Game controllers with full controlling mechanisms

• US 8,795,077 B1
• Filed: 10/24/2010
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wei Yen
• Original Assignee: AiLive, Inc.
• Inventors: Powers, III, William Robert, Wilkinson, Dana, Zhu, Youding, Musick, JR., Charles, Kay, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, BACH V
• Application Number:
  US12/910,808
• Time in Patent Office: 1,381 Days
• Field of Search: 463 36- 37
• US Class Current: 463/37
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/22 Setup operations, e.g. calibration, key configuration or button assignment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/40 Processing input control signals of video game devices, e.g. signals generated by the player or derived from the environment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1043 being characterized by constructional details
• 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 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• 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

Abstract

A personal control mechanism is disclosed. The personal control mechanism includes at least one controller with full functionalities in a sense that the controller does not need any attachment and is operable with one hand to fully control an interactive environment being shown. According to one embodiment of the controller, the controller has a top surface including a number of buttons and a joystick operable by a finger of one hand, and a bottom surface including a trigger operable by another finger of the hand. A housing of the controller is sized comfortably to fit into either hand of a user and has a holding portion designed in a way that the trigger, the buttons and the joystick are readily operated when the holding portion is being held in either hand.

Claims

1. A personal control mechanism comprising:

a pair of identical controllers, each of the controllers including;

a housing having at least a forward end, a top surface and a bottom surface, the forward end including an emitter emitting a light to be captured by a receiver remotely located, the top surface including a number of buttons and a joystick all operable by a finger of one hand, the bottom surface including a trigger operable by another finger of the hand, the housing having a holding portion designed in a way that the trigger, buttons and the joystick are operated by respective fingers of the hand when the holding portion is being held in the hand;

a plurality of inertial sensors producing sensing signals that are sufficient to derive relative positions and orientation in six degrees of freedom by a processing unit; and

an indicator indicating the each of the controllers is being held in a left hand or a right hand when both of the controllers are being held by one user and indicating the each of the controllers is being held by which user when the two controllers are respectively being held by two users, wherein the indicator is turned on automatically by the processing unit configured to receive independently and process the sensing signals from both of the controllers in conjunction of determined respective coordinates of illuminations from the controllers in an image from a camera provided in vicinity,

wherein the sensing signals of each of the controllers are received in the processing unit configured to generate a virtual interactive environment in which at least one of objects is responsive to the sensing signals of either one of the controllers.

2. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 1, wherein the indicator is disposed on the top surface of each of the controllers to provide an illuminating indication to the user or users without interfering the camera.

3. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 1, wherein the indicator includes a graphic left-hand sign and a graphic right-hand sign, only one of the two signs is turned on at a time.

4. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 3, wherein each of the controllers further comprises a wireless interface to receive an indication signal from the processing unit, a corresponding one of the left-hand sign and the right-hand sign is caused to be turned on by the indication signal.

5. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 4, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the indication signal for each of the controllers from the sensing signals of each of the controllers.

6. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the controllers further includes a light emitter emitting a light invisible to human eyes but facilitates a camera to track respective movements of the controllers.

7. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 1, wherein the two controllers are not physically attached.

8. A personal control mechanism for a user, comprising:

a first controller fully operable by a left hand of the user;

a second controller fully operable by a right hand of the user, the first and second controllers, not being physically attached, operating independently, each of the first and second controllers containing inertial sensors, and having a top surface including buttons and a joystick all operable by a finger or a thumb of the left hand or the right hand, wherein the user manipulates either one of the joysticks on the first and second controllers to interact with a virtual environment being displayed; and

wherein each of the first and second controllers has an indicator, the indicator of the first controller indicating that the first controller is being held in the left hand and the indicator of the second controller indicating that the second controller is being held in the right hand when both of the first and second controllers are picked up by the user, wherein the indicator is turned on automatically by a processing unit configured to receive independently and process sensing signals from both of the first and second controllers in conjunction of determined respective coordinates of illuminations from the first and second controllers in an image from a camera provided in vicinity.

9. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the first and second controllers further comprises:

a bottom surface including a trigger operable by another finger of either one of the two hands, a housing for each of the first and second controllers is sized to fit into either one of the two hands and has a holding portion designed in a way that the trigger, the buttons and the joystick are readily operated by respective fingers when the holding portion is being held in either one of the two hands.

10. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 9, wherein the indicator is disposed on the top surface of each of the first and second controllers to indicate to the user which hand is holding which of the two controllers, without interfering a camera provided in vicinity to monitor respective movements of the controllers.

11. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 10, wherein the indicator includes a left-hand sign and a right-hand sign, only one of the two signs is turned at a time.

12. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the controllers further comprises a wireless interface to receive the indication signal from the processing unit, a corresponding one of the left-hand sign and the right-hand sign is caused to be turned on by the indication signal.

13. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 11, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the indication signal for each of the controllers from the sensing signals from the controllers.

14. The personal control mechanism as recited in claim 8, wherein the two controllers are functioning to provide a classic control by one user, one or two handed freeform motion control by one user, or a one-handed freeform motion control by two users.

15. A personal control mechanism comprising:

a housing having at least a forward end, a rearward end, a top surface and a bottom surface, the forward end including an emitter emitting a light beam to be captured by a receiver remotely located, the top surface including a number of buttons and a joystick all operable by a finger of the hand, the bottom surface including a trigger operable by another finger of the hand, the housing sized to fit into the hand and having a holding portion designed in a way that the buttons and the joystick are operated by the finger when the holding portion is being held in the hand;

a plurality of inertial sensors producing sensing signals that are sufficiently to derive relative positions and orientation in six degrees of freedom;

an indicator automatically indicating that the personal control mechanism is being held by a left hand or a right hand when the personal control mechanism is picked up by a user, wherein the indicator is turned on automatically by a processing unit configured to receive independently and process the sensing signals from the personal control mechanism in conjunction of determined respective coordinates of illuminations from the emitter in an image from the receiver; and

a wireless module coupled to the processor to transmit the sensing signals and the action signal to a base unit remotely located, the base unit configured to derive the positions and orientation in six degrees of freedom from the processed sensing signals and producing a virtual environment in which at least one object being controlled by the handheld controller moves according to the relative positions and orientation and reacts according to the action signal.

16. The handheld controller as recited in claim 15, wherein the top surface further includes an indicator indicating that the handheld controller is being held by a left hand or a right hand.

17. The handheld controller as recited in claim 15, wherein the handheld controller receives an indication from a processing unit, receiving wirelessly the sensing signals, configured to compute in real time the relative positions and orientations of the handheld controller;

and determine which hand of the user is holding the handheld controller.

18. The handheld controller as recited in claim 17, wherein the processing unit further receives a data sequence from a sensor external to the first handheld controller to determine which hand of the user is holding the handheld controller in accordance with the relative positions and orientations of the handheld controller.

19. The handheld controller as recited in claim 18, wherein the indicator includes two signs, one implying a left hand and the other implying for a right hand, and only one of the signs is illuminated at a time.

20. The handheld controller as recited in claim 15, wherein the handheld controller is being held by a right hand, and another such a handheld controller is being held by a left hand, one of the two signs on each of the handheld controllers is turned on automatically and accordingly.

21. The handheld controller as recited in claim 20, wherein the sensing signals of the controller and the another such a handheld controller are received in a processing unit configured to generate a virtual interactive environment in which at least one of objects responsive to the sensing signals, and wherein the sensing signals are processed in such a way that the two controllers are functioning to provide one or two handed freeform motion control by one user, or a one-handed freeform motion control by two users.

22. The handheld controller as recited in claim 21, wherein a recessed portion is formed near the bottom surface at a position the trigger is readily reachable by an index finger or middle finger of a hand when the hand holds the holding portion of the handheld controller.

23. The handheld controller as recited in claim 15, wherein the receiver is an imaging capturing device provided to capture an image of the light beam, the base unit is configured to derive from the image and the received sensing signals absolute positions and orientation in six degrees of freedom.