Patent Application
20150002278
One embodiment of the present invention is directed to an actuator. More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a drive circuit for an actuator used to create vibrations on a haptically-enabled device.
Electronic device manufacturers strive to produce a rich interface for users. Conventional devices use visual and auditory cues to provide feedback to a user. In some interface devices, kinesthetic feedback (such as active and resistive force feedback) and/or tactile feedback (such as vibration, texture, and heat) is also provided to the user, more generally known collectively as “haptic feedback” or “haptic effects.” Haptic feedback can provide cues that enhance and simplify the user interface. Specifically, vibration effects, or vibrotactile haptic effects, may be useful in providing cues to users of electronic devices to alert the user to specific events, or provide realistic feedback to create greater sensory immersion within a simulated or virtual environment.
Haptic feedback has also been increasingly incorporated in portable and mobile electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, smartphones, portable gaming devices, vehicle based devices and interfaces, and a variety of other portable and mobile electronic devices. For example, some portable gaming applications are capable of vibrating in a manner similar to control devices (e.g., joysticks, etc.) used with larger-scale gaming systems that are configured to provide haptic feedback. Further, devices such as those connected to a vehicular power supply may provide haptic feedback over a range of voltage inputs.
In order to generate vibration effects, many devices utilize some type of actuator or haptic output device. Known actuators used for this purpose include an electromagnetic actuator such as an solenoid actuator, an Eccentric Rotating Mass (“ERM”) actuator in which an eccentric mass is moved by a motor, a Linear Resonant Actuator vibration motor (“LRA”), or a piezo transducer. Typically, the power source input voltage for the haptic actuator controls the haptic actuator at a certain current draw. A combination of current and voltage vary the haptic response. A haptic controller regulates the current provided to the haptic actuator to provide a varying haptic experience based on the desired current level.
One embodiment is a haptic drive circuit with a voltage input for receiving input power, a gate that compares a desired current level to an actual current level through the actuator, a switch coupled to the gate that interrupts or provides power from the voltage input to the actuator, and a current probe that detects the actual current level through the actuator with an output signal corresponding to the actual current level coupled to the gate. The gate compares the actual current level to the desired current level and causes the switch to interrupt input power when the actual current level is greater than the desired current level or to provide input power when the actual current level is less than or equal to the desired current level. The actual current through the circuit is a haptic signal causing a haptic actuator to generate a haptic effect.
One embodiment is an actuator drive circuit that receives an input supply voltage and provides a uniform haptic response over a range of varying input supply voltages to an actuator. A voltage input block provides power to a haptic actuator. A compare and control gate compares a desired current level with an actual current level and controls a switch to interrupt power when the actual current is greater than the desired current level and provides power when the actual current is less than the desired current level, thereby resulting over time in a near uniform response in the haptic actuator load and an actual current that approximates the desired current level.
The haptic feedback system includes a processor or controller 12. Coupled to processor 12 is a memory 20 and an actuator drive circuit 16, which is coupled to an actuator 18. Actuator 18 can be any type of Direct Current (“DC”) motor, and in one embodiment is an Eccentric Rotating Mass (“ERM”) actuator and in another embodiment is a solenoid actuator. Processor 12 may be any type of general purpose processor, or could be a processor specifically designed to provide haptic effects, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). Processor 12 may be the same processor that operates the entire system 10, or may be a separate processor. Processor 12 can decide what haptic effects are to be played and the order in which the effects are played based on high level parameters. In general, the high level parameters that define a particular haptic effect include magnitude, frequency, and duration. Low level parameters such as streaming motor commands could also be used to determine a particular haptic effect. A haptic effect may be considered “dynamic” if it includes some variation of these parameters when the haptic effect is generated or a variation of these parameters based on a user's interaction.
Processor 12 outputs the control signals to actuator drive circuit 16, which includes electronic components and circuitry used to supply actuator 18 with the required electrical current and voltage (i.e., “motor signals”) to cause the desired haptic effects. Actuator drive circuit 16 may include a current regulation circuit as described herein to provide a nearly uniform current corresponding to a desired current over a varying range of input voltages. System 10 may include more than one actuator 18, and each actuator may include a separate drive circuit 16, all coupled to a common processor 12. Memory device 20 can be any type of storage device or computer-readable medium, such as random access memory (“RAM”) or read-only memory (“ROM”). Memory 20 stores instructions executed by processor 12. Among the instructions, memory 20 includes a haptic effects module 22 which are instructions that, when executed by processor 12, generate drive signals for actuator 18 that provide haptic effects, as disclosed in more detail below. Memory 20 may also be located internal to processor 12, or any combination of internal and external memory.
Touch surface 11 recognizes touches, and may also recognize the position and magnitude of touches on the surface. The data corresponding to the touches is sent to processor 12, or another processor within system 10, and processor 12 interprets the touches and in response generates haptic effect signals. Touch surface 11 may sense touches using any sensing technology, including capacitive sensing, resistive sensing, surface acoustic wave sensing, pressure sensing, optical sensing, etc. Touch surface 11 may sense multi-touch contacts and may be capable of distinguishing multiple touches that occur at the same time. Touch surface 11 may be a touchscreen that generates and displays images for the user to interact with, such as keys, dials, etc., or may be a touchpad with minimal or no images.
System 10 may be a handheld device, such a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), smartphone, computer tablet, gaming console, vehicle based interface, etc., or may be any other type of device that includes a haptic effect system that includes one or more actuators. The user interface may be a touch sensitive surface, or can be any other type of user interface such as a mouse, touchpad, mini-joystick, scroll wheel, trackball, game pads or game controllers, etc. In embodiments with more than one actuator, each actuator may have a different rotational capability in order to create a wide range of haptic effects on the device.
When the supply power for actuator 18 is not steady, such as in a vehicle, a different haptic effect may be experienced for a user at different input voltages where the targeted effect was uniform. For example, in a haptic device where the actuator is powered by a 12 volt car battery, if processor 12 sends a signal to provide a haptic effect with an intensity x, without power regulation, actuator drive circuit 16 may supply a haptic effect with intensity x−1 when the supply power voltage dips to 10 volts, x when the supply power voltage is 12 volts, and x+1 when the supply power voltage surges to 14 volts. A car battery's output voltage, nominally rated at 12 volts, can validly range from between 8 to 16 volts depending on conditions like power draw and whether the battery is in a state of charge or discharge. Such a wide variation in supply voltage without power regulation would cause a different haptic experience for a user over the voltage range. Actuator drive circuit 16 presents a lower cost solution compared to other alternatives for power regulation. One known alternative may be to use a regulated power supply, but especially for high current requirements, regulated power supplies would be inefficient and expensive. Another known alternative may be to use software to vary the haptic control signals to the actuator drive circuit by either storing additional haptic effects in memory 22 or by scaling the haptic effects. However, storing additional haptic effects in memory 22 may increase the cost of the memory, and scaling the haptic effects may increase the cost of processor 12. The actuator drive circuit 16 in accordance with some embodiments described herein presents another alternative that is less costly than these other options.
A variable voltage supply 205 can be a car battery, which outputs typically around 12 volts when discharging or around 14 volts when coupled to a charger such as an alternator. Supply 205 may be provided by any suitable source and may include a direct current (“DC”) or alternating current (“AC”) voltage source. If variable supply 205 is an AC voltage source, a rectifier may be used to convert the power to a DC voltage source. Variable supply 205 is coupled to an actuator 210.
Actuator 210 may be any suitable actuator used to provide a haptic experience, including an actuator requiring a large supply current. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that actuator 210 may be any load requiring a near uniform current response over a varying voltage input range. Actuator 210 may have inductive and capacitate properties as well as resistive properties, thus variations in results may be expected over different types of actuators and other loads based on the variances in the electrical characteristics of different load devices.
Power to actuator 210 is controlled by a gate 215. Gate 215 may be implemented by a comparator component. Gate 215 may be a mixed signal circuit block with analog and digital parts. Gate 215 is decision making logic that compares the actual current with the desired current. In some embodiments, the desired current may be converted to an equivalent desired voltage for comparison. Likewise, in some embodiments, the actual current may be converted to an equivalent actual voltage for comparison. In some embodiments, the desired current is provided by processor 12 in the form of a Pulse Width Modulated (“PWM”) Digital pulse interruption signal. Gate 215 controls a switch 220 based on a comparison between a desired current level and the actual current level. When the actual current level is greater than the desired current level, gate 215 will control switch 220 to interrupt power provided to actuator 210. When the actual current level is less than the desired current level, gate 215 will control switch 220 to provide power to actuator 210. Thus, through the constant on/off switching of switch 220, the actual current provided to actuator 210 will approximate the desired current for a variable supply voltage range.
Switch 220 may be opened or closed to interrupt or provide power, respectively, from variable supply 205 through actuator 210 to a ground source. Switch 220 may be a high speed/high current electronic switch like a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (“MOSFET”), other field effect transistor, or any transistor that can be turned ON or OFF (closed or opened) by gate 215. When turned ON, switch 220 will allow the power source to be connected to actuator 210 that will provide drive current. When turned OFF, switch 220 will disconnect the power source, stopping source current through actuator 210.
A current probe 225 senses and provides the actual current flow going to actuator 210 to gate 215 for use in its comparison between the actual current and a desired current. Probe 225 may be implemented by a current sense amplifier component. Probe 225 may alternatively provide a voltage representation of the actual current. One skilled in the art will understand that actuator 210, switch 220, and probe 225 may be located interchangeably between variable supply 205 and the ground source for the voltage supply.
Although circuit 16 may be described or illustrated using discrete components, one skilled in the art will understand that some components may be combined into one or more components. In particular, a circuit may integrate all circuit functions into one integrated circuit. One skilled in the art will also understand that some components may be substituted for others to achieve the same or similar effect. In particular, the described comparison and gating functions may be incorporated into a microcontroller. Some components may be substituted by other hardware to achieve the same or similar functionality (e.g., through the use of an application specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), a programmable gate array (“PGA”), a field programmable gate array (“FPGA”), etc.), or a combination of hardware and software.
Circuit 16 of
One skilled in the art will understand that switching speed and smoothing capacitors may be selected without undue experimentation to provide an actual current response that more or less closely matches the desired current level. For example, faster switching will generally result in an actual current that more closely resembles the desired current level.
At time event 0, power is supplied to actuator 210, showing a ramp up in actual current at both voltage input levels. At time event 1, the actual current 415 provided by the 16 volt source has overshot the desired current 405. Control gate bar 440 indicates that the power is interrupted to actuator 210 by gate 215 causing switch 220 to open. At time event 2, the actual current 425 provided by the 12 volt source has overshot the desired current. Control gate bar 430 indicates that power is interrupted to actuator 210 by gate 215 controlling switch 220 to open. A capacitor in the circuit (not shown) has been charged by the supply voltages and continues to supply current to actuator 210 from time event 1 to time event 3 for the 16 volt supply and from time event 2 to time event 3 for the 12 volt supply. At time event 3, gate 215 has sensed that the actual current 415 and 425 for both supply voltages has dropped below the desired current 405 and causes switch 220 to again provide power from the voltage sources to actuator 210. At time event 4, the actual current 415 from the 16 volt supply has again overshot the desired current 405 and gate 215 interrupts power from the 16 volt source by switch 220. At time event 5, the actual current 425 from the 12 volt supply has again overshot the desired current 405 and gate 415 interrupts power from the 12 volt source by switch 220.
The cycle of opening and closing switch 220 results in an actual provided current that oscillates above and below the desired current level and approximates the desired current level 405. Further, the differences in actual current between the two input voltages are illustrated to be minimal. Thus, a haptic actuator powered by circuit 16 will provide a nearly uniform haptic response over varying voltage inputs. One skilled in the art will realize that although time event 3, for example, illustrates closing switch 220 for both input voltage sources at the same time, the actual event may take place at different times depending on the sizes of the capacitors and timing implemented in the circuit.
The circuit in
In some embodiments, actuator driver circuit 16 may be integrated into a larger haptic circuit that provides a control signal in the form of the desired current level to circuit 16. Some embodiments may include a maximum current limiter to limit the desired current level to prevent damage to haptic actuator 210. Some embodiments may drive several haptic actuators through circuit 16 and may provide different maximum current limiter thresholds based on the number of actuators to be driven by the circuit. Some embodiments include a low pass filter on the actual current line input into gate 215 to create a delay time constant and to smooth response. In gate 215, a resistor may be added on a feedback line from the output of the comparator to the desired current input to the comparator with the effect of adding hysteresis to the comparator response to slow down the response of the current control on a change in desired input level, which may be needed if radio frequency (“RF”) noise or interference is a problem. As mentioned above, in some embodiments the values of the capacitors may be changed to provide different time constants in the circuit.
In some embodiments, actuator control may originate at a haptic driver that provides a pulse width modulated (“PWM”) control signal. In such embodiments, the PWM duty cycle is proportional to the desired actuator current so this duty cycle may be converted into a command DC voltage corresponding to the desired actuator current by low pass filters such as “R46” (558), “R47” (560), and “C33” (552) in
At 602, the actual current through actuator 210 is measured. At 604, gate 215 compares the actual current to the desired current level provided by processor 12. At 606, if the actual current is greater than the desired current, at 608 switch 120 is kept off, turned off, or opened to interrupt power through actuator 210. Power may continue to flow through actuator 210 due to circuit capacitors or internal induction present in actuator 210. Again, at 606, if the actual current is not greater than the desired current, at 610 switch 220 is kept on, turned on, or closed to provide power through actuator 210. The process returns to flow element 602 to repeat. Thus, the power is turned on or off according to a comparison between the actual current load and the desired current load. Notably, the value corresponding to the desired current may be changed at any time as well, and the circuit will compensate to provide an actual current approximating the desired current.
As disclosed, embodiments implement a haptic drive circuit which controls power provided to a load to produce a near uniform current response through the load over a varying voltage input. The load may be a haptic actuator. The drive circuit may use the desired current level to compare the desired current with an actual current through the load and control an electronic switch in provide power to the load if the actual current level through the load is less than or equal to the desired current level and interrupt power to the load if the actual current level through the load is greater than the desired current level.
Several embodiments are specifically illustrated and/or described herein. However, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the disclosed embodiments are covered by the above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.
This application claims priority of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/840,750, filed on Jun. 28, 2013, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61840750 | Jun 2013 | US |
