US Patent 11886639 Ultrahapticons

Described herein are “Ultrahapticons,” which are a set of tangible and recognizable mid-air haptic icons that have been derived from research study participants' metaphorical associations with car infotainment features. In line with semiotic theory (the study of signs), data from the study was analyzed to identify key characteristics that when realized in mid-air haptic form, would enable a user to “feel” the feature they are interacting with. Their use is not limited to an automotive context, they can be instrumented to any application that exhibits the same feature functionality i.e. home entertainment system, laptop UI's, digital communication, Extended Reality (XR), and the like.