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US 6,213,872 B1Granted
Pedometer with game mode
AssigneeNintendo Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakahiro Harada, Kazunobu Shimizu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide a new pedometer with game mode which can be used as a game by a child to get some exercise such as walking and/or running without reluctance. When a vibration is detected by a vibration detector, the count values of a step-number counter and an integrating counter are incremented, and thereby a display state of a character displayed on an LCD is varied based on the count values of step-number counter and/or the integrating counter.
Claims20
A game pedometer for determining a number of steps taken by a user, comprising:
- a housing;
- a vibration detector for detecting a vibration created by the user's steps;
- a counter for counting an output of said vibration detector to determine the number of steps taken by the user;
- a display provided on a surface of the housing;
- and
- a character-display controller in the housing;
- wherein the display includes:
- a step-number display for displaying the number of steps;
- and
- a character display for displaying a game character, wherein the character display and the step-number display are provided at different locations on the display;
- wherein the character-display controller controls a display state of the game character displayed on said character display so that the display state varies based on at least the number of steps taken by said user.
8 more elements
A game pedometer used by being attached to a part of a user's body for determining the number of steps taken by the user, comprising:
- a housing;
- a vibration detector for detecting a vibration created by the user's walk;
- a counter for counting at least an output of said vibration detector to obtain the number of steps;
- a display provided on the housing;
- and
- a character display controller in the housing,
- wherein the display includes:
- a step-number display for displaying a count value of said counter as step number information;
- and
- a character display for displaying a virtual pet for a game, wherein the character display and the step-number display are provided in different areas of the display;
- wherein the character-display controller controls a behavior state of the virtual pet displayed on said character display so as to vary the state based on at least the count value of said counter.
8 more elements
A game pedometer for determining the number of steps taken by a user, comprising:
- a housing;
- a vibration detector for detecting a vibration created by the user's walk;
- a step counter for counting an output of said vibration detector to obtain the number of steps;
- a display provided on the housing, wherein the display includes,
- a step-number display for displaying a count value of said counter as step-number information;
- and
- a character display for displaying a character for a game;
- a control switch for game operation;
- and
- character-display controller in the housing for controlling a display state of the character displayed on said character display so as to vary the state thereof,
- said character-display controller including:
- a data generator for, when receiving instructions to start the game by the operation of said control switch, generating data to vary the display state of the character for the game and varying the display state according to the operation of said control switch, and
- a game counter for counting the number of times the game can be played whenever detecting that the count value of said counter is more than or equal to a given value to permit game play, then decreasing the number for game play for each of said instructions to start the game, and thereby activating the game play only within the number of times the game can be played.
10 more elements
A game pedometer comprising:
- a housing;
- a detector in the housing for detecting steps taken by a user of said game pedometer;
- a counter for counting the number of steps detected by said detector;
- a character display on the housing for displaying a character for a game;
- and
- a character-display controller in the housing for controlling a display state of the character displayed on said character display based on at least a count value of said counter.
3 more elements
A game pedometer used by being attached to a part of a user's body for determining the number of steps taken by the user, comprising:
- a housing;
- a vibration detector for detecting a vibration created by the user's walk;
- a counter for counting at least an output of said vibration detector to obtain the number of steps;
- a display provided on the housing;
- and
- a character display controller in the housing,
- wherein the display includes:
- a step-number display for displaying a count value of said counter as step number information;
- and
- a character display for displaying a virtual pet for a game, wherein the character display and the step-number display are provided in different areas of the display;
- wherein the character-display controller controls a behavior state of the virtual pet displayed on said character display so as to vary the state based on at least the count value of said counter;
- and further including a time data generator for generating time data, wherein said character-display controller controls a first display state to make said virtual pet behave in connection with time based on said time data and a second display state to make the virtual pet behave based on the count value of said counter, wherein said virtual pet behaves differently based on said counter than based on said time data;
- said game pedometer further including a reset switch for enabling the user to reset the number of steps, wherein
- said counter includes a first counter and a second counter,
- said first counter resets the count value thereof in response to the operation of said reset switch, and counts the output of said vibration detector which is received thereafter to obtain the number of steps after said reset operation,
- said step-number display displays the count value of said first counter,
- said second counter accumlatively counts the output of said vibration detector to obtain an accumulated value of the number of steps, and
- said character-display controller controls the display state of the character displayed on said character display so as to vary the state based on the count value of said second counter, wherein said second counter displays the accumulated value of the number of steps only on receipt of an instruction from the character-display controller.
15 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.