Virtual reality and telereality system
AssigneeAsahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsJunji Furusho, Akihito Sano, Akio Inoue
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A virtual reality or telereality (teleexistece) system which displays to an operator the changes in force senses caused by the variation of flow resistance of an electrorheological fluid by making the flow resistance, which is varied in response to the intensity of the electric field applied to the electrorheological fluid, cooperated in real time with an image (virtual world) generated by a computer or a really existing world (telereal world) connected through the intermediary of a robot.
Claims34
A teleexistence system including a virtual reality system and a telereality system;
- the teleexistence system comprising:
- a force display device for displaying a force sense to an operator in response to the operator's continuous interaction with an environment provided to the operator in the form of an image;
- an image display unit for displaying said image in response to a given image signal;
- and
- a computer for generating a force sense signal corresponding to said force sense,
- wherein said force display device includes control means for electrically changing the flow resistance of an electrorheological fluid in response to the force sense signal, and force providing means for providing said operator with a force controlled by said flow resistance.
A method for displaying a force sense to an operator in response to the operator's continuous interaction with an environment provided to the operator in the form of an image in a teleexistence system including a virtual reality system and a telereality system;
- the teleexistence system comprising an image display unit, a computer, and a force display device including a control unit and a force providing unit, said method comprising the steps of:
- displaying said image, in response to a given image signal, on said image display unit;
- generating a force sense signal corresponding to said force sense;
- changing electrically the flow resistance of an electrorheological fluid in response to the force sense signal, generated by said control unit, and providing said operator with a force controlled by said flow resistance.
A computer program product having program code means recorded therein, said program code means can be read by a computer included in a teleexistence system including a virtual reality system and a telereality system;
- the teleexistence system displaying a force sense to an operator in response to the operator's continuous interaction with an environment provided to the operator in the form of an image and comprising an image display unit for displaying said image in response to a given image signal and a force display device for providing said operator with a force controlled by a flow resistance of an electrorheological fluid which is changed in response to a force signal, said program code means comprising:
- program code means for generating said force sense signal by said computer, and
- program code means for synchronizing said image display unit and said force display device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.