Storage medium storing a program for controlling the movement of an object

• US 7,911,468 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2006
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ebisawa, Yasushi, Ajioka, Yoshitaka, Mizuki, Kiyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): REPKO, JASON MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US11/327,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20060209068A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,898 Days
• Field of Search: 345/424, 345/959, 345/949
• US Class Current: 345/474
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• 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 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6661 for changing the position of the virtual camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6669 using a plurality of virtual cameras concurrently or sequentially, e.g. automatically switching between fixed virtual cameras when a character change rooms
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8058 Virtual breeding, e.g. tamagotchi
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

As a virtual plane used when converting a designation point, which is a touched position on a touch panel, into a control point, in a virtual three dimensional space, used for controlling a movement of an object, a first virtual plane is used when a ball is an object to be controlled; a second virtual plane is used when an object to be operated is a dog and an action mode thereof is an attention mode; a third virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a lick mode; a fourth virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a rope shake mode; and a fifth virtual plane is used when the object to be operated is the dog and the action mode thereof is a circle mode.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium having tangibly recorded thereon an information processing program for causing a computer to execute:

displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional space;

detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device;

selecting automatically one virtual plane in accordance with a condition from among a plurality of virtual planes in the virtual three dimension space;

converting, by using the selected virtual plane, the designation point to at least one control point, represented in three dimensional coordinates, displayed on a position respectively associated to the position of the designation point on the display screen; and

controlling a movement of the object by using the control point, wherein

the information processing program causes the computer to further execute

setting and updating an action mode of the object, and

storing the set or updated action mode in a storage device, and in the selecting, before the designation point used in the converting is detected in the detecting, the one virtual plane is automatically selected from among the plurality of virtual planes in the virtual three dimension space in accordance with the action mode stored in the storage device, wherein

the object behaves according to the stored action mode of the object.

2. The non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium according to claim 1, wherein

each virtual plane is set in the three dimensional space, such that the position of each virtual plane is set separately from the object and independently from the position of the object.

3. The non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium according to claim 1, wherein

said setting and updating an action mode of the object comprises setting and updating a behavioral action mode of the object, wherein the object interacts with its environment in the virtual three dimensional space according to its behavioral action mode.

4. A non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium having tangibly recorded thereon a game program for causing a computer in a game apparatus to execute:

displaying, on a display screen, an image, viewed from a virtual camera, of an object positioned in a virtual three dimensional game space;

detecting a designation point represented in two dimensional coordinates by using an output signal from a pointing device operated by a player;

selecting automatically one virtual plane in accordance with a condition from among a plurality of virtual planes in the virtual, three dimension space;

converting, by using the selected virtual plane, the designation point to at least one control point, represented in three dimensional Coordinates;

displayed on a position respectively associated to the position of the designation point on the display screen; and

controlling a movement of the object by using the control point, wherein

the game program causes the computer to further execute

setting and updating an action mode of the object, and

storing the set or updated action mode in a storage device, and in the selecting, before the designation point used in the converting is detected in the detecting, the one virtual plane is automatically selected from among the plurality of virtual planes in the virtual three dimension space in accordance with the action mode stored in the storage device, wherein

the object behaves according to the stored action mode of the object.

5. The non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium according to claim 4, wherein

each virtual plane is set in the three dimensional space, such that the position of each virtual plane is set separately from the object and independently from the position of the object.

6. The non-transitory computer readable physical storage medium according to claim 4, wherein

said setting and updating an action mode of the object comprises setting and updating a behavioral action mode of the object, wherein the object interacts with its environment in the virtual three dimensional space according to its behavioral action mode.