Abstract: A control device with haptic feedback includes a vibrating plate having a touch surface provided with touch sensors and capable of being vibrated at an ultrasonic frequency by electromagnetic actuators controlled by a control electronics, so as to generate an ultrasonic lubrication effect on the touch surface. A three-dimensional touch interface is fixed to and integral with the touch surface, configured to communicate vibrations of the ultrasonic lubrication effect from the touch surface to the finger of a user by means of the three-dimensional touch interface.

Abstract: A method for implementing a touch device—having a plate, touchable by an external body and having at least one texturing area assigned with a texturing pattern oriented relative to a reference axis, and at least one transducer configured to vibrate the plate at an ultrasonic vibration frequency and controllable by an activation signal—includes moving the external body along the texturing area; determining a position of the external body on the texturing area; measuring a speed of the external body along the plate; and, when the external body moves along the texturing area, generating the activation signal to activate the, or each, transducer. Measuring the speed takes into account the reference axis and measuring a component of the speed of the external body over the reference axis. The activation signal depends on the texturing pattern and on the component of the speed.

Abstract: The invention relates to a haptic feedback device comprising a support which can be vibrated and of which a first face is coated with at least one layer for detecting the position of a user's finger. The device includes electromechanical actuators which are aligned along an edge of the support or the layer and which are capable of making the support and the layer vibrate at an ultrasonic resonance frequency. The support comprises on the second face thereof a set of stiffeners distributed over the whole of said second face and configured to make it more difficult to bend the support along an axis perpendicular to the stiffeners, the stiffeners being designed to produce an axial and uniform vibration mode for the support, all the antinodes of which are of substantially equal amplitude.

Abstract: A method for producing a haptic-feedback effect via a squeeze-film effect on a haptic interface equipped with electromechanical actuators configured to apply ultrasonic vibrations able to create standing waves, includes determining a subset of resonant frequencies fi of the haptic interface in the ultrasonic domain; defining a haptic sequence consisting of an electrical excitation signal s(t) formed from a succession of at least two periodic signals having frequencies fi, fj that are different from each other and that belong to said subset of resonant frequencies detecting a static touching action of a user on a region of a surface of the haptic interface; and exciting the electromechanical actuators using said electrical excitation signal s(t), so as to achieve a transition from a first standing wave to a second standing wave, so as to produce, on the haptic surface, lateral forces that cause the user to feel a key-click sensation.

Abstract: The invention relates to a control device of a capacitive touch surface capable of detecting the position or movement of at least one finger or a control stylus of a user in the proximity of the capacitive touch surface. The device includes a three-dimensional control member secured to the capacitive touch surface and provided with an electrically insulating body having a lower surface facing the capacitive touch surface and a three-dimensional surface intended to be touched or scanned by at least one finger or a stylus of a user. The three-dimensional control member is provided with a plurality of electrical conductors separated in pairs by an electrically insulating space and configured to exchange electrical charges with the capacitive touch surface when a user touches or swipes the three-dimensional surface, such that a user can interact with the capacitive touch surface via the three-dimensional control member.

Abstract: The invention relates to a touch interface comprising, on the one hand, an interfacial surface able to generate a haptic-feedback effect in response to a touch of said surface by a user, and, on the other hand, at least one piezoelectric actuator configured to generate, in said interfacial surface, at least one wave of ultrasonic frequency able to endow the particles of this surface with an elliptical movement having a movement component tangential to said surface, which component is denoted ut(t), and a movement component normal to said surface, which component is denoted un(t), wherein said wave of ultrasonic frequency is chosen so that the amplitude Ut of the tangential component ut(t) and the amplitude Un of the normal component un(t) are substantially equal.

Abstract: A system includes sensor-actuator units fixed onto a plate to be actuated according to at least one predetermined vibratory mode, each sensor-actuator unit having an electromechanical actuator and a deformation or vibratory speed sensor, wherein the electromechanical actuator and the sensor are colocated on the surface, that is to say that the measurement by the sensor is performed in immediate proximity to the electromechanical actuator, this proximity being such that the actuator and the sensor can respectively actuate and measure the same predetermined vibratory mode.

Abstract: A method for producing a haptic-feedback effect via a squeeze-film effect on a haptic interface equipped with electromechanical actuators configured to apply ultrasonic vibrations able to create standing waves, includes determining a subset of resonant frequencies fi of the haptic interface in the ultrasonic domain; defining a haptic sequence consisting of an electrical excitation signal s(t) formed from a succession of at least two periodic signals having frequencies fi, fj that are different from each other and that belong to said subset of resonant frequencies detecting a static touching action of a user on a region of a surface of the haptic interface; and exciting the electromechanical actuators using said electrical excitation signal s(t), so as to achieve a transition from a first standing wave to a second standing wave, so as to produce, on the haptic surface, lateral forces that cause the user to feel a key-click sensation.

Abstract: The invention relates to a control device of a capacitive touch surface capable of detecting the position or movement of at least one finger or a control stylus of a user in the proximity of the capacitive touch surface. The device includes a three-dimensional control member secured to the capacitive touch surface and provided with an electrically insulating body having a lower surface facing the capacitive touch surface and a three-dimensional surface intended to be touched or scanned by at least one finger or a stylus of a user. The three-dimensional control member is provided with a plurality of electrical conductors separated in pairs by an electrically insulating space and configured to exchange electrical charges with the capacitive touch surface when a user touches or swipes the three-dimensional surface, such that a user can interact with the capacitive touch surface via the three-dimensional control member.

Abstract: A method for controlling a mobile device—placed on a holder, comprising an interface plate configured to be touched by an object so as to control the device, and comprising at least two movement sensors configured to detect a movement of the device—comprises a) applying an object to the holder at a point of impact located outside the interface plate, the application of the object leading to a propagation of a vibration wave that propagates along the holder, toward the mobile device; b) detecting, with each movement sensor, the vibration wave at a detection time; c) comparing detection times detected by each movement sensor, respectively; d) estimating a position of the point of impact on the holder, depending on the comparison carried out in c); and e) generating a control signal of the mobile device depending on the position estimated in d).

Abstract: The invention relates to a haptic feedback device comprising a support which can be vibrated and of which a first face is coated with at least one layer for detecting the position of a user's finger. The device includes electromechanical actuators which are aligned along an edge of the support or the layer and which are capable of making the support and the layer vibrate at an ultrasonic resonance frequency. The support comprises on the second face thereof a set of stiffeners distributed over the whole of said second face and configured to make it more difficult to bend the support along an axis perpendicular to the stiffeners, the stiffeners being designed to produce an axial and uniform vibration mode for the support, all the antinodes of which are of substantially equal amplitude.

Abstract: A control device with haptic feedback includes a vibrating plate having a touch surface provided with touch sensors and capable of being vibrated at an ultrasonic frequency by electromagnetic actuators controlled by a control electronics, so as to generate an ultrasonic lubrication effect on the touch surface. A three-dimensional touch interface is fixed to and integral with the touch surface, configured to communicate vibrations of the ultrasonic lubrication effect from the touch surface to the finger of a user by means of the three-dimensional touch interface.

Abstract: A system includes sensor-actuator units fixed onto a plate to be actuated according to at least one predetermined vibratory mode, each sensor-actuator unit having an electromechanical actuator and a deformation or vibratory speed sensor, wherein the electromechanical actuator and the sensor are colocated on the surface, that is to say that the measurement by the sensor is performed in immediate proximity to the electromechanical actuator, this proximity being such that the actuator and the sensor can respectively actuate and measure the same predetermined vibratory mode.

Abstract: The invention relates to an electromechanical actuator with increased deformation, including, on the one hand, at least one drive element connected to a source of AC voltage so as to produce a deformation of the drive element and, on the other hand, a plate configured for amplifying the amplitude of the vibration that the drive element must transmit to a substrate to be actuated. A first face of the plate is rigidly fixed to the drive element and a second face of the plate, opposite to the first face, is fixed by means of an actuation lug to the substrate to be actuated.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for generating a haptic effect at a target point of a solid by using at least two piezoelectric actuators capable of emitting, at a given instant t, a wave under the effect of ultrasonic frequency control signals capable of creating vibrations at the surface of the solid in such a way as to create an ultrasonic lubrication effect (“squeeze film” effect) at the target point. The respective control signal of each actuator is calculated depending on the distance between the respective actuator and the target point to be actuated, such that the surface deformations obtained at the target point under consideration combine to create a haptic effect there greater than that obtained when using a single actuator.

Abstract: A vibrating touch screen includes a plate; two first elongated portions approximately parallel to each other, having an acoustic reflection coefficient greater than that of the plate, and connected to a first surface of the plate; and two strips of piezoelectric actuators approximately parallel to the portions and located therebetween.

Abstract: A touch-sensitive interface has a contact surface that is able to be touched by an effector (e.g., a finger). The interface includes actuating transducers (e.g., piezoelectric transducers) allowing a standing flexural wave to be formed, in a resonant mode, extending over the length of the slab. The interface includes a detector for measuring the amplitude of the wave, and a detecting circuit for determining an attenuation signal, when the contact surface is touched by an effector. It includes a processing circuit for estimating a magnitude of the force exerted by the effector on the contact surface.