INTERACTIVE GAMING ANALYSIS SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20130288777A1
• Filed: 04/25/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DataDna Inc.
• Original Assignee: Electronic Entertainment Design And Research
• Inventors: Short, Gregory T., Zatkin, Geoffrey C., Taylor, Christopher R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,254,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/23
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4842 Monitoring progression or stage of a disease
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4848 Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6896 Toys
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/218 using pressure sensors, e.g. generating a signal proportional to the pressure applied by the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/22 Setup operations, e.g. calibration, key configuration or button assignment
• 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 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

An interactive gaming system is disclosed. The system comprises at least one sensor that conveys information to the system about the physical, intellectual, mental, emotional, psychological or other type of ability of a user. The system uses the information to assess the existence and extent of a disability, and then implements a change to an aspect of the gaming environment, thus optimizing the gaming experience for the game player by accounting for the game player'"'"'s disabilities.

Claims

1. An interactive system for optimizing a gaming experience, the system comprising:

a gaming analysis engine programmed to;

receive sensor data from at least one sensor, wherein the sensor data comprises data captured by the at least one sensor and associated with a game player'"'"'s interactions with a gaming environment;

determine at least one disability status of the game player as a function of the sensor data; and

cause a modification of the gaming environment as a function of the disability status.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the gaming analysis engine is further programmed to determine the at least one disability status by mapping at least one sensor signature derived from the sensor data to at least one disability indicator indexed by sensor signature attributes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one disability status comprises at least one disability indicator derived from the sensor data and from at least one reference data set.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the gaming analysis engine is further programmed to determine the at least one disability status by generating at least one disability indicator as a function of a difference between the sensor data and the at least one reference data set associated with the at least one disability indicator.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one disability indicator comprises an indicator of no disability.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one disability indicator comprises at least one indicator of at least one disability.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one disability comprises at least one of a physical disability, a sensory disability, a motor disability, a cognitive disability, a developmental disability, a social disorder, an intellectual disability, an emotional disability, a learning disability, a mental disability, and a psychological disability.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one disability comprises at least one temporary disability.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one disability comprises at least one recognized diagnosable disability.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one disability indicator comprises at least one indicator of at least one disability and of a severity level of the at least one disability.

11. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one reference data set is based on at least one of:

sensor data corresponding to a reference game player having no disabilities;

sensor data corresponding to a reference game player having at least one disability;

sensor data corresponding to a reference game player having at least one disability of at least one severity level;

sensor data representative of a plurality of reference game player skill levels;

historical game player data representative of the game player'"'"'s skill level; and

previously captured sensor data associated with the game player.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises game interface input data.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the modification of the gaming environment comprises a modification to a game system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the modification of the game system comprises at least one of:

an adjustment to at least one aspect of the visual output of the game system;

an adjustment to at least one aspect of the audio output of the game system;

a modification to at least one recognized command associated with at least one user input; and

an output modality conversion.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the modification of the gaming environment comprises a modification of a computer game.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the modification of the computer game comprises at least one of:

an adjustment to the difficulty of the computer game;

a change to the visual appearance of at least one aspect of the computer game;

a change to the audio of at least one aspect of the computer game;

a modification to an interpretation of player inputs by the computer game; and

an activation of an assistance feature of the computer game;

an addition or subtraction of a game feature to the computer game;

an adjustment to the game speed of the computer game; and

an output modality conversion.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the modification of the gaming environment comprises a modification of a user interface.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the modification of the user interface comprises at least one of:

an adjustment to an input detection sensitivity;

a deactivation of at least one input; and

an adjustment to a feedback feature of the user interface.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the modification of the gaming environment comprises a recommendation of at least one alternative second computer game, and wherein the recommendation of the at least one alternative second computer game is based on the at least one disability status.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises data from at least one of:

an image sensor, a video sensor, an audio sensor, a motion sensor, a temperature sensor, an input detection sensor, a reaction sensor, an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, a light sensor, a sound sensor, a biometric sensor, a galvanometer, a magnetometer, a piezoelectric sensor, a Hall effect probe, an air sensor, a flow meter, a chemical sensor, a breathalyzer, an electrocardiography sensor, a spirometry sensor, a sweat sensor, a humidity sensor, a magnetic resonance imaging sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a heart rate sensor, a respiration rate sensor, and a blood glucose sensor.

17. The system of 1, wherein the modification comprises a therapeutic modification corresponding to the disability status.