Video game system with wireless modular handheld controller
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A video game remote controller comprising:
- a housing that can be comfortably held in one hand by a user, said housing including an upper control surface and a lower surface, in use the fingers of a user curling around the lower surface to allow the user to grasp and hold the housing and control the orientation thereof, in use the user'"'"'s thumb extending over the upper control surface, the housing lower surface defining a depression therein positioned and dimensioned so as to accept the user'"'"'s index finger;
at least one depressible button disposed on the upper control surface such that the user'"'"'s thumb is able to depress and operate said depressible button while the user grasps said housing;
at least one further depressible control disposed at least in part within said housing lower surface depression, said user in use being able to selectively depress said further depressible control by squeezing the further depressible control with a finger;
an accelerometer mounted within the housing that senses acceleration;
an imaging module including an optical sensor mounted on or in the housing that senses infrared light, wherein the imaging module determines positions of illuminated stationary objects within images captured by the optical sensor; and
a wireless transceiver operatively coupled to the accelerometer and the imaging module that transmits acceleration information based on signals generated by the accelerometer and positions of illuminated stationary objects based on the infrared light sensed by the imaging module.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A home entertainment system for video games and other applications includes a main unit and handheld controllers. The handheld controllers sense their own orientation by detecting illumination emitted by emitters positioned at either side of a display. The controllers can be plugged into expansion units that customize the overall control interface for particular applications including but not limited to legacy video games.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A video game remote controller comprising:
-
a housing that can be comfortably held in one hand by a user, said housing including an upper control surface and a lower surface, in use the fingers of a user curling around the lower surface to allow the user to grasp and hold the housing and control the orientation thereof, in use the user'"'"'s thumb extending over the upper control surface, the housing lower surface defining a depression therein positioned and dimensioned so as to accept the user'"'"'s index finger; at least one depressible button disposed on the upper control surface such that the user'"'"'s thumb is able to depress and operate said depressible button while the user grasps said housing; at least one further depressible control disposed at least in part within said housing lower surface depression, said user in use being able to selectively depress said further depressible control by squeezing the further depressible control with a finger; an accelerometer mounted within the housing that senses acceleration; an imaging module including an optical sensor mounted on or in the housing that senses infrared light, wherein the imaging module determines positions of illuminated stationary objects within images captured by the optical sensor; and a wireless transceiver operatively coupled to the accelerometer and the imaging module that transmits acceleration information based on signals generated by the accelerometer and positions of illuminated stationary objects based on the infrared light sensed by the imaging module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A handheld device comprising:
-
a housing including an upper control surface and a lower surface, the housing lower surface defining a depression therein positioned and dimensioned so as to physically accommodate a digit; at least one depressible control disposed on the upper control surface; at least one trigger control disposed at least in part within said housing lower surface depression, said user in use being able to selectively depress said trigger control by squeezing the trigger control with the accommodated digit; an image sensor disposed within a first end of the housing, the image sensor outputting frames of two dimensional image data indicative of a scene within a field of view of the image sensor; a processor that receives the frames of two dimensional image data output by the image sensor and, for each frame of image data, determines the positions of illuminated objects appearing within the frame of image data; an acceleration sensor mounted within the housing that senses acceleration; and a wireless transceiver that transmits acceleration information generated by the acceleration sensor, and the positions of any illuminated objects within captured frames of image data as determined by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification