Patent Application
20100285881
Computing devices with touch displays capable of detecting user inputs in the form of touch inputs and touch gestures are becoming increasingly common. Such devices may be configured to detect inputs from a single user and/or multiple users. Further, touch displays may be vertically-orientated such as, for example, computer monitors and wall-mounted touch-screens. Alternatively, touch displays may have other orientations such as touch displays included in laptop computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, tablet computers, table-top displays, and the like.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
Touch gesturing on a multi-player game space is herein provided. One example method of managing a multi-player game displayed via a touch display includes instantiating a player space occupying a portion of the multi-player game space upon recognizing a touch input directed to a position of the multi-player game space. Such player spaces may be resized or repositioned via subsequent touch inputs and/or touch gestures, thus accommodating dynamic rearrangement or addition of new players.
The present disclosure is related to a multi-player game space visually presented on a touch display. The touch display may be configured to allow interaction with several game players by displaying a multi-player game space including individual player spaces corresponding to each player. Such a multi-player game space may be used to display a variety of interactive multi-player games, such as card games, puzzle games, dice games, word games, party games, arcade games, role-playing games, first-person games, third-person games, and the like. Since such games are popular in social settings, it is likely that the number of players may fluctuate often, and therefore the multi-player game space can be configured to easily accommodate the addition of new players. Accommodating such players may include adjusting a size or position of existing player spaces to make room for a new player space. Thus, such a multi-player game space not only accommodates addition/subtraction of players on the fly, but can also dynamically accommodate a variety of seating arrangements. Further, by including a player space associated with each player, each player may control their own playing area and may change a size, orientation or position of their player space for personal preference, as well as for accommodating other players.
As an example,
Touch inputs detectable by the touch display may include gesture-based touch inputs such as swipe gestures, flick gestures, circular gestures, finger taps, drag-and-drop gestures, press-and-hold gestures, and the like. Further, the touch display may be configured to detect multi-touch gestures, including a two-finger or three-finger swipe, tap, etc. Such multi-touch gestures may also include pinch and/or stretch gestures of two fingers (or a finger and thumb, etc.) moved towards each other in a “pinching” motion or away from each other in a “stretching” motion.
At 204, method 200 includes recognizing a first touch input directed to a first position of the multi-player game space. As described above, a first touch input may be, for example, a touch input from a player's fingertip. As another example, the first touch input may be a touch-and-hold gesture. As an example,
Returning to
Player spaces may be of any suitable size, shape, configuration etc. as described in more detail as follows. For example, in some embodiments, a player space may be visually defined on the display, for example by displaying a shading of the player space, displaying an outlining of a border of the player space, etc. to visually indicate the first player space. In other embodiments, a player space may not be visually defined on the display.
In some embodiments, player spaces may each be of a same size. Alternatively, in other embodiments, player spaces may be sized differently relative to one another. In some embodiments, player spaces may be arranged symmetrically within a multi-player game space. Alternatively, in other embodiments, player spaces may be arranged asymmetrically to accommodate virtually any seating configuration of players. Furthermore, in some embodiments, each player space may radiate from a central location of the multi-player game space. In some embodiments, each player space may be substantially pie shaped. However, in other embodiments, player spaces may be of a substantially different shape, such as rectangular, circular, etc.
As an example, at time t1 of the touch sequence depicted in
Returning to
At 210, method 200 includes responsive to recognition of the second touch input, moving the first player space to follow the second touch input. In other words, the second touch input directed to a portion of the first player space and moving across the multi-player game space can be used to translate the first player space to another location of the multi-player game space. As an example,
In some embodiments, method 200 may further include recognizing subsequent touch inputs, where each subsequent touch input may be directed to a position of the multi-player game space exterior to existing player spaces. Further, responsive to recognition of such a subsequent touch input, a new player space may be instantiated such that the new player space occupies a portion of the multi-player game space including the position to which that subsequent touch input was directed. For example, a new player may decide to join a game already in progress by touching the multi-player game space at a location external to the existing player spaces. Upon recognizing the new touch input, a new player space may be created for the new player.
As an example,
Further, instantiating a new player space as described above may further include decreasing a size of one or more existing player spaces to accommodate the new player space. Additionally or alternatively, instantiating a new player space may include shifting a position of one or more existing player spaces to accommodate the new player space. Such growing, shrinking, and/or moving of existing player spaces may be done at any time during the game.
As an example,
In some embodiments, a player space may further include a grab target. Accordingly, the touch display may be configured to recognize a touch input directed at such a grab target and moving across the multi-player game space. In some embodiments, in response to recognizing such a touch input directed at the grab target, the player space may be moved to follow the touch input. Alternatively, in some embodiments, in response to recognizing such a touch input directed at the grab target, a size of the player space may be changed.
The touch input directed at the grab target may be any suitable touch input, such as the touch-and-drag inputs described above, and described with reference to
As described herein, the multi-player game space may include one or more player spaces. However, the multi-player game space may further include a shared space external to the player spaces. Such a shared space may include, for example, chips and/or a dealer's hand in a virtual card game, a virtual game board, a scoreboard, a clock, etc. Moreover, as described above with reference to the player spaces changing in size and/or location to accommodate the addition of more player spaces, such a shared space may likewise adjust in size, shape, and/or location.
Further, graphic images and information visually presented in such shared spaces or player spaces may change in response to the space increasing or decreasing in size. As an example, under size constraints, a space (i.e. a shared space and/or a player space) may display a dollar value of chips rather than a graphical image of stacks of chips. As another example, a size of each virtual playing card may decrease as the space decreases.
In some embodiments, a touch input recognized by the touch display may include a touch input from a game object placed on the touch display. Adjustments in size, location, shape, etc. of player spaces may track motion of the game object on the display just as in the case of tracking other touch inputs. For example, a game object may execute a first touch input when placed on the touch display, and the game object may execute a second touch input when the game object is moved across the touch display. In some cases, the game object may be a privacy shield (e.g. a visor) configured to limit visibility of a portion of a player space. A player may use such a game object to limit visibility of their cards, game pieces, etc. from their opponents. Such cards, game pieces, etc. may be moved in response to a change in location of the game object. As an example,
Further, in some embodiments, game objects may be “tagged” with a barcode, etc. detectable by the touch display. Such a tagged game object may be a token preconfigured to be associated with a player's profile, such that the player may join a game by setting the tagged game object on the display, upon which the computing system obtains the player profile and optionally displays stored settings (e.g. winnings) associated with the player. In this way, a player may move from one multi-player game to another while information pertaining to the player is automatically transferred from one computing system to the other.
In some embodiments, the above described methods and processes may be tied to a computing system. As an example,
Logic subsystem 902 may include one or more physical devices configured to execute one or more instructions. For example, the logic subsystem may be configured to execute one or more instructions that are part of one or more programs, routines, objects, components, data structures, or other logical constructs. Such instructions may be implemented to perform a task, implement a data type, transform the state of one or more devices, or otherwise arrive at a desired result. The logic subsystem may include one or more processors that are configured to execute software instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the logic subsystem may include one or more hardware or firmware logic machines configured to execute hardware or firmware instructions. The logic subsystem may optionally include individual components that are distributed throughout two or more devices, which may be remotely located in some embodiments.
Data-holding subsystem 904 may include one or more physical devices configured to hold data and/or instructions executable by the logic subsystem to implement the herein described methods and processes. When such methods and processes are implemented, the state of data-holding subsystem 904 may be transformed (e.g., to hold different data). Data-holding subsystem 904 may include removable media and/or built-in devices. Data-holding subsystem 904 may include optical memory devices, semiconductor memory devices, and/or magnetic memory devices, among others. Data-holding subsystem 904 may include devices with one or more of the following characteristics: volatile, nonvolatile, dynamic, static, read/write, read-only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, and content addressable. In some embodiments, logic subsystem 902 and data-holding subsystem 904 may be integrated into one or more common devices, such as an application specific integrated circuit or a system on a chip.
Computing system 900 may further include touch display 906, which may be used to present a visual representation of data held by data-holding subsystem 904. As the herein described methods and processes change the data held by the data-holding subsystem, and thus transform the state of the data-holding subsystem, the state of touch display 906 may likewise be transformed to visually represent changes in the underlying data. Touch display 906 may include one or more display devices utilizing virtually any type of technology. Such display devices may be combined with logic subsystem 902 and/or data-holding subsystem 904 in a shared enclosure, or such display devices may be peripheral display devices.
It is to be understood that the configurations and/or approaches described herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. The specific routines or methods described herein may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies. As such, various acts illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in other sequences, in parallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of the above-described processes may be changed.
The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and nonobvious combinations and subcombinations of the various processes, systems and configurations, and other features, functions, acts, and/or properties disclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.
