Game apparatus and storage medium storing a handwriting input program

• US 7,907,779 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ito, Jun, Kawamoto, Koichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan; Sheela C
• Application Number:
  US11/526,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20070177801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 382/187, 382/189, 382/229, 382/186, 382/188, 382/228, 382/116, 382/311, 382/225, 382/161, 382/181, 382/209, 382/313, 382/159, 382/177, 382/203, 382/190, 382/195, 715/203, 715/863, 715/210, 715/234, 707/E17.024, 345/173, 345/179, 706/20, 708/141
• US Class Current: 382/187
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• 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 13/426 involving on-screen location information, e.g. screen coordinates of an area at which the player is aiming with a light gun
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/0418 with a grid, e.g. 'Sudoku'-type games
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/36 Matching; Classification

Abstract

A game apparatus displays a game screen of 9×9 grid, for example, of a Sudoku puzzle on one LCD and an empty cell (cell to be answered) is large-displayed on the other LCD. A touch panel is provided on the LCD to allow a player to handwrite a numeral to fill in the cell with a stick, etc. on the touch panel. When a handwritten region is larger at a certain degree or more with respect to the cell, it is considered that an answer numeral is input, and the answer numeral is large-displayed. If the handwritten region is not so large as to the cell, it is considered that a note numeral is input, and the note numeral is displayed in a smaller region in the cell. However, if the notes numeral is settled as an answer numeral, a game determination is performed according to the answer numeral.

Claims

1. A game apparatus for playing a game to fill in cells with characters, the game apparatus including non-transitory memory storing instructions executed by a processor, the instructions when executed by the processor cause the game apparatus to:

detect an answer character input based on an input character entered by a player, wherein the detection of the answer includes recognition of the answer character based on a characteristic of the input character;

displaying the answer character when the answer character is detected based on the input character entered by the player;

performing a game determination on the basis of said answer character;

displaying a result of the game determination;

detecting a note character based on another input character entered by a player, wherein the detection of the note character includes recognition of the note character based on a characteristic of the another input character;

displaying the note character detected based on the another input character; and

settling said note character as another answer character, wherein said note character is settled as another answer character based on an input by the player after the note character is displayed.

2. A game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said step of detecting the note character input includes detecting a plurality of note characters, and displaying the note character includes simultaneously displaying said plurality of note characters.

3. A game apparatus game apparatus for playing a game to fill in cells with characters, the game apparatus including non-transitory memory storing instructions executed by a processor, the instructions when executed by the processor cause the game apparatus to:

detect an answer character input based on an input character entered by a player, wherein the detection of the answer includes recognition of the answer character based on a characteristic of the input character;

displaying the answer character when the answer character is detected based on an input character entered by the player;

performing a game determination on the basis of said answer character;

displaying a result of the game determination;

detecting a note character based on another input character entered by a player, wherein the detection of the note character includes recognition of the note character based on a characteristic of the another input character;

displaying the note character detected based on the another input character; and

settling said note character as another answer character, wherein said note character is settled as another answer character based on an input by the player after the note character is displayed, wherein said input character for the answer character is entered in a defined region for handwritten input characters, and said another input character for the note character is entered in the defined region for handwritten input characters,

the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the game apparatus to;

store a locus of a handwritten input,

recognize the handwritten character according to said locus, and

determine whether a size of the handwritten character is above a a predetermined size,

wherein said characteristic of the input character and the another input character include a size, and the input character is detected as the answer character according to an affirmative determination of said size of the handwritten character exceeding the predetermine size, and said another input character is detected as the note character input means according to a negative determination of said size of the handwritten character exceeding the predetermined size.

4. A game apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said storing a locus includes storing a locus for each stroke, and counting each stroke,

wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further cause the game apparatus to:

recognize a handwritten character on the basis of both of a loci of a previous stroke and a loci of a current stroke when a count value of said stroke counter is not a predetermined value.

5. A game apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the game apparatus to:

display said note character in a handwritten position of the previous stroke when said negative determination is made as to the handwritten character of the current stroke.

6. A game apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said recognition of the handwritten character is made on the basis of the current stroke when the count value of said stroke counter is said predetermined value.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a handwriting input program for working a handwriting input device including a display, a handwriting input device, said handwriting input program causes a computer of the handwriting input device to execute following steps of the handwriting input program:

a handwriting inputting step for storing a locus of a handwritten input in said storage means;

a locus region specifying step for specifying a region occupying the handwritten input region in which the locus is set in advance in said storage means on the basis of the locus of said handwritten input, and storing it in said storage means;

a character recognizing step for performing a character recognition process on the locus of the handwritten input stored in said storage means; and

a recognition result displaying step for displaying said recognition result in a size corresponding to the size of the region specified according to said locus region specifying step and in a position corresponding to said region on said display means.

8. A non-transitory storage medium storing a handwriting input program for working a handwriting input device including a display, a handwriting input device, said handwriting input program causes a computer of the handwriting input device to execute following steps of the handwriting input program:

a handwriting inputting step for storing a locus of a handwritten input in said storage means;

a locus region specifying step for specifying a region occupying the handwritten input region in which the locus is set in advance in said storage means on the basis of the locus of said handwritten input, and storing it in said storage means;

a character recognizing step for performing a character recognition process on the locus of the handwritten input stored in said storage means; and

a recognition result displaying step for displaying said recognition result in a size corresponding to the size of the region specified according to said locus region specifying step and in a position corresponding to said region on said display means,

wherein said recognition result displaying step further includes a character display size determining step for determining a display size of said recognition result in correspondence to the size of the region specified by said locus region specifying step, and a character display position determining step for determining a display position of said character recognition result in correspondence to the position of the region specified by said locus region specifying step.

9. A non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8, wherein said character display size determining step determines said display size depending on whether or not a central point of the region specified by said locus region specifying step is included in a predetermined region of said handwritten input region stored in said storage means in advance, and whether or not the region has a predetermined size.

10. A non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8, wherein said display position determining step determines that the central point of said region corresponds to which of said plurality of display positions of said recognition result stored in said storage means in advance, and displays the recognition result in said corresponding display position.

11. A method to detect and process answers and notes handwritten as characters entered in a cell of a plurality of cells of a game displayed on an apparatus to play the game having a processor and a display, the method comprising:

recognizing by the processor of an a handwritten character input by a user playing the game to the apparatus as being a recognized character;

determining by the processor whether the recognized character is an answer character or a note character;

performing by the processor of a determination on the basis of the recognized character being an answer character;

displaying on the display of a result of the determination made by the processor as an answer for the game;

determining by the processor whether the recognized character is a note character;

displaying on the display the recognized character determined to be a note character, wherein the note character is not initially displayed as an answer for the game; and

after displaying the note character and based on an input by the user, settling the note character such that the note character is treated as an answer character and is applied in a determination by the processor to generate an answer to the game and shown on the display.

13. A method as in claim 11 further comprising determining a size of the handwritten character,

the step of determining by the processor whether the recognized character is the answer character or a note character includes determining that the recognized character is the answer character if the size of the handwritten character is larger than a predetermined threshold size and determining that the recognized character is the note character if the handwritten character is at least as small as the threshold size.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

determining a locus of the handwritten character input by the user;

the recognition step includes recognizing the handwritten character according to said locus, and

the step of determining includes determining the size of the handwritten character on the basis of said locus.

12. A method to detect and process answers and notes handwritten as characters entered in a cell of a plurality of cells displayed on an apparatus having a processor and a display, the method comprising:

recognizing by the processor of an a handwritten character input by a user to the apparatus as being a recognized character;

determining by the processor whether the recognized character is an answer character or a note character;

performing by the processor of a determination on the basis of the recognized character being an answer character;

displaying on the display of a result of the determination made by the processor;

determining by the processor whether the recognized character is a note character;

displaying on the display the recognized character determined to be a note character; and

after displaying the note character and based on an input by the user, settling the note character such that the note character is treated as an answer character and is applied in a determination by the processor to generate a result shown on the display,

wherein said step of determining when the recognized character is a note character is repeated such that a plurality of recognized characters are each determined to be a different note character and the different note characters are simultaneously displayed.

15. A method as in claim game 14, wherein said locus includes a locus for each handwritten stroke input used to form the handwritten character, and said method includes counting a number of the handwritten strokes used to form the handwritten character, wherein said recognition step includes recognizing the handwritten character based on the locus of a prior stroke and the locus of a current stroke when a value of a count of said stroke counter is not a predetermined value.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein said displaying of the note character displays said note character in a handwritten position of a previous stroke when said size determination makes a negative determination as to the handwritten character of the current stroke.

17. A method as in claim 15, wherein said character recognition step recognizes the handwritten character based on a current stroke when a value of the count is said predetermined value.