US 6,037,927 AGranted

Method and apparatus for providing force feedback to the user of an interactive computer simulation

AssigneeImmersion Corporation

InventorLouis B. Rosenberg

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Abstract

An apparatus for interfacing the movement of a shaft with a computer includes a support, a gimbal mechanism having two degrees of freedom, and three electromechanical transducers. When a shaft is engaged with the gimbal mechanism, it can move with three degrees of freedom in a spherical coordinate space, where each degree of freedom is sensed by one of the three transducers. A fourth transducer can be used to sense rotation of the shaft around an axis. The method includes the steps of defining an origin in 3-dimensional space, physically constraining a shaft in the 3-dimensional space such that a portion of the shaft always intersects the origin and such that a portion of the shaft extending beyond the origin defines a radius in a spherical coordinate system, transducing a first electrical signal related to a first angular coordinate of the radius with a first transducer, transducing a second electrical signal related to a second angular coordinate with a second transducer, transducing a third electrical signal related to the length of the radius with a third transducer, and coupling the transducers to a computer.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for providing force feedback to a user of an interactive computer simulation, the method comprising:

maintaining on a host computer having a display screen a virtual reality medical simulation suitable for representing a plurality of virtual reality objects within a graphical environment;
coupling a human/computer interface with the host computer, the human/computer interface including at least a portion of a medical instrument suitable for manipulation by a user, an actuator arranged to generate force feedback to the user through the portion of the medical instrument in response to signals from the host computer, and a local microprocessor separate from the host computer and executing a local software routine at the same time as the maintaining of the virtual reality medical simulation by the host computer said local software routine operable to decode force commands transmitted from the host computer and related to the control of the actuator;
representing the portion of the medical instrument as a virtual reality object within the virtual reality simulation, the virtual reality object having a simulated position corresponding to a position of the portion of the medical instrument;
displaying on the display screen a graphical representation of the virtual reality simulation including a graphical object representing the portion of the medical instrument;
detecting, at the human/computer interface, position information related to the portion of the medical instrument;
transmitting position data from the human/computer interface to the host computer, the position data representing the position information related to the portion of the medical instrument;
updating the virtual reality simulation such that the simulated position of the virtual reality object corresponds to the position data;
receiving at the human/computer interface a force command from the host computer;
and
responding to the force command with the local microprocessor including decoding the force command and controlling said actuator in accordance with the force command thereby providing force feedback to the user, wherein said force feedback is provided in coordination with the updating of said virtual reality medical simulation, thereby creating a feel sensation that corresponds with the virtual reality object encountering a different virtual object in said virtual reality medical simulation.

7 more elements

A virtual reality medical apparatus comprising:

a host computer having display means;
means for maintaining a virtual reality medical simulation on the host computer, the virtual reality medical simulation suitable for representing a plurality of virtual reality objects;
human/computer interface means for providing force feedback to a user of the virtual reality apparatus, the human/computer interface means coupled with the host computer, the human/computer interface means including,
a) at least a portion of a medical instrument suitable for manipulation by a user,
b) actuator means arranged to generate force feedback to the user through the portion of the medical instrument in response to signals from the host computer,
c) local microprocessor means separate from the host computer for executing a local software routine at the same time as the maintaining of the virtual reality medical simulation by the host computer the local software routine operable to decode force commands transmitted from the host computer in order to control the actuator such that the user experiences force sensations corresponding to interactions of virtual objects represented in the virtual reality medical simulation and in coordination with the maintaining of the virtual reality medical simulation,
d) means for detecting position information related to the portion of the medical instrument,
e) means for transmitting position data to the host computer, the position data representing the position information related to the portion of the medical instrument, and
f) means for receiving a force command from the host computer;
means for representing the portion of the medical instrument as a virtual reality object within the virtual reality medical simulation, the virtual reality object having a simulated position corresponding to a position of the portion of the medical instrument;
means for displaying on the display means a graphical representation of the virtual reality medical simulation including a graphical object representing the portion of the medical instrument;
and
means for updating the virtual reality medical simulation such that the simulated position of the virtual reality object corresponds to the position data.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/833,502Filed 7 Apr 1997 · continuation
Priority: 14 Jul 1994
Granted: 14 Mar 2000
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification14 codes

A61B 34/76
Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery: manipulators having means for providing feel, e.g. force or tactile feedback
B25J 9/1689
Characterised by the tasks executed: teleoperation
G05B 19/409
Numerical control [NC], i.e. automatically operating machines, in particular machine tools, e.g. in a manufacturing environment, so as to…
G16H 50/50
ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or…: for…