Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – Player-actuated control structure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-28
2001-11-13
Sager, Mark (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
Player-actuated control structure
C340S870030, C455S066100, C455S345000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315667
ABSTRACT:
The invention concerns a system for remote control of a model airplane or similar by an operator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,658, a system for remote control of a model airplane, which can be controlled remotely using an operating instrument like a steering rod, is described.
A data helmet, for instance for use by pilots of fighter airplanes, is known in the art from the journal Displays, 1992, Volume 4, page 212.
Remote control systems which are known from the general state of the art consist of a receiver which is fitted to the model airplane and a transmitter which is fitted to a console. For this purpose the console to be carried by the operator usually has several levers, with which various functions of the model airplane can be controlled remotely.
In the course of time, such consoles have become more and more refined, and have been able to take over more and more functions. However, the problem of the remote control systems which are known in the art for model airplanes or similar, i.e. model cars, model ships etc., is that the person controlling the model airplane stands “beside” the thing. The operator therefore experiences flight at a distance, and no true feeling of flight can be aroused.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to create a system for remote control of a model airplane or similar by an operator. The operator obtains feedback from the model airplane, model car, model ship etc. and thus becomes part of the total system.
According to the invention, this object is achieved through the following features: an image-capturing device which is fitted to the model airplane; a device which is visible to the operator, to display the image information which is captured by the image-capturing device; a device to transmit the image information which is captured by the image-capturing device to the display device; and a device for remote control of the model airplane or similar by the operator.
Through the image-capturing device which is fitted to the model airplane, and the image information from said image-capturing device which can be transmitted to a display device which is visible to the operator, the operator is able to see the images which are received by the image-capturing device and to be displaced so directly into the model airplane that the operator obtains a real feedback from what happens with the model airplane which the operator is controlling. The feeling of being the pilot of the model airplane, the driver of the model car or the captain of the model ship is thus conveyed to the operator, and the result is true interaction and the feeling of flying or driving oneself.
According to the invention, a device for remote control of the model airplane or similar by the operator is also provided, so that the operator has full control of the model airplane and is thus integrated into the remote control system according to the invention.
In a very advantageous development of the invention, if a device for remote control of the image-capturing device by the operator is provided, the operator can change his or her field of vision in relation to the display device, and the feeling of flight can be experienced even more directly.
In an advantageous realization of the invention, it can be provided that the device for remote control of the image-capturing device is fitted in or on a device which is fitted to the operator's head.
In this way, the operator is able to change the image-capturing device of the model airplane by head movements. This means that, for instance, if the operator wants to look at the objects in the right-hand area of vision of the image-capturing device, only a turn of the head in the corresponding direction is necessary.
For this purpose, in a simple development, it is possible to provide that sensors, via which the image-capturing device can be controlled remotely by movements of the operator's head, are fitted to the device which is fitted to the operator's head.
The operator can be even more thoroughly integrated into the remote control system and the movements of the model airplane if the device to display the image information which is captured by the image-capturing device is fitted to the device which is fitted to the operator's head. The operator thus has the images which the image-capturing device sends to the display device even better in his or her field of vision.
A very simple realization results if the device which is fitted to the operator's head is in the form of a data helmet.
In a very advantageous manner, the model airplane can be controlled remotely by movements of the operator's limbs, if in a development of the invention the device for remote control of the model airplane has sensors which are fitted to at least one of the operator's limbs.
The sensors can be realized in an advantageous manner if they have gas bubbles in a closed mass of liquid.
This basic principle can be used in various analog or digital types of sensors.
In another advantageous version, if the sensors are fitted to the operator's arms, the result is that the operator is able, by movements of the arms, to control the model airplane remotely, and in association with observing the image information of the image-capturing device which is fitted to the model airplane, this is a true interaction, giving an almost real feeling of flight.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5038144 (1991-08-01), Kaye
patent: 5127658 (1992-07-01), Openiano
Displays, vol. 4, p. 212, (1993).
Cook, Alex, McFarron, Manzo Cummings & Mehler
Sager Mark
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