INFORMATION PROCESSING PROGRAM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARTUS

• US 20110134116A1
• Filed: 02/14/2011
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ebisawa, Yasushi, Ajioka, Yoshitaka, Mizuki, Kiyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,111,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• 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 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6661 for changing the position of the virtual camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6669 using a plurality of virtual cameras concurrently or sequentially, e.g. automatically switching between fixed virtual cameras when a character change rooms
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8058 Virtual breeding, e.g. tamagotchi
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

As a virtual plane used when converting a designation point, which is a touched position on a touch panel, into a control point, in a virtual three dimensional space, used for controlling a movement of an object, a first virtual plane is used when a ball is an object to be controlled; a second virtual plane is used when an object to be operated is a dog and an action mode thereof is an attention mode; a third virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a lick mode; a fourth virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a rope shake mode; and a fifth virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a circle mode.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing an information processing program for causing a computer to execute:

first display for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of a first object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device;

virtual plane setting for setting a predetermined virtual plane between the virtual camera and the first object;

conversion for converting, by a predetermined calculation process, the designation point detected in the detection to a control point on the virtual plane set in the virtual plane setting, represented in arbitrary three dimensional coordinates;

second display for displaying a second object different from the first object, at a position in the virtual three dimensional space indicated by the control point;

first control for controlling a movement of the first object, based on the control point obtained in the conversion; and

second control for controlling a movement of the second object in accordance with the movement of the first object controlled in the first control.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the first control controls a movement of a part of the first object.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the first control controls the movement of the part of the first object so as to change the direction of the part of the first object.

4. An information processing apparatus comprising:

first display programmed logic circuitry for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of a first object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

a pointing device for designating an arbitrary point on the display screen by an operator;

detection programmed logic circuitry for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from the pointing device;

virtual plane setting programmed logic circuitry for setting a predetermined virtual plane between the virtual camera and the first object;

conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting, by a predetermined calculation process, the designation point detected by the detection programmed logic circuitry to a control point on the virtual plane set by the virtual plane setting programmed logic circuitry, represented in arbitrary three dimensional coordinates;

second display programmed logic circuitry for displaying a second object different from the first object, at a position in the virtual three dimensional space indicated by the control point;

first control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the first object, based on the control point obtained by the conversion programmed logic circuitry; and

second control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the second object in accordance with the movement of the first object controlled by the first control programmed logic circuitry.

5. An information processing method comprising:

first display for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of a first object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device;

virtual plane setting for setting a predetermined virtual plane between the virtual camera and the first object;

conversion for converting, by a predetermined calculation process, the designation point detected in the detection to a control point on the virtual plane set in the virtual plane setting, represented in arbitrary three dimensional coordinates;

second display for displaying a second object different from the first object, at a position in the virtual three dimensional space indicated by the control point;

first control for controlling a movement of the first object, based on the control point obtained in the conversion; and

second control for controlling a movement of the second object in accordance with the movement of the first object controlled in the first control.

6. An information processing system comprising:

first display programmed logic circuitry for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of a first object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

a pointing device for designating an arbitrary point on the display screen by an operator;

detection programmed logic circuitry for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from the pointing device;

virtual plane setting programmed logic circuitry for setting a predetermined virtual plane between the virtual camera and the first object;

conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting, by a predetermined calculation process, the designation point detected by the detection programmed logic circuitry to a control point on the virtual plane set by the virtual plane setting programmed logic circuitry, represented in arbitrary three dimensional coordinates;

second display programmed logic circuitry for displaying a second object different from the first object, at a position in the virtual three dimensional space indicated by the control point;

first control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the first object, based on the control point obtained by the conversion programmed logic circuitry; and

second control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the second object in accordance with the movement of the first object controlled by the first control programmed logic circuitry.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing an information processing program for causing a computer to execute:

display for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device;

first conversion for converting the designation point to a first control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a first virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera in the virtual three dimensional space;

second conversion for converting the designation point to a second control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a second virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera and between the virtual camera and the first virtual plane in the virtual three dimensional space; and

control for controlling a movement of the object, by using the first control point and the second control point.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the object can be deformed.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 8, wherein,

the object has at least two portions whose movements can be separately controlled, and

the control controls one of the movements of the at least two portions in accordance with the first control point, and controls the other one of the movements of the at least two portions in accordance with the second control point.

10. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a display screen for displaying an image;

a pointing device for designating an arbitrary point on the display screen by an operator;

display programmed logic circuitry for displaying, on the display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection programmed logic circuitry for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from the pointing device;

first conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting the designation point to a first control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a first virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera in the virtual three dimensional space;

second conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting the designation point to a second control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a second virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera and between the virtual camera and the first virtual plane in the virtual three dimensional space; and

control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the object, by using the first control point and the second control point.

11. An information processing method comprising:

display for displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device;

first conversion for converting the designation point to a first control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a first virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera in the virtual three dimensional space;

second conversion for converting the designation point to a second control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a second virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera and between the virtual camera and the first virtual plane in the virtual three dimensional space; and

control for controlling a movement of the object, by using the first control point and the second control point.

12. An information processing system comprising:

a display screen for displaying an image;

a pointing device for designating an arbitrary point on the display screen by an operator;

display programmed logic circuitry for displaying, on the display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detection programmed logic circuitry for detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from the pointing device;

first conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting the designation point to a first control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a first virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera in the virtual three dimensional space;

second conversion programmed logic circuitry for converting the designation point to a second control point represented in three dimensional coordinates, by using a second virtual plane positioned in front of the virtual camera and between the virtual camera and the first virtual plane in the virtual three dimensional space; and

control programmed logic circuitry for controlling a movement of the object, by using the first control point and the second control point.