Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7737944?ie=ISO-8859-1&dq=6,460,050
Timestamp: 2015-04-01 04:52:37
Document Index: 740693600

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'application No. 29', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60']

Patent US7737944 - Method and system for adding a new player to a game in response to ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA method for use in operation of a game apparatus includes obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus, processing the time series to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined...http://www.google.com/patents/US7737944?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7737944 - Method and system for adding a new player to a game in response to controller activityAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7737944 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/624,637Publication dateJun 15, 2010Filing dateJan 18, 2007Priority dateJul 27, 2002Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS7782297, US20070015558, US20080274804Publication number11624637, 624637, US 7737944 B2, US 7737944B2, US-B2-7737944, US7737944 B2, US7737944B2InventorsPhil Harrison, Gary M. Zalewski, Richard Marks, Xiadong MaoOriginal AssigneeSony Computer Entertainment America Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (117), Non-Patent Citations (86), Referenced by (16), Classifications (17), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and system for adding a new player to a game in response to controller activity
US 7737944 B2Abstract
A method for use in operation of a game apparatus includes obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus, processing the time series to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress, and adding a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive. A system for use in operation of a game apparatus includes means for performing these steps.
1. A method for use in operation of a game apparatus, comprising the steps of:
obtaining information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus;
processing the information to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress; and
adding a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information, and the method further comprises the step of:
mixing the at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information to generate mixed tracking information, wherein the processing comprises processing the mixed tracking information to determine whether the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of processing the information to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during the game already in progress comprises:
processing the mixed tracking information and determining that the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive so long as the activity of the one of the plurality of predetermined objects does not exceed a threshold; and
modifying the threshold during the game in progress.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the information includes detecting movement of individual ones of the plurality of predetermined objects.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein movement is detected based on capturing images of one or more photonically detectable (�PD�) elements mounted on each of the predetermined objects.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein movement is detected based on acoustical data.
7. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein movement is detected based on data received from an inertial sensor incorporated into each of the predetermined objects.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of processing further includes determining an orientation of individual ones of the plurality of predetermined objects including orientation data relating to at least one of pitch, yaw or roll and comparing the orientation data to predetermined orientation data to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of predetermined objects comprise a plurality of game controllers.
10. A system for use in operation of a game apparatus, comprising:
means for obtaining information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus;
means for processing the information to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress; and
means for adding a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive.
11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the information comprises at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information, and the system further comprises:
means for mixing the at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information to generate mixed tracking information, wherein the means for processing processes the mixed tracking information to determine whether the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive.
12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the mean for obtaining the information includes means for detecting movement of individual ones of the plurality of predetermined objects and wherein movement is detected based on capturing images of one or more photonically detectable (�PD�) elements mounted on each of the predetermined objects.
13. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for processing the information to determine whether the one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during the game already in progress comprises:
means for processing the mixed tracking information and for determining that the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive so long as the activity of the one of the plurality of predetermined objects does not exceed a threshold.
14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the means for process further comprises means for modifying the threshold during the game in progress.
15. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein movement is detected based on acoustical data.
16. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for obtaining the information includes means for capturing an orientation of individual ones of the plurality of predetermined objects.
17. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for processing further includes means for determining an orientation of individual ones of the plurality of predetermined objects including orientation data relating to at least one of pitch, yaw or roll and comparing the orientation data to predetermined orientation data to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive.
18. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the plurality of predetermined objects comprise a plurality of game controllers.
19. An apparatus for use in controlling a progress of a game, the apparatus comprising:
a processor being configured to access the game program from the memory, and to execute the game program to enable a game to be interactively played by a user in accordance with interactions of a user, the processor being configured to:
obtain information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus;
process the information to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress; and
add a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the information comprises at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information, and the process is further configured to:
mix the at least two of inertial tracking information, image tracking information, and acoustic tracking information to generate mixed tracking information, and wherein the processing the information comprises processing the mixed tracking information to determine whether the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive.
21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to:
process the mixed information in determining that the one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently inactive so long as the activity of the one of the plurality of predetermined objects does not exceed a threshold; and
modify the threshold during the game in progress.
22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein movement is detected based on acoustical data.
23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the plurality of predetermined object comprise:
a body and at least one photonically detectable (�PD�) element assembled with the body, the PD element being distinguishable from the body by at least one of brightness, color, texture, pattern, reflectivity or illumination intensity, wherein the processor in obtaining the information representative of a position of the at least one PD element within an image captured by the image capture device.
an image capture device coupled with the processor;
wherein the obtaining the information comprises receiving an image recorded by the image capture device; and
the processing the information comprises determining a position of the PD element within the image, and determining positions of the PD element at different points in time to determine whether the user is currently inactive in relation to the game controller.
25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the body of the game controller further comprises:
a forward section to be oriented towards a screen when a progress of the game controlled by the processor is displayed upon the screen; and
the game controller further comprises at least one photonically detectable (�PD�) element assembled with the body, a position of the photonically detectable element within an image being recordable by the image capture device when the forward section is oriented at least generally towards the screen, wherein positions of the PD element at different points in time quantify movement of the body in space. Description
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258, filed on May 8, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,659,882, entitled �METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN DETERMINING AN ACTIVITY LEVEL OF A USER IN RELATION TO A SYSTEM�, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and which claims priority to the following applications as follows:
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/718,145, entitled �AUDIO, VIDEO, SIMULATION, AND USER INTERFACE PARADIGMS�, filed Sep. 15, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 is also a continuation in part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/207,677, entitled, �MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE USING A DEFORMABLE DEVICE�, filed on Jul. 27, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,102,615; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/650,409, entitled, �AUDIO INPUT SYSTEM�, filed on Aug. 27, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,613,310; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/663,236, entitled �METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING A VIEW OF A SCENE BEING DISPLAYED ACCORDING TO TRACKED HEAD MOTION�, filed on Sep. 15, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/759,782, entitled �METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LIGHT INPUT DEVICE�, filed on Jan. 16, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,623,115; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/820,469, entitled �METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DETECT AND REMOVE AUDIO DISTURBANCES�, filed on Apr. 7, 2004; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/301,673, entitled �METHOD FOR USING RELATIVE HEAD AND HAND POSITIONS TO ENABLE A POINTING INTERFACE VIA CAMERA TRACKING�, filed on Dec. 12, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,646,372, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 is also a continuation in part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,729, to Xiadong Mao, entitled ULTRA SMALL MICROPHONE ARRAY, filed on May 4, 2006, application Ser. No. 11/381,728, to Xiadong Mao, entitled ECHO AND NOISE CANCELLATION, filed on May 4, 2006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,725, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TARGETED SOUND DETECTION�, filed on May 4, 2006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,727, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �NOISE REMOVAL FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH FAR FIELD MICROPHONE ON CONSOLE�, filed on May 4, 2006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,724, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TARGETED SOUND DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION�, filed on May 4, 2006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,721, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �SELECTIVE SOUND SOURCE LISTENING IN CONJUNCTION WITH COMPUTER INTERACTIVE PROCESSING�, filed on May 4, 2006; all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 is also a continuation in part (CIP) of: co-pending application Ser. No. 11/418,988, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR ADJUSTING A LISTENING AREA FOR CAPTURING SOUNDS�, filed on May 4, 2006; co-pending application Ser. No. 11/418,989, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR CAPTURING AN AUDIO SIGNAL BASED ON VISUAL IMAGE�, filed on May 4, 2006; co-pending application Ser. No. 11/429,047, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR CAPTURING AN AUDIO SIGNAL BASED ON A LOCATION OF THE SIGNAL�, filed on May 4, 2006; co-pending application Ser. No. 11/429,133, to Richard Marks et al., entitled �SELECTIVE SOUND SOURCE LISTENING IN CONJUNCTION WITH COMPUTER INTERACTIVE PROCESSING�, filed on May 4, 2006; and application Ser. No. 11/429,414, to Richard Marks et al., entitled �Computer Image and Audio Processing of Intensity and Input Devices for Interfacing With A Computer Program�, filed on May 4, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,627,139, all of the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 is also a continuation in part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,031, entitled �MULTI-INPUT GAME CONTROL MIXER�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,032, entitled �SYSTEM FOR TRACKING USER MANIPULATIONS WITHIN AN ENVIRONMENT�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,033, entitled �SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL INPUT CONTROL�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,035, entitled �INERTIALLY TRACKABLE HAND-HELD CONTROLLER�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,036, entitled �METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING GEARING EFFECTS TO VISUAL TRACKING�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,041, entitled �METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING GEARING EFFECTS TO INERTIAL TRACKING�, filed on May 7, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,352,359; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,038, entitled �METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING GEARING EFFECTS TO ACOUSTICAL TRACKING�, filed on May 6, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,352,358; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,040, entitled �METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING GEARING EFFECTS TO MULTI-CHANNEL MIXED INPUT�, filed on May 7, 2006 U.S. Pat. No. 7,391,409; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,034, entitled �SCHEME FOR DETECTING AND TRACKING USER MANIPULATION OF A GAME CONTROLLER BODY�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,037, entitled �SCHEME FOR TRANSLATING MOVEMENTS OF A HAND-HELD CONTROLLER INTO INPUTS FOR A SYSTEM�, filed on May 6, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,043, entitled �DETECTABLE AND TRACKABLE HANDHELD CONTROLLER�, filed on May 7, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,039, entitled �METHOD FOR MAPPING MOVEMENTS OF A HAND-HELD CONTROLLER TO GAME COMMANDS�, filed on May 7, 2006; U.S. Design patent application No. 29/259,349, entitled �CONTROLLER WITH INFRARED PORT�, filed on May 6, 2006, now abandoned; U.S. Design patent application No. 29/259,350, entitled �CONTROLLER WITH TRACKING SENSORS�, filed on May 6, 2006; and U.S. Design patent application No. 29/259,348, entitled �TRACKED CONTROLLER DEVICE�, filed on May 6, 2006; all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/430,594, to Gary Zalewski and Riley R. Russell, entitled �Profile Detection�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/430,593, to Gary Zalewski and Riley R. Russell, entitled �Using Audio/Visual Environment To Select Ads On Game Platform�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/400,997, filed on Apr. 10, 2006, to Larsen and Chen, entitled �System And Method For Obtaining User Information From Voices�, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,259, to Gary Zalewski et al., entitled �Method and apparatus for use in determining lack of user activity in relation to a system�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,251, to Gary Zalewski et al., entitled �Hand-held controller having detectable elements for tracking purposes�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,252, entitled �TRACKING DEVICE FOR USE IN OBTAINING INFORMATION FOR CONTROLLING GAME PROGRAM EXECUTION�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,256, entitled �TRACKING DEVICE WITH SOUND EMITTER FOR USE IN OBTAINING INFORMATION FOR CONTROLLING GAME PROGRAM EXECUTION�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,250, entitled �OBTAINING INPUT FOR CONTROLLING EXECUTION OF A GAME PROGRAM�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,744, entitled �VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER FRONT FACE�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,743, entitled �VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,767, entitled �VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,768, entitled �VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,763, entitled �ERGONOMIC GAME CONTROLLER DEVICE WITH LEDS AND OPTICAL PORTS�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,759, entitled �GAME CONTROLLER DEVICE WITH LEDS AND OPTICAL PORTS�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,765, entitled �DESIGN FOR OPTICAL GAME CONTROLLER INTERFACE�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,766, entitled �DUAL GRIP GAME CONTROL DEVICE WITH LEDS AND OPTICAL PORTS�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,764, entitled �GAME INTERFACE DEVICE WITH LEDS AND OPTICAL PORTS�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. Design patent application No. 29/246,762, entitled �ERGONOMIC GAME INTERFACE DEVICE WITH LEDS AND OPTICAL PORTS�, filed on May 8, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,258 that claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/718,145, entitled �AUDIO, VIDEO, SIMULATION, AND USER INTERFACE PARADIGMS�, filed Sep. 15, 2005, which are hereby incorporated by reference; and U.S. Patent Application No. 60/798,031, entitled �DYNAMIC TARGET INTERFACE�, filed on May 6, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
One embodiment provides a method for use in operation of a game apparatus, comprising the steps of: obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus; processing the time series to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress; and adding a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive.
Another embodiment provides a system for use in operation of a game apparatus, comprising: means for obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine activity of a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling the game apparatus; means for processing the time series to determine whether one of the plurality of predetermined objects has been inactive during a game already in progress; and means for adding a new player to the game already in progress in response to a determination that one of the plurality of predetermined objects is currently active after determining that it was inactive.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are flow diagrams illustrating methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a plurality of predetermined objects used for controlling a game apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
Detecting and tracking a user's manipulations of a game controller body may be implemented in different ways. For example, an inertial sensor, such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, an image capture unit, such as a digital camera, can be used with the computer entertainment system to detect motions of the hand-held controller body and transfer them into actions in a game. Examples of tracking a controller with an inertial sensor are described, e.g., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,033, entitled �SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL INPUT CONTROL�, which is incorporated herein by reference. Examples of tracking a controller using image capture are described, e.g., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,034, entitled �SCHEME FOR DETECTING AND TRACKING USER MANIPULATION OF A GAME CONTROLLER BODY�, which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition, the controller and/or the user may also be tracked acoustically using a microphone array and appropriate signal processing. Examples of such acoustic tracking are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,721, which is incorporated herein by reference.
During operation, the user 108 physically moves the controller 110. For example, the controller 110 may be moved in any direction by the user 108, such as up, down, to one side, to the other side, twisted, rolled, shaken, jerked, plunged, etc. These movements of the controller 110 itself may be detected and captured by the camera 112 by way of tracking through analysis of signals from the inertial sensor 112 in a manner described below. Referring again to FIG. 1, the system 100 may optionally include a camera or other video image capturing device 114, which may be positioned so that the controller 110 is within the camera's field of view 116. Analysis of images from the image capturing device 114 may be used in conjunction with analysis of data from the inertial sensor 112. As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 110 may optionally be equipped with light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) 202, 204, 206, 208 to facilitate tracking by video analysis. These may be mounted to a body of the controller 110. As used herein, the term �body� meant to describe the part of the game controller 110 that one would hold by hand (or wear if it were a wearable game controller).
Analysis of such video images for the purpose of tracking the controller 110 are described, e.g., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,034, filed on May 6, 2006, entitled �SCHEME FOR DETECTING AND TRACKING USER MANIPULATION OF A GAME CONTROLLER BODY�, which is incorporated herein by reference. The console 110 may include an acoustic transducer, such as a microphone array 118. The controller 110 may also include an acoustic signal generator 210 (e.g., a speaker) to provide a source of sound to facilitate acoustic tracking of the controller 110 with the microphone array 118 and appropriate acoustic signal processing, e.g., as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,724, which is incorporated herein by reference.
As discussed above, data from inertial, image capture and acoustic sources may be analyzed to generate a path that tracks the position and/or orientation of the controller 110. As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 4 a system 400 according to an embodiment of the invention may include an inertial analyzer 402, an image analyzer 404 and an acoustic analyzer 406. Each of these analyzers receives signals from a sensed environment 401. The analyzers 402, 406, 408 may be implemented in hardware, in software (or firmware) or some combination of two or more of these. Each of the analyzers produces tracking information related the position and/or orientation of an object of interest. By way of example, the object of interest may be the controller 110 referred to above. The image analyzer 404 may operate in connection with and to form fields below and with respect to methods described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,034. The inertial analyzer 402 may operate in connection with and to form fields below and with respect to methods described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,033, entitled �SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL INPUT CONTROL�. The acoustic analyzer 406 may operate in connection with and to form fields below and with respect to methods described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,724.
As indicated at block 516, the mixer 408 mixes the inertial information 403, image information 405 and acoustic information 407 to generate refined position and/or orientation information 409. By way of example, the mixer 408 may apply different weights the inertial, image and acoustic tracking information 403, 405, 407 based on game or environmental conditions and the take a weighted average. In addition, the mixer 408 may include its own mixer analyzer 412 that analyzes the combined position/orientation information and generates its own resulting �mixer� information that involves combinations of the information generated by the other analyzers.
Here is one example of this can occur. Upon determining that the controller 110 has left a steady state the path an analyzer 402, 404, 406, or 412 tracks movement of the controller 110. As long as the path of the controller 110 complies with a path defined in the stored gesture models 508, those gestures are possible �hits�. If the path of the controller 110 deviates (within the noise tolerance setting) from any gesture model 508, that gesture model is removed from the hit list. Each gesture reference model includes a time-base in which the gesture is recorded. The analyzer 402, 404, 406, or 412 compares the controller path data to the stored gestures 508 at the appropriate time index. Occurrence of a steady state condition resets the clock. When deviating from steady state (i.e. when movements are tracked outside of the noise threshold) the hit list is populated with all potential gesture models. The clock is started and movements of the controller are compared against the hit list. Again, the comparison is a walk through time. If any gesture in the hit list reaches the end of the gesture then it is a hit.
SET GEARING. As used herein gearing generally refers to the ratio of controller movements to movements occurring within the game. Examples of such �gearing� in the context of control of a video game may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/382,036, 11/382,041, 11/382,038, and 11/382,040, which are all incorporated herein by reference.
STEADY STATE Y/N�This particular information indicates whether the controller is in a steady state, which may be defined as any position, which may be subject to change too. In a preferred embodiment the steady state position may be one wherein the controller is held in a more or less level orientation at a height roughly even with a user's waist.
In some embodiments it can be determined that a particular user-manipulable object among a plurality of objects is in the steady state. For example, the step of processing the time series may be performed with respect to the activity of individual ones of a plurality of users in relation to individual ones of a plurality of the predetermined objects to identify one or more individual users of the plurality of users who is currently inactive. Furthermore, the step of providing the first signal may include identifying a particular user of the plurality of users who is currently inactive. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a plurality of predetermined objects 902, 904 and 906 used for to control the game operated by the console 102 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
The method 800 begins in step 802 which includes obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine activity of a user in relation to a predetermined object. In step 804 the time series is processed to determine whether the user is currently inactive in relation to the predetermined object. And in step 806, when the step of processing the time series determines that the user is currently inactive, providing a first signal to the game apparatus for use in controlling the operation of the game apparatus. In some embodiments the predetermined object may comprise a controller such as a game controller or similar device, a remote, a wand device, a mouse or pointing device, or any other device. Thus, it can be determined that a particular user-manipulable object such as the controller is in a steady state.
In some embodiments, the predetermined object may include a body and at least one photonically detectable (�PD�) element assembled with the body. The PD element may be distinguishable from the body by at least one of brightness, color, texture, pattern, reflectivity or illumination intensity. The step of obtaining the time series may include obtaining information representative of a position of the at least one PD element within an image captured by the image capture device. The at least one PD element may include a light source. The at least one PD element may include a light emitting diode (�LED�).
Referring to FIG. 8B, there is illustrated a method 820 for use in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment provides a method for use in operation of a game apparatus for determining a lack of user activity in relation to the game apparatus. The method may include step 822 of obtaining a time series of samples containing information usable to determine an activity level of a user of the game apparatus. Step 824 may include processing the time series to determine whether the user is currently inactive. And in step 826, when the step of processing the time series determines that the user is currently inactive, providing a first signal to the game apparatus for use in controlling the operation of the game apparatus. Determining an activity level of a user may be performed in many different ways. For example, it may be determined by sensing a user walking into a room, or sensing a user's presence, of sensing hands clapping, or sensing an activity level in some other way, etc. Thus, by determining that there is not sufficient movement criterion, or change criterion etc. of the user as recorded by a sensor, which may be incorporated in an article worn by the user, a steady state condition may be determined.
In some embodiments, the step of obtaining the time series may include obtaining information from an image capture device in a vicinity of a screen upon which a progress of a game is displayable by the game apparatus. The step of obtaining the time series may include obtaining information representative of a position of the at least one photonically detectable (�PD�) element within an image captured by the image capture device. The PD element may be included in an article worn by the user. The PD element may be distinctive by at least one of brightness, color, texture, pattern, reflectivity or illumination intensity. The step of processing may determine that the user is currently inactive when a change in the position of the at least one PD element over an interval of time fails to exceed a predetermined threshold.
In some embodiments, the at least one PD element may include a light source. The at least one PD element may include a light emitting diode (�LED�). The article may include at least two PD elements. The step of obtaining the time series may include capturing an orientation of the article relative to an x-axis of a plane of the image and a y-axis of the plane of the image.
As used herein, the term I/O generally refers to any program, operation or device that transfers data to or from the system 600 and to or from a peripheral device. Every data transfer may be regarded as an output from one device and an input into another. Peripheral devices include input-only devices, such as keyboards and mouses, output-only devices, such as printers as well as devices such as a writable CD-ROM that can act as both an input and an output device. The term �peripheral device� includes external devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, printer, monitor, microphone, game controller, camera, external Zip drive or scanner as well as internal devices, such as a CD-ROM drive, CD-R drive or internal modem or other peripheral such as a flash memory reader/writer, hard drive.
The joystick controls 631 may generally be configured so that moving a control stick left or right signals movement along the X axis, and moving it forward (up) or back (down) signals movement along the Y axis. In joysticks that are configured for three-dimensional movement, twisting the stick left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) may signal movement along the Z axis. These three axis�X Y and Z�are often referred to as roll, pitch, and yaw, respectively, particularly in relation to an aircraft.
In addition the light sources 634 may provide telemetry signals to the processor 601, e.g., in pulse code, amplitude modulation or frequency modulation format. Such telemetry signals may indicate which joystick buttons are being pressed and/or how hard such buttons are being pressed. Telemetry signals may be encoded into the optical signal, e.g., by pulse coding, pulse width modulation, frequency modulation or light intensity (amplitude) modulation. The processor 601 may decode the telemetry signal from the optical signal and execute a game command in response to the decoded telemetry signal. Telemetry signals may be decoded from analysis of images of the joystick controller 630 obtained by the image capture unit 623. Alternatively, the apparatus 601 may include a separate optical sensor dedicated to receiving telemetry signals from the lights sources 634. The use of LEDs in conjunction with determining an intensity amount in interfacing with a computer program is described, e.g., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/429,414, to Richard L. Marks et al., entitled �USE OF COMPUTER IMAGE AND AUDIO PROCESSING IN DETERMINING AN INTENSITY AMOUNT WHEN INTERFACING WITH A COMPUTER PROGRAM�, filed May 4, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In addition, analysis of images containing the light sources 634 may be used for both telemetry and determining the position and/or orientation of the joystick controller 630. Such techniques may be implemented by instructions of the program 604 which may be stored in the memory 602 and executed by the processor 601.
The processor 601 may use the inertial signals from the inertial sensor 632 in conjunction with optical signals from light sources 634 detected by the image capture unit 623 and/or sound source location and characterization information from acoustic signals detected by the microphone array 622 to deduce information on the location and/or orientation of the controller 630 and/or its user. For example, �acoustic radar� sound source location and characterization may be used in conjunction with the microphone array 622 to track a moving voice while motion of the joystick controller is independently tracked (through the inertial sensor 632 and or light sources 634). In acoustic radar select a pre-calibrated listening zone is selected at runtime and sounds originating from sources outside the pre-calibrated listening zone are filtered out. The pre-calibrated listening zones may include a listening zone that corresponds to a volume of focus or field of view of the image capture unit 623. Examples of acoustic radar are described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,724, to Xiadong Mao entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TARGETED SOUND DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION�, filed May 4, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference. Any number of different combinations of different modes of providing control signals to the processor 601 may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the present invention. Such techniques may be implemented by program code instructions 604 which may be stored in the memory 602 and executed by the processor 601 and may optionally include one or more instructions that direct the one or more processors to select a pre-calibrated listening zone at runtime and filter out sounds originating from sources outside the pre-calibrated listening zone. The pre-calibrated listening zones may include a listening zone that corresponds to a volume of focus or field of view of the image capture unit 623.
The program 604 may optionally include one or more instructions that direct the one or more processors to produce a discrete time domain input signal xm(t) from microphones M0 . . . MM, of the microphone array 622, determine a listening sector, and use the listening sector in a semi-blind source separation to select the finite impulse response filter coefficients to separate out different sound sources from input signal xm(t). The program 604 may also include instructions to apply one or more fractional delays to selected input signals xm(t) other than an input signal x0(t) from a reference microphone M0. Each fractional delay may be selected to optimize a signal to noise ratio of a discrete time domain output signal y(t) from the microphone array. The fractional delays may be selected to such that a signal from the reference microphone M0 is first in time relative to signals from the other microphone(s) of the array. The program 604 may also include instructions to introduce a fractional time delay Δ into an output signal y(t) of the microphone array so that: y(t+Δ)=x(t+Δ)*b0+x(t−1+Δ)*b1+x(t−2+Δ)*b2+ . . . +x(t−N+Δ)bN, where Δ is between zero and �1. Examples of such techniques are described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,729, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �ULTRA SMALL MICROPHONE ARRAY� filed May 4, 2006, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference.
The program 604 may include one or more instructions which, when executed, cause the system 600 to select a pre-calibrated listening sector that contains a source of sound. Such instructions may cause the apparatus to determine whether a source of sound lies within an initial sector or on a particular side of the initial sector. If the source of sound does not lie within the default sector, the instructions may, when executed, select a different sector on the particular side of the default sector. The different sector may be characterized by an attenuation of the input signals that is closest to an optimum value. These instructions may, when executed, calculate an attenuation of input signals from the microphone array 622 and the attenuation to an optimum value. The instructions may, when executed, cause the apparatus 600 to determine a value of an attenuation of the input signals for one or more sectors and select a sector for which the attenuation is closest to an optimum value. Examples of such a technique are described, e.g., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,725, to Xiadong Mao, entitled �METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TARGETED SOUND DETECTION� filed May 4, 2006, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Signals from the inertial sensor 632 may provide part of a tracking information input and signals generated from the image capture unit 623 from tracking the one or more light sources 634 may provide another part of the tracking information input. By way of example, and without limitation, such �mixed mode� signals may be used in a football type video game in which a Quarterback pitches the ball to the right after a head fake head movement to the left. Specifically, a game player holding the controller 630 may turn his head to the left and make a sound while making a pitch movement swinging the controller out to the right like it was the football. The microphone array 620 in conjunction with �acoustic radar� program code can track the user's voice. The image capture unit 623 can track the motion of the user's head or track other commands that do not require sound or use of the controller. The sensor 632 may track the motion of the joystick controller (representing the football). The image capture unit 623 may also track the light sources 634 on the controller 630. The user may release of the �ball� upon reaching a certain amount and/or direction of acceleration of the joystick controller 630 or upon a key command triggered by pressing a button on the controller 630.
In certain embodiments of the present invention, an inertial signal, e.g., from an accelerometer or gyroscope may be used to determine a location of the controller 630. Specifically, an acceleration signal from an accelerometer may be integrated once with respect to time to determine a change in velocity and the velocity may be integrated with respect to time to determine a change in position. If values of the initial position and velocity at some time are known then the absolute position may be determined using these values and the changes in velocity and position. Although position determination using an inertial sensor may be made more quickly than using the image capture unit 623 and light sources 634 the inertial sensor 632 may be subject to a type of error known as �drift� in which errors that accumulate over time can lead to a discrepancy D between the position of the joystick 630 calculated from the inertial signal (shown in phantom) and the actual position of the joystick controller 630. Embodiments of the present invention allow a number of ways to deal with such errors.
By way of example, the PPE 704 may be a 64-bit PowerPC Processor Unit (PPU) with associated caches L1 and L2. The PPE 704 is a general-purpose processing unit, which can access system management resources (such as the memory-protection tables, for example). Hardware resources may be mapped explicitly to a real address space as seen by the PPE.
Therefore, the PPE can address any of these resources directly by using an appropriate effective address value. A primary function of the PPE 704 is the management and allocation of tasks for the SPEs 706 in the cell processor 700.
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S.A. as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationTeam Electronic Gameplay Combining Different Means of Control* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification345/156, 345/163, 463/37, 345/161, 463/36, 341/33, 345/168, 345/167, 463/30International ClassificationG09G5/00Cooperative ClassificationA63F2300/105, A63F13/10, A63F2300/1012, A63F2300/1006, A63F2300/6072, A63F2300/1093European ClassificationA63F13/10Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionDec 16, 2013FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Oct 4, 2011CCCertificate of correctionAug 16, 2011ASAssignmentOwner name: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC, CALIFORNIFree format text: MERGER;ASSIGNOR:SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA INC.;REEL/FRAME:026760/0402Effective date: 20100401Jan 19, 2007ASAssignmentOwner name: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA INC., CALIFORNFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HARRISON, PHIL;ZALEWSKI, GARY M.;MARKS, RICHARD;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:018781/0026;SIGNING DATES FROM 20061212 TO 20070109Owner name: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA INC.,CALIFORNIFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HARRISON, PHIL;ZALEWSKI, GARY M.;MARKS, RICHARD AND OTHERS;SIGNED BETWEEN 20061212 AND 20070109;REEL/FRAME:18781/26Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HARRISON, PHIL;ZALEWSKI, GARY M.;MARKS, RICHARD;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20061212 TO 20070109;REEL/FRAME:018781/0026RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services