Method for using images to generate gameplay content

• US 9,050,524 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Kalson, Amy B., Koo, Chang Hoh, Dispenza, Dana J., Dutilly, Derek T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US13/862,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20130237320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 463/30, 463/31, 463/42, 463/43
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/655 by importing photos, e.g. of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6018 where the game content is authored by the player, e.g. level editor or by game device at runtime, e.g. level is created from music data on CD
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6623 for animating a group of characters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/695 Imported photos, e.g. of the player

Abstract

Systems and methods for using images to generate gameplay content are disclosed herein. Specifically, for example, one aspect of the present disclosure involves a method for altering a virtual world generated by a video game system. The method includes obtaining one or more images from sources external to the video game system and processing the one or more images to obtain one or more inputs. The one or more inputs are provided to a gameplay engine to alter an output of the gameplay engine.

Claims

1. A method of generating unique gameplay content for a video game virtual world comprising:

obtaining a digital image from a network location, an image capture device, or a memory device coupled to a game system upon initiation of a video game;

extracting data from the digital image, wherein extracting data comprises randomly selecting one or more pixels of the image;

determining, by a gameplay engine, one or more characteristics of the image based on the extracted data;

generating, by the gameplay engine, interactive gameplay content based on the one or more characteristics of the image; and

transmitting the interactive gameplay content to a display device for display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more characteristics of the image comprises determining a red, a green and a blue value for each of the one or more randomly selected pixels;

and wherein the red, green and blue values are used as seed values for a terrain generator in the gameplay engine.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining one or more characteristics of the image comprises determining if the image contains curved lines or straight lines and generating content reflective of whether the image contains curved lines or straight lines.

4. The method of claim 3 comprising:

identifying a facial image in the obtained image;

processing the facial image to determine one or more facial characteristics;

correlating the one or more facial characteristics with one or more character attributes of a default character object; and

modifying the default character object with the one or more character attributes based on the facial characteristics.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein extracting data from the image comprises obtaining color data for the image and wherein determining one or more characteristics of the data comprises determining a color content of the image, the color content of the image being a predominant color used in the image, the gameplay engine using the color content to modify an attribute of a weather object to coincide with a weather pattern associated with the color content, the weather attribute limiting or increasing a character object'"'"'s movement, speed or limiting a character object'"'"'s sight distance in the virtual world.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting data from the digital image comprises determining one or more predominate colors in the digital image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating interactive game content based on the one or more characteristics of the image comprises generating a weather routine based on the one or more predominate colors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the weather routine affects one or more characteristics of the interactive game content.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more characteristics of the interactive game content include visibility or movement speeds for one or more characters within the video game.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying a facial image in the obtained image;

processing the facial image to determine one or more facial characteristics;

comparing the one or more facial characteristics with one or more average characteristics correlating to the same features as the one or more facial characteristics; and

when the one or more facial characteristics exceeds a threshold of the one or more average characteristics, modifying an associated characteristic in the default character object to correlate to the one or more facial characteristics.

11. A method of generating unique gameplay content for a video game virtual world comprising:

obtaining a digital image from a network location, an image capture device, or a memory device coupled to a game system upon initiation of a video game;

extracting data from the digital image;

determining, by a gameplay engine, one or more characteristics of the image based on the extracted data;

determining, by the gameplay engine, edges of features contained within the obtained image;

generating gameplay content based on the edges, the edge information being used by the gameplay engine to determine an attack pattern and number of troops for an enemy in the video game virtual world; and

transmitting the generated gameplay content to a display device for display.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining edges of features contained within the obtained image comprises:

comparing a first value of a first pixel with a second value of a second pixel, wherein the second pixel is adjacent to the first pixel; and

determining if the difference between the first value and the second value exceeds a predetermined threshold.

13. A system for generating gameplay content for a video game, comprising:

at least one processing element; and

a computer readable storage device having program instructions stored thereon for execution by the at least one processing element, the program instructions comprising operations for;

extracting data from a digital image obtained from one of a network location, an image capture device, or a memory device coupled to video game, wherein extracting data comprises randomly selecting one or more pixels of the image;

analyzing, by a gameplay engine, the extracted data to determine one or more image characteristics of the image;

generating interactive content for the video game based on the image characteristics; and

transmitting the interactive content to a display device for display.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein generating interactive content comprises altering one or more features of the video game based on the image characteristics, wherein the image characteristics include one or more geometric features of the image.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein analyzing the image to determine one or more image characteristics comprises determining if the image contains curved lines or straight lines.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein generating interactive content for the video game based on the image characteristics comprises generating content reflective of whether the image contains curved lines or straight lines.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein analyzing the image to determine one or more image characteristics comprises determining edges of features contained within the image.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein generating the interactive content for the video game comprises:

providing the one or more image characteristics to a terrain generator; and

creating by the terrain generator a terrain for the video game using the one or more image characteristics.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more image characteristics include pixel data from a plurality of pixels within the image.

20. A system for generating gameplay content for a video game, comprising:

at least one processing element; and

a computer readable storage device having program instructions stored thereon for execution by the at least one processing element, the program instructions comprising operations for;

extracting data from a digital image obtained from one of a network location, an image capture device, or a memory device coupled to video game, wherein extracting data comprises randomly selecting one or more pixels of the image;

analyzing, by a gameplay engine, the extracted data to determine one or more image characteristics of the image; and

generating interactive content for the video game based on the image characteristics, wherein generating the interactive content for the video game comprises generating content based on the edges of features within the image, the edge information being used by a gameplay engine to determine an attack pattern and number of troops for an enemy in the video game virtual world.