Mobile phone game interface

• US 10,188,942 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Patil, Pramod P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Deodhar, Omkar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Ross
• Application Number:
  US15/279,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20170014717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• Field of Search: 463 40- 42, 463 46, 463 47, 709222, 709228, 717178
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/214 for locating contacts on a surface, e.g. floor mats or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/323 between game devices with different hardware characteristics, e.g. hand-held game devices connectable to game consoles or arcade machines
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/77 involving data related to game devices or game servers, e.g. configuration data, software version or amount of memory
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/843 involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1068 being specially adapted to detect the point of contact of the player on a surface, e.g. floor mat, touch pad
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/204 the platform being a handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/403 Connection between platform and handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/405 being a wireless ad hoc network, e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Pico net
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/406 Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/50 characterized by details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 : for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 : for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8088 : involving concurrently several players in a non-networked game, e.g. on the same game console

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods for enabling a mobile station to control a virtual world being executed on a console system are described. The method can include establishing a communication link between the mobile station and a console system, identifying user interface characteristics of the mobile station, and providing a controller application to the mobile station, the controller application being based on the identified user interface characteristics and configured to transform user interface inputs into controller commands. The method can further include receiving signals containing data representing the controller commands from the mobile station over the communication link and determining a sequence of events of the virtual world based on the received controller commands. In one aspect, the controller application can execute in the context of an application on the mobile station.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by a processor to perform operations comprising:

connecting a mobile station to a game console over a data network based on a first controller application hosted on the mobile station and on a second controller application hosted on the game console;

transforming user input received at a user interface of the mobile station to a controller command supported by the game console, wherein;

the user input is associated with an execution of a video game at the game console based on the second controller application,

the user input is transformed to the controller command based on a transformation specified by at least one of the first controller application or the second controller application, and

the transformation is based on a map of a characteristic of the user interface to the controller command supported by the game console;

transmitting the controller command to the game console over the data network; and

presenting, at the user interface, a game result associated with the execution of the video game, wherein the game result is received from the game console based on the transmitting of the controller command.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the game result corresponds to a portion of game results associated with the execution of the video game at the game console, and wherein the game result is presented in association with a presentation of at least another one of the game results at a display connected to the game console.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise discovering the game console by the mobile station based on the first controller application.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein connecting to the game console comprises setting the mobile station as a controller of the video game in response to a passphrase that is entered at the user interface based on the first controller application and that is verified at the game console based on the second controller application.

5. A video game system comprising:

a game console hosting a first controller application, configured to execute a video game based on the first controller application, and provide a first game result for presentation at a display connected to the game console; and

a mobile station communicatively coupled with the game console over a data network and hosting a second controller application, wherein the second controller application configures the mobile station to at least;

connect to the game console over the data network,

transform user input received at a user interface of the mobile station to a controller command supported by the game console, wherein;

the user input is associated with an execution of the video game at the game console,

the user input is transformed to the controller command based on a transformation specified by at least one of the first controller application or the second controller application, and

the transformation is based on a map of a characteristic of the user interface to the controller command supported by the game console;

transmit the controller command to the game console over the data network; and

present, at the user interface, a second game result associated with the video game, wherein the second game result is received from the game console based on the transmitting of the controller command.

6. The video game system of claim 5, wherein the second game result is presented at the user interface of the mobile station in association with a presentation of the first game result at the display connected to the game console.

7. The video game system of claim 5, wherein the second controller application is hosted on the mobile station based on a download of the second controller application from a server to the mobile station.

8. The video game system of claim 7, wherein the download of the second controller application is based on at least one of:

a characteristic of the mobile station or a model of the mobile station.

9. The video game system of claim 5, wherein the second controller application is hosted on the mobile station based on a receipt of the second controller application from the game console.

10. The video game system of claim 9, wherein the second controller application is received from the game console in response to a transmission, from the mobile station to the game console, of a description of the characteristic of the user interface.

11. The video game system of claim 10, wherein the description is formatted according to a human interface device (HID) profile standardized form.

12. The video game system of claim 5, wherein the game console is communicatively coupled with a game controller and supports controller commands generated from the game controller, and wherein the map specifies the transformation of the user input to one of the controller commands.

13. The video game system of claim 5, wherein the game console is further configured to present a virtual world at the display, and wherein the second controller application further configure the mobile station to act a controller of the virtual world.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

connecting, by a game console with a mobile station over a data network, based on a first controller application hosted on the game console and on a second controller application hosted on the mobile station,

receiving, from the mobile station and based on the first controller application, a controller command in association with an execution of a video game on the game console, wherein;

the controller command corresponds to a transformation of a user input received at a user interface of the mobile station,

the user input is associated with the execution of the video game at the game console,

the transformation is specified by at least one of the first controller application or the second controller application, and

the transformation is based on a map of a characteristic of the user interface to the controller command supported by the game console;

determining, based on the controller command, a game result associated with the execution of the video game; and

transmitting, to the mobile station over the data network, the game result for presentation at the user interface.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, based on the controller command, another game result associated with the execution of the video game; and

sending, to a display connected to the game console, the other game result for presentation at the display.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein connecting with the mobile station comprises:

receiving an acknowledgement from the mobile station for a network connection with the game console; and

establishing the network connection based on the acknowledgment.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the mobile station is identified from a list of found devices, and wherein the acknowledgment is received based on a transmission of a request for the network connection to the found devices.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein connecting with the mobile station comprises:

receiving an acknowledgement from the mobile station that the second controller application is launched on the mobile station; and

establishing a network connection with the mobile station based on the acknowledgement.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the network connection is established by at least determining that the mobile station acts a game controller based on the second controller application being launched on the mobile station.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the game result is further determined based on the characteristic of the user interface of the mobile station.