Interactive surface game system based on ultrasonic position determination
A system for users to play games on regular surface (201) such as printed material is provided. The system consists of an ultrasonic pointing unit (216), an ultrasonic base unit (213), a control unit (220) and a response unit (240), together with response data (500) and game rules (1100). The user interacts with the surface (201) by placing the ultrasonic pointing unit (216) on various areas of the surface (10). Ultrasonic wave propagates between the ultrasonic point unit (216) and ultrasonic base unit (213). By measuring multiple time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave, the location of the ultrasonic pointing unit (216) could be determined, and the device makes appropriate audio or other responses. Also, with the additions of game rules (1100), the system could ask users questions, or instruct users to tracing pictures or letters, or instruct users to walk a maze, etc. A surface (201) is thereby transformed into an interactive experience with various sound or visual effects. The sound effects or other response data (540) and game rules (1100) are stored in data storage (230) accessible by the control unit (220). Any number of different surfaces (201) can be used as long as the specific response data (540) for each different surface (201) is stored in data storage (230) accessible by the control unit (220).
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/390,271.
BACKGROUND1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the area of electronic entertainment and educational devices and, more specifically, to a device that allows a user to play games.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are different kinds of game devices in existence for users to play games. Those devices include TV game consoles like Nitendo's GameCube, Sony's PS2, Microsoft's Xbox, or interactive learning platform like Leapfrog's leappad that allows users to play games with books, or game software for computers. Usually those devices need an input device for the game device to know the position of a user's intention. Joysticks are very common input devices for users to play games on TV game consoles and computers. Also, Leapfrog's leappad uses a RF pen to serve an input device for the interactive learning platform. Since the leappad system would need a sensory board underneath a book or a board game, the sensory board would limit the size of a book or a board game.
In a US patent published application, numbered 20040180316, an interactive book system based on ultrasonic position determination is described. The system responds to where a user points, but the system doesn't include any game rules found in other game devices, thus it makes the system less entertaining.
Ultrasonic technique has been used in different industries, robotics use the technique for obstacle avoidance by measuring the time elapsed between transmitted ultrasonic waves and received echoed ultrasonic wave. Also, there existed beacons that could track the position of robotics by triangulation of ultrasonic wave. Since those systems were not designed for game system, so game rules were not explored by those systems.
There are virtual reality systems or location tracking systems that use ultrasonic triangulation for position and movement measurement, like Logitech Tracker (http://www.vrealities.com/logitech.html). Since those systems serve as an input peripheral to personal computers or workstations, the system itself does not incorporate any game rule. Also, the cost of those systems are very high, due to its use of more than 2 ultrasonic receivers necessary to determine a position in a 2 dimensional space.
There are also computer input devices like mimio (www.mimio.com) that uses ultrasonic technique to track the position of a pen, and provide input to personal computers or workstations. But like digital tablet, those systems are used for computer input. The input device itself does not incorporate any game rules.
SUMMARYIt is an object of present invention to provide a new game device.
It is another object of the present invention to add game rules as new elements to interactive book system based on ultrasonic position determination;
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a device that allows intuitive operation;
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible device that works with any properly designed game content software.
It is another object of the present invention to operate with 3D objects located on 2D surface.
These and other objects are accomplished by an ultrasonic position determination device, together with a surface, a control unit and a response unit, with the addition of game rules. The surface is 2 dimensional essentially. Material of the surface is not limited to particular form. The surface would have visual icons on it, the types of visual icons include but not limited to picture, text, photos, etc.
A typical game rule is question and answer, the control and response unit asks the user a question according to the game rule, the user has to answer it by pointing a particular visual icon on the surface. If the visual icon corresponds to the right answer, then the control and response unit could generate encouraging sound like “Excellent” or add a score to the user. There are numerous other game rules, including but not limited to tracing dots, walking mazes, etc.
The interactive surface game system comprises of an ultrasonic position determination device, a surface, a control unit, a response unit and game rules. The ultrasonic position determination device includes a pointing unit and a base unit. A user positions the pointing unit to select a visual icon that he or she is interested in on a surface. The pointing unit and base unit together determine the coordinate that the user selects. This coordinate is input to the control unit, then the control unit would search for the response data, e.g. sound, then present the response data to the user via a response unit, e.g. a speaker. Also, game rules such as question and answer are added to the system, so it is more entertaining. The pointing unit could be in any shape, including but not limited to pen, airplane, truck, train, car, characters, etc. Also, it could be a remote controlled unit, for example, a R/C car. Also, the pointing unit could be tethered or cordless.
The pointing unit has at least one ultrasonic transducer, and the base unit has at least 2 ultrasonic transducers at a known distance with respective to each other. Thus, at least 2 time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave could be measured between pointing unit and base unit. Time-of-flight could be translated to distance given sound speed. And further, by means of triangulation, 2-dimensional coordinate could be determined with 2 distances between pointing unit and base unit. And 3-dimensional coordinate could be determined with 3 distances between pointing unit and base unit.
The control unit could be a micro-controller or an application specific IC that could accept position of pointing device as input, and search for response data corresponding to that position, then optionally processes (e.g. decodes) the found response data (e.g. ADPCM speech or MP3 music), then output the response data through designated response unit (e.g. a speaker). Also, the control unit would be able to process the game rule, and interact with user according to the game rule. For example, when a user answers correctly for a question by pointing at the right visual icon, the control unit could output encouraging sound or add a score.
The response data and game rule could be stored in internal data storage, e.g. NAND flash memory, masked ROM, etc. Or it could be stored in external data storage, e.g. nonvolatile Memory card, optical disk, hard disk, etc. Data storage could be accessed by control unit through various wired or wireless channel, e.g. data bus, USB port, RS-232 port, Bluetooth, 802.11b, Ethernet, etc.
The response unit could include various sensible outputs, e.g. speaker, LEDs, LCD, etc. It accepts input from control unit, and presents the response data to the user.
Since the present invention is capable of determining a user's selected point on a surface and producing corresponding sound or other sensible outputs, with game rules, the system provides an innovative surface game on a regular surface.
DRAWING FIGURESThe objects and features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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- 10 Regular surface
- 11 Surface number
- 13 Graphic
- 16 Text
- 200 Functional block diagram
- 201 Surface
- 210 Ultrasonic position determination device
- 213 Ultrasonic base unit
- 216 Ultrasonic pointing unit
- 220 Control unit
- 230 Data storage
- 240 Response unit
- 270 Control unit interface with ultrasonic position determination device
- 300 Triangulating position of ultrasonic pointing unit
- 310.a Ultrasonic transducer of base unit
- 310.b Ultrasonic transducer of base unit
- 313 Distance between 310.a and 310.b
- 320 Ultrasonic transducer of pointing unit
- 321.a Distance between 320 and 310.a
- 321.b Distance between 320 and 301.b
- 323 Coordinate of ultrasonic pointing unit
- 400 One embodiment of ultrasonic position determination device
- 410 Micro-controller
- 412 User trigger interrupt
- 422 Transmit ISR
- 424.a Receive ISR a
- 424.b Receive ISR b
- 426 Position calculation routine
- 430.a, 430.b Counter
- 433 4 MHz crystal oscillator
- 440 40 KHz pulse generator
- 450.a, 450.b signal amplifier
- 453.a, 453.b signal comparator
- 500 One embodiment of organization of response data
- 510 Response data record
- 520 Identifier
- 530 Area descriptor
- 540 Response data
- 620 Upper-leftmost corner of rectangle
- 623 Length of rectangle
- 626 Width of rectangle
- 700 One embodiment of response unit
- 711 Audio driver software
- 713 Audio circuit
- 715 Speaker
- 721 LCD driver software
- 723 LCD driver circuit
- 725 LCD
- 731 LED driver software
- 733 LEDs driver circuit
- 735 LEDs
- 800 Preferred embodiment of present invention
- 841 Keypad
- 843 Power switch
- 850 Memory card
- 900 Open view of preferred embodiment 800
- 910 PCB
- 940 Micro controller of control unit
- 950 Micro-controller of ultrasonic position determination device
- 953 Memory card connector
- 961 ICs for driving speaker, LEDs, LCD
- 1000 One embodiment of ultrasonic pointing unit
- 1001 Tip of embodiment 1000
- 1003 Cable of embodiment 1000
- 1100 One embodiment of logical organization of game rules
- 1110 Game rule record
- 1120 Game rule ID
- 1130 Game data
- 1140 Action data
This chapter explains present invention in such greater detail so any person skilled in the art would be readily able to make a product based on the outlined principle. One preferred embodiment of present invention is shown, it is obvious that various embodiments could be derived from principle of present invention.
“Visual icon” used herein refers to graph, text, picture, photo or any other objects that conveys meanings through vision, a visual icon could be 2 or 3 dimensional.
“Surface” used herein could be of any material, including but not limited to paper, wood, plastics, stone, glass, acrylic, etc. And it could be of any area, including but not limited to table, floor, wall, book, map, mat, mirror.
“Data storage” used herein refers to any device that could store data, such as memory cards (e.g. compact flash card, smartmedia card, secure digital card, multimedia card, etc.), optical disk (e.g. CD-ROM, DVD-ROM), magnetic media (e.g. hard drive, tape).
“Response data” used herein refers to data that responds to a user's input. It could be data that represents sensible output such as sound, speech, music, flashing of LEDs (Light emitting devices), picture, video or motion emulation shown on LCD (Liquid crystal display), or control of internal components such as volume control, brightness control of LCD, change of surface, etc.
“Game rules” used herein refer to a collection of instructions that enable a user to play games. For example, a game rule consists of a question and an answer. In the question and answer game, the system asks the user a question, and it expects the user to give a right answer. In another example, a game rule is a tracing game that instructs the user to trace a letter, or an animal. There are numerous other types of game rules, including but not limited to walking a maze, memory game, matching game, etc.
Unlike prior arts that generally use a sensor board placed underneath surface, present invention doesn't require said sensor board, thus make it more economical to accommodate large and thick surface.
Counter values are converted to time by multiplying with period of 4 MHz crystal oscillator. Thus distance “a” 312.a between transducers 320 and 310.a could be calculated by multiplying time with sound-speed, so does distance “b” 312.b between transducers 320 and 310.b. Position calculation routine 426 is invoked to calculate the position (X, Y) 323 of ultrasonic pointing unit 216.
Other techniques exist to determine the position of ultrasonic pointing unit 216. In principle, they base on time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave.
Once position (X, Y) 323 of ultrasonic pointing unit 216 is determined. (X, Y) 323 serve as input to control unit 220. Based on (X, Y) 323, control unit 216 searches for response data corresponding to (X, Y) 323 in data storage 230. In accordance with present invention,
Operation
In accordance with present invention, use of preferred embodiment 800 consists of following steps
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- Turn on power of system by using power switch 843;
- Place a surface 10;
- Enter a surface number 11 by using keypad 841;
- Select a visual icon by using ultrasonic pointing unit 216;
- User would get immediate response corresponding to selected visual icon from speaker, LEDs or LCD.
- The system asks the user a question, then expects the user to answer The user answers the questions by pointing at a visual icon
- If the user answers correctly, the system would respond by adding a score or producing an encouraging sound.
The use of preferred embodiment 800 is shown to be easy, intuitive. The additional sound or visual effects provided by present invention could help engage users to interact with a surface with visual icons 201. It is particularly useful for language learning or storytelling, and make reading a more entertaining process. Also, it could make a tradition R/C toy to interact on the surface.
In accordance with present invention, principle of design and one preferred embodiment are shown in this chapter. It is clear that anyone skilled in the art would be readily to make different embodiments of present invention, thus the description herein should not be used to limit the scope of present invention.
Claims
1. An interactive surface game system for allowing a user to play games on a surface, the interactions being determined according to visual icons depicted on the surface and the response data, with the addition of game rule. The system comprising:
- an ultrasonic position determination device having an ultrasonic pointing unit and an ultrasonic base unit.
- a surface, said surface contains visual icons. Some of said visual icons have response data associated with them. Said response data is stored in data storage.
- a response unit.
- a control unit for locating the response data corresponding to a said visual icon according to the location of said ultrasonic pointing device. Said control unit processes game rules.
- Game rules to be processed by control unit in order to provide game activity to said user.
2. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic position determination device further includes means for determining the position of said ultrasonic pointing unit by measuring time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave propagating between said ultrasonic pointing unit and base unit.
3. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic position determination device further includes means for determining the position of said ultrasonic pointing unit by measuring difference of time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave propagating between said ultrasonic pointing unit and base unit.
4. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic base unit includes at least 2 ultrasonic transducers. Said ultrasonic transducers are located in fixed positions relative to each other.
5. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic pointing unit includes at least one ultrasonic transducer.
6. The interactive surface game system of claim 3, wherein said means for determining the position of said ultrasonic pointing device include measurement of at least 2 time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave propagating between said ultrasonic pointing unit and base unit.
7. The interactive surface game system of claim 3, wherein said means for determining the position of said ultrasonic pointing device further include a method of calculating the position of said ultrasonic point device by triangulating multiple time-of-flight. The method comprising:
- calculating the distance between a said ultrasonic transducer of said ultrasonic pointing unit and a said ultrasonic transducer of said ultrasonic base unit by multiplying said time-of-flight with sound speed.
- calculating 2 dimensional position of said ultrasonic pointing unit based on at least 2 calculated distances between ultrasonic pointing unit and transducers of ultrasonic base unit and known distance between transducers of said ultrasonic base unit. Said calculation is based on triangulation.
8. The interactive surface game system of claim 3, wherein said means for determining the position of said ultrasonic pointing device further include a method of calculating the position of said ultrasonic point device by triangulating multiple time-of-flight. The method comprising:
- calculating the distance between a said ultrasonic transducer of said ultrasonic pointing unit and a said ultrasonic transducer of said ultrasonic base unit by multiplying said time-of-flight and sound speed.
- calculating 3 dimensional position of said ultrasonic pointing unit based on at least 3 calculated distances between ultrasonic pointing unit and transducers of ultrasonic base unit and known distance between transducers of said ultrasonic base unit. Said calculation is based on triangulation.
9. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said surface is paper.
10. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said surface is plastic.
11. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said surface is wood.
12. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said surface has 3D objects on it.
13. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said surface can be detached from other said units.
14. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said visual icon is text.
15. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said visual icon is graphic.
16. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said visual icon is picture.
17. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said visual icon is photo.
18. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said visual icon is symbol.
19. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said response data is audible data.
20. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said response data is visual data.
21. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said response data is control data.
22. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said data storage is flash memory.
23. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said data storage is memory card.
24. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said data storage is external hard drive.
25. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said data storage is external optical drive.
26. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said response unit further includes an audio output.
27. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said response unit further includes visual output
28. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said control unit includes a micro controller and access means to said data storage.
29. The interactive surface game system of claim 37, wherein said access mean is wired connection.
30. The interactive surface game system of claim 37, wherein said access mean is wireless connection.
31. The interactive surface game system of claim 37, wherein said micro controller further includes a program to search and present said response data. The program comprises:
- a routine to search for response data corresponding to said visual icon according to position of said ultrasonic pointing unit.
- a routine to determine the response unit output for said response data.
- a routine to present response data to said user via said output of response unit.
32. The interactive surface game system of claim 40, wherein said program further include a routine to process response data before present response data.
33. The interactive surface game system of claim 40, wherein said program further include a routine to decode response data before present response data.
34. The interactive surface game system of claim 37, wherein said micro controller further includes a program to process game rules.
35. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein the user interacts with said surface by positioning said ultrasonic pointing device on a said visual icon.
36. The interactive surface game system of claim 44, wherein said user triggers the propagation of ultrasonic wave between said ultrasonic pointing unit and base unit.
37. The interactive surface game system of claim 45, wherein said time-of-flight of ultrasonic wave propagating between said ultrasonic pointing unit and base unit is measured.
38. The interactive surface game system of claim 46, wherein said position of ultrasonic pointing device is determined by said means for determining position of ultrasonic pointing device.
39. The interactive surface game system of claim 47, wherein said position of ultrasonic pointing device is input to said control unit.
40. The interactive surface game system of claim 48, wherein said control unit search for response data corresponding to said visual icon according to position of said ultrasonic pointing device.
41. The interactive surface game system of claim 49, wherein said control unit present response data to said user via said response unit.
42. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said pointing unit is a pen.
43. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said pointing unit is a toy car.
44. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said pointing unit is a toy airplane.
45. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said pointing unit is a toy characters.
46. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said pointing unit is a remote control toy.
47. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said game rules are questions and answers.
48. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said game rules are tracing letters or pictures.
49. The interactive surface game system of claim 1, wherein said game rules are walking mazes.
Type: Application
Filed: May 10, 2005
Publication Date: Nov 16, 2006
Inventor: Shih-Chin Yang (Fremont, CA)
Application Number: 11/125,280
International Classification: A63F 9/24 (20060101);