AUDIO INTERFACE FOR CONTROLLING A MOTION SIGNAL

• US 20080104289A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D-Box Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: D-Box Technology Inc.
• Inventors: PAILLARD, Bruno
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/63
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/22 Setup operations, e.g. calibration, key configuration or button assignment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/28 responding to control signals received from the game device for affecting ambient conditions, e.g. for vibrating players' seats, activating scent dispensers or affecting temperature or light controlling the output signals based on the game progress A63F13/50
• 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 2300/302 specially adapted for receiving control signals not targeted to a display device or game input means, e.g. vibrating driver's seat, scent dispenser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L

Abstract

The present description relates to the interfacing of a computer with a motion platform using a USB audio-class computer peripheral. The computer peripheral receives a digital audio-format signal according to the USB specification and provides a motion signal to up to four motion platforms. As the computer peripheral is a USB audio-class peripheral, no device-specific driver is required to play motion synchronously with a movie or a video game. The general purpose audio driver included in the operating system of the computer is advantageously used and the computer peripheral can alternately be used with any operating system comprising such a general purpose audio driver, such as Windows 2000, Windows XO or Mac OSX. The computer peripheral is seen by the computer as a USB sound card.

Claims

1. An audio-class computer peripheral to be connected to a computer having a general-purpose audio driver and for providing a motion signal from a digital audio-format signal in order to control a motion platform using said computer, said computer peripheral comprising:

a computer interface for receiving said digital audio-format signal to be provided using said general-purpose audio driver, said digital audio-format signal comprising motion samples, and for extracting said motion samples from said digital audio-format signal; and

a motion platform interface for producing, from said motion samples, said motion signal for controlling movements of said motion platform, thereby controlling said motion platform.

2. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer interface is further for receiving configuration commands from said computer.

3. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer interface is further for communicating feedback data to said computer using at least one of said general-purpose audio driver and a custom driver.

4. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a management unit for providing control commands to said motion platform and for managing said motion platforms according to a feedback received from said motion platform.

5. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 4, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a signal splitter for splitting said motion signal to a plurality of said motion platforms and wherein said management unit is further for providing control commands to each one of said motion platforms and for managing each one of said motion platforms according to a feedback received from each one of said motion platforms.

6. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motion platform comprises motion actuators for imparting movement on said motion platform, wherein said digital audio-format signal has channels each having a stream of motion samples and wherein said motion platform interface comprises a mixing module for producing, using said channels, a stream of actuator samples for controlling each one of said actuators, said motion signal comprising said streams of actuator samples.

7. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 6, wherein said mixing module comprises a mix-disabled mode wherein a number of said channels is equal to a number of said motion actuators, each one of said channels corresponding to one of said motion actuators, and wherein said mixing module is for producing a stream of actuator samples corresponding to each one of said channels by applying no more than scaling transformations.

8. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 6, wherein said motion platform comprises a supported platform, each one of said actuators comprising a contact portion with said supported platform and wherein said mixing module comprises a mix-enabled mode wherein said mixing module is for converting said streams of motion samples into said streams of actuator samples such that positions of said contact portions of are coplanar.

9. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 6, wherein said mixing module comprises a 3-channel mix-enabled mode wherein said digital audio-format signal has a first channel corresponding to a heave motion, a second channel corresponding to a pitch motion and a third channel corresponding to a roll motion.

10. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said audio-class computer peripheral is an audio-class USB peripheral to be accessed by said computer using a general-purpose USB audio driver.

11. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer has a general-purpose audio configuration interface in communication with said general-purpose audio driver, for a user to adjust at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting, said digital audio-format signal comprising said at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting and said computer interface being further for extracting said at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting, said motion platform interface comprising a feature unit for at least one of adjusting said streams of actuator samples to adjust an amplitude of movements of said motion platform according to said volume setting and applying predetermined bass and treble filters to said streams of motion samples to provide said streams of actuator samples.

12. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit for applying a bass-boost low-pass filter.

13. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer has a general-purpose audio configuration interface in communication with said general-purpose audio driver and comprising a mute control and wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit having a standby state wherein said motion platform is still, said standby state being activated when said mute control is set.

14. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit having a standby state wherein said motion platform is still, said standby state being activated when no digital audio-format signal is received during a predetermined time period.

activated when no digital audio-format signal is received during a predetermined time period.

15. A method for providing a motion signal from a digital audio-format signal comprising motion samples and provided by a computer having a general-purpose audio driver, in order to control a motion platform, said method comprising:

receiving said digital audio-format signal produced using said general-purpose audio driver and comprising a stream of motion samples;

extracting said stream of motion samples from said digital audio-format signal; and

outputting said motion signal adapted for controlling movements of said motion platform using said stream of motion samples.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said motion platform comprises actuators for imparting movements in said motion platform, wherein said digital audio-format signal comprises channels each having a stream of motion samples and said method further comprising producing, using said channels, a stream of actuator samples for each one of said actuators, said motion signal comprising said streams of actuator samples.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising connecting a USB audio-class computer peripheral to said computer, said USB audio-class computer peripheral for said outputting a motion signal.

18. A method for controlling a motion platform using a computer having a general-purpose audio driver, said method comprising:

providing motion samples representative of movements to be performed by said motion platform;

providing a digital audio-format signal using said general-purpose audio driver, said digital audio-format signal comprising said motion samples; and

outputting a motion signal for controlling said motion platform, from said motion samples and using said digital audio-format signal.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising connecting a USB audio-class computer peripheral to said computer, said USB audio-class computer peripheral for said outputting a motion signal.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising inputting configuration parameters using a general-purpose audio configuration interface of said computer, said motion signal being adjusted according to said configuration parameters.

21. A computer system for controlling a motion platform comprising:

a motion sample source for providing motion samples;

a general-purpose audio driver receiving said motion samples and for producing a digital audio-format signal comprising said motion samples; and

an interface for producing a motion signal for controlling said motion platform, from said motion samples and using said digital audio-format signal.

22. A method for providing an audio-format motion signal to be used in controlling a motion platform, the method comprising:

providing a stream of motion samples representative of movements to be performed by said motion platform;

formatting said stream of motion samples in said audio-format motion signal according to a USB audio-class format specification; and

outputting said audio-format motion signal.