Patent Grant
7632187
This invention relates to electronic games, and more particularly, to a device and method for facilitating a game of tag using infrared light communications.
As known in the art, infrared electronic games include communication devices for transmission and reception of infrared light signals, operating on the same principle as a remote control for a television. Infrared shooting games typically include two channels of infrared communication, namely, a channel for transmitting an infrared signal (i.e., a tag or shot) and a channel for receiving the transmitted infrared signals. Such infrared electronic shooting games involve two or more players, each equipped with an apparatus for sending infrared signals (e.g., a gun) and an apparatus for receiving infrared signals (e.g., a target), wherein the object of the game is to target and shoot opponents with an infrared signal, thereby scoring a “hit” or a “tag” until only one player or team remains in the game.
Such infrared electronic shooting games are relatively well known and have been available since about 1985. For example, one infrared electronic shooting game sold beginning in about 1986 by WORLDS OF WONDER™, permitted players to fire invisible beams at one another with each player being provided with a game unit for emission of an infrared light beam. In the WORLDS OF WONDER™ game, a target was affixed to each player in order to count the number of “hits” registered by the target associated with each player. In the WORLDS OF WONDER™ game, a player was tagged “out” when six hits were registered for that player. Other infrared electronic shooting games that are known include indoor arena games such as LAZER QUEST™ and the like.
The earliest infrared electronic games had difficulty operating in very harsh environments of direct and indirect sunlight, as well as in the environment of indoor lighting. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,621 to Small et. al, for “Electronic Game With Infrared Emitter and Sensor,” issued May 18, 1999, a series of encoded infrared light signals may be sent with an infrared transmitter for providing a “signature” signal substantially longer in duration than abrupt changes in ambient lighting conditions to facilitate gameplay. The disclosed encoding of infrared signals additionally enabled special game and/or device features. However, although such infrared encoding made games more interesting and/or challenging to the participants, infrared electronic shooting games available for purchase by the general public were somewhat limited in functionality and gameplay in comparison to indoor arena games. Therefore, in view of the foregoing, an improved device and method for an infrared electronic shooting game would be welcome.
Prior art infrared electronic games such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,058 to Carter III et. al, for “Simulated Shooting Game With Continuous Transmission of Target Identification Signals,” issued Sep. 22, 1987, traditionally operated on two channels of infrared communication. In such systems, one signal was provided for transmitting an infrared signal while another channel received an infrared signal, thereby limiting the amount of data transmitted between two or more game apparatus. It would be desirable for an infrared electronic game to operate on more than two channels of infrared communication to allow for more complex game features and advanced user options to make the game more interactive and challenging.
Furthermore, it would be desirable for the game apparatus to provide an enhanced user interface for more interactivity between players and between a player and apparatus.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a gun and target device for facilitating a game of tag using infrared light communications between a plurality of players, each player being equipped with a gun and target device.
As described, the gun and target device includes a pistol-shaped housing with a grip portion with a finger-operable trigger button, a barrel portion and a user-interface including a display such a an LCD screen, and a keypad for programming the device and controlling various game functions. The pistol-shaped housing also encases an electronic controller coupled to two infrared transceivers. The first infrared transceiver is positioned at the barrel portion of the gun housing and comprises a directional infrared source and a directional infrared detector, including light lenses for both the source and the detector. The directional infrared source transmits a long-range infrared signal to a remote game participant and the directional infrared detector receives an acknowledgment signal therefrom in response to the long-range signal, indicating a hit.
The second infrared transceiver is positioned within a hemispherical-shaped dome on the top portion of the gun housing and comprises an omnidirectional infrared source and an omnidirectional infrared detector. The omnidirectional source transmits a short-range infrared signal which communicates identity and location data and other data to one or more remote game participants' devices.
The usage of two transceivers enables each gun and target devices to communicate four channels of infrared communication, thus allowing more complex gaming features and advanced user options to make the game more interactive and challenging. The embodiment includes the traditional scheme of communication involving directing a directional infrared signal at an opponent's omnidirectional detector. This action is basis for a “hit” or “tag” being applied to a player. The additional infrared channels allow for more communication (identification, location, statistical and other data) to take place between players before, during, and after a game of infrared electronic tag.
The electronic controller within the gun and target apparatus allows for several modes of gameplay for the players to utilize. Using the LCD screen and user-operable buttons, the player that decides to begin a game of infrared electronic tag (a “host” player) chooses the parameters that will govern the rules of the game. Once determined, these parameters are sent from the host player's gun and target device to the other players' gun and target devices via short-range infrared signal. This wireless communication eliminates errors that might otherwise lead to different players not setting identical parameters on their own device. During gameplay, the infrared communication between devices provide each player with active feedback. For example, a player will be notified by the gun and target device when that player was tagged by an opponent, or whether that player tagged an opponent successfully. A player will be notified by the device whether a targeted remote player is a “friend” or a “foe.” A player will be notified when a “foe” is in close range of that player, indicating a proximity warning. The electronic controller stores data during gameplay, including a record of tags received and other performance statistics. After a game of infrared electronic tag, the electronic controllers in each players' devices are able to share stored data about the players' performance during the game.
The gun and target device also includes a device, known as a heads-up-display (HMD), adapted for wearing on the head of a player, the HMD device removably coupled to the pistol-shaped housing. The HMD device includes a transparent eyepiece having a see-through display projected by an optical combiner and partial mirror, thereby allowing the player to acknowledge signals from the gun and target device without taking their attention from the gameplay action.
Briefly summarized, the present invention relates to a device combining a gun and target for facilitating a game of tag using infrared light communications between a two or more players, each player being equipped with the device. The device includes two infrared transceivers and a shaped housing facilitating handling of the device by a user. The housing includes a grip portion with a finger-operable trigger, a barrel portion and a user-interface including a display and a keypad for programming the device and controlling various game and device functions. A first infrared transceiver is disposed at the barrel portion for transmitting a directional infrared signal to another game participant and receiving an acknowledgment signal therefrom in response to the transmitted directional signal. A second infrared transceiver is disposed on the housing to facilitate omnidirectional two-way communications between two or more devices. The transceivers facilitate communications between game players before, during, and after a game of infrared electronic tag such as game setup, player identification and gameplay analysis. Thus, the device operates to enable complex gameplay and advanced user options to make the game more interactive and challenging.
a-9g illustrate exemplary infrared signal waveforms facilitating infrared shooting game communications between two or more game devices.
Referring now to the drawings and especially
The second infrared transceiver 26 includes an omnidirectional infrared source and an omnidirectional infrared detector. As shown in
The device 10 includes a first finger-operable trigger 30 positioned on a grip portion 124 of the housing. When a player depresses first trigger 30, an infrared signal is transmitted by the directional transceiver 22 in the direction which the gun barrel 24 was aimed. If aligned properly with a remote player's device 10, particularly the omnidirectional transceiver, a “tag” will be applied to that player, the basic object of the game of electronic infrared tag being to tag one's opponents while avoiding being tagged by one's opponents. Further, the grip portion 124 may include a second finger-operable trigger 34 proximate the first trigger 30. The second trigger 34 operates to actuate a “shield” function known in the art so that the device 10 may temporarily ignore tags received from other devices. As shown in
Located at the rear portion of the housing 20 is a plurality of buttons 48-53 providing a keypad 44. Adjacent the keypad 44 is a display 46, which is angled for facilitating viewing by the user. The keypad 44 and display 46 together provide an interactive, programmable user interface for programming game parameters. The buttons 48-53 allow the user to navigate through options and information among other things displayed on display 46 in the form of a menu-driven interface structure or the like before, during, and after gameplay. Located just below the keypad 44 is a compartment that is closed with a removably-fastened lid 54. The compartment houses the device's power supply, which in an exemplary embodiment includes a plurality of common-sized (e.g., AA) batteries. The compartment may be opened and closed for the purpose of installing and replacing the batteries, which may be disposable or rechargeable. Located on the underside of grip portion 124 are two interfaces or connectors 56. Each connector 56 may be employed to couple an accessory or supplemental device to the device 10. One such accessory that may be removably coupled to the device 10 via connector 56 is a display interface described hereinafter as a heads-up display (HMD) device.
As depicted in
An Indoor/Outdoor switch 60 is located on right side of the housing 20 near grip portion 36, as shown in
Referring now to
As shown in the illustrated embodiment of
As known in the art, the controller 410 operates under software control of software code, which may reside in the controller memory (e.g., ROM, RAM), to provide programmable and interactive device functionality and defined gameplay for two or more playsets that is described hereafter in further detail. To this end, the controller 410 receives user signals relative to user inputs from keypad 470 and buttons/switches 471-476 and 481-484 as well as remote signals received from other players/playsets via receivers 430 and 450. In response to receiving the user and remote signals the controller 410 outputs information to the user via display 460, speaker 490, HMD 480 and to other players/playsets via transmitters 420 and 440. As shown, the system 400 includes a first transmitter 420 linked with the controller 410 and a first receiver 430 linked with the controller 410, the first receiver 430 paired with the first transmitter 420 to provide a first transceiver for the system 400. The first transmitter 420 may be an infrared (IR) emitting diode or the like known in the art for outputting an IR or near-IR signal, and the first receiver 430 may be an infrared (IR) receiver or the like known in the art for sensing/detecting an IR or near-IR signal. Referring back to
Similarly, the system 400 includes a second transmitter 440 linked to the controller 410 and a second receiver 450 linked with the controller 410, the second receiver 450 paired with the second transmitter 440 to provide a second transceiver for the system 400. As shown, the second transmitter 440 includes four infrared (IR) emitting diodes 442, 444, 446, 448 or the like known in the art for outputting an IR or near-IR signal, but fewer or additional IR emitting diodes may be provided. Referring now to
The second receiver 450 includes three infrared (IR) photo receptors 452, 454, 456 or the like known in the art for detecting/sensing an IR or near-IR signal, but fewer or additional IR photo receptors may be provided. As shown in
As shown in
As previously mentioned, the playset provides a programmable and interactive user interface. To this end, the system 400 includes a user interface having a display 460 linked to the controller 410 and a keypad 470 linked to the controller 410 for sending communications thereto. As shown in
Each of buttons 471-476 may have one or more functions including a main function and a second function. Second function button 471 enables the second function of buttons 472-476 by holding the second function button 471 while pressing one of the buttons 472-476. Additionally in an exemplary embodiment, second function button 471 may mute or un-mute sound effects produced via one or more of the speakers 490, 530 shown in
As shown in
The playset may be used indoors or outdoors, and to this end the system 400 provides a user-selectable switch 485 to increase or decrease the transmit signal (i.e., tag) strength of the directional transmitter 420 and omni directional transmitter 440. When using the playset indoors, the switch 485 should be in the open state so that directional transmit signals do not reflect and/or scatter thereby accidentally tagging other game participants such as team members. When using the playset outdoors, the switch 485 should be in the closed state so that the directional transmit signals may overcome any ambient IR sources. As shown in
As mentioned previously, the playset may include a user-worn interface such as a head-mounted display (HMD) or heads-up display (HMD) adapted to be worn on the users head for providing the user with a graphical or iconic interface 520 proximate the user's eye, and facilitating gameplay. As known in the art, the HMD may be removably coupled to the gun by way of a cabled connector, such as connector 495 shown in
Referring now to
As is generally well known in the art, toy infrared gun and target systems work by transmitting a coded signal from the transmitter (gun) to the infrared receiver (target). This transmitted information is typically used to send a tag or hit signal to the receiver. If the target receives the appropriate coded infrared signal a tag is registered. Transmitters will normally focus infrared light into a narrow collimated beam using a lens in front of an infrared light emitting diode (LED). Receivers typically use a photodiode or photo detector to receive the coded infrared signal, however, receivers typically do not use any lens in front of the receiving device in order to have a very wide viewing angle. In such well-known infrared gun and target systems, only a one way path exists with the transmitter (gun) sending information to the target (receiver). In view of the foregoing description of the gun electronics, the subject toy gun system has multiple communication paths wherein the gun and the target both operate to transmit and receive coded information before (e.g., game setup/joining), during and after (e.g., gameplay analysis, player/team ranking) the game.
Assuming that there are two guns, (e.g., gun A and B) the communication paths for tags are as follows: the directional transmitter 420 of gun A transmits coded information that is received by omnidirectional receiver 450 of gun B. In order for gun B to receive the coded information from gun A, the barrel portion of gun A must be optically aligned with the omnidirectional receiver 450 of gun B. In a near-instant acknowledgment of receiving the coded information from gun A, the omnidirectional transmitter 440 of gun B outputs coded information that is received by the directional receiver 430 of gun A since the barrel portion of gun A has not moved substantially in the instant between gun B receiving the coded information from gun A and outputting the acknowledgement. As such, two way communication may be achieved between two or more guns. Since the transmit and receive functions of the omnidirectional transceiver are substantially 360 degrees about the users, the orientation or attitude of gun B is inconsequential to achieve communications. This two way optical path can be used for any closed loop communications. Two or more guns may also communicate directly through the omnidirectional transceivers, but the communication range is on the order of approximately 25 feet. The advantage of communication through the omnidirectional transceivers is that there is no need to optically align the guns. Thus, proximity warnings and gameplay features may be enabled as described hereafter.
The gun software uses four infra-red communications channels (two directional and two omnidirectional) to create a multinode network, such that each gun unit (and user) may be identified uniquely, assigned to a team as appropriate, and communicate with other users/game participants in the network as needed. The network of intermittently communicating gun units forms a game. Unit-to-unit communications may be performed either specifically or generically. In a specific communication either or both of the transmitting units addresses a specific other unit in the game so that any units receiving the transmission other than the intended receiver will know that they should ignore the communication. In a generic communication, the transmitting unit broadcasts information using either or both of the transmit channels, and such information is accepted and processed by all other units that receive the broadcast data. Such communication options enable two or more gun unit users to enjoy gameplay and device features significantly advanced beyond the traditional game of laser tag. For example, the subject system allows a host gun unit to wirelessly program, through IR transmission, one or more other gun units with the same game definition having selected gameplay characteristics. Thus, the host operates to facilitate team games and other advanced and customizable gameplays.
To this end, the host user selects the type of game to play and adjusts the game characteristics using an interactive menu-driven interface. This provides a much more intuitive method to select a game and adjust the game particulars than the cumbersome and complex method of combinations of key press codes as generally known in the art. The host unit is programmed with the game definition by one user, and then the host unit automatically broadcasts/transmits the game definition to all other units wishing to join the game. This joining process eliminates or substantially reduces errors and misunderstandings that might otherwise lead to different players not playing the same type of game. It also simplifies the method of joining a game, so that less experienced players can still participate in complex games without having to go through a complex process of learning how to play/participate.
A multi-player game may begin with an optional “host/join” process, wherein one unit that is designated as the host is programmed with the game definition by one user. Subsequently, the host identifies itself and broadcasts the parameters of the game (e.g., gameplay, rules, etc.) that is about to be played to all other units in an area proximate the host. These other units, known hereafter as the joiners, receive the game definition and may elect to participate by communicating with the host. Each joiner receives the game definition and a unique identification (ID) code. Further, if the game is played in groups of two or more teams the host associates each of the joiner's ID codes with a team ID code, which will later facilitate team ranking and other gameplay analysis. The foregoing pre-game host/joiner communication are performed via the omnidirectional transceivers of the gun units.
After all units that will participate in the game have been joined by the host, the game may start after a delay during which the users take up their initial positions for the game. This initial game delay is identified by a count-down to zero (called the “t-minus countdown”). If the host/join process was used, this countdown is broadcast by the host to all of the joiners so as to synchronize the starting time of the game for all participants. In this manner, all participants in the game will start and end their games together. Further, the host may broadcast information identifying the IDs for all valid units in the game to allow all units to more easily reject spurious communications (e.g., tags received from non-joining units or units joined to another adjacent game). Once the t-minus countdown is completed the active phase of the game begins.
During the active phase of the game, the omnidirectional transmitter is used primarily to send “Beacon Signatures” identifying the transmitting unit. As previously mentioned, such a broadcast beacon signature signal allows the units in the game to “lock-on” to or otherwise target and identify other player's units as friend, foe or neutral (IFF). Further, the omnidirectional transmitter operates to transmit an acknowledgment signal confirming the receipt of any tags by the unit's omnidirectional receiver. As a secondary function, this omnidirectional infrared channel may be used to transfer data, such as broadcast text messages and the like between players in a game (e.g., medic-mode transfers) or between special-role units (e.g., bases, zones, etc) and units in the game. During the active phase of the game, the directional transmitter is used primarily to send “tag signatures” or tags in response to the user's trigger actuation. As is known, players attempt to “land” these tags on the other players in order to score points, tag-out opponents and win the game. However, this channel may also be used to send directed or specific communications for the purposes of text messaging, programming accessories, etc.
Throughout the game each unit records all meaningful occurrences of the various signatures being transmitted, received, time elapsed before the player is tagged-out, and such other interactions as may be relevant to the final analysis of each unit's gameplay including scoring of the game and player/team ranking among other things. Once the game has ended either by timing out of the game duration or alternatively if the host manually ends the game, if the host/join process was used to start the game then the host will begin a “debriefing” process whereby it interrogates each individual joiner that was in the game. Each joiner upon interrogation by the host reports its collected game performance by transmitting stored data relative to that unit's gameplay back to the host. Once the host has aggregated all of the available joiner's gameplay data, it combines and analyzes the data in order to rank each of the individual players and teams within the game. The host then transmits the rankings back to the joiners for their review. In addition, players can individually call up head-to-head scoring information to determine how they did specifically against each of the other players in the game. If one or more of the joiners does not respond to the hosts interrogation, such as, for example, if a joiner had to leave the game before the end for some reason or if the joiner malfunctioned, the host operates to discard or otherwise reconcile any data received from the responsive joiners relative to the non-responsive joiners.
Data exchanged over the various communications channels can be categorized as four basic types: (1) beacon signatures, (2) area signatures, (3) tag signatures and (4) packet data. The device will transmit and receive a series of encoded infrared light signals which form a predetermined signature including an active synchronization pulse of duration X or 2× and an inactive pause of duration Y. The first active data pulse has a “0” state defined by an active pulse of less than half the duration of the duration X synchronization pulse or less than a quarter duration of the duration 2× synchronization pulse. The second active data pulse has a “1” state defined by an active pulse of more than half the time duration of the duration X synchronization pulse or more than a quarter the duration of the duration 2×synchronization pulse. The last inactive pause the follows a series of the first or second active data pulses, with the last inactive pause being longer than duration Y. The active synchronization pulse of duration X or 2× is either 3 ms+/−20% or 6 ms+/−20% respectively and the inactive pause of duration Y is 2 ms+/−20%. The series of the first or second active data pulses followed by the last inactive pause numbers no less than 5 and no greater than 9 active data pulses with the last inactive pause being longer than 20 ms. The signature is preceded by a pre-synchronization pulse with an active period of 3 ms+/−20% followed by pause of 6 ms+/20%. The beacon signatures include a 6 ms+/−20% synchronization pulse, and the tag signatures and packet signatures include a 3 ms+/−20% synchronization pulse.
Beacon signatures are broadcast regularly and automatically during the game by each unit for identifying information about the status of the sending unit (i.e. team affiliation, player ID, whether or not the sender has just been tagged, etc.). When the beacon signature is received by the directional receiver of another unit, the beacon signature may facilitate a targeting or “locked-on” condition in the receiving unit. When received by the omnidirectional receiver of another unit, the beacon signature may facilitate a “proximity warning” condition in the receiving unit.
Area signatures are a modified form of the foregoing beacon signatures. Area signatures are always broadcast on the omnidirectional transmit channel, and are used to identify a physical area of special significance within a game, for example, a base, an area being contested, a neutral “safety” area, or such other area as may be defined in the game. When an area signature is received by the directional receiver of another unit, the area signature may facilitate a targeting or “locked-on” condition in the receiving unit (if the area signature signifies a base associated with a team in a game), or may simply be ignored. When received by the omnidirectional receiver of another unit, the area signature facilitates a “special zone” condition in the receiving unit. The software of the receiving unit then uses this special zone condition to enable special processing functions associated with the specific area, such as, for example recording the cumulative time spent in the area, re-enabling a disabled unit, etc.
Tag signatures are typically transmitted on the directional transmit channel and identify the ID of the sending unit and may also include additional information. For example, a unit may transmit a “mega tag” such that the tag signature includes information that identifies “extra tag points” the user has added to this signature to cause any receiving unit to act as if multiple copies of the single tag signature had been received in rapid succession. When the tag signature is received on the directional receive channel of another unit, these signatures are generally ignored. When the tag signature is received on the omnidirectional channel of another unit, the tag signatures result in the receiving unit processing the signature as one or more “tags” or hits being received from the sending unit, which is recorded for analysis by the host.
Packet data signatures are typically transmitted and received on the omnidirectional infrared channels, and are used to transfer more extensive information than can be represented using the foregoing signatures. Such packet data can be game definitions, player-to-player communications, text messages, or other communications known in the art. Packet data signatures may be transmitted and received using any combination of the directional and omni directional transceivers. For instance Text Messaging is transmitted from the directional transmitter of the initiating unit and received on the omni directional receiver of the receiving unit.
Exemplary Communications Details
All infrared communications consist of a 38 KHz carrier frequency modulated on or off by the data to be transmitted, the resulting signal driving an infrared light emitting diode (IRLED) creating a signal of modulated 38 KHz IR, which when detected by the receivers results in an active-low signal as shown in
Because the integrated circuit receivers used to detect the IR signals may have a problem initially identifying a signal and isolating it from any background or ambient level of IR energy, each signature is preceded by a “Pre-Sync” burst of modulated energy followed by a “Pre-Sync Pause” to allow the receiver to set its gain levels to match the signal that follows. This forms a “throw-away” pulse at the start of each signature which will not affect anything if its duration is distorted as the receiver circuitry tries to properly acquire the incoming signal.
Because the controllers of different units can typically be expected to be running at different speeds from one another, particularly if a lower-cost resistor oscillator or R/C oscillator is used for timing, the Pre-Sync Pause is then followed by a Sync pulse of a known duration as perceived by the transmitting unit. This allows the receiving unit to identify what speed the transmitting unit's controller is running at relative to the receiver's controller speed so that variations in timing can be properly accounted for. The Pre-Sync and Pre-Sync Pause help to ensure that the duration of this pulse is exactly as intended by the transmitting unit.
As a result of the foregoing, all signatures consist of a Pre-Sync (PS), a Pre-Sync Pause (PSP), Sync, and a plurality of data bits, as shown in
During a game, all units attempt to cooperate such that data “collisions” will be kept to a minimum. However, it is a fairly common occurrence for the signatures from two or more different units (which typically cannot see each other's signatures) to arrive simultaneously at the omnidirectional receiver of a common target unit, causing a corrupted signature to be received by that target unit. During normal game play, such corruption is most frequently seen as the beacon signatures from the other units colliding at the receiver of the common target unit, resulting in a signature which looks very much like a valid tag signature. To prevent the receiving unit from interpreting such a corrupted signature as a spurious tag signature, all beacon signatures (including area signatures) use a longer Sync Burst than do the tag or packet data signatures as shown in
As shown in
Area signatures are special cases of the beacon signature in which HF is 0 but X2 and X1 contain at least one “1” bit. These combinations would make no sense as a beacon signature from a player unit, and are thus reserved for the various different area signatures. The area signatures are defined in Table 1.
As shown in
Because each player in a hosted/joined game has a unique ID, all tags taken by every player in a game can be recorded by the unit receiving the tags for analysis, reporting and comparison after the game has ended. This allows each player to know not only how many times he or she was tagged by other players or tagged other players, but the player can also determine exactly who those other players were and how many times he or she tagged or was tagged by each of them.
The following packet data communications may be used for communicating more complex information than the specific information involved in the beacon, area, and tag signatures. Such complex data may be exchanged between two or more units at the beginning of a game to allow a host to automatically program joiners with the details of the game about to be played, to synchronize all players in a game and ensure that they all recognize or know the IDs that will and will not be valid during the game. During a game, such complex data may be exchanged between two or more units to allow players within the game to communicate and even transfer resources or liabilities to one another. After a game, such complex data may be exchanged between two or more units to allow performance data collection, ranking, and comparison of all units, among other things.
Packet data signatures can be any one of three basic types, depending on where they occur in the data stream. The first signature in the data stream (containing the first byte of information) is always a packet type byte, or “Ptype” as shown in
There is no specific data-length byte in the packets, as each Ptype tells the receiving unit what the meanings of the data bytes to follow are. Some packets are variable-length and thus do contain a data-length byte of one format or another, but this is not required in packets which are not variable-length. The maximum length of any packet is 22 bytes, including the Ptype and Csum.
Exemplary Game-Programming Communications
As previously mentioned, games are selected and defined through the use of a menu-driven process in which the user inputs data to the system software through the various input buttons, and the software displays prompts and selected values on the displays. In addition to pre-defined games which the user may not modify, the system also allows the user to select games which the user may then customize to his/her own liking. Once the game has been fully defined (either by default or by user modification), this definition is automatically passed from the host to all joiners in the area.
An example of the information transmitted from the Host to the Joiners in order to define the game is as follows:
The foregoing packet defines a special game which will be hosted by a unit calling itself “2C”. The game will last for 15 minutes, and in this game each player will have 50 tags until tagged out, unlimited reloads, 45 seconds of shield time, and 12 mega tags available. The game will be called 2ZON (short for “2 Zones”), and the details of how it will be played are defined by the two Packed Flags bytes that include:
An example of data being transmitted during a text message sequence
The forgoing packet defines a Text Message transmission during gameplay. The receiving unit will display “HELLO” in the alpha numeric LCD display of the receiving unit.
As can be appreciated, the software may allow for additional Packed Flag Bytes to be sent to tell joiner units how to process other situations beyond those already covered in the foregoing description and example. Units encountering situations for which no Packed Flag Bytes are sent will simply ignore the situation and not allow it to affect gameplay. If the game definition broadcast by the host involves dividing the various joining players into functional teams, the joining players may then select a preferred team to associate with. Alternatively, if the joiner has no team preference or the joiner's preferred team is full, the host may assign the joiner to a particular team. After any needed team preference has been supplied, the joiner unit automatically communicates with the host to receive an assigned player ID.
Once the host has determined that all units have been joined into the game (either because no new unit has requested an ID, because the host user has told the host unit that all other units have been joined or because there is no room left in the game for any more units to join), the host initiates a thirty second t-minus countdown and broadcasts the T-minus value along with a set of bytes identifying all units that were successfully joined to the game. When the joiner units receive this broadcast information they will then know when to start the actual game (based on the t-minus countdown value), which signatures are and are not valid in this game (based on the Packet Flag bytes and the list of valid IDs sent with the t-minus value) and how long to play the game (based on the information received in the game definition).
During the T-Minus countdown, an additional feature called “Cloning” may be allowed. In the Cloning process, two units being operated by a single player agree to share a single Player ID and some of the resources and liabilities assigned to the player by the Host. While the first of these two units, called the “Master,” Joins or Hosts the game in the normal fashion, a second unit called the “Slave” listens for the game particulars as transmitted by the host but does not request nor receive a unique Player ID. Instead, once the T-Minus countdown has begun, it is “programmed” by the Master with the Player ID it will use during the game. This process is accomplished by sending and receiving Tag signatures using the directional transceivers during the T-minus countdown period, a time during which tag signatures would otherwise be meaningless as the game has not actually started yet. The Master sends a plurality of basic Tag Signatures which are received by the Slave, and the Slave responds by echoing a plurality of the same Tag Signature but with a different pattern of “extended Information” bits (1 extra tag point). If the Master receives the correct response, it considers the Cloning to have been successful and responds with a single tag signature of the same ID but having yet different “extended information” bits (2 extra tag points), and the Slave upon receiving this signature will consider the Cloning to have been successful. But if the Master does not receive the correct response, it sends a plurality of significantly different Tag Signatures to indicate that the process has failed and must be attempted again. Once the Master and Slave have determined that the Cloning process has been a success, they each divide the number-of-tags-until-out and the number of reloads available per player between themselves (the Master receiving the larger share if it cannot be evenly divided), and the two units will play through the programmed duration of the game with the same basic game definition and Player ID. Once the game has concluded, the Master may collect such data from the Slave as is needed for reporting back to the Host, allowing the Host to properly score a game in which the single player has used multiple game units to achieve his score.
Once the t-minus countdown reaches t-minus-zero (T-00) the game begins automatically and runs for the predetermined game duration or until the host declares an early end to the game (by beginning the debriefing/interrogation process early). During the game all signature interactions that are important to the game, such as tag signatures received, Zone area signatures received and the like are recorded by each unit so that the host unit may compare each player's and each team's gameplay after completion of the game. A player may be “tagged-out” before the game ends in which case his/her unit remains disabled until the end of the game and is then debriefed by the host just as if he/she had not been tagged-out.
When the game ends, the host then interrogates/queries all joiner units initially joined to the game for their recorded data. Each unit being interrogated then reports the requested gameplay data for that unit back to the host. The host combines all of the data received from each joiner unit, processes or otherwise analyzes the data and compares the results for each player (and also for the various teams, if applicable) in the game. The host then, based on the scoring parameters for the game, ranks all of the players and teams. Any joiner unit that is not debriefed by or otherwise does not communicate with the host after the game is treated as a unit that never joined the game. The compiled scores are ranked, and the resulting ranks are transmitted by the host to all joiners. Each player in the game can thus know one or more of the following: how well he or she performed individually (based on the objectives of the game), how well his or her team performed as a team (again based on the objectives of the game) and how well he or she performed individually versus each of the other individuals in the game (based on tags transmitted to the other players versus tags received from other players).
Exemplary Gameplay
CLASSIC LAZER TAG (LTAG)—The object of this game is to be the last player not tagged out. In the Classic LAZER TAG game, all other players are your opponents.
Preset game features include:
No Hosting, game starts immediately at T-10
No Teams or Player ID's
Any number of players may play
15 seconds of Shield time allowed
Unlimited Reloads
12 Mega-Tags
Players are tagged out after taking 10 Tags
No score ranking—last player NOT tagged out wins.
After being tagged out, a player's elapsed time in the game (from the start of the game to the time at which the player is tagged out) is displayed on the player's screen.
CUSTOM LAZER TAG (CUST)—The object of this game is to be the last player not tagged out, while scoring as many tags against your opponents as possible. In the Custom LAZER TAG game, all other players are your opponents. This variation of Classic LAZER TAG allows all game options to be programmable.
Game features include:
Fully hosted, (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
2-24 players may be in the game, players have individual ID's
No Teams, All players are opponents of each other
Time—1-99 minutes, (default=10 min)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=Unlimited)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited (default=10)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=15)
Tags—1-99 (default=10)
Ranking is individual only
2-TEAM CUSTOMIZED LAZER TAG (2TMS) and 3-TEAM CUSTOMIZED LAZER TAG (3TMS)—The object of these games is to have the most number of your team's players remain in the game while scoring as many tags as possible on opposing players. In these games, some of the other players are on the same team as you, while others are on one or two opposing teams.
Game features of the foregoing team customized games include:
Fully hosted, (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing 2 or 3 teams of up to 8 players per team
Team Tags (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Medic Mode (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Time—1-99 minutes, (default=15 min)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=Unlimited)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited (default=10)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=15)
Tags—1-99 (default=20)
Ranking is individual and team
HIDE AND SEEK (HDSK)—The object of this game is to score as many tags as possible on the other team while seeking them, and avoid taking tags while hiding from them. Players are divided into two teams. At any given time, one team is seeking while the other team is hiding. The teams switch between seeking and hiding every 60 seconds.
Game features include:
Fully hosted, (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
2 teams of up to 8 players per team
Team Tags (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Medic Mode (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Time—2-98 minutes (minutes in multiples of 2), (default=10 min)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=5)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited (default=15)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=30)
Tags—1-99 (default=25)
Ranking is individual and team:
HUNT THE PREY (HUNT)—The object of this game is to score as many tags as possible on the other team while seeking them, and avoid taking as many tags as possible while hiding from them. This game is like Hide and Seek, but with the added complexity that players are divided into three teams. At any given time, your team will be hunting one team while hiding from the other team. Every 60 seconds the hunting direction switches so that you must now hide from the team you were just hunting and hunt the team you were just hiding from.
Game features include:
Fully hosted (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
3 Teams. Up to 8 players on each team
Team Tags (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Medic Mode (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Time—2-98 minutes (minutes in multiples of 2) (default=10 min)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=5)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited (default=15)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=30)
Tags—1-99 (default=25)
Ranking is individual and team:
2-KINGS (2KNG) and 3-KINGS (3KNG)—The object of these games is to tag out the opposing team's King while protecting your own king. The Kings on any of the teams are not known to the other teams, but a clue is that the King's device will not send out an identifying (IFF) signal.
Game features include:
Fully hosted (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
2 or 3 Teams. Up to 8 players on each team
Team Tags (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Medic Mode (selectable)—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Time—1-99 minutes (default=15 min for 2-KINGS, and 30 min for 3-KINGS)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=20)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited (default=00)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=30)
Tags—1-99 (default=15)
Ranking is individual and team:
Zone Games—in Zone games the host's device becomes the Zone TAGGER. The Zone TAGGER does not participate in the game as a player although it still performs all set-up and programming functions and performs the debriefing at the end of the game. The Zone TAGGER creates the Zone by generating a 360° infrared light field using its omnidirectional transceiver. The Zone TAGGER should always be stationary during a game and positioned on a stable surface with the omnidirectional transceiver pointing straight up and level with the ground. The Zone TAGGER should be located in a place so that the Zone can fill a large area without obstructions that may create dead spots within the Zone.
All devices in the game operate to sense the Zone using their omnidirectional transceivers. Devices accumulate “Zone Time” whenever the device can sense the Zone and multiple players may be in the Zone at the same time. A player may remain in the Zone as long as he/she is not “Neutralized.” When a player takes a tag from any other player, whether he/she is in the Zone or not, the tagged player becomes “Neutralized” for 15 seconds. The neutralized device will display “NEUT” on the device display and a fifteen-second countdown. A neutralized player cannot tag other players, be tagged by other players, raise shields or add Mega-Tag power. A neutralized player must leave the Zone within 5 seconds of being tagged and remain completely out of the Zone while neutralized. If a player stays in the Zone or returns to the Zone while neutralized, the Zone will become “hostile” to that neutralized player. A hostile Zone will cause a player's device to take multiple tags from the Zone at a pace fast that may completely tag out the neutralized player from the game within just a few seconds.
OWN THE ZONE (OWNZ)—The object of the game is to accumulate as much Zone Time as possible. Own the Zone is a strategic individual game where all players are opponents. Players should focus on getting into and staying in the Zone as long as possible without getting tagged, rather than attacking the opponents. The player with most Zone Time wins the game. It should be noted that multiple players can be in the Zone at the same time, as long as they can avoid getting tagged.
Game features include:
Fully hosted (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
2-24 players
No Teams. All players are opponents
Time—1-99 minutes, (default=10 min)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=15)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited, (default=0)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=45)
Tags—1-99 (default=10)
Ranking is individual only
2-TEAMS OWN THE ZONE (2TOZ) and 3-TEAMS OWN THE ZONE (3TOZ)—The object of the game is to accumulate as much collective Zone Time as possible for the whole team. These two games are played in the same way as the Individual game of Own the Zone except that the players are divided into teams.
Game features include:
Fully hosted, (requires hosting/joining) and supports post-game debriefing
2 or 3 Teams. Up to 8 players on each team
Team Tags—Yes (Y) or No (N) (default=Y)
Time—1-99 minutes, (default=15 min for 2-TEAMS OWN THE ZONE, and 20 min for 3-TEAMS OWN THE ZONE)
Reloads—0-99 or Unlimited (default=15)
Mega-Tags—0-99 or Unlimited, (default=0)
Shields—0-99 seconds (default=45)
Tags—1-99 (default=10)
Score ranking is Individual and Team
While the present invention has been illustrated by a description of various embodiments and while these embodiments have been set forth in considerable detail, it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the appended claims. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications to the foregoing preferred embodiments may be made in various aspects. It is deemed that the spirit and scope of the invention encompass such variations to be preferred embodiments as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and familiar with the teachings of the present application.
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