MOBILE PHONE GAME INTERFACE

• US 20090305789A1
• Filed: 06/05/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Patil, Pramod P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,200,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/214 for locating contacts on a surface, e.g. floor mats or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/323 between game devices with different hardware characteristics, e.g. hand-held game devices connectable to game consoles or arcade machines
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/77 involving data related to game devices or game servers, e.g. configuration data, software version or amount of memory
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/843 involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1068 being specially adapted to detect the point of contact of the player on a surface, e.g. floor mat, touch pad
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/204 the platform being a handheld device
• 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 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/403 Connection between platform and handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/405 being a wireless ad hoc network, e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Pico net
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/406 Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/50 characterized by details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 : for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 : for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8088 : involving concurrently several players in a non-networked game, e.g. on the same game console

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods for enabling a mobile station to control a virtual world being executed on a console system are described. The method can include establishing a communication link between the mobile station and a console system, identifying user interface characteristics of the mobile station, and providing a game controller application to the mobile station, the game controller application being based on the identified user interface characteristics and configured to transform user interface inputs into game controller commands. The method can further include receiving signals containing data representing the game controller commands from the mobile station over the communication link and determining game results based on the received game controller commands. In one aspect, the system includes a controller application server storing multiple game controller applications for mobile stations characterized by different user interfaces.

Claims

1. A method of enabling a mobile station to control a game, the method comprising:

establishing a communication link between the mobile station and a console system;

identifying user interface characteristics of the mobile station;

providing a game controller application to the mobile station, the game controller application being based on the identified user interface characteristics and configured to transform user interface inputs into game controller commands;

receiving signals containing data representing the game controller commands from the mobile station over the communication link; and

determining game results based on the received game controller commands.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication link comprises communicating with an intermediate computer system that is in communication with the mobile station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user interface characteristics comprises receiving make and model information of the mobile station over the communication link, and identifying the user interface characteristics corresponding to the make and model of the mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user interface characteristics comprises receiving user interface description data directly from the mobile station over the communication link.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the received user interface description data is encoded using Human Interface Device (HID) descriptors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified user interface comprises at least one input device, the input devices comprising at least one of a key, a toggle switch, a roller and a joy stick, and the game controller application is configured to map input device actuations to the game controller commands.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified user interface comprises at least one touch pad, and the game controller application is configured to map finger gestures to the game controller commands.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the game controller application comprises transmitting the game controller application to the mobile station over the communication link.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising downloading the game controller application from a remote server prior to transmitting the game controller application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the game controller application comprises transmitting a network address to the mobile station over the communication link, the network address identifying where the game controller application can be downloaded by the mobile station.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing communication links between multiple mobile stations and the console system; and

receiving game controller commands from the multiple mobile stations over the communication links.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data representing the game results to the mobile station over the communication link.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data representing the game results to a video display device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication link comprises establishing a short range wireless communication link.

15. A system for enabling a mobile station to control a game, the system comprising:

a local area network (LAN) interface configured to establish a communication link between the mobile station and a console system, and receive signals containing data representing game controller commands from the mobile station over the communication link;

a game controller application module configured to identify user interface characteristics of the mobile station, and provide a game controller application to the mobile station, the game controller application being based on the identified user interface characteristics and configured to transform user interface inputs into the game controller commands; and

a game subsystem configured to determine game results based on the received game controller commands.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to establish the communication link by communicating with an intermediate computer system that is in communication with the mobile station.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to receive make and model information of the mobile station over the communication link, and the game controller application module is further configured to identify the user interface characteristics corresponding to the make and model of the mobile station.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to receive user interface description data directly from the mobile station over the communication link, and the game controller application module is configured to identify the user interface characteristics based on the received description data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the received user interface description data is encoded using Human Interface Device (HID) descriptors.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the identified user interface comprises at least one input device, the input device comprising at least one of a key, a toggle switch, a roller and a joy stick, and the game controller application is configured to map input device actuations to the game controller commands.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the identified user interface comprises at least one touch pad, and the game controller application is configured to map finger gestures to the game controller commands.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to transmit the game controller application identified by the game controller application module to the mobile station over the communication link.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a second network interface configured to download the identified game controller application from a remote server prior to the LAN interface transmitting the game controller application.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the game controller application module is configured to identify a network address identifying where the game controller application can be downloaded by the mobile station, and the LAN interface is configured to transmit the identified network address to the mobile station over the communication link.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to establish communication links between multiple mobile stations and the console system, and receive game controller commands from the multiple mobile stations over the communication links.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the LAN interface is further configured to communicate data representing the game results to the mobile station over the communication link.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the game subsystem is further configured to communicate data representing the game results to a video display device.

28. The system of claim 15, wherein establishing the communication link comprises establishing a short range wireless communication link.

29. A method of controlling a game using a mobile station, the method comprising:

establishing a communication link between the mobile station and a console system;

transmitting mobile station identifying information to the console system over the communication link;

receiving a game controller application, the game controller application corresponding to the mobile station identifying information, and configured to transform inputs to a user interface of the mobile station into game controller commands;

storing the game controller application in memory;

executing the game controller application; and

transmitting signals containing data representing the game controller commands to the console system over the communication link.

30. A mobile station for controlling a game, the mobile station comprising:

a network interface configured to establish a communication link between the mobile station and a console system, transmit mobile station identifying information to the console system over the communication link, receive a game controller application based on the mobile station identifying information, and transmit signals containing data representing game controller commands to the console system over the communication link; and

a processor configured to store the game controller application in memory and execute the game controller application, wherein, the game controller application is configured to transform inputs to a user interface of the mobile station into the game controller commands.

31. A method of distributing game controller applications, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of game controller applications in memory, the plurality of game controller applications being configured to be executed on one of a plurality of different mobile stations, and configured to generate game controller commands in response to inputs from a plurality of different mobile station user interfaces;

receiving mobile station identifying information from a communication device; and

transmitting game controller application data to the communication device, the game controller application data corresponding to at least one of user interface characteristics of the identified mobile station, and a make and model of the identified mobile station.

32. A system for distributing game controller applications, the system comprising:

memory for storing a plurality of game controller applications, the plurality of game controller applications being configured to be executed on different mobile stations, and configured to generate game controller commands in response to inputs from different mobile station user interfaces;

a network interface; and

a processor in electrical communication with the memory and the network interface and configured to receive mobile station identifying information from a remote communication device over a network, and transmit a game controller application to the remote communication device, the game controller application being based on the received mobile station identifying information.