Nokia touchscreen creates texture illusion

>>Nokia has developed a prototype of its N900 smartphone that lets you feel the texture of icons on the screen – a technology that would add a whole new dimension to touchscreen apps.

This week, Nokia researcher Piers Andrew showed how the technology could give each icon its own feel or add surface texture to photographs. "The idea is to have everything on a touchscreen give tactile feedback," Andrew says.

The technology is based on an effect called electrovibration, in which touch receptors in the skin can be fooled into perceiving texture when you swipe a fingertip across an insulating layer above a metal surface carrying an alternating voltage. The higher the frequency of that alternating voltage, the smoother the texture feels.

Read more at www.newscientist.com.

---

Nokia's patent application:

Apparatus for providing nerve stimulation and related methods

Abstract

An apparatus comprises an optically transparent electrode configured to provide transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to a user contacting a portion of an exterior surface of said apparatus proximal to said optically transparent electrode.

---

Inventors:	Radivojevic; Zoran; (Cambridge, GB) ; Marinelli; Claudio; (Cambridge, GB) ; Ryhanen; Tapani; (Cambridge, GB) ; Beecher; Paul; (Cambridge, GB) ; Andrew; Piers; (Cambridge, GB)
Correspondence Address:	HARRINGTON & SMITH 4 RESEARCH DRIVE, Suite 202 SHELTON CT 06484-6212 US
Assignee:	Nokia Corporation

The above functionality may also be implemented in dynamic situations, for example, where a moving image is displayed on the display panel 130. For example, if a moving image of a ripple is being displayed by the display panel 130, the electrodes which, at any given moment, correspond to the locations of the peaks of the capillary waves of the ripple may be activated to provide stimulation of the finger tip receptors. Consequently, the receptors in a user's fingertip are stimulated as the peaks of the capillary waves of the ripple appear to `pass under` the fingertip, thereby providing a "haptic illusion". In order to maximise energy efficiency, only those electrodes which correspond to the locations of the peaks of the capillary waves of the ripple and which are detected as being under a user's fingertip may be activated.