INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION-PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20090066725A1
• Filed: 09/09/2008
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Nishimura, Naoki, Nogami, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 8,553,049 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/632
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/285 Generating tactile feedback signals via the game input device, e.g. force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/40 Processing input control signals of video game devices, e.g. signals generated by the player or derived from the environment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/655 by importing photos, e.g. of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1037 being specially adapted for converting control signals received from the game device into a haptic signal, e.g. using force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1093 using visible light
• 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: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• 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

Abstract

An information-processing apparatus determines whether a stimulation generation unit and a background virtual object contact each other based on position and orientation information about the stimulation generation unit and position and orientation information about the background virtual object. If it is determined that the stimulation generation unit and the background virtual object contact each other, the information-processing apparatus determines whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range. The information-processing apparatus generates operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of the determination and outputs the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

Claims

1. An information-processing apparatus configured to generate an image in a virtual space including a virtual object based on position and orientation information about a viewpoint of a user, the information-processing apparatus comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire positional information about a stimulation generation unit, which stimulation unit is arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

a determination unit configured to determine whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit,

and to determine whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from the viewpoint if it is determined that the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other; and

an output unit configured to generate operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination by the determination unit and to output the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

2. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit configured to acquire an image in a real space as viewed from the viewpoint; and

a unit configured to output a combined image generated by combining the image in the real space and the image in the virtual space to a display apparatus.

3. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range by determining whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the image in the real space.

4. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit includes:

a unit configured to acquire viewpoint information about the viewpoint including the position and orientation information about the viewpoint; and

a unit configured to generate information indicating the attention range based on the viewpoint information.

5. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, if it is determined by the determination unit that the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range, the output unit is configured to generate operation setting information for causing the stimulation generation unit to generate a first stimulation,

wherein, if it is determined by the determination unit that the stimulation generation unit is not included within the attention range, the output unit is configured to generate operation setting information for causing the stimulation generation unit to generate a second stimulation, and

wherein the first stimulation and the second stimulation differ from each other.

6. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the operation setting information for causing the stimulation generation unit to generate the second stimulation includes operation setting information for causing the stimulation generation unit to generate the second stimulation only within a predetermined length of time.

8. The information-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stimulation generated by the stimulation generation unit includes a cutaneous sense stimulation and a sound stimulation.

7. An information-processing apparatus configured to generate an image in a virtual space including a virtual object based on position and orientation information about a viewpoint of a user, the information-processing apparatus comprising:

a unit configured to acquire positional information about a stimulation generation unit, which stimulation generation unit is arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

a determination unit configured to determine whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from the viewpoint;

a unit configured to, according to a result of determination by the determination unit, control processing for determining whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit; and

an output unit configured to generate operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination by the determination unit and a result of determination as to whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other, and to output the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

9. A method for controlling an information-processing apparatus configured to generate an image in a virtual space including a virtual object based on position and orientation information about a viewpoint of a user, the method comprising:

acquiring positional information about a stimulation generation unit arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

determining whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit;

determining whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from the viewpoint if it is determined that the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other; and

generating operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range, and outputting the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

10. A method for controlling an information-processing apparatus configured to generate an image in a virtual space including a virtual object based on position and orientation information about a viewpoint of a user, the method comprising:

acquiring positional information about a stimulation generation unit arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

determining whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from the viewpoint;

according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range, controlling processing for determining whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit; and

generating operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range and a result of determination as to whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other, and outputting the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

11. An information-processing apparatus configured to provide a virtual space including a virtual object to a user and to control a stimulation generation unit configured to generate a stimulation indicating contact between the user and the virtual object, the information-processing apparatus comprising:

a contact determination unit configured to determine a state of contact between the virtual object and the user;

an attention determination unit configured to determine whether the virtual object is included within a space calculated based on a viewpoint of the user, using positional information about the virtual object and viewpoint information about the viewpoint of the user; and

a control unit configured to control the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination by the contact determination unit and a result of determination by the attention determination unit.

12. A method for controlling an information-processing apparatus configured to provide a virtual space including a virtual object to a user and to control a stimulation generation unit configured to generate a stimulation indicating contact between the user and the virtual object, the method comprising:

determining a state of contact between the virtual object and the user;

determining whether the virtual object is included within a space calculated based on a viewpoint of the user, using positional information about the virtual object and viewpoint information about the viewpoint of the user; and

controlling the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination as to the state of contact between the virtual object and the user and a result of determination as to whether the virtual object is included within the space.

13. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

acquiring positional information about a stimulation generation unit arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

determining whether a virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit;

determining whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from a viewpoint of the user if it is determined that the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other; and

generating operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range, and outputting the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

14. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

acquiring positional information about a stimulation generation unit arranged so as to be capable of applying stimulation to a body of the user;

determining whether the stimulation generation unit is included within an attention range to which the user draws attention from a viewpoint of the user;

according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range, controlling processing for determining whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other based on position and orientation information about the virtual object and the positional information about the stimulation generation unit; and

generating operation setting information for controlling an operation of the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination as to whether the stimulation generation unit is included within the attention range and a result of determination as to whether the virtual object and the stimulation generation unit contact each other, and outputting the generated operation setting information to the stimulation generation unit.

15. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

determining a state of contact between a virtual object and a user;

determining whether the virtual object is included within a space calculated based on a viewpoint of the user, using positional information about the virtual object and viewpoint information about the viewpoint of the user; and

controlling a stimulation generation unit configured to generate a stimulation indicating contact between the user and the virtual object according to a result of determination as to the state of contact between the virtual object and the user and a result of determination as to whether the virtual object is included within the space.

16. An information-processing apparatus configured to provide a virtual space including a virtual object to a user and to control a stimulation generation unit configured to generate a stimulation indicating contact between the user and the virtual object, the information-processing apparatus comprising:

a contact determination means for determining a state of contact between the virtual object and the user;

an attention determination means for determining whether the virtual object is included within a space calculated based on a viewpoint of the user, using positional information about the virtual object and viewpoint information about the viewpoint of the user; and

a control means for controlling the stimulation generation unit according to a result of determination by the contact determination unit and a result of determination by the attention determination means.