Patent ID: 6310605
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A force feedback interface device implementing a selective disturbance filter for reporting filtered data to a host computer system, said host computer system implementing and displaying a graphical environment, the interface device comprising:a user manipulatable object physically contacted by a user and movable in physical space in a degree of freedom with respect to a ground;a sensor operative to detect said movement of said user manipulatable object in physical space in said degree of freedom with respect to said ground and output sensor signals representative of said movement;an actuator coupled to said user manipulatable object and operative to apply an output force in said degree of freedom of said user manipulatable object; anda microprocessor, separate from said host computer, coupled to said sensor and to said actuator, said microprocessor operative to receive host commands from said host computer and output force signals to said actuator to control said output force on said user manipulatable object, and operative to receive said sensor signals from said sensors and report locative data to said host computer derived from said sensor signals and indicative of said movement of said user manipulatable object, said host computer updating a graphical environment based on at least a portion of said locative data, wherein said microprocessor implements a selective disturbance filter for modifying said locative data reported to said host computer when said output force causes said user manipulatable object to move and would cause an undesired change in position of said user manipulatable object to be reported to said host computer if said modification of said locative data were not performed.