HiWave Technologies has announced its first haptics controller IC for use with the company's haptic exciters to deliver real-time touch feedback to users' fingertips. The HIHS9002 uses patented bending wave technology to create and position tactile sensations on conventional flat panels. It has low latency when receiving co-ordinates and vectors from a host system processor and delivering stored haptic signals to the transducers. A signal library comprises haptic clicks and textures that allow the implementation of button, trackpad and scroll features. It also contains audio cues that can be delivered through the same transducers, which turn the flat panel or display into a loudspeaker. Multiple haptic signals and audio cues are stored in the chip's non-volatile memory, enabling feedback to be generated to accompany the key-press or gesture being invoked. Real-time rendering algorithms embedded in the controller implement bending wave haptics. The processing is parametrically tuned to the given panel or screen implementation. It optimises for size, shape, material characteristics and mounting. The IC dynamically generates bespoke waveforms, tailored to the prevailing touch co-ordinates, for feeding into a pair of haptic exciters.
