U.S. patent application number 11/638060 was filed with the patent office on 2007-07-19 for network sports system.
Invention is credited to Oji Takeshi.
Application Number | 20070167240 11/638060 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37814439 |
Filed Date | 2007-07-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070167240 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Takeshi; Oji |
July 19, 2007 |
Network sports system
Abstract
Described herein is an internet entertainment system, more
particularly a leisure network sports games system, on which
multiplayer may play online, comprising network sports servers,
several user terminals connected with the server via the internet,
and network sports rug linked to each terminal. The user terminal
transforms signals from the sports rug into computer signals, and
transmits them to the sports server, and then it could score the
single or multiplayer taking part in the game according to their
performance, and send the results to every player that would
achieve the interactive entertainment effect.
Inventors: |
Takeshi; Oji; (Shanghai,
CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MEYERTONS, HOOD, KIVLIN, KOWERT & GOETZEL, P.C.
P.O. BOX 398
AUSTIN
TX
78767-0398
US
|
Family ID: |
37814439 |
Appl. No.: |
11/638060 |
Filed: |
December 12, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 2300/1043 20130101;
A63F 13/814 20140902; A63F 13/245 20140902; A63F 13/77 20140902;
A63F 13/87 20140902; A63F 2300/1025 20130101; A63F 2300/1062
20130101; A63F 13/214 20140902; A63F 13/23 20140902; A63F 2300/558
20130101; A63F 13/12 20130101; A63F 2300/1012 20130101; A63F
2300/638 20130101; A63F 13/49 20140902; A63F 2300/407 20130101;
A63F 2300/513 20130101; A63F 13/335 20140902; A63F 13/352 20140902;
A63F 2300/572 20130101; A63F 2300/8047 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/42 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 12, 2006 |
CN |
200610023273.3 |
Claims
1. A network sports system comprising: network sports game servers,
many user terminals coupled with the servers via the Internet, and
network sports rugs linked to each terminal, each of said network
sports game servers comprising: a system logic module managing a
sporting status of each terminal; a game management module
distributing web resources; and wherein said user terminal
comprises: a communication module proceeding communication between
the user terminals and the network sports game servers, a sports
rug signal processing module collecting signals from the sports
rugs and transforming them into various logic signals, an interface
building module loading interactive data between user and a
computer from an interface database, designing an interface, and
displaying them on the user's terminal, a logic control cell
processing the data in the communication module, the sports rug
signal processing module and the interface drawing module for game
status control, a game database module saving game data.
2. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
network sports game server further comprises a system patch module,
which checks game version of user's terminal and provides download
of all updated files.
3. The network sports system according to claim 2, wherein said
network sports game server further comprises a system gateway
module, which receives connection requests and operation commands
from user's terminals and transmits them to the game server for
processing.
4. The network sports system according to claim 3, wherein said
game management module, the game database module, the system patch
module and the system gateway module are respectively installed in
different network sports game servers.
5. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
user's terminal further comprises a character movement processing
module, which loads movement data from character movement library
according to player's performance and display them on user
terminal's interface.
6. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
user's terminal further comprises a music processing module, which
loads music selected by the user terminals from music library and
plays them for the user.
7. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
user's terminal further comprises a note processing module, which
loads notes from the notes library according to the selected music,
displays signals on the terminal's interface and scores each player
by comparing the logic step signals received from the sports rug
signal processing module.
8. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
network sports rug connects to the user's terminal by an USB
port.
9. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
network sports rug is a network dancing rug.
10. The network sports system according to claim 1, wherein said
network sports rug is a network running rug.
11. The network sports system according to claim 9, further
comprising a chat system.
12. The network sports system according to claim 9, further
comprising a bulletin system.
13. The network sports system according to claim 9, further
comprising a channel system.
14. The network sports system according to claim 9, further
comprising a room managing module.
15. The network sports system according to claim 9, further
comprising an item management module.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to an Internet entertainment system,
more particularly, a network sports system.
[0003] 2. Description of the Relevant Art
[0004] A dancing rug is a game device integrated with some
functions, such as gym, relaxation and entertainment, etc. The user
may connect the dancing rug with a computer, and then he could
dance on the rug according to the hint signals shown on the screen.
The computer will score the player according to the status of
stepping on the right place, so the players may exercise when they
are playing.
[0005] The traditional dancing rug, connected to a computer by
serial or parallel port, receives the player's step signals through
a switch circuit of the surface contact. When a game starts, the
player steps on the corresponding contact switch, simulates dancing
movements according to the hints of computer program, then the
program will score the player's dancing movements. However, the
monotony of this kind of dancing rug cannot meet the requirements
of current players because only two players at most can play on
traditional dancing rug simultaneously, and it is operated only on
the same game device, so it's impossible to achieve participation
of multiplayer playing the same game from different computer
terminals and interactivities between multiplayer either, for
example, chatting or matching and so on.
[0006] Along with current popular Internet entertainments and
technologic development, an interactive online game system is
needed for people in different areas to access the Internet at any
time, and play interactive games from different computers via the
Internet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Embodiments described herein aim to provide an Internet
entertainment system, more particularly, an online network sports
system on which every game player may achieve interactivity via the
Internet, more specifically, a multiplayer online relaxation
network sports game system.
[0008] To achieve this purpose, said network sports system
comprises network sports servers, several user terminals connected
with the server via the Internet, and the network sports rug linked
to each terminal. Said network sports system game server comprises:
a system logic module managing the sporting status of each terminal
and a system management module distributing network resources. Said
user terminal comprises: a communication module proceeding the
communication between the user's terminal and the network sports
game servers, a sports rug signal processing module collecting
signals from the sports rug and transforming them into various
logic signals, an interface drawing module loading interactive data
between users and machine from interface library, designing
interface, and displaying them on the user terminal, a logic
control unit processing the data between the communication module,
the sports rug signal processing module and the interface drawing
module so as to control the game status, and a game database module
saving game data.
[0009] Said network sports system game server also comprises: a
system patch module, which checks the current version of the game
in users' terminals and provides download of all the updated files;
a system gateway module, which receives connection requests and
operation commands from users' terminals and transmits them to the
game server for processing.
[0010] Said game management module, the game database module, the
system patch module and the system gateway module are respectively
installed in different network sports game servers.
[0011] Said user's terminal further comprises: a character movement
processing module, which loads movement data from character
movement library according to users' performance and displays them
on the terminal interface; a music processing module, which loads
music selected by the users from music library and plays them for
the users; a notes processing module, which loads notes from the
notes library according to the selected music, displays them on the
terminal interface, and evaluates each player's performance by
comparing with the logic step signals received from the sports rug
signal processing module.
[0012] In one embodiment, said network sports rug connects to the
user's terminal by a USB port.
[0013] In one embodiment, said network sports rug is a network
dancing rug.
[0014] In one embodiment, said network sports rug is a network
running rug.
[0015] In one embodiment, said network sports system also
comprises: a chat system, a bulletin system, a channel system, a
room management module, and an item management module.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] Advantages of the present invention will become apparent to
those skilled in the art with the benefit of the following detailed
description of embodiments and upon reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of connection structure of an
embodiment of the network sports system;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of server connection structure
of another embodiment of the network sports system;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of user terminal module
structure of the network sports system;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of network sports rug for the
network sports system; and
[0021] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of data signal for the network
sports system.
[0022] While the invention may be susceptible to various
modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof
are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be
described in detail. The drawings may not be to scale. It should be
understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description
thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular
form disclosed, but to the contrary, the intention is to cover all
modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the
spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the
appended claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, in one embodiment, the network sports
system comprises a network game server, many user terminals, e.g.,
PCs connected to the network server, and the network sports rug
linked to each user's terminal. When the game starts, the sports
rug transmits the signals processed by control IC from the user's
step movements to its computer. The computer will transmit the
signals to the game server after processing those signals. After
that, the server sends every user's result to all the players.
[0024] A network game server comprises the game database, the
system logic module, the system management module, the system patch
module, and the system gateway module as shown in FIG. 2. In this
embodiment, the patch server (PS) with patch modules, the gateway
servers (GW) with gateway modules, the game servers (GS) with
system logic modules and system communication modules, the game
management servers (GM) with system managing modules, the database
servers with game database modules are respectively set up. The
Game Service Provider (GSP) will determine the amount of servers
according to the users' quantity, and add the servers according to
the growth of the users. When the game starts, the user's terminal
connects to the system patch server first to check the latest game
version. The terminal will download all the patch files provided by
the PS, supposing that the terminal version is older than the one
in the patch server; after that the terminal will set up a TCP
connection with the system gateway module and verify the password
according to the database; and then maintain this TCP connection
for the game data transmission. The system gateway module
distributes the connection requests and operation commands received
from the user terminals and transmits them to the system logic
module for processing. The system logic module collects each user's
game data, transmits them to other players according to the
protocols while the system management module distributes the web
resource and the game channel.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 3, the user's terminal module comprises the
communication module, the sports rug signal processing module, the
interface drawing module, the logic control unit, the character
movement processing module, the music processing module, the notes
processing module, the chat system, the bulletin system, the
channel system, the room management module, and the item management
module. When the terminal user starts the game, the interface
drawing module will load the interactive data between users and
machine from the interface library, design the interface and
display them on the terminal. After the user selects music in
different difficulty level, the music-processing module transfers
the music from the music library and plays the selected music. The
notes processing module loads the corresponding notes from the
library according to the music, and displays them on the interface
of user's terminal. Meanwhile, the player may dance on the sports
rug following the music beat and signals on the screen. The
character movement processing module loads the movement data from
the character movement library according to the players' ability to
match their contact with the sports rug to the signals on the
screen, and displays them on the interface of user's terminal. The
sports rug signal-processing module transforms the signals received
from the sports rug into logic signals and transmits them to
network sports servers via the communication module. At the same
time, the notes processing module evaluates the performance of
every player, for example his score and rank, etc, by comparing
with the logic step signals received from the sports rugs
signal-processing module. In the whole process, the logic control
unit manages the status of the game and processes the data in the
communication module, the sports rug signal processing module and
the interface-building module. The chat system is a module that
processes the message communication between the players. The users
can use this system for instant chatting in the dialog window of
the interface. After someone leaves a message in the dialog window,
other users can see the message and reply to it immediately. The
bulletin system is used for the Game Operator Announcement, by
which the players get the news and information of the game. The
channel system manages and maintains the status of game channels,
lets the users know all the accessible channels and current status
of the channels, so that the user may choose the corresponding
channels. The room management module manages and maintains the
status of the rooms in the game channel, informs the users of the
amount of the participants and the game status in each room. The
users may create a new game room or join one room according to the
system hint. The item management module mainly manages the costumes
of characters, the status of individual items, by which the users
can manage their own costumes, items or buy a new one.
[0026] In one embodiment, the flow of the system data is as
follows: [0027] 1. The user terminal sends a message of the current
user's sports score to the system gateway server. [0028] 2. The
system gateway server forwards the sports score message to the
system logic server. [0029] 3. After the system logic server
receives the message, the system logic server forwards the message
to other players in the game room via the system gateway server.
[0030] 4. The system logic server also maintains the rank table of
the players in the same game room, if the rank changes according to
players' game scores, the system logic server will forward this
news to all the players in the room through the system gateway
server.
[0031] As shown in FIG. 4, the network sports rug comprises the
following components: USB (Universal Serial Bus) port 1, enter
button 2, LED lights 3, direction pedals 4, return button 5, and
control IC 6. The USB port 1 connects to the user terminal (PC).
There are eight direction pedals 4: up, down, left, right, up left,
bottom left, up right, bottom right. There are twenty LED lights
around the direction pedals 4 (four sides in total, five lights
each side). All LED lights 3 are controlled by the control IC 6,
and flash according to the user's steps on the rug. The sports rug
also may be connected to the user's terminal by other methods, for
example, connected with the user terminal by a parallel port
connection.
[0032] As shown in FIG. 5, signals are generated when the user
steps on the network sports rug, then the signals are sent to the
user terminal (PC) through USB port, the computer merges the
direction signals to communication data packets, and sends them to
the network sports game server via the internet; the network sports
game server processes the data packets received from the user's
terminal, and returns the processing result to the user terminal;
the user terminal receives and processes the result; other players
in this game may receive the returned signals from the network
sports game server and achieve the interaction between different
players.
[0033] Another embodiment is to connect with a running rug. When
the terminal user starts the game, the interface drawing module
loads the interactive data between users and machine from the
interface library, designs the interface and displays it on the
terminal. After the user selects the music in different difficulty
levels, the music-processing module transfers the music from the
music library and plays the selected music. The notes processing
module loads the corresponding signals from library according to
the selected music and displays them on the user terminal's
interface. Meanwhile, the player may run on the sports rug
according to the music beat and the displayed signals. The
character movement-processing module loads the movement data from
the character movement library and displays them on the screen
according to the frequency of the players' steps. The sports rug
signal processing module transforms the signals received from
sports rug to logic signals and transmits them to network sports
game server through the communication module. At the same time, the
notes processing module evaluates the performance of the player by
comparing the logic step signals received from the sports rugs
signal-processing module. In the whole process, the logic control
unit manages the status of game, processes the data in the
communication module, the sports rug signal processing module and
the interface-drawing module. While other players joining the game
may receive the returned signals from the network sports game
server and achieve the interaction between different players. The
users also may use the chat system, the bulletin system, the room
management system and the item management system provided by the
game system.
[0034] Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various
aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the
art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is
to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of
teaching those skilled in the art the general manner of carrying
out the invention. It is to be understood that the forms of the
invention shown and described herein are to be taken as examples of
embodiments. Elements and materials may be substituted for those
illustrated and described herein, parts and processes may be
reversed, and certain features of the invention may be utilized
independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art
after having the benefit of this description of the invention.
Changes may be made in the elements described herein without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described
in the following claims.
* * * * *