Haptic feedback method and apparatus for tissue elasticity and a virtual boundary surface

摘要

In a method and apparatus for providing haptic feedback representing tissue elasticity, measured data based on a measurement of the elasticity of body tissue in non-contacting fashion are supplied to a machine/human interface that conveys haptic feedback information to a user dependent on the measured data. The machine/human interface enables the user to perform a relative virtual motion around a starting point in a selected tissue region. The user can thus “feel” the elasticity of tissue that is not non-invasively accessible to a touch examination from the outside. A virtual boundary of a tissue region under examination can be defined and the user, by the haptic feedback, also feels if and when this virtual boundary is reached.