Tactile Signal Decoder With Frequency-Band Strength Encoding

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

The increased number of sites for tactile stimulus application leads to an increase in tactile signal data, causing processing load and transmission delays, which deteriorates tactile reproducibility.

Innovation Solution

A decoder that separates tactile signals into first and second frequency bands, decodes the first band signal and synthesizes it with tactile strength information for the second band, allowing for efficient decoding and reproduction while maintaining tactile reproducibility.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the number of sites for tactile stimulus application is increased, then tactile reproducibility is improved, but the amount of tactile signal data increases, causing processing load and transmission delays

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetactile reproducibilityVSAvoidamount of tactile signal data

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The tactile signal is divided into multiple frequency bands (first frequency band and second frequency band), allowing separate processing and encoding of different frequency components. This segmentation enables efficient data representation by processing each band independently rather than handling the entire signal as a single large data set.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The encoding strategy changes based on frequency band parameters. For the first frequency band, full signal encoding is applied, while for the second frequency band, only tactile strength information is encoded. This parameter-based differentiation reduces overall data量 while preserving perceptually important information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Productivity

If the amount of tactile signal data is reduced, then processing load and transmission delays are decreased, but tactile reproducibility may deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocessing efficiencyVSAvoidtactile reproducibility

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Different encoding parameters are applied to different frequency bands: the first band uses complete signal encoding to preserve quality, while the second band uses compressed tactile strength information. This selective parameter application maintains tactile reproducibility for perceptually critical frequencies while reducing data for less critical bands.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The encoding quality varies locally across frequency bands rather than applying uniform compression. The first frequency band maintains high fidelity with complete signal encoding, while the second band uses efficient tactile strength encoding. This local quality differentiation ensures that perceptually important frequency components are preserved while reducing overall data量.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12443280B2Decoder for encoded tactile signal indicative of a tactile strength decoding frequency bands in the tactile signal

Publication Date: 2025.10.14 SONY GROUP CORP

AI summary

A decoder according to the present technology includes a first decoding unit configured to, for encoded data obtained by encoding a tactile signal, decode a first band signal being a signal of a first frequency band in the tactile signal, the encoded data including data obtained by encoding the first band signal and tactile strength information indicative of a tactile strength for a second frequency band different from the first frequency band in the tactile signal, a second decoding unit configured to decode a second band signal being a signal of the second frequency band in the tactile signal on the basis of the tactile strength information in the encoded data, and a synthesis unit configured to synthesize the first band signal decoded by the first decoding unit and the second band signal decoded by the second decoding unit.