Patent Application
20080280682
1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to electronic gaming systems and devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video games are a well-developed technological art. A video game is a game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video display, such as a raster-type display. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms. They include personal computers, specialized video game consoles, handheld devices (e.g., cell phones, PDAs, etc.), and the like. The user interface to manipulate a video game is generally called a game controller, which varies across platforms. Beyond the common element of visual feedback, video games have utilized other systems to provide interaction and information to the player, such as sounds and vibrations. It is also known in the art that video games can be played in a standalone “local” manner, or “remotely,” e.g., via a network connection, such as the Internet. Multiplayer games are those that can be played either competitively or cooperatively, typically by using multiple input devices.
This disclosure relates to a portable game platform designed, for example, to replace a traditional board game. In one embodiment, the platform comprises a set (e.g., two or more) independent units, which preferably are wirelessly connected. One of the displays preferably is a master unit that manages the game and its display on the remaining, satellite units. The master unit typically has Internet connectivity. Preferably, each unit can stand on its own, has a touch sensitive display capable of handling multiple touch points (chording), and includes an accelerometer (or the equivalent) for detecting physical changes in its orientation.
With the modular units, a game board can be created, re-arranged and manipulated to support the various modes of game play that one might encounter when physically interacting with traditional board games. The accelerometer, for example, allows for a simulation of dice to be rendered and for the player to shake the board to roll the dice. The same mechanism can be used to displace the dice, e.g., in a dice game. The separate, but preferably wirelessly connected, units allow for the shape of the board to change to support different styles of game play and information hiding. Thus, e.g., four units could be arranged in a classic two-player arrangement to support the same gaming experience. A multi-point touch screen allows for more direct interaction with pieces and the game than other gaming platforms, and it allows for natural information hiding. Additionally, tactile game pieces may be provided that would interact with the board further enhancing the physical experience associated with classic board games.
Preferably, each modular unit has a display portion, such as a one or more TFT or OLED display panels. The shape of each modular unit may be the same, or different. Typically, the modular units have the same configuration. Preferably, at least some if not all of the modules in the system can be oriented arbitrarily and thus can be arranged suitably to promote or represent a specific style of board game play. As noted above, the game play over the modules may be extended by wireless connectivity to support an arbitrary board size. The game play can also be extended over the Internet (or other network connection) to local or remote players. Preferably, each modular unit has a mechanism to determine the unit's orientation to a fixed surface, and relative to one another.
Preferably, the master unit acts as a central controller. It operates to distribute the state of the game to the satellite units (and their associated remote displays), e.g., by means of networking connections and associated software. Preferably, the master controller executes appropriate platform software that has knowledge of the other boards, what should be displayed to the user, what events/interactions are taking place on the remote displays, and the like. If desired, a satellite unit could serve as a master unit in the event of a failure of the master, so that the game is not interrupted. The master unit preferably includes a video camera (similar to those in web cams). This camera allows the user to project their image to a remote player giving the perception that the remote player is present and engaged in the game play. The game board image (or a portion thereof) will preferably be displayed to the remote player(s) (e.g., over the Internet, using another system) during game play. Preferably, any of the units may be used to display the virtual presence of a remote player, e.g., by projecting the video from the remote unit's camera onto one of the local displays. This allows remote players to easily interact with local players as if they were physically present for play.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent features of the invention. These features should be construed to be merely illustrative. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention as will be described.
For an understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Preferably, there are no physical connections between the units. Batteries are preferably charged and re-charged inductively. An individual unit may or may not have any external ports or otherwise have an “up” position. The display panel may be present on any of the sides or surfaces of the unit. The accelerometer identifies an orientation of the unit (and, thus, the display panels) to the master unit. Each unit preferably includes a Bluetooth or other wireless module to allow it to communicate with one or more other units, including the master unit. Preferably, during play a given unit includes a copy of the game, and state is shared between and among the units for display and tracking input.
More generally, the master unit is a gaming computer having the capability and capacity to facilitate play of a computer game. Thus, the master unit may be any CPU- chip-based electronic platform and associating software.
The representative satellite unit 202 includes a processor 228, memory 230, a display and associated graphics card(s) 232, an accelerometer 234, wireless connectivity via Bluetooth 236 or Firewire 238, and a power supply 240 and/or battery 242.
With the modular game units, a game board can be created, re-arranged and manipulated to support the various modes of game play that one might encounter when physically interacting with traditional board games. The accelerometer, for example, allows for a simulation of dice to be rendered and for the player to shake the board to roll the dice. The same mechanism can be used to displace the dice, e.g., in a dice game. The separate, but preferably wirelessly connected, units allow for the shape of the board to change to support different styles of game play and information hiding. Thus, e.g., four units could be arranged in a classic two-player arrangement to support the same gaming experience. A multi-point touch screen allows for more direct interaction with pieces and the game than other gaming platforms, and it allows for natural information hiding. Some word games, for example, require that a number of tiles be drawn and hidden from the view of other players. With the gaming platform, there is a natural means for hiding and displaying the tiles. The user simply places a hand on the board, cupped, so that he or she can view the tiles but the other players cannot. Under suitable control, the board senses that it may safely reveal the tiles and does so. Alternatively, the accelerometer may be employed as the board is tilted to provide viewing exclusively to the player that owns the tiles. Additionally, tactile game pieces may be provided that would interact with the board further enhancing the physical experience associated with classic board games.
Preferably, each modular game unit has a display portion, such as a one or more TFT or OLED display panels. The shape of each modular unit may be the same, or different. Typically, the modular units have the same configuration. Preferably, at least some if not all of the modules in the system can be oriented arbitrarily and thus can be arranged suitably to promote or represent a specific style of board game play. As noted above, the game play over the modules may be extended by wireless connectivity to support an arbitrary board size. In one embodiment, Bluetooth is used between and among the modular units for wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi or other wireless protocols may be used as well. These techniques are not meant to be limiting, as any convenient technique for high speed data exchange (e.g., Firewire, USB, or other) between the physically adjacent or nearby units may be used. The game play can also be extended over the Internet (or other network connection) to local or remote players. Preferably, each modular unit has a mechanism to determine the unit's orientation to a fixed surface, and relative to one another.
Preferably, and as noted above, the master game unit acts as a central controller. It operates to distribute the state of the game to the satellite units (and their associated remote displays), e.g., by means of networking connections and associated software. Preferably, the master controller executes appropriate platform software that has knowledge of the other boards, what should be displayed to the user, what events/interactions are taking place on the remote displays, and the like. If desired, a satellite unit could serve as a master unit in the event of a failure of the master, so that the game is not interrupted. The master unit preferably includes a video camera (similar to those in web cams). This camera allows the user to project their image to a remote player giving the perception that the remote player is present and engaged in the game play. The game board image (or a portion thereof) will preferably be displayed to the remote player(s) (e.g., over the Internet, using another system) during game play. Preferably, any of the units may be used to display the virtual presence of a remote player, e.g., by projecting the video from the remote unit's camera onto one of the local displays. The idea is to allow remote players to easily interact with local players as if they were physically present for play.
The gaming platform may also be used by a player for extended activities, such as an online store for game or other purchases, a virtual game closet for storing games, access to other online games and sites, and to facilitate social networking (e.g., with a community of friends and relatives with whom the consumer may play games at any time). Each of these items may be built right into the unit and may be exposed through the system's application software.
The playing surface may be expanded by positioning two or more modules such as illustrated in
A set of modular game units networked together as described above comprise a gaming system or platform. The hardware of given units typically is homogenous, but it may be heterogeneous. Preferably, however, each unit runs an instance of the same distributed application that facilitates the functionality described herein. This distributed application typically is distinct from the game itself, although this is not a requirement, as a particular game may comprise software components that are part of or that otherwise conform to an application programming interface (API) of the platform. The distributed application components comprise a communications protocol layer, an access layer, and a core components layer. The “layer” designation is provided for explanatory purposes, as one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the functions may be characterized in other meaningful ways. One or more of the layers (or the components therein) may be integrated or otherwise. Some components may be shared across layers. The communications protocol layer is an efficient and reliable message-based middleware layer that enables communication between and among the units. Typically, the layer supports multicast and point-to-point communications. One example of such a middleware is the Spread toolkit. Inter-unit communications may be based on a one-way request pattern, an acknowledged request pattern, or a request/response pattern. The core components layer provides the necessary functionality for interfacing with the actual game components, and for controlling the satellite units to display the board and game elements. As noted above, preferably one game unit acts as a master (or leader) and is responsible for determining which satellite units are responsible for displaying which portions of the game board. The core component interfaces to the game software and maintains state information for each of the displays associated with the one or more satellite modules so that the appropriate display data is sent to the unit(s). A leader election algorithm, such as the bully algorithm, assignment by a user, hardware assignment, or other variation, may be used to select the leader. The distributed application may operate on any convenient operating system, such as Linux. The application may also include or interoperate with other components local to the unit or distributed among the others such as a database management system.
Thus, according to the subject matter herein, a module (sometimes referred to as a “game unit”) is a discrete electronic device that is participating in delivering a “game experience” to a user. A “game experience” is the utilization of any set of multiple such electronic devices preferably designed and configured in the manner described above so as to provide a specific type of socially interactive, cooperative game or other experience to multiple users, either in physical proximity (as around a table) or in virtual proximity (as around an online game server or Internet connection to remote devices). A “game space” is a 2D or 3D virtual space that is constructed, preferably in software, for the purposes of playing a game. Preferably, the virtual space is tied to one or more game units in such a way as to convey some notion of physical positional information to the other game units and players. This notion of physical position may be realized as (a) an absolute position in 3D space, (b) relatively, as the relative position of any one device in a position relative to another, or (c) abstractly, the notion that a relative position of a unit is defined in abstract relative terms, such as above or below, left or right, further or closer, and the like.
According to another aspect of this disclosure, a “physical position vector” (PPV) is a 2D or 3D vector that each game unit maintains to relate a notional physical location of a corresponding game unit in relation to the unit on which the PPV is derived. This vector may be expressed in absolute, relative, or abstract terms. Any given PPV may change as the game progresses independently of any game avatars or similar game icons that may also be moved in relation to the game play. Preferably, the physical presence of the player at the game is maintained as part of the game state independently of the actual game play. In other words, the player typically has a presence separate from and independent of (but also complementary to) the actual game or activity being pursued.
The physical position vectors are used to map game units into a virtual game space regardless of how the units are moved around physically. As will be described, by maintaining a mapping of the player position vector to the virtual space for each game unit, the system enables the virtual space to be coherently rendered to the game units irrespective of changes in physical location of one or more game units. A PPV can be derived using one of several techniques as are now described. These include: user-defined position registration, dead reckoning position registration, wireless signal strength position registration, and physical proximity position registration. As used herein, “position registration” is the process by which any game unit is assigned or assumes a position in the virtual space and that is related to any given notion of physical position that is relevant to the users playing the game. Preferably, a wireless protocol is used to enable the game units to resolve relative position ambiguities such a complete set of physical position vectors among multiple game units is coherent with respect to the complete 2D or 3D game space. The physical position vectors thus established on each game unit enable the processing of physical device gestures (e.g., touch, tilt, shake) that may be directed at a specific player. This may be accomplished by aligning those gestures with the PPV specific to each player being addressed.
Position registration may be carried out by the users. In a first approach, the users acting in cooperation define relative positions of the game units. Preferably, in this form of registration, position is generally restricted to abstract relative position. The set of participating game units is displayed to the user on a display screen and the user positions the remote units relative to each other such that the relative position on the screen reflects the perceived physical location of the unit and its player. This relative placement may be rendered in 2D or 3D space. A 2D registration process is illustrated in
Another position registration approach may be based on dead reckoning. Here, the users acing in cooperation define the relative positions of the game units. In this form of registration, preferably position is restricted either to relative or absolute relative position. The set of participating game units are individually registered with each other, e.g., by physically touching the units together and then moving the units to a physical location of the game player. The set of participating game units is displayed to the user on a display screen and the user positions the remote units relative to each other such that the relative position on the screen reflects the perceived physical location of the unit and its player. The relative placement may be rendered in 2D or 3D space. A 2D registration process is illustrated in
Another approach to position registration uses wireless signal strength. Here, the users acting in cooperation define the relative positions of the game units. In this form of registration, position is generally restricted to relative or abstract relative position. The set of participating game units are identified by their wireless transmission and derived signal strength, which varies with proximity. This signal strength is then used via a calibration table to derive a distance between units. For three or more units, the relative coordinates between the units may be derived by simple trigonometry, such as shown in
Yet another approach to position registration involves physical proximity. The users acting in cooperation define the relative positions of the game units. In this form of registration, position is generally restricted to relative or abstract relative position. The set of participating game units are manipulated to be physically adjacent to one another. By means of electrical contacts, proximal position information is derived and shared among the units, as illustrated in
A remote unit PPV derivation is shown in
As a skilled artisan will appreciate, the construction of a PPV allows each unit to have a sense of the direction from itself to any other game unit. This allows physical gestures on the unit to be used to indicate or communicate actions that should be directed between the gesturing game unit and the game unit in the gestured direction. Such gestures can be physically executed to align with the PPV to the game unit in question to give a more realistic virtual game play or action state change. A gesture, as noted above, may include stroking the touch panel, tilting the unit, tapping the unit, or the like.
Moreover, by tracking the physical location of a game unit as it is moved around by a player, the system can track and update the location of the device in the virtual game space. Using this location, each unit may be used as view window onto specific portions of the virtual game surface. This is illustrated in
By use of the PPV to virtual game space mapping, if two units are physically exchanged, and if it pertinent to the nature of the game, the game units can then also exchange screen displays such that the virtual to physical view mapping remains unchanged without user intervention. Thus, for example, if four units are used to display a virtual game space such as backgammon, exchanging any two (or more) units would not inhibit or otherwise change the coherence of the board displayed. This functionality is advantageous, especially in the case where a unit fails or its battery runs out; in such case, a new unit can be inserted and will automatically replace the failed part of the board without additional configuration. More generally, one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the PPV-to-game space mapping enables the game space to be coherently rendered to the physical game units with full consideration for any changes in physical location.
The methods described above for creating and maintaining a PPV may also be used to track entities other than game units, which other entities may include game pieces, physical devices, systems, persons, or the like.
A particular game unit may include a user interface that exposes one or more menu screens for game selection, administration, management, data collection, and the like. Any particular game unit may be placed in wired or wireless communication with another computer (e.g., a desktop, laptop, PDA, or the like) to provision the unit or system.
The particular details of a game typically determine how a particular unit should be programmed. Thus, for example, in the case of a dice game, an accelerometer (or a series of such devices) may be programmed to enable the simulation of a player shaking the dice cup. Similarly, for a card or word game, an accelerometer (or other sensor) can be used to determine whether information about a virtual entity should be revealed or displayed (e.g., cards being turned up or letter tiles being turned over). Depending on the game, the virtual space and display management described above allows for compelling simulation of a card deck, wherein cards are dealt through space and “land” on other displays. When combined with orientation sensors like accelerometers and altimeters, the cards may be lifted, revealed, and manipulated as if the user were physically present at a gaming table.
If desired, the virtual space may be folded, bent, scaled, split or otherwise contorted without disturbing the consistency of the game unit registrations. For example, a space may be divided into three areas, two of which would be displayed on a single device while the third is duplicated and displayed on both. As a second example, a surface may be layered and each device (although registered at the same position) may be used to display only one or another of the layers exclusively.
The gaming platform may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.
A particular game unit in the system may be an existing computer or device that is programmed to interact with other game units to carry out the described functionality. Thus, an existing computing machine or device, such as a desktop, laptop, PDA, mobile phone, or the like (or, more generally, any network-accessible computing device) may be co-opted and used as a game unit according to the teachings herein.
The word “game” as used herein should be construed broadly, for example, to include entertainment activity, educational activity, and the like.
While given components of the system have been described separately, one of ordinary skill will appreciate that some of the functions may be combined or shared in given devices, modules, instructions, program sequences, code portions, and the like.
Having described the invention, what we now claim is as follows.
This application is based on Ser. No. 60/916,782, filed May 8, 2007.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60916782 | May 2007 | US |
