Education and demonstration – Vehicle operator instruction or testing – Automobile or truck
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-12
2001-01-30
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Vehicle operator instruction or testing
Automobile or truck
C434S062000, C434S30700R, C472S060000, C463S030000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179619
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a game machine for moving objects, which enables a human operator to experience virtual reality.
In game establishments such as theme parks, a track travelling game machine adapted to move a vehicle along a course of movement such as, for example, a track furnished with curves and undulations, and to enable a human player on the vehicle to experience the sensation of a run at full speed and the sensation of exhilaration has formed a typical popular game machine. This game machine has been offered in various types such as keeping the human player in a standing position while in motion and keeping the human player in a position suspended from the track while in motion. A game machine of another type is adapted to advance a moving object along a channel of a fluid and enable a human player thereon to enjoy the delightful view of backgrounds and buildings laid out in a vicinity of the channel.
Further, in recent years, the game machine of yet another type adapted to move a seat as synchronized with an image and to integrate the image with the experience of the acceleration and deceleration of the speed of the seat enabling the occupant of the seat to experience the simulation of the movement of his seat, has been proposed. The game machine of this type is also known in various versions such as solely utilizing the occupancy by a human player, conferring the propensity for a game by combining the movement of a seat with the sensation of shooting, and so on (as disclosed in JP-B-02-15,230, for example).
The former version, however, has been at a disadvantage since it quickly ceases to hold lasting interest because of the use of a fixed course of movement which is devoid of visual variations. Since an effort to revive the game machine from the boredom by changing the course of movement or altering the peripheral facilities requires a large expense, this version does not easily permit such alterations to be made in short cycles from the viewpoint of business.
The latter version indeed permits such alterations to be implemented quickly and inexpensively because it allows the experience in simulation to be differentiated by simply altering the software, namely, the mode of moving the image and the seat. It nevertheless has had the problem of producing no sensation of the acceleration and deceleration of speed because it does not produce as high a sensation of acceleration and deceleration of speed as the former version. Further, the letter version suffers because the gravity actually sensed by the human player in his body to produce a sensation of discrepancy from the artificially generated gravity does not occur. The latter version has been further at a disadvantage in generating the same sensation of discrepancy with respect to the pressure of the wind which the human player experiences while the seat is in motion.
This invention has for an object thereof the provision of a game machine for a moving object, which enables an operator to differentiate his experience in simulation by making an arbitrary selection from the information on various courses of experience of simulation prepared in advance without requiring any alteration in the curves or undulations of the course of movement and also enables the operator to make an experience approximating as closely to reality as possible by properly providing him with an image conformity with his sensation of acceleration and deceleration of speed and the bearing of his body relative to the direction of the movement of the chair.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To accomplish the object described above, this invention contemplates a game machine for a moving object, which is provided with position detecting means for detecting the position of a human player occupying the moving object on the course of movement, memory means for storing the visual and auditory information associated with a change in the course of movement, means for selecting the visual and auditory information based on the information emanating from the position detecting means, and means for outputting and displaying the selected visual and auditory information.
The invention further contemplates a game machine for a moving object, which is provided with position detecting means for detecting the position of a human player occupying the moving object on the course of movement, direction detecting means for detecting the direction of the field of vision of the human player, memory means for storing the visual and auditory information associated with a change in the course of movement, means for selecting the visual and auditory information based on the information emanating from the position detecting means and the direction detecting means, and means for outputting and displaying the selected visual and auditory information.
The game machine is further provided with input means capable of being operated by the human player.
The game machine for the moving object described above is capable of storing preparatorily in the memory means thereof the visual and auditory information for developing a story in connection with a change in the course of movement. It, therefore, allows the story to be readily altered by changing the visual and auditory information. The game machine of the version which is provided with the input means is capable of storing a plurality of stories in advance and consequently enabling the human player to make an arbitrary selection from the collection of stories. Further, the use of this input means allows the human player to play a game.
This game machine detects the position of the human player on the course of movement with the aid of the position detecting means, selects from the memory means mentioned above the visual and auditory information proper for the position of the human player on the course of movement on the basis of the information on position derived from the position detecting means, and transmits the selected visual and auditory information to the output display means. When the game machine happens to be additionally provided with the direction detecting means, which is capable of detecting the direction of the human player's field of vision, it selects from the memory means mentioned above the visual and auditory information proper for the position of the human player on the course of movement and the direction of the human player's field of vision on the basis of the information on the direction derived from the direction detecting means and the information on the position derived from the position detecting means and transmits the selected visual and auditory information to the output display means. Then, the output display means outputs and displays the image and the sound on the basis of the visual and auditory information to be received from time to time.
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“Virtual Environment Display System” by Fisher et al, ACM 1986 Workshop on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp. 1-11, Oct. 1986.
Cheng Joe H.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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