Magic wand methods, apparatuses and systems for defining, initiating, and conducting quests

• US 10,328,342 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Poisner, David I., Peek, Gregory A., Vlasak, Blanka, Yarmosh, Yevgeniy Y., Francis, Mark R., Iyer, Ravishankar
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Allen
• Application Number:
  US14/864,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20170087453A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 463 37
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/23 for interfacing with the game device, e.g. specific interfaces between game controller and console
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, systems, and storage media for creating, discovering, and/or resolving spells using a wand are provided. In embodiments, a computing device or a wand may detect one or more gestures and sensors in the wand may generate sensor data representative of the one or more gestures. The one or more gestures may be movements performed using the wand. The sensor data representative of the one or more gestures may be converted into a spell sequence. The wand may transmit the spell sequence to a computing device, and receive, from the computing device, a spell output based on the spell sequence, a wand position, and a quest. The quest may indicate an order in which one or more second devices are to be activated and one or more spells to activate each of the one or more second devices. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. A wand comprising:

one or more sensors, communicatively coupled with at least one processor, to detect one or more gestures wherein the one or more gestures are movements performed using the wand by a user of the wand, and generate sensor data representative of the one or more gestures;

a device interface module to operate on the at least one processor to obtain, from the one or more sensors, the sensor data representative of the one or more gestures;

a spell module to operate on the at least one processor to receive, from the device interface module, the sensor data representative of the one or more gestures, and convert the sensor data representative of the one or more gestures into a spell sequence; and

a wand communication module, communicatively coupled with the at least one processor, to transmit the spell sequence to a computing device, and receive, from the computing device, a spell output based on the spell sequence, a wand position, and a quest, wherein the quest indicates an order in which one or more second devices are to be activated and one or more spells to activate each of the one or more second devices.

2. The wand of claim 1, wherein the receipt of the spell output is based on a determination of a spell from a plurality of spells based on the spell sequence wherein each of the plurality of spells is associated with a defined spell sequence;

a determination, based on the quest, as to whether the determined spell is to be used for activation of a second device of the one or more second devices;

a determination of a spell output associated with the determined spell based on whether the determined spell is to be used for activation of the second device or not;

wherein receipt of the spell output includes receipt of a message that indicates the determined spell output, and wherein the computing device is to provide a third instruction to an accounting server for alteration of a user profile associated with the user wherein the third instruction is based on the determined spell output or the spell sequence.

3. The wand of claim 2, wherein the determination of the spell is based on a comparison of the spell sequence with the defined spell sequence for each of the plurality of spells;

a determination of a degree of similarity between the spell sequence and the defined spell sequence of each of the plurality of spells, wherein the degree of similarity indicates a number and order of operations of the spell sequence that matches a number and order of operations of the defined spell sequence; and

a selection of the spell wherein the selected spell has a greatest degree of similarity among the plurality of spells.

4. The wand of claim 3, wherein receipt of the spell output is further based on a wand position relative to the one or more second devices, and a determination of the wand position relative to the one or more second devises, a determination of a spell output target device based on the wand position and a wand orientation wherein the spell output target device is at least one of the one or more second devices to which the wand is directed by the user;

and a determination of a spell output intensity based on a distance between the wand position and a position of the spell output target device, wherein the spell output intensity indicates an intensity at which the one or more second devices are to be activated.

5. The wand of claim 4, wherein the determination of the distance between the wand position and the position of the spell output target device is based on an obtained signal broadcast by the spell output target device;

at least one data packet extracted from the obtained signal wherein the data packet includes an identifier that indicates at least a device position of the one or more second devices; and

a determination of the distance between the wand position and the position of the spell output target device is based on the device position from the extracted data packet.

6. The wand of claim 5, wherein the one or more sensors include at least an accelerometer, a geomagnetic sensor, and a gyroscope, to provide spatial coordinates of the wand, and the sensor data further includes the spatial coordinates of the wand to be used for a determination of the wand orientation, and wherein one of the one or more second devices to which the wand is directed is to be determined based on the wand orientation.

7. The wand of claim 4, wherein the spell output intensity is also based on the degree of similarity such that an increase in the degree of similarity is to provide an increase in the spell output intensity and a decrease in the degree of similarity is to provide a decrease in the spell output intensity, and wherein the quest defines, for each of the one or more second devices, a threshold degree of similarity for each of the plurality of spells such that the determined spell is cast when the degree of similarity is greater than or equal to the threshold degree of similarity.

8. The wand of claim 7, wherein the order in which the one or more second devices are to be activated is to be altered when the degree of similarity is less than the threshold degree of similarity or a spell of the one or more spells to activate a next one of the one or more second devices is to be altered when the degree of similarity is less than the threshold degree of similarity, wherein to alter the order includes at least one of a rearrangement of the order or an addition of another second device to the one or more second devices, and wherein to alter the spell includes a rearrangement of the order of operations of a spell sequence of the spell to activate the next second device or an addition of another gesture to the spell sequence of the spell to activate the next second device.

9. The wand of claim 7, wherein the quest further defines a first time period, wherein the first time period is an amount of time the user is to activate each of the one or more second devices, a set of spells to be performed for activation of each of the one or more second devices, and a spell order wherein the spell order indicates an order in which each of the set of spells is to be performed.

10. The wand of claim 9, wherein the quest further defines that a plurality of wands are to perform the set of spells wherein the wand is one of the plurality of wands and, for each of the one or more second devices, the quest defines that at least one of the set of spells is to be performed by the user using the wand and another one of the set of spells is to be performed by another user using another wand of the plurality of wands, at least one of the set of spells is to be performed by the user using the wand and another one of the set of spells is to be performed by the other user using the wand, or at least one of the set of spells is to be performed by the user using the other wand and another one of the set of spells is to be performed by the other user using the other wand.

11. The wand of claim 10, wherein the quest further defines a plurality of second time periods corresponding to each of the set of spells wherein each of the plurality of second time periods defines an amount of time in which to perform each of the set of spells such that a sum of the plurality of time periods is equal to the first time period, wherein at least one of the plurality of second time periods is different from another one of the plurality of second time periods or each of the plurality of second time periods are equal.

12. The wand of claim 11, wherein at least one of the plurality of wands is associated with a handicap value, and one of the plurality of second time periods is adjusted based on the handicap value or the threshold degree of similarity is adjusted based on the handicap value.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) comprising instructions for creating a quest, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause a computing device to:

define the quest indicating an order in which one or more second devices are to be activated and one or more spells to cast to activate each of the one or more second devices; and

provide the quest to a wand for commencement of the quest,

wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause to the computing device to;

select each of the one or more second devices to define the order;

define one or more gestures to be performed to activate each of the one or more second devices, wherein the one or more gestures are movements performed by a user using the wand;

define a spell output to be associated with the one or more gestures and a wand position relative to each of the one or more second devices, wherein the spell output indicates at least one of a first instruction for activating one or more first devices and a second instruction for activating each of the one or more second devices;

generate a defined spell sequence for each of the one or more second devices based on the defined one or more gestures; and

store the defined spell sequence for each of the one or more second devices in association with the defined spell output.

14. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a third instruction based on the defined spell output or the defined spell sequence wherein the third instruction instructs an accounting server to alter a user profile associated with the user according to the defined spell output or the defined spell sequence.

15. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a region of effect for the defined spell output for each of the one or more second devices, wherein the region of effect defines an area in which the spell output is to be applied to the one or more second devices within the area wherein a spell output intensity is based on a position of the one or more second devices within the region of effect wherein the spell output intensity indicates an intensity at which the one or more first devices and the one or more second device are to be activated; and

define a threshold degree of similarity for the generated spell sequence or the defined spell output, wherein the threshold degree of similarity indicates a minimum number and order of operations of the generated spell sequence required to be performed to obtain the defined spell output wherein the threshold degree of similarity is less than or equal to a maximum number and order of operations of the generated spell sequence.

16. The one or more NTCRM of claim 15, wherein a size and shape of the region of effect is adjusted according to a handicap value associated with a user profile associated with the user.

17. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a first time period for activating each of the one or more second devices, and

generation of the defined spell sequence for each of the one or more second devices is further based on the defined first time period.

18. The one or more NTCRM of claim 17, wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a plurality of wands that are permitted to perform the one or more gestures to activate the one or more second devices, wherein the wand is one of the plurality of wands.

19. The one or more NTCRM of claim 17, wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define, for at least one second device of the one or more second devices, a set of spells to be performed to activate the at least one second device; and

define a spell order wherein the spell order indicates an order in which each of the set of spells is to be performed.

20. The one or more NTCRM of claim 19, wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a plurality of wands that are permitted to perform the set of spells, wherein the wand is one of the plurality of wands, and

wherein, to define the spell order, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to define an order for performance of each spell of the set of spells and a corresponding wand of the plurality of wands to perform each spell of the set of spells.

21. The one or more NTCRM of claim 20, wherein, to define the quest, execution of the instructions is to cause the computing device to:

define a plurality of second time periods corresponding to each spell of the set of spells wherein each of the plurality of second time periods defines an amount of time in which to perform each spell of the set of spells, wherein at least one of the plurality of second time periods is different from another one of the plurality of second time periods or each of the plurality of second time periods are equal;

define a plurality of threshold degrees of similarity corresponding to each spell of the set of spells wherein at least one of the plurality of threshold degrees of similarity is different from another one of the plurality of threshold degrees of similarity or each of the plurality of threshold degrees of similarity are equal; and

define a plurality of wand positions corresponding to each spell of the set of spells wherein at least one of the plurality of wand positions is different from another one of the plurality of wand positions or each of the plurality of positions are equal.