Computer enhanced play set and method

• US 20030034955A1
• Filed: 08/14/2001
• Published: 02/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Woods, Elizabeth A., Gilder, Amy Van
• Granted Patent: US 6,758,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/50 characterized by details of game servers

Abstract

A computer enhanced play set. Computer enhanced play set incorporates a structure and display screen images retrieved from a CD-ROM, Internet, or other source. Structure and display screen images and/or sounds portray various play set scenes or themes. Movements within the play set may be tracked with sensors. Movement data is provided to computer data inputs of a computer system. Based on movement data, different images, scenes, or scripts may be generated. Users interact with the attached structure and display screen images. User interaction is realized based on the configuration and content of structure and images in display screen. Interaction with the enhanced computer play set may occur between a user and display screen, between a figure and display screen, between a user and structure, between a figure or object and structure, between a user and both structure and display screen, and between a figure or object and both structure and display screen. In addition, actual external human activities may be represented within computer enhanced play set, and users may indirectly interact with human activities through the computer.

Claims

1. An entertainment apparatus, comprising:

a computer system comprising a video display screen; and

a structure coupled to the video display screen, wherein a scene in the video display screen and the structure form an interactive entertainment environment.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scene comprises one or more images.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scene comprises one or more sounds.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scene is retrieved through the computer system via Internet.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scene is retrieved through the computer system via a storage medium.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer system further comprises one or more data inputs, and wherein data corresponding to movement of an object from a first location to a second location is provided to the data inputs.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a second scene is displayed in response to the object movement from the first position to the second position.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, object movement is represented as input data to an input device of the computer system selected from the group comprising a mouse, a joystick, a touchpad, and a touchscreen.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the object comprises a hand puppet.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the object movement is tracked in two dimensions.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the two dimensional object movement is tracked through connections between the object and the structure base.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the two dimensional object movement is tracked with an input device of the computer system selected from the group comprising a mouse, a joystick, a touchpad, and a touchscreen.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the structure is coupled to the front of the display screen.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the structure further comprises a display screen border.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the structure comprises one or more vertical pieces and one or more horizontal pieces.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scene is selected from a source separate from the display screen image.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the separate source comprises a tool bar.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a second image is displayed in response to user input.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a second image is displayed after a predetermined amount of time.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more walls of the structure portray a theme of the image portrayed in the display screen.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein external human activity is simulated to a user through the interactive entertainment environment.

16. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the pieces are arranged in a configuration selected from the group comprising a square configuration, an outward flared configuration, and an inward flared configuration.

23. An interactive computer entertainment environment, comprising:

a video display screen;

a structure attached to the front of the display screen, wherein one or more objects are located within the attached structure;

one or more data inputs, wherein the one or more data inputs receive data corresponding to movements of the one or more objects from a first location to a second location; and

a tracking system, wherein the tracking system determines the first and second locations of the one or more objects within the structure, and wherein the tracking system provides the object movement data to the one or more data inputs; and

a digital data source, wherein digital data is retrieved from the digital data source and provided to the display screen based on the object movement data provided by the tracking system to the one or more data inputs.

24. An interactive computer entertainment environment, comprising:

a display screen;

a structure attached to the front of the display screen, wherein one or more objects are located within the attached structure;

one or more data inputs, wherein the one or more data inputs receive data corresponding to two dimensional movements of the one or more objects from a first location to a second location in a two dimensional plane; and

a two dimensional tracking system which determines the two dimensional movements of the one or more objects within the structure, wherein the two dimensional tracking system provides the two dimensional object movement data to the one or more data inputs; and

a digital data source, wherein digital data is retrieved from the digital data source and portrayed on the display screen based on the two dimensional object movement data provided by the two dimensional tracking system to the one or more data inputs.

25. An interactive computer entertainment set, comprising:

a video display screen on which images are presented;

a three dimensional structure attached to the front of the video display screen;

a displacable object placed in front of the display screen for movement relative thereto in at least two directions in a horizontal plane;

a location sensor responsive to the location of the object, wherein the location sensor generates signals indicative of the relative location of the object to the display screen in at least two perpendicular coordinates; and

a tracking device which formats location sensor signals into data to which responsive data is retrieved; and

a memory for storing data in digital form, wherein digital data is retrieved and presented on the video display screen in response to the tracking device data based on movements of objects detected by the location sensor.

26. A computer enhanced play set, comprising:

a three dimensional structure coupled to the front of a video display screen;

a location sensor, wherein the location sensor is attached to an object, and wherein the location sensor is responsive to movements of the object within the three dimensional structure; and

a tracking device which determines the location of the object within the three dimensional structure based on signals from the location sensor.

27. A method for implementing an interactive computer entertainment environment, the method comprising:

associating a structure with a display screen of a computer system;

portraying a scene through the computer system, wherein an image of the scene portrayed in the display screen of the computer system and the structure form the interactive computer entertainment environment;

tracking a movement of an object within the structure from a first position to a second position; and

displaying a second image on the display screen in response to the object movement.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the scene comprises one or more images.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the scene comprises one or more sounds.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the second image is the same as the first image.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the second image is different than the first image.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising selecting the scene from a tool bar and added to the display screen image.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the object movements are tracked in two dimensions.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the two dimensional object movement is tracked through connections between the object and the structure base.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the two dimensional object movement is tracked with input data to an input device of the computer system selected from the group comprising a mouse, a joystick, a touchpad, and a touchscreen.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein the second image is displayed after a predetermined amount of time.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein one or more walls of the structure portray a theme of the scene portrayed through the computer system.

38. The method of claim 27, wherein external human activity is simulated to a user through the interactive entertainment environment.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein the image is selected from the group comprising a background scene, an interactive scene, and a script.

40. A method for implementing an interactive computer entertainment environment, the method comprising:

associating a three dimensional structure with a display screen of a computer system;

portraying a scene through the computer system, wherein an image of the scene portrayed in the display screen of the computer system and the structure form the interactive computer entertainment environment;

tracking a two dimensional movement of an object within the three dimensional structure from a first position to a second position in a two dimensional plane; and

displaying a second image on the display screen in response to the two dimensional object movement.