Communications with a haptic interface device from a host computer

A method of communicating information from a host computer with a haptic device, comprising:

• a) Transmitting from the host computer to the haptic device an Initialize packet, where an Initialize packet comprises a sequence of bits having subsequences, in the following order:
• i) A subsequence indicating the start of a packet;
• ii) A subsequence identifying this packet as an Initialize packet;
• iii) A subsequence indicating a start code value for a sequence of code values;
• iv) A subsequence indicating a message;
• v) A subsequence indicating the end of a packet;
• b) After transmitting the Initialize packet, then transmitting from the host computer to the haptic device a Start packet, where a Start packet comprises a sequence of bits having subsequences, in the following order:
• i) A subsequence indicating the start of a packet;
• ii) A subsequence identifying this packet as a Start packet;
• iii) A subsequence indicating the start code value;
• iv) A subsequence indicating a message;
• v) A subsequence indicating the end of a packet;
• c) After a packet has been received from the haptic device at the host computer after the transmission of the Start packet, then transmitting from the host computer to the haptic device a first Command packet;
• where a Command packet comprises a sequence of bits having subsequences, in the following order:
• i) A subsequence indicating the start of a packet;
• ii) A subsequence identifying this packet as a Command packet;
• iii) A subsequence indicating the code value in the sequence of code values having a predetermined relationship to the code value in the previous packet transmitted from the host computer to the haptic device;
• iv) A subsequence indicating a message;
• v) A subsequence indicating the end of a packet;
• d) After a packet has been received at the host computer after the transmission of the preceding Command packet, then transmitting from the host computer to the haptic device a subsequent Command packet.