Simulated visual display system for a game device

An arcade game which can have simulated objects, such as race horses traversing a simulated race track, can further have video images generated which will represent the same positional relationship of the objects. The track can positionally sense the actual position of the moving objects and an image forming circuit can be responsive to the positional data to generate computer images from a variety of angles based on background images of the track and of the individual horses to project a realistic computer image for observers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a visual display system for displaying 
moving objects on a monitor in real time, which will be coordinated with a 
game device that moves individual simulated objects that are competing on 
a fixed playing area so that the monitor appears to be imaging the actual 
competition. 
2. Description of Related Art 
Various arcade games have existed wherein simulated models of objects, such 
as race horses, will traverse a track during a race. Observers can 
participate in the race at individual stations by selecting a specific 
horse and in some case by participating in a game activity that can be 
directly related to the advancement of the simulated horse across the 
track. Generally, the degree of freedom of movement of the horse models is 
somewhat limited and the ability to simulate the real live action in real 
time through an accompanying display is not available. Accordingly, the 
field of arcade games is still seeking to improve a visual simulation of a 
real life event, for example, a horse race. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides an arcade game wherein simulated models of 
participants in the event can traverse a track or playing field. The 
individual models can be autonomously driven and can move, both laterally 
and longitudinally, across the field. A positional sensing system can 
monitor the position of each of the individual models, for example, in a 
sequential manner, and the individual models can receive control signals 
via a wireless link. An image formation system can form and display on a 
monitor computer images of the running objects from a variety of angles, 
based on the running object's positional data, received from the 
positional sensing system. The image formation means can provide a visual 
display with a correspondence to the actual position of the models on the 
playing field. 
The improved arcade game can provide simulated objects, such as riders and 
horses, moving across a support surface, such as a simulated race track. 
A display screen is mounted adjacent the race track. The individual 
simulated objects are moved across the support surface by a motor driven 
carrier member positioned underneath the support surface and connected to 
the simulated object by a force field through the support surface. An 
array or grid of embedded wires can monitor the position of the simulated 
objects on the support surface and provide positional signals when 
oscillator coils mounted on the simulated objects are activated. 
An image forming system can generate simulated images, on the display 
screen, of the simulated objects in the same positional relationship they 
occupy on the support surface in response to the positional signals 
including an image parameter memory, a character image memory, a character 
image setting circuit for providing positions of the simulated images from 
the image parameters and character image memories and a background image 
generating circuit for providing a background image whereby the displayed 
images will change in correlation with the position of the simulated 
images on the support surface.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the 
art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes 
contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Various 
modifications, however, will remain readily apparent to those skilled in 
the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been 
defined herein specifically to provide a simulated visual display system 
for an arcade game. 
The present applicant has submitted a Japanese application No. HE12-49862 
to the Japanese Patent Office disclosing an arcade game wherein running 
objects are displayed on a television screen. In this application, a 
moving object photographing device, such as a video camera, can track and 
photograph moving objects, such as simulated race horses, according to 
various positions when the moving objects are sensed. A number of video 
cameras are situated in a variety of positions around a circular track and 
can photograph the horse models as they traverse the track. These 
photograph frames or images are then displayed on a monitor to give a 
sensation of viewing a live broadcast. 
In such an arrangement, wherein the horse models and the rider models are 
tracked and photographed, the angle for each camera is fixed and 
accordingly the images displayed on the monitor are limited. Thus, the 
horses and riders, which can be visually perceived as only simulated 
models, are displayed on a monitor in a manner in which they significantly 
differ from the movement of real life counterparts. As can be appreciated, 
since the imperfections of the model horses are displayed, the ability to 
create a real life simulation is missing and the potential excitement that 
can occur from a real life broadcast is missing. 
The present invention has the ability of offering a video synchronizing 
device wherein it is possible to display on a monitor video images that 
are produced through a computer imaging system based on the measured 
positional data of the moving objects, such as model horses and riders. 
The present invention is disclosed in the preferred embodiment in the form 
of a race track, although it can be readily appreciated that a car race 
and other sporting activities can be utilized. Individual simulated models 
that participate in the race have their position determined throughout the 
running of the race and an image formation system can form and display on 
a monitor the composite computer images from a variety of angles, based on 
this positional data. Since this positional data corresponds to the actual 
positions of the simulated models on the track, it is therefore possible 
to display on the monitor images which are synchronized with the running 
objects. In addition, since computer images are utilized, it is possible 
to produce video images of characters that can closely resemble real 
horses and real riders, participating in actual simulated movements 
associated with running a race. There is no limitation to the actual 
configurations of the simulated models. Additionally, since the computer 
images can be displayed at a variety of angles, it is possible to produce 
video images throughout the development of an intensely competitive race 
that will actually resemble the running of horses at various positions on 
the track, including the ability to disclose a photo finish at the end of 
the race. 
Referring to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of the present invention in the 
form of a horse racing arcade game as a competitive game device 1 is 
disclosed. A circular track 3 is positioned on the upper surface of an 
oblong mount or housing 2 to simulate a real horse race track. A number of 
operator satellite positions 4 are situated in front, rear, and side 
standing positions of the housing member 2. An individual monitor 5, 
operational panel 6, and coin slot 7 can be situated at each operator 
satellite. After an appropriate coin is inserted, the operational panel 
can be used by the operator to select, for example, a desired horse, in 
either a solo or multiple style. The horse's name, number, size, betting 
odds, etc., can be displayed on the monitor 5 and can prompt interface 
controls with the operator. 
At one end of a housing member 2, a large display screen 11 is supported on 
a supporting wall 10 so that it occupies a standing position on a curve of 
the track 3 and faces the track 3 and the respective satellite operator 
positions. Speakers 12 can be installed on each side of the supporting 
wall 10 to provide audio sounds that can simulate the actual sounds of a 
race track. A pair of supporting posts or beams 13 are positioned at the 
other end to support a canopy or dome 14 which extends between the post 13 
at one end of a curved track 3 and the supporting wall 10 at the other 
end. The dome 14 can further support a lighting system (not shown) which 
can provide appropriate lighting or illumination for the track 3 beneath 
it. In the illustrated embodiment, six simulated model racing horses 20, 
on which simulated riders 21 are seated, can be positioned to run on the 
track 3. 
Referring to FIG. 2, an example of the model horses 20 and rider 21 are 
disclosed. These model horses 20 can imitate the movement of actual horses 
by a mechanical cammed movement of their front legs 20a and rear legs 20b 
in a forward and backward movement according to the rotation of the rear 
wheels 25. Each of the individual model horses 20 are independently 
supported on trucks or frames 23 by support beams 22. The trucks 23 each 
have one front wheel 24 and a pair of rear wheels 25 on a respective left 
and right side of the truck. The front wheel 24 has a vertical supporting 
axis and is supported to allow a smooth variation of its movement 
direction from a cantilevered support member 26 which is supported to be 
freely rotated on the truck 23. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the truck 23 
is designed to move on a support surface 30 that can resemble an actual 
race track. This support surface can consist of an aluminum sheet with an 
electrostatically flocked surface to form a top layer. A magnet 27 is 
fastened to the bottom of each of the trucks 23 at a slight distance 
offset from the surface of the track 3 and positioned between the left and 
right rear wheels 25. 
The track 3 has a layered structure which includes the upper support 
surface 30 with an underlying acrylic reinforcing sheet 31 to form a 
middle layer and a power supply sheet 32 to form the bottom layer. This 
view is shown schematically in FIG. 2 and actually forms a laminate 
structure over the entire track. A hollow space exists below the power 
supply sheet 32 and separate running lanes 33 can be situated on the 
bottom of the empty space to face the track 3. The running lanes 33 
actually consist of an acrylic sheet or material 35 stretched over a thick 
positional sensing plate 34 to be described subsequently. Mounted on the 
sensing plate 34 are a corresponding carrier 40 for each of the 
aforementioned horses 20. Each of the carriers 40 consists of a right 
motor 44 and a left motor 45 that can drive the left and right rear wheels 
42 independently. These motors are held in place by a motor drive 
substrate 46 on one side and an oscillator substrate 48 and CPU substrate 
49 can be mounted on the other side. A base 43 supports the front wheel 41 
and the rear wheels 42. Mounted above the motors 44 and 45 are a pair of 
plate members 50 and 51, one upper and one lower, with a linking mechanism 
or member 52 positioned therebetween. The upper plate member 50 can be 
pushed upward by the linking member 52. On top of the plate member 50 is 
situated a front roller 53 and rear rollers 54 which are mounted to be 
easily movable in a horizontal direction. A collector unit 58 is 
positioned in the center and a magnet 55 is positioned between the left 
and right rear rollers 54. 
A number of collector rings or brushes 59 are situated on the collector 
unit 58 to protrude upward. The aforementioned members situated atop of 
the plate member 50 are pushed upward through the linking member 52 in a 
scissor-like movement. As a result, the rollers 53 and 54 are thereby 
brought into contact with a power supply sheet 32 above, which forms the 
bottom layer of the track 3. The carrier 40 is designed to move smoothly 
between the track 3 and the running lane 33. In addition, the carrier 40 
is designed so that the relative positions of the collector unit 58 and 
the power sheet 32 are maintained in the described positional relationship 
in order to provide power to the carrier 40. As a result, the tips of the 
collector rings 59, which protrude upward from a collector unit 58, 
maintain contact with the power supply sheet 32 via the spring 60, thereby 
making it possible for the power supply to be received from the power 
supply sheet 32 with a suitable pressing force. A truck 23, supporting the 
model horse and rider 21, is correspondingly positioned above a carrier 
40, with the carrier 40 comprising the drive mechanism below the track 3. 
The magnet 55 on the carrier 40 will correspond to the magnet 27 on the 
model horse 20 and the magnetic attractive force between the respective 
magnets will cause the model horse 20 to follow the movement of its 
corresponding carrier 40. The carrier 40 not only receives power via the 
power supply sheet 32 and the collector unit 58, but in addition, it 
receives control signals from a light receiver 47 and from these control 
signals, information can be decoded to drive and control the right motor 
44 and the left motor 45, so that the carrier 40 can be subjectively 
controlled. 
As can be further seen in FIG. 2, a pair of oscillator coils 56 and 57 are 
fastened to the bottom of the base 43 of the carrier 40. These oscillator 
coils can be relatively exited to enable a determination of the position 
of a specific carrier 40 on the positional sensing sheet 34. The use of 
two separate oscillator coils 56 and 57 on each carrier unit 40 enables a 
determination of both position and the individual direction of each 
carrier unit, e.g., moving to the left or right relative to a principal 
direction along the track 3. The determined position of the carrier 40 is 
also used to enable the formation of images in the video system 80 which 
will be described subsequently. A microcomputer can be programmed to 
determine how the race will proceed and to execute the main control 
functions for the entire system. It can provide individual carrier control 
signals to each of the respective carriers. These control signals can be 
transmitted in a wireless manner, for example, through ultraviolet light 
or infrared light, to a light receiver 47 on each of the carriers 40. The 
carrier can then decode its own control signals to appropriately drive the 
right motor 44 and the left motor 45. 
The manner in which the carrier 40 interacts with a positional sensing 
sheet can be explained with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a schematic 
figure which illustrates the positional sensing plate 34 and its 
relationship to a schematic block diagram of the control system of the 
main race horse game device 1. A series of wires 36 are placed on the 
positional sensing plate 34 in both the lengthwise and widthwise 
directions. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 3, an X-axis direction and a 
Y-axis direction are arbitrarily set forth and a number of wires aligned 
in the Y-axis direction are arrayed to cross over the wires aligned in the 
X-axis direction to provide a grid array. These wires can be appropriately 
insulated. The wires aligned in the Y-axis direction are connected to an 
X-decoder 61 and the wires aligned in the X-axis direction are connected 
to a Y-decoder 62. Any signals sensed by these two coordinate axis 
decoders 61 and 62 can be appropriately amplified by amplifiers 63 and 64, 
and then their output signals can be input to an X-coordinate counter 65 
and a Y-coordinate counter 66, respectively. 
In operation, the X-coordinate counter 65 sequentially short-circuits the 
wires which are arrayed in the X-direction via the X-decoder 61, according 
to a specific predetermined count value. As the X-coordinated counter 65 
senses the aforementioned electromagnetic force produced by the coils 56 
and 57 on a specific carrier 40, its count value is output to a 
microcomputer operator 70 when it short-circuits a wire through which an 
induction current, generated by the coils, will flow. In the same manner, 
the Y-coordinated counter 66 also outputs its count value to the computer 
operator 70 when it reaches a wire through which an induction current 
flows, i.e. establishing the location of an individual carrier 40. As can 
be appreciated, the individual carriers can be programmed to activate 
their oscillators to produce positional signals in a coordinated manner so 
that it is possible to determine which carrier 40 is located at a 
particular position across the track 3. Additionally, the computer 
operator circuit 70 can further determine the drive controls to the right 
motor 44 and the left motor 45 for each carrier, based on the specific 
race performance to be achieved and on the carrier position 40, as 
determined from positional data attained from the X-coordinate counter 65 
and the Y-coordinate counter 66. The obtained control signals and drive 
oscillating control signals for the front coil 56 and the rear coil 57 can 
be output to an instructional parallel serial converter 71, converted to 
serial signals, and then emitted as ultraviolet light signals by a light 
transducer or transmitting unit 72. 
The ultraviolet light control signals are received by the light receiver 47 
for a specific carrier 40, and then they can be converted back to parallel 
signals by a serial-parallel instructional converter 73. The resulting 
motor drive control signals are then input to a right motor control unit 
74 and a left motor control unit 75, thereby controlling the motor driving 
operations for moving the carrier 40. In addition, the oscillating control 
signals can be input to a front oscillator circuit 76 and a rear 
oscillator circuit 77, thereby oscillating the front coil 56 and rear coil 
57 to produce an electromagnetic force to generate a current in the grid 
array wires of the positional sensing sheet 34. As can be appreciated, 
this control procedure can be sequentially utilized to address each of the 
individual carrier with appropriate control signals to effectuate the 
positioning and movement of the individual carriers as the race 
progresses. 
Besides driving the individual model horses 20, the X- and Y-coordinates 
for each of the carriers 40 are output from the computer current to a 
video system 80 where image processing can be carried out based on these 
X- and Y-coordinates. 
Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic block diagram is provide which illustrates 
the structural operation of the video system 80. A microprocessor, MPU, 
system 83 can process the input data to carry out an image processing 
function in correlation with a RAM 85 and a control program stored in the 
ROM 84. The video system 80 comprises the following basic components, a 
positional data memory 87, which stores the positional data on each of the 
individual carriers 40, a character image setting circuit 88, which is 
capable of forming character images for each of the respective horses and 
riders; a background image generating circuit 89, which generates 
background images; a timing circuit 91, which forms the XY addresses 
corresponding to the vertical-horizontal synchronous signals; a priority 
circuit 92, which can selectively output the images of the aforementioned 
character image setting circuit 88 and the background generating circuit 
89 according to predetermined priorities; a color expansion circuit 93, 
which can convert the colors of the image data output from the 
aforementioned priority circuit 92 into a wider or more expanded variety 
of colors and a projector 9, which can project the images onto a screen 
11. 
The character image setting circuit 88 further comprises an image data 
parameter memory 94, which can memorize and store the image data 
parameters, such as the positional information on the display screen 11, 
the size of the character, the colors of the character, the direction of 
the character, etc. These image data parameters can be set according to a 
game program and also based on a positional data from the aforementioned 
carriers 40. Additionally, the character image setting circuit 88 further 
includes a character image memory 95, which consists of a ROM which serves 
as a parameter memory for the various image data and a control circuit 96, 
which compares the aforementioned image data parameters to the X- and 
Y-addresses corresponding to the vertical-horizontal synchronous signals, 
sets the display position on the screen and outputs the corresponding 
image data from the character image 95. In the preferred embodiment, the 
character image setting circuit 88 can handle the production of character 
images for the video images of the race horses and the riders, based on a 
program algorithm that can generate particular images of the model horses 
20 taking into consideration the present and past positions of the 
respective model horses 20 during the development of the race. The 
character image memory 95 stores image data, each consisting of between 
100 and several hundred counter terms, depending on the particular demands 
of images for the particular arcade game system. The background image 
generating circuit 89 is capable of generating an appropriate background 
image, from a program algorithm, and comprises a character generator 97, 
which can output an 8.times.8 bit planar image element and a scroll 
circuit 98, which is capable of operating upon this array bit to expand 
these image elements. Character generator circuits are known in the 
computer animation field and do not per se constitute the present 
invention. 
The character image setting circuit 88 and the background image generating 
circuit 89 are capable of forming images which will change as the model 
horses 20 move, based on the positional data from each of the individual 
carriers 40. These circuits will continuously form images of the moving 
model horses 20 from a variety of different angles. Each of these circuits 
is connected to the MPU 83 through an address bus AB, and a data bus DB. 
The data transmission is accordingly carried out under instructions from 
the addresses placed on the address bus. Since these images are computed 
from a computer, they can be very realistic and not limited to the 
modeling configuration of the individual model horses 20. The images can 
be projected on the screen 11, as shown in FIGS. 6a through 6c. In this 
control system, the positional sensing circuit, the movement control 
circuit, and the video system can all function independently of each 
other, although obviously they are interrelated to coordinate their 
outputs to simulate a real racing race horse environment. 
Referring to FIG. 5, a short schematic program routine of the computer 
circuit 70 is disclosed. The main routine of the computer circuit 70 
controls the right motor 44 and the left motor 45 for each of the carriers 
40 to thereby enable them to be moved to a desired position in step 1. The 
current position of the carrier 40 is sensed, as shown in step 2, an image 
is formed based on the positional data sensed in step 2, and this video 
image is displayed on a screen 11, as shown in step 3. These 
aforementioned steps 1, 2, and 3 are carried out repeatedly in real time 
at a rate of 30-60 times per minute. 
As described above, the model horses 20 will move across the track 3 with 
their individual motors 44 and 45 being drive-controlled, and a given type 
of race will accordingly develop. The video system 80 can form computer 
images of both background of the track and the individual horses that will 
correspond to the positional data of the individual model horses 20 on the 
track. These computer images are combined to be projected on the screen 11 
to provide a video image, which will be positioned in correlation with the 
development of the actual race on the track 3. It is possible to form 
various video images of the computer images, which can be very similar to 
camera shots that could be taken from a variety of angles during a race 
that is in progress on the track 3. Thus, it is possible to display the 
race on the track 3 as if it were a live broadcast. In addition, the video 
images projected on the screen 11 will be images formed by a computer and 
the horse and rider characters and the background can be controlled to 
provide very realistic video images. The images can be taken from a 
variety of angles, to provide an intense realistic display of the action 
of the race. As can be appreciated, it is possible to form any desired 
type of image, since they are being derived from a computer and thus 
subjective game features can be included. As shown in FIG. 6c, it is even 
possible to display an image of a photographic finish. 
Even if there exists a difference between an actual position and the 
position to which the model horse 20 is to be moved based on the control 
signals, it is possible at all times to project images, which are 
synchronous with the present position of the model horses 20 on the race 
track. This is due to the fact that computer images are formed directly 
based on the positional data sensed from the carriers 40. 
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and 
modifications of the just-described preferred embodiment can be configured 
without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, 
it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the 
invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.