Information processing program and information processing apparatus

• US 20080122863A1
• Filed: 12/11/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited, Pokemon
• Original Assignee: Game Freak, Inc., Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Tomoya, Watanabe, Tetsuya, Yoshihara, Kazuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,724,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/026 Video wall, i.e. juxtaposition of a plurality of screens to create a display screen of bigger dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens

Abstract

An information processing apparatus has a pointing device for designating a position of an arbitrary point with respect to a reference point O, and a processor of the information processing apparatus detects a position of the point designated by the pointing device with respect to the reference point O at every unit of time, and calculates an operation vector AB respectively regarding a point A and a point B detected before and after as a starting point and an ending point. The calculated operation vector AB is orthogonally-projected onto a strait line vertical to a vector OA respectively regarding the reference point O and the point A as a starting point and an ending point. Information processing is performed on the basis of a component vector thus obtained from the operation vector AB.

Claims

1. A recording medium recording an information processing program, wherein said information processing program causes a processor of an information processing apparatus with a pointing device for designating a position of an arbitrary point to execute following steps of:

a position detecting step of detecting a position designated by said pointing device with respect to a reference point at every unit of time;

an operation vector calculating step of calculating an operation vector respectively regarding a first point and a second point detected before and after by said position detecting step as a starting point and an ending point;

an orthogonally-projecting step of orthogonally-projecting the operation vector calculated by said operation vector calculating step onto a straight line vertical to the first vector respectively regarding said reference point and said first point as a starting point and an ending point; and

an information processing step of processing information on the basis of a component vector obtained from said operation vector by the orthogonally-projecting processing in said orthogonally-projecting step.

2. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 1, wherein said orthogonally-projecting step includes following steps of:

an unit vector calculating step of calculating an unit vector vertical to said first vector; and

an inner product calculating step of calculating an inner product between the operation vector calculated by said operation vector calculating step and the unit vector calculated by said unit vector calculating step.

3. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 2, wherein

said information processing program causes said processor to further execute following steps of:

an absolute value calculating step of calculating an absolute value of the calculation by said inner product calculating step; and

an outer product calculating step of calculating an outer product between said first vector and a second vector regarding said reference point and said second point as a starting point and an ending point, and

said information processing step performs information processing on the basis of the calculation by said absolute value calculating step and the calculation by said outer product calculating step.

4. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 1, wherein

said information processing apparatus further comprising a display for displaying an image, and

said information processing step moves an image displayed on said display in a direction corresponding to the orientation of the component vector obtained from said operation vector by an amount corresponding to the size of the component vector.

5. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 4, wherein said information processing step includes following steps of:

a retaining step of multiplying the size of the component vector obtained from said operation vector by a constant, and retaining the result of the multiplication as a reference velocity; and

a deceleration processing step for performing deceleration processing on the reference velocity retained by said retaining step at every unit of time.

6. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 5, wherein said information processing step further includes following steps of:

a velocity determining step of determining whether or not the reference velocity retained by said retaining step is equal to or more than a threshold value; and

a changing step of changing the reference velocity to zero when said velocity determining step determines that the reference velocity is less than the threshold value.

7. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 6, wherein said information processing step includes following steps of:

a position determining step of determining whether or not said image exists at a defined position when said velocity determining step determines that the reference velocity is less than the threshold value; and

a movement maintaining step of moving said image to said defined position when said position determining step determines that said image does not exist at said defined position, and then stopping it.

8. A recording medium recording an information processing program according to claim 4, wherein

said image includes a first image and a second image,

said information processing step includes following steps of:

a rotating step of rotating said first image in a direction corresponding to the orientation of the component vector obtained from said operation vector by an angle corresponding to the size of said component vector; and

a translating step of translating said second image in a direction corresponding to the orientation of the component vector obtained from said operation vector by a distance corresponding to the size of the component vector.

9. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a pointing device for designating a position of an arbitrary point;

a position detecting means for detecting a position designated by said pointing device with respect to a reference point at every unit of time;

an operation vector calculating means for calculating an operation vector respectively regarding a first point and a second point detected before and after by said position detecting means as a starting point and an ending point;

an orthogonally-projecting means for orthogonally-projecting the operation vector calculated by said operation vector calculating means onto a straight line vertical to the first vector respectively regarding said reference point and said first point as a starting point and an ending point; and

an information processing means for processing information on the basis of a component vector obtained from said operation vector by the orthogonally-projecting processing in said orthogonally-projecting means.

10. An information processing method of an information processing apparatus with a pointing device for designating a position of an arbitrary point, comprising:

a position detecting step of detecting a position designated by said pointing device with respect to a reference point at every unit of time;

an operation vector calculating step of calculating an operation vector respectively regarding a first point and a second point detected before and after by said position detecting step as a starting point and an ending point;

an orthogonally-projecting step of orthogonally-projecting the operation vector calculated by said operation vector calculating step onto a straight line vertical to the first vector respectively regarding said reference point and said first point as a starting point and an ending point; and

an information processing step of processing information on the basis of a component vector obtained from said operation vector by the orthogonally-projecting processing in said orthogonally-projecting step.