JP2007244651A - Game ranking tabulation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game ranking tabulation system capable of making a tabulation of game results and displaying a ranking for every game machine by importing moving pictures and voice data output from respective game machines installed with no network function, detecting the starts and finishes of games and the names and scores of players, and storing play moving pictures. <P>SOLUTION: The moving pictures and voice data of game machines 1a-1n, which are connected to a capture card of a ranking terminal apparatus, are exported. The ranking terminal apparatus detects the screens of game titles, game starts, game finishes, names and scores by comparing them with a previously prepared trigger screen and stores the play pictures. The ranking terminal apparatus transmits the names, the scores, and the play pictures to a server apparatus and allows the respective game machines to display the ranking by downloading the ranking data and the replay moving pictures. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system that enables game ranking aggregation for a network-incompatible game machine.

For games that aim to obtain a high score, etc., compete with other players' games such as other game machines, and if a high score is obtained, ranking at the national or regional (by store) level The display is encouraging for the player and further intriguing the game.
A conventional game machine capable of performing ranking aggregation needs to have a network function in a single video game machine.

Patent Document 1 discloses a game system and a game total data display method capable of totaling game results in a plurality of terminal game machines and displaying the total results on each terminal game machine.
In this game system, after a terminal game device is connected to a store host computer, a game result, ranking data request, ranking data notification is communicated between the terminal game device and the store host computer, and ranking processing is performed by the store host computer. Communicates with the nationwide aggregation host and stores nationwide ranking data in the nationwide aggregation host.

The terminal game device is configured to transmit game results and receive necessary ranking data to a store host computer and a nation-wide aggregation host, and each terminal game device has a network function for that purpose. The hardware and program are prepared so that they can be communicated via a network.
The individual terminal game devices of this system are expensive for game machines that do not have a network function, and the store host computer also aggregates the game results to a plurality of terminal game devices and transmits the results to the nation-counting host. It is built in as follows. Accordingly, each hardware part (terminal game device, store host computer, and nation-wide total host) is required to be a constituent part as a ranking total system, and a ranking system cannot be built in a game machine that does not have a network function.
JP 2000-051523 A

It is not realistic to provide a hardware function of a game machine already on the market and a network function for the program because it is a significant modification.
The present inventor considered whether a ranking totalization system could be configured without manufacturing a game machine having a new network function if a ranking system could be configured with little modification to a conventional game machine.
In view of the above background, the present invention captures video and audio data output from each game machine not equipped with a network function, detects the start and end of the game, the player's name, score, and the like, and stores the play video, thereby obtaining a game result. It is an object of the present invention to provide a game ranking totaling system that can count and display rankings for each game machine.

In order to achieve the above object, claim 1 of the present invention provides a plurality of game machines having output terminals for game video and audio data, and a ranking in which the output terminals of the plurality of game machines are connected to an image capturing capture card. A game ranking totaling system comprising a terminal device and a server device that transmits and receives data to and from the ranking terminal device via a network, wherein the ranking terminal device receives video and audio data from the output end of each game machine. Capture control means for capturing, screen detection means for detecting a game title screen, a game start screen, a game over screen, and a screen including a name and score, and a name and game result for identifying a player from the screen including the name and score Read the score And a storage means for storing ranking data and replay video downloaded from a server device, and storing the play video including the video and audio data and the name and score, The game title screen, game start screen, game over screen, various trigger screens including a name and score, and the name, score and play video sent from the ranking terminal device are stored in database means, and the various types Data management control means for transmitting a trigger screen to the ranking terminal device, and ranking data creation means for creating ranking data of game results executed on each game machine based on the name and score, Thus, the ranking terminal device starts a video and audio storage process triggered by a game start screen for each game title of each game machine, stops the storage process upon detection of the game over screen, and includes the name and score The name and score read from the screen are transmitted to the server device, and the ranking data downloaded from the server device can be displayed on the screen of each game machine.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the ranking terminal device according to the first aspect of the present invention is configured such that the ranking terminal device includes various trigger screens including a game title screen, a game start screen, a game over screen, and a screen including a name and score from the database of the server device. And detecting any one of the game title screen, the game start screen, the game over screen, and the screen including the name and score by comparing the various trigger screens with the video captured from each game machine. Features.
According to claim 3 of the present invention, in the invention according to claim 1 or 2, the ranking terminal device receives national or local ranking data from the database of the server device, and the game score is equal to or higher than a predetermined ranking. In some cases, moving image data is also transmitted to the server device together with the name and score.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the first or second aspect, the ranking terminal device receives game operation history data of each game machine, and stores the game operation history data together with the name and score in the server. When the game operation history data is stored in the database of the server device and the replay video is reproduced on the game machine, the game operation history data is sent to the game machine.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to realize a system that performs ranking aggregation of game results performed on each game machine for each game machine that does not support the network. According to the third aspect, as the data to be transmitted to the server device, a play video is transmitted when the ranking is equal to or higher than a predetermined ranking, so that the communication load can be reduced. In addition, since the game operation history data is sent to the server device as play video playback data, the size of communication data and the data stored in the server device can be reduced, and the system can be operated efficiently. it can.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of the configuration on the game machine side of a game ranking totaling system according to the present invention.
A large number of game machines 1a to 1n are installed in the store, and image data (RGB data) and audio data are branched and output from the respective game machines 1a to 1n through cables, and the branched cables are captured by the ranking terminal device 2, respectively. Connected to the card. The ranking terminal device 2 captures the game screen for each game machine, for example, every 1/60 seconds (about 16 ms). Then, the captured specific screen (such as the name entry screen displaying the name and score) is detected and the specific character in the screen is read, and the data is transferred to the server device via the network (Internet). Upload. In addition, the play screen from the game start screen to the game over screen is stored in the memory unit, and the play screen is also uploaded to the server device under a predetermined condition (for example, when the ranking is within 10).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a game machine, a ranking terminal device, and a server device applied to the game ranking totaling system according to the present invention. In this embodiment, only the components directly related to the present invention are described.
The game machines 1a to 1n include game boards 3a to 3n on which circuits such as a control unit are mounted, speakers 4a to 4n, screen display units 5a to 5n, coin insertion units 6a to 6n, and operation units 7a to 7n. It is comprised from the body 8a-8n. The game boards 3a to 3n are also equipped with a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and the game can be started by reading and executing a game program stored in the ROM.

A cable (harness) or a flexible board is connected between the game boards 3a to 3n and the housing, and image data (RGB data) and audio data of the game screen executed on the game boards 3a to 3n are branched and output. The other ends of the branched cables and the like are connected to the capture cards 11a to 11n of the ranking terminal device 2, respectively.
The ranking terminal device 2 includes a control unit 9 and a memory unit (HDD) 10, and can exchange data with the ranking server device 16 for all games through a communication unit 15 that can communicate with the Internet 21.

  The capture cards 11a to 11n can capture the video and audio data from each game machine and output the replay video stored in the memory unit 10 to each game machine 1a to 1n. The control unit 9 includes functions of a capture control unit 9a, a trigger screen detection unit 9b, and a data reading unit 9c. The capture control unit 9a captures a moving image at a regular interval (for example, 16 ms) with each capture card 11a to 11n, and the trigger screen detection unit 9b captures the captured moving image and trigger screen data stored in advance in the memory unit 10. By comparison, a game title screen is detected, a game start screen, a game over screen, and a name entry screen are detected. The trigger screen detection unit 9b compares the screen that enters several seconds after the signal enters from the no-sgnal state and the game title screen of the memory unit 10, and if they match, detects the screen as the game title screen. If the screen captured after that matches the game start screen, when the screen is detected as a game start screen, the capture control unit 9a starts the moving image storing operation using this screen as a trigger screen. When the screen captured by the trigger screen detector 9b matches the game over screen, the moving image storage operation is stopped.

When the trigger screen detection unit 9b detects the name entry screen, the data reading unit 9c reads the score and name at a predetermined position on the screen. This is for extracting a score at a position of a name that identifies a player who is playing on a game machine and sending it to the server device as text data.
The memory unit 10 is composed of an HDD, and a trigger screen (game title screen, game start screen, game over screen, name entry screen) downloaded in advance from the server device 16, for example, national top 10 ranking data and replay video ( Data 10a such as a stored play video is stored. Further, the score and name read from the name entry screen for each game title of each game machine, and play moving image data 10b stored from the game start screen to the game over screen are stored.

The all-game ranking server device 16 is connected to the database 19 and includes a communication unit 17, a bus 20, and a control unit 18, and communicates with the ranking terminal device 2 via the communication unit 17 and the network.
The database 19 includes a trigger screen 19a for a game title screen, a game start screen, a game over screen, and a name entry screen, a name for each game title sent from the game machine, a score, a recording date and time, a recording store name (for example, all Replay videos 19b up to the top 100 by game title) and the top 10 nationwide top players are stored. Further, the game ranking by title and the replay video management data 19c of the top player are stored.
The control unit 18 controls the entire server device 16 and has at least functions of a data management control unit 18a, a data creation unit 18b, and a data distribution unit in order to achieve the present invention. The data management control unit 18a controls storage and reading of each trigger screen 19a. In addition, the score and name data for each game title sent from the ranking terminal device 2 and the game play screen (sent only when the ranking is 10 or higher) are stored and read out. Each trigger screen 19a is provided for each game title, and each trigger screen corresponding to the game title selected by the game machine is sent to the ranking terminal device of the store.

The data creation unit 18b determines the ranking of the player based on the score for the name that identifies the player sent for each game title, and creates ranking data. The data management control unit 18a also controls storage and reading of data for managing the replay video of the top player (for example, within 10th place) based on the ranking data and the ranking data.
The data distribution unit 18c, according to a request from the ranking terminal device 2 based on an operation from each game machine, scores, names, recording date / time, recording to the ranking data, top player replay video, and all game titles. Deliver store names and other information.

5 to 9 are diagrams showing examples of trigger screens for a certain game title.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a title screen for specifying a game title. When a game is selected on the game machine and the game screen is activated, the trigger screen detection unit 9b compares it with the trigger screen stored in the memory unit 10 of the ranking terminal device 2. When this title screen is displayed, the trigger screen detection unit 9b detects that the game title is “Gun Fighter”.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a game start screen of “Gun Fighter”. When the trigger screen detection unit 9b detects this screen, the capture control unit 9a starts storage from the screen captured at this timing, and stores the play video in the area 10b of the memory unit 10.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a game screen during capture.
Such game screens are stored at 1/60 second intervals.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a game over screen. When such a screen is detected, the capture control unit 9a completes the game screen storing operation.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a game entry screen. This screen is displayed after the game ends, and ranks, scores, rounds, and names from No. 1 to No. 5 are described.
When the trigger screen detection unit 9b detects this game entry screen, the data reading unit 9c reads the data of the name position and the score position, and recognizes the name and score that specify the player of each rank. The control unit 9 extracts the score corresponding to the name of the player of this game machine, and transmits it to the server device 16 together with the play video (when the ranking is 10 or more).

  Although the embodiment of reading from the game entry screen as described above as a means for recognizing the name and score is shown, for a game or the like that does not display the game entry screen, a name that initially identifies the player is displayed. It is also possible to obtain a name and score by displaying a screen and displaying a screen for displaying a score for a name corresponding to the player at the end of the game.

FIG. 3 illustrates data transmission / reception between the ranking terminal device and the server device, and shows a procedure for downloading ranking data for each game title and a replay video of the top player from the ranking terminal device to the server device. .
The ranking terminal device 2 inquires the server device 16 about ranking data of a certain game title (step (hereinafter referred to as “S”) 01). The server device 16 waits for a ranking request communication from the ranking terminal device 2 (S02). When the request is received (S03), the data management control unit 18a of the server device 16 reads the ranking data corresponding to the game title sent and the replay video of the top player from the database 19, and controls the data distribution unit 18c. To pass. The data distribution unit 18c returns the ranking data and the replay video of the top player to the ranking terminal device 2 (S04).

  The control unit 9 of the ranking terminal device 2 waiting for a reply stores the ranking data and the replay video of the top player in the memory unit 10. By this operation, the player can read the ranking data and the replay video of the top player and display them on the screen of the game machine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining processing between the game machine and the ranking terminal device.
When the player selects game titles and ranking search conditions displayed on the screens of the game machines 1a to 1n using the operation units 7a to 7n (Sa01), the control unit 9 sorts the ranking data from the search conditions (Sa02), and the game Ranking data is displayed on the display units 5a to 5n of the machines 1a to 1n (Sa03).
When the player selects and inputs a game title (Sb01), the control unit 9 reproduces a replay video of the input title (Sb02).
Since the play video of the player is stored in the memory unit 10 of the ranking terminal device 2 and the replay video of the top player is downloaded from the server device 16 to the memory unit 10, any of these replay videos can be played back. Can do.

In the above, the embodiment of uploading the play video to the server device has been described. However, in addition to the video and audio data as a signal to be extracted from each game machine, a configuration in which an operation signal for turning on and off the operation unit by the user is taken as history information. It can also be added.
In the embodiment of FIG. 2, for example, when the ranking is within 10th in the whole country, the play video is uploaded to the server device, but if the operation history information is sent instead of the play video, it is transmitted. Since the data size to be performed is small, there is an advantage that the communication load can be reduced and the database capacity of the server device can be saved. After the operation history information is stored in the database of the server device, the operation history information of the top player is downloaded to the memory unit of the ranking terminal device together with the ranking data in response to a request from the ranking terminal device. If the game machine takes in the operation history information of the memory unit, it is possible to play the replay video.

  It is a ranking totaling system installed in a store or the like composed of a plurality of game machines, a ranking terminal device, and a server device that enables ranking totalization for game machines that do not have a network function.

It is a figure which shows the outline of a structure by the side of the game machine of the game ranking total system by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of the game machine applied to the game ranking totaling system by this invention, a ranking terminal apparatus, and a server apparatus. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the transmission / reception process of the data between a ranking terminal device and a server apparatus. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process between a game machine and a ranking terminal apparatus. It is the image which showed an example of the game title screen with the intermediate gradation. It is the image which showed an example of the game start screen by the intermediate gradation. It is the image which showed an example of the game screen by the intermediate gradation. It is the image which showed an example of the game over screen by the intermediate gradation. It is the image which showed an example of the name entry screen by intermediate gradation.

Explanation of symbols

1,1a-1n game console
2. Ranking terminal device
3a-3n game board
4a to 4n Speaker 5a to 5n Display unit 6a to 6n Coin insertion unit 7a to 7n Operation unit 8a to 8n Game machine case 9 Control unit of ranking terminal device 10 Memory unit (HDD)
11a to 11n capture card 15, 17 communication unit 16 ranking server device for all games 18 server device control unit 19 database 20 bus 21 network

Claims (4)

A plurality of game machines having game video and audio data output terminals, a ranking terminal apparatus in which the output terminals of the plurality of game machines are connected to a capture card for image capture, and the ranking terminal apparatus and data A game ranking totaling system comprising a server device that performs transmission and reception,
The ranking terminal device is:
Capture control means for capturing video and audio data from the output end of each game machine;
Screen detection means for detecting a game title screen, a game start screen, a game over screen and a screen including a name and score;
Data reading means for reading a name for identifying a player and a score of a game result from a screen including the name and score;
Storing the play video including the video and audio data and the name and score, and storing means for storing ranking data and replay video downloaded from the server device;
The server device
The game title screen, game start screen, game over screen, various trigger screens including a name and score, and the name, score and play video sent from the ranking terminal device are stored in database means, and the various types Data management control means for transmitting the trigger screen to the ranking terminal device;
Ranking data creating means for creating ranking data of game results executed on each game machine based on the name and score;
By the game machine operation of the player, the ranking terminal device starts a video and audio storage process triggered by a game start screen for each game title of each game machine, stops the storage process upon detection of the game over screen, A game ranking totaling system configured to transmit a name and a score read from a screen including a name and a score to the server device and to display ranking data downloaded from the server device on a screen of each game machine .   The ranking terminal device receives various trigger screens including the game title screen, the game start screen, the game over screen, and a screen including a name and score from the database of the server device, and fetches from the various trigger screens and the respective game machines. 2. The game ranking totaling system according to claim 1, wherein any one of the game title screen, the game start screen, the game over screen, and a screen including a name and a score is detected by comparing with a moving image. The ranking terminal device receives national or local ranking data from the database of the server device,
The game ranking totaling system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the game score is equal to or higher than a predetermined ranking, moving image data is transmitted to the server device together with the name and the score. The ranking terminal device receives game operation history data of each game machine,
When the game operation history data is transmitted to the server device together with the name and score, the game operation history data is stored in the database of the server device, and the replay video is reproduced on the game machine, the game operation history data is stored. The game ranking totaling system according to claim 1, wherein the game ranking totaling system is sent to a game machine.

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