>>Strong likelihood Williams Gaming to use IMMR! Proof inside.
How about a WMS patent app., mentioning Immersion by name, for a handheld gambling device? Unexpected! This is the first time we've seen IMMR mentioned specifically by a gaming manufacturer in one of their patents.
Jackpot Party, a popular casino slot, is pictured in the handheld configuration. In the bonus round you touch packages to reveal prizes underneath. Now with IMMR vibration!
[Jan. 1, 2009
Handheld Device for Wagering Games
[0030]The primary display and/or secondary display of the handheld gaming machine may, in some aspects, comprise a haptic display, such as those haptic displays (e.g., Touchsense.RTM.) manufactured by Immersion Corporation of San Jose, Calif. When the user of the handheld gaming machine touches a touch screen key of a haptic touch screen display (e.g., primary display), the touch screen key will convey the sense of being depressed and released through the use of vibrations transmitted through the screen to the user's finger. The use of a haptic display advantageously provides sensory feedback to the user of the handheld gaming machine as confirmation of a user's action or selection.]
>>IMMR's most significant patent app. for 2009 is out - multi-touch, Jan.1 2009
A revolutionary patent app. from IMMR is published, and it's a mouthful: "Method and apparatus for multi-touch tactile touch panel actuator mechanisms."
Apple uses multi-touch input in the iPhone, and so will MSFT Windows 7, so many touchscreen devices will incorporate multi-touch. It's doubtful that older haptic technologies will work.
What haptic solutions would IMMR engineers invent for multi-touch? I was worried that they would be lousy, or someone would beat them to it.
Am I worried now? Nope, the cutting edge creatives at IMMR have done it again.
IMMR's new multi-touch haptic technology is a layered array, or grid, of small haptic cells which operate independently from one another. Two simultaneous touches, two independent vibrations.
1 Overall structure:
The tactile portion is made of two layers, electrical and haptic. The electrical interprets the input, the haptic kicks the output. These two invisible layers fit over the display, so you have a three layer sandwich:
Top: Electric
Middle: Haptic
Bottom: Visual display (LCD)
2 New layer technology:
[Each haptic cell is configured to provide a haptic effect independent of other haptic cells in the tactile layer.]
Haptic cell can be:
piezoelectric material (grid can be printed as a film)
thermal fluid pocket
variable porosity membrane
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems ("MEMS") element, which can further be:
MEMS pump for laminar flow modulation
shape memory alloy
linear resonant device
What does all that gobbledygook mean? Who knows! What I do know is that if you desire haptics with your multi-touch you will have to knock on IMMR's door.
| United States Patent Application | 20090002328 |
| Kind Code | A1 |
| Ullrich; Christopher J. ; et al. | January 1, 2009 |
Method and apparatus for multi-touch tactile touch panel actuator mechanisms
A method and apparatus of actuator mechanisms for a multi-touch tactile touch panel are disclosed. The tactile touch panel includes an electrical insulated layer and a tactile layer. The top surface of the electrical insulated layer is capable of receiving an input from a user. The tactile layer includes a grid or an array of haptic cells. The top surface of the haptic layer is situated adjacent to the bottom surface of the electrical insulated layer, while the bottom surface of the haptic layer is situated adjacent to a display. Each haptic cell further includes at least one piezoelectric material, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems ("MEMS") element, thermal fluid pocket, MEMS pump, resonant device, variable porosity membrane, laminar flow modulation, or the like. Each haptic cell is configured to provide a haptic effect independent of other haptic cells in the tactile layer.
| Inventors: | Ullrich; Christopher J.; (Santa Cruz, CA) ; Steger; Ryan; (Sunnyvale, CA) ; Gomez; Daniel H.; (Newton, MA) |
| Correspondence Name and Address: | James M. Wu;JW Law Group |
| Assignee Name and Adress: | IMMERSION Corporation, a Delaware Corporation San Jose CA |
| Serial No.: | 823192 |
| Series Code: | 11 |
| Filed: | June 26, 2007 |
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