Acceleration data processing program, and storage medium, and acceleration data processing apparatus for use with the same

• US 7,716,008 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2007
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ohta, Keizo
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn; Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): TEIXEIRA MOFFAT, JONATHAN CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US11/715,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20080177497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: 702150-153, 708/141
• US Class Current: 702/152
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1006 having additional degrees of freedom
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

The data acquisition means acquires the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals. The change amount calculation means calculates a change amount vector representing a change amount of the acceleration by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition means. The accumulation vector calculation means calculates an accumulation vector by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount vector having been calculated by the change amount calculation means. The direction determination means determines, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation vector, when the accumulation vector having been calculated by the accumulation vector calculation means satisfies a predetermined condition.

Claims

1. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of a game apparatus to perform a game process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to a game input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the game input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition.

2. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry includes an attenuation process programmed logic circuitry for sequentially attenuating the accumulation value before or after the change amount value is added to the accumulation value.

3. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein:

the acceleration sensor is capable of detecting, in at least two axial directions, the acceleration applied to the input device;

the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry acquires the acceleration data output by the acceleration sensor in units of axial components of the at least two axial directions;

the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates, as the change amount value, the change amount of the acceleration in units of the axial components by using the acceleration represented by the acceleration data in units of the axial components; and

the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines, as the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, a direction of a combined value of the accumulation values obtained in units of the axial components.

4. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry includes an attenuation process programmed logic circuitry for sequentially attenuating the accumulation value before or after the change amount value is added to the accumulation value.

5. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the computer is caused to further function as gravity direction calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating, by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry, a direction of a gravitational acceleration applied to the input device, and

wherein the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines the waving direction, representing the moving direction of the input device, relative to the gravitational acceleration by using the direction of the accumulation value, and the direction of the gravitational acceleration having been calculated by the gravity direction calculation programmed logic circuitry.

6. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates the accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value which has been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry and has been multiplied by a coefficient.

7. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of an apparatus to perform a process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to an input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition,

wherein the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines, as the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, the direction of the accumulation value when a magnitude of the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry is greater than a threshold value.

8. The storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the computer is caused to further function as threshold value updating programmed logic circuitry for updating the threshold value so as to represent the magnitude of the accumulation value when the magnitude of the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry is greater than the threshold value.

9. The storage medium according to claim 8, wherein the threshold value updating programmed logic circuitry reduces the threshold value by a predetermined amount each time the accumulation value is calculated.

10. The storage medium according to claim 8, wherein

the threshold value updating programmed logic circuitry pre-sets a fixed value other than the threshold value, and

the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines, as the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, the direction of the accumulation value when the magnitude of the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry is greater than both the threshold value and the fixed value.

11. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of an apparatus to perform a process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to an input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition,

wherein the computer is caused to further function as;

elapsed time measurement programmed logic circuitry for measuring an elapsed time from when the direction determination programmed logic circuitry has determined the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, and

information processing programmed logic circuitry for performing, when the elapsed time increases to a predetermined amount, a predetermined information processing by using the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device having been determined by the direction determination programmed logic circuitry.

12. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of an apparatus to perform a process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to an input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition,

wherein;

the acceleration sensor is capable of detecting the acceleration having a magnitude within a predetermined measurable range, and

the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry updates, when the acceleration represented by the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry has a value outside the predetermined measurable range, the change amount value so as to represent the change amount value obtained by attenuating, by a predetermined amount, the change amount value immediately preceding the change amount value being currently calculated.

13. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of an apparatus to perform a process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to an input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition,

wherein;

the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates the accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value which has been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry and has been multiplied by a coefficient,

the acceleration sensor is capable of detecting, in three axial directions, the acceleration applied to the input device,

the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines, based on a two-dimensional plane including two axes selected from among three axes of the three axial directions, the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, and

the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry sets a value of the coefficient in accordance with a magnitude of the acceleration which is represented by the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry and is applied in one axial direction other than directions represented by the two axes selected from among the three axes.

14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry sets, when the magnitude of the acceleration applied in the one axial direction is zero, the value of the coefficient to one, and sets, when the magnitude of the acceleration applied in the one axial direction is greater than zero, the value of the coefficient to a value smaller than one such that the greater the magnitude of the acceleration applied in the one axial direction is, the smaller the value of the coefficient is.

15. A storage medium having stored thereon an acceleration data processing program to be executed by a computer of an apparatus to perform a process by using acceleration data output by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to an input device, the computer being caused to function as:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition,

wherein a game program stored on the storage medium includes the acceleration data progressing program and causes the computer to perform a game process by using the acceleration data, wherein the computer is caused to further function as game process programmed logic circuitry for performing the game process by using the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device having been determined by the direction determination programmed logic circuitry.

16. The storage medium having stored thereon the game program according to claim 15, wherein the game process programmed logic circuitry includes:

object setting programmed logic circuitry for setting a game object in a virtual game world;

object moving programmed logic circuitry for moving the game object in the virtual game world in accordance with the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device having been determined by the direction determination programmed logic circuitry; and

display control programmed logic circuitry for displaying the game object in the virtual game world on a display device.

17. The storage medium having stored thereon the game program according to claim 15, wherein the game process programmed logic circuitry includes:

object setting programmed logic circuitry for setting a game object in a virtual game world;

object operating programmed logic circuitry for operating the game object in the virtual game world so as to be waved in accordance with the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device having been determined by the direction determination programmed logic circuitry; and

display control programmed logic circuitry for displaying the game object in the virtual game world on a display device.

18. The storage medium having stored thereon the game program according to claim 15, wherein the game process programmed logic circuitry includes:

sound generation setting programmed logic circuitry for setting, in accordance with the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device having been determined by the direction determination programmed logic circuitry, a sound to be generated; and

sound control programmed logic circuitry for generating, from a speaker, the sound having been set by the sound generation setting programmed logic circuitry.

19. An acceleration data processing game apparatus for performing a predetermined game process by using acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor capable of detecting, in at least one axial direction thereof, an acceleration applied to a game input device, the acceleration data processing game apparatus comprising:

data acquisition programmed logic circuitry for acquiring the acceleration data at predetermined time intervals;

change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating a change amount value representing a change amount of the acceleration for each said axial direction with respect to time by using the acceleration data having been acquired by the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry;

accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry for calculating an accumulation value by sequentially and cumulatively adding the change amount value for each said axial direction having been calculated by the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry; and

direction determination programmed logic circuitry for determining, as a waving direction representing a moving direction of the game input device, a direction of the accumulation value, when the accumulation value having been calculated by the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry satisfies a predetermined condition.

20. The acceleration data processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the accumulation value calculation programmed logic circuitry includes an attenuation process programmed logic circuitry for sequentially attenuating the accumulation value before or after the change amount value is added to the accumulation value.

21. The acceleration data processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein:

the acceleration sensor is capable of detecting, in at least two axial directions, the acceleration applied to the input device;

the data acquisition programmed logic circuitry acquires the acceleration data outputted by the acceleration sensor in units of axial components of the at least two axial directions;

the change amount calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates, as the change amount value, the change amount of the acceleration in units of the axial components by using the acceleration represented by the acceleration data in units of the axial components; and

the direction determination programmed logic circuitry determines, as the waving direction representing the moving direction of the input device, a direction of a combined value of the accumulation values obtained in units of the axial components.