JP2002166049A - Video game apparatus having two or more control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video game apparatus in which a distributing operation of two or more control devices can be easily and properly carried out when each of two or more players uses two or more control devices for the game operation. SOLUTION: This video game apparatus is constituted such that each of two or more players can join the game, operating a manually-operating control device and a control device using voice input. The game apparatus has the input terminals Mi (i=1, 2...n) having labels for recognition to each of which the operating-operating control device for each of two or more players is connected, the input terminals Aj (j=1, 2...n) for the voice input control devices, the number of which is the same with the input terminals Mi, and a switching circuit. The switching circuit recognizes which voice input control device corresponds to a player's manually-operating control device connected with the input terminal Mi according to the voice input of the recognition label of the input terminal Mi through the voice input control device. The switching circuit accepts voice input according to the recognition. In this system, a player can connect the manually-operating control device to any input terminals Mi and the voice input control device to any input terminals Aj.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video game apparatus provided with a proper allocating means for each control device when a plurality of players perform a game operation using a plurality of control devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present applicant has previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-287.
No. 049 discloses a video game apparatus in which a player can perform a game operation using a voice input control device (microphone) in addition to a hand-operated control device (controller). With such a game device,
There is an advantage that the player can easily control the behavior of a plurality of characters on the game screen.

However, both the controller and the microphones, when must be connected to an input terminal corresponding to each player, each player must use the controller to the corresponding microphone correctly to this, another If you have a microphone, you must exchange microphones between players. Microphone and controller cords are quite long, 1.5-2.0m, so it is quite troublesome to check the input terminal of the connector by hand and change the port. Conventionally, there has been no game device in which one player performs a game operation using a plurality of control devices, so there was no room for the above problem to occur. It is easily anticipated that players will experience inconvenience as the number increases, and some sort of solution is desired.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above viewpoints, and an object of the present invention is to provide a video game apparatus in which a plurality of players operate a game using a plurality of control devices. Another object of the present invention is to provide a video game apparatus having means for easily and appropriately allocating control devices.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a video game system in which a plurality of players can participate in a game by operating their own hand-operated control devices and control devices by voice input. In game devices;
Input terminals Mi (i = 1, 2,...) With identification symbols to which hand-operated control devices of a plurality of players are respectively connected.
.. N), the same number of input terminals Aj (j = 1, 2,... N) for voice input control devices as the input terminals Mi, and the player's own hand-operated control device and voice input control device Are connected to arbitrary input terminals Mi and Aj, respectively, and an identification symbol of the input terminal Mi is input by voice through a voice input control device. A switching circuit for recognizing a voice input control device corresponding to the control device and accepting the voice input;

More generally, the object is to provide a video game system in which a plurality of players can participate in a game by operating their own main control device and one or more types of sub-control devices. In the apparatus; for input terminals Mi (i = 1, 2,... N) with identification symbols to which the main control devices of a plurality of players are respectively connected, and for one or more sub-control devices of the plurality of players The same number of input terminals Aj (j = 1, 2,... N) for sub-control devices as the input terminals Mi, Bj (j
.., Nj (j = 1, 2,...)
n) and the player connects his or her own main control device and sub-control device to arbitrary input terminals Mi and Aj, B respectively.
j,... Nj, and inputting the identification symbol of the input terminal Mi via each sub-control device, thereby making each sub-control device correspond to the main control device connected to the input terminal Mi. A switching circuit for recognizing the device and accepting those inputs.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a configuration of an embodiment of a video game apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of a screen display of a display device when a control device is allocated. is there. In the figure, 1 is a game control unit, 2 is a video information memory, 3 is an audio information memory,
40 is a display control device, 41 is a display device, 50 is a synthesizer, 51 is an amplifier, 52 is a speaker, 6
Is a game control input device, 60 is an input signal circuit, 61 is U
The SB hubs 62-1 to 62-4 are manually operated control devices (hereinafter, referred to as “controllers”), 63-1.
Reference numerals 63-4 denote voice input control devices (hereinafter, referred to as "microphones"), 64 denotes a voice recognition device, and 65 denotes a switching circuit.

The game control unit 1 includes a game control input device 6
In response to a game control signal from the player, a game signal is organized in accordance with a game program loaded in advance, and the game signal is input to a predetermined display device 41 to display the progress of the game. Is to be able to play.
In addition, the game controller 1 also controls the work of allocating the control device to each player in the present invention. The video information memory 2 stores video information related to a soccer game. From the video information, necessary ones are called by the game control unit 1 in accordance with the progress of the game or the player's operation. Is processed according to a predetermined program in response to an input from the game control input device 6, and is output to the display control device 40,
The video signal is converted into a video signal by the display control device 40, output to the display device 41, and reproduced as a video.

The voice information memory 3 stores voice information such as BGM and onomatopoeic sounds relating to a soccer game.
From the audio information, necessary ones are called by the game control device 1 in accordance with the progress of the game or the operation of the player, and the audio information is output to the synthesizer 50 after performing desired processing, and The signal is output from the speaker 50 to the speaker 52 via the amplifier 51 and reproduced as audio. In this embodiment, the game control input device 6 switches between the input signal circuit 60, the USB hub 61, the controllers 62-1 to 62-4, the microphones 63-1 to 63-4, and the voice recognition device 64. Circuit 65
The USB hub 61 is provided with input terminals M1 to M4 for connecting the above controllers and input terminals A1 to A4 for connecting each microphone.

The input signal circuit 60 includes a controller 62
-1 to 62-4, and a signal input from the microphones 63-1 to 63-4 via the voice recognition device 64 to form a game control signal and output it to the game control unit 1. The game control unit 1 controls reading and reproduction of the video information memory 2 and the audio information memory 3 based on the game control signal so that the soccer game is developed. Controller 6
2-1 to 62-4 are game operation input devices including a hand-operated joystick and a push button,
It has been conventionally used. Voice recognition device 64
, Individually identifies the voices input from the microphones 63-1 to 63-4 in a time-division manner, and outputs the identification results to the input signal circuit 60 through a switching circuit 65 described later.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus for playing a soccer game, for example, two types of play modes, a player mode and a manager mode, are provided. The player mode is a conventional play mode using the controllers 62-1 to 62-4, and the supervisor mode is a mode in which the behavior of the character displayed on the display device 41 is determined by the microphones 63-1 to 63-. 4 is controlled by voice input. When playing in this supervision mode, at a predetermined timing before the start of the game, for example, when selecting a team to be controlled by the player, when entering various conditions, operate the controller to select the supervision mode, "Kantoku" toward 63
Or say.

The microphone can issue a command relating to a play involving a plurality of characters. Such instructions include those related to the placement of the characters that make up the team, such as "two top",
"Three Top", "Three Back", "Flat Three", etc., as well as "Oshiage", "Offside Trap", "Gacside", "Centering", "Defensive", "Offensive", "Keeper Dero"
Besides, there are character positions, names of each character, etc.

These terms are registered as keywords in the speech recognition device 64 in advance, and the software for speech recognition selects the registered keywords from the inputted speech signal and outputs a corresponding game control signal. I do. As described above, since the speech recognition device 64 is specialized in a specific term, it can surely respond to a command of a quick speech from an unspecified number of players. These words are Mike 6
When input from 3-1 to 63-4, one or more characters that have received the command move according to the command, change the positioning, or perform a predetermined operation. Character also works, and the game progresses.

A description will now be given of the distribution of controllers and microphones when four players 1P to 4P are divided into teams A and B to play a game.
That is, players 1P and 2P belong to team A,
The distribution of controllers and microphones in the case where players 3P and 4P belong to team B and each player plays a game with one controller and one microphone will be described.

Each of the controllers 62-1 through 62-4
Is automatically determined by the game apparatus in correspondence with the input terminals M1 to M4 of the USB hub 62 to which these controllers are connected. On the other hand, for microphones, which mic goes with which controller
No decision is made at this stage. Next, a distribution screen as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the screen of the display device 41, and at that stage, each player inputs a player number of a controller currently owned by the user into a microphone owned by the player. I do. As a result, a signal is sent from the game control unit 1 to the switching circuit 65, and the microphone held by the player is assigned to the controller used by the player.

A more specific procedure is as follows. (1) The controller of each player automatically determines player numbers 1 to 4 corresponding to the input terminals M1 to M4. (2) The microphone can be automatically determined so as to correspond to the input terminals A1 to A4. However, in the present invention, the automatic determination is not performed. This is because if the controller and the microphone are automatically determined, it may be necessary to change the microphone between the players as described above, which is troublesome. (3) When the sorting screen as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed, the player inputs his / her controller's player number by voice to his / her microphone (for example, “Ichi”, “Kontoro”). -Ichikon, etc.). (4) By performing the voice input, the microphone worn by the player is allocated to the controller (player's controller) of the player number designated by the player.

In the distribution screen shown in FIG. 2, each controller and microphone has three states shown in Table 1 below, namely, “controller non-compliant state”, “controller compatible state”, and “supervision state”.

[0018]

[Table 1]

In the sorting screen shown in FIG. 2,
The operations shown in Table 2 below can be performed by using buttons or keys of the controller.

[Table 2]

In the sorting screen shown in FIG. 2,
Operations that can be performed by voice input include “controller assignment”, “switch to supervision status”, “cancel supervision status”, “enter”, “select control type”,
There are "Cancel" etc., the specific contents of which are shown in Table 3 below.
As shown in FIG.

[Table 3]

The rules in the above-mentioned sorting operation are as follows. (1) A microphone that has received an input by voice recognition is assigned in association with the input controller number (player number). (2) All commands take effect only when "decision" is input. (3) The correspondence between the controller and the microphone is one-to-one. (4) When a controller number to which a microphone has already been assigned is input from another microphone, the microphone determined later is prioritized and associated with that controller. (5) When the same controller number is input from a plurality of microphones in the same frame, the instruction of the microphone with the lower number is made valid. (6) When the cursor is at “EXIT”, ○
If you press the button, if all connected microphones are associated with the controller, the screen will move to the next screen.If at least one of the connected microphones is not associated with the controller, , Display a warning message.

In the embodiments described above, a case has been described in which four players use two types of control devices, that is, a controller that is a hand-operated control device and a microphone that is a voice input control device. However, the number of players and the type and number of control devices used by each player are not limited to these.
As the control device, for example, various input devices such as a camera, a printer, a light gun, a foot pedal, and the like can be used.

Accordingly, the present invention generally relates to a video game apparatus configured so that a plurality of players can operate their own main control device and one or more sub-control devices to participate in a game. At input terminals Mi (i = 1, 2,... N) with identification symbols to which the main control devices of a plurality of players are respectively connected, and at least one type of sub-control device of the plurality of players. The same number of input terminals Aj (j = 1, 2,... N) for sub-control devices as the input terminals Mi and Bj (j =
.., Nj (j = 1, 2,...)
n) and the player connects his or her own main control device and sub-control device to arbitrary input terminals Mi and Aj, B respectively.
j,... Nj, and inputting the identification symbol of the input terminal Mi via each sub-control device, thereby making each sub-control device correspond to the main control device connected to the input terminal Mi. And a switching circuit for recognizing the device as a device and receiving those inputs.

Here, the main control device corresponds to a hand-operated control device (controller connected to the input terminals M1 to M4) according to the above-described embodiment, and the sub-control device corresponds to the voice input control. Device (input terminals A1 to A
Microphone connected to 4), but this is true, the sub-control device in addition to the speech input control device, further ray gun Toka, Toka foot pedal, other types of control devices, such as a camera (input terminal Bj, Cj ,... Nj).

The controller or microphone can input its own identification symbol by a push button or voice from itself. However, since such an input means is not usually provided in a camera or a printer, in such a case, , A camera or the like as a main control device, and a controller or a microphone as a sub-control device may be allocated to the main control device.

[0026]

Since the present invention is configured as described above,
According to the present invention, in a video game apparatus in which a plurality of players perform game operations using a plurality of control devices, a video game apparatus capable of easily and appropriately allocating each control device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a configuration of an embodiment of a video game apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen display of a display device when performing a work of allocating control devices.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Game control part 2 Video information memory 3 Audio information memory 40 Display control device 41 Display 50 Synthesizer 51 Amplifier 52 Speaker 6 Game control input device 60 Input signal circuit 61 USB hub 62-1 to 62-4 Controllers 63-1 to 63- 4 Microphone 64 Voice Recognition Device 65 Switching Circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video game apparatus in which a plurality of players can operate a control device manually operated by themselves and a control device by voice input to participate in a game; An input terminal Mi (i = 1, 2,... N) with an identification symbol to which each of the operation-type control devices is connected, and input terminals Aj (j = 1, j) for the same number of audio input control devices as input terminals Mi 2,... N), the player connects his or her own hand-operated control device and voice input control device to arbitrary input terminals Mi and Aj, respectively.
To the input terminal Mi via the audio input control device.
, The switching circuit which recognizes the voice input control device as a voice input control device corresponding to the hand-operated control device connected to the input terminal Mi, and accepts the voice input. And the video game device described above. 2. A video game apparatus configured so that a plurality of players can participate in a game by operating their own main control device and one or more kinds of sub-control devices, respectively; An input terminal Mi with an identification symbol to which each device is connected (i = 1,
,... N) and input terminals Aj (j = 1, 2,...) For the same number of sub-control devices as the number of input terminals Mi provided for one or more types of sub-control devices of a plurality of players.・ N), Bj
(J = 1, 2,... N),... Nj (j = 1, 2,.
.. N) and the player connects his or her own main control device and sub-control device to arbitrary input terminals Mi and Aj, Bj,.
Nj and input terminal Mi via each sub-control device.
And a switching circuit that recognizes each sub-control device as a sub-control device that should correspond to the main control device connected to the input terminal Mi, and accepts the input of the sub-control device. The video game device as described above.