US 6,028,593 · Granted 2000-02-22
How Immersion Made Your Game Controller Feel Like Reality
Imagine playing a video game where your controller actually pushes back at you—like feeling resistance when a virtual ball hits you or when you touch a wall. This patent invented the technology that lets computers send force feedback through a game controller, making the digital world feel physically real.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a method where a computer tracks your physical movements on a control device (like a joystick), maps those movements to objects in a virtual world, and then sends force feedback signals back through that device to create the sensation that the simulated objects are physically resisting or pushing against you. What's protected here is the specific way the mapping between your physical input and the virtual environment gets temporarily 'broken' to deliver tactile sensations that correspond to what's happening on screen.
Why it matters
This patent is foundational to haptic feedback technology—the sensation of touch in digital interactions. Before this, video games and simulations felt flat and one-directional: you gave input, something happened on screen, but you felt nothing back. Immersion's approach turned controllers into two-way communication devices, which became essential for everything from console gaming to virtual reality to surgical training simulators. The patent has been licensed widely across the gaming and computing industries.
Real-world use
When you play a racing game and feel your controller vibrate as your car crashes into a wall, or when a game pad rumbles as you fire a weapon, you're experiencing the legacy of this patent in action.
Original USPTO abstract
A method and apparatus for providing force feedback to a user operating a human/computer interface device and interacting with a computer-generated simulation. In one aspect, a computer-implemented method simulates the interaction of simulated objects displayed to a user who controls one of the simulated objects manipulating a physical object of an interface device. The position of the simulated object, as provided within the simulation and as displayed, is mapped directly to the physical position of the user object. This mapping is broken under conditions that are effective to provide force feedback to the user which imparts a physical sensation corresponding to the interaction of the simulated objects. In another aspect, a ball simulated ball object interacts with a user-controlled simulated object in a simulation to allow the user to utilize a wide range of physical skill and dexterity in interacting with the simulation. In another aspect, a simulation apparatus provides a display device such as one or more display screens or a projection device, and which also provides an intuitive mechanical interface device for the user to skillfully and dexterously manipulate objects within a computer-generated simulation.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,028,593
- Filing date
- 1996-06-14
- Grant date
- 2000-02-22
- Assignee
- Immersion Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- ROSENBERG; LOUIS B., BRAVE; SCOTT B.
- CPC class
- A63F13/10
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