VR Pen Housing Feedback for Accurate Virtual Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic pens are unable to provide a realistic force sense when used in virtual reality spaces, leading to a feeling of strangeness for the user due to the lack of a small position sensor capable of being installed at the pen tip.
Innovation Solution
A position indicating device and spatial position indicating system that includes a housing for an electronic pen, a force sense generator, and a processor to control the generator based on the distance between the pen tip and an object in the virtual reality space, generating a force sense when the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a position sensor is installed in the pen tip to detect contact with virtual objects, then the force sense can be generated accurately, but the device becomes too complex and the sensor size is too large for the pen tip
Solution Approach 1:
The position sensor is extracted from the pen tip and relocated to the housing. The housing contains the position sensor that detects the position of the electronic pen, and this information is transmitted to the external device which calculates the pen tip position. This extraction resolves the contradiction by eliminating the need for a small sensor in the pen tip while maintaining position detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing acts as an intermediary between the electronic pen and the external device. The position sensor in the housing detects the pen position, and the external device uses this information to calculate the pen tip position and generate force sense. This intermediary approach allows accurate position detection without requiring a sensor in the pen tip.
2Ease of operation
If the force sense is generated based on the detected position, then the user can feel contact with virtual objects, but the pen tip position may not match the detected position causing a feeling of strangeness
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring the distance between the pen tip and virtual objects, and generating force sense when the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value. This feedback mechanism ensures that the force sense is generated at the correct moment when the pen tip actually contacts the virtual object, maintaining position accuracy and user experience realism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculation of the pen tip position based on the electronic pen position and pen orientation before generating force sense. This preliminary action ensures that the force sense is generated at the accurate pen tip position rather than the electronic pen position, preventing the feeling of strangeness.
Data Source
AI summary
A position indicating device includes a housing in which an electronic pen including a pen tip is mountable, a force sense generator configured to generate a force sense, and a processor configured to control the force sense generator to generate the force sense when, with the electronic pen mounted in the housing, a distance between a position of the pen tip of the electronic pen in a virtual reality space and an object in the virtual reality space is equal to or less than a predetermined value.