U.S. Pat. No. 8,840,472

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The assignee of the present application has developed an online video gaming system. Certain embodiments of this system are described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/538,081, filed, Aug. 7, 2009, entitled, “System and Method for Compressing Video Based on Latency Measurements and Other Feedback” and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/359,150, filed Jan. 23, 2009, entitled, “System And Method for Protecting Certain Types of Multimedia Data Transmitted Over A Communication Channel.” These applications are sometimes referred to herein as the “co-pending applications” and are incorporated herein by reference.

Described herein is a unique controller and touch-screen graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling online video games as described in the co-pending applications. While the controller and touch screen GUI described below may be used to control “online” games in one embodiment of the invention, the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to “online” games. For example, the controller and touch screen GUI described below may be used to control games being executed locally on the gaming apparatus to which they are connected (in the case of the controller) and/or on which they are displayed (in the case of the GUI).

As illustrated inFIG. 1, one embodiment of a physical controller includes left and right joysticks101and102, respectively, which may be freely moved in all directions to perform game input functions. For example, in an adventure game or first person shooter, the joysticks may be manipulated to move a character throughout the game. Also shown inFIG. 1is a directional pad (commonly referred to as a D-pad)108to perform up, down, left, and right motion and/or cursor controls. A group of four action buttons105are provided to perform various application-specific functions (e.g., jump, run, switch weapons, etc). A set of transport buttons104positioned towards the bottom of the controller allow the user to perform play/pause, stop, fast forward, and rewind operations from within a game (e.g., to pause, fast forward, rewind, etc, within the game). A set of three navigation buttons103provided towards the middle of the controller may provide various different navigation functions and/or other system-specific functions. For example, in one embodiment, the central circular button causes a user navigation interface to appear overlaid on top of the current game; the left button is used to back out of menu items; and the right button is used to enter/select menu items. Of course, the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular set of button functions. Bumper buttons106a-b(sometimes referred to as shoulder buttons) and trigger buttons107a-bprovide various well-known game specific functions (e.g., fire, change weapon, reload, etc).

As illustrated inFIG. 2, one embodiment of a touch screen graphical user interface (GUI) includes a set of graphical buttons which visually correspond to the buttons on the physical controller illustrated inFIG. 1. Thus, using the embodiments described herein, a user who is familiar with the layout of the physical controller will find it relatively easy to identify the appropriate buttons and play a game on a touch screen device. In one embodiment, the touch screen device is an Apple iPad. However, the underlying principles of the invention may be implemented on any type of touch screen device (e.g., an Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, a Google Android, a Microsoft Windows, a Palm or Research in Motion Blackberry touch screen device, etc).

The numerical designations inFIG. 2correspond to the numerical designations used inFIG. 1. For example, graphical joysticks201-202correspond to physical joysticks101-102; the graphical directional pad208corresponds to the physical directional pad108; the graphic action buttons205correspond to physical action buttons105; the graphical navigation buttons203correspond to physical navigation buttons103; the graphical bumper buttons206a-bcorrespond to physical bumper buttons106a-b; and the graphical trigger buttons207a-bcorrespond to physical trigger buttons107a-b. Unless otherwise stated herein, the graphical buttons perform the same functions as the corresponding physical buttons on the physical controller. Touching the joysticks201-202would indicate to the touch screen device that the user is intending to manipulate the joysticks, and subsequent motion while continuously touching the joystick201-202would be interpreted by the touch screen device as if the user had moved a physical joystick a similar distance from the center of the joystick. In one embodiment, a touch that is closer to the center of the joystick than to any other button is considered to the user touching the joystick and activating it, and a touch closer to another button is considered a touch of the other button. In one embodiment, a touch that activates the joystick is considered to define the center point position of the joystick, so that any subsequent motion from the center point is considered to be a movement away that center point. In another embodiment, a touch that activates the joystick is considered to have moved the joystick to the position of this first touch, and subsequent motion from this point is considered to have moved the joystick from that position. In one embodiment, there is an option where either the user or the game being played is able to select whether the first touch is interpreted as touching the joystick at its center point or moving the joystick to the position of the touch. The physical joysticks101and102may be equipped with a press down button capability, such that if the user presses down on a joystick, that downward press is detected. In one embodiment, the joysticks201and202are responsive to a “double tap”, in which a rapid touch-touch action (with a limited time duration between the taps defined by the touch screen device, the game, or set by user as a setting, so as to distinguish a “double tap” from a release of the joystick followed by a retouch by the finger) is defined to be analogous to pressing down the physical joysticks101and102. In one embodiment, such a “double tap” is only interpreted as such within a limited radius of the center of the joystick201or202.

In one embodiment, touch of the buttons inFIG. 2other than the joystick is interpreted as a press of the analogous button on the physical gamepad inFIG. 1. In one embodiment, if a button is pressed followed by a drag operation, then the drag is interpreted as an actuation ramp of a variable value. For example, on the physical gamepad inFIG. 1the107band107a(“Left Trigger” or “LT” and “Right Trigger” or “RT”) buttons may be variable analog controls that may be used for purposes such as controlling the degree of acceleration of a car in a car game. If the user presses LT207bor RT207a, and then drags away from those buttons, the degree of drag would be interpreted as if the user had pressed button107bor107ato variable degree of actuation. In one embodiment, when the user drags after pressing207bor207a, a graphic gauge appears behind or near the button to indicate to the user the degree of actuation of the variable controller. Also illustrated inFIG. 2is a graphical keyboard button which, when selected by the end user, causes a graphical keyboard to be displayed for entering text. In one embodiment, the online gaming service described in the co-pending applications communicates with the touch-screen device to automatically cause the graphical keyboard to appear when text entry is needed. Moreover, if the user touches a text entry field from within a game (or other application) the graphical keyboard may automatically appear.

A graphical mouse button211illustrated inFIG. 2allows the user to move throughout the game as if the user of the touch-screen device were using a mouse. For example, in one embodiment, if the user touches and drags a thumb across the display screen on which the video game is displayed, a corresponding mouse control signal is transmitted from the touch-screen device to the online gaming service (e.g., dragging a thumb to the left causes a left mouse scroll operation). In one embodiment, selecting the mouse button211causes the button to toggle to a touch-screen button (e.g., indicated in the form of a graphical hand), thereby allowing the user to implement various functions specific to touch-screen technology (e.g., double-tap to select, double drag to zoom in/out, etc). In response, the touch-screen device will transmit touch-screen specific control signals to the online gaming service which will responsively control the current video game and transmit the resulting video stream to the touch-screen device.

A graphical record button212is also provided. In one embodiment, when selected, the record button causes the online gaming service to begin recording the user's game video output, or game actions. The recorded game video or game actions may then be used for many purposes as described in the co-pending applications, including Brag Clips™ video recordings, which, which are recordings of previous game play may be reviewed by the user and/or shared with others.

The button layout and functionality illustrated inFIG. 2is beneficial for a variety of reasons. First, because the buttons are positioned at the top of the display (as opposed to the bottom), the user may use his/her thumbs to select the buttons and control the game while the remainder of the user's fingers are positioned under the touch-pad device (e.g., to hold the device securely during gameplay). Other than buttons107a-band103inFIG. 1, the other buttons and switches are usually controlled by the thumbs (and even103are sometimes controlled by the thumbs) and, so analogous thumb control of these buttons on a touch screen could be more familiar to a user than control by other fingers

In addition, in one embodiment, when a user is actively controlling the joystick controls201-202, the buttons208,205surrounding the joystick controls and potentially other touch sensitive areas are “deactivated” while the user continues to manipulate the joystick. Thus, after the user touches the touch screen over the image of the joystick201or202, and does not cease to touch the touch screen with that finger while moving the finger around, the touch screen device will consider that the joystick is still being manipulated, and despite the fact the finger may pass over another button, the touch screen device will not interpret that as a touch of the button underneath the finger, until the finger is lifted from the touch screen and again touches the touch screen. This allows the user to touch the joystick201or202and then have a wider area of motion to manipulate the joystick than would normally be possible if the motion were constrained to avoid moving over a button205or208, resulting in the erroneous interpretation as a touch of that button. Also, given the intensity of many games, it allows the user to vigorously manipulate the joystick without fear of inadvertently hitting a nearby button, which might result in an undesired behavior in the game (e.g. inadvertently shooting an ally while using the joystick to turn quickly with an extreme motion).

In one embodiment, the range of that the user will be allowed to manipulate the joystick is limited to some specified distance from the center of the joystick, for example, to a circle of some radius around the joystick. The game could either cease to interpret the motion once the range of motion is exceeded (and the user could potentially realize because there was no corresponding action in the game beyond the allowable range of motion that the range had been exceeded), or there could be some other indication to the user, such as an auditory alert (e.g. a beep) or a graphical indication (e.g. a flash on the screen).

In one embodiment, when a joystick201or202is interpreted as activated, the nearby buttons are dimmed to be less prominent than they are usually (or some other graphical indication is used) to remind the user that touching the nearby buttons (without first releasing the joystick) will not be interpreted as a button press. For example, when the joystick201is activated, the D-pad buttons208would be dimmed out or when joystick202is activated one of the action buttons205would be dimmed out. When the user lifts his/her thumbs up from the joysticks, the D-pad buttons208or one of the action buttons205would become active again and would be restored to their normal appearance, providing a visual indication to the user that they can be actuated. In one embodiment, when the user lifts his/her fingers off of the graphical joysticks201-202as described, the graphical joysticks may be configured to be interpreted as (a) remaining in the last position they were in or (b) returning to a center position. In one embodiment, such state in the preceding sentence would be shown visually by the position that the joystick201or202graphical image is draw in.

Similarly, to the joystick201and202actuation being handled over nearby buttons in the preceding three paragraphs, dragging after pressing a button such as the LT207band RT207abutton could, in one embodiment, deactivate nearby buttons to allow motion that overlaps nearby buttons. Similar to the joystick201and202actuation, such dragging can be limited in range, and visual and/or auditory indicators can be provided to the user.

As mentioned above, in one embodiment the GUI shown inFIG. 2is used to play remotely-operated games from a gaming service as described in the co-pending applications. In one embodiment, the communication with the online gaming service may occur over various network links including wireless links (e.g., digital 3G or 4G cellular links, Wi-Fi links, Bluetooth links, etc) and wired links (e.g., Ethernet, USB, etc).

In one embodiment, the game that is executing in the touch screen device or in a remotely-operated game requests the particular configuration of buttons so as to best suit the needs of the game.

In one embodiment, and non-game application is used, and it requests an interface suitable for its operation.

In one embodiment, the touch interface described herein is rendered by the local touch screen device. In another embodiment, the touch interface described herein is rendered by a remotely-operating game or application such as that described in the co-pending applications. In another embodiment part of the touch interface described herein is rendered locally and part is rendered remotely.

In one embodiment, the various graphical elements illustrated herein and the associated functions may be generated by a general purpose or a special purpose processor executing instructions. For example, a processor within the touch screen device may execute instructions to generate the graphical buttons shown inFIG. 2; receive user input from the touch screen; and responsively provide control signals to the online gaming service described in the co-pending applications. Embodiments of the invention may also include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions which cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Various elements which are not relevant to these underlying principles such as computer memory, hard drive, input devices, have been left out of some or all of the figures to avoid obscuring the pertinent aspects.

Elements of the disclosed subject matter may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, flash memory, optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, propagation media or other type of machine-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection).

It should also be understood that elements of the disclosed subject matter may also be provided as a computer program product which may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which may be used to program a computer (e.g., a processor or other electronic device) to perform a sequence of operations. Alternatively, the operations may be performed by a combination of hardware and software. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnet or optical cards, propagation media or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, elements of the disclosed subject matter may be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer or electronic device to a requesting process by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection).

Additionally, although the disclosed subject matter has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, numerous modifications and alterations are well within the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.