Shear tactile display system for communicating direction and other tactile cues
AssigneeUniversity of Utah Research Foundation
InventorWilliam R. Provancher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tactile display comprises a contact pad, operable to engage a target area of a user's skin. A restraining system is operable to restrain a portion of the user's skin distal from the target area of the skin. An actuation system is operably coupled to one of: i) the contact pad and the ii) restraining system. The actuation system is capable of moving the contact pad and the restraining system relative to one another to create a shear force across the target area of the user's skin to thereby provide tactile information to the user.
Claims20
A tactile display, comprising:
- a restraining system including:
- i) a base component having a recession formed therein, the recession being operable to receive a portion of a user's skin therein;
- ii) an orifice formed through the recession and through which a target area of the user's skin can be positioned, the recession being thereby operable to restrain a portion of the user's skin that is immediately adjacent the target area of the skin while leaving exposed through the orifice the target area of the user's skin such that a contact pad can make contact with the target area of the user's skin;
- a contact pad, positioned adjacent the orifice and being operable to engage the target area of the user's skin as the target area of the user's skin protrudes through the orifice;
- and
- an actuation system, operably coupled to one of:
- i) the contact pad and the ii) restraining system;
- the actuation system being capable of moving the contact pad and the restraining system relative to one another within a two-dimensional plane tangential to the target area of the user's skin to apply a shear force across the target area of the user's skin to thereby provide tactile information to the user.
A method of providing directional cues to a user, comprising:
- restraining a portion of at least one of the user's fingers by:
- positioning within a recession formed in a restraining system a portion of the user's finger, the recession having an orifice formed therein;
- positioning through the orifice a target area of skin of the user, wherein the restrained portion of at least one of the user's fingers substantially surrounds the target area;
- engaging with a contact pad the target area of skin of the user as the target area of skin extends at least partially through the orifice;
- and
- moving the target area of skin and the contact pad relative to one another to provide a shear force across the target area of skin of the user to provide a directional cue to the user.
A method of providing an operator of a vehicle with directional cues while the operator is operating a vehicle, comprising:
- restraining a finger of the user with a restraining structure coupled to or formed in the vehicle, to thereby at least partially restrain some skin of the finger, the restraining structure including at least a recession having an orifice formed therein such that a target area of skin of the finger protrudes through the orifice while the finger is restrained by the restraining structure, wherein the restrained portion of at least one of the user's fingers substantially surrounds the target area;
- and
- engaging the target area of skin of the finger with a contact pad;
- and moving the contact pad and the target area of skin relative to the finger within a two-dimensional plane tangential to the target area of the user's skin to thereby provide directional cues to the user, the directional cues being related to a directional aspect of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.