1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to videos and video gaming. More specifically, the invention relates to methods for presenting a section of a split-screen display to a user.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention relates generally to discriminating amongst portions of a displayed image and displaying to a user less than all of the discriminated portions. Although not limited to this application, the present invention is particularly useful for multiplayer video games in which a single display conventionally is shared by multiple players. For example, when two players are pitted against each other in a game, the screen conventionally is split either horizontally or vertically to accommodate the view seen by the first player in one area and the view seen by the second player in another area. Similarly, when multiplayer mode consists of allowing 3, 4, or even more players to participate, the display is segmented into a corresponding number of discreet areas, each area showing the playing screen for the specific user. Accordingly, when four players are participating, it is not uncommon for a display to be broken into four quadrants, one in each of the top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right portions of the screen.
With these conventional methods of displaying multiplayer images on a single screen, problems have arisen because each player is able to see his or her opponent's screen. Thus, each player has no privacy from the other players, which can lead to unfair advantages. In addition, extraneous information displayed to a user can be distracting and possibly limit the user's ability to concentrate or otherwise achieve the goal of the game.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems for displaying multiplayer games individually to multiple users.
The present invention remedies the foregoing needs in the art by providing a more “singular” approach, which allows a user to select only the portion of the screen pertinent to his or her playing of the game to display only that portion to the user. Accordingly, the present invention allows a user to view the video game in a manner similar to a single player scenario, but while still playing in a multiplayer scenario.
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a system for manipulating the appearance of a video signal. The system includes an input, a user interface, and a processor. The user input receives a video signal displayable as a video image in an active video field. The video image includes a plurality of sections. The user interface accepts a user input to select one of the plurality of sections. The processor manipulates the video signal to display only the selected one or more of the plurality of sections of the video image on a display associated with the user.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of presenting selective portions of a multiplayer video game to one or more of a plurality of players includes providing a video game signal including video information comprising a plurality of pixels. The method also includes determining from the video game signal a first set of pixels comprising video information for viewing by a first player and a second set of pixels comprising video information for viewing by a second player, and displaying the first set of pixels on a first display and the second set of pixels on a second display
In yet another aspect of the invention, a system for playing video games includes a video source, a video decoder, a user interface, and a video processor. The video source outputs a video signal comprising pixels for displaying in an active video field. The video decoder decodes the video signal output from the video source. The user interface accepts an input from a user corresponding to a user selected portion of the active video field and outputs a selection signal corresponding to the user input. The video processor receives the decoded video signal from the video decoder and the selection signal from the user interface and manipulates the decoded video signal to render a display according to the user input.
These and other aspects and features of the invention will be appreciated with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying figures, in which the invention is described and illustrated.
In a first embodiment of the invention, each of
While the invention can certainly be used with multiple TV's, computer monitors, or the like, it is also envisioned that the device may be used with personal video display glasses, such as those made by Vuzix Corporation and sold under the trade name IWEAR.
As noted above, the user-chosen display mode is received by the video controller. Once received, the video controller manipulates the decoded video signal to output a video signal 31 that will present the display to the user in the chosen mode. Before being displayed, the video signal output by the processor may be encoded using a video encoder, for compatibility with the display device. Also illustrated in
Exemplary processing according to preferred embodiments of the invention now will be described with reference to
Thus, section A of the two part video display is shown to the user by adjusting the timing of the H sync and controlling the amount of the input video signal that is subsequently output to the display screen. The H sync of the output video image is pre-triggered i.e., before receiving the H sync of the input video. Between this pre-triggering, and a display of the input video, black video is shown on the output. Similarly, after the first half of the input display video is shown, a black video is again displayed until the next H SYNC. Effectively, each line of the input video signal is shifted approximately one-quarter of the way across the screen (horizontally) and only approximately the first half of each line is displayed.
As should be appreciated, the ability to display both the A portion of the display screen and the B portion of the display screen simultaneously but separately requires two video displays, one unique to each user in the multiplayer scenario. Thus, two processers generally are needed, one to process the input video signal to display the A portion and a second to process the input video signal to display the B portion. The embodiment illustrated in
In one embodiment, the present invention could be implemented as a single “black box” that includes multiple processors and multiple video outputs, each one being configurable to output a video signal corresponding to a display of one of the portions to be viewed by the individual user. For example, this black box could be incorporated into the video game console or other video signal origination device. However, and as noted above, the invention also is useful with personal video display devices. Accordingly, it may be desirable to “daisy chain” a plurality of personal video displays. Thus, the first user would be connected directly to the console, where as a video output from the first personal video display device is then in communication with an input of a second video display device. In one embodiment, an output could be a configurable audio and/or video output that would receive a connector receivable on the opposite end in the video input portion of a second personal video device. Of course, wireless connections also could be used.
As illustrated in
As will be appreciated, although in these embodiments it is illustrated that the portion desirable to each of the users is centered on the screen, such is not necessary. For example, the user desiring to see the A portion may not want their portion moved. In this scenario, the B portion of the signal is merely read out as blank pixels. Moreover, the invention is not limited to use of black pixels for the blank regions. White pixels or any other coloration could be used. Alternatively, the blank regions could display designs or text or any other useful information, as desired by the programmer.
The invention has been described for two-player scenarios, but it also is known to have scenarios including more than two players at a time. When more than two portions of the screen are presented to the multiple users aligned in a vertical orientation or in a horizontal orientation, the displays can be done in the same manner as described above for two display portions A and B. More often, however, the views will not be aligned. For example, most a four person scenarios are displayed on quadrants of the screen. These quadrants generally are arranged at the upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right areas of the display, and these quadrants could be individually shown by applying a combination of the methods described above. Namely, for showing the top left quadrant, both the H sync and V sync for the output signal would be pre-triggered with respect to the input video signal. In this manner, a blank area could be shown above and to the left of the A portion, the center of the screen would than contain only the A portion, and a blank portion would also be to the right and below the A portion.
Because the aspect ratio of each of the four quadrants may be similar to the overall aspect ratio of the display, it may be desirable in this four-player mode to enlarge each quadrant to closely fit the entire viewing area of the display. To this end, the device in
While the present invention has been described thus far in relation to embodiments in which the portion of a screen to be displayed individually are pre-established, in a still further embodiment of the invention, the user can select a section of the original video to be displayed on that user's display screen. For example, a pointing and clicking device can be used to identify some portion of the display that the user would prefer to only see on his or her display. In this instance, a video buffer may also be required to manipulate each frame of the video signal to parse out only those portions that should ultimately be displayed to the user. One of ordinary skill would appreciate the plurality of input methods or user interfaces that would enable selection of portions of active video. One would also appreciate the option of selecting several different sections of video and rearranging the placement of such sections to the benefit and preference of the user.
As described above, the invention preferably is used with personal video display devices.
Each video display device preferably also includes a user controller. The controller generally includes an on/off switch and may include other controls including volume, brightness and/or contrast controls, and power functions. It is preferably on this control that the user also can make a decision as to what portions or how much of the standard image is to be displayed on his specific display. For example, a user may choose to show all of the image, may choose to show a left or right portion of horizontally-aligned images, a top or bottom portion of vertically-aligned images, or one of four quadrants in a standard four quadrant multiplayer application. As noted above, the controller may also include an input button or a moveable device that would allow for pointing and clicking or some other selection device for choosing a portion of the display to be shown. The first personal video display device preferably also includes an output that relays the video signal output from the console to the second video display device. As illustrated in the Figures previously discussed, an amplifier and a buffer preferably are used to assist in this relaying of video signal to the second personal video display device. Thus, each user has controls to choose the portion of the display screen which he or she would like to use but only a second output from a console is necessary. Accordingly, the users can each play the same game or view the same content but with only one output of the video.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, when the video signal is a VGA signal, the video decoder may be made by Analog devices, such as part no. AD9883. When the signal is an NTSC signal, Techwell's TW9910 may be used as the video decoder. The video processor is preferably an FPGA processor, although such is not required. The processor may be XC35100E from XILINX or a custom application specific circuit. The video encoder is generally specific to the display and may not be required in some embodiments. A known video buffer memory is IS61LV25616AL-ISSI 256×16 SRAM. The displays may be any number of displays, including a KOPIN color VGA such as the 640×480 AMLCD display provided as KCD-VDCF-BA.
Alternatively, the functioning of the invention can be included in the gaming console, the video game, or another point of origin of the video signal. For example, appropriate controls could be included in the console to establish selective video display portions for output. In this embodiment, multiple ports could be included for a user to plug their display device into, i.e., to choose between a first output, a second output, etc. Alternatively, one output could be provided with a selection being made either by the device or by the user about which portion of the active video field would be output.
To implement the present invention, the number of lines and pixels that make up each section may be pre-established by the processor, or may be provided in information contained with the video signal from the console. Moreover, the processor may auto-detect the presence of a continuous vertical or horizontal line and recognize such line as a division between adjacent sections.
When the portion is displayed with one or more blank bands, i.e., horizontal or vertical black bands as in the embodiments described above, the video signal (the A or B portion) may also be movable with respect to the bands. For example, for a personal video display device, a head tracker may be used in connection with the video processor to manipulate the position of the displayed portion A or B on the display screen. Such head trackers may incorporate gyroscopes, accelerometers or magnetic field sensors. In one embodiment, a 3-axis gyroscope is used to detect the rotation about the three axes of the user's head and a smoothing function is applied to the output video signal to smooth the motion of the video image on the microdisplay based on the computed movement of the user's head. This will reduce the sensation that the video image is head-borne and more placed in space like a movie, television or other type of display screen. The degree of smoothing would be a user preference set by the user interface controls or could be pre-established by the programmer.
The present invention has been described with reference to specific, preferred embodiments of the invention. The foregoing embodiments of the invention are representative embodiments, and are provided for illustrative purposes. The embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Variations and modifications are apparent from a reading of the preceding description and are included within the scope of the invention. The invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of the accompanying claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/019,233, filed Jan. 4, 2008.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61019233 | Jan 2008 | US |