Apparatus, systems and methods for controller devices

Abstract

The data processing apparatus comprises receiving circuitry 310 to receive controller input information from a user operable input element of a controller with a sensitivity setting, prediction circuitry 320 to predict sensitivity update information, and update circuitry 330 to update the sensitivity setting for the controller. The prediction circuitry predicts the sensitivity update information in dependence on at least some of the controller input information and a prediction model which is based on previous controller input information for a plurality of users. The input element may be a control stick, trigger button or touch pad. The controller input information may be positional displacement of the input element or the amount of motion above a threshold. An in-game motion may be calculated and classified at different levels. The prediction model may comprise a trained machine learning model. Also disclosed is a computer implemented method or computer software performing the method.

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus comprising:receiving circuitry to receive controller input information indicative of one or more user inputs for a controller device comprising one or more user operable input elements;prediction circuitry to predict, for a given user operable input element of the controller device having a sensitivity setting, sensitivity update information for updating the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element; andupdate circuitry to update the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element in dependence on the sensitivity update information to obtain an updated sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element,in which the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information in dependence on at least some of the controller input information associated with the given user operable input element and a prediction model which is based on previous controller input information for a plurality of users.

2. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the given user operable input element is one of a control stick, a trigger button, and a touchpad of the controller device.

3. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the controller input information is indicative of one or more from the list consisting of:positional displacements for a control stick;positional displacements for a trigger button; and positions of touch inputs with respect to a touch pad.

4. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information for updating the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element in dependence on at least some of the received controller input information indicative of positional displacements for the given user operable input element during a period of time and the prediction model.

5. The data processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information for increasing sensitivity associated with the given user operable input element in dependence on whether the at least some of the received controller input information is indicative of an amount of motion exceeding a threshold amount of motion, the threshold amount of motion identified based on the prediction model.

6. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to use the prediction model to evaluate motion of the given user operable input element during a period of time and the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element relative to the previous controller input information for the plurality of users, and predict the sensitivity update information in dependence on the evaluation relative to the previous controller input information.

7. The data processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to calculate an amount of in-game motion in dependence on the motion for the given user operable input element during the given period of time and the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element, and the prediction circuitry is configured to use the prediction model to classify the received controller input information according to a classification from a plurality of candidate classifications corresponding to different levels of in-game motion.

8. The data processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein in response to a classification corresponding to a level of in-game motion greater than a first threshold level of ingame motion, the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information for decreasing the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element.

9. The data processing apparatus according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein in response to a classification corresponding to a level of in-game motion lower than a second threshold level of in-game motion, the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information for increasing the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element.

10. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the prediction model comprises a trained machine learning model to predict the sensitivity update information, the trained machine learning model having been trained using training data comprising the previous controller input information for the plurality of users.

11. The data processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the training data comprises instances of controller input information, each instance of controller input information having an associated sensitivity setting and associated metadata indicative of a degree of in-game success, the trained machine learning model having been trained using the training data to learn a relationship between displacements for the given user operable input element, a sensitivity setting for the given user operable element and a degree of in-game success, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to input at least the controller input information associated with the given user operable input element to the trained machine learning model and the trained machinelearning model is operable to output the sensitivity update information indicative of a sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element correlated with an increase in in-game success.

12. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the update circuitry is configured to update the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element in dependence on the sensitivity update information to increment or decrement a parameter associated with the sensitivity setting by a fixed amount.

13. The data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein the sensitivity update information is indicative of a value to be used for a parameter associated with the sensitivity setting, and the update circuitry is configured to update the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element with the value for the parameter.

14. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the controller device is a two-handed controller device, wherein the prediction circuitry is configured to predict second sensitivity update information for another user operable input element having another sensitivity setting, and wherein the given user operable input element is associated with a portion of the controller device for being operated by a first hand of a user and the another user operable input element is associated with another portion of the controller device for being operated by a second hand of the user.

15. The data processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the given operable input element and the another user operable input element are respective control sticks.

16. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the received controller input information is a recording of user inputs for the controller device recorded during a previous session of a video game, and the prediction circuitry is configured to predict the sensitivity update information for updating the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element to obtain the updated sensitivity setting in advance of a subsequent session of the video game or another video game.

17. The data processing apparatus according to any preceding claim, comprising processing circuitry to process a session of a video game in dependence on the controller input data and the updated sensitivity setting.

18. A computer implemented method comprising:receiving controller input information indicative of one or more user inputs for a controller device comprising one or more user operable input elements;predicting, for a given user operable input element of the controller device having a sensitivity setting, sensitivity update information for updating the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element; andupdating the sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element in dependence on the sensitivity update information to obtain an updated sensitivity setting for the given user operable input element,in which the step of predicting comprises predicting the sensitivity update information in dependence on at least some of the controller input information associated with the given user operable input element and a prediction model which is based on previous controller input information for a plurality of users.

19. Computer software which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform the method according to claim 18.30

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