INTERACTIVE GAMING WITH CO-LOCATED, NETWORKED DIRECTION AND LOCATION AWARE DEVICES

• US 20100279768A1
• Filed: 04/29/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Piemonte, Patrick, Mahe, Isabel, Mayor, Rob, Huang, Ronald Keryuan
• Granted Patent: US 8,246,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/31
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/22 Setup operations, e.g. calibration, key configuration or button assignment
• 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 13/34 using peer-to-peer connections
• 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 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 13/837 Shooting of targets
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• 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 2300/405 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 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands

Abstract

An interactive game environment includes two or more co-located, networked, direction and location aware interactive game devices. The game devices share a common reference coordinate frame (e.g., a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate frame). Each game device maintains its own device state (e.g., position, orientation, time) in the reference coordinate frame. Each interactive game device shares its device state with the other interactive game devices using communication technology (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular). Each interactive game device can use the device states of the other interactive game devices to project the relative positions and orientations of the other interactive game devices into a local, fixed coordinate frame of the interactive game device. These projections allow each interactive gaming device to know the position and orientation of the other interactive game devices in an interactive game environment defined by the reference coordinate frame.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a first interactive game device operating in a real world, interactive game environment with a second interactive game device, comprising:

receiving state information from the second interactive game device, the state information associated with a reference frame defining a virtual interactive game environment; and

determining an interaction between the first interactive game device and the second interactive game device in the real world, interactive game environment using the state information.

2. The method of claim 1, where determining an interaction further comprises:

transforming the state information into a local, fixed coordinate frame associated with the first interactive game device; and

determining if the second interactive game device is within a field of view of the first interactive game device in the virtual interactive game environment using the transformed state information.

3. The method of claim 2, where the state information includes the position of the second interactive game device in the reference coordinate frame.

4. The method of claim 2, where the transforming further comprises:

determining a relative orientation between the local, fixed coordinate frame and the reference coordinate frame based on output of one or more sensors of the first interactive game device.

5. The method of claim 4, where the sensors include an accelerometer and a magnetic compass.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing an interactive game display on the first interactive game device; and

displaying a player icon on the interactive game display based on the transformed state information, where the player icon is associated with a player operating the second interactive game device in the real world, interactive game environment.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a user interface on the first interactive game device, the user interface instructing the player of the first interactive game device to align the first interactive game device along a predefined direction in the reference coordinate frame.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

presenting a virtual object in the user interface, the virtual object associated with a fixed location in the reference coordinate frame.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving output from an accelerometer of the first interactive game device, the output indicating movement of the first interactive game device to align the first interactive game device with the predefined direction; and

determining alignment with the predefined direction based on the output of a magnetic compass of the first interactive game device.

11. The method of claim 8, where the movement is detected by an accelerometer and the alignment is detected by a magnetic compass.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining state information for the first interactive game device; and

communicating the state information to the second interactive game device.

10. A computer-implemented method of calibrating an interactive game device, comprising:

presenting user interface on a display of the interactive game device, the user interface indicating the orientation of the interactive game device relative to a predefined direction;

detecting movement of the interactive game device;

adjusting the user interface based on the movement;

detecting when the interactive game device is aligned with the predefined direction; and

indicating on the user interface that the interactive game device is aligned with the predefined direction.

13. An interactive game device, comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor and operable for storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving state information from the second interactive game device, the state information associated with a reference frame defining a virtual interactive game environment; and

determining an interaction between the first interactive game device and the second interactive game device in the real world, interactive game environment using the state information.

14. The device of claim 13, where determining an interaction further comprises:

transforming the state information into a local, fixed coordinate frame associated with the first interactive game device; and

determining if the second interactive game device is within a field of view of the first interactive game device in the virtual interactive game environment using the transformed state information.

15. The device of claim 14, where the state information includes the position of the second interactive game device in the reference coordinate frame.

16. The device of claim 14, where the transforming further comprises:

one or more sensors operable for providing output for determining a relative orientation between the local, fixed coordinate frame and the reference coordinate frame.

17. The device of claim 16, where the sensors include an accelerometer and a magnetic compass.

18. The device of claim 14, further comprising:

a display operable for displaying a player icon on an interactive game display of the device based on the transformed state information, where the player icon is associated with a player operating the second interactive game device in the real world, interactive game environment.

19. The device of claim 13, further comprising:

presenting a user interface on the first interactive game device, the user interface instructing the player of the first interactive game device to align the first interactive game device along a predefined direction in the reference coordinate frame.

20. The device of claim 19, further comprising:

presenting a virtual object in the user interface, the virtual object associated with a fixed location in the reference coordinate frame.

21. The device of claim 19, further comprising:

an accelerometer operable for providing output indicating movement of the first interactive game device to align the first interactive game device with the predefined direction; and

a magnetic compass operable for providing output for determining alignment with the predefined direction.