U.S. patent application number 11/458606 was filed with the patent office on 2007-01-25 for light and image projection in an amusement device.
This patent application is currently assigned to Raw Thrills Inc.. Invention is credited to Richmond Catalan, Matthew James Davis, Andrew W. Eloff.
Application Number | 20070021204 11/458606 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37679764 |
Filed Date | 2007-01-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070021204 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Eloff; Andrew W. ; et
al. |
January 25, 2007 |
LIGHT AND IMAGE PROJECTION IN AN AMUSEMENT DEVICE
Abstract
Systems and methods for projecting indirect lighting from a
gaming apparatus are provided. One aspect of the invention utilizes
projected light to increase a player's desire to play or continue
to play the game. In still yet another aspect of the invention,
projected indirect light is utilized to enhance the game play of an
amusement device. In one such embodiment, light may be projected
from underneath the apparatus of a driving game to simulate the
`under-body glow` effect used by car customizers. This has the
primary effect of creating the appearance of such a customized car
but also provides a substantially differentiated presentation of
the game. In still yet a further aspect, light projected from a
gaming apparatus increases the perceived space occupied by the
game. In one embodiment, a distinctive logo is projected onto the
wall above and behind a video game.
Inventors: |
Eloff; Andrew W.; (Evanston,
IL) ; Davis; Matthew James; (Glenview, IL) ;
Catalan; Richmond; (Chicago, IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD.
TEN SOUTH WACKER DRIVE
SUITE 3000
CHICAGO
IL
60606
US
|
Assignee: |
Raw Thrills Inc.
Niles
IL
60714
|
Family ID: |
37679764 |
Appl. No.: |
11/458606 |
Filed: |
July 19, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60700807 |
Jul 20, 2005 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/30 ;
463/46 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 13/803 20140902;
G07F 17/3202 20130101; G07F 17/3211 20130101; A63F 13/28 20140902;
G07F 17/32 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/030 ;
463/046 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Claims
1. An arcade-style amusement device comprising: a housing that
includes: a control unit; a user control; a display device; and a
light source which projects light from the housing onto an external
surface that is not in electronic communication with the
device.
2. The amusement device of claim 1, wherein the housing further
comprises a colored membrane positioned in-between the light source
and the external surface.
3. The amusement device of claim 2, wherein the light passes
through a selectively opaque surface, creating a pattern on the
external surface.
4. The amusement device of claim 1, wherein the external surface is
selected from the group consisting of: a wall, a ceiling, the
ground, and combinations thereof.
5. The amusement device of claim 4, wherein the external surface
comprises the ground and the amusement device further comprises: a
seating apparatus for positioning a user during usage of the
amusement device, wherein the light source is positioned
substantially beneath the seating apparatus, thereby emitting light
from under the seating apparatus to the ground.
6. The amusement device of claim 1, wherein the control unit
further comprises a computer-readable medium having
computer-executable instructions, the computer readable
instructions performing the steps comprising of: (a) receiving a
signal from a software application being executed by the amusement
device; (b) in response to the signal, adjusting the a light source
which projects light from the housing onto the external surface,
wherein the adjustment of the light alters the characteristics of
the lighting that strikes the surface.
7. The amusement device of claim 6, wherein the lighting
characteristics are selected from the group consisting of:
brightness, contrast, color, longevity, and combinations
thereof.
8. The amusement device of claim 6, wherein the computer readable
instructions further comprise the step of: (c) receiving a signal
from a user, and in response to the signal from the user adjusting
the a light source which projects light from the housing onto the
external surface, wherein the adjustment of the light alters the
characteristics of the lighting that strikes the surface.
9. The amusement device of claim 1, where the light passes through
a two-dimensional array of computer-controlled shutter elements,
creating an image.
10. The amusement device of claim 9, wherein the image is
animated.
11. An amusement device having an apparatus for displaying
sequences of animated graphics projected onto an external surface
not in electronic communication with the device, the apparatus
comprising: a video projector; an interface for a communicating
with a computer readable medium which stores source data for
rending animations; and an interface for communicating with a
processor which generates the animations.
12. The amusement device of claim 11, further comprising a computer
readable medium for storing source data for rendering the
animations.
13. The amusement device of claim 11, further comprising a
processor for generating the images.
14. The amusement device of claim 11, further comprising a
two-dimensional array of computer-controlled shutter elements,
wherein light from the video projector passes through the array to
create a static or animated image.
15. The amusement device of claim 11, wherein the external surface
is selected from the group consisting of: a wall, a ceiling, the
ground, and combinations thereof.
16. An arcade-style amusement device comprising a housing, the
housing comprising a control unit, a user control and a display
device, the amusement device comprising: a seating apparatus for
positioning a user during usage of the amusement device; a light
source which projects light from a portion of the housing onto a
surface, wherein the light source is positioned substantially
beneath the seating apparatus, thereby emitting light from under
the seating apparatus onto a surface, wherein the surface is
external to and not in electronic communication with the device;
and a computer-readable medium having computer-executable
instructions, the computer readable instructions comprising
software that when executed provide a driving simulation
application to at least one user.
17. The amusement device of claim 16, wherein the housing further
comprises a colored membrane positioned in-between the light source
and the external surface.
18. The amusement device of claim 17, wherein the light sources
projects the light in such a manner to create an appearance that
the housing has larger than its physical dimensions.
19. The amusement device of claim 16, wherein the
computer-executable instructions further include the steps of: (a)
receiving a signal from the application, the signal regarding at
least one aspect of driving simulation; (b) in response to the
signal, adjusting the a light source which projects light from the
housing onto the external surface, wherein the adjustment of the
light is in response to a altered aspect of the driving game, and
wherein the adjustment of the light source alters the
characteristics of the lighting that strikes the surface.
20. The amusement device of claim 19, wherein the lighting
characteristics are selected from the group consisting of:
brightness, contrast, color, longevity, and combinations thereof.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This invention relates to amusement devices, and more
particularly, to systems and methods relating to increasing the
noticability or desirability of an amusement device through the use
of indirect lighting.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The entertainment industry continues to flourish as the
public ceaselessly demands an increasing array of talent and
innovation to help relax from the tumultuous reality, or simply to
satisfy their specific wants. Particularly in today's technological
computer era, home-gaming and other electronic devices have become
very popular.
[0003] As home gaming consoles offer increasingly more realistic
gaming experiences and graphics capabilities, arcades and other
public amusement venues are being faced with elevated competition
to retain players. This, coupled with the current trend to rapidly
release arcade games on home consoles, creates a limited amount of
time to generate profits in a given amusement device. While a
mature subset of the gaming population still provides a demand for
older games in operation, these arcade games are frequently
installed and operated in dark locations, such as bars and clubs,
and thus are rarely noticed and do not create a desire for users to
play the game. Newer arcade games are placed in locations which
have a lot of old games. Many manufacturers of these newer games
use cardboard signs which attach to the game to indicate the
newness of the game. In a low-light environment, or staring down a
row of games, however, it is hard to see the impact of such a
device. Moreover, the games are generally placed in locations where
people are always standing, such as bars and theaters, thus
decreasing the chance the game will be noticed.
[0004] While increasing the dimensions of an arcade game in
relation to the surrounding games may increase the noticability of
a game, this is not practical in most situations, since most games
need to be able to go through a standard doorway, thus limiting
their physical height to around the height of a tall person.
Therefore, the sightlines from a person to the game are frequently
obscured. Deployable lighted marquees which increase the overall
height of the cabinet have been used in the past, but these are
cumbersome to use and have a practical height limit which still
prevents them from being tall enough to be adequately noticed. That
fact, coupled with the typical placement of a game in a back wall
or corner, substantially reduces the visibility of the game. Thus
there is a need for an amusement device that incorporates a means
to increase a game's ability to be noticed while increasing a
user's desire to play the game.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention relates to systems and methods for
projecting lighting from a gaming apparatus. In one aspect of the
invention, the projected light increases the likelihood of the game
being played. Another aspect of the invention utilizes projected
indirect light to increase a player's desire to play or continue to
play the game. In still yet another aspect of the invention,
projected indirect light is utilized to enhance the game play of an
amusement device. In one such embodiment, light may be projected
from underneath the apparatus of a driving game to simulate the
`under-body glow` effect used by car customizers. This has the
primary effect of creating the appearance of such a customized car
but also provides a substantially differentiated presentation of
the game. In still yet a further aspect, light projected from a
gaming apparatus increases the perceived space occupied by the
game. In one embodiment, a distinctive logo is projected onto the
wall above and behind a video game. The effect increases the
visibility of the game even in crowded locations with high foot
traffic. In another embodiment, an LCD projector is used to project
game play or other attractive elements on the ceiling above a
device for the benefit of potential customers. In another
embodiment, a ceiling display may be used as a game play element.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be
apparent upon reviewing the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary arcade-style system in which
embodiments of the invention may be implemented.
[0007] FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary computer system in which
embodiments of the invention may be implemented.
[0008] FIG. 3 shows an illustrative embodiment of an arcade-style
amusement device projecting indirect light onto an external
surface.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Introduction
[0009] An exemplary arcade-style configuration of an amusement
device is illustrated in FIG. 1. The arcade video game 100 includes
a control unit 105, a user controller 110, and a display 115.
Unlike a traditional home game display (see, e.g., 242), the arcade
game display 115 is not provided by the user, but rather may be
housed in the same arcade game cabinet as the control unit 105 and
the user controller 110. Within this cabinet, the user controller
110 and the display 115 are connected to the control unit 105. A
central processing unit 120 in the control unit 105 executes one or
more programs on a hard disk 125, or other computer-readable media,
to create a visual representation on the display 115. The central
processing unit 120 may also execute user-defined instructions
stored in a random access memory 130. During game play, the user
controller 110 is operated by a user to cause the control unit 105
to vary the visual representation on the display 115. Optionally,
the configuration may include additional input/output sources (see,
e.g. 135), such as, for example, LAN, WLAN, or interfaces as known
in the art, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 2. While the
exemplary embodiment illustrates an arcade-style configuration, the
invention, however, may be configured for personal gaming systems,
such as Sony.RTM. Playstation.RTM. or Microsoft.RTM. Xbox.RTM.,
handheld systems such as a Palm.RTM. or Treo.RTM., among others,
for example, cellular-based applications.
Exemplary Operating Environment
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which
embodiments of the invention may be implemented. A computer 200 is
connected to a local area network (LAN) 202 and a wide area network
(WAN) 204. Computer 200 includes a central processor 210 that
controls the overall operation of the computer and a system bus 212
that connects central processor 210 to the components described
below. System bus 212 may be implemented with any one of a variety
of conventional bus architectures.
[0011] Computer 200 can include a variety of interface units and
drives for reading and writing data or files. In particular,
computer 200 includes a local memory interface 214 and a removable
memory interface 216 respectively coupling a hard disk drive 218
and a removable memory drive 220 to system bus 212. Examples of
removable memory drives include magnetic disk drives and optical
disk drives. Hard disks generally include one or more read/write
heads that convert bits to magnetic pulses when writing to a
computer-readable medium and magnetic pulses to bits when reading
data from the computer readable medium. A single hard disk drive
218 and a single removable memory drive 220 are shown for
illustration purposes only and with the understanding that computer
200 may include several of such drives. Furthemore, computer 200
may include drives for interfacing with other types of computer
readable media such as magneto-optical drives.
[0012] Unlike hard disks, system memories, such as system memory
226, generally read and write data electronically and do not
include read/write heads. System memory 226 may be implemented with
a conventional system memory having a read only memory section that
stores a basic input/output system (BIOS) and a random access
memory (RAM) that stores other data and files.
[0013] A user can interact with computer 200 via a variety of input
devices. FIG. 2 shows a serial port interface 228 coupling a
keyboard 230 and a pointing device 232 to system bus 212. Pointing
device 232 may be implemented with a hard-wired or wireless mouse,
track ball, pen device, or similar device.
[0014] Computer 200 may include additional interfaces for
connecting peripheral devices to system bus 212. FIG. 2 shows a
universal serial bus (USB) interface 234 coupling a video or
digital camera 236 to system bus 212. An IEEE 1394 interface 238
may be used to couple additional devices to computer 200.
Furthermore, interface 238 may configured to operate with
particular manufacture interfaces such as FireWire developed by
Apple Computer and i.Link developed by Sony. Peripheral devices may
include touch sensitive screens, game pads scanners, printers, and
other input and output devices and may be coupled to system bus 212
through parallel ports, game ports, PCI boards or any other
interface used to couple peripheral devices to a computer.
[0015] Computer 200 also includes a video adapter 140 coupling a
display device 242 to system bus 212. Display device 242 may
include a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD),
field emission display (FED), plasma display or any other device
that produces an image that is viewable by the user. Sound can be
recorded and reproduced with a microphone 244 and a speaker 246. A
sound card 248 may be used to couple microphone 244 and speaker 246
to system bus 212.
[0016] One skilled in the art will appreciate that the device
connections shown in FIG. 2 are for illustration purposes only and
that several of the peripheral devices could be coupled to system
bus 212 via alternative interfaces. For example, video camera 236
could be connected to IEEE 1394 interface 238 and pointing device
232 could be connected to USB interface 234.
[0017] Computer 200 includes a network interface 250 that couples
system bus 212 to LAN 202. LAN 202 may have one or more of the
well-known LAN topologies and may use a variety of different
protocols, such as Ethernet. Computer 200 may communicate with
other computers and devices connected to LAN 202, such as computer
252 and printer 254. Computers and other devices may be connected
to LAN 202 via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber optics or
other media. Alternatively, radio waves may be used to connect one
or more computers or devices to LAN 202.
[0018] A wide area network 204, such as the Internet, can also be
accessed by computer 200. FIG. 2 shows a modem unit 256 connected
to serial port interface 228 and to WAN 204. Modem unit 256 may be
located within or external to computer 200 and may be any type of
conventional modem, such as a cable modem or a satellite modem. LAN
202 may also be used to connect to WAN 204. FIG. 2 shows a router
258 that may connect LAN 202 to WAN 204 in a conventional manner. A
server 260 is shown connected to WAN 204. Of course, numerous
additional servers, computers, handheld devices, personal digital
assistants, telephones and other devices may also be connected to
WAN 204.
[0019] The operation of computer 200 and server 260 can be
controlled by computer-executable instructions stored on a
computer-readable medium. For example, computer 200 may include
computer-executable instructions for transmitting information to
server 260, receiving information from server 260 and displaying
the received information on display device 242. Furthermore, server
260 may include computer-executable instructions for transmitting
hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensible markup language
(XML) computer code to computer 200.
EXAMPLES
[0020] FIG. 3 shows one illustrative embodiment of an arcade-style
amusement device projecting indirect light. As seen in the figure,
the device comprises a housing 305 having a display 310, user
controls 315 and associated computer hardware, such as hard drives,
memory, computer executable code and those shown in FIG. 2. The
housing may also be further modified to have a seat 320 or other
apparatus for preventing a user from having to stand during game
play. As shown in the figure, the lower portion of the housing is
configured to emit indirect light from the housing.
[0021] As can readily be seen in the figure, a light emitting
source (not shown) within the housing is configured to emit a light
325 which is projected from the housing onto a surface, wherein the
surface is external to and not in electronic communication with the
device. In the illustrated device, the light is striking and
therefore can be seen on the floor or ground adjacent to the
amusement device. As readily understood to one skilled in the art,
the term "ground" refers to the surface substantially below the
gaming device and is not restricted to a walking surface, but
rather includes any substantially rigid surface beneath and
proximate to the amusement device.
[0022] In one embodiment, the light emitting source is configured
to emit light to strike at least one external surface in a manner
to increase the perceived space occupied by the gaming device. This
would allow the amusement device to stand out among other
surrounding amusement devices and may increase a potential player's
desire to use it. While the illustrated embodiment uses the floor
adjacent to the device as the external surface, one skilled in the
art will appreciate that other surfaces may be used, such as for
example, one or more walls, the ceiling, a panel extending from the
device, nearby gaming devices or the like. Moreover, the light
source itself may emit a plurality of colors. In one such
embodiment, a plurality of colors are emitted to create a
distinctive pattern, such as to resemble one or more aspects of the
game play of the device. Of course one skilled in the art will
realize a screen or other masking mechanisms may be used to alter
the color or characteristics of the emitted light. In one
embodiment, the light passes through a two-dimensional array of
computer-controlled shutter elements to create an image.
[0023] In yet another embodiment, a distinctive logo or trademark
is projected onto one or more adjacent surfaces, such as onto the
wall above and behind a video game. The effect increases the
visibility of the game even in crowded locations with high foot
traffic. In one such embodiment, an LCD projector may be used to
project game play or other attractive elements on the ceiling above
a device for the benefit of potential customers. As one skilled in
the art will readily appreciate, sound and or other audio-visual
effects may be used to further enhance the use of the lighting
according to various embodiments of the invention.
[0024] In still yet another embodiment of the invention, the
projected light is utilized to further increase the enjoyment of
game play of the device. For example, the illustrated amusement
device is a car racing game entitled "The Fast and the Furious"
aptly named after the movie under the same title, also involving
racing cars. Scenes from the movie show customized racing cars
having "under-body glow". To further enhance the gaming experience,
at least a portion of the light may be projected from underneath
the cabinet of a driving game to simulate the `under-body glow`
effect used in the movie. This has an effect of creating the
appearance of such a customized car but also may provide a
substantially differentiated presentation of the game.
[0025] In another embodiment, at least a portion of the light
sources emitting the projected light are operatively coupled to the
electronic components, such as those shown in FIG. 2. In one such
embodiment, the user's driving effects the projected light. For
example, if a user engaged in game play of the device "drives" over
an obstacle in the road or "crashes" into a hard surface, the
lights could dim or a portion of the lights may deactivate, thus
creating the feeling of breaking the components of the car creating
the `under-body glow`. Yet in other embodiments, the lights may
change color as the user "accelerates" or engages in other aspects
of the game.
[0026] What has been described above is merely illustrative of the
application of the principles of the invention. Indeed, the present
invention is not limited to amusement or electronic games, but may
be applied to a broad application of amusement devices, for example
mechanical gaming devices. Those skilled in the art can implement
other systems, configurations, arrangements, methods, and graphical
user interfaces without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention.
* * * * *