Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – Perceptible output or display
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-14
2001-10-30
O'Neill, Michael (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
Perceptible output or display
C463S040000, C463S041000, C434S30700R, C434S308000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06309301
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a game communication system including gaming machine units connected to each other through a communication link. More particularly, the invention relates to a game communication system including gaming machine units adapted to play sound tracks as background music (“BGM”).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Game communication systems have been made available in recent years in which gaming machine units are connected to each other through a communication link. Players operating the respective gaming machine units are able to enjoy playing games in a common game field. An example of such a game communication system is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 11-033230.
Typical gaming machine units of the game communication system include speaker channels for reproducing stereophonic sounds and sound tracks, for example, through speakers as BGM during the game. The purpose of stereo BGM is to make the games more enjoyable and exciting by stimulating the player's auditory sense as well as his or her visual sense.
The conventional game communication systems, however, only supply performance commands to the printed circuit board mounted in each gaming machine unit. The game communication systems do not provide control of the printed circuit boards so as to reproduce the sound tracks synchronously at each of the gaming machine units. A delay in the performance timing among the printed circuit boards associated with data communication, for example, may cause the sound tracks for the BGM to be out of sync. The delay of performance timing performed or reproduced by the printed circuit boards may also be caused by a difference in timing when a coin or token is inserted. As a result, the sound field provided through the game communication system becomes muffled. Hence, the performance or reproduction of the sound tracks as BGM does not contribute to the auditory enhancement of the game.
In addition, the conventional game communication systems are capable of performing/reproducing only a limited number of BGM sound tracks. The sound tracks are performed/reproduced in a predetermined order. In this regard, the identical sound tracks are repeatedly performed/reproduced. Again, this does not contribute to the auditory enhancement of the game.
Conventional game communication systems deal with each gaming machine unit as a single sound system (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 8-172700). Under such circumstances, the performance or reproduction of the sound tracks as BGM does not improve the sound effects since the communication system is considered as a single sound system having gaming machine units connected to each other.
As an example, the same sound field is provided in each gaming machine unit, wherein the sound fields are a reproduction of the same melody. As a result, the sound available in the entire game communication system does not provide good spatial effects. Therefore, even (for example, movies, films and/or demonstrations displayed on the gaming machine units in an attraction mode that are out of game play), will not acoustically attract a person to play the game when he or she is visually away from the gaming machine units. Moreover, when players simultaneously encounter an event (e.g., a jet plane passes by a cartoon in the gaming field during game play) in the same gaming field during game play, the depth of the gaming field cannot be produced acoustically as a sound effect.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A feature of the invention is to provide a clearer sound field for the game communication system, thereby giving players a better presentation of the game. Another feature of the invention is to change, depending on the game status, sound tracks performed/reproduced by the gaming machine units of the game communication system, thereby providing a clearer sound effect for the players from a productive viewpoint.
Yet another feature of the invention is to create a clearer effect from the productive viewpoint in the entire game communication system by collectively using, as a single piece of music for the entire game communication system, the sound tracks performed/reproduced as BGM by the gaming machine units of the game communication system.
Still another feature of the invention is to create a clearer sound effect from the productive viewpoint by providing a sound field with quality spatial effects in the entire game communication system.
A game communication system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention provides clarity of a sound field by providing clearer sound to a player. The game communication system includes, for example, a performance data memory
80
storing a performance data train
82
which forms a sound track, the performance data train
82
being separated into segments, each segment bearing a label; a correspondence table
81
including counter values and labels; a sequencer
40
for use in selecting the label corresponding to the position where the performance started, according to a counter value obtained and based on the progress of the sound track performed by the gaming machine unit set to a master mode and a counter value defined in correspondence table
81
; and a PCM sound source
50
for use in performing the sound track starting from the performance data at the position corresponding to the label chosen by sequencer
40
.
The invention relates to, depending on a game status, changing sound tracks performed/reproduced by the gaming machine units of the game communication system and to collectively use, as a single piece of music, the sound tracks performed in the entire game communication system, thereby creating clearer sound effects for players from the productive viewpoint.
Another embodiment of the game communication system of the invention includes a performance data memory
80
storing a performance data train
82
which forms a sound track; a main central processing unit (CPU)
20
adapted to detect a status of the game for each gaming machine unit; a sequencer
40
for use in selecting a sound track suitable for the game status informed by main CPU
20
from those stored in performance data memory
80
; and a PCM sound source
50
adapted to perform the sound track selected by sequencer
40
at gaming machine units in a synchronous manner.
Another embodiment of the game communication system of the invention includes a plurality of gaming machine units connected to each other through communication modules
10
in order to enhance productive sound effects by providing good spatial effects in the sound field formed in the entire game communication system; a pan table memory
5
adapted to generate a pan data, the pan data being used for setting a global pan depending on the number of gaming machine units connected; and a main CPU
20
for use in controlling an analog audio signal generating circuit
6
and a mixer
7
according to the pan data supplied from pan table memory
5
.
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Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Namco Ltd.
O'Neill Michael
LandOfFree
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