Patent Application
20080096661
The present invention relates to a virtual creature breeding system and to an information processing system used for the system. The system cooperates with a toy that electronically implements a creature breeding simulation with which a user can enjoy the virtual creature's growth (hereinafter referred to as a virtual creature breeding toy), for example, to allow the user to enjoy events such as trips and souvenir photography done by the fostered virtual creature.
Virtual creature breeding toys that simulate creature breeding have been made commercially available, including the one with the registered trademark “Tamagotchi,” which has been loved by many people. A virtual creature breeding simulation toy starts a simulation when it is reset. Once a simulation has started, the player can take care of the creature (hereinafter referred to as a nurturance operation) from its hatching, through the growth period, until death by using an input unit of the toy, and enjoy the changes and growth of the virtual creature as if it were a real pet (see for example Patent Document 1).
However, the creature in the conventional virtual creature breeding toy grew only in a closed environment in that toy. Afterward, virtual creature breeding toys capable of communicating through newly added infrared communication functions were developed and made commercially available with the trademark “Tamagotchi Plus.” With the toys, players can enjoy simulations of events such as love and marriage and competitive games with another virtual creature fostered by another player through communication.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-232595
Although the capability of communicating with other virtual creature breeding toys has increased the variety of simulations, the communication is merely one-to-one communication between virtual creature breeding toys. Virtual creature breeding toys are tiny, inexpensive apparatuses. Inclusion of too many functions will increase the price and the complexity of operations and therefore is not desirable. On the other hand, considering today's social environment, users can communicate with one another anytime and anywhere with the widespread availability of mobile phones and the Internet and therefore enjoy services through the communication. By using this massive communication environment, the variety of amusements that can be provided by virtual creature breeding toys can be expanded, and the virtual creature breeding toys can be enabled to function not only as mere stand-alone apparatuses, but also as part of entertainment systems including them.
The present invention has been made in light of the examples of the conventional art. An object of the present invention is to provide a virtual creature breeding simulation system and an information processing system that are capable of cooperating with a virtual creature breeding toy to enable simulations of many events such as trips or collection of souvenir photographs of a virtual creature fostered in a breeding simulation to enhance the utilization value of the virtual creature breeding toy as an amusement apparatus with minimal functional addition to the toy.
To achieve the object, the present invention includes the following configurations. There is provided an information processing system that cooperates with an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature, including: input means for inputting a virtual creature code associated with the virtual creature the breeding of which is simulated on the electronic toy and a background image code associated with an background image for the virtual creature;
composition means for combining a virtual creature image associated with the virtual creature code input through the input means with a background image for the virtual creature associated with the background image code to compose a composite image with a size suitable for a display screen; and
display means for displaying the composite image composed by the composition means on the display screen.
Alternatively, there is provided a virtual creature breeding simulation system having an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature, a mobile terminal, and a host computer, the system including:
destination information selecting means for selecting a desired piece of destination information from among a plurality of pieces of destination information of a virtual creature being bred on the electronic toy;
trip instructing means for instructing the electronic toy to simulate a trip of the virtual creature to a destination indicated by the destination information selected by the destination information selecting means;
display instructing means for instructing the electronic toy to display an image of a destination corresponding to the destination information after the trip instructing means instructs the electronic toy to simulate the trip of the virtual creature;
code generating means for, in the electronic toy, generating a code string including a virtual creature code associated with a virtual creature being bred and an image code associated with the destination image;
input means for inputting the code string on the mobile terminal;
composition means for, on the mobile terminal, providing the virtual creature code and the image code included in the code string input by the input means to the host computer and combining the virtual creature image with the destination image to compose a composite image; and
display means for receiving the composite image composed by the host computer and displaying the composite image on a display on the mobile terminal.
Alternatively, there is provided an information processing system that cooperates with an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature and includes a terminal, the system including:
input means for inputting a virtual creature code associated with the virtual creature the breeding of which is simulated by said electronic toy and a background image code associated with a background image for the virtual creature on said terminal;
an image database in which a composite image with a size suitable for a display screen of the terminal is stored in association with a unique image identifier, the composite image being composed by combining a virtual creature image associated with the virtual creature code input through the input means with a background image associated with the background image code;
a user database in which an image identifier of a composite image based on a virtual creature code and a background image code is stored in association with each terminal that has received the virtual creature code and the background image code through the input means;
first transmission means for transmitting the image identifier registered in association with the terminal to the terminal in response to a request sent from the terminal;
second transmission means for transmitting the composite image associated with the image identifier to the terminal in response to a request sent from the terminal with the image identifier; and
display means for displaying on the terminal the composite image sent by said second transmission means.
According to the present invention, a virtual creature breeding simulation system and an information processing system can be implemented that cooperate with a virtual creature breeding toy to enable simulations of many events such as trips and collection of souvenir photographs of a virtual creature fostered in a breeding simulation to improve the rendering quality of the toy as an amusement apparatus with minimum functional addition to the virtual creature breeding toy.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar components are labeled with the same reference numerals.
The accompanying drawings are incorporated into the present specification, constitute part of the specification, show embodiments of the present invention, and are used for illustrating the principles of the present inventions together with descriptions of the drawings.
<Configuration of Virtual Creature Breeding Simulation System>
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A general configuration of a virtual creature breeding simulation system to which the present embodiment is applied will be described with reference to
The mobile terminal 102 is the so-called browser-phone, which may be Digital Mova 505 from NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “NTT”). The mobile terminal 102 has a number of buttons which constitute input means, some of which function as up/down and enter keys, which will be described later with respect to
The server 103 has an HTTP server 103e which provides contents written in HTML or cHTML, a server application 103f which performs processing such as image composition to correspond to a mobile application 102b, and a user database 103g which stores images 103d collected by each user in association with an identifier (user ID) 103c of each mobile terminal 102. The user database 103g stores images 103d on a per user basis and on a per location (country) of photo shooting basis. They can be provided by different servers. While the server 103 in this embodiment is an HTTP server 103e, it may be a WAP server or a server of any other type that supports a protocol compatible with the browser 102c of the mobile terminal 102. If the mobile terminal 102 is an i-mode terminal for example, the terminal 102 is connected to the Internet through a protocol conversion gateway 104. If the mobile terminal 102 is TCP/IP-compatible, a gateway is not required, of course. The server 103 is connected to the Internet and is assigned a unique address.
The HTTP server 103e may be a currently widely used server program and is capable of accessing the user database 103g and providing images collected by each user to that user, namely the browser 102c of the mobile terminal 102 in this embodiment. The server application 103f has a creature image 103b and a background image 103a, combines them into a composite image, and stores it as a collected image in the user database. Multiple background images 103a are provided for one location in association with time parameters such as seasons. Multiple creature images 103b of one creature are provided in association with the background images 103a. Stored in the user database 103g are user IDs 103c of registered users and collected images 103d associated with the respective user IDs 103c.
With the configuration described above, the virtual creature breeding toy 101 can receive information from a mobile terminal 102. The mobile terminal 102 is capable of communicating with the server 103. Through the communication, the mobile terminal 102 can specify the address of a content, or follow a hypertext link written in HTML, to receive and display content data such as text and images provided by the HTTP server 103e. Data sent to the server 103 through execution of the mobile application 102b can be processed by the server application 103f. Details of these processes will be described later with reference to
Programs loaded in the server 103 and the mobile terminal 102 are described as being loaded in an executable manner in the present embodiment. They are provided as program file stored on a computer-readable medium such as an optical disk beforehand and are then loaded from the medium into a computer.
<Configuration of Virtual Creature Breeding Toy>
In
The mobile terminal 102 and the server 103 have a basic block configuration similar to the configuration shown in
<Outline of Operation of Virtual Creature Breeding Simulation System>
An outline of operation of the system shown in
Then, a display representing that the virtual creature is on a trip is displayed on the toy 101 for a predetermined period of time. The toy 101 receives a password from the mobile terminal 102 via infrared communication or waits for manual input of a password and then stores information representing a souvenir indicated in the password in the RAM 213.
The mobile terminal 102, on the other hand, transmits a request for generating an image to the server 103 along with the item code and creature code it received. The server application 103f on the server 103 combines a background image 103a associated with the item code with a virtual creature image 103b associated with the creature code and stores the composite image along with the user ID 103c assigned to the mobile terminal 102 from which a request for generating an image is originated. The user ID 103c may be a unique identifier assigned to the mobile terminal 102. Only composite images associated with the mobile terminal 102 can be browsed on the mobile terminal 102 through use of its browser function and can be downloaded and used as an idle screen on the mobile terminal 102.
<Operation on the Virtual Creature Breeding Toy>
Operation of the entire system has been outlined in the foregoing. Operation of a virtual creature breeding toy 101 that belongs to the system will described below. The description of the operation will focus on portions relating to the present invention and will not cover all operations of the virtual creature breeding toy 101.
In the postal mode, purchase of a ticket can be simulated as one of trades that use points, but detailed description on the processing is omitted. For example, a simulation can be performed in the postal mode in which points stored in the point area 213d can be traded for a ticket to a desired one of destinations provided beforehand as destination information by mail order. A code of the purchased ticket is stored in the item area 213c and the number of points equivalent to the ticket is subtracted from the number of points in the point area 213d. Other methods for purchasing a ticket are also provided. It is assumed in this example that information indicating whether a creature has a ticket and the destination is stored (or is not stored) in the virtual creature breeding toy 110 by using any of the ticket purchasing methods. In the trip mode, on the other hand, an overseas trip using a ticket purchased in the postal mode can be simulated.
Through the loop of steps S401, S405, and S410, an input is scanned for. First, determination is made in step S401 as to whether button A has been pressed. If so, determination is made as to whether the current mode is “postal mode”, that is, whether information stored in the mode area 213a is a value indicating “postal mode” (S402). If so, a cursor 302a is moved onto the option “Trip” on the display panel 302 and the current mode is changed to the “trip” mode (S403); otherwise, the cursor 302a is moved onto the option “Postal” on the display panel 302 and the current mode is changed to the “postal” mode (S404).
On the other hand, if button A has not been pressed, determination is made in step S405 as to whether button B has been pressed. If so, determination is made as to whether the current mode is the “trip” mode (S406). If not, determination is made as to whether the creature state 213c indicates the “rebellious age or older” (S407). If so, predetermined processing in the postal mode is performed (S408) and the sequence returns to the communication option panel 301. If it is determined that button C is pressed (S405→NO→S410→YES), the sequence returns to the communication option panel 301. If it is determined in step S406 that the current mode is the “trip” mode, a trip mode process shown in
When trip mode process in
On the other hand, if button A has not been pressed, determination is made in step S506 as to whether button B has been pressed. If pressed, determination is made as to whether the current submode is “trip” (S507). If not, plaza mode processing is performed (S508) and the sequence returns to the communication option panel 301. If it is determined that button C has been pressed (S509→YES), the sequence returns to the Postal/Trip selection panel 302. If it is determined in step S507 that the current mode is the “trip” submode, trip submode process shown in
(Trip Submode Process)
When the trip submode is confirmed, determination is made first as to whether the virtual creature has a ticket (S601). This determination is made based on whether a code indicating a travel ticket is stored in the item area 213e in
In order to add spice to the breeding simulation in the present embodiment, it is programmed that the virtual creature is not allowed to make a trip before the virtual creator reaches the age of adolescent. Thus, only if it is determined in step S602 that the virtual creature is at the age of adolescent or older, a passport panel 304 is displayed (S603). A passport number is displayed on the passport panel 304.
The passport number is a value directly input in a mobile terminal 102 and is displayed in order to input in the mobile terminal 102 (1) mode code indicating that the current mode is the trip submode, (2) a creature code indicating the type of the virtual creature, and (3) an item code indicating the destination of the trip. Accordingly, the passport number includes at least the three codes. In this example, a passport number is a decimal number consisting of 10 digits and contains the following codes, including the three codes given above:
(1) Mode code (1 digit): The value “4” indicating the trip submode is set.
(2) Creature code (2 digits): A code associated with the virtual creature currently being bred on the virtual creature breeding toy 101 is set. Different codes are assigned to one virtual creature in accordance with, for example, the growth stage of the virtual creature. For example, different codes are assigned to a virtual creature called “Tamagotchi” at respective stages such as the adolescent stage, spawning stage, and old stage.
(3) Item code (2 digits): A value indicating a destination corresponding to a code indicating a travel ticket stored in the item area 213e is set.
(4) Random code (1 digit): A value indicating the arrangement of digits of the passport number, excluding the random code, is set. The random code itself is placed in a fixed one of the 10 digits of the passport number. The other 9 digits are placed in positions according to the value of the random code. Accordingly, positions of respective codes in passport numbers differ from each other if the passport numbers have different random codes.
(5) Dummy code (3 digits): A randomly chosen value that has no meaning.
(6) Parity code (1 digit): The last digit of the sum of the values in the digits of the passport number, excluding the parity code is set.
The digits of the passport number have the meanings described above. However, the digits are shuffled in accordance with the random code. Simple encryption is applied to the passport number in this way to convert it to a number that cannot be apprehended as a meaningful number by users.
Upon display of the passport number, “trip” counting is started (S604). Determination is made as to whether 10 minutes have passed since the start of counting (S605). When 10 minutes have passed since the passport number was displayed, the toy 101 returns to a main panel. The main panel in this example is a screen in which a virtual creature appears as shown in
Determination is made as to whether the trip counting is indicating that 10 minutes have passed (S608). If not, determination is made as to whether button B has been pressed (S609). If button B has not been pressed, determination is made as to whether button C has been pressed (S616). If button C has been pressed to cancel the trip, the process returns to step S603. On the other hand if it is determined at step S609 that button B has been pressed, an input method selection panel 306 is displayed (S610). Here, it is assumed that the ticket has been used and 0 is set in the ticket item area 213e. In step S612, information is input from the mobile terminal 102 by using the method selected in step S610. If it is determined in step S611 or S613 that the trip counter indicates that 10 minutes have passed, the control returns to the main panel. The information input in step S612 represents a souvenir from a travel.
As a result of the procedure described above, a trip or outing made by the virtual creature being bred in a breeding simulation on the virtual creature breeding toy 101 is rendered. As has been stated earlier, it is assumed in this example that the virtual creature breeding toy 101 is incapable of transmitting data to the mobile terminal 102. However, if infrared communication between them is possible, the need for displaying a passport number for manually inputting mode, creature and item codes into the mobile terminal will be at least technically eliminated. The mode, creature, and item codes may be transmitted from the virtual creature breeding toy 101 to the mobile terminal 102 through infrared.
<Contents Provided by a Server>
Contents provided from an HTTP server 103e to a mobile terminal 102 that can be browsed by a user will be described below with reference to
The link information 701b to the latest image describes a link to the latest image data file among the collected images 103d associated and stored with the user ID 103c of the user. When the link information 701b is selected on the mobile terminal 102 and a predetermined button operation is performed, the site indicated by the link information 701b is accessed. That is, the address of the site that the link represents is passed to the HTTP server 103e and the HTTP server 103e provides the latest image to the mobile terminal 102. Page 801 is one example. An image is provided as a page describing a frame including a message 802b as well as an image data file of the image 801a. The image can be stored in a memory of each terminal by performing a particular operation programmed in the terminal.
The image list 701c is linked to a page 802 containing a group of collected images of each destination country (namely images of a country used as background images) which are stored in association with the user ID 103c of the user. Link information 802c to each image is contained in page 802. If a newly available image is contained, a symbol 802b indicating it appears next to the link information linked to the new image. For example, this symbol is added to link information (a character string in which link information is embedded) to a composite image when generated and stored by a server application 103f, which will be described later. When access to the site indicated by image link information 802c is specified on page 802, the address of the linked site is sent to the HTTP server 103e and a page of the linked site is provided to the terminal. In
When access to the site indicated by link information 701d is specified, the address of the linked site is provided to the HTTP server 103e and the linked page 703 is transmitted to the mobile terminal 102. When download 703a is specified on the page 703, download is started. First, a request for a mobile application program file is issued from the mobile terminal 102 to the server 103 (S711). When the server 103 starts downloading the file in response to the request, the mobile terminal 102 receives the file and installs the mobile application 102b in such a manner that it can be executed (S712). When the option “About communication” is selected, a description page 704 is accessed.
As can be seen from the foregoing description, the HTTP server 103e functions as a widely used Web server where data such as HTML data that can be provided to mobile terminals 102 is described as shown in
<Operations of Mobile Application and Server Application>
Operation of a mobile application 102b and operation of a server application 103f that cooperates with the mobile application 102b will be described below with reference to
(Mobile Application)
Referring to
If the key pressed is an enter key, determination is made as to which value is indicated by the current mode flag (simply referred to as a mode) (S904). If it is not 1, postal mode processing, description of which will be omitted, is performed. If the value is 1, it indicates the trip mode and therefore the initial screen of the trip mode (screen 1102 in
If the enter key is input, determination is made as to which value is currently set in the submode flag (simply referred to as a submode) (S908). If 1 is set, souvenir exchange plaza submode processing is performed, further description of which will be omitted. If 1 is not set, it indicates “Memories of trip” submode and therefore the initial screen of the “Memories of trip” submode (screen 1103 shown in
When the passport number 1103a is input (or is not input) and an OK button 1103b is depressed (that is selected and determined), step S910 is performed. In step S910, the parity code digit is determined based on the random code in a fixed digit position of the input passport number, the values in the other digit positions are added together, and the sum is compared with the parity code. If they match, the input passport number is considered to be valid and the process proceeds; otherwise, the process returns to step S909, where another input is awaited. If it is determined that a valid passport number is entered, the digit positions of the mode code, creature code, and item code are identified from the value of the random code and these codes are extracted from the passport number and stored in a predetermined area in a predetermined memory 102a (S910). Then, a request for image composition is sent to the server 103 along with the mode, creature, and item codes. When transmitting the request, the server application 103f is specified as the receiving port with its port number. Then the mobile application 102b waits for a response from the server 103.
Upon expiration of a predetermined time or reception of a response from the server 103, determination is made as to whether communication has been successfully performed in step S912. If successful, that is, a composite image has been received from the server 103, a thumbnail image, a message, and an image ID received along with the composite image are displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal 102 (step S913 and screen 1104 in
If a key in occurs in step S916 or S917, where a key in is awaited, determination is made as to which key has been pressed (S917). If a key in for selecting the title button 1104d is performed, the title screen 1101 is displayed. If a key in for selecting the photo button 1104e, which is provided only on a mobile terminal having the Web-to function, is performed, the process branches to the browser program by using the address of the composite image on the server 103 as a parameter (S918). In step S920, which is executed by the browser, the browser receives and displays the page from the HTTP server 103e by using a parameter provided from the server 103 as the address to access.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S912 that connection has failed, a retry panel (panel 1105 in
(Server Application)
Upon reception of a request for image composition sent from the mobile application 102b in step S911, the server application 103f on the server 103 performs a process starting in step S1001 in
A creature image 103b, on the other hand, is determined based on a creature code as shown in
By providing multiple background images 103a and creature images 103b in this way, a wide range of composite image variations can be offered to fuel user's collecting inclinations and to enhance the value of the amusement apparatus. In the example in
Returning to
The composite image generated in step S1003 is stored in the collected-image area 103d in the user database in association with a user ID. A message associated with the composite image is also stored with the image (S1005). Link information to the image data is written and added to HTML page data (such as the page 802) that has been generated during the registration and includes image data link information. The image data and message thus registered are provided to the user from the HTTP server 103e.
Finally, the thumbnail image, the image ID of the composite image, the country name associated with the item code, and the message associated with the image are returned to the mobile terminal 102 (S1006). The image ID is determined for the combination of the selected background image 103a and the creature image 103b. A unique ID is assigned to each of the image files registered in the tables in
According to the embodiment described above, a virtual creature's outings and trips can be rendered on a virtual creature breeding toy 101. The information can be shared with a mobile terminal 102 to collect and display photographs, which is difficult to perform for the virtual creature breeding toy 101 alone, thereby making the toy 101 more amusing. Souvenir photographs that look as if taken by a virtual creature on a trip can be generated on a server and obtained on the mobile terminal 102. Thus, image composition, which is difficult to perform on a mobile terminal 102, can be quickly implemented. In this way, services that involve sophisticated processing can be provided to a user without requiring a long waiting time. The concept of trades using the number of points accumulated can be modified to expand the forms of breeding simulations: composite images relating to events such as love and marriage that occur through relationship between virtual creature breeding toys 101 or relating to events according to growth stages of the virtual creature may be generated in addition to souvenir photographs taken during trips.
By using time parameters such as the current time of year, namely seasons, for selecting images to combine, a photograph representing a sense of season can be generated. Therefore, the reality of virtual creature breeding simulations can be improved, thereby making the toy 101 more amusing.
Furthermore, by providing multiple background images and creature images to combine, the number of variations of composite images that can be generated by combining them can be increased and the value of the images to be collected is enhanced. Thus, users' interest can be raised.
A number called a passport number whose meaning is not understandable to users is displayed on a virtual creature breeding toy and is input in a mobile terminal offline so that the virtual creature breeding toy and the mobile terminal cooperate. With this, a virtual creature can be rendered as if the creature were transformed into the unintelligible number and transferred to the mobile terminal.
[Variations]
A passport number is used to input information from a virtual creature breeding toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature into a mobile terminal offline as a method for causing an electronic toy and an information processing system to cooperate with each other in the embodiment described above. However, the mobile terminal may include the function of receiving data through infrared communication so that a mode code, creature code, and item code can be sent from the creature breeding toy 101 to the mobile terminal 102 through infrared communication.
If infrared communication is not used, a system equivalent to the present invention can be configured without a mobile application 102b. In that case, only a browser is running on the mobile terminal. Image composition can be implemented by using a CGI script on the HTTP server 103e of the server 103. Processing in the script is the same as that in the server application 103f shown in
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments descried above. Various modification and variations can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is disclosed in the appended claims.
The present application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-296956 filed on Oct. 8, 2004, which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-296956 | Oct 2004 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP05/17938 | 9/29/2005 | WO | 7/5/2007 |
