Game program and game system

• US 8,068,096 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2006
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Taira, Masayuki, Abe, Goro
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US11/488,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20070257884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,960 Days
• Field of Search: 345/162, 345/179, 345/204, 345/522, 345/530, 345156-159, 178/19.04, 178/19.01, 463/1, 463/7, 463/11, 463/31, 463/37, 463/39, 463/43, 463/36, 341/20, 702/142, 702/127
• US Class Current: 345/158
• 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 13/833 Hand-to-hand fighting, e.g. martial arts competition A63F13/837 takes precedence
• 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 3/0481 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

A game system comprises a pointing device for pointing to an arbitrary point in a game screen displayed on a display device and an acceleration sensor provided in the pointing device. A processor of the game system repeatedly identifies a position of the point pointed to by the pointing device to detect a change in the identified position. Also, the processor determines a movement direction of the pointing device based on an acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor. When detecting a position change, the processor executes game processing based on the position change, and when detecting no position change, the processor executes game processing based on the determined movement direction of the pointing device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program, wherein

said game program causes a processor of a game system associated with a display device for displaying a game screen updated according to progress of game processing, a pointing device for pointing to an arbitrary point in the game screen displayed by said display device, and an acceleration sensor provided in said pointing device, to perform:

periodically identifying a position of the point pointed to by said pointing device;

detecting a change in the identified position;

determining a movement direction of said pointing device based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor; and

executing said game processing based on a position change when the position change is detected, or executing said game processing based on the movement direction determined based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor when information relating to position change information is not available.

2. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 1, wherein

said game program allows said processor to further perform determining whether or not the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor is equal to or more than a threshold value, and

position identification is carried out only for a time period during when it is determined that the acceleration is equal to or more than the threshold value.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 2, wherein

said game program controls said processor to further perform determining the movement direction of said pointing device, based on, out of a plurality of positions detected within said time period, a first detected position and a last detected position.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 3, wherein

determining the movement direction of said pointing device based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor is carried out only for said time period.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 1, wherein

said game processing includes deciding a path in said game screen corresponding to the movement of said pointing device, and

when a position change is detected, said path is decided on the basis of a plurality of identified positions, and when no position change is detected, said path is decided on the basis of the movement direction determined based on the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor and a preset position.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 1, wherein

said game program causes said processor to further perform:

calculating a speed direction of said pointing device in a local coordinate system moving together with the pointing device, by accumulatively adding a change in acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor;

calculating a gravity direction in said local coordinate system by accumulatively adding an acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor; and

calculating a speed direction in a stationary coordinate system by subjecting the speed direction calculated in said local coordinate system to a rotational operation so that the calculated gravity direction matches a gravity direction in said stationary coordinate system, and wherein

determination of said movement direction of said pointing device based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor is made on the basis of a result of calculation when calculating said speed direction in a stationary coordinate system.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 6, wherein

said acceleration sensor detects acceleration components in three directions,

in each of said calculating a speed direction of said pointing device in a local coordinate system, calculating a gravity direction in said local coordinate system and calculating a speed direction in a stationary coordinate system, calculation is carried out on two acceleration components corresponding to any two of said three directions, and

in said acceleration determination, determination is carried out on the remaining one of said three directions.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 6, wherein

said acceleration sensor has a predetermined detectable range, and

said game program controls said processor to further perform a correction for, when the acceleration of said pointing device exceeds said detectable range, correcting the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 8, wherein

in said correction, correction is made using a Bazier curve defined by the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor when the acceleration of said pointing device falls within said detectable range.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recording a computer game program according to claim 1, wherein

said game program causes said processor to further perform:

calculating a gravity direction in a local coordinate system moving together with said pointing device by accumulatively adding an acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor; and

calculating a direction of acceleration in a stationary coordinate system by subjecting the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor to a rotational process so that the gravity direction in the stationary coordinate system matches the gravity direction calculated in said gravity direction calculation, and wherein

determination of said movement direction of said pointing device based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor is made on the basis of a result of calculation when calculating said speed direction in a stationary coordinate system.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 10, wherein

said acceleration sensor detects acceleration components in three directions, and

in each of said direction calculations and said acceleration calculation, calculation is carried out on three acceleration components corresponding to said three directions.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer game program according to claim 1, wherein

said game system further comprises a plurality of light-emitting elements provided in proximity to a screen of said display device,

said optical pointing device includes an imaging unit for imaging an object scene containing said plurality of light-emitting elements, and

in said position identification, the position pointed to by said pointing device is identified on the basis of an image of the object scene imaged by said imaging unit.

13. A game system associated with a display device for displaying a game screen updated according to progress of a game, comprising:

a pointing device for pointing to an arbitrary point in the game screen displayed by said display device;

an acceleration sensor provided in said pointing device;

position identification circuitry for identifying a position of the point pointed to by said pointing device periodically;

a position change circuitry for detecting a change in the position identified by said position identification circuitry;

first direction determination circuitry for determining a movement direction of said pointing device, based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor; and

a game processor for executing said game processing based on a position change when the position change is detected by said position change circuitry, or executing said game processing based on the movement direction determined by said first direction determination circuitry when information relating to position change information is not available.

14. A game device associated with a display device for displaying a game screen updated according to progress of a game, comprising:

a pointing device for pointing to an arbitrary point in the game screen displayed by said display device;

an acceleration sensor provided in said pointing device;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to said processor, said memory storing instructions that, when executed by said processor, control said processor to;

(a) identify a position of the point pointed to by said pointing device at intervals of unit of time,

(b) detect a change in the identified position, and

(c) determine a movement direction of said pointing device, based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor, wherein

said processor executes said game processing based on a position change when the position change is detected, or executes said game processing based on the determined movement direction when position change information is not available.

15. A method for updating a game screen displayed on a display device by a game device according to game processing, the game device including a pointing device for pointing to an arbitrary point in the game screen and an acceleration sensor provided in said pointing device, comprising:

identifying a position of the point pointed to by said pointing device at intervals of unit of time;

detecting a change in the position identified in said position identification;

determining a movement direction of said pointing device, based on the acceleration detected by said acceleration sensor; and

executing said game processing based on a position change when the position change is detected in said position change detection, or executing said game processing based on the movement direction determined in said first direction determination when position change information is not available.

16. A system comprising:

a first sensing arrangement for outputting information associated with aspects of a position pointed to using a pointing device;

a second sensing arrangement for outputting information associated with aspects of motion of the pointing device; and

a processor configured to perform processing based on the first sensor output information if such information is available and to perform processing based on the second sensor output information if the first sensor output information is not available.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the first sensing arrangement comprises an optical sensing arrangement and the second sensing arrangement comprises an inertial sensing arrangement.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the inertial sensing arrangement comprises an accelerometer disposed in the pointing device.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the optical sensing arrangement comprises a marker and a camera.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the camera is disposed in the pointing device.