JP2005224431A - Data communication method for game controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data communication method for game controllers which makes it possible to securely transmit operating information of a plurality of game controllers to one game machine body using radio signals of Bluetooth. <P>SOLUTION: In data communication method for game controllers, the game controllers 5 are linked by radio connection to the game machine body 2 by using the radio signals of Bluetooth so that the operating information of each game controller 5 is transmitted to the game machine body 2. When the operating information of each game controller 5 is transmitted to the game machine body 2, the operating information is compressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a game controller data communication method suitable for transmitting and receiving data between a single game machine body and a plurality of game controllers using radio signals.

  Conventionally, in video games such as sports games and action games or games such as computer games, the operation information of the game controller is transferred to the game machine body by pressing a plurality of operation buttons arranged on the game controller separately with fingers. Various movements of the operation target that are transmitted and thereby displayed on the screen of the display device are input.

  By the way, in recent computer games, there is a demand for a game device that can be played by a large number of people.

  When playing a game with such a large number of people, it can be executed by connecting a game controller to each of a plurality of controller connectors provided on one game machine main body with a cable. However, there are cases where the number of cables is large and troubles such as complicated cable routing may occur depending on the position of the player who operates the game controller, and inconvenience that storage may be difficult.

  Therefore, a wireless game controller system has been proposed that can wirelessly connect one game machine body and a plurality of game controllers by using spread spectrum radio waves and changing the frequency and spread pattern (for example, , See Patent Document 1).

  By the way, in recent years, Bluetooth, which is one of the wireless communication standards, has attracted attention as a favorite of wireless communication means in the near field in the future. In the wireless communication by Bluetooth, the 2.4 GHz band is allocated as a use frequency band, and the effective transmission distance of the wireless signal is an extremely short distance of about 10 meters, but it is strong and simple, and has low power consumption. It has the feature that it can be used at low cost. In Bluetooth, a frequency hopping spread spectrum system is used as a modulation system. Bluetooth can construct a network using piconet and scatternet based on the master-slave system, and by establishing a network based on the piconet, one master and one to seven active slaves can be easily wirelessly connected. It is something that can be done. Such a connection between one master and a plurality of slaves uses an ACL link used for one-to-many communication, that is, a packet-switched connection.

  Accordingly, it can be easily considered that a plurality of game controllers are wirelessly connected to one game machine body using a Bluetooth wireless signal.

JP 2001-190842 A

  By the way, when one game machine main body and a plurality of game controllers are wirelessly connected using a wireless signal of Bluetooth, it is necessary to reliably transmit operation information of the plurality of game controllers to the game machine main body.

  That is, it is necessary to sequentially transmit the operation information of all the game controllers from the game controller to the game machine main body within a predetermined time during which the application of the game machine main body can obtain the operation information data.

  However, since the amount of information increases as the number of game controllers increases, it may be assumed that not all operation information can be transmitted within a predetermined time.

  Therefore, there is a need for a game controller data communication method that can reliably transmit operation information of a plurality of game controllers to one game machine body.

  In the conventional wireless game controller system, although a method for connecting one game machine main body and a plurality of game controllers is disclosed, how is the operation information of the game controller stored in the game machine main body? It is not disclosed whether to transmit.

  The present invention has been made in view of this point, and game controller data that can reliably transmit operation information of a plurality of game controllers to one game machine main body using a Bluetooth wireless signal. An object is to provide a communication method.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the game controller data communication method of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of game controllers are wirelessly connected to a single game machine body using Bluetooth wireless signals, A game controller data communication method for transmitting operation information of a controller to the game machine body, wherein the operation information of the game controller is compressed when the operation information of the game controller is transmitted to the game machine body. is there. By adopting such a configuration, the amount of operation information can be reduced.

  In the game controller data communication method of the present invention, it is preferable that the compression of the operation information thins out operation information of operation switches that are not used for operation based on on / off information of operation switches of the game controller. And by employ | adopting such a structure, the reliability of operation information is securable.

  In the game controller data communication method of the present invention, it is preferable that the operation switch not used for the operation is an analog switch that converts at least analog data of the operation force into digital data and outputs it as 8-bit multi-value information. . By adopting such a configuration, the operation information can be efficiently compressed.

  In the game controller data communication method of the present invention, it is preferable that the transmission data of the operation information is a DM1 packet. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to cope with the generation of a control packet.

  In the game controller data communication method of the present invention, it is preferable that the number of game controllers is a maximum of four. And by employ | adopting such a structure, transmission of operation information can be performed more reliably.

  According to the game controller data communication method of the present invention, the operation information of a plurality of game controllers can be reliably transmitted to a single game machine body using a Bluetooth wireless signal. Has an effect.

  The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of a game apparatus using a game controller data communication method according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the game apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, four controller connectors 2a are provided in one game machine body 2 on which a game application is mounted. A connector terminal 3 a formed at one end of the cable 3 is connected to each. The other ends of these cables 3 are connected to one adapter 4. The adapter 4 is for performing communication by Bluetooth, and has a main body 4a including at least a transmission / reception device for performing wireless communication by Bluetooth with the four game controllers 5. . And the game machine main body 2 is made the master by connecting the game machine main body 2 to the adapter 4 with the cable 3.

  By using the adapter 4, a conventional game machine body 2 can be used.

  The adapter 4 may be provided in the game machine body 2.

  The four game controllers 5 are used for inputting operation information by the player and transmitting the input operation information to the game machine main body 2. Each of the four game controllers 5 has a plurality of operation switches (see FIG. 2, see FIG. 3) S is provided. Each game controller 5 is provided with a main body 5a including at least a transmission / reception device for executing wireless communication by Bluetooth.

  Accordingly, each game controller 5 is a slave in Bluetooth.

  That is, in the game apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, four game controllers 5 as four slaves are wirelessly connected to the game machine main body 2 as one master by using the adapter 4 with Bluetooth wireless signals. It is set as the structure.

  The time required for the application of the game machine body 2 to acquire the operation information of all the game controllers 5, that is, the communication time for acquiring the operation information of the four game controllers 5 is, for example, 16.6 ms. Is set to This communication time is set according to the application design concept or the like, but if it becomes too long, the operation object displayed on the screen of the display device after the operation switch S of the game controller 5 is operated. It takes time to react, and uncomfortable feeling occurs during the game.

  Other configurations of the game machine body 2, the adapter 4, and the game controller 5 are the same as those conventionally known, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Here, an embodiment of the game controller of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  2 and 3 show a main part of an embodiment of the game controller in the game device using the game controller data communication method according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view, and FIG. It is a typical side view along line 3-3.

  As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the game controller 5 of the present embodiment includes a case 5b formed in a substantially horizontal rectangular parallelepiped shape that can be gripped by the fingers of the player, and the surface of the case 5b shown in FIG. A total of 16 operation switches S are arranged on the side surface shown in FIG.

  That is, on the surface of the case 5b, there are four operation switches S1, S2, S3, and S4 that are formed in a group so as to form a substantially cross shape on the left side of FIG. 2, and a substantially cross shape on the right side of FIG. As shown, four operation switches S5, S6, S7, and S8, which are a set of four, two operation switches S9 and S10 that are arranged at intervals in the front and rear of the central portion of FIG. There are twelve operation switches S, two operation switches S11 and S12 arranged at intervals in the left-right direction at the center, and the side surface of the case 5b has two upper and lower ends on the both ends in the longitudinal direction. Four operation switches S13, S14, S15, and S16 are provided.

  Of the 16 operation switches S (reference numeral S is a general term for 16 operation switches S1 to S16), the two operation switches S9 and S10 arranged at the center of the surface are digital information that is only on / off. For example, it is possible to output a data value of “0” when not pressed and “1” when pressed.

  Among the 16 operation switches S, the remaining 14 operation switches S1 to S8 and S11 to S16 are converted into 8-bit analog data by converting the analog data of the operation force that indicates how much the operation is performed. This is an analog switch that outputs multi-value information. Of these 14 operation switches S1 to S8 and S11 to S16, a total of 12 operation switches, 8 arranged on the left and right sides of the surface of the case 5b and 4 arranged on the side surfaces, respectively. For example, S1 to S8 and S13 to S16 can output data values of “0” when not pressed and “1” to “255” depending on the strength when pressed. It has become. Further, the two operation switches S11 and S12 arranged in the central portion on the front side of the front surface of the case 5b with a space in the left-right direction are set as stick volume switches and are not touched by the player's hand. Is located in the center and maintains a neutral state, and can be moved up and down and left and right by the operation of the player. The operating force and its direction, that is, the amount of movement in the four directions up, down, left and right Accordingly, data values “0” to “255” can be output. In the neutral state, a data value indicating that no operation is performed, for example, a data value of “127” is output.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a main body 5a for performing communication by Bluetooth is disposed inside the case 5b. The operation information of the operation switch S, specifically, the data value of each operation switch S is provided. Can be stored in the payload of a data packet (packet storing operation information) and transmitted to the adapter 4 and eventually to the game machine main body 2.

  Other configurations of the game controller 5 are the same as those conventionally known, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described together with the embodiment of the game controller data communication method of the present invention.

  The outline of the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment is as follows. When the operation information of the four game controllers 5 is transmitted to one game machine main body 2, more specifically, to the adapter 4, the operation information of each game controller 5 is transmitted. It comes to compress. Further, the compression of the operation information is executed by thinning out the operation information of the operation switch S that is not used for the operation based on the on / off information of the operation switch S of the game controller 5. Further, the operation switch S not used for operation is an analog switch that converts at least analog data of the operation force into digital data and outputs it as 8-bit multi-value information. Furthermore, the transmission data of the operation information is DM1 packet. Furthermore, the maximum number of game controllers 5 is four.

  Here, the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment will be specifically described.

  First, the format of the operation information when the operation information of the operation switch S of each game controller 5 is transmitted to the adapter 4, that is, the game machine main body 2 by Bluetooth will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

  When all the operation information of the operation switch S of each game controller 5 is transmitted to the adapter 4 connected to the game machine body 2 by Bluetooth, the data packet payload usually has 7 bytes as a header and operation information as A data area of a total of 25 bytes of 18 bytes is required.

  Here, the data area of the operation information has a capacity of 2 bytes as digital information which is on / off information of the operation switches S1 to S10 and S13 to S16, and 16 bytes as analog information of the operation switches S1 to S8 and S13 to S16. Necessary. The operation switches S11 and S12 are configured to obtain operation information in two directions, ie, up and down directions and left and right directions, and each requires 2 bytes. Further, the amount of movement in the oblique direction can be easily obtained by synthesizing operation information in two directions, the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.

  For example, as shown in the format of the operation information in FIG. 4, header information is stored in byte rows 1 to 7, and 14 operation switches S1 to S10, S13 to The digital information of S16 is stored, and in the byte rows 10 to 25, of the 16 operation switches S, the 14 operation switches S1 to S8, which are analog switches, and the analog data data of S11 to S16 are 8-bit digital. It will be stored as information.

  That is, bit 0 of byte row 8 is operation switch S4, bit 1 is operation switch S3, bit 2 is operation switch S2, bit 3 is operation switch S1, bit 4 is operation switch S10, bit 5 is Each binary data of the operation switch S9, bit 0 of byte row 9 is operation switch S16, bit 1 is operation switch S15, bit 2 is operation switch S14, bit 3 is operation switch S13, bit 4 is The operation switch S8, the operation switch S7 for bit 5, the operation switch S6 for bit 6, the binary data of the operation switch S5 for bit 7, and the up / down operation force 8 of the operation switch S11 for byte row 10 Bit data, byte row 11 is 8-bit data of the operating force in the left-right direction of operation switch S11, and byte row 12 is manipulated. 8-bit data of the operating force in the vertical direction of the switch S12, 8-bit data of the operating force in the horizontal direction of the operating switch S12 in the byte row 13, and 8-bit data of the operating force in the operating switch S1 in the byte row 14 15 is the 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S2, the byte row 16 is the 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S3, the byte row 17 is the 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S4, and the byte row 18 is Is the 8-bit data of the operating force of the operating switch S5, the byte row 19 is the 8-bit data of the operating force of the operating switch S6, the byte row 20 is the 8-bit data of the operating force of the operating switch S7, and the byte row 21 is the operating 8-bit data of the operation force of the switch S8, 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S13 in the byte row 22, and an operation in the byte row 23 8-bit data of the operation force of the switch S14, the byte row 24 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S15, the byte row 25 8-bit data of the operation force of the operation switch S15 is stored.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each bit of the byte rows 8 and 9 is opposed to the analog information of the byte rows 14 to 25, and any operation switch S from the respective bits of the byte rows 8 and 9 regardless of the strength. (Bits 7 and 6 in byte row 8 are meaningless because there is no corresponding operation switch S).

  Therefore, in an operation standby state in which the player does not operate the operation switch S of the game controller 5 (including a state in which the player does not touch the operation switch S), as shown in FIG. Only the data values of the operation switches S11 and S12 are set to the median value of “127”, for example, and the remaining data values are set to “0”.

  By the way, of the 16 operation switches S, for example, when 5 operation switches S3, S6, S9, S14, and S16 are operated, 5 operation switches as shown in FIG. The data values of bits 1 and 5 of byte row 8 and bits 0, 2 and 6 of byte row 9 storing the on / off information of S3, S6, S9, S14 and S16 are set to “1”, respectively, and are neutral. The data values of the byte rows 10 to 13 in which the data values of the operation switches S in the state are stored are “127”, and the data values of the byte rows 16, 19, 23, and 25 indicate values other than “0”. Become.

  Therefore, it is possible to determine which operation switch S is being operated based on the data value of each bit of the byte rows 8 and 9.

  Therefore, in the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, based on digital information that is on / off information of the operation switch S, the operation switch S that is not used for operation, more specifically, the analog switch of the operation switch S is selected. By thinning out the operation information, the operation information of the game controller 5 is compressed.

  As a specific example, in the format of the operation information shown in FIG. 6, the byte lines 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24 that are not used for operation are deleted, and the remaining byte lines are sequentially packed. By thinning out the operation information for 8 bytes, the data amount of the operation information is compressed from 25 bytes to 17 bytes. A format of the compressed operation information is shown in FIG.

  The compressed operation information is stored in the payload of the data packet and transmitted from the controller to the adapter 4.

  That is, since all the operation switches S of the game controller 5 are not used for operation, the operation information transmitted from the game controller 5 to the adapter 4 is thinned out by thinning out the operation information of the operation switches S not used for operation. The amount of information can be reduced.

  Specifically, the operation switch S of the game controller 5 normally converts 12 operation switches S1 to S8, S13 to S16, that is, analog data of operation force excluding the stick volume switch among the operation switches S into digital data. It is extremely rare to operate 5 or more analog switches that output multi-value information of 8 bits at the same time. By securing the necessary data amount when operating up to 4 analog switches at the same time, The data amount of the operation information can be compressed to 17 bytes or less. As a result, the reliability of the compressed operation information can be reliably ensured.

  In the game controller data communication method of this embodiment, the compressed operation information is used as a data packet of a DM1 packet with an error correction code, and the data packet is transmitted to the adapter 4.

  That is, the DM1 packet in Bluetooth has a payload, more specifically, a payload body capacity of 17 bytes, and can store operation information compressed by the game controller 5. Furthermore, since the DM1 packet has an error correction code, the reliability of the operation information at the time of transmission can be reliably ensured.

  Therefore, the operation information transmitted from the game controller 5 and the operation information received by the adapter 4 can be reliably matched.

  The compression of the operation information, the formation of the DM1 packet based on the compressed operation information, and the like are stored as a program in the memory provided in the main body 5a of each game controller 5, and the program is transmitted when the operation information is transmitted. Based on the above, the CPU compresses the operation information and forms a DM1 packet based on the compressed operation information.

  Further, by using the DM1 packet, it is possible to flexibly cope with the generation of a control packet used for controlling the radio field intensity when transmitting the compressed operation information.

  That is, even if a control packet is generated during transmission of compressed operation information, one game controller 5 has one time slot and control packet for the game machine body 2 side and game controller 5 side for transmission of operation information. Even if a total of four time slots of one time slot are allocated to the game machine main body 2 side and the game controller 5 side for transmission, the total communication time by the four game controllers 5 is 10 ms ((0.625 ms × 4 ) X 4 units)).

  As a result, the communication time (10 ms) required for wirelessly communicating the operation information of the four game controllers 5 to the adapter 4 connected to one game machine main body 2, the application of the game machine main body 2 is controlled by all the controllers. Therefore, it is possible to ensure that the operation information of the four game controllers 5 is transmitted to one game machine body 2 reliably. it can.

  When the operation information of each game controller 5 is transmitted to the adapter 4, not only the combination of operation information + control packet but also a combination of operation information + operation information may be used.

  A timing chart in the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. Note that one slot in FIG. 8 means one time slot, and three slots means three time slots.

  With respect to the game controller data communication method of this embodiment, all operation information (25 bytes) that are not compressed is DM3 packets (121 bytes: the time slot to be used is 3) within a predetermined time (16.6 ms). Can also be transmitted.

  However, when all the operation information (25 bytes) is transmitted as a DM3 packet (121 bytes), the error correction code is attached, so both the reliability of the operation information and the reliability of the operation information at the time of transmission are ensured. However, when a control packet is generated, the control packet is transmitted instead of the data packet, which causes a disadvantage that data is lost.

  Therefore, if the control packet time is allocated in advance in order to cope with the defect of data omission due to the generation of the control packet, the operation data and the control packet flow smoothly. However, the communication time is (4 data transmission / reception packets + 1 control packet upper and lower packets) × 4 units = 24 time slots = 24 × 625 μs = 15 ms, so that the application of the game machine body 2 acquires the operation information of all the controllers. Although less than the required time of 16.6 ms, it is not realistic.

  The upper and lower one packets mean the control packet that is originally generated at the timing to be polled from the master and the response from the slave to the master packet, but the master performs normal polling, and the slave sends data to it. In some cases, a control packet is sent without being sent out. In any case, when a control packet is generated, there is a disadvantage that the timing at which the slave wants to send data to the master is lost at that time.

  Here, in order to shorten the communication time, the operation information of each game controller 5 is set to DH1 packet (27-byte communication), and the operation packet is transmitted twice by one transmission / reception or once by combining the operation data and the control data. By sending it, it is possible to communicate within a predetermined time (16.6 msec). However, since an error correction code is not attached to the DH1 packet, there is a disadvantage that the reliability of data (operation information) at the time of transmission is low.

  Such inconveniences can be eliminated by using the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment.

  Therefore, according to the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, when the operation information of the game controller 5 is transmitted to the game machine main body 2, the operation information of the game controller 5 is compressed. The amount can be reduced.

  According to the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, the operation switch S that is not used for operation is an analog switch that digitally converts at least operation force analog data and outputs it as 8-bit multi-value information. Therefore, the operation information can be efficiently compressed.

  Furthermore, according to the game controller data communication method of this embodiment, since the transmission data of the operation information is a DM1 packet, it is possible to cope with the generation of a control packet.

  Furthermore, according to the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, the maximum number of game controllers 5 is 4, so that the operation information can be transmitted more reliably.

  Therefore, according to the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, it is possible to reliably transmit the operation information of up to four game controllers 5 to one game machine body 2 using a Bluetooth radio signal. it can.

  That is, according to the game controller data communication method of the present embodiment, a game can be smoothly and smoothly played by four players without connecting cables.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A various change is possible as needed.

The block diagram which shows the principal part of embodiment of the game device using the data communication method for game controllers which concerns on this invention. The typical top view showing the important section of the embodiment of the game controller in the game device using the data communication method for game controllers concerning the present invention. Schematic side view along line 3-3 in FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the format of the operation information of the operation switch of a game controller Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data value in the operation standby state of the format of the operation information of FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data value in the operation state of the format of the operation information of FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data value of the format of the operation information which compressed the operation information of FIG. Timing chart showing an embodiment of a data communication method for a game controller according to the present invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Game device 2 Game machine main body 3 Cable 4 Adapter 5 Game controller 5a Main-body part S, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10,
S11, S12, S13, S14, S15, S16 Operation switches

Claims (5)

A data communication method for a game controller, wherein a plurality of game controllers are wirelessly connected to a single game machine body using a Bluetooth wireless signal, and operation information of each game controller is transmitted to the game machine body. ,
A game controller data communication method, comprising: compressing the operation information of the game controller when transmitting the operation information of the game controller to the game machine main body.   2. The game controller according to claim 1, wherein the compression of the operation information is thinning out operation information of operation switches that are not used for operation based on on / off information of operation switches of the game controller. Data communication method.   3. The game controller data according to claim 2, wherein the operation switch that is not used for operation is an analog switch that converts at least analog data of operation force into digital data and outputs it as 8-bit multi-value information. Communication method.   The game controller data communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmission data of the operation information is a DM1 packet. 5. The game controller data communication method according to claim 1, wherein the number of the game controllers is a maximum of four.