Game or play facilities controlled by physiological information

• US 5,772,508 A
• Filed: 11/06/1995
• Issued: 06/30/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amtex Co. Ltd. (Ishihara Family)
• Original Assignee: Amtex Co. Ltd. (Ishihara Family)
• Inventors: Ochiai, Tsutomu, Sugita, Tohru
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHAAF, JAMES CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US08/554,568
• Time in Patent Office: 967 Days
• Field of Search: 463/23, 463/36-47
• US Class Current: 463/36
• 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 13/42 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 13/47 involving branching, e.g. choosing one of several possible scenarios at a given point in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/55 Controlling game characters or game objects based on the game progress
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/26 the game being influenced by physiological parameters A63F2250/1031 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/63 for controlling the execution of the game in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/632 by branching, e.g. choosing one of several possible story developments at a given point in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video

Abstract

A game or play facilities which change contents of progress of the game or play based on physiological information of a player, thereby being capable of providing contents suitable for the player. The game or play facilities is controlled by physiological information and includes physiological signal measuring device for measuring a physiological signal of a player, mental state determination means for determining mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal subsequently to appropriate conversion thereof with reference values, and control means with reference values, and a control device determination by the mental state determination device.

Claims

1. A game or play facilities controlled by physiological information, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a sequence of play or a game, and

control means for controlling a contents of game progress of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

5. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the physiological signal of the player is one of a heart rate, a pulse wave, blood pressure, skin perspiration, epidermal vibration or a brain wave.

2. A game or play facilities capable of expressing a plurality of sequences, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a sequence of play or a game, and

sequence flow control means for controlling flow of sequences of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

3. A game or play facilities capable of expressing plural levels of performance effects, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a sequence of play or a game, and

performance effect control means for controlling performance effect of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

4. A game or play facilities capable of expressing a plurality of sequences and plural levels of performance effects, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a sequence of play or a game,

sequence flow control means for controlling flow of sequences of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means, and

performance effect control means for controlling performance effect of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

6. A game or play facilities controlled by physiological information, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for repeatedly measuring heart beat information of a player;

physiological signal determination means for calculating a reference value based on a plurality of repeated measurements of physiological information successively obtained by the physiological signal measuring means during a time period from a first time point to immediately before a second time point, where said first time point precedes said second time point by a predetermined time in a progression of a play or a game, for determining a state of the player at the second time point, and for comparing the reference value with the physiological information obtained after the second time point; and

performance effect control means for instructing a performance change of the game or the play based on a result of a comparison from the physiological signal determination means,

wherein the second time point corresponds to a branch time point of scenes switched by a control of the performance effect control means, and wherein the physiological signal determination means comprises;

means for calculating a first mean value of m heart beat measurements successively obtained from the physiological signal measuring means during the time period,

means for calculating a second mean value of m heart beat measurements successively obtained after the branch time point, and

means for determining the state of the player after the branch time point by comparing the first and second mean values by a predetermined statistical examination.

9. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the performance effect control means changes a performance time of a successively developed game or play.

10. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the performance effect control means comprises means for selecting one branch of plural scenario branches at a branch point after a currently progressing scene in the progression of the game or the play comprising differing branched scenarios.

7. A game or play facilities controlled by physiological information, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for repeatedly measuring heart beat information of a player;

physiological signal determination means for calculating a reference value based on

     1) a mean value of n successive heart beat measurements obtained from the physiological signal measuring means in a progression of a game or a play,

     2) a number of the n successive heart beat measurements, and

     3) a parameter indicating an accuracy required for a determination, and for successively determining a state of the player by using the n heart beat measurements, the reference value, and the parameter indicating the accuracy required; and

performance effect control means for instructing a performance change of the game or the play based on a result of the state of the player determined by the physiological signal determination means.

8. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to claim 7, wherein the physiological signal determination means comprises:

means for calculating the reference value by using n heart beat measurements obtained during a time period between a first time point and a second time point, wherein the second time point is a predetermined time after the first time point in the progression of the game or the play,

means for successively updating the reference value using a new heart beat measurement obtained after the second time point in place of an oldest one of the n heart beat measurements; and

means for successively determining the state of the player after the second time point by comparing data successively obtained after the second time point with the reference value immediately before sampling the new heart beat measurement.

11. A game or play facilities controlled by physiological information, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for repeatedly measuring physiological information of a player;

sub-scenario storing means for storing a plurality of sub-scenarios of a game or a play;

physiological signal determination means comprising

means for providing a result of a determination including a reference showing a) a state of the player in each scene based on a plurality of measurements of the physiological information measured by the physiological signal measuring means during a time period from

     1) a prior time point that is a predetermined time prior to a branch time point of the each scene of one of the sub-scenarios to

     2) immediately before the branch time point and b) a plurality of measurements of the physiological information obtained time-sequentially by the physiological signal measuring means after the branch time point,

means for storing the result of the determination at the each scene separately to a memory in association with the each scene, and

means for determining an effectiveness with respect to the player at a current scene by comparing one of the result of the determination at a current one of the scenes with results of the determination at previous scenes; and

performance effect control means for selecting subsequent scenes or the subsequent sub-scenario based on a result of determining the effectiveness from the physiological signal determination means.

12. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to claim 11, wherein the physiological signal measuring means measures heart beat information, and

wherein the means for providing comprises means for determining a state of the player at branch points by comparing a difference between 1) a mean value of n heart beat measurements obtained between the prior time point prior to the branch time point of each scene of a sub-scenario immediately before the branch time point and 2) a mean value of m heart beat measurements obtained after the branch time point, and for comparing a) the difference with b) a value calculated by multiplying 1) an accuracy parameter and 2) the square root of the sum of 2a) an unbiased variance calculated from the n heartbeat measurements and 2b) an unbiased variance calculated from the m heart beat measurements.

13. A game or play facilities controlled by physiological information, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player;

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a level of performance; and

control means for controlling contents of game progress of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

17. The game or play facilities controlled by physiological information according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the physiological signal of the player is one of a heart rate, a pulse wave, blood pressure, skin perspiration, epidermal vibration or a brain wave.

14. A game or play facilities capable of expressing a plurality of sequences, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a level of performance, and

sequence flow control means for controlling flow of the sequences of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

15. A game or play facilities capable of expressing plural levels of performance effects, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a level of performance, and

performance effect control means for controlling performance effect of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.

16. A game or play facilities capable of expressing a plurality of sequences and plural levels of performance effects, the game or play facilities comprising:

physiological signal measuring means for measuring a physiological signal of a player,

mental state determination means for determining a mental state of the player by comparing the physiological signal with a reference value determined by a level of performance,

sequence flow control means for controlling flow of the sequences of the game or play based on mental state determined by the mental state determination means, and

performance effect control means for controlling performance effect of the game or play based on the mental state determined by the mental state determination means.