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US 6,704,694 B1Granted
Ray based interaction system
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsCagatay Basdogan, Chih-Hao Ho, Mandayam A. Srinivasan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ray-based interaction system and related techniques are described. The ray-based interaction system and rendering techniques can be used to display haptic interactions between objects having one or more dimensions and a haptic probe modeled as a line segment.
Claims15
A haptic interface system having a probe represented as a ray in a virtual environment having at least one object represented therein, the haptic interface system comprising:
- a probe position processor for tracking the past and present positions of the probe;
- a collision detection processor for receiving probe position information from said probe position processor and for determining whether any portion of the probe contacts the at least one object in the virtual environment, said collision detection processor including means for detecting one or more side collisions between the probe and the at least one object to enable a user to feel forces arising from side interactions between the probe and the at least one object in the virtual environment;
- a mechanics interaction processor for receiving information from said collision detection processor and for computing an appropriate reaction force vector based on the penetration depth of the ray into the at least one object represented in the virtual environment;
- a force mapping processor for receiving information from said mechanics interaction processor and for modifying the reaction force vector computed by said mechanics interaction processor by appropriately mapping the reaction force vector over a surface of the object;
- a motor command processor for receiving the modified reaction force vector from said force mapping processor and for providing a reaction force to the user through the probe;
- and
- a storage device and wherein said probe position processor includes means for storing information related to the past positions of the probe in the storage device.
4 more elements
A haptic interface system for use in a system which includes a force reflection device having a probe and a display for displaying an object in a virtual environment, the haptic interface system comprising:
- means for representing the probe as a ray having a length in the virtual environment;
- means for determining and tracking the position and orientation of the ray;
- and
- means, coupled to said means for determining and tracking the position and orientation of the ray, said means for detecting collisions between the ray and the object in the virtual environment and for providing control signals to the force reflection device such that the force reflection device provides to a user forces which are representative of forces arising from interactions between the ray and the object in the virtual environment wherein the control signals provided by said means take into account the tracking and the orientation information of the ray, wherein said means for representing the probe as a ray having a length includes:
- means for defining a probe tip coordinate;
- means for defining a probe tail coordinate;
- and
- means for connecting the probe tip coordinate to the probe tail coordinate by one or more lines;
- and said means for detecting collisions between the ray and the object in the virtual environment and for providing signals to the force reflection device includes means for returning a collision point corresponding to an intersection between the ray and a surface of the object and wherein said means for connecting the probe tip coordinate to the probe tail coordinate by one or more lines includes means for connecting the probe tip coordinate to the probe tail coordinate with a plurality of straight line segments which together form a set of lines which is not a straight line.
6 more elements
A force reflection system comprising:
- first and second force feedback devices;
- a probe having a first end coupled to the first force feedback device and a second end coupled to the second force feedback device such that the force reflection system displays to a user forces in three axes;
- probe representation means for representing the probe as a ray having a length in a virtual environment such that a first end of the ray corresponds to the first end of the probe and a second end of the ray corresponds to the second end of the probe;
- and
- means, coupled to said first and second force feedback devices, for detecting collisions between at least a portion of the ray other than an end point of the ray and an object in the virtual environment and for providing signals to said first and second force feedback devices such that the first and second force feedback devices allow a user to feel forces arising from interactions between the ray and the object in the virtual environment;
- and
- means for representing objects in a virtual environment as convex objects.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.