COORDINATE CALCULATION APPARATUS AND STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING COORDINATE CALCULATION PROGRAM STORED THEREIN

• US 20090326850A1
• Filed: 05/27/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: OHTA, Keizo
• Granted Patent: US 9,079,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/95
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• 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 13/219 for aiming at specific areas on the display, e.g. light-guns
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/426 involving on-screen location information, e.g. screen coordinates of an area at which the player is aiming with a light gun
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1006 having additional degrees of freedom
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1087 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
• 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

A game apparatus obtains data from an input device including at least a gyroscope, and calculates a two-dimensional coordinate point corresponding to the data. The game apparatus includes orientation calculation means and coordinate calculation means. The orientation calculation means calculates an orientation of the input device in accordance with an angular rate detected by the gyroscope. The coordinate calculation means calculates the two-dimensional coordinate point, wherein the two-dimensional coordinate point represents coordinates of an intersection R between a line segment continuing from a vector VZ representing the orientation of the input device within a predetermined space and a predetermined plane within the predetermined space.

Claims

1. A coordinate calculation apparatus for obtaining data from an input device including at least a gyroscope, and calculating a two-dimensional coordinate point corresponding to the data, the apparatus comprising:

orientation calculation means for calculating a first orientation of the input device in accordance with an angular rate detected by the gyroscope; and

coordinate calculation means for calculating the two-dimensional coordinate point, wherein the two-dimensional coordinate point represents coordinates of an intersection between a line segment continuing from a predetermined position within a predetermined space in a direction of a vector representing the first orientation and a predetermined plane within the predetermined space.

2. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the input device further includes an acceleration sensor and image pickup means, and

the coordinate calculation apparatus further comprises:

first correction means for correcting the first orientation in accordance with acceleration data detected by the acceleration sensor; and

second correction means for correcting the first orientation in accordance with an image of a predetermined subject taken by the image pickup means.

3. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation so as to approach a second orientation of the input device, the second orientation being an orientation in which a direction of an acceleration represented by the acceleration data is a vertically downward direction.

4. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation such that the closer a magnitude of the acceleration is to a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration, the more closely the first orientation approaches the second orientation.

5. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation only when a difference between a magnitude of an acceleration represented by the acceleration data and a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration is smaller than a predetermined reference value.

6. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second correction means corrects the first orientation so as to approach a third orientation of the input device at a predetermined rate, the third orientation being an orientation which is calculated based on a direction and/or a position of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

7. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the second correction means calculates the third orientation only for a roll direction relative to an imaging direction of the image pickup means, based on the direction of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

8. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the second correction means calculates the third orientation only for a pitch direction and/or a yaw direction relative to an imaging direction of the image pickup means, based on the position of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

9. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the second correction means determines, based on the first orientation, whether or not the image pickup means is oriented to a direction in which the image pickup means is allowed to take the image of the predetermined subject, and corrects the first orientation only when the image pickup means is oriented to the direction in which the image pickup means is allowed to take the image of the predetermined subject.

10. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second correction means corrects the first orientation having been corrected by the first correction means.

11. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the input device further includes an acceleration sensor, and

the coordinate calculation apparatus further comprises correction means for correcting the first orientation such that the first orientation approaches a second orientation of the input device, the second orientation being an orientation in which a direction of an acceleration represented by acceleration data detected by the acceleration sensor is a vertically downward direction.

12. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the correction means corrects the first orientation such that the closer a magnitude of the acceleration is to a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration, the more closely the first orientation approaches the second orientation.

13. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the correction means corrects the first orientation only when a difference between a magnitude of the acceleration and a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration is smaller than a predetermined reference value.

14. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the input device further includes image pickup means, and

the coordinate calculation apparatus further comprises correction means for correcting the first orientation so as to approach a second orientation of the input device at a predetermined rate, the second orientation being an orientation which is calculated based on a direction and/or a position of a predetermined subject in an image taken by the image pickup means.

15. The coordinate calculation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coordinate calculation means calculates:

a value for a first component of the two-dimensional coordinate point based on a relationship in which a ratio between a first component length from a projection point in the predetermined plane to the intersection and a length from a position of the input device to the predetermined plane is equal to a ratio between a first component magnitude of the vector and a perpendicular component magnitude of the vector, the projection point being a point to which the position of the input device is projected, the perpendicular component magnitude being a magnitude of a component perpendicular to the predetermined plane; and

a value for a second component of the two-dimensional coordinate point based on a relationship in which a ratio between a second component length from the projection point to the intersection and the length from the position of the input device to the predetermined plane is equal to a ratio between a second component magnitude of the vector and the perpendicular component magnitude of the vector.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a coordinate calculation program to be executed by a computer of a coordinate calculation apparatus for obtaining data from an input device including at least a gyroscope, and calculating a two-dimensional coordinate point corresponding to the data, the program causing the computer to function as:

orientation calculation means for calculating a first orientation of the input device in accordance with an angular rate detected by the gyroscope; and

coordinate calculation means for calculating the two-dimensional coordinate point, wherein the two-dimensional coordinate point represents coordinates of an intersection between a line segment continuing from a predetermined position within a predetermined space in a direction of a vector representing the first orientation and a predetermined plane within the predetermined space.

17. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein,

the input device further includes an acceleration sensor and image pickup means, and

the coordinate calculation program further causes the computer to function as:

first correction means for correcting the first orientation in accordance with acceleration data detected by the acceleration sensor; and

second correction means for correcting the first orientation in accordance with an image of a predetermined subject taken by the image pickup means.

18. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation so as to approach a second orientation of the input device, the second orientation being an orientation in which a direction of an acceleration represented by the acceleration data is a vertically downward direction.

19. The storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation such that the closer a magnitude of the acceleration is to a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration, the more closely the first orientation approaches the second orientation.

20. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the first correction means corrects the first orientation only when a difference between a magnitude of an acceleration represented by the acceleration data and a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration is smaller than a predetermined reference value.

21. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the second correction means corrects the first orientation so as to approach a third orientation of the input device at a predetermined rate, the third orientation being an orientation which is calculated based on a direction and/or a position of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the second correction means calculates the third orientation only for a roll direction relative to an imaging direction of the image pickup means, based on the direction of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

23. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the second correction means calculates the third orientation only for a pitch direction and/or a yaw direction relative to an imaging direction of the image pickup means, based on the position of the predetermined subject in the image taken by the image pickup means.

24. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the second correction means determines, based on the first orientation, whether or not the image pickup means is oriented to a direction in which the image pickup means is allowed to take the image of the predetermined subject, and corrects the first orientation only when the image pickup means is oriented to the direction in which the image pickup means is allowed to take the image of the predetermined subject.

25. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the second correction means corrects the first orientation having been corrected by the first correction means.

26. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein,

the input device further includes an acceleration sensor, and

the coordinate calculation program further causes the computer to function as correction means for correcting the first orientation such that the first orientation approaches a second orientation of the input device, the second orientation being an orientation in which a direction of an acceleration represented by acceleration data detected by the acceleration sensor is a vertically downward direction.

27. The storage medium according to claim 26, wherein the correction means corrects the first orientation such that the closer a magnitude of the acceleration is to a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration, the more closely the first orientation approaches the second orientation.

28. The storage medium according to claim 26, wherein the correction means corrects the first orientation only when a difference between a magnitude of the acceleration and a magnitude of a gravitational acceleration is smaller than a predetermined reference value.

29. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein,

the input device further includes image pickup means, and

the coordinate calculation program further causes the computer to function as correction means for correcting the first orientation so as to approach a second orientation of the input device at a predetermined rate, the second orientation being an orientation which is calculated based on a direction and/or a position of a predetermined subject in an image taken by the image pickup means.

30. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the coordinate calculation means calculates:

a value for a first component of the two-dimensional coordinate point based on a relationship in which a ratio between a first component length from a projection point in the predetermined plane to the intersection and a length from a position of the input device to the predetermined plane is equal to a ratio between a first component magnitude of the vector and a perpendicular component magnitude of the vector, the projection point being a point to which the position of the input device is projected, the perpendicular component magnitude being a magnitude of a component perpendicular to the predetermined plane; and

a value for a second component of the two-dimensional coordinate point based on a relationship in which a ratio between a second component length from the projection point to the intersection and the length from the position of the input device to the predetermined plane is equal to a ratio between a second component magnitude of the vector and the perpendicular component magnitude of the vector.