INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, BLOCK SYSTEM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20160334885A1
• Filed: 01/14/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Togawa, Keiji, Hirata, Shinichi, Numaguchi, Naoki, Yamagishi, Takeshi, Osawa, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,146,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/245 specially adapted to a particular type of game, e.g. steering wheels
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1093 using visible light
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03 Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]

Abstract

A core information receiving section of an information processing device receives information related to the state of a core from a first block of a block set assembled by a user. A structure analyzing section identifies the shape, posture, and position of the block set on the basis of an image photographed by a camera and the information related to the state of the core. An information processing section performs predetermined information processing according to the shape, posture, and position of the block set or an operation on an input device by the user. A display processing section generates an image to be displayed as a result of the information processing, and outputs the image to a display device. A driving control section transmits a signal for controlling the operation of the block set.

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising:

a structure information receiving section obtaining information related to a structure of a communicating block from an assembled device formed by coupling blocks prepared individually to each other, the assembled device including the communicating block having a communicating mechanism and configured to be able to transmit information related to a connection state and a non-communicating block other than the communicating block;

a structure analyzing section generating state information including a shape, a position, and a posture of a whole of the assembled device by obtaining a whole image and the position of the assembled device from an image obtained by photographing the assembled device and integrating the whole image and the position of the assembled device with the information related to the structure of the communicating block; and

an information processing section performing information processing based on the state information.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the structure analyzing section extracts an image of the non-communicating block by identifying a part of the communicating block in the whole image, the part of the communicating block including a hidden part of the communicating block, on a basis of the information related to the structure, identifies positional relation between a shape of the non-communicating block and the communicating block, the non-communicating block and the communicating block being connected to each other, on a basis of a result of the extraction, and generates the state information.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the structure analyzing section generates the state information at a predetermined frequency, assumes, by a predetermined rule, a shape for a part of the connected non-communicating block when an image of the part is not included in the image, and corrects the assumed shape when the part is included in the image in a subsequent time step.

4. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the structure analyzing section generates the state information at a predetermined frequency, and when the number of connected non-communicating blocks is changed with passage of time, the structure analyzing section recognizes attachment or detachment of the non-communicating block, and updates the state information.

5. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the structure analyzing section identifies the shape of the connected non-communicating block by searching non-communicating block basic information in which features of each non-communicating block are recorded on a basis of the extracted image of the non-communicating block.

6. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the structure analyzing section individually manages the connected non-communicating block in the state information, and triggered by division of the non-communicating block connected to the communicating block as the communicating block changes in shape, the structure analyzing section updates the state information to manage both of the non-communicating blocks so as to distinguish both of the non-communicating blocks from each other.

7. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing section renders an external appearance of the assembled device as an object on a basis of the state information, and displays the object on a display device.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein

the structure analyzing section retains information on a previously removed non-communicating block in the state information, and

the information processing section renders, as an object, an external appearance of the assembled device when the previously removed non-communicating block is restored to an original position, by referring to the state information according to a request from a user, and displays the object on a display device.

9. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing section displays an external appearance of the assembled device as an object on a display device, receives an input connecting another object model on a screen from a user, and reflects a virtual connection due to the input in the state information.

10. An information processing system comprising:

an assembled device formed by coupling blocks prepared individually to each other; and

an information processing device performing information processing on a basis of an input signal from the assembled device;

the assembled device including

a communicating block having a communicating mechanism and configured to be able to transmit information related to a connection state between the blocks and a non-communicating block other than the communicating block, and

the information processing device including

a structure information receiving section obtaining information related to a structure of the communicating block from the assembled device,

a structure analyzing section generating state information including a shape, a position, and a posture of a whole of the assembled device by obtaining a whole image and the position of the assembled device from an image obtained by photographing the assembled device and integrating the whole image and the position of the assembled device with the information related to the structure of the communicating block, and

an information processing section performing information processing based on the state information.

11. A block system comprising a plurality of blocks capable of being coupled to each other,

the plurality of blocks including communicating blocks having a communicating mechanism capable of transmitting and receiving information related to connection states between blocks to and from another block, and a non-communicating block other than the communicating blocks,

at least one of the communicating blocks further including a communicating mechanism transmitting information related to a structure of the communicating blocks to an external information processing device, the information related to the structure of the communicating blocks being formed by integrating the information related to the connection states, in order for the information processing device to generate state information including a shape, a position, and a posture of the block system by integrating the information related to the structure of the communicating blocks with information obtained from a photographed image of the block system.

12. An information processing method of an information processing device, the information processing method comprising:

obtaining information related to a structure of a communicating block from an assembled device formed by coupling blocks prepared individually to each other, the assembled device including the communicating block having a communicating mechanism and configured to be able to transmit information related to a connection state and a non-communicating block other than the communicating block;

generating state information including a shape, a position, and a posture of a whole of the assembled device by obtaining a whole image and the position of the assembled device from an image obtained by photographing the assembled device and integrating the whole image and the position of the assembled device with the information related to the structure of the communicating block, and storing the state information in a memory; and

reading the state information from the memory, and performing information processing based on the state information.

13. A non-transitory, computer readable storage medium containing a computer program, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to implement elements, comprising:

by a structure information receiving section, obtaining information related to a structure of a communicating block from an assembled device formed by coupling blocks prepared individually to each other, the assembled device including the communicating block having a communicating mechanism and configured to be able to transmit information related to a connection state and a non-communicating block other than the communicating block;

by a structure analyzing section, generating state information including a shape, a position, and a posture of a whole of the assembled device by obtaining a whole image and the position of the assembled device from an image obtained by photographing the assembled device and integrating the whole image and the position of the assembled device with the information related to the structure of the communicating block; and

by an information processing section, performing information processing based on the state information.

14. (canceled)