SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USING IMAGES TO GENERATE GAMEPLAY CONTENT

• US 20110077076A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Koo, Chang Hoh, Dutilly, Derek T., Dispenza, Dana J., Kalson, Amy
• Granted Patent: US 8,419,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/30
• 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 13/42 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 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/655 by importing photos, e.g. of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6018 where the game content is authored by the player, e.g. level editor or by game device at runtime, e.g. level is created from music data on CD
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6623 for animating a group of characters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/695 Imported photos, e.g. of the player

Abstract

Systems and methods for using images to generate gameplay content are disclosed herein. Specifically, for example, one aspect of the present disclosure involves a method for altering a virtual world generated by a video game system. The method includes obtaining one or more images from sources external to the video game system and processing the one or more images to obtain one or more inputs. The one or more inputs are provided to a gameplay engine to alter an output of the gameplay engine.

Claims

1. A method for altering a virtual world generated by a video game system comprising:

obtaining one or more images from a source initially external to a video game system;

processing the one or more images to obtain one or more inputs; and

providing the one or more inputs to a gameplay engine to alter an output of the gameplay engine.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtained one or more images comprise pixels having red, green and blue (RGB) components, wherein further the processing of one or more images to obtain one or more inputs comprises:

sampling one or more pixels of the images; and

extracting the RGB values associated with the sampled pixels.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein providing the one or more inputs to a gameplay engine comprises providing the RGB values to a terrain generator, the terrain generator using the RGB values to generate a level geometry.

4. The method of claim 3 comprising:

generating gameplay content to be used in conjunction with the generated level geometry; and

outputting the content to a display.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising identifying a face in the one or more images, the one or more inputs being obtained at least in part by recognizing facial structure in the face.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the recognized facial structure is used in determining one or more of:

a facial symmetry, eye shape, eye slope, a ratio between nose width to height, cheek prominence, or angle of chin.

7. The method of claim 6 comprising using one or more of:

a facial symmetry, eye shape, eye slope, a ratio between nose width to height, cheek prominence, or angle of chin to modify at least one character attribute of a character object within the virtual world.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising:

determining edges within the one or more images;

generating an enemy attack pattern based on the edge data; and

executing the enemy attack pattern during gameplay.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising:

determining a color content of the one or more images;

modifying characteristics of a weather object with an associated weather attribute based on the color content of the one or more images, wherein the color content of the image is associated with a particular weather pattern and the color content is provided to the weather attribute; and

executing gameplay content in accordance with the generated weather conditions.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the one or more images comprises accessing images from a storage device or media from a media reader coupled to the video gaming system.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the one or more images comprises accessing images stored at a network location using a URL address.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the one or more images comprises capturing one or more images using an image capture device coupled to the video gaming system.

13. A method of generating unique gameplay content for a video game virtual world comprising:

obtaining a digital image from a network location, an image capture device, or a memory device coupled to a game system upon initiation of a video game;

extracting data from the digital image;

determining one or more characteristics of the image based on the extracted data;

providing the one or more characteristics of the image to a gameplay engine; and

generating interactive gameplay content based on the one or more characteristics of the image.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein extracting data comprises randomly selecting one or more pixels of the image;

wherein determining one or more characteristics of the image comprises determining a red, a green and a blue value for each of the one or more randomly selected pixels; and

wherein the red, green and blue values are used as seed values for a terrain generator in the gameplay engine.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining one or more characteristics of the image comprises determining if the image contains curved lines or straight lines and generating content reflective of whether the image contains curved lines or straight lines.

16. The method of claim 15 comprising:

identifying a facial image in the obtained image;

processing the facial image to determine one or more facial characteristics;

correlating the one or more facial characteristics with one or more character attributes of a default character object; and

modifying the default character object with the one or more character attributes based on the facial characteristics.

17. The method of claim 13 comprising:

determining edges of features contained within the obtained image;

providing edge information to the gameplay engine; and

generating gameplay content based on the edges, the edge information being used by the gameplay engine to determine an attack pattern and number of troops for an enemy in the video game virtual world.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein extracting data from the image comprises obtaining color data for the image and wherein determining one or more characteristics of the data comprises determining a color content of the image, the color content of the image being a predominant color used in the image, the gameplay engine using the color content to modify an attribute of a weather object to coincide with a weather pattern associated with the color content, the weather attribute limiting or increasing a character object'"'"'s movement, speed or limiting a character object'"'"'s sight distance in the virtual world.

19. A video game system for operating a video game, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store a digital image obtained by the video game system;

a video game content source in communication with the processor, the video game content source comprising a video game application, the processor being configured to execute the video game application to generate gameplay content based on data extracted from the digital image; and

an output device coupled to the processor and configured to present the gameplay content to a player.

20. The video game system of claim 19 comprising a network adapter and being configured to obtain digital images located at a network location, the digital images being stored in the memory.

21. The video game system of claim 19 comprising an image capture device for capturing digital images, the digital images being stored in the memory.

22. The video game system of claim 19 comprising a media reader, the video gaming system being configured to read in digital images from media via the media reader and store the images in the memory.

23. The video game system of claim 21 comprising one or more controller inputs, the controller inputs being configured to receive user input, wherein the image capture device is configured to capture an image upon receiving input from a user via the controller input.