AR Glasses Midair Haptic Feedback via Transducer Array
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Solution Overview
Problem
Augmented reality (AR) glasses that display images in midair lack tactile feedback, which diminishes the user's belief in the visual reality and requires mental imagination for touch sensations, as they do not provide physical sensations like touch, temperature, weight, or texture when interacted with.
Innovation Solution
The use of a transducer array in AR glasses to create mid-air haptic touch, allowing users to feel images by projecting ultrasonic waves that correspond to the shape and movement of the images, providing tactile feedback that matches the visual and auditory cues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If AR glasses display images in midair without haptic feedback, then the visual display is simple and clear, but the user experience lacks realism and tactile confirmation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary haptic feedback system that mediates between the visual display and the user's tactile senses. The haptic feedback device generates tactile sensations corresponding to the displayed images, serving as a bridge that enhances the user's belief in the visual reality without requiring fundamental changes to the display system itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple sensory modalities (visual and tactile) into a unified user experience. By merging the visual display system with the haptic feedback system, the patent creates a multi-sensory interface that enhances realism while maintaining the independence of each subsystem, thus managing overall system complexity.
2Ease of operation
If AR glasses provide tactile feedback for midair images, then the user experience becomes more realistic, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the AR system into distinct functional modules: the visual display component and the haptic feedback component. This segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently, improving ease of operation for each function while managing overall system complexity through modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The haptic feedback system is designed to provide multiple functions: tactile confirmation, texture simulation, temperature feedback, and interaction guidance. By creating a universal haptic subsystem that serves multiple purposes, the patent improves overall user interaction quality without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Productivity
If AR images lack touch sensations, then the device structure remains simple, but the user requires mental imagination which reduces efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The haptic feedback system provides self-service by automatically generating tactile sensations that correspond to the displayed images without requiring additional user cognitive effort. The system serves itself by using the same data that drives the visual display to generate appropriate haptic feedback, thereby improving interaction efficiency while maintaining simple operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the immersive experience by providing realistic tactile feedback, allowing users to interact with mid-air holograms as if they were physical objects, improving usability and engagement through multi-modal sensory input.
Implementation Method 1
The use of a transducer array in AR glasses to create mid-air haptic touch, allowing users to feel images by projecting ultrasonic waves that correspond to the shape and movement of the images
Data Source
AI summary
Augmented reality glasses are used, with a transducer array, to give images, produced by the glasses, a feel in midair. The glasses images can be shown as three-dimensional images, that are located in midair. The images are located near the transducer array. The array produces a touch feel in mid-air. The mid-air touch feel occupies the same space as the image. The feel gives the image a touch feel, when a user touches the image. The touch sense, can give the image a more real interaction when touched, such as, giving an image of a food item like a sandwich, a feel similar to a sandwich feel. The images with feel, allow for an immersive experience, within the augmented reality environment. The feel can move, when the image moves, such as, the user views an image, of another user's hand moving, and feels the movement of the hand.