Patent ID: 7850526

Claim:
A system for tracking user manipulations within an environment, comprising: a first analyzer operable to receive first input channel information via a first input channel, wherein the first analyzer includes a video analyzer and the first input channel information includes information indicative of a position of a user-movable object within an image obtainable from an image capture device, the first analyzer further being operable to analyze the first input channel information to generate first output information for registering the user manipulations by a game program during execution of the game program; a second analyzer operable to receive second input channel information from a second input channel, the second input channel information being representative of the user manipulations within the environment, wherein the second analyzer includes an acoustic analyzer and the second input channel information includes information obtainable by transducing a user-manipulable source of sound with an acoustic pick-up device, the second analyzer further being operable to analyze the second channel information to generate second output information for registering the user manipulations by a game program during execution of the game program; and a programmable mixer operable to select information regarding a first aspect of the user manipulations from the first output information and to select information regarding a second aspect of the user manipulations from the second output information and to generate mixed output information for supply to the game program based on the selected first output information and the selected second output information and distribution values for the first output information and the second output information, wherein the distribution values are: a) defined by the mixer, b) defined by the game program, c) a result of the mixer identifying a particular quality of data coming from the first and second analyzers and making a dynamic adjustment of the distribution values, d) a result of building a historical knowledge base of when particular data is of particular value in a particular environment, or e) defined in response to the particularities of the game program.