Video Generation Device, Load Display Method, Recording Medium, and Program

• US 20080094390A1
• Filed: 09/01/2005
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Ito, Yutaka, Nakagawa, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,843,453 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/56 Computing the motion of game characters with respect to other game characters, game objects or elements of the game scene, e.g. for simulating the behaviour of a group of virtual soldiers or for path finding
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/57 Simulating properties, behaviour or motion of objects in the game world, e.g. computing tyre load in a car race game A63F13/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/303 for displaying additional data, e.g. simulating a Head Up Display
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6009 for importing or creating game content, e.g. authoring tools during game development, adapting content to different platforms, use of a scripting language to create content
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6607 for animating game characters, e.g. skeleton kinematics
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8017 Driving on land or water; Flying
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/05 the view from a vehicle being simulated G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence

Abstract

An operation input reception unit (201) receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run on the running path. Further, a running condition managing unit (203) manages the running condition of the virtual vehicle based on the received operation input. Then, a video generation unit (204) generates a front image appearing in front of the virtual vehicle, based on image information stored in an image information storage unit (202) and the managed running condition. Meanwhile, a load calculation unit (205) calculates a load to be imposed on the virtual vehicle, based on the managed running condition. Further, a tire drawing unit (206) draws a tire image whose shape is changed according to the calculated load. Then, a display control unit (208) synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

Claims

1. A video generation device, comprising:

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in a virtual space;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, which runs according to the operation input received;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to a load based on a running condition of said virtual vehicle; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

2. The video generation device according to claim 1,

wherein said tire image generation unit generates a planar tire image in which a vertical width or a horizontal width of tires is changed according to the load.

5. The video generation device according to claim 1, further comprising

a mask image generation unit which generates a mask image whose shape is changed according to the load,

wherein said display control unit synthesizes the generated front image and the mask image, and after this, further synthesizes the tire image.

3. A video generation device, comprising:

an image information storage unit which stores image information including a scenery image to be arranged in a virtual space;

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in said virtual space;

a running condition managing unit which manages a running condition of said virtual vehicle based on the received operation input;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, based on the stored image information and the managed running condition;

a load calculation unit which calculates a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle, based on the managed running condition;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to the calculated load; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

4. The video generation device according to claim 3,

wherein:

said load calculation unit calculates a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle due to an inertia force in a case where the running condition is acceleration or deceleration, and calculates a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle due to a centrifugal force in a case where the running condition is turning; and

said tire image generation unit generates a planar tire image in which a vertical width or a horizontal width of tires is changed according to the calculated load.

6. A load display method using an image information storage unit, said image information storage unit storing image information including a scenery image to be arranged in a virtual space, said method comprising:

an operation input receiving step of receiving an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in a virtual space;

a front image generating step of generating a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, which runs according to the received operation input, based on the stored image information;

a tire image generating step of generating a tire image whose shape is changed according to a load based on a running condition of said virtual vehicle; and

a display controlling step of synthesizing the generated front image and the tire image on a predetermined display device, and displaying the synthesized image thereon.

7. A load display method using an image information storage unit, said image information storage unit storing image information including a scenery image to be arranged in a virtual space, said method comprising:

an operation input receiving step of receiving an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in a virtual space;

a running condition managing step of managing a running condition of said virtual vehicle, based on the received operation input;

a front image generating step of generating a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, based on the stored image information and the managed running condition;

a load calculating step of calculating a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle, based on the managed running condition;

a tire image generating step of generating a tire image whose shape is changed according to the calculated load; and

a display controlling step of synthesizing the generated front image and the tire image, and displaying the synthesized image.

8. A recording medium storing a program for controlling a computer to function as:

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in a virtual space;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, which runs according to the received operation input;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to a load based on a running condition of said virtual vehicle; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

9. A recording medium storing a program for controlling a computer to function as:

an image information storage unit which stores image information including a scenery image to be arranged in a virtual space;

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in said virtual space;

a running condition managing unit which manages a running condition of said virtual vehicle, based on the received operation input;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, based on the stored image information and the managed running condition;

a load calculation unit which calculates a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle, based on the managed running condition;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to the calculated load; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

10. A program for controlling a computer to function as:

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in a virtual space;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, which runs according to the received operation input;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to a load based on a running condition of said virtual vehicle; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.

11. A program for controlling a computer to function as:

an image information storage unit which stores image information including a scenery image to be arranged in a virtual space;

an operation input reception unit which receives an operation input for a virtual vehicle to be run in said virtual space;

a running condition managing unit which manages a running condition of said virtual vehicle, based on the received operation input;

a front image generation unit which generates a front image which appears in front of said virtual vehicle, based on the stored image information and the managed running condition;

a load calculation unit which calculates a load to be imposed on said virtual vehicle, based on the managed running condition;

a tire image generation unit which generates a tire image whose shape is changed according to the calculated load; and

a display control unit which synthesizes the generated front image and the tire image, and displays the synthesized image.