the z number of narrowed-down material identification information I. ｍ and the standardized tactile pleasantness level Q for each of the narrowed-down number z of material identification information I. ｋ and obtain the obtained pleasure level Q ｍ and z pleasure levels Q ｋ is transmitted to the calculation unit 30D.

[0051] (Calculation unit 30D) The calculation unit 30D calculates, from the acquired pleasantness levels, a pleasantness level P of the tactile sensation for each combination when the material indicated by the material identification information Im is combined with one of the selected z materials. ｉ is calculated (step S30D). ｉ The calculation method of the z tactile pleasure levels P is the same as in step S30. ｉ is transmitted to the output unit 40.

[0052] The output unit 40D identifies the combination with the highest tactile pleasure rating from the calculated z combinations, and outputs information indicating the material that is the counterpart of the material identified by the material identification information Im in the identified combination as the presentation material G (step S40D).

[0053] The material presentation device 2D according to this embodiment has been described above. The material presentation device 2D selects materials similar to the material identification information Im from the database DB1, the number of which is equal to the narrowed-down number z. The device calculates the tactile pleasure rating for each combination of the material indicated by the material identification information Im and one of the selected materials, identifies the combination with the highest pleasure rating from the calculated pleasure ratings, and outputs material information for the other material.

[0054] If there are N types of materials, annotating the comfort ratings for all pairs of materials requires N × (N-1) / 2 times, or O(N ２ ) requires a computational effort of 1000 times. In addition, the computational effort increases further because materials with similar combinations are selected.

[0055] On the other hand, by specifying the narrowing down number z in advance, the amount of calculation for similarity is also limited, and annotating the comfort ratings for all N types of materials requires only N times, i.e., O(N) calculations. Therefore, this method, which predicts the results of combinations based on the comfort ratings of each material, is more effective when there are a large number of materials.

[0056] Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is also possible to efficiently select materials to be combined from the viewpoint of tactile comfort.

[0057] The above describes the embodiments and modifications of the present disclosure. The various processes in the above embodiments and modifications may not only be executed in chronological order as described, but may also be executed in parallel or individually depending on the processing capabilities of the devices that execute the processes or as needed. Needless to say, other appropriate modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

[0058] The present disclosure may further include a device (terminal) for using the device of the present disclosure or the method of the present disclosure via a network (telecommunications line). The "device (terminal) for use" may be provided with functions (e.g., control function, decoding function, restoration function, input / output function, etc.) necessary to obtain the effects of implementing the device of the present disclosure or the method of the present disclosure.

[0059] [Processor, Program, Recording Medium] The functions performed by the components described herein may be implemented in circuitry or processing circuitry, including general-purpose processors, application-specific processors, integrated circuits, ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), a CPU (a Central Processing Unit), conventional circuits, and / or combinations thereof, programmed to perform the described functions. A processor includes transistors and other circuits and is considered to be circuitry or processing circuitry. A processor may also be a programmed processor that executes a program stored in a memory.

[0060] In this specification, a circuitry, unit, or means is hardware that is programmed to realize or performs the described functions, which may be any hardware disclosed herein or any hardware known to be programmed to realize or perform the described functions.

[0061] If the hardware is a processor considered to be a type of circuitry, the circuitry, means, or unit is a combination of the hardware and software used to configure the hardware and / or processor.

[0062] The various processes described above can be implemented by loading a program that executes each step of the above method into the recording unit 2020 of the computer 2000 shown in Figure 14, and operating the control unit 2010, input unit 2030, output unit 2040, display unit 2050, etc.

[0063] The program describing the processing contents can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, which may be, for example, a magnetic recording device, an optical disk, a magneto-optical recording medium, a semiconductor memory, or any other suitable recording medium.

[0064] The program may be distributed by, for example, selling, transferring, lending, etc. portable recording media such as DVDs and CD-ROMs on which the program is recorded. Furthermore, the program may be stored in a storage device of a server computer, and then transferred from the server computer to other computers via a network, thereby distributing the program.

[0065] A computer that executes such a program may first temporarily store the program recorded on a portable recording medium or transferred from a server computer in its own storage device. Then, when executing a process, the computer reads the program stored on its own recording medium and executes the process in accordance with the read program. Alternatively, the computer may read the program directly from a portable recording medium and execute the process in accordance with the program. Furthermore, the computer may execute the process in accordance with the program each time a program is transferred from a server computer to the computer. Alternatively, the server computer may not transfer the program to the computer, but may instead execute the process through a so-called ASP (Application Service Provider) service, which realizes the processing function by issuing an execution instruction and obtaining the results. Furthermore, the server computer may execute the process at the terminal using a so-called SaaS (Software as a Service) service, which allows users to use part of a server computer along with the program. In this embodiment, the program includes information used for processing by an electronic computer that is equivalent to a program (such as data that is not a direct instruction to a computer but has properties that dictate computer processing).

[0066] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the device is configured by executing a predetermined program on a computer, but at least a part of the processing contents may be realized by hardware.

Claims

1. A tactile evaluation device comprising: a receiving unit that receives a plurality of pieces of material identification information; an acquiring unit that acquires a tactile pleasure rating corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of material identification information; and a calculating unit that calculates, from the pleasure ratings, a tactile pleasure rating when each material indicated by the plurality of pieces of material identification information is combined.

2. The tactile evaluation device described in claim 1, wherein the calculation unit calculates the tactile pleasantness level when each material indicated by the plurality of material identification information is combined, which corresponds to the average tactile pleasantness level corresponding to each of the plurality of acquired material identification information, based on predetermined data indicating the relationship between the average tactile pleasantness level for two materials selected from among predetermined materials and the tactile pleasantness level when the two materials are combined.

3. A material presentation device having: a reception unit that receives one piece of material identification information; an acquisition unit that acquires a tactile pleasure level corresponding to the material identification information; a calculation unit that calculates, from the pleasure levels, the tactile pleasure level of a material that has the highest tactile pleasure level when combined with a material indicated by the one piece of material identification information; and an output unit that outputs information indicating the material corresponding to the calculated pleasure level.

4. The material presentation device according to claim 3, wherein the calculation unit calculates the tactile pleasure level of the other material in the combination that results in the highest pleasure level based on predetermined data showing the relationship between the average tactile pleasure level of two materials selected from a predetermined set of materials and the tactile pleasure level when the two materials are combined.

5. The material presentation device described in claim 4, wherein the reception unit receives a desired degree of tactile pleasantness when the one piece of material identification information is combined with a material that is to be combined with the material indicated by the one piece of material identification information, and the calculation unit calculates, based on the specified data, the tactile pleasantness of the material that is to be combined with the material indicated by the one piece of material identification information, so that the tactile pleasantness of the material that is to be combined with the material indicated by the one piece of material identification information will be the desired degree.

6. A material presentation device comprising: a reception unit that receives one piece of material identification information and a desired number of narrowed-down selections; a selection unit that selects, from a predetermined database, materials similar to the material indicated by the material identification information, the number of materials selected, in descending order of similarity; an acquisition unit that acquires tactile pleasure levels for the material indicated by the one material identification information and each of the selected materials; a calculation unit that calculates, from the acquired pleasure levels, the tactile pleasure level for each combination when the material indicated by the one material identification information is combined with one of the selected materials; and a presentation unit that identifies the combination with the highest pleasure level from the calculated tactile pleasure levels for each combination, and outputs information indicating the material that is the counterpart of the material indicated by the one material identification information in the identified combination.

7. A tactile evaluation method, in which a receiving unit of a tactile pleasure evaluation device receives a plurality of pieces of material identification information, an acquisition unit of the tactile pleasure evaluation device acquires a tactile pleasure rating corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of material identification information, and a calculation unit of the tactile pleasure evaluation device calculates a pleasure rating when each of the materials indicated by the plurality of material identification information is combined from the tactile pleasure ratings.

8. A material presentation method, in which a reception unit of a material presentation device receives one piece of material identification information, an acquisition unit of the material presentation device acquires a tactile pleasure level corresponding to the material identification information, a calculation unit of the material presentation device calculates, from the pleasure levels, the tactile pleasure level of a material that has the highest tactile pleasure level when combined with a material indicated by the one piece of material identification information, and an output unit of the material presentation device outputs information indicating the material corresponding to the calculated pleasure level.

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