EP2013865A2 - Procedes et appareil pour appliquer des effets d'adaptation a une entree sur la base d'une ou plusiers donnees visuelles, acoustique, inertielles et melangees - Google Patents

Procedes et appareil pour appliquer des effets d'adaptation a une entree sur la base d'une ou plusiers donnees visuelles, acoustique, inertielles et melangees

Info

Publication number
EP2013865A2
EP2013865A2 EP07776747A EP07776747A EP2013865A2 EP 2013865 A2 EP2013865 A2 EP 2013865A2 EP 07776747 A EP07776747 A EP 07776747A EP 07776747 A EP07776747 A EP 07776747A EP 2013865 A2 EP2013865 A2 EP 2013865A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
gearing
input device
recited
actions
computer program
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP07776747A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP2013865A4 (fr
Inventor
Gary M. Zalewski
Xiadong Mao
Richard Marks
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC
Original Assignee
Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US11/381,728 external-priority patent/US7545926B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/381,721 external-priority patent/US8947347B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/381,727 external-priority patent/US7697700B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/381,725 external-priority patent/US7783061B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/381,729 external-priority patent/US7809145B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/381,724 external-priority patent/US8073157B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/382,036 external-priority patent/US9474968B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/382,038 external-priority patent/US7352358B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/382,040 external-priority patent/US7391409B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/382,041 external-priority patent/US7352359B2/en
Application filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC filed Critical Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
Publication of EP2013865A2 publication Critical patent/EP2013865A2/fr
Publication of EP2013865A4 publication Critical patent/EP2013865A4/fr
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
    • G06F3/033—Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user, e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor
    • G06F3/0346—Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user, e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/20—Input arrangements for video game devices
    • A63F13/21—Input arrangements for video game devices characterised by their sensors, purposes or types
    • A63F13/213—Input arrangements for video game devices characterised by their sensors, purposes or types comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/40—Processing input control signals of video game devices, e.g. signals generated by the player or derived from the environment
    • A63F13/42—Processing input control signals of video game devices, e.g. signals generated by the player or derived from the environment by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
    • A63F13/428—Processing input control signals of video game devices, e.g. signals generated by the player or derived from the environment by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/70—Game security or game management aspects
    • A63F13/71—Game security or game management aspects using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
    • G06F3/0304—Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
    • G06F3/0304—Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means
    • G06F3/0325—Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/10—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals
    • A63F2300/105—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/10—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals
    • A63F2300/1081—Input via voice recognition
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/10—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals
    • A63F2300/1087—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/10—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals
    • A63F2300/1087—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
    • A63F2300/1093—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by input arrangements for converting player-generated signals into game device control signals comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera using visible light
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/60—Methods for processing data by generating or executing the game program
    • A63F2300/6045—Methods for processing data by generating or executing the game program for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/60—Methods for processing data by generating or executing the game program
    • A63F2300/6063—Methods for processing data by generating or executing the game program for sound processing
    • A63F2300/6072—Methods for processing data by generating or executing the game program for sound processing of an input signal, e.g. pitch and rhythm extraction, voice recognition

Definitions

  • Example gaming platforms include the Sony Playstation or Sony Playstation2 (PS2), each of which is sold in the form of a game console.
  • the game console is designed to connect to a monitor (usually a television) and enable user interaction through handheld controllers.
  • the game console is designed with specialized processing hardware, including a CPU, a graphics synthesizer for processing intensive graphics operations, a vector unit for performing geometry transformations, and other glue hardware, firmware, and software.
  • the game console is further designed with an optical disc tray for receiving game compact discs for local play through the game console. Online gaming is also possible, wherein a user can interactively play against or with other users over the Internet.
  • gaming software and hardware manufacturers have continued to innovate to enable additional interactivity. In reality, however, the way in which users interact with a game has not changed dramatically over the years. Commonly, users still play computer games using hand held controllers or interact with programs using mouse pointing devices.
  • the present invention fills these needs by providing methods, systems and apparatus that enable dynamic user interactivity with a computing system.
  • the computing system will be executing a program and the interactivity will be with the program.
  • the program may be, for example, a video game that defines interactive objects or features.
  • the interactivity includes providing users with an ability to adjust a gearing component that will adjust a degree by which processing is performed.
  • gearing can be applied to relative movement between movement of an input device verses an amount of movement processed by an object or feature of a computer program.
  • gearing can be applied to a feature of a computer program, and detection from an input device can be based from processing of an inertial analyzer.
  • the inertial analyzer will track an input device for inertial activity, and the inertial analyzer can then convey the information to a program.
  • the program will then take the output from the inertial analyzer so that a gearing amount can be applied to the output.
  • the gearing amount will then dictate a degree or ratio by which a program will compute an operation.
  • the operation can take on any number of forms, and one example of the operation can be to generate a noise, a variable nose, a movement by an object, or a variable.
  • the variable e.g., a multiplier or the like
  • the amount of gearing can be preset, set dynamically by the user or adjusted on demand.
  • the tracking can be by way of an acoustic analyzer.
  • the acoustic analyzer is configured to receive acoustic signals from an input device, and the acoustic analyzer can convey a gearing amount to be applied to the command or interaction being performed.
  • the acoustic analyzer can be in the form of a computer program segment(s) or specifically defined on a circuit that is designed to process acoustic signal information.
  • the acoustic signal information can therefore include gearing data that may be dynamically set by a program, set on-demand by the user through the input device (e.g., by selecting a button on a controller, a voice command, or the like).
  • the tracking of the input device may by through an image analyzer.
  • the image analyzer can include a camera that captures images of a space where a user and an input device are located.
  • the image analyzer is determining position of the controller to cause some respective action to a feature of a processing program.
  • the program may be a game, and the feature may be an object that is being controlled by the input device.
  • the image analyzer is further configured to mix the position data with an input gearing value.
  • the gearing value can be provided by the user dynamically during execution or can be set by a program depending on activity within an execution session.
  • the gearing input will set a relative impact on some processing by the computer program based on an input gesture or action by the user.
  • the gearing will translate a command or action from a user or user input device to a feature of a program.
  • the feature of the program need not be an object that is visible, but can also include the adjustment of a variable used to calculate some parameter, estimation or translation of either sound, vibration or image movement. Gearing will therefore provide an additional sense of control to the interactivity provided to and with a program and features of the program.
  • mixer analyzer is provided.
  • the Mixer analyzer is designed to generate a hybrid effect to a feature of the game.
  • the Mixer analyzer can take input from a combination of the image analyzer, the acoustic analyzer, the inertial analyzer, and the like.
  • the Mixer analyzer can therefore, in one embodiment, receive several gearing variables, which can then be mixed and synthesized to generate a hybrid result, command or interaction with a feature of a program.
  • the feature of the program should be broadly understood to include visual and non-visual objects, variables used in the processing of an operation, adjustments to audible reactions, and the like.
  • the amount by which movement by a user's controller will translate to movement or action on a feature of a game will be at least partially related to the set or determined gearing.
  • the gearing can be dynamically set, preset for the game or adjusted during game play by the user, and the response is mapped to the video game object or feature to provide for another level of user interactivity and an enhanced experience.
  • the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, or a method. Several inventive embodiments of the present invention are described below.
  • a method for interactive interfacing with a computer gaming system includes a video capture device for capturing image data.
  • the method includes displaying an input device to the video capture device, where the input device has a plurality of lights that are modulated so as to convey positioning of the input device and communication data that is to be interpreted by the computer gaming system based on analysis of the captured image data and a state of the plurality of lights.
  • the method also includes defining movement of an object of a computer game that is to be executed by the computer gaming system, such that the movement of the object may be mapped to movements in position of the input device as detected in the captured image data.
  • the method then establishes a gearing between the movement of the object of the computer game verses the movements in position of the input device.
  • the gearing establishes a ratio between movements in position of the input device and movements of the object.
  • the gearing can be set dynamically by the game, by the user, or can be preset by software or user configured in accordance with a gearing algorithm.
  • a method for interactive interfacing with a computer gaming system includes a video capture device for capturing image data.
  • the method includes displaying an input device to the video capture device, such that the input device conveying positioning of the input device and communication data that is to be interpreted by the computer gaming system based on analysis of the captured image data.
  • the method defines movement of an object of a computer game that is to be executed by the computer gaming system, and the movement of the object may be mapped to movements in position of the input device as detected in the captured image data.
  • the method then establishes a gearing between the movement of the object of the computer game verses the movements in position of the input device.
  • the gearing establishes a user adjustable ratio between movements in position of the input device and movements of the object.
  • computer readable media including program instructions for interactive interfacing with a computer gaming system.
  • the computer gaming system includes a video capture device for capturing image data.
  • the computer readable media includes program instructions for detecting the display of an input device to the video capture device, the input device conveying positioning of the input device and communication data that is to be interpreted by the computer gaming system based on analysis of the captured image data.
  • the computer readable media further includes program instruction for defining movement of an object of a computer game that is to be executed by the computer gaming system, where the movement of the object is mapped to movements in position of the input device as detected in the captured image data.
  • the computer readable media also includes program instructions for establishing a gearing between the movement of the object of the computer game verses the movements in position of the input device, where the gearing may be configured to establish a user adjustable ratio between movements in position of the input device and movements of the object.
  • the user adjustable ratio capable of being dynamically changed during game play, before a game play session or during certain action events during a game.
  • a system for enabling dynamic user interactivity between user actions and actions to be performed by an object of a computer program is provided.
  • the system includes a computing system, a video capture device coupled to the computing system, a display, and the display receives input from the computing system.
  • the system further includes an input device for interfacing with the computer program that is to be executed by the computing system.
  • the input device having a gearing control for establishing a ratio between movement of the input device as mapped to movement of an object being controlled.
  • the object being defined by the computer program and executed by the computing system.
  • the movement of the input device being identified by the video capture device and the movement of the object as illustrated on the display having a set gearing value as set by the gearing control of the input device.
  • the gearing associated with the input device may be applied to a general application, and does not necessarily have to be for a game.
  • an apparatus for enabling dynamic user interactivity between user actions and actions to be performed by an object of a computer program includes an input device for interfacing with the computer program that is to be executed by a computing system.
  • the input device has a gearing control for establishing a ratio between movement of the input device as mapped to movement of an object being controlled.
  • the object being defined by the computer program and executed by the computing system, and the movement of the input device is identified by a video capture device and the movement of the object is illustrated on a display having a set gearing value as set by the gearing control of the input device.
  • gearing can be applied to a feature of a computer program, and detection from an input device can be based from processing of an inertial analyzer.
  • the inertial analyzer will track an input device for inertial activity, and the inertial analyzer can then convey the information to a program.
  • the program will then take the output from the inertial analyzer so that a gearing amount can be applied to the output.
  • the gearing amount will then dictate a degree or ratio by which a program will compute an operation.
  • the operation can take on any number of forms, and one example of the operation can be to generate a noise, a variable nose, a movement by an object, or a variable.
  • the variable e.g., a multiplier or the like
  • the variable may be used to complete the execution of a process, such that the process will take into account the amount of gearing.
  • the amount of gearing can be preset, set dynamically by the user or adjusted on demand.
  • the tracking can be by way of an acoustic analyzer.
  • the acoustic analyzer is configured to receive acoustic signals from an input device, and the acoustic analyzer can convey a gearing amount to be applied to the command or interaction being performed.
  • the acoustic analyzer can be in the form of a computer program segment(s) or specifically defined on a circuit that is designed to process acoustic signal information.
  • the acoustic signal information can therefore include gearing data that may be dynamically set by a program, set on-demand by the user through the input device (e.g., by selecting a button on a controller, a voice command, or the like).
  • mixer analyzer is provided.
  • the Mixer analyzer is designed to generate a hybrid effect to a feature of the game.
  • the Mixer analyzer can take input from a combination of the image analyzer, the acoustic analyzer, the inertial analyzer, and the like.
  • the Mixer analyzer can therefore, in one embodiment, receive several gearing variables, which can then be mixed and synthesized to generate a hybrid result, command or interaction with a feature of a program.
  • the feature of the program should be broadly understood to include visual and non- visual objects, variables used in the processing of an operation, adjustments to audible reactions, and the like.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an interactive game setup having an image capture device.
  • Figure 2 shows an exemplary computer interaction using a video processing system.
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary user input system for interaction with an object on a graphical display.
  • Figure 4 is a simplified block diagram of a computer processing system configured to implement the embodiments of the invention described herein.
  • Figure 5 is a block diagram of a configuration of the components of a video game console adapted for use with a manipulated object serving as an alternative input device.
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram showing the functional blocks used to track and discriminate a pixel group corresponding to the user input device as it is being manipulated by the user.
  • Figure 7 shows a schematic block diagram for an exemplary image processing system.
  • Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary application for image processing system of Figure 7.
  • Figures 9 and 10 show plan and rear elevation views, respectively, of an exemplary controller that interacts with an image capture device.
  • Figure 11 shows an exemplary application for the controller of Figures 9 and 10.
  • Figure 12 shows an exemplary software controlled gearing amount for the application shown in Figure 11.
  • Figure 13 shows an exemplary controller having a steering wheel.
  • Figure 14 shows an exemplary application for the controller of Figure 13.
  • Figure 15 shows an exemplary graph depicting exemplary changes in gearing amount over time.
  • Figure 16 shows another exemplary application of an image processing system responding to user interaction.
  • Figure 17 shows a graph depicting an exemplary gearing amount at different times along the length of a baseball bat swing for the application shown in Figure 16.
  • Figure 18 shows another exemplary application of an image processing system responding to user interaction.
  • Figure 19 shows a graph illustrating an exemplary change in gearing amount upon
  • Figure 20 shows a flowchart describing an exemplary procedure for receiving user input to computer program.
  • Gearing in the general and broadest sense, can be defined an input that can have varying degrees in magnitude and/or time.
  • the degree of gearing can then be communicated to a computing system.
  • the degree of gearing may be applied to a process executed by the computing system.
  • a process can be imaged as a bucket of fluid having an input and an output.
  • the bucket of fluid is a process that is executing on a system, and the gearing therefore controls an aspect of the processing performed by the computing system.
  • the gearing can control the rate at which the fluid is emptied from the fluid bucket relative to an input amount, which might be thought of as drops of fluid going into the bucket.
  • the fill rate may be dynamic
  • the drain rate may be dynamic
  • the drain rate might be impacted by the gearing.
  • the gearing can thus be adjusted or timed so as to tune a changing value that may be streaming to a program, such as a game program.
  • the gearing may also impact a counter, such as a moving data counter that then controls an action by a processor or eventually a game element, object, player, character, etc. •
  • the rate at which the fluid is emptied might be the rate at which control is passed to or executed by a feature of a computer program, in response to some input plus gearing.
  • the feature of the computer program may be an object, a process, a variable, or predefined/custom algorithm, character, game player, mouse (2D or 3D), etc.
  • the result of the processing which may have been altered by the gearing, can be conveyed to an observer in any number of ways. One way may be visually on a display screen, audibly via sound, vibration acoustics via feel, a combination thereof, etc., or simply by the modified response of processing for an interactive element of a game or program.
  • the input can be obtained by tracking performed via: (1) a image analysis, (2) an inertial analysis, (3) acoustic analysis, or hybrid Mixed analysis of (1), (2) or (3).
  • image analysis and applied gearing Various examples are provided regarding image analysis and applied gearing, but it should be understood that the tracking is not limited to video, but can accomplished by numerous ways, and in particular, by inertial analysis, acoustic analysis, mixtures of these and other suitable analyzers.
  • a computer or gaming system having a video camera can process image data and identify various actions taking place in a zone of focus or given volume that may be in front of the video camera. Such actions typically include moving or rotating the object in three dimensional space or actuating any of a variety of controls such as buttons, dials, joysticks, etc.
  • the present technology further provides the additional functionality of adjusting a scaling factor, referred to herein as gearing, to adjust the sensitivity of the input with respect to one or more corresponding actions on a display screen or a feature of a program.
  • the actions on the display screen may be of an object that may be the focus of a video game.
  • the object may also be a feature of a program, such as a variable, a multiplier, or a computation that will then be rendered as sound, vibration, images on a display screen or a combination of the these and other representations of the geared output.
  • gearing can be applied to a feature of a computer program, and detection of an input device can be based on processing by an inertial analyzer.
  • the inertial analyzer will track an input device for inertial activity, and the inertial analyzer can then convey the information to a program.
  • the program will then take the output from the inertial analyzer so that a gearing amount can be applied to the output.
  • the gearing amount will then dictate a degree or ratio by which a program will compute an operation.
  • the operation can take on any number of forms, and one example of the operation can be to generate a noise, a variable nose, vibration, a movement by an object, or computation by a program that then outputs a visible and/or audible result. If the output is a variable, the variable may be used to complete the execution of a process, such that the process will take into account the amount of gearing.
  • the amount of gearing can be preset, set dynamically by the user or adjusted on demand.
  • inertial sensor devices may be used to provide information on 6- degrees of freedom (e.g., X, Y and Z translation (e.g., acceleration) and rotation about X, Y and Z axes).
  • suitable inertial sensors for providing information on 6-degrees of freedom include accelerometers, one or more single axis accelerometers, mechanical gyroscopes, ring laser gyroscopes or combinations of two or more of these.
  • Signals from the sensor(s) may be analyzed to determine the motion and/or orientation of the controller during play of a video game according to an inventive method. Such a method may be implemented as a series of processor executable program code instructions stored in a processor readable medium and executed on a digital processor.
  • a video game system may include one or more processors.
  • Each processor may be any suitable digital processor unit, e.g., a microprocessor of a type commonly used in video game consoles or custom designed multi-processor cores.
  • the processor may implement an inertial analyzer through execution of processor readable instructions. A portion of the instructions may be stored in a memory.
  • the inertial analyzer may be implemented in hardware, e.g., as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or digital signal processor (DSP). Such analyzer hardware may be located on the controller or on the console or may be remotely located elsewhere.
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • the analyzer may be programmable in response to external signals e.g., from the processor or some other remotely located source, e.g., connected by USB cable, Ethernet, over a network, the Internet, short range wireless connection, broadband wireless, Bluetooth, or a local network.
  • the inertial analyzer may include or implement instructions that analyze the signals generated by the inertial sensors and utilize information regarding position and/or orientation of a controller.
  • the inertial sensor signals may be analyzed to determine information regarding the position and/or orientation of the controller.
  • the position and or orientation information may be utilized during play of a video game with the system.
  • a game controller may include one or more inertial sensors, which may provide position and/or orientation information to a processor via an inertial signal.
  • Orientation information may include angular information such as a tilt, roll or yaw of the controller.
  • the inertial sensors may include any number and/or combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes or tilt sensors.
  • the inertial sensors include tilt sensors adapted to sense orientation of the joystick controller with respect to tilt and roll axes, a first accelerometer adapted to sense acceleration along a yaw axis and a second accelerometer adapted to sense angular acceleration with respect to the yaw axis.
  • An accelerometer may be implemented, e.g., as a MEMS device including a mass mounted by one or more springs with sensors for sensing displacement of the mass relative to one or more directions. Signals from the sensors that are dependent on the displacement of the mass may be used to determine an acceleration of the joystick controller. Such techniques may be implemented by instructions from the game program or general program, which may be stored in memory and executed by a processor.
  • an accelerometer suitable as an inertial sensor may be a simple mass elastically coupled at three or four points to a frame, e.g., by springs. Pitch and roll axes lie in a plane that intersects the frame, which is mounted to the joystick controller.
  • the mass will displace under the influence of gravity and the springs will elongate or compress in a way that depends on the angle of pitch and/or roll.
  • the displacement and of the mass can be sensed and converted to a signal that is dependent on the amount of pitch and/or roll.
  • Angular acceleration about the yaw axis or linear acceleration along the yaw axis may also produce characteristic patterns of compression and/or elongation of the springs or motion of the mass that can be sensed and converted to signals that are dependent on the amount of angular or linear acceleration.
  • Such an accelerometer device can measure tilt, roll angular acceleration about the yaw axis and linear acceleration along the yaw axis by tracking movement of the mass or compression and expansion forces of the springs.
  • light sources may provide telemetry signals to the processor, e.g., in pulse code, amplitude modulation or frequency modulation format. Such telemetry signals may indicate which 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 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 obtained by an image capture unit. Alternatively, an apparatus may include a separate optical sensor dedicated to receiving telemetry signals from the lights sources.
  • a processor may use inertial signals from the inertial sensor in conjunction with optical signals from light sources detected by an image capture unit and/or sound source location and characterization information from acoustic signals detected by a microphone array to deduce information on the location and/or orientation of a controller and/or its user.
  • "acoustic radar" sound source location and characterization may be used in conjunction with a microphone array to track a moving voice while motion of the joystick controller is independently tracked (through inertial sensors and or light sources).
  • 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.
  • the tracking can be by way of an acoustic analyzer.
  • the acoustic analyzer is configured to receive acoustic signals from an input device, and the acoustic analyzer can convey a gearing amount to be applied to the command or interaction being performed.
  • the acoustic analyzer can be in the form of a computer program segment(s) or specifically defined on a circuit that is designed to process acoustic signal information.
  • the acoustic signal information can therefore include gearing data that may be dynamically set by a program, set on-demand by the user through the input device (e.g., by selecting a button on a controller, a voice command, or the like).
  • the Analyzers can be configured with a mapping chain. Mapping chains can be swapped out by the game during game-play as can settings to the Analyzer and to the Mixer.
  • the tracking of the input device may by through an image analyzer.
  • the image analyzer can include a camera that captures images of a space where a user and an input device are located.
  • the image analyzer is determining position of the controller to cause some respective action to a feature of a processing program.
  • the program may be a game, and the feature may be an object that is being controlled by the input device.
  • the image analyzer is further configured to mix the position data with an input gearing value.
  • the gearing value can be provided by the user dynamically during execution or can be set by a program depending on activity within an execution session.
  • the gearing input will set a relative impact on some processing by the computer program based on an input gesture or action by the user.
  • the gearing will translate a command or action from a user or user input device to a feature of a program.
  • the feature of the program need not be an object that is visible, but can also include the adjustment of a variable used to calculate some parameter, estimation or translation of either sound, vibration or image movement. Gearing will therefore provide an additional sense of control to the interactivity provided to and with a program and features of the program.
  • a mixer analyzer is provided.
  • the Mixer analyzer is designed to generate a hybrid effect to a feature of the game.
  • the Mixer analyzer can take input from a combination of the image analyzer, the acoustic analyzer, the inertial analyzer, and the like.
  • the Mixer analyzer can therefore, in one embodiment, receive several gearing variables, which can then be mixed and synthesized to generate a hybrid result, command or interaction with a feature of a program.
  • the feature of the program should be broadly understood to include visual and non-visual objects, variables used in the processing of an operation, adjustments to audible reactions, and the like.
  • the interactive game setup 100 includes a computer 102, also referred to herein as "console,” that is coupled to a display screen 110.
  • An image capture device 105 may be placed on top of the display screen 110 and is coupled to the computer 102.
  • Computer 102 is, in one embodiment, a gaming system console which allows users to play video games and interface with the video games through controllers 108.
  • the computer 102 may also be connected to the internet, to allow- for interactive on-line gaming.
  • the image capture device 105 is shown placed on top of the display screen 110, but it should be understood that the image capture device 105 can be placed in any other proximate location that will allow it to capture images that are located about in front of the display screen 110.
  • image capture device 105 can be as simple as a standard web cam or can include more advanced technology. Image capture device 105 may be capable of capturing images, digitizing the images, and communicating the image data back to the computer 102. In some embodiments, the image capture device will have logic integrated therein for performing the digitizing and another embodiment the image capture device 105 will simply transmit an analog video signal to the computer 102 for digitizing. In either case, the image capture device 105 is capable of capturing either color or black and white images of any object located in front of the image capture device 105.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary computer interaction using an image capture and processing system.
  • Computer 102 receives image data from image capture device 105 which generates images from view 202.
  • View 202 includes a user 210 manipulating an object 215 in the shape of a toy airplane.
  • Object 215 includes a plurality of LEDs 212 which are viewable by image capture device 105. LEDs 212 provide location and orientation information of object 215.
  • object 215 may include one or more actuating elements, such as a button, trigger, dial, etc., for generating computer input. Voice commands may also be used.
  • object 215 includes a circuit 220 containing logic for modulating LEDs 212 for transmitting data to computer 102 via image capture device 105.
  • the data may include encoded commands generated in response to manipulations of the actuating means.
  • LED positions as represented in image data are translated as described hereinafter with reference to Figures 3-6 to coordinates within the three-dimensional space, the coordinates describing both position information in terms of x, y, and z coordinates, as well as orientation information, in terms of ⁇ , ⁇ , and ⁇ values.
  • the coordinates are forwarded to a computer application which may be an airplane game in which the toy airplane is represented on display 110 as a real or animated airplane 215' which may be performing various stunts in response to manipulation of toy airplane 215.
  • the user 210 may be handling a controller 108 (shown in Figure 1) and movement of the controller 108 can be tracked and commands captured to cause the movement of an object on the display screen.
  • the user 210 may also select to change or modify the degree of interactivity with the animated airplane 215'.
  • the degree of interactivity may be modified by allowing the user 215 to adjust a "gearing" component that will adjust an amount by which IS movement by the user's controller 108 (or toy airplane 215) will be mapped to movement by the animated airplane 215'.
  • the gearing which can be dynamically set, preset for the game or adjusted during game play by the user 210, the response mapped to the animated airplane 215' (e.g., video game object) will change to provide for another level of user interactivity and an enhanced experience. Further details regarding the gearing will be provided below with reference to Figures 7-20.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary user input system for interaction with an object on a graphical display that can be used to implement embodiments of the present invention.
  • the user input system is comprised of a video capture device 300, an input image processor 302, an output image processor 304, and a video display device 306.
  • Video capture device 300 may be any device capable of capturing sequences of video images, and, in one embodiment, is a digital video camera (such as a "web-cam”), or similar image capturing device.
  • the video capture device 300 may be configured to provide depth image.
  • depth camera and “three-dimensional camera” refer to any camera that is capable of obtaining distance or depth information as well as two-dimensional pixel information.
  • a depth camera can utilize controlled infrared lighting to obtain distance information.
  • Another exemplary depth camera can be a stereo camera pair, which triangulates distance information using two standard cameras.
  • depth sensing device refers to any type of device that is capable of obtaining distance information as well as two-dimensional pixel information.
  • Camera 300 can therefore provide the ability to capture and map the third-dimension in addition to normal two-dimensional video imagery. Similar to normal cameras, a depth camera captures two-dimensional data for a plurality of pixels that comprise the video image. These values are color values for the pixels, generally red, green, and blue (RGB) values for each pixel. In this manner, objects captured by the camera appear as two-dimension objects on a monitor. However, unlike a conventional camera, a depth camera also captures the z- components of the scene, which represent the depth values for the scene. Since the depth values are typically assigned to the z-axis, the depth values are often referred to as z-values. [66] In operation, a z- value is captured for each pixel of the scene.
  • Each z- value represents a distance from the camera to a particular object in the scene corresponding to the related pixel.
  • a maximum detection range is defined beyond which depth values will not be detected.
  • This maximum range plane can be utilized by the embodiments of the present invention to provide user defined object tracking.
  • each object can be tracked in three dimensions.
  • a computer system of the embodiments of the present invention can utilize the z-values, along with the two-dimensional pixel data, to create an enhanced three-dimensional interactive environment for the user.
  • a depth camera may be used in accordance with one embodiment, it should not be construed as being necessary to identify a location of position and coordinates of an object in three dimensional space.
  • the distance between object 215 and camera 105 can be inferred by measuring the distance of left most and right most LEDs 212. The closer together LEDs 212 show up on an image generated by image capture device 105, the farther away object 215 will be from camera 105.
  • a reasonably accurate inference of z-axis coordinates can be made from two dimensional images generated by a typical digital camera.
  • input image processor 302 translates the captured video images (which may be depth images) of the control object into signals that are delivered to an output image processor.
  • input image processor 302 is programmed to isolate the control object from the background in the captured video image through the depth information and generate an output signal responsive to the position and/or movement of the control object.
  • the output image processor 304 is programmed to effect translational and/or rotational movement of an object on the video display device 306 in response to signals received from the input image processor 302.
  • FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a computer processing system configured to implement the embodiments of the invention described herein.
  • the processing system may represent a computer-based entertainment system embodiment that includes central processing unit (“CPU”) 424 coupled to main memory 420 and graphical processing unit (“GPU”) 426.
  • CPU 424 is also coupled to Input/Output Processor ("IOP") Bus 428.
  • GPU 426 includes an internal buffer for fast processing of pixel based graphical data.
  • GPU 426 can include an output processing portion or functionality to convert the image data processed into standard television signals, for example NTSC or PAL, for transmission to display device 427 connected external to the entertainment system or elements thereof.
  • data output signals can be provided to a display device other than a television monitor, such as a computer monitor, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) device, or other type of display device.
  • IOP bus 428 couples CPU 424 to various input/output devices and other busses or device. IOP bus 428 is connected to input/output processor memory 430, controller 432, memory card 434, Universal Serial Bus (USB) port 436, IEEEl 394 (also known as a Firewire interface) port 438, and bus 450. Bus 450 couples several other system components to CPU 424, including operating system (“OS”) ROM 440, flash memory 442, sound processing unit (“SPU”) 444, optical disc controlling 4, and hard disk drive (“HDD”) 448.
  • OS operating system
  • SPU sound processing unit
  • HDD hard disk drive
  • the video capture device can be directly connected to IOP bus 428 for transmission therethrough to CPU 424; where, data from the video capture device can be used to change or update the values used to generate the graphics images in GPU 426.
  • embodiments of the present invention can use a variety of image processing configurations and techniques, such as those described in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/365,120 filed February 11, 2003, and entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REAL TIME MOTION CAPTURE, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • the computer processing system may run on a CELLTM processor.
  • FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a configuration of the components of a video game console adapted for use with a manipulated object serving as an alternative input device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
  • Exemplary game console 510 is equipped by a multiprocessor unit (MPU) 512 for control of overall console 510, main memory 514 which is used for various program operations and for storage of data, vector calculation unit 516 for performing floating point vector calculations necessary for geometry processing, image processor 520 for generating data based on controls from MPU 512, and for outputting video signals to monitor 110 (for example a CRT), a graphics interface (GIF) 522 for carrying out mediation and the like over a transmission bus between MPU 512 or vector calculation unit 516 and image processor 520, input/output port 524 for facilitating reception and transmission of a data to and from peripheral devices, internal OSD functional ROM (OSDROM) 526 constituted by, for example, a flash memory, for performing control of a kernel or the like, and real time clock 528 having calendar and time
  • Main memory 514, vector calculation unit 516, GIF 522, OSDROM 526, real time clock (RTC) 528 and input/output port 524 are connected to MPU 512 over data bus 530.
  • image processing unit 538 which is a processor for expanding compressed moving images and texture images, thereby developing the image data.
  • the image processing unit 538 can serve functions for decoding and development of bit streams according to the MPEG2 or MPEG4 standard formats, macroblock decoding, performing inverse discrete cosine transformations, color space conversion, vector quantization and the like.
  • a sound system is constituted by sound processing unit SPU 571 for generating musical or other sound effects on the basis of instructions from MPU 512, sound buffer 573 into which waveform data may be recorded by SPU 571, and speaker 575 for outputting the musical or other sound effects generated by SPU 571.
  • speaker 575 may be incorporated as part of monitor 110 or may be provided as a separate audio line- out connection attached to external speaker 575.
  • Communications interface 540 is also provided, connected to BUS 530, which is an interface having functions of input/output of digital data, and for input of digital contents according to the present invention.
  • BUS 530 is an interface having functions of input/output of digital data, and for input of digital contents according to the present invention.
  • user input data may be transmitted to, and status data received from, a server terminal on a network in order to accommodate on-line video gaming applications.
  • Input device 532 also known as a controller
  • optical disk device 536 for reproduction of the contents of optical disk 569, for example a CD-ROM or the like on which various programs and data (i.e. data concerning objects, texture data and the like), are connected to input/output port 524.
  • the present invention further includes digital video camera 105 which is connected to input/output port 524.
  • Input/output port 524 may be embodied by one or more input interfaces, including serial and USB interfaces, wherein digital video camera 190 may advantageously make use of the USB input or any other conventional interface appropriate for use with camera 105.
  • the above-mentioned image processor 520 includes a rendering engine 570, interface 572, image memory 574 and a display control device 576 (e.g. a programmable CRT controller, or the like).
  • the rendering engine 570 executes operations for rendering of predetermined image data in the image memory, through memory interface 572, and in correspondence with rendering commands which are supplied from MPU 512.
  • the rendering engine 570 has the capability of rendering, in real time, image data of 320 x 240 pixels or 640 x 480 pixels, conforming to, for example, NTSC or PAL standards, and more specifically, at a rate greater than ten to several tens of times per interval of from 1/60 to 1/30 of a second.
  • BUS 578 is connected between memory interface 572 and the rendering engine 570, and a second BUS 580 is connected between memory interface 572 and the image memory 574.
  • First BUS 578 and second BUS 580 respectively, have a bit width of, for example 128 bits, and the rendering engine 570 is capable of executing high speed rendering processing with respect to the image memory.
  • Image memory 574 employs a unified memory structure in which, for example, a texture rendering region and a display rendering region, can be set in a uniform area.
  • Display controller 576 is structured so as to write the texture data which has been retrieved from optical disk 569 through optical disk device 536, or texture data which has been created on main memory 514, to the texture rendering region of image memory 574, via memory interface 572.
  • Image data which has been rendered in the display rendering region of image memory 174 is read out via memory interface 572, outputting the same to monitor 110 whereby it is displayed on a screen thereof.
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram showing the functional blocks used to track and discriminate a pixel group corresponding to the user input device as it is being manipulated by the user in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. It should be understood that the functions depicted by the blocks are implemented by software which is executed by the MPU 512 in game console 510 of Figure 5. Moreover, not all of the functions indicted by the blocks in Figure 6 are used for each embodiment.
  • the pixel data input from the camera is supplied to game console 510 through input/output port interface 524, enabling the following processes to be performed thereon.
  • a color segmentation processing step S201 is performed, whereby the color of each pixel is determined and the image is divided into various two-dimensional segments of different colors.
  • a color transition localization step S203 is performed, whereby regions where segments of different colors adjoin are more specifically determined, thereby defining the locations of the image in which distinct color transitions occur.
  • a step for geometry processing S205 is performed which, depending on the embodiment, comprises either an edge detection process or performing calculations for area statistics, to thereby define in algebraic or geometric terms the lines, curves and/or polygons corresponding to the edges of the object of interest.
  • the three-dimensional position and orientation of the object are calculated in step S207, according to algorithms which are to be described in association with the subsequent descriptions of preferred embodiments of the present invention.
  • the data of three- dimensional position and orientation also undergoes a processing step S209 for Kalman filtering to improve performance.
  • Such processing is performed to estimate where the object is going to be at a point in time, and to reject spurious measurements that could not be possible, and therefore are considered to lie outside the true data set.
  • Another reason for Kalman filtering is that the camera 105 may produce images at 30 Hz, whereas an example display runs at 60 Hz, so Kalman filtering may fill the gaps in the data used for controlling action in the game program.
  • Figure 7 shows a schematic block diagram for an exemplary image processing system 700 for mapping movements of an object 705 a volume of space 702 viewed by an image capture device 105.
  • image processing system 700 interprets captured video images of object 705, identifies the motion of object 705, and generates a substantially corresponding action on display screen 110.
  • image capture device 105 includes a digital image sensor for generating image data representing an image formed light impacting the sensor after passing through a lens as is generally known in the art. It is also possible that image capture device 105 comprises an analog video camera generating an analog signal representing the image formed by light. In the latter case, the analog signal is converted to a digital representation of the image prior to processing by recognizer 710. Image data representing successive two dimensional images of the three dimensional space 702 is passed to recognizer 710. Recognizer 710 may, in one embodiment, perform various processing steps as described above with reference to Figure 6 for identifying object 705. The position of object 705 is passed to mapper 712. For example, absolute coordinates of object 705 in three dimensional space 702 may be calculated and transmitted to mapper 712.
  • Coordinates along the x and y axes may be determinable from the position of object as represented in each image.
  • the coordinate of object 705 along the z-axis may be inferred from the size of the object. That is, the closer object 705 is to image capture device 105, the larger it will appear in the image. Thus, a measurement such as the diameter of the object as it appears in the image can be used to calculate distance from image capture device 105, and thus, the z-axis coordinate.
  • recognizer 710 may identify commands received from object 705. Commands can be interpreted from transmissions/deformation, sound and light generation etc., of object 705.
  • Commands received from object 705 is interpreted by recognizer and data corresponding to the received commands may be communicated to application 714.
  • Application 714 may be a game application or other computer application that requested or is otherwise receptive to user input from image capture device 105.
  • mapper 712 may input absolute coordinates from recognizer 710 and maps these coordinates to output coordinates that are scaled in accordance with a gearing amount.
  • mapper 712 receives successive coordinate information from recognizer 710 and converts the changes in coordinate information to vector movements of object 705. For example, if object 705 moves a distance xi from time ti to time t 2 , then a vector xi,0,0 may be generated and passed to application 714.
  • Time ti to time t 2 may be the interval of time between successive frames of the video generated by image capture device 105.
  • Mapper 712 may scale the vector according to a scaling algorithm, e.g., by multiplying the vector by a gearing amount, G.
  • each coordinate is multiplied by a corresponding gearing factor, e.g., G x , G y , and G z .
  • a corresponding motion of virtual object 705' as shown in display 110 may be a distance x 2 , which is different from ⁇ ⁇ .
  • Application 714 may vary the gearing amount in accordance with commands 713 received from recognizer 710, or in accordance with the normal operation of the software, which may send mapper 712 gearing data causing the gearing amount to change. Gearing data may be sent to mapper 712 in response to a user command, various events, or modes of operation of application 714. Thus, the gearing amount may by varied in real time in response to user commands or as controlled by software. Mapper 712 may therefore transmit an output vector of the motion of object 705 to application 714, the output varying in relation to change in position of object 705 in space 702, and the gearing amount.
  • Application 714 which in one embodiment is a video game, translates the output vector into a corresponding action which may then be displayed on display 110.
  • Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary application for image processing system 700 of Figure 7.
  • Computer system 102 includes an image capture device 105 which views scene 810.
  • Scene 810 includes a user 802 holding an object 804 which is recognized by recognizer 710 ( Figure 7).
  • the application program which in this example is a checkers game, recognizes a command issuing from object 804 to pick up or drop checkers 808 on checkerboard 801.
  • computer 102 processes images to identify motion of object 804 and translates that motion into motion of virtual object 805' on display 110.
  • the distance virtual object 805' moves in relation to real object 805 depends on gearing amount 806.
  • gearing amount is represented as "3" on display 110.
  • the gearing amount is user selectable. The larger the gearing amount, the smaller the movements of real object 805 is required to effectuate a particular distance move of checker 805' on the display 110.
  • FIGS 9 and 10 show an exemplary controller 900 that interacts with an image capture device 105 ( Figure 1).
  • Controller 900 includes an interface 902 containing a plurality of interface devices including various buttons and joysticks.
  • the controllers discussed herein can be either wired or wireless. Technologies, such as WiFi, BluetoothTM, IR, sound, and lights may work to interface with a computer, such as a game console.
  • controller 900 has an LED array 905.
  • the LED array may be configured in various layouts, including a 2x2 stack where each LEDs may be positioned at a vertex of an imaginary rectangular or square-shaped binding box. By tracking the position and deformation of the binding box as it is projected onto the image plane produced by an image capture device, the transformation and deformations may be analyzed in a video analyzer to decipher position and orientation information of the controller.
  • LED array 905 may generate infrared or visible light.
  • Image capture device 105 Figure 1 can identify LED array 905 as described above with reference to various other inventive embodiments.
  • Each controller can be designated as Player 1 through, for example, Player 4, using switch 910, which allows a user selection of player number 1-4, or any number of players.
  • Each player number selection corresponds to a unique pattern or modulation of LEDs being illuminated by LED array 905. For example, for Player 1, 1st, 3rd, and 5th LEDs are illuminated.
  • Such player information may be encoded and transmitted in a repeated fashion over time across multiple video frames. It may be desirable to engage in an interleave scheme so the controller or device LEDS can switch between a tracking mode and a transmission mode.
  • the LEDs In the tracking mode, all LEDs may be turned on during a first portion of a cycle. In the transmission mode, information may be modulated by the LEDs during a second portion of a cycle. Over time, the LEDS transmit tracking and communications information to a video analyzer or suitable device capable of receiving the signal. In the transmission mode, the LEDs may encode information representative of the player LD. The period and duty cycle may be chosen to accommodate speed of tracking, lighting conditions, number of controllers, etc. By interleaving communications and tracking information, a video capture device may be supplied with adequate information to compute tracking parameters for each controller and to discriminate between controllers. Such discrimination may be used in a video analyzer to isolate each physical controller when monitoring and tracking the position and orientation and other metrics of the controller movement.
  • User interaction with interface 902 may cause one or more of LEDs in LED array 905 to modulate and/or change color.
  • LEDs in LED array 905 may change brightness or transmit information.
  • the changes in intensity or color can be monitored by the computer system and provided to a gaming program as an intensity value.
  • each button may be mapped to a change in color or intensity of one or more of the LEDs in LED array 905.
  • image capture device 105 in conjunction with computer system 102 may be capable of identifying these changes and generating a two dimensional vector, for describing movement on the image plane, or a three dimensional vector, for describing movement in three dimensional space.
  • the vector can be provided as a series of coordinates describing relative movement and/or an absolute position with respect to the image capture device 105.
  • movement on a plane perpendicular to the line of sight of image capture device 105 can be identified by an absolute position within the image capture zone, while movement of controller closer to image capture device 105 can be identified by the LED array appearing to spread out.
  • LEDs 905 allow movement of controller 900 on three axes and rotation about each axis to be detected. Although only four LEDs are shown, it should be recognized that this is for exemplary purposes only, and any number of LEDs in any configuration would be possible. As controller 900 is pitched forward or backward, the top and bottom LEDs will get closer to each other while the left and right LEDs remain the same distance apart. Likewise, as the controller yaws left or right, the left and right LEDs will appear to approach each other while the top and bottom LEDs remain the same distance apart. Rolling motion of the controller can be detected by identifying the orientation of the LEDs on the image plane.
  • Controller 900 may also include a speaker 915 for generating audible or ultrasonic sound. Speaker 915 may generate sound effects for increased interactivity, or can transmit commands issued from interface 902 to a computer system having a microphone or other elements for receiving the transmissions.
  • FIG 11 shows an exemplary application for controller 900 of Figures 9 and 10.
  • a driving simulation interprets rotation of controller 900 as a rotation of a steering wheel of a virtual automobile.
  • controller 900 As a user (not shown) rotates controller 900 as shown by arrows 1 105, a virtual steering wheel 900' is rotated on display 110 as shown by arrow 1105'.
  • the gearing amount which dictates the amount of rotation of steering wheel 900' for each degree of rotation of controller 900 is user selectable as described above with reference to Figure 8.
  • the gearing amount is software controlled as represented in example graph 1200 shown in Figure 12.
  • the gearing amount is varied in relation to the distance from center, i.e., a vertical orientation, of controller 900. This could allow for a full 540° rotation of virtual steering wheel 900' with only a 90° rotation of controller 900.
  • a high degree of control can be maintained for high speed driving, which generally does not require significant steering rotation.
  • the gearing amount is increased as shown in graph 1200 to accommodate sharper turns as generally required at slower speeds.
  • Figure 13 shows another exemplary controller 1300 having a steering wheel 1305 which may be manipulated by a user. In this case, rotations of steering wheel 1305 and actuation of buttons of interface 1302 are interpreted by controller 1300, which generates data transmissions via LEDs 1310.
  • Figure 14 shows an exemplary application of controller 1300.
  • the application is a driving simulation that receives commands issued in response to rotation of steering wheel 1305 and translates these commands as corresponding rotations of a virtual steering wheel 1305 in display 110.
  • a gearing amount which scales the rotation of steering wheel 1305 to a corresponding rotation of virtual steering wheel 1305' can be changed in response to user interaction with interface 1302 ( Figure 13) or in response to the software control.
  • Figure 15 shows an exemplary graph 1500 depicting exemplary changes in gearing amount over time.
  • the changes in gearing can by dynamically set by the user during game play. Additionally, as shown by graph 1500, the transitions in gearing can be smooth, sharp, in steps, for longer time, shorter time, or combinations thereof.
  • FIG. 16 shows another exemplary application of an image processing system responding to user interaction.
  • a user 1602 interacts with a baseball simulation by swinging a toy baseball bat 1605 which may be recognized by the image processing system as an input object.
  • the toy baseball bat is swung the user and/or the software can control the gearing amount to manipulate the speed or distance of virtual baseball bat 1605'.
  • the bat may include a number of buttons that can be pressed during game play, and by pressing the buttons, the gearing can be made to change.
  • the user can preset or program in a combination of gearing levels that will be applied when the bat is swung.
  • FIG. 17 shows graph 1700 depicting an exemplary gearing amount at different times tl — t5 along the length of the swing. These gearing amounts may have been set by the user before swinging the bat or may have been set by the game dynamically in response to the position of the bat as viewed by the camera 105. Again, it is shown how the gearing can be changed over time, kept constant over particular intervals, or gradually increased. In graph 1700, the gearing may have been set higher between times t2-t3, so that the swing of the bat will be more powerful when contact is made with the ball, and then the gearing is relaxed during time t3-t4 when the bat has already made contact.
  • the different times in one embodiment, can be estimated by the user, or determined by the computer.
  • the user can take a few practice swings, and then the computer can map out a number of example time slots corresponding to the user's actual swing ability. Then, the user can custom assign specific gearing to each time interval, depending on how the user wants to impact his game interactivity. Once the gearing is set, the user's movement of the bat 1605 can then be mapped to the movement of the bat 1605' (e.g., game object). Again, it should be noted that the gearing can be preset by the game during different action, set during game play by the user, and may be adjusted in real time during game play.
  • Figure 18 shows another exemplary application of an image processing system responding to user interaction.
  • a user interacts with a football simulation by making a throwing motion with a toy football, and pressing an actuator to indicate release of the football.
  • a controller may also be used.
  • a virtual player 1802 manipulates a virtual football 1805 in response to user interaction.
  • the actuator causes an LED to illuminate or change color which is recognized by the image processing system as a command which is sent to the football simulation application. After releasing the ball, the user is able to control certain action on the field, such as the motion of a selected receiver.
  • the release of the ball triggers the application to send gearing data to the mapper ( Figure 7) to change the gearing amount, e.g., to allow for discriminating finer movements of the input object.
  • Figure 19 shows an exemplary graph 1900 illustrating the change in gearing amount upon "releasing" the football. Although shown as a simple graph 1900, it should be understood that the gearing can take on any profile, depending on the game object.
  • Figure 20 shows a flowchart 2000 describing an exemplary procedure for receiving user input for the computer program. The procedure begins as indicated by start block 2002 and proceeds to operation 2004 wherein a position of a control input is identified.
  • the control input may be the position of an input object in a three dimensional space as described above with reference to Figure 7, or the position of a user interface device as described above with reference to Figure 14.
  • the position may be expressed as a representative value, or a plurality of values, such as a vector.
  • operation 2006 a determination is made as to whether the position has changed. If the position has not changed, then the procedure returns to operation 2004. In one embodiment, operation 2004 is delayed until a new frame of image data is received from the image capture device. If, at operation 2006, it is determined that the position has changed, then the procedure flows to operation 2008.
  • a vector of movement is calculated.
  • the movement vector can be any number of dimensions. For example, if the movement is of an input object in three- dimensional space, the movement vector may describe the movement as a three dimensional vector. However, if the movement is of a one dimensional control input, such as a steering wheel, then the movement vector is a one dimensional vector that describes the amount of rotation of the steering wheel. After determining the movement vector the procedure flows to operation 2010.
  • the movement vector is multiplied by a current gearing amount to determine an input vector.
  • the current gearing amount may be a scalar quantity or a multidimensional value. If it is a scalar quantity, then all dimensions of the movement vector are multiplied by the same amount. If the gearing amount is multidimensional, then each dimension of the movement vector is multiplied by a corresponding dimension of the gearing amount.
  • the gearing amount may vary in response to user input and may be under software control. Therefore, the current gearing amount may change from moment to moment. After multiplying the movement vector by the current gearing amount, the procedure flows to operation 2012.
  • a new position of a virtual object is calculated using the input vector calculated in operation 2010.
  • the new position may be a camera position, or an object position such as a virtual steering wheel.
  • the virtual object may not be displayed on a display screen.
  • the procedure flows to operation 2014 wherein data representing the new position is passed to the application program.
  • the procedure then ends as indicated by finish block 2016. It should be noted, however, that this flow is only exemplary in nature, and other alternatives may be possible.
  • the operations will include the detection of an input device and the movement of the input device. The movement of the input device is determined by a camera that is viewing the input device. By user control or preset or pre-programmed settings, a gearing value is applied.
  • the gearing value can be selected, for example, by allowing the user to hit a button on the input device (e.g., a controller).
  • a button on the input device e.g., a controller
  • movement control is mapped to an object of a computer game. If the user is using the input device to control an action figure on of a game, then the gearing that is set or controlled to be set will affect how the movement by the input device is mapped to the movement by the action figure of the computer game. Therefore, the gearing and the changes in gearing allow for the dynamic application of a mapped response by the object that may be part of a computer game.
  • the image processing functions described above for determining the intensity value, controller player number, orientation and/or position of one or more input objects including controllers is carried out in a process executing on a computer system.
  • the computing system is also executing a main process, referred to herein as an application program, which may be a gaming application, that requests or is otherwise receptive to the data generated from the image or audio processing, such data comprising controller player number, orientation and/or position of one or more input objects including controllers, controller actuation, etc.
  • the process performing the image and/or audio processing functions is a driver for a video camera or video/audio monitoring device, the driver providing the data to the main process via any type of interprocess communication which may be implementation specific as generally known and understood in the art.
  • the process performing image or audio processing executes on the same processor or a different processor as the one executing the main process which is the gaming software or other application program. It is also possible to have a common process for both image or audio processing and game functionality in the same process, e.g., using a procedure call.
  • the invention encompasses providing such data to one routine of a process using a procedure call or other software function such that a single process can both perform image processing functionality as well as gaming functionality, as well as separating the functions into different processes whereby one or more processes, which may execute on a common processor core or multiple processor cores, perform image and/or audio processing as described herein and a separate process performs gaming functions.
  • the present invention may be used as presented herein or in combination with other user input mechanisms and notwithstanding mechanisms that track the angular direction of the sound and/or mechanisms that track the position of the object actively or passively, mechanisms using machine vision, combinations thereof and where the object tracked may include ancillary controls or buttons that manipulate feedback to the system and where such feedback may include but is not limited light emission from light sources, sound distortion means, or other suitable transmitters and modulators as well as buttons, pressure pad, etc. that may influence the transmission or modulation of the same, encode state, and/or transmit commands from or to the device being tracked.
  • the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations including game consoles, gaming computers or computing devices, hand-held devices, microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like.
  • the invention may also be practiced in distributing computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a network. For instance, on-line gaming systems and software may also be used.
  • the invention may employ various computer-implemented operations involving data stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as producing, identifying, determining, or comparing.
  • any of the operations described herein that form part of the invention are useful machine operations.
  • the invention also relates to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations.
  • the apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, such as the carrier network discussed above, or it may be a general purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer.
  • various general purpose machines may be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations.
  • the invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium.
  • the computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random- access memory, FLASH based memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, magnetic tapes, and other optical and non-optical data storage devices.
  • the computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.
  • gearing has been discussed in relation to video games, it should be understood that the gearing can be applied to any computer controlled environment.
  • the gearing can be associated with a computer input device that allows for the interaction, selection, or input of information. Applying different gearing during different input or interactive operations can enable further degrees of operation not normally found in environments that have pre-configured control settings. Accordingly, the embodiments of gearing, as defined herein, should be given a broad encompassing application.
  • the gearing can be applied to a gesture, that may be communicated to a computer program. As noted above, tracking of a gesture or input device can be accomplished via image analysis, inertial analysis, or audible analysis.
  • gestures include, but are not limited to throwing an object such as a ball, swinging an object such as a bat or golf club, pumping a hand pump, opening or closing a door or window, turning steering wheel or other vehicle control, martial arts moves such as punches, sanding movements, wax-on wax-off, paint the house, shakes, rattles, rolls, football pitches, baseball pitches, turning knob movements, 3D/2D MOUSE movements, scrolling movements, movements with known profiles, any recordable movement, movements along any vector back and forth i.e. pump the tire but at some arbitrary orientation in space, movements along a path, movements having precise stop and start times, any time based user manipulation that can be recorded, tracked and repeated within the noise floor, splines, and the like.
  • Each of these gestures may be pre-recorded from path data and stored as a time-based model. The gearing, therefore, can be applied on any one of these gestures, depending the degree of gearing set by the user or program.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne des procédés et un appareil pour l'interfaçage interactif avec un système de jeu informatique. Le système de jeu informatique comprend un dispositif de capture vidéo pour capter des données d'images. Un procédé comprend l'affichage d'un dispositif d'entrée sur le dispositif de capture vidéo, où le dispositif d'entrée a une pluralité de lumières qui sont modulées de façon à transporter le positionnement du dispositif d'entrée et des données de communication qui doivent être interprétées par le système de jeu informatique sur la base de l'analyse des données d'images captées et d'un état de la pluralité de lumières. Ce procédé comprend également la définition du mouvement d'un objet d'un jeu informatique qui doit être exécuté par le système de jeu informatique, de telle sorte que le mouvement de l'objet peut être corrélé à des mouvements dans la position du dispositif d'entrée comme détectée dans les données d'images captées. Le procédé établit ensuite une adaptation entre le mouvement de l'objet du jeu informatique et les mouvements dans la position du dispositif d'entrée. L'adaptation définit un rapport entre des mouvements dans la position du dispositif d'entrée et des mouvements de l'objet. L'adaptation peut être définie dynamiquement par le jeu, par l'utilisateur ou peut être prédéfinie par un logiciel ou configurée par l'utilisateur selon un algorithme d'adaptation. Des modes de réalisation du dispositif d'entrée peuvent être utilisés pour produire des données inertielles, qui peuvent être adaptées, et peuvent être interprétées par le système de jeu informatique. En outre, des modes de réalisation peuvent utiliser des systèmes de détection acoustique ainsi qu'un mélange de capture d'images, de capture inertielle et de capture acoustique de façon à appliquer une adaptation souhaitée.
EP07776747A 2006-05-04 2007-05-04 Procedes et appareil pour appliquer des effets d'adaptation a une entree sur la base d'une ou plusiers donnees visuelles, acoustique, inertielles et melangees Ceased EP2013865A4 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (11)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11/381,725 US7783061B2 (en) 2003-08-27 2006-05-04 Methods and apparatus for the targeted sound detection
US11/381,729 US7809145B2 (en) 2006-05-04 2006-05-04 Ultra small microphone array
US11/381,724 US8073157B2 (en) 2003-08-27 2006-05-04 Methods and apparatus for targeted sound detection and characterization
US11/381,728 US7545926B2 (en) 2006-05-04 2006-05-04 Echo and noise cancellation
US11/381,727 US7697700B2 (en) 2006-05-04 2006-05-04 Noise removal for electronic device with far field microphone on console
US11/381,721 US8947347B2 (en) 2003-08-27 2006-05-04 Controlling actions in a video game unit
US11/382,038 US7352358B2 (en) 2002-07-27 2006-05-06 Method and system for applying gearing effects to acoustical tracking
US11/382,036 US9474968B2 (en) 2002-07-27 2006-05-06 Method and system for applying gearing effects to visual tracking
US11/382,040 US7391409B2 (en) 2002-07-27 2006-05-07 Method and system for applying gearing effects to multi-channel mixed input
US11/382,041 US7352359B2 (en) 2002-07-27 2006-05-07 Method and system for applying gearing effects to inertial tracking
PCT/US2007/010852 WO2007130582A2 (fr) 2006-05-04 2007-05-04 procédés et appareil pour appliquer des effets d'adaptation à une entrée sur la base d'une ou plusieurs données visuelles, acoustiques, inertielles et mélangées

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EP2013865A4 (fr) 2010-11-03
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JP2009112829A (ja) 2009-05-28
JP5277081B2 (ja) 2013-08-28
JP4598117B2 (ja) 2010-12-15
JP4567805B2 (ja) 2010-10-20
WO2007130582A3 (fr) 2008-12-04
KR20090025228A (ko) 2009-03-10
WO2007130582A2 (fr) 2007-11-15
JP2009266241A (ja) 2009-11-12

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