Patent ID: 7215320

Claim:
A haptic interface device comprising: operating means operated by an operator; driving means for providing a driving force to said operating means to provide a reaction force to the operator; detection means for detecting the state of operation performed on said operating means by the operator or the position of said operating means within the range of movement of said operating means and outputting said state or position as a signal; control means for controlling said driving means according to the signal output from said detection means and based on interface definition information defining specification information for said operating means to behave as an interface apparatus; storage means for storing said interface definition information about a plurality of interface apparatus; and interface selecting means for selecting an interface apparatus which said operating means is behaving, said control means switches interface definition information used for controlling said driving means to interface definition information associated with the interface apparatus selected using said interface selecting means, wherein said haptic interface device provides a reaction force corresponding to the state of operation or position of said operating means that is detected by said detection means.