What is claimed is:
1. A haptic controller comprising:
an actuator as a motive power source for supplying force to a manipulation member that is manipulated manually;
a detecting section for detecting a position of the manipulation member; and
computing means for calculating a control value to be used for controlling the actuator on the basis of the position of the manipulation member detected by the detecting section, the computing means comprising:
a storing section for storing a force pattern that is preset to supply a prescribed force to the manipulation member in accordance with the position of the manipulation member; and
a computing section for calculating the control value on the basis of the force pattern and the position of the manipulation member detected by the detecting section,
wherein the force pattern is formed by particular points in which forces to be supplied to the manipulation member are set for a plurality of particular positions that are within a movement range of the manipulation member and prescribed functions connect each pair of adjoining ones of the particular positions,
wherein regions are defined between the particular positions, and
wherein the computing section determines in which region the position of the manipulation member detected by the detecting section is located, and calculates the control value on the basis of the prescribed function that corresponds to the region.
2. The haptic controller according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the particular points in the movement range of the manipulation member comprises a reversing point to reverse a direction of force to be supplied to the manipulation member.
3. The haptic controller according to claim 1, wherein respective force patterns are set, wherein each of the plurality of force patterns are characterized by a magnitude and a direction, and wherein the haptic controller further comprises a force pattern switching section for switching between force patterns when the manipulation member is located in a prescribed region of the movement range of the manipulation member.
4. The haptic controller according to claim 3, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when the forces of the force patterns are in the same direction.
5. The haptic controller according to claim 3, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when a difference between the magnitudes of forces of the respective force patterns is within a prescribed value.
6. The haptic controller according to claim 2, further comprising identification marks around the manipulation member to correspond to prescribed regions in the movement range of the manipulation member.
7. The haptic controller according to claim 1, wherein the haptic controller comprises a portion of a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
8. The haptic controller according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of force patterns are set, wherein each of the plurality of force patterns are characterized by a magnitude and a direction, and wherein the haptic controller further comprises a force pattern switching section for switching between force patterns wherein the manipulation member is located in a prescribed region of the movement range of the manipulation member.
9. The haptic controller according to claim 8, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when the forces of the force patterns are in the same direction.
10. The haptic controller according to claim 4, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when a difference between magnitudes of the forces of the respective force patterns is within a prescribed value.
11. The haptic controller according to claim 8, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when a difference between magnitudes of the forces of the respective force patterns is within a prescribed value.
12. The haptic controller according to claim 9, wherein the force pattern switching section switches between force patterns when a difference between the magnitudes of forces of the respective force patterns is within a prescribed value.
13. The haptic controller according to claim 3, further comprising identification marks around the manipulation member to correspond to prescribed regions in the movement range of the manipulation member.
14. The haptic controller according to claim 4, further comprising identification marks around the manipulation member to correspond to prescribed regions in the movement range of the manipulation member.
15. The haptic controller according to claim 5, further comprising identification marks around the manipulation member to correspond to prescribed regions in the movement range of the manipulation member.
16. The haptic controller according to claim 2, wherein the haptic controller is provided in a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
17. The haptic controller according to claim 3, wherein the haptic controller comprises a portion of a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
18. The haptic controller according to claim 4, wherein the haptic controller comprises a portion of a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
19. The haptic controller according to claim 5, wherein the haptic controller comprises a portion of a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
20. The haptic controller according to claim 6, wherein the haptic controller comprises a portion of a manipulation device for manipulating a vehicular apparatus.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A sensor network having a multiplexing reader and one or more sensor pairs, each sensor pair comprising a transponder and a dedicated reader, dedicated to that transponder, each transponder having at least one sensor, each sensor pair having a wireless interface between the transponder and the dedicated reader, and each of the one or more dedicated readers being coupled to the multiplexing reader, to transmit sensing information from its sensor to the multiplexing reader, the wireless interface being arranged such that the transponder sends the sensing information by modulation with an analog signal representing the information, and the dedicated reader being arranged to receive and recover the sensing information without the need to recognize a digital identifier from its transponder.
2. The sensor network according to claim 1, the wireless interface being optimized for each sensors pair.
3. The sensor network according to claim 1, the wireless interface being an inductive link.
4. The sensor network according to claim 1, the coupling between dedicated readers and the multiplexing reader being an RF or wired link.
5. The sensor network according to claim 1, the sensor being either a sensing device or a physical analog memory.
6. The sensor network of claim 5, the sensing information being provided directly by the sensor.
7. The sensor network according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is resistive or capacitive, the sensing information from the sensor being a capacitance, a resistance or a current value.
8. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the sensor is co-integrated with electronic circuitry for processing the sensor sensing information, to generate the analog signal from the sensor, andor with electronic circuitry for providing power to the sensor.
9. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein sensing devices are MEMS sensors.
10. The sensor network of claim 1, the analog signal from the sensor being a frequency shaped one.
11. The sensor network of claim 10, wherein the frequency shaped analog signal is made by an oscillator, the frequency of which is controlled by the sensing information to be sent.
12. The sensor network of claim 11 wherein the oscillator is a ring oscillator.
13. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the modulation is either a phase, an amplitude, or a frequency modulation, or even a combination of those.
14. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the sensing information is recovered in the dedicated reader by demodulation of the received modulated signal containing the analog signal.
15. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the dedicated reader is arranged to send the sensing information to the multiplexing reader in analog or digital form, moreover using an analog or digital ID code.
16. The sensor network of claim 15, the analog ID code being a frequency provided by a free running oscillator.
17. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the transponder is passive and is powered from the dedicated reader through the wireless interface, or active and is powered by a battery or via an energy scavenging system.
18. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the dedicated reader is powered by a battery, via an energy scavenging system, or from the multiplexing reader through an RF or wired interface.
19. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the transponder comprises a rectifier-voltage multiplier, a voltage regulator, a modulation unit and a sensor interface and the one or more sensors or physical analog memories.
20. The sensor network of claim 14, wherein the dedicated reader comprises a demodulation circuit, a capacitance and an input for receiving a signal from the transponder.
21. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the power consumption of the transponder is less than 40 \u03bcW at 13.56 MHz.
22. The sensor network of claim 1, wherein the power consumption of the dedicated reader is lower than 200 \u03bcW at 13.56 Mhz.
23. The sensor network of claim 1, an output of the transponder being a modulated signal, the modulation being realized by directly using an analog frequency shaped signal, the frequency shaping being provided by a controllable oscillator, the frequency of which is controlled by the sensing information from the sensor, the sensing information being a capacitance, a resistance or a current value.