Storage medium having information processing program stored thereon and information processing apparatus

• US 7,980,952 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2007
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ohta, Keizo
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Peter DungBa
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOANG, BACH V
• Application Number:
  US11/889,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20080318677A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-157, 702/141, 702/150, 702/152, 463/3, 463 36- 37, 379/433.04, 710/15
• US Class Current: 463/36
• 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 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 3/0346 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry

Abstract

Acceleration data is repeatedly acquired, and an acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction of an acceleration represented by the acceleration data is sequentially accumulated so as to calculate an accumulation vector. A following vector which follows, at a predetermined rate, the accumulation vector calculated by the accumulation vector calculation means is calculated by using the acquired acceleration data, and a difference between the accumulation vector and the following vector is calculated as a differential vector. A position in a virtual world displayed by a display device is designated using a value determined in accordance with the differential vector so as to perform a predetermined processing by using the position.

Claims

1. A non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon an information processing program executed by a computer of an information processing using acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration, in at least one axial direction, applied to a predetermined housing thereof, the information processing program causing the computer to function as:

repeatedly acquiring the acceleration data;

calculating an accumulation vector by sequentially accumulating an acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction of the acceleration represented by the acceleration data, thereby providing a calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a following vector which follows the calculated accumulation vector at a predetermined rate, said following vector calculated using a calculation which includes the calculated accumulation vector;

a differential vector as a difference between the accumulation vector and the calculated following vector; and

designating a position in a virtual world using a value determined in accordance with the differential vector, and performing a predetermined processing by using the position.

2. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the position is designated corresponding to axial component values of the differential vector.

3. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the information processing program causing the computer to further function as wherein the accumulation sequentially attenuating the calculated accumulation vector before or after the acceleration vector is added to the calculated accumulation vector.

4. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the position is designated when a magnitude of the calculated differential vector is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

5. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the acceleration sensor is configured to detect the acceleration having the magnitude within a predetermined measurable range,

the information processing program causes the computer to further function as:

calculating, by using the acquired acceleration data, a change amount vector representing a change amount of the acceleration, when the magnitude of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value within the predetermined measurable range; and

calculating, when the magnitude of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value outside the predetermined measurable range, an estimated acceleration vector by attenuating, by a predetermined amount, the change amount vector immediately preceding the change amount vector being currently calculated so as to update the change amount vector, and adding the updated change amount vector to the most recently accumulated acceleration vector, and

updating, when the magnitude of the acceleration vector having the magnitude and the direction of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value outside the predetermined measurable range, the calculated accumulation vector by adding the estimated acceleration vector to the calculated accumulation vector.

6. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined processing is a process of positioning a predetermined object at the designated position in the virtual world, and moving the predetermined object in the virtual world in accordance with the position being moved.

7. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the position is designated by associating the axial component values of the differential vector with coordinate values of a coordinate system defined in the virtual world, respectively, and

the information processing program causing the computer to further function as moving, in the virtual world, an originating point of the coordinate system defined in the virtual world when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

8. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein:

second acceleration data is configured to be outputted by a second acceleration sensor disposed in a second housing,

the acceleration data is a first acceleration data, the calculated accumulation vector is a first calculated accumulation vector, the following vector is a first following vector, the differential vector is a first differential vector, the position is a first position associated with axial component value of the first differential Vector with coordinate values of a first coordinate system,

wherein the information processing program causes the computer to further function as;

acquiring second acceleration data outputted by a second acceleration sensor;

calculating a second accumulation vector by sequentially accumulating a second acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction of an acceleration represented by the second acceleration data, thereby providing a second calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a second following vector which follows the second calculated accumulation vector at a second predetermined rate, said second following vector calculated using a second calculation which includes the second calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a second differential vector as a difference between the second calculated accumulation vector and the second following vector; and

designating a second position by associating axial component values of the second differential vector with coordinate values of a second coordinate system, respectively, which is different from the first coordinate system,

wherein the predetermined processing a process of positioning a first object at the first position and a second object at the second position, and moving the first object and the second object in the virtual world in accordance with the first position and the second position being moved, respectively.

9. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the information processing program causes the computer to further function as calculating an accumulation differential value by sequentially accumulating the calculated differential vector, in units of axial component values thereof, and

the position is designated, in the virtual world, corresponding to the calculated accumulation differential value.

10. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the information processing program causes the computer to further function as sequentially attenuating the calculated accumulation vector before or after the acceleration vector is added to the calculated accumulation vector.

11. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the accumulation differential value is calculated when a magnitude of the calculated differential vector is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

12. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the acceleration sensor is capable of detecting for the acceleration having the magnitude within a predetermined measurable range,

the information processing program causes the computer to further function as:

calculating, by using the acquired acceleration data, a change amount vector representing a change amount of the acceleration, when the magnitude of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value within the predetermined measurable range; and

calculating, when the magnitude of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value outside the predetermined measurable range, an estimated acceleration vector by attenuating, by a predetermined amount, the change amount vector immediately preceding the change amount vector being currently calculated so as to update the change amount vector, and adding the updated change amount vector to the most recently used acceleration, and

updating the calculated accumulation vector by adding the estimated acceleration vector to the calculated accumulation vector when the magnitude of the acceleration vector having the magnitude and the direction of the acceleration represented by the acquired acceleration data has a value outside the predetermined measurable range.

13. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined processing includes a process of positioning a predetermined object at the position having been designated in the virtual world, and moving the predetermined object in the virtual world in accordance with the position being moved.

14. The storage medium having stored thereon the information processing program according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined housing includes at least one operation button configured to output predetermined operation data in accordance with a user pressing the at least one operation button,

the information processing program causes the computer to further function as repeatedly acquiring the operation data, and

the differential vector is calculated only when the acquired operation data indicates that a predetermined operation button among the at least one operation button is pressed is acquired.

16. The medium of claim 1, wherein the information processing program further causes the computer to function as calculating a new following vector which follows, at the predetermined rate, the calculated accumulation vector, the new following vector based on adding a value obtained by multiplying a difference between the calculated accumulation vector and a last calculated following vector by the predetermined rate to the last calculated following vector.

19. The medium of claim 1, wherein the information processing program further causes the computer to function as adding to a last calculated following vector a value obtained by multiplying a difference value between the calculated accumulation vector and the last calculated following vector by the predetermined rate to calculate a new following vector which follows, at the predetermined rate, the calculated accumulation vector.

15. An information processing apparatus configured to perform a processing using acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration, in at least one axial direction, applied to a predetermined housing thereof, the information processing apparatus comprising:

a processing system configured to cause;

repeatedly acquiring the acceleration data;

calculating an accumulation vector by sequentially accumulating an acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction of the acceleration represented by the acceleration data, thereby providing a calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a following vector which follows the calculated accumulation vector at a predetermined rate, said following vector calculated using a calculation which includes the calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a differential vector as a difference between the calculated accumulation vector and the following vector; and

designating a position in a virtual world using a value determined in accordance with the differential vector, and performing a predetermined processing by using the position.

17. An information processing system configured to use acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration in at least one axial direction, the acceleration sensor disposed into or on a predetermined housing, the information processing system comprising:

a processing system configured to cause;

acquiring the acceleration data;

calculating an accumulation vector by sequentially accumulating an acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction related to the acceleration represented by the acceleration data, thereby providing a calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a following vector which follows the calculated accumulation vector at a predetermined rate, said following vector calculated using a calculation which includes the calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a differential vector, the differential vector being a difference between the calculated accumulation vector and the following vector;

designating a position in a virtual world in accordance with the differential vector; and

performing a process based at least in part on the position.

18. A computer implemented method for use on at least one processor that is configured to use acceleration data that is outputted from an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration in at least one axial direction, the acceleration sensor disposed in a housing, the method comprising:

acquiring the acceleration data;

calculating an accumulation vector by accumulating an acceleration vector having a magnitude and a direction of the acceleration represented by the acceleration data, thereby providing a calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a following vector which follows the calculated accumulation vector at a predetermined rate, said following vector calculated using a calculation which includes the calculated accumulation vector;

calculating a differential vector as a difference between the calculated accumulation vector and the following vector;

designating a position in a virtual world in accordance with the differential vector; and

performing a process based at least in part on the position.