JP2003284868A - Game device and game method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game device which can incorporate attributive data of an object into a game at a high speed. <P>SOLUTION: The object (anything such as a cellular phone or fruit such as an apple) which is prepared by a player is photographed by an imaging unit 7. Thus, a color image of the object including a reflective light image of the object and a background is obtained. In an attributive data-computing unit 9, the attributive (shape, color and so forth) data of the object is computed from an extracted color image of the object which is formed by combining these images. At a point computing unit 39, points of the attributive data are computed by referring to an attribute-point corresponding table 37. Then, the points are displayed on a display unit 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game device and a game method using a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, many games using a computer have been provided, and computer games (hereinafter referred to as games) have become one of people's entertainment. With the development of computers, visually and aurally realistic games are realized and entertain the players.

[0003]

When a real object is captured as an image in the game and used, it is necessary to image this object and input the attribute (eg, shape, color) data of the object to the game device. is there. Examples of devices that can acquire the attributes of an object include a color camera and a laser range finder.

According to the color camera, it is possible to acquire the attribute data of an object by forming a background color with a color that does not exist in the object, imaging the object, and distinguishing the background from the object. However, in the case of an object having the same color as the background color, there are many restrictions such that the attribute data cannot be obtained and the stereoscopic attribute data cannot be obtained.

On the other hand, according to the laser range finder,
The three-dimensional attribute of an object can be acquired with high accuracy. However, the laser range finder is expensive, and it takes time to measure the attributes. It is not realistic to apply the laser range finder to the game device because the game device is required to have low cost and high speed (preferably real time) image processing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game device and a game method capable of incorporating attribute data of an object into a game at high speed.

[0007]

A game device according to the present invention generates an extracted color image in which an object is extracted by combining a reflected light image of the object and a color image of the object including a background, and the extracted color image is generated. It is characterized by comprising attribute data calculation means for calculating attribute data of the object, and game progression means for proceeding the game using the attribute data calculated by the attribute data calculation means.

According to the game device of the present invention, the reflected light image of the object and the color image of the object including the background are combined to generate an extracted color image in which the object is extracted, and the attribute of the object is extracted from the extracted color image. Since the data is calculated, the attribute data can be acquired at high speed.

In the game device according to the present invention, the game advancing means may further include point calculating means for calculating points based on the attribute data of the object calculated by the attribute data calculating means.

According to this, it is possible to provide a new game using the attribute data of the object as points.

In the game device according to the present invention, the game advancing means is an attribute presenting means for presenting the attribute in question in advance, and an attribute presenting means for presenting the attribute data of the object calculated by the attribute data calculating means by the attribute presenting means. It is possible to further comprise a comparison means for comparing with the data of.

According to this, by comparing the attribute data of the object with the attribute data presented by the attribute presenting means, it is possible to judge whether the player of the game has cleared the task. Therefore, a computer game similar to a borrowed game can be realized.

According to the game method of the present invention, an image pickup step for picking up a reflected light image of an object and a color image of the object including a background, and a reflected light image of the object picked up in the image pickup step and a color of the object including the background are picked up. Generate an extracted color image in which an object is extracted by combining the image and calculate the attribute data of the object from this extracted color image, and progress the game using the attribute data of the object calculated in the calculating step And a step of advancing.

According to the game method of the present invention, the reflected light image of the object and the color image of the object including the background are combined to generate an extracted color image in which the object is extracted, and the attribute of the object is extracted from the extracted color image. Since the data is calculated, the attribute data can be acquired at high speed.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A game machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is the first
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the game device 1 according to the embodiment, and the outline of the first embodiment will be described using this. The game device 1 is
A computer unit 5 including the display unit 3 and an image capturing unit 7 for capturing an image of a target object and connected to the computer unit 5 are provided.

An object A targeted by a player of the game is prepared. This object is, for example, a mobile phone or an apple of fruit, and may be anything. Then, the object A is captured by the image pickup unit 7
A color image of the object A including the background and the reflected light image obtained by extracting the reflected light from the object A by capturing the image is obtained. The reflected light image is a silhouette image of the object A whose background is cut, and the reflected light image will be described in detail later.

The reflected light image and the color image are sent to the computer section 5, and a color image of the object A in which the object A is extracted (the background is cut) is generated. Computer section 5
Calculates the attribute data (color, shape, etc.) of the object from this color image and displays the points obtained as a result.
To display. This is the point given to the player. For example, data of 100 points of red and 50 points of quadrangle are stored in the computer unit 5 in advance, and if the object A is a quadrangle of red color, 150 points are displayed on the display unit 3. Similarly, points are displayed for objects prepared by other players and the points are competed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize a novel game which has not been heretofore, by utilizing the attribute of the object. Further, according to the first embodiment, the computer unit 5 combines the reflected light image and the color image to generate an extracted color image in which the object is extracted (the background is cut), and the extracted color image of the object is generated. Since the attribute data is calculated, the attribute data of the object can be acquired at high speed (or in real time). This allows
It is possible to realize a game device capable of incorporating attribute data of an object into a game at high speed (or in real time).

Although the game apparatus 1 is provided with the image pickup section 7, the present invention is not limited to this and may not include the image pickup section. In this case, the game can be progressed by inputting the reflected light image data and the color image data to the game apparatus 1 from a storage medium such as a CD-R or a communication line such as the Internet.

By the way, as a game similar to the embodiment of the present invention, there is a battle-type game using a bar code. This is a type of game where bar codes attached to various products in the world are converted into statuses and used for battle. However, in the case of this type of game, there is a restriction that it cannot be used in the game unless it is an object to which a barcode is added. On the other hand, the embodiment of the present invention does not have such a restriction because the attribute of the object is used.

The above is the outline of the first embodiment. Next, details of the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram of the game device according to the first embodiment. The game apparatus 1 uses the image pickup unit 7 for picking up a reflected light image and a color image, the attribute data calculation unit 9 for processing these images to calculate the attribute data of the object, and the calculated attribute data to play the game. And a computer section 5 including a game progression section 11 for proceeding.

The image pickup section 7 includes an image pickup section 13 for picking up a reflected light image and an image pickup section 15 for picking up a color image. The reflected light image capturing unit 13 can acquire a silhouette image of an object whose background is cut in real time. As a result, the shape of the attributes of the object can be acquired. If the target of the image is convex and the background is concave, the reflected light image capturing unit 13 can also capture the concave-convex attribute of the image by cutting the concave while leaving the convex of the image. Moreover, since the reflected light image can be continuously captured in real time by the image capturing unit 13, the motion of the object, that is, the motion attribute can be grasped from the change of continuous frames.

On the other hand, the color image pickup section 15 is, for example,
It is a CCD or CMOS image sensor and acquires a color image of an object including a background in real time. As a result, the color of the attributes of the object can be acquired.

As will be described later, an extracted color image in which the object is extracted is generated by combining the reflected light image of the object and the color image of the object including the background. For this reason,
Since it is necessary to make the pixels of the reflected light image correspond to the pixels of the color image including the background, it is preferable to arrange the reflected light image capturing unit 13 and the color image capturing unit 15 close to each other. From this point of view, it is preferable that the image pickup units 13 and 15 are integrated into one chip.

The details of the reflected light image pickup unit 13 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an example of a functional block diagram of the image pickup unit 13. The imaging unit 13 includes a light emitting unit 17, a light receiving optical system 19, a reflected light extracting unit 21, and a timing control unit 23.
Composed of.

The light emitting section 17 generates light whose intensity varies with time according to the timing signal generated by the timing control section 23. This light is applied to the object A in front of the light emitting unit 17. The light generated here is near infrared light, but not limited to this, light in other wavelength regions such as visible light can also be used.

The reflected light from the object A is condensed by the light receiving optical system 19 composed of a lens and the like and reflected light extraction unit 21
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of. The light receiving optical system 19 is provided with a filter that passes near infrared light. External light such as visible light and far infrared light other than near infrared light is cut out of the reflected light by this filter.

The reflected light extraction unit 21 extracts the spatial intensity distribution of the reflected light forming the image formation. This intensity distribution can be captured as an image of reflected light. This is the reflected light image. In order to achieve this function, the reflected light extraction unit 21 includes a first light receiving unit 25, a second light receiving unit 27, and a difference calculation unit 29. The first light receiving unit 25 and the second
The light receiving unit 27 of 1 receives light at different timings. Then, when the first light receiving unit 25 is receiving light, the light emitting unit 17
Is emitted and the second light receiving section 27 is receiving light, the timing control section 23 controls the operation timing of these so that the light emitting section 17 does not emit light. As a result, the first light receiving unit 25 receives the reflected light of the light from the light emitting unit 17 by the object and other external light such as sunlight and illumination light. On the other hand, the second light receiving unit 27 receives only external light. Since the two receive light at different timings, they are close to each other, so that fluctuations in outside light during this period can be ignored.

Therefore, if the difference between the image received by the first light receiving section 25 and the image received by the second light receiving section 27 is calculated, only the component of the light reflected by the object is extracted from the light from the light emitting section 17. , A reflected light image can be generated. The difference calculation unit 29 calculates and outputs the difference between the images received by the first light receiving unit 25 and the second light receiving unit 27.

The reflected light from the object greatly decreases as the distance between the object and the reflected light image pickup unit 13 increases. When the surface of the object scatters light uniformly, the amount of light received per pixel of the reflected light image decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance to the object. Therefore, the intensity value of the reflected light from the object can be converted into the distance value from the reflected light image capturing unit 13 to the object. Since the reflected light from the background is almost negligible,
A reflected light image from only the object can be obtained. Also,
It is also possible to grasp the three-dimensional shape of the object from the distance value.

The reflected light image can be obtained, for example, by an apparatus having the following configurations (1) to (3).
(1) Timing signal generating means for generating a pulse signal or a modulation signal that is constant in time or changes in time. (2) Light emitting means for emitting light whose intensity changes based on the signal generated by the timing signal generating means. (3) Reflection of the light emitted from the light emitting means by the object is arranged by arranging means for separating and detecting the reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting means by the object in synchronization with the signal from the timing signal generating means. Reflected light extraction means for detecting an optical image.

A more detailed description of the above-mentioned components of the reflected light image pickup unit 13 is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-177449 filed by the same applicant as the present application.

Next, the attribute data calculator 9 shown in FIG. 2 will be described. The attribute data calculation unit 9 is a reflected light image of an object (flat or solid) sent from the reflected light image capturing unit 13.
Storage unit 31 for storing the data of the
5, a storage unit 33 that stores the data of the color image of the object including the background sent from 5, and a feature extraction unit 35 that extracts the features of the image (that is, the portion where the object is shown in the image).
Equipped with.

The feature extraction unit 35 includes a reflected light image storage unit 31.
By combining the reflected light image stored in (3) and the color image stored in the color image storage unit 33, an extracted color image in which an object is extracted is generated. That is, what is stored in the reflected light image storage unit 31 is a silhouette image of an object whose background is cut. On the other hand, what is stored in the color image storage unit 33 is a planar color image of an object including a background. The feature extraction unit 35 superimposes these images, cuts out a color image portion corresponding to the object from the color image, and maps this to a silhouette image to obtain an extracted color image of the object with the background cut. To generate. The extracted color image data includes object attribute data (color, shape, motion, surface pattern, surface unevenness, etc.), and the feature extraction unit 35 performs processing for extracting the object attribute data from the extracted color image. To do. Since the attribute data calculation unit 9 as described above is used, the attribute data of the object can be acquired at high speed (or in real time). The processing in the attribute data calculation unit 9 can use the technique (especially, the fifth embodiment) of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-177449 filed by the same applicant as the present case.

Next, the game progress section 11 will be described.
The game progression unit 11 has various functions for controlling the game. The game progress section 11 has an attribute-point correspondence table 37 in which various attributes and points corresponding to them are stored.
And a point calculation unit 39 that calculates points of the attribute data of the object calculated by the attribute data calculation unit 9, and a display unit 3 (see FIG. 1) that displays the calculated points.

In the configuration of the computer unit 5, the functions of the storage unit and the table can be realized by those capable of storing information, for example, a device formed of a magnetic medium such as a hard disk, or a semiconductor memory such as an EEPROM. You can The display unit 3 can be realized by a small liquid crystal display, plasma display, CRT, or the like. The functions of configurations other than these can be realized by various processors (CPU, MPU) or ASIC and a predetermined program, for example.

Next, the operation of the game device 1 according to the first embodiment will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining this. Note that this description also serves as a description of the game method according to the first embodiment.

First, a player of a game prepares a target object according to a predetermined rule. The rule is, for example, that an object in a house is a target of a target object. The object is imaged by the imaging unit 7 (step S1). At this time, the reflected light image (silhouette image) of the object is captured by the image capturing unit 13, and the color image of the object including the background is captured by the image capturing unit 15.

The data of the reflected light image is stored in the storage unit 31. FIG. 5 shows 8 × 8 pixels which is a part of an example of this data. The numerical value in each pixel indicates the intensity X of the reflected light thereat in 256 steps. The pixel with the intensity X = 255 is the closest position to the imaging unit 13, and the pixel with the intensity X = 0 is the farthest position, that is, the background. The intensity X = 0 indicates that the reflected light does not reach the image pickup unit 13.

Therefore, using α (255 ≧ α ≧ 0),
The image can be cut out in stages by selecting only the pixels having the intensity X> α. In the first embodiment, α = 0, that is, by cutting the background, the reflected light image (silhouette image) of the object can be cut out. In this example, it can be seen that the shape of the object is a quadrangle. The three-dimensional shape of the object can be grasped from the magnitude of the intensity X of the cut image.

On the other hand, the color image data including the background is stored in the storage unit 33. FIG. 6 shows 8 × 8 pixels which is a part of an example of this data. The background color is included in addition to the object color. The number in each pixel is the red color there,
Each of the green and blue components is represented by a value from 0 to 255. (R, G, B) is (0,0,0) is black,
(128, 128, 128) is gray and (255,
255, 255) is white, and (255, 0, 0) is bright red among red.

The data of the reflected light image and the data of the color image are processed by the feature extraction unit 35 to generate an extracted color image in which the object is extracted (the background is cut). It contains the attribute data of the object. This image and the reflected light image data of FIG.
When it is displayed based on the color image data of, a red square S is displayed as shown in FIG. In this example, the shape attribute data represents a rectangle and the color attribute data represents red.

The feature extraction unit 35 extracts the attribute data of the object from the extracted color image of the object shown in FIG. 7 (step S3). Specifically, it is red attribute and square attribute data, and these data are sent to the point calculation unit 39.

The attribute-point correspondence table 37 stores attributes such as color and shape and points corresponding thereto. In the case of the color attribute, for example, red 100 points, blue 50 points, green 30 points, ... Are stored. In the case of the shape attribute, for example, 200 points for a circle, 100 points for a quadrangle, 50 points for a triangle,
... is stored. In the case of the three-dimensional attribute, 300 points of a sphere, 200 points of a cube, ... Are stored. The motion attribute of the object can also be stored in association with the point.

The point calculator 39 calculates the points of the attribute data of the object based on the data stored in the attribute-point correspondence table 37 (step S).
5). In this example, the object is a red square, so 20
It becomes 0 points and is displayed on the display unit 3. Similarly, points are calculated for objects prepared by other players, and the points are displayed on the display unit 3. You can win or lose depending on the size of the points. As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize a new game that uses the attribute of an object acquired in real time.

Note that this point can also be used for the story of a computer game. For example, the difficulty level of the game may be changed according to the points, or the weapons given to the characters appearing in the game may be changed according to the points, such as "sword", "hammer", "gun", etc. Good.

Further, if the positions of the two are determined in advance when the image is picked up by the image pickup unit 7, the size of the object can be known. Therefore, the size attribute of the object can be used in the game.

According to the first embodiment, a color image of an object whose background is cut can be continuously extracted in real time. Therefore, by placing the object on a rotary stage or the like and rotating (for example, rotating by 360 degrees), attribute data can be obtained for the entire surface of the object.

Next, a game device according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 is an example of a functional block diagram of the game device 2 according to the second embodiment. Game device 1 of FIG.
The same elements as those in FIG. The game progression unit 41 of the game device 2 includes an attribute-point correspondence table 43, a point calculation unit 45, an attribute presentation unit 47, a comparison unit 49, and a display unit 3 (see FIG. 1).

The attribute-point correspondence table 43 stores various attributes in association with points. In the case of the red attribute, for example, (R, G, B) = (1,
The points (0, 0) to (255, 0, 0) are divided into four stages and associated with points. That is, (1, 0, 0) to (63, 0, 0) is 1 point, (64, 0, 0) to (127, 0, 0) is 2 points, (128, 0, 0)
From (191, 0, 0) to 3 points, (192, 0,
4 points from 0) to (255, 0, 0).

The attribute presenting section 47 stores various attributes which are assumed to the object and which are given to the player as a task (title). For example, "red, blue, green, square, triangular, round, red and square ...". Then, points are associated with these. For example, in the case of the red attribute, data of dark red (3 points or more), normal red (2 points), and light red (1 point) are stored.

At the start of the game, the attribute presentation unit 47 selects one of the attributes and displays it on the display unit 3 as a task. For example, when dark red is selected, the display unit 3 displays "Subject: prepare dark red." The attribute presentation unit 47 also sends dark red (3 points or more) data to the comparison unit 49.

The player looks for an object that seems to meet this task and picks up an image with the image pickup section 7. It is assumed that the imaged object is, for example, a dark red quadrangle as shown in FIG. This data is sent from the feature extraction unit 35 to the point calculation unit 45. There, attribute-point correspondence table 4
With reference to 3, 4 points are calculated.

The comparing section 49 compares the 4 points with the dark red (3 points or more) selected as the task, and judges (clears in this case) whether the task is cleared,
The result is displayed on the display unit 3. As described above, the second
According to the embodiment, it is possible to realize a new game similar to a borrowed game using a computer.

When cleared, points (4 points in this case) may be displayed. As a result, when another player also clears, the win or loss can be decided by the size of the points. As a game method, it is possible to measure the time and search for an object that matches the task within a short time or within the time limit.

Although it is determined whether or not the player has cleared the task depending on the size of the points, attribute data, for example, (R, G, B) data may be compared to determine the similarity. Alternatively, the similarity may be determined by using both the points and the attribute data. Therefore, in these cases, the game uses similarity.

When competing with other players,
Attribute data of an object by another player may be input to the game device 2 from a recording medium, a communication line, or the like.

In addition, the object found by the player also includes attributes not included in the task. For example, the task is dark red and the attribute of the object is a dark red rectangle. Attributes that are not presented can also be used as criteria for determining the outcome of a game.

When the image pickup section 7 is portable, the player can take back the imaged data and input it to the game device 2. Therefore, an object located in a place different from the place where the game device 2 is placed (for example, in the city) can be used for the game. Further, when the game device 2 is portable, the place to play the game is not limited. These are also applicable to the first embodiment.

[0060]

As described above, according to the game device and the game method of the present invention, the extracted color obtained by combining the reflected light image of the object and the color image of the object including the background is extracted. Since the image is generated and the attribute data of the object is calculated from this extracted color image,
The attribute data of the object can be acquired at high speed.
As a result, it is possible to realize a game device and a game method capable of incorporating the attribute data of an object into a game at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a game device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram of the game device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an example of a functional block diagram of a reflected light image capturing section of the game device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example of an operation of the game device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a part (8 × 8 pixels) of an example of reflected light image data.

FIG. 6 shows a part (8 × 8 pixels) of an example of color image data including a background.

7 is a diagram showing an image of an object based on the reflected light image data of FIG. 5 and the color image data of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an example of a functional block diagram of a game device according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 ... Game device 3 ... Display 5: Computer section 7 ... Imaging unit 9 ... Attribute data calculator 11, 41 ... Game progression section A ... Object

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Isao Mihara             1st Komukai Toshiba-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Inside the Toshiba Research and Development Center (72) Inventor Shinhisa Kishikawa             1st Komukai Toshiba-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Inside the Toshiba Research and Development Center (72) Inventor Miwako Doi             1st Komukai Toshiba-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Inside the Toshiba Research and Development Center F-term (reference) 2C001 AA13 BA05 BA06 BB01 BC05                       BC06 CA08 CB01 CB04 CC02

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An attribute for generating an extracted color image in which the object is extracted by combining a reflected light image of the object and a color image of the object including a background, and calculating attribute data of the object from the extracted color image. A game apparatus comprising: a data calculation means; and a game progression means for advancing a game using the attribute data calculated by the attribute data calculation means. 2. The game device according to claim 1, wherein the game progression means further comprises point calculation means for calculating points based on the attribute data of the object calculated by the attribute data calculation means. 3. The attribute data presented by the attribute presentation means, wherein the game advancing means presents an attribute to be a subject in advance, and attribute data of the object calculated by the attribute data calculation means. The game device according to claim 1, further comprising: a comparison unit for comparing with. 4. An imaging step of capturing a reflected light image of an object and a color image of the object including a background, a reflected light image of the object captured in the imaging step, and a color image of the object including a background. Generating an extracted color image in which the object is extracted, and calculating a property data of the object from the extracted color image; and a game using the property data of the object calculated in the calculating process. And a step of advancing the game.