Audio interface for controlling a motion platform

• US 8,468,280 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D-Box Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: D-Box Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Paillard, Bruno
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): OBERLY, ERIC T
• Application Number:
  US11/876,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20080104289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,066 Days
• Field of Search: 710/65, 434/55
• US Class Current: 710/65
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/22 Setup operations, e.g. calibration, key configuration or button assignment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/28 responding to control signals received from the game device for affecting ambient conditions, e.g. for vibrating players' seats, activating scent dispensers or affecting temperature or light controlling the output signals based on the game progress A63F13/50
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/302 specially adapted for receiving control signals not targeted to a display device or game input means, e.g. vibrating driver's seat, scent dispenser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L

Abstract

The present description relates to the interfacing of a computer with a motion platform using a USB audio-class computer peripheral. The computer peripheral receives a digital audio-format signal according to the USB specification and provides a motion signal to up to four motion platforms. As the computer peripheral is a USB audio-class peripheral, no device-specific driver is required to play motion synchronously with a movie or a video game. The general purpose audio driver included in the operating system of the computer is advantageously used and the computer peripheral can alternately be used with any operating system comprising such a general purpose audio driver, such as Windows 2000, Windows XO or Mac OSX. The computer peripheral is seen by the computer as a USB sound card.

Claims

1. An audio-class computer peripheral to be connected to a computer comprising a general-purpose audio driver and configured to provide a motion signal to control a motion platform using said computer,

said motion platform comprises motion actuators configured to impart movement on said motion platform from a digital audio-format signal comprising channels with a stream of motion samples

said computer peripheral comprising:

a computer interface configured to receive said digital audio-format signal to be provided using said general-purpose audio driver, said digital audio-format signal comprising motion samples, and configured to extract said motion samples from said digital audio-format signal; and

a motion platform interface configured to produce, from said motion samples, said motion signal configured to control movements of said motion platform, said motion platform interface comprising a mixing module configured to produce, using said channels, as said motion signal a stream of actuator samples configured to control each one of said actuators, said mixing module comprising a mix-enabled mode wherein said mixing module converts said streams of motion samples into said streams of actuator samples such that the position of the contact portions of said actuators with the motion platform are coplanar, wherein said mixing module provides at least one mapping between said channels and said actuators.

2. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer interface is further configured to receive configuration commands from said computer.

3. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer interface is further configured to communicate feedback data to said computer using at least one of said general-purpose audio driver and a custom driver.

4. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a management unit configured to provide control commands to said motion platform and configured to manage said motion platforms according to a feedback received from said motion platform.

5. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 4, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a signal splitter configured to split said motion signal to a plurality of said motion platforms and wherein said management unit is further configured to provide control commands to each one of said motion platforms and configured to manage each one of said motion platforms according to a feedback received from each one of said motion platforms.

6. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 5, wherein said mixing module comprises a mix-disabled mode wherein a number of said channels is equal to a number of said motion actuators, each one of said channels corresponding to one of said motion actuators, and wherein said mixing module is configured to produce a stream of actuator samples corresponding to each one of said channels by applying no more than scaling transformations.

7. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 5, wherein said mixing module comprises a 3-channel mix-enabled mode wherein said digital audio-format signal comprises a first channel corresponding to a heave motion, a second channel corresponding to a pitch motion and a third channel corresponding to a roll motion.

8. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said audio-class computer peripheral is an audio-class USB peripheral to be accessed by said computer using a general-purpose USB audio driver.

9. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer comprises a general-purpose audio configuration interface in communication with said general-purpose audio driver, configured to receive user input to adjust at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting, said digital audio-format signal comprising said at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting and said computer interface being further configured to extract said at least one of a volume setting and a bass/treble setting, said motion platform interface comprising a feature unit configured to perform at least one of adjusting said streams of actuator samples to adjust an amplitude of movements of said motion platform according to said volume setting and applying predetermined bass and treble filters to said streams of motion samples to provide said streams of actuator samples.

10. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit configured to apply a bass-boost low-pass filter.

11. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said computer comprises a general-purpose audio configuration interface in communication with said general-purpose audio driver and comprising a mute control and wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit comprising a standby state wherein said motion platform is still, said standby state being activated when said mute control is set.

12. The computer peripheral as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motion platform interface comprises a feature unit comprising a standby state wherein said motion platform is still, said standby state being activated when no digital audio-format signal is received during a predetermined time period.