Human-machine interface

A human-machine interface, comprising:

• a panel formed of energy transmissive material, and having a substantially non-deformable major contact surface and a second major surface substantially parallel with the major contact surface;
• an energy source configured to direct energy to the panel;
• wherein the panel is configured to transmit energy received from the energy source to the major contact surface;
• and
• wherein, at regions of the major contact surface where an object contacts the major contact surface, the contact of the object with the major contact surface causes one or more alterations of at least one parameter of energy transmitted by the panel;
• an image acquisition device configured to acquire, through the panel via the second major surface, an image representative of the major contact surface and the area above and proximal to the major contact surface including the one or more alterations of the at least one parameter of energy transmitted by the panel;
• and
• a processor configured to communicate with the image acquisition device and process the image to determine at least one location at which the one or more objects contact the major contact surface.

A method for determining information about applied shear forces during use of a human-machine interface containing a substantially non-deformable major contact surface configured to be contacted by one or more deformable objects to produce one or more contact regions, the method comprising:

• acquiring, at a plurality of instants in time, a plurality of images representative of the one or more contact regions and/or representative of non-contact portions of the one or more deformable objects;
• wherein each of the plurality of images includes one or more two-dimensional representations of the contact region at which the one or more deformable objects contacts the contact surface and/or one or more two-dimensional representations of non-contact portions of the one or more deformable objects located in the immediate vicinity of the contact region;
• analyzing each two-dimensional representation to determine the position and other attributes of the one or more deformable objects at the instant in time at which the two-dimensional representation was acquired;
• creating and maintaining a historical database of the attributes determined at multiple instants in time;
• analyzing the temporal behavior of the deformable objects by analyzing changes in the attributes over time;
• determining the two-dimensional positional translation of the non-contact portions of each deformable object relative to the stationary position of the contact region of the object by comparing the current relative two-dimensional position of each non-contact portion with its relative two-dimensional position at a previous instant in time;
• and
• determining, using a processor, information about the applied two dimensional shear forces at the contact regions, based on the analysis of the positional translation of the non-contact portions.

A human-machine interface comprising:

• a panel formed of energy transmissive material and having a substantially non-deformable major contact surface on which one or more object contacts is made and a second major surface generally parallel with said major contact surface;
• an energy source directing energy to said panel, said panel transmitting energy received from said energy source to said contact surface, at least one parameter of energy transmitted by said panel being altered at regions where object contacts are made with said contact surface;
• an image acquisition device acquiring, through said panel via said second major surface, an image representative of the major contact surface and area generally above the major contact surface including at least the alterations of the at least one parameter of the energy representative of said object;
• and
• a processor in communication with said image acquisition device, said processor processing said image to determine the location of each contact region on said contact surface.

A human-machine interface, comprising:

• a panel formed of energy transmissive material, and having a substantially non-deformable major contact surface and a second major surface substantially parallel with the major contact surface;
• an energy source configured to direct energy to the panel;
• wherein the panel is configured to transmit energy received from the energy source to the major contact surface;
• and
• wherein, at regions of the major contact surface where an object contacts the major contact surface, the contact of the object with the major contact surface causes one or more alterations of at least one parameter of energy transmitted by the panel;
• an image acquisition device configured to acquire, through the panel via the second major surface, an image representative of the major contact surface and the area above and proximal to the major contact surface including the one or more alterations of the at least one parameter of transmitted energy;
• a processor configured to communicate with the image acquisition device and process the image to determine at least one location at which the object contacts the major contact surface;
• and
• a second energy source being configured to direct energy to a region above the major contact surface to non-contact portions of objects above the major contact surface that are not in contact with the major contact surface, thereby permitting representations of the objects, or portions thereof, that are proximal to, but spaced from, the major contact surface of the panel to be acquired by the image acquisition device.