METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING REALISTIC GUN MOTION INPUT TO A VIDEO GAME
First Claim
1. An apparatus for providing realistic gun input to a video game, comprising:
- A housing that is shaped like a firearm;
A camera;
An image processing means that processes images from said camera and produces camera motion information;
A means for translating said camera motion information into motion information for a video game;
A means for transmitting said motion information for a video game to a video game;
A plurality of buttons for controlling various functions of a video game;
Whereby moving said housing shaped like a firearm causes corresponding motion displayed by said video game.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing realistic gun motion input to a video game. In one embodiment, a plastic enclosure houses a video camera, PCB, microcontroller processor, and many buttons for controlling various aspects of a video game. The processor examines images from the video camera using various feature tracking algorithms and determines the direction and magnitude of motion of the video camera, and hence the motion of plastic gun shaped enclosure in which the video camera is mounted, and that the game player is wielding. This motion data is translated into motion data that a video game running on a video game console can understand, and transmitted to the video game console. The end result is that a user pointing and moving the plastic gun will cause the in game character of the video game to move and point its gun in concert with the game player, thereby providing an intuitive and fun aiming mechanism for playing video games. The button presses that the game player initiates on the apparatus are also reported to the video game and also affect various actions therein.
23 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An apparatus for providing realistic gun input to a video game, comprising:
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A housing that is shaped like a firearm;
A camera;
An image processing means that processes images from said camera and produces camera motion information;
A means for translating said camera motion information into motion information for a video game;
A means for transmitting said motion information for a video game to a video game;
A plurality of buttons for controlling various functions of a video game;
Whereby moving said housing shaped like a firearm causes corresponding motion displayed by said video game. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for adapting realistic gun motion input to a video game, the method comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of images from a camera;
comparing images from said plurality of images to each other and detecting motion by calculating displacement of a subset of pixels from one image from said plurality of images to a subsequent image in said plurality of images;
using said displacement of said subset of pixels to calculate motion data;
update said video game with said motion data;
whereby moving said camera causes corresponding motion displayed by said video game. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification