JP2003103052A - Video experiencing system, image processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make games using playing boards highly excitable than ever by displaying virtual CG images that allow the players to see the combination of the real world and the CG virtual world. SOLUTION: Images are inputted from image pickup parts arranged at respective head-mounted displays mounted on players to detect marks for determining the positions of the lines of vision of users on a playing board. Furthermore, items on the playing board are identified to generate computer graphics showing game scenes based on the results of the identification. The computer graphics based on the positions of the lines of vision are displayed on the respective head-mounted displays.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a progressive game in which items are arranged on a play board having a plurality of marks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are various card games. There are poker and blackjack using general playing cards. These days, card games are played using cards in which cartoon characters are applied to cards.

In this card game, cards are brought to each other and played against each other on a play sheet or a play board. Cards describe cartoon characters and their attributes, and their special moves. It consists of things. Players use these cards to advance the game. In the game, the combination of cards determines the attack method, attack power, defense method, and defense power, and the winning or losing is determined by them.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] This card game has a strong character dependence, and the player's feelings are great. So when you put a card on the playboard, if that card is a character, that character will appear in CG, and if that card is a special move, the special move will be displayed in CG. If so, the excitement for the game will increase.

According to the present invention, by displaying a virtual CG image, the real world and the virtual world of the CG can be viewed together, and the game using the play board can be more excited than ever. The purpose is to do so.

[0006]

A video experience system according to the present invention is a video experience system for playing a game by arranging items on a play board having a plurality of marks. A position grasping section for recognizing the types of a plurality of items and positions of the items placed on the board, a game management means for managing the progress of the game from the types of the plurality of items and the positions of the items, and the plurality of And a generation unit that generates computer graphics of a game scene according to the type of item and the position of the item.

The information processing method of the present application is an information processing method for a game that progresses by arranging items on a playboard having a plurality of marks, and the head mounted on the player. An image is input from the image pickup unit included in the mount display, a mark is detected from within the image, a line-of-sight position of the user on the play board is obtained, an item on the play board is identified, and a game based on the identification result is displayed. Computer graphics showing a scene are created, and the computer graphics based on the line-of-sight position are displayed on the head mounted display.

[0008]

(First Embodiment) In the present embodiment,
A system for advancing a game by combining the real world and the virtual world of CG (computer graphics) by using MR technology (mixed reality technology) for a card game will be described.

The system in the case where the present embodiment is applied to a battle-type card game in which two players play cards by using the cards on the board will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows an image when a game is being played using this embodiment. The two players wear a see-through HMD, and are placed with a board, which is the competition space of the game, in between. The two players proceed with the game by placing their own cards on the board and moving the cards placed on the board. When the player looks into the see-through HMD, it seems that CG corresponding to the characteristics of the card is projected on the card.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the system configuration of this embodiment.
Shown in.

The player is wearing a 21 HMD and
The HMD is equipped with 20 cameras and 223 dimensional position and orientation measuring means. 21 HMD has 25 game managers and 2
The 0 camera and the 223 dimensional position / orientation measuring means are connected to the 29 position grasping section by a signal cable.

The 20 camera is a camera adapted to the line of sight of the player, and what the player sees is photographed by the 20 camera. The captured image data is sent to the 29 position grasping section.

When the player is looking at the 26 play board, the 31 marker of FIG. 3 appears in the image taken by the 20 cameras. The 31 marker is set at a predetermined point on the play board, and its position information is input to the 29 position grasping section. Thereby 2
You can guess the area the player is looking at from the 31 marker displayed on the 0 camera.

The 223D position / orientation measuring means measures the position / orientation of the HMD worn by the player. The measured position and orientation data is input to the 29 position grasping unit.

At the 29 position grasping part, 3 images taken by 20 cameras
The range viewed by the player is calculated from the position of one marker position and the position and orientation data from the 223D position and orientation measuring means.

On the 26 play board there is a 27 roof on which a 28 card recognition camera is installed. It should be noted that the number of 28-card recognition cameras may be one and may cover all of the 26 playboards, for example, four 28-card recognition cameras may be arranged in four areas, or cards may be arranged. You may install 28 card recognition cameras as many as the number of division areas. The 28 card recognition camera always shoots on the play board during the game, and the shot image is 2
4 Card is sent to the reading section. The 24 card reading unit identifies the card on the 26 play board from the captured image.

The markers on the play board will be described. FIG. 3 is a view of the 26 play board viewed from above. Two
31 markers are arranged on 6 play boards.
31 markers are made in one particular color and shape,
Information on the color, shape, and position is registered in advance in the 29 position grasping section. The position of the play board to which the captured image corresponds can be determined by detecting the marker portion from the captured image of the 20 cameras and identifying the color and shape. And
From the judgment result, it is possible to infer which area of the board the player is looking at.

Next, the guide will be described. 26 in FIG.
It is the figure which looked at the play board from the top. On the 26 play board, 41 guides are arranged in 5x2 for the player in front and 5x2 for the player on the opposite side. The area delimited by the 41 guides is the position where the card should be placed in the game progress, and placing it in any other area does not affect the game progress. Since the position of the card is accurately determined by the guide 41, the recognition accuracy of the card is improved. Four
The structure of one guide is a card-sized depression, a card-sized enclosure, and the like.

The flow of the game will be described using a flowchart.

First, the 24 card reading section will be described with reference to FIG.

When starting at S701, first at S702, an image capturing phase is entered. In step S702, an image on the play board from 28 cameras is captured. Next, the captured image is identified in the card identification phase of S703.

Card identification will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a view of the 26 play board seen from above, showing a state where three cards are placed on the guide of FIG. The upper left corner is (0,0) and the lower right corner is (5,4). In the state of FIG. 5, a G card is placed at (5, 1), a 2 card is placed at (4, 3), and a 1 card is placed at (3, 4).

In step S703, the images of the 28 cameras are analyzed, the cards arranged on the play board are detected using the image recognition technique, and the coordinates and type of each card are identified. Then, specify the coordinates and type of the identified card,
Hold as card placement data.

In step S704, the previous card placement data and the current card placement data are compared. If there is no change in the arrangement data as a result of the comparison, the process returns to S702 image capture again.
If the arrangement is changed, the arrangement card data is changed in step S705, and the process returns to step S702 for image capture.

Next, the 29 game position grasping section will be described with reference to FIG.

When starting in S801, first in S802, an image capturing phase is entered. In step S802, images from the 20 cameras attached to the HMD worn by the player are captured. Next, in step S803, attitude data is fetched from the 223D position and attitude measuring means. In S804, S
The 31 marker is identified from the image captured in 802 to estimate the player's viewpoint. Next, in S805, a more accurate player's viewpoint position is determined from the posture information obtained in S803 and the estimated position information in S804. Then S again
Return to 802.

Next, the 25 game management section will be described with reference to FIG.

When starting in S901, the player waits for a game progress signal from the player in S902. When some event arrives, the process goes to S903 to determine the type of event.
If the event is a signal to advance to the next phase,
Proceed to S904. If the event is different, S902
And wait for the event to come again.

The signal to advance to the next phase is generated by recognizing the operation of advancing the phase. Various methods are conceivable as a method of recognizing the action of advancing the phase. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the voice recognition unit recognizes the voice declared by the player to judge the progress of the game, or the fact that the card is projected large on the 20 cameras attached to the HMD equipped with the player is used by image recognition. 2) that the card is placed in a specific position on the board
8 Card recognition It is conceivable to use image recognition to make a determination from an image from a camera.

In step S904, the card placement data derived by the 24 card reader is read. In S905, the data of the related card in the current phase is fetched from the card arrangement data, and the attack character and attack characteristic (attack strength and attack method) of the attacking side are calculated by the arrangement and combination of the cards. Next, in S906, S9
Similar to 05, the data of the related card in the current phase is fetched from the card arrangement data, and the defense character and defense characteristics (defense strength and defense method) of the defending side are calculated by the arrangement and combination of the cards. S
The method of calculating the attack characteristics and the defense characteristics in 905 and S906 is performed according to the rules of the game.

In step S907, the battle result is calculated based on the combination of the attacking side character and the defending side character, and a battle scene is created in accordance with the result. In S908, the player's viewpoint derived by the 29 position grasping unit is acquired. In S909, a CG of the battle scene viewed from the player's point of view is created. Next, in S910, the image captured from the 20 cameras and the CG created in S909 are combined. Then, the virtual CG character is displayed on the card by matching the real world and the virtual world of CG to the HMD worn by the player using the MR technique.

However, the composition is required for the video see-through HMD, and is not necessary for the optical see-through HMD.

According to the present invention described above, by displaying virtual CG graphics corresponding to the viewpoint position, the real world and the CG virtual world can be viewed together, and a game using a play board can be played. You can feel a higher degree of excitement than ever before.

(Modification) In order to improve the reading accuracy of the 28-card recognition camera when the 28-card recognition camera cannot be installed sufficiently, hold the card in front of the 21HMD that the player is wearing before placing the card, and set 20 cameras. Alternatively, the card type may be identified by taking a picture. In addition, in order to improve the reading accuracy of the 28-card recognition camera, the 28-card recognition camera is installed at a specific position, and the 28-card recognition camera at the specific position is used to identify the card type before placing the card. It doesn't matter.

Further, in the first embodiment, the card is used as an item for the game, but other items other than the card such as a frame may be used.

Further, the play board may have a three-dimensional structure having irregularities, and the character may be displayed at a position corresponding to the height of the three-dimensional structure. A model of the three-dimensional structure of the play board is registered in advance, and the CG position to be combined is controlled based on the three-dimensional structure information corresponding to the position of the line of sight.

Further, as the card recognition means for identifying the card on the play board, in the first embodiment, the image of the 28 camera is analyzed and the image of the card is recognized and identified by using the image recognition technique. A bar code may be attached to the card so that the card can be identified using a bar code reader.

Software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments in a computer in an apparatus or system connected to the various devices so as to operate the various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments. The program code of the above is supplied, and the computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is operated by operating the above various devices according to the stored program, and is also included in the scope of the present invention.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, such program code. The storage medium storing the above constitutes the present invention.

A floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM or the like can be used as a storage medium for storing the program code.

Further, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the supplied program code by the computer, but also the OS (operating system) in which the program code is operating in the computer, or another Needless to say, the program code is also included in the embodiments of the present invention when the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized in cooperation with application software or the like.

Further, the supplied program code is stored in the memory provided in the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then stored in the function expansion board or the function storage unit based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the present invention also includes a case where the provided CPU or the like performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0044]

According to the present invention, by displaying virtual CG graphics, the real world and the virtual world of CG can be viewed together, and the game using the playboard feels a higher degree of excitement than ever before. The purpose is to be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image of the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating markers.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a guide.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating card identification.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a phase progression by voice.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a card reading unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a position grasping unit

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the game management unit.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] September 3, 2002 (2002.9.3)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0044

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0044]

According to the present invention, by displaying virtual CG graphics, the real world and the virtual world of CG can be viewed together, and the game using the playboard feels a higher degree of excitement than ever before. The purpose is to be able to.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hideo Noro             Kyano, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Within the corporation F-term (reference) 2C001 BA01 BA04 BA05 BA06 BB02                       BB07 BC05 BC08 CA08 CA09                       CC01 DA01 DA04

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A video experience system for playing a game that progresses by placing items on a playboard having a plurality of marks, the types of the plurality of items placed on the playboard. And a position grasping unit that recognizes the position of the item, a game management unit that manages the progress of the game from the types of the plurality of items and the positions of the items, and the type of the plurality of items and the position of the item. A video experience system, comprising: a generation unit that generates computer graphics of a game scene. 2. The game is a battle-type game, and has deciding means for deciding a characteristic of the player's own character by a combination within the player's army, and the generating means is based on the decided characteristic of the player's army character. The video experience system according to claim 1, wherein computer graphics are generated. 3. The video experience system according to claim 1, wherein the game management means manages the progress of the game based on a combination of character characteristics of own army / other army. 4. The playboard has a three-dimensional structure, and the computer graphics are displayed on a head-mounted display worn by a user based on a model of the three-dimensional structure of the playboard. The video experience system according to claim 1. 5. An information processing method for a game that advances by arranging items on a playboard having a plurality of marks, the method comprising: An image is input, a mark is detected from within the image, a line-of-sight position of the user on the play board is obtained, an item on the play board is identified, and computer graphics showing a game scene based on the identification result are displayed. An information processing method, which is created and displays the computer graphics based on the line-of-sight position on the head mounted display. 6. The position and orientation information of the player is input from a three-dimensional position and orientation measuring unit that measures the position and orientation of the player, and the line-of-sight position is obtained from the position and orientation information and the detected mark. The information processing method according to claim 5, which is characterized in that: 7. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein an item on the playboard is identified from an image from a photographing unit that photographs an image on the playboard. 8. The information processing method according to claim 5, further comprising recognizing a game progress signal from the player. 9. A program for realizing an information processing method for a game to proceed by arranging items on a play board having a plurality of marks, the head mount being worn by a player. An image is input from an image pickup unit included in a display, a mark is detected from the image, a line-of-sight position of the user on the play board is obtained, an item on the play board is identified, and a game scene is based on the identification result. A program for creating computer graphics showing the above, and displaying the computer graphics based on the line-of-sight position on the head mounted display.