Sharing Games Using Personal Audio/Visual Apparatus

• US 20130084970A1
• Filed: 04/12/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Geisner, Kevin A., Latta, Stephen G., Sugden, Ben J., Vaught, Benjamin I., Kipman, Alex Aben-Athar, Perez, Kathryn Stone, Hastings, Ryan L., Scott, Jason, Bennett, Darren A., Clavin, John, McCulloch, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,498,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• 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 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/63 by the player, e.g. authoring using a level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface

Abstract

A game can be created, shared and played using a personal audio/visual apparatus such as a head-mounted display device (HMDD). Rules of the game, and a configuration of the game space, can be standard or custom. Boundary points of the game can be defined by a gaze direction of the HMDD, by the user'"'"'s location, by a model of a physical game space such as an instrumented court or by a template. Players can be identified and notified of the availability of a game using a server push technology. For example, a user in a particular location may be notified of the availability of a game at that location. A server manages the game, including storing the rules, boundaries and a game state. The game state can identify players and their scores. Real world objects can be imaged and provided as virtual objects in the game space.

Claims

1. A method for sharing a game, comprising:

defining a characteristic of a game using a sensor of a first head-mounted display device, the characteristic is defined with respect to a physical environment of a user of the first head-mounted display device; and

sharing the game, including the characteristic of the game, with at least a user of a second head-mounted display device via a network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor captures an image of the physical environment; and

the image of the physical environment is used to provide a model of a game space of the game.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more other selected users with whom the game is to be shared, the sharing is responsive to the identifying.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the characteristic comprises a location of the user in the physical environment, a game space of the game is linked to the location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the characteristic comprises a desired size of a game space of the game;

the sensor determines a size of the physical environment of the user; and

the method performed further comprises determining whether the size of the physical environment is suitable for the desired size of the game space.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor detects boundaries in a game space in the physical environment; and

the characteristic comprises boundaries in a game space of the game which are defined based on the boundaries in the game space in the physical environment.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the sensor detects a point in the physical environment; and

the boundaries in the game space of the game are set based on fitting the boundaries in the game space in the physical environment relative to the point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the characteristic comprises at least one of a desired number of players of the game and a role of a player of the game.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the characteristic comprises a ratio between a number of players of the game and a size of a game space of the game.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the characteristic comprises a boundary of a game space of the game.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the sensor determines a gaze direction of the user; and

at least one point on the boundary is defined according to the gaze direction .

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the sensor determines a gesture of the user; and

at least one point on the boundary is defined according to the gesture.

13. A head-mounted display device, comprising:

a communication interface;

an augmented reality projection system; and

at least one control circuit in communication with the communication interface and the augmented reality projection system, the at least one control circuit;

receives a transmission over a network, via the communication interface, the transmission comprising a rule and a game space of a game; and

pursuant to the transmission, controls the augmented reality projection system to provide augmented reality images which display the game space of the game to a user and which allow the user to participate in the game in accordance with the rule.

14. The head-mounted display device of claim 13, wherein:

the transmission comprises a boundary of the game space;

the rule is based on a position of the user in the game space relative to the boundary; and

the at least one control circuit, in communication with a location detection system, determines a position of the user relative to the boundary, and controls the augmented reality projection system to provide augmented reality images which highlight one of the boundaries when the user is close to the boundary.

15. The head-mounted display device of claim 13, further comprising:

the transmission comprises a boundary of the game space; and

a location detection system which detects that the head-mounted display device is in a predetermined location, the at least one control circuit, in communication with the location detection system, provides a transmission to at least one server indicating that the head-mounted display device is in the predetermined location, and pursuant to the transmission, receives the transmission comprising the rule and the boundary of the game from the at least one server according to a server push technology.

16. The head-mounted display device of claim 13, wherein:

the at least one control circuit communicates a state of the game to a server, the state indicates a status of the user in the game.

17. The head-mounted display device of claim 13, wherein:

the augmented reality images are updated as the user moves to display the game space from a current perspective of the user.

18. A server-side method for sharing a game, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving, from a computing device of a first user, an upload of code representing a definition of a game, the definition comprising rules and a game space of the game and user permissions;

storing the code representing the definition;

accessing the user permissions to determine whether a head-mounted display device of a second user is allowed to access the rules and game space of the game; and

if the accessing the user permissions determines that the head-mounted display device of the second user is allowed to access the rules and game space of the game, accessing the code to provide a download of the rules and game space of the game to the head-mounted display device of the second user.

19. The server-side method of claim 18, wherein:

the sharing occurs based on a server push technology.

20. The server-side method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a number of users playing the game;

dynamically adjusting a size of the game space of the game based on the number of users playing the game; and

transmitting the adjusted size of the game space to head-mounted display devices of users playing the game.