1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function, and more particularly to operating feeling imparting means for a lever handle type haptic input apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a haptic input apparatus which remote-controls an automotive steering system and a gear shift unit, and electric equipment such as an air conditioner, a radio, a television, a CD player and a car navigation system which are mounted onto the automobile by operating a knob arranged in the driver's cab. Also, as this sort of haptic input apparatus, in order to be able to reliably operate the knob in operating a desired device or electric equipment, there has also been conventionally proposed an apparatus which imparts a peculiar operating feeling to the knob in accordance with a direction of operating the knob or the operating position.
As the knob, there have conventionally been used, in addition to a rotary knob for rotationally operating a rotation shaft, a lever handle for exclusive use in rocking for only rocking a rocking shaft, a rocking lever handle with a rotation function for rotationally operating the rocking shaft as well as rocking it, and the like. In the present specification, the lever handle for exclusive use in rocking and the rocking lever handle with a rotation function are collectively called “lever handle”.
As the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle, there is proposed a haptic input apparatus, including: as exemplified in
Also, as exemplified in
As described above, since the conventional haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle requires, as indispensable components, the rotation shaft 102 for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle 103 into the rotary motion and the link 108 and the coupling member 109 for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle 103 into the linear motion, there is a disadvantage that the structure becomes more complicated than the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a rotary knob, and the haptic input apparatus becomes large in size and the cost is increased.
The present invention has been achieved in order to eliminate such defectiveness of the prior art, and is aimed to provide a small-sized and low-priced haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, including: a lever handle for an operator to operate manually; a support of the lever handle; an actuator arranged opposite to the end surface of the lever handle for directly applying an external force to the lever handle; detection means for detecting an operating state of the lever handle; and control means for controlling driving of the actuator on the basis of an output signal from the detection means.
When there is provided an actuator arranged opposite to the end surface of the lever handle for directly applying an external force to the lever handle as described above, it is possible to omit a rotation shaft for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the rotary motion and a link and the like for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the linear motion. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the structure of the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with the lever handle, and to miniaturize this sort of haptic input apparatus at low cost.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, constructed such that an amount of rocking and a rocking direction of the lever handle with respect to the support and an amount of rotation and a direction of rotation of the lever handle with respect to the support are detected by the detection means, and on the basis of an output signal from the detection means corresponding to the amount of rocking and the rocking direction of the lever handle and the amount of rotation and the direction of rotation, driving of the actuator is controlled.
When both the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle for the support and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation of the lever handle for the support are detected by the detection means as described above, as well as on the basis of an output signal from the detection means corresponding to the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation, the driving of the actuator is controlled, it is possible, by operating one lever handle, to obtain a control signal of an unit to be operated corresponding to the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle and a control signal of the unit to be operated corresponding to the amount of rotation and direction of rotation of the lever handle. Therefore, it is possible to provide multifunction to the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, constructed such that between the support and the lever handle, there is provided an elastic member for automatically returning the lever handle to the center position set in the support.
If between the support and the lever handle, there is provided an elastic member for returning to the center as described above, the lever handle can be automatically returned to the center position by means of the elastic force of the elastic member when the operator moves his hands off the lever handle. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a haptic input apparatus with a center returning function in a simple structure.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, constructed such that as the actuator, there is used an electromagnetic brake.
When as the actuator, there is used an electromagnetic brake as described above, an external force can be directly applied to the lever handle only by arranging an electromagnetic coil opposite to the end surface of the lever handle with ferromagnetism imparted. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the structure of the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle, and to miniaturize this sort of haptic input apparatus at low cost.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, constructed such that as the actuator, there is used an off-brake type electromagnetic brake for applying an external force to the lever handle during non-energization.
When there is used an off-brake type electromagnetic brake in which an external force is applied to the lever handle during non-energization as described above, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the haptic input apparatus because the electromagnetic brake can be energized only when the lever handle is operated.
In order to solve the problem, there is provided a haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, constructed such that as the detection means, there is used a non-contact type optical position sensor for irradiating the end surface of the lever handle with detection light to detect reflected light from the end surface of the lever handle, and for detecting an operating position and an operating direction of the lever handle, and that the non-contact type optical position sensor is arranged opposite to the end surface of the lever handle.
When as detection means for detecting the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation, the non-contact type optical position sensor is used as described above, a mechanism for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the rotary motion or linear motion is not required as in the case where an encoder or a variable resistor is used. Therefore, the structure of the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with a lever handle can be further simplified.
Hereinafter, with reference to
As shown in
The spherical portion 3 is formed in the substantially central portion of the lever handle 4, and the spherical portion 3 is supported by the spherical bearing 1, whereby the lever handle 4 is rockably and rotationally mounted to the supporting member 2. Also, at the lower end portion of the lever handle 4, there is formed a substantially hemispherical external force receiving portion 10, and on a spherical surface 10a, which is a lower end surface of the external force receiving portion 10, there is provided a magnetic plate 11 through a leaf spring 10b.
The electromagnetic coil 5 and lining material 12 provided on the upper surface thereof cooperate with the magnetic plate 11 provided on the spherical surface 10a to constitute an electromagnetic brake 13 for applying an external force to the lever handle 4.
As the detection means 6, any well-known position sensor can be used. Since, however, the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle 4 and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation can be detected without contact, there is less variation with time in characteristics due to contamination and wear, and a mechanism for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle 4 into the rotary motion or linear motion is not required as in the case where an encoder or a variable resistor is used, it is particularly preferable to use a non-contact type optical position sensor which irradiates the surface of the lining material 12 with detection light to detect reflected light from the surface of the lining material 12 for detecting the operating position and the direction of operation of the lever handle 4.
The control means 7 includes: as shown in
The first storage 72 is capable of storing any external force table in accordance with a type of the unit to be operated through the use of the lever handle 4 and a type of a function to be adjusted.
In a haptic input apparatus according to the present embodiment, as an actuator for applying an external force to the lever handle 4, there is provided an electromagnetic brake 13 made up of a magnetic plate 11 provided on the lower end surface of the lever handle 4, a lining material 12 arranged opposite to the magnetic plate 11, and an electromagnetic coil 5 so as to apply an external force to the lever handle 4 through a leaf spring 10b and magnetic material 11. Therefore, it is possible to omit the rotation shaft for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the rotary motion and the link and the like for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the linear motion, to simplify the structure of the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with the lever handle 4, and to miniaturize this sort of haptic input apparatus at low cost. Also, in the haptic input apparatus according to the present embodiment, since both the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle 4 for the supporting member 2 and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation of the lever handle 4 for the supporting member 2 are detected by the detection means 6, as well as on the basis of an output signal from the detection means corresponding to the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle 4 and the amount of rotation and direction of rotation, the driving of the electromagnetic coil 5 is controlled, it is possible, by operating one lever handle 4, to obtain a control signal of an unit to be operated corresponding to the amount of rocking and rocking direction of the lever handle 4 and a control signal of the unit to be operated corresponding to the amount of rotation and direction of rotation of the lever handle 4. Therefore, it is possible to provide multifunction to the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with the lever handle 4.
Next, with reference to
As shown in
The haptic input apparatus according to the present embodiment has similar effects to the haptic input apparatus according to the first embodiment, and in addition, as the electromagnetic brake 13, an off-brake type electromagnetic brake which applies an external force to the lever handle 4 when not energized has been used. Therefore, only when the lever handle 4 is operated, the electromagnetic coil 5 can be energized, and this leads to the effect that the power consumption of the haptic input apparatus can be reduced.
Next, with reference to
As shown in
The haptic input apparatus according to the present embodiment has similar effects to the haptic input apparatus according to the first embodiment, and in addition, since there has been provided the elastic member 14 for returning to the center, the lever handle 4 can be automatically returned to the center position by means of the elastic force of the elastic member 14 when the operator moves his hands off the lever handle 4. It is possible to obtain a haptic input apparatus with a center returning function in a simple structure.
In this respect, in each of the above-described embodiments, the description has been made of a case where the haptic input apparatus is applied as remote control for an automotive steering system, a gear shift unit, or on-board electric equipment as an example, but the gist of the present invention is not limited thereto and can be applied as remote control for any other unit to be operated.
As described above, in the haptic input apparatus according to the present invention, since as the actuator, there has been provided a device which is arranged opposite to the end surface of the lever handle and directly applies an external force to the lever handle, it is possible to omit a rotation shaft for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the rotary motion, and the link and the like for converting the rocking motion of the lever handle into the linear motion, to simplify the structure of the haptic input apparatus with an operating feeling imparting function equipped with the lever handle, and to miniaturize this sort of haptic input apparatus at low cost.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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