Unified Electrode for Synchronized Tactile and Audio Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technology lacks a system that can synchronously produce tactile vibrations and audible sound originating from the exact physical location of a user's fingertip on a surface, failing to provide an analogous tactile-audio paradigm to the dominant audio-visual paradigm.
Innovation Solution
A touch interface device that utilizes electrodes to create a controlled electrostatic force at the skin-surface interface, generating high-frequency audio feedback and tactile sensations, allowing for localized and programmable multimodal interactions by combining haptic and audio content into a single bipolar controlling signal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate hardware is used for tactile feedback and audio output, then each sensory channel can be independently controlled, but the system cannot produce synchronized tactile and audio feedback from the exact same physical location
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges tactile feedback and audio output into a single electrode system. The electrode generates both tactile sensations through direct skin contact and audible sound through vibration coupling to the device housing, eliminating the need for separate tactile actuators and speakers. This unified approach allows synchronized multimodal feedback from the exact same physical location while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as both a tactile feedback actuator and an audio output transducer. By designing the electrode to couple vibrations to both the user's skin and the device housing, a single component provides what previously required separate dedicated hardware for each sensory modality.
2Speed
If high frequency vibrations are generated for audio feedback, then audible sound is produced, but the tactile feedback quality may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the feedback pathways by directing different frequency components to different targets. High-frequency vibrations above the tactile threshold are coupled to the device housing for audio output, while lower-frequency components remain coupled to the skin for tactile feedback. This frequency-based segmentation allows both high-quality audio and reliable tactile feedback simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode provides different vibration qualities to different targets based on local requirements. At the skin interface, the vibrations are optimized for tactile perception with appropriate force and frequency content. At the housing interface, the same vibrations are optimized for audio reproduction. This local quality adjustment ensures both tactile reliability and audio fidelity.
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
Enables users to experience immersive and expressive multimodal interactions with distinct tactile and audio feedback, enhancing the realism and fidelity of sensory experiences, and allowing for the creation of new interactive instruments and applications.
Implementation Method 1
A current flows between the first and second electrodes and the appendage, wherein the current creates an electric field which imparts a controlled electrostatic force at interfaces of each electrode and the appendage
Implementation Method 2
the electrostatic force provides tactile feedback to the appendage of the user and causes vibration in which couples to the surrounding air and is audible to the user
Data Source
AI summary
A touch interface device that produces tactile and audio output comprising a touch surface, an first electrode coupled to the touch surface that receives a first haptic/audio output potential, a second electrode coupled to a low impedance return path to the device, the first and second electrodes being configured such that when both the first and second electrodes are touched by an appendage of a user, a current flows between the first and second electrodes and the appendage, where the current creates an electric field that imparts a controlled electrostatic force at interfaces of the first electrode and the appendage, and wherein the electrostatic force provides tactile feedback to the appendage of the user and causes vibration in the surrounding air that is audible to the user.