FOOTPAD-BASED GAME AND GAMING SYSTEM

• US 20090221372A1
• Filed: 03/02/2009
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: HopeLab Foundation, Inc.
• Original Assignee: HopeLab Foundation, Inc.
• Inventors: Casey, Molly, LaPointe, Ellen Louise, Song, Elizabeth Ji-Eun, Tate, Richard L. II, Dillon, Frederick P. IV, Cawley, Daniel E., Wallace, Mark A., Suzuki, Lalita Kikuyo, Guthrie, Nicole Lee, Christen, Patricia L., Ngo, Phong David, Patel, Rajiv Kantilal, Newman, Sven D., Brumback, Christine B.
• Application Number:
  US12/396,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20090221372A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/36
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/214 for locating contacts on a surface, e.g. floor mats or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• 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 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/54 involving acoustic signals, e.g. for simulating revolutions per minute [RPM] dependent engine sounds in a driving game or reverberation against a virtual wall
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/63 by the player, e.g. authoring using a level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/67 adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1068 being specially adapted to detect the point of contact of the player on a surface, e.g. floor mat, touch pad
• 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 2300/6027 using adaptive systems learning from user actions, e.g. for skill level adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6081 generating an output signal, e.g. under timing constraints, for spatialization
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8094 Unusual game types, e.g. virtual cooking

Abstract

Described herein are games and game systems including a text messaging phone keypad foot mat. The phone keypad foot mat typically includes regions similar to the buttons of an enlarged telephone keypad. A user can step on these input regions (“buttons” or “keys”) to type a text. Thus, a player “types” a text message by stepping or dancing on the keyboard foot mat similar to the way that a text message may be typed by hand on a telephone keypad (e.g., sending a text message from a cell phone). Various games can be played using the devices, systems and methods described herein.

Claims

1. A text messaging exercise game system, the system comprising:

a keypad foot mat having a plurality of input regions for inputting alphanumeric characters, wherein the mat is configured to allow a user to input text by stepping on the input regions; and

a game controller configured to receive data input from the keypad foot mat as text, and to output the text to be displayed by an output device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the keypad foot mat resembles a phone keypad.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the keypad foot mat resembles a computer keyboard.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an output device configured to display the output text.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the output device comprises a video screen.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the output device comprises a phone or PDA.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the keypad foot mat is a flexible mat.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the keypad foot mat comprises projected images of buttons or button regions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the foot mat includes an enlarged image of a phone keypad and the input regions correspond to buttons on the image of the phone keypad.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the input regions of the keypad foot mat each comprises a sensor configured to detect a user stepping on that input region.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the game controller comprises a processor configured to provide a message output to be responded to using the keypad foot mat.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the game controller comprises an output interface for formatting the output.

13. A text messaging exercise game system, the system comprising:

a phone keypad foot mat having a plurality of different regions corresponding to alphanumeric characters, wherein the mat is configured to allow a user to input text by stepping on the mat regions; and

a game controller functionally connected to the phone keypad foot mat, and configured to provide a first text to be responded to, and further configured to receive a response text from the phone keypad foot mat, and to output a score based on the response and the first text.

14. A method of playing a text messaging game, the method comprising:

presenting a first message;

receiving a response text from a keypad foot mat;

scoring the response text based on the first message; and

providing an output based on the score or the response text.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising detecting footsteps on the phone keypad foot mat to generate a response text.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising timing the receipt of the response text.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising scoring the response text based on how similar the response text is to the first message.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising scoring the response text based on the timing of the receipt of the response text.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying the first message, the response text, and the output.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing a reward based on the score.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying an animation based on the score or the response text.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the first message comprises a text to be copied as the response text.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the first message comprises a question to be answered as the response text.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein the first message comprises a puzzle to be solved as the response text.

25. A text messaging exercise game system, the system comprising:

a keypad foot mat having a plurality of different regions corresponding to alphanumeric characters, wherein the mat is configured to allow a first user to input texts by stepping on the mat regions;

a game controller functionally connected to the keypad foot mat, the game controller configured to transmit a text from the keypad foot mat to a remote digital game media and to receive messages from the remote digital game media; and

wherein the remote digital game media is configured to receive input from the first remote keypad and to transmit the received input to a second user.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the remote digital game media comprises a website.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising a display configured to display the messages received from the remote digital game media.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the remote digital game media is configured to receive input from a plurality of remote keypads and to transit the received input to a plurality of users.

29. A method of playing a text messaging game, the method comprising:

presenting a first question;

receiving a response text from a keypad foot mat;

scoring the response text based on the first question; and

providing an output based on the score or the response text.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the first question is related to a text based game.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the text based game is a quiz game.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the text based game is a number game.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the text based game is a spelling game.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the text based game is a vocabulary game.