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US 2003/0195041 A1Published application
Method and device for optical gun interaction with a computer system
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorJack Jean McCauley
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNone recorded
InventorJack Jean McCauley
Estimating the term…
A device and a method for integrating an optical gun with a computer game system and within a computer game scenario are provided. The preferred embodiment includes an optical gun, or gun, with a communications interface, such as a USB interface, with the computer game system. The gun has sensors that sense when (1) a player is grasping a gun handle, or (2) the gun is holstered. The gun simulates a recoil force when a simulated round is fired. A battery is charged between game periods and drawn down during play. A laser beam is emitted from the gun only when the gun is pointed at a game video screen. Green and red LED's on the gun indicate the presence of a friend or foe character or avatar. The gun includes a zoom control that affects the screen representation of the player's view and visibility in the game scenario. The gun may have bi-directional or unidirectional wireless communications with the computer game system, a battery charger and multi-channel radio carrier frequency auto detect. The gun can determine the nature of the game video screen. A video sampling or tapping wire may enable further enhanced features of the gun.
An optical gun for use with a computer game system, the computer game system having a game computer, a video display and a video signal bus coupling the game computer and the video display, the optical gun comprising:
The optical gun of claim1, wherein the optical gun further comprises a laser pointer, the laser emitting light when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at the video screen.
The optical gun of claim1, wherein the optical gun further comprises a visual indicator, the visual indicator informing the user when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at a friend character.
The optical gun of claim1, wherein the optical gun further comprises a visual indicator, the visual indicator informing the user when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at a foe character.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Characterised by their sensors, purposes or types: for aiming at specific areas on the display, e.g. light-guns
For interfacing with the game device, e.g. specific interfaces between game controller and console: using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or…
Responding to control signals received from the game device for affecting ambient conditions, e.g. for vibrating players' seats, activating…
Changing parameters of virtual cameras: by dynamically adapting the position of the virtual camera to keep a game object or game character in its…
Term end not estimated
The present invention relates to optical guns that simulate the generation of ballistic gunfire and methods of use of optical guns with computer game systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the features of optical guns and the degree of realism provided by the methods of use of optical guns within a computer game scenario.
The market for computer game systems is now well established and growing. Improvements in the design and performance of computer game system peripherals can provide significant competitive and economic benefits to several large multinational corporations, such as IBM, SEGA, SONY and MICROSOFT. Inventive work in the area of optical gun design and performance increases as the computer game industry matures. U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,190, Thanasack, Jan. 9, 2001, for example, discloses a light gun to be used with a conventional personal computer without having to modify the computer with additional circuit boards and operating system changes. The invention of Thanasack, et al. teaches that the light gun can be configured to derive the location on the screen at which the gun is pointing, when the invented light gun is used with a computer system having a VGA card and raster scanning video. Yet the field utility of Thanasack is severely limited to providing light guns that work with computer systems having particular and specific video display methodologies.
Additional features that add to the uniqueness of game play are also of interest to game system manufacturers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,085, Igarashi, et al., Oct. 29, 1996 describes an articulating cover on a model gun that is powered to move during game play. Yet the invention of Igarashi, et al. is limited to gun models that have covers driven towards the player during simulated firing of the gun, and directly in response to each trigger actuation or firing session generated by the game player.
These, and further features of the invention, may be better understood with reference to the accompanying specification and drawings depicting the preferred embodiment, in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an optical gun designed and used in accordance with the method of the present invention and having a wired connection with a computer game system.
FIG. 2 shows an optical gun with a hand detect module of the optical gun of FIG. 1.
The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his or her invention. Various modifications, however, will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined herein.
Referring now generally to the Figures, and particularly to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of the present invention, or invented gun 2, is presented. The invented gun 2 has a gun body 4, a control module 6, a light sensor 8, a trigger circuit 10 with a trigger 12, and a communications interface 14 to a computer game system 16. The light sensor 8 detects when a plurality of pixels 18 on a video screen 20 of the computer game system 16 brightens and informs the control module 6 of a detected pixel plurality brightening. The control module 6 then processes the time occurrence of the detected pixels brightening in combination with signals received from the trigger circuit 10 and information received over the communications bus 14, and therefrom determines, or partially determines, a relatedness, or degree of relatedness, of the detected pixels brightening detection within the context of a computer game scenario running on the computer game system 16.
The communications interface 14, or comms bus 14, of the invented gun 2 may be a USB, or substantially a USB, or a derivative of a USB, or a variation of a USB, or a modified USB, or a suitable game port system, a MICROSOFT XBOX game system compatible communications interface, or a NINTENDO game system compatible communications bus, or a SONY PLAYSTATION game system compatible communications bus, or an IBM computer system standards compatible communications bus, or an APPLE COMPUTER computer system standards compatible communications bus known in the art, or an IEEE technology society standard compatible communications bus or game port system known in the art, or another suitable communications bus known in the art.