Input data processing program and input data processing apparatus

• US 7,833,098 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ohta, Keizo
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, MY CHAU T
• Application Number:
  US11/447,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20070018950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,623 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345/162, 345/173, 345/174, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 178/18.06, 702/127, 702/150, 702/155, 702/158, 463/30, 463/31, 463/36, 463/37, 463/43
• US Class Current: 463/37
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1068 being specially adapted to detect the point of contact of the player on a surface, e.g. floor mat, touch pad
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An information processing apparatus stores a series of input positions which are continuously detected by an input device in a memory thereof in order of the detection. An input position (B1) initially stored in the memory is stored as a reference point position in the memory. When each of the series of input positions is stored in the memory, an operation vector (vector v′1) connecting between an input position having been most recently stored in the memory and the reference point position in the memory is calculated. The information processing apparatus performs a predetermined processing using a magnitude and a direction of the operation vector. The reference point position stored in the memory is updated to a position obtained when the reference point position is moved toward a predetermined target position (point A) when each of the series of input positions is stored in the memory.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon an input data processing program which causes a computer, having a detecting device that detects input positions on an input surface at intervals of a predetermined time period, to execute:

storing, as a reference point position, an initially detected input position among a series of input positions which are continuously detected, in a memory of the computer;

updating the reference point position so as to move the reference point position from the initially detected input position toward a predetermined target position, wherein the predetermined target position represents a center of the input surface;

calculating, when each of the series of input positions is detected, an operation vector connecting between an input position having been most recently detected and the reference point position stored in the memory; and

performing a predetermined process using a magnitude and a direction of the operation vector.

2. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the updating includes updating the reference point position when each of the series of input positions is detected.

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

calculating a motion vector ending at the input position having been most recently detected and starting at an input position immediately preceding the input position having been most recently detected;

calculating a moving distance of the reference point position using at least one of a magnitude and a direction of the motion vector; and

moving the reference point position stored in the memory to a position obtained when the reference point position is moved toward the predetermined target position over the moving distance.

4. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein calculating the moving distance includes calculating the moving distance so that the larger magnitude the motion vector has, the longer the moving distance is.

5. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein calculating the moving distance includes calculating the moving distance so that the closer a direction of the motion vector is to a direction of a straight line connecting between the reference point position and the predetermined target position, the longer the moving distance is.

6. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein calculating the moving distance includes calculating the moving distance so that the larger component the motion vector has in a direction of a straight line connecting between the reference point position and the predetermined target position, the longer the moving distance is.

7. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein

the updating further includes adjusting, when the moving distance having been calculated is longer than a distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, the moving distance to the distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, and

the moving includes moving, when the moving distance having been calculated is longer than the distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, the reference point position stored in the memory using the moving distance having been adjusted.

8. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the updating includes

calculating a motion vector ending at the input position having been most recently detected and starting at an input position immediately preceding the input position having been most recently detected;

determining whether or not a magnitude of the motion vector has a value larger than a predetermined value; and

moving the reference point position stored in the memory only when the determination determines that the magnitude of the motion vector has a value larger than the predetermined value.

9. The storage medium according to claim 3, wherein the reference point position storing stores, when the initially detected input position is within a predetermined area including the predetermined target position, the initially detected input position as the reference point position in the memory, and stores, when the initially detected input position is outside the predetermined area, the predetermined target position as the reference point position in the memory.

10. An input data processing apparatus comprising:

a detecting device that is configured to detects input positions on an input surface at intervals of a predetermined time period;

a storage device which is configured to stores, as a reference point position, an initially detected input position among a series of input positions which are continuously detected;

a processing device which is configured to update the reference point position so as to move the reference point position from the initially detected input position toward a predetermined target position, and which is configured to calculates, when each of the series of input positions is detected, an operation vector connecting between an input position having been most recently detected and the reference point position stored in the storage device and which performs a predetermined process using a magnitude and a direction of the operation vector

wherein the predetermined target position represents a center of the input surface.

11. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the updating by the processing device includes updating the reference point position when each of the series of input positions is detected.

12. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the updating by the processing device includes:

calculating a motion vector ending at the input position having been most recently detected and starting at an input position immediately preceding the input position having been most recently detected;

calculating a moving distance of the reference point position using at least one of a magnitude and a direction of the motion vector; and

moving the reference point position stored in the memory to a position obtained when the reference point position is moved toward the predetermined target position over the moving distance.

13. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the moving distance is calculated so that the larger magnitude the motion vector has, the longer the moving distance is.

14. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the moving distance is calculated so that the closer a direction of the motion vector is to a direction of a straight line connecting between the reference point position and the predetermined target position, the longer the moving distance is.

15. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the moving distance is calculated so that the larger component the motion vector has in a direction of a straight line connecting between the reference point position and the predetermined target position, the longer the moving distance is.

16. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

the updating further includes adjusting, when the moving distance having been calculated is longer than a distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, the moving distance to the distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, and

the moving includes moving, when the moving distance having been calculated is longer than the distance from the reference point position to the predetermined target position, the reference point position stored in the memory using the moving distance having been adjusted.

17. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the updating by the processing device includes:

calculating a motion vector ending at the input position having been most recently detected and starting at an input position immediately preceding the input position having been most recently detected;

determining whether or not a magnitude of the motion vector has a value larger than a predetermined value; and

moving the reference point position stored in the memory only when the determination determines that the magnitude of the motion vector has a value larger than the predetermined value.

18. The input data processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the reference point position storing includes storing, when the initially detected input position is within a predetermined area including the predetermined target position, the initially detected input position as the reference point position in the memory, and storing, when the initially detected input position is outside the predetermined area, the predetermined target position as the reference point position in the memory.