Multiplayer biofeedback interactive gaming environment

• US 20040229685A1
• Filed: 04/01/2004
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Classic Healing Rhythms, LLC, Unyte Health Inc.
• Original Assignee: Healing Rhythms LLC
• Inventors: Bell, Crowin, Smith, Kurt
• Granted Patent: US 7,331,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• 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 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus in which a biometric information relating to a player is used to facilitate game play in multiplayer game environments. In particular, the present invention provides a game platform, a biofeedback sensor, and a biofeedback signal interface connection between the game platform and the biofeedback sensor. The biofeedback signal interface converts the biofeedback sensor information into a signal input usable by the game platform, which executes multimedia events as determined, in part, by the biometric information.

Claims

1. A method of playing a multiplayer game having a biofeedback component on a game platform, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying at least a first multimedia event to a plurality of users;

receiving biometric input from at least one of the plurality of users;

calculating a game score from the received biometric input;

generating at least a second multimedia event based on the calculated display score; and

displaying at least a second multimedia event to the plurality of users based on the game score.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the biometric input comprises receiving a first plurality of biometric inputs from a first corresponding plurality of users.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein biometric input received for each player comprises multiple biometric inputs.

4. The computer implemented method according to claim 2, wherein step of calculating a game score comprises the steps of:

calculating a plurality of temporary game scores, each of the plurality of temporary game scores corresponds to one of the plurality of biometric inputs; and

calculating a composite score based on the plurality of temporary game scores and using the composite score as the game score.

5. The computer implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the step of calculating a composite score comprises averaging the plurality of temporary game scores.

6. The computer implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the step of calculating a composite score comprises finding the median of the plurality of temporary game scores.

7. The computer implemented method according to claim 2, further comprises the step of combining the plurality of received biometric inputs into a composite biometric input, and wherein the step of calculating the game score calculates the game score from the composite biometric input.

8. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving another biometric input from at least another one of the plurality of users;

calculating an opposing game score from the received another biometric input; and

combining the game score and the opposing game score, wherein the

the step of displaying at least the second multimedia event is based on the combination of the game score and the opposing game score.

9. The computer implemented method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a second plurality of biometric input from a second plurality of users;

calculating an opposing game score from the received second plurality of biometric input; and

combining the game score and the opposing game score, wherein the

the step of displaying at least the second multimedia event is based on the combination of the game score and the opposing game score.

41. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of combining a plurality of received biometric inputs into a composite biometric input includes the step of:

establishing a DC voltage based line on epidural skin response; and

modulating a voltage comprising a sinusoidal waveform based on heart rate on the established DC voltage.

42. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of combining a plurality of received biometric inputs into a composite biometric input includes the step of:

establishing a plurality of sinusoidal waveforms based on a plurality of heart rates; and

weighting the plurality of sinusoidal waveforms based on epidural skin response.

10. A method of displaying multimedia events on a game platform, the method comprising the steps performed by the game platform of:

establishing a plurality of connections between at least one server and a plurality of game platforms over a network;

registering a plurality of users using the plurality of connections;

transmitting over the network a sequence of multimedia events to be displayed to the plurality of registered user;

determining when a biometric input is necessary based on the sequence of multimedia event;

if the biometric input is determined necessary, identifying a first group of users from the plurality of users from which biometric information is necessary;

receiving biometric input from the first group of users; and

modifying the sequence of multimedia events based on the received biometric input.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of receiving conventional input from at least one of the plurality of registered users to influence the sequence of multimedia events.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of compositing the receiving biometric input.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of compositing comprises averaging.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of compositing comprises weighted averaging.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of compositing comprises summing.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first group of users comprises at least one registered user.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of:

identifying at least a second group of users from the plurality of users from which biometric information is necessary;

receiving biometric input from the second group of users, and

wherein the modifying the sequence of multimedia events is basd on the received biometric input from the first group of users and the second group of users.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of identifying a first group of users from the plurality of users further includes identifying a type of biometric information to be received in the receiving step.

19. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting over the network step includes streaming data from the server to the plurality of game platforms.

20. An apparatus for processing a multiplayer game configured to user biometric input, the apparatus comprising:

at least one game platform;

the at least one game platform comprising;

a multimedia event engine to generate multimedia events based on an event sequence and transmit the multimedia events to at least one display to be viewed by a first group of users;

at least one biometric signal input to receive biometric information from a second group of users;

an event generation engine, the event generation engine uses the at least one biometric signal input to generate the event sequence; and

at least one multimedia event output to transmit multimedia events to the first group of users.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the game platform is a processor selected from a group consisting of an electronic game platform, a computer processor, a desktop computer, a server, a laptop computer, a portable electronic game, a cellular phone, or a PDA.

22. The apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising at least one bios input.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the bios input is selected from a group consisting of a mouse, a keyboard, an electronic pen, a track ball, a mouse pad, and a joystick.

24. The apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising at least one biometric sensor connected to the at least one biometric signal input.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the plurality of biometric sensors corresponds to the number of the first group of users.

26. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the at least one game platform comprises a plurality of game platforms connected by a network.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein at least one of the plurality of game platforms comprises a server.

28. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the network comprises at least one of a local area network, a wide area network, an Internet, a World Wide Web, and an Ethernet.

29. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the game platform further comprises a user identifier, the user identifier identifies the second group of users from the first group of users.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the second group of users equals the first group of users.

31. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the second group of users comprises at least one user from the first group of users.

32. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising at least one biometric signal interface between the at least one biometric sensor and the at least one biometric signal input.

33. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the at least one biometric signal interface converts raw biometric information to a biometric signal input usable by the game platform.

34. A system for playing a multiplayer biometric feedback game, comprising:

at least one server;

at least one game platform;

the at least one server connected to the at least one game platform through a network connection;

a plurality of biometric sensors coupled to the at least one game platform;

the at least one server comprising;

at least one biometric signal input port to receive a biometric signal,

at least one multimedia event output port to output multimedia events,

at least one event engine to use the biometric signal to generate an event sequence, and

at least one multimedia event engine to generate multimedia events based on the event sequence to be output through the at least one multimedia event output port;

the at least one game platform comprising;

at least one biometric input port to receive biometric input from the plurality of biometric sensors,

at least one biometric signal output port to output the biometric signal,

at least one multimedia event input port to receive multimedia events, and

at least one display to display the received multimedia events.

35. The system according to claim 34, further comprising at least one processor, the processor generates a game score based on biometric input received from the plurality of biometric sensors.

36. The system according to claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is located within the server.

37. The system according to claim 35, wherein the at least one processor generates the game score based on a composite of individual game scores.

38. The system according to claim 35, wherein the at least one processor generates the game score based on a composite of the individual biometric inputs.

39. The system according to claim 34, further comprising at least one bios input coupled to the at least one game platform, whereby the at least one bios input is transmitted to the at least one server and used by the multimedia event engine to generate multimedia events.

40. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the network connection comprises a connection selected from the group consisting of a local area network, a wide area network, a World Wide Web, an Internet, and an Ethernet.