Description:Complete Specification:

The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
Field of the invention
[0001] This invention is related to a haptic feedback unit for generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device and a method thereof.

Background of the invention

[0002]Dashboard-mounted touchscreen displays are now common in passenger vehicles. Generally, the Display Hardware and In-Vehicle-Infotainment (IVI) hardware units are physically separate, but the final product works as a system with Hardware interface between them. Display HMI (Human Machine Interface) function is driven by the IVI unit. Haptic technology uses advanced vibration patterns to convey feedback to a user/ operator. An example of haptic touch is car dashboard touch screens that create a vibration or click when you press an icon to let you know that a selection is made. This kind of feedback lets users know they have performed an action on their device. This is especially useful in cars so drivers can pay attention to the road rather than second guess if they’ve clicked the button or not.

[0003] A US patent application 20100079264 discloses a haptic feedback system. The Controllable haptic transmission nodes can be selectively controlled to transmit a haptic feedback signal to a surface. The nodes can be controlled between a first state that transmits the haptic feedback signal to the surface and a second state that dampens or prevents the haptic feedback signal to the surface. The nodes can be located around the perimeter of the surface, where each node can be associated with a particular location or region of the surface and can provide haptic feedback to that particular location or region when the node is selected. A touch surface of a touch sensitive device is an exemplary surface for using localized haptic feedback.

Brief description of the accompanying drawings
[0004] Figure 1 illustrates a haptic feedback unit for generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and
[0005] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method of generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device, in accordance with the present invention.

Detailed description of the embodiments
[0006] Figure 1 illustrates a haptic feedback unit for generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The communication device 12 comprises a display 14, a user interface 16 integrated in the display 14 and a motor unit 18 to receive an input from the user interface 16. The communication device 10 comprises a processor 20 adapted to process the received input. The haptic feedback unit 10 is made as an integral part of the communication device 12. The haptic feedback unit 10 comprises a sensor diaphragm 22 positioned in proximity to the motor unit 18 and a signal conditioning unit 24 connected to the sensor diaphragm 22. The signal conditioning unit 24 adapted to convert vibrations received from the sensor diaphragm 22 to unprocessed electrical signal which is further converted to a corresponding digital pulse train.

[0007] Further the construction of the components of the display haptic feedback unit 10 and the communication device 12 is further explained. The display of the communication device 12 comprises the user interface 16 through which a touch event can be triggered by the user /automatic robotic arm of the communication device 12. Upon triggering the touch event, it is transmitted to the processor 20 that drives the haptic driver 17 for processing it further. The processor 20 upon receiving the touch event as an input, initiates the motor unit 18 for generating the vibrations by means of Haptic driver 17. The display 14 of the communication device 12 is changed based on the triggered touch event and generates the vibrations. Simultaneously, the sub-processor 28 present in the communication device 12 moves the robotic arm 30 on the display 14 according to the processed input, which is inspected through a camera (not shown).
 
[0008] According to one embodiment of the invention, the haptic feedback unit 10 is made as an integral part of the communication device 12. According to another embodiment of the invention, the haptic feedback unit 10 is connected externally to the communication device 12. The communication device 12 is chosen from a group of communication devices comprising a human machine interface (HMI) positioned in a vehicle, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant device, a smart touch laptop and the like. However, it is to be noted that, that the type of communication device is not limited to the above-mentioned devices, but can be of any other devices that are known to a person skilled in the art.

[0009] The sensor diaphragm 22 is a piezo diaphragm strategically placed near to the motor unit 18, such that, whenever there is a touch event triggered in the form of the input via the user interface /automatic robotic arm 16 on the display 14, the sensor diaphragm 22 generates the vibrations according to the received input. The diaphragm 22 converts the generated vibrations into an unprocessed electric signal. The haptic driver 17 and the motor unit 18 generates the vibrations after the processor 20 present in the communication device 12 processes the input received (touch event).However, there is no feedback mechanism to understand whether the process is completed or even happened. The present invention provides a solution to that, through the haptic feedback unit 10 connected to the communication device 12. The touch event is triggered manually or via a robotic arm 30.

[0010] The haptic feedback unit 10 further comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) 32 having the signal condition unit 24 and the indicator 26. The signal conditioning unit 24 is connected between the sensor diaphragm 22 and an indicator 26. The signal conditioning unit 24 determines an occurrence and a pattern of the vibrations based on the converted digital pulse train. The signal conditioning unit 24 is designed to detect, differentiate the generated vibrations, and ignore false vibrations arising due to environment, from haptic vibration. The signal conditioning unit 24 converts the unprocessed electric signal that is arrived from sensor diaphragm 22 into the digital pulse train.

[0011] The haptic feedback unit 10 comprises an indicator 26 connected to the signal conditioning unit 24 and is activated based on determined pattern. According to one embodiment of the invention, the indicator 26 is a light emitting diode display. The sensor diaphragm 22, the signal conditioning unit 24 and the indicator 26 forms the haptic feedback unit 10.

[0012] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method of generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device accordance to one embodiment of the invention. The communication device 12 comprises a haptic feedback unit 10, a display 14, a user interface 16 integrated in the display 14, . In step S1, an input is received to processor 20 from the user interface 16, upon triggering a touch event, when the display 14 is ON. In step S2, vibrations generated using a haptic driver 17 of the motor unit 18.

[0013] In step S3, the generated vibrations are sensed by a sensor diaphragm 22 and are converted to an unprocessed electric signal. In step S4,the unprocessed electric signals are converted into a digital pulse train and an occurrence, and a vibration pattern are determined based on a shape of the digital pulse train by a signal conditioning unit 24. In step S5,the digital pulse train is transmitted to a sub-processor 28 of the communication device 12 for actuating a robotic arm 30. In step S6, the haptic display feedback of the triggered touch event ,is generated and validated , upon receiving the digital pulse train from the haptic feedback unit 10.

[0014] The method is explained in detail. When the user of the communication device 12 triggers a touch event by operating the user interface 16 of the display 14. The input is then processed via the processor 20 and the haptic driver 17. The processor 20 actuates the motor unit 18 via the haptic driver 17 for generating the vibrations based on the processed input. The sensor diaphragm 22 is placed/positioned on the display strategic to the motor unit 18 location. The signal conditioning unit 24 upon receiving the vibrations from the sensor diaphragm 22, converts the received vibrations into an unprocessed electric signal which is further converted into a digital pulse train. The signal conditioning unit 24 determines the occurrence and the pattern of the digital pulse train based on the shape of the digital pulse train.

[0015] The converted digital pulse train is provided as an input to the sub-processor 30 of the communication device 12. The robotic arm 30 of the communication device 12 is actuated by the sub-processor 28, based on the converted digital pulse train. Simultaneously, the indicator 26 indicates the occurrence of the determined vibration pattern , when the robotic arm 30 is actuated. The sub-processor 28 triggers the touch event and receives haptic feedback forming a closed-loop operation. The processor 20 validates the received haptic feedback from the haptic feedback unit 10, when the touch event is triggered by the robotic arm 30. The display of the communication device 12 varies /changes according to the processed input.

[0016] The above disclosed feedback unit is used as a retrofit solution to the existing communication devices 12. The above feedback unit 10 improves the reliability of the test system by validating the touch and can be used in development of human machine interfaces (HMI), in addition to End of line (EOL) testing in mass production of display with haptics. The undetected vibrations patterns can be properly detected and validated using the closed loop method as disclosed above. The reliability is increased, and the vibration pattern can be determined.

[0017] The above disclosed method can be used in multi touch, 3D touch, and pinch zoom devices. And also, it can be used for different display type devices , sizes, and resolutions of the display. It provides a low-cost effective solution , as the closed loop method doesn’t require any change in the software of the HMI device. The signal conditioning unit 24 of the haptic feedback unit 10 is designed to detect, differentiate, and to ignore false vibrations arising due to environment, from haptic vibration.
[0018] The above disclosed method and the haptic feedback unit 10 further detects when there is a delay between the touch and the vibration. In addition to that, the performance of the motor unit 18 can be evaluated from the vibration signal. The above-disclosed solution in providing haptic feedback can be extended to a display with any number of actuators/motor units 18 thus increasing the accuracy. In another embodiment of the invention, the sensor diaphragm 22 is embedded into the robotic arm 30. The above disclosed method and the device not only be used on the end of line production, but also can be made as handheld device to check the displays in the field.

[0019] It should be understood that embodiments explained in the description above are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of this invention. Many such embodiments and other modifications and changes in the embodiment explained in the description are envisaged. The scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the claims.
, Claims:We Claim:

1. A haptic feedback unit (10) for generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device (12),
said communication device (12) comprises a display (14), a user interface (16) integrated in said display (14), a motor unit (18) adapted to generate vibrations upon receiving an input from said user interface (16), a processor (20) adapted to process said received input;
characterized in that :
said haptic feedback unit (10) comprising :
- a sensor diaphragm (22) positioned in proximity to said motor unit (18), said sensor diaphragm (22) adapted to convert said vibrations into an unprocessed electric signal ;
- a signal conditioning unit (24) connected to said sensor diaphragm (22), said signal conditioning unit (24) adapted to convert said unprocessed electric signal received from said sensor diaphragm (22) to a corresponding digital pulse train.

2. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said signal conditioning unit (24) adapted to determine an occurrence and a pattern of said vibrations based on said converted digital pulse train.

3. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1, comprises an indicator (26) connected to signal conditioning unit (24) , said indicator (26) is activated based on determined pattern.

4. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 3, wherein said indicator (26) is a light emitting diode display.

5. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1,wherein said sensor diaphragm (22) is a piezo diaphragm and said sensor diaphragm (22), said signal conditioning unit (24) and said indicator (26) forms said haptic feedback unit (10).

6. The haptic feedback unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein a robotic arm (28) of said communication device (12) is actuated by a sub-processor (30), based on said converted digital pulse train .

7. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said indicator (26) adapted to indicate said determined vibration pattern , when said robotic arm (28) is actuated.

8. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sub-processor (30) triggers a touch event and receives haptic feedback forming a closed-loop operation.

9. The haptic feedback unit (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said processor (20) validates said received haptic feedback from said haptic feedback unit (12) , when said touch event is triggered back from said robotic arm(28) .

10. A method of generating a display haptic feedback in a communication device(12), said communication device (12) comprises a haptic feedback unit (10), a display (14), a user interface (16) integrated in said display (14), a motor unit (18) to generate vibrations upon receiving an input from said user interface(16), a processor (20) adapted to process said received input;
said method comprising :
- receiving an input to said processor (20) from said user interface (16), upon triggering a touch event, when said display (14) is ON;
- generating vibrations using a haptic driver (17) of said processor (20) and said motor unit (18);
characterized in that :
- sensing said generated vibrations by a sensor diaphragm (22) of said haptic feedback unit (10);
- converting said generated vibrations into an unprocessed electric signals which are converted to a digital pulse train and determining an occurrence and a vibration pattern based on a shape of said digital pulse train by a signal conditioning unit (24) of said haptic feedback unit (10);
- transmitting said digital pulse train to a sub-processor (30) of said communication device (12) for actuating a robotic arm (28) ;
- generating and validating said haptic display feedback of said triggered touch event , upon receiving said digital pulse train from said haptic feedback unit (10).