Driving game system

Abstract

To create roads and driving courses traveled by an actual vehicle as a game course, enabling a game in which a player drives the game course by operating a control system of the actual vehicle.SOLUTION: A driving game system comprises an on-vehicle control device 1, a game management device 2, a game device 3, a video display device 4, and an audio output device 5. The game management device 2 includes a first processing unit (S2) that acquires and stores from the on-vehicle control device 1 a start position for creating the driving game course indicated by the driver during a driving process of the vehicle; a second processing unit (S3) that acquires and stores from the on-vehicle control device 1 vehicle movement trajectory data from the start position for creating the driving game course; a third processing unit (S4) that acquires and stores from the on-vehicle control device 1 a termination position for creating the driving game course indicated by the driver during the driving process of the vehicle; and a fourth processing unit (S5) that creates a driving game course on the basis of the respective data stored by the first, second, and third processing units.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a driving game system. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 states that "in response to a user operating an operating system (steering wheel, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, steering shift switch, gear shift lever, etc.) that has the same operating feel as an operating system installed in an actual vehicle, an image of a vehicle traveling on a course of a game program pre-stored in the game device is displayed on the display, and sound effects accompanying the traveling of the vehicle are generated and output from a speaker." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-330312 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The game device of Patent Document 1 mentioned above allows pre-stored courses to be operated using an operating system that has the same operating feel as the operating system of an actual vehicle, and does not give any indication of the technical idea of ​​creating a game course based on roads and driving courses traveled by an actual vehicle, and then operating the operating system of the actual vehicle (steering, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, gear shift lever, etc.) to drive along the game course.

[0005] In view of these circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a driving game system that can create game courses based on roads and driving courses traveled by actual vehicles, and can play a game in which the player drives the game courses by operating the control system of the actual vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The driving game system according to the present invention includes an on-board control device that stores data output from sensors mounted on an actual vehicle and that detect the amount of operation of an operating system of the vehicle, as well as data output from wheel speed sensors, acceleration sensors, gyro sensors, a GPS receiver, a camera, LiDAR, and a car navigation system; a game management device that acquires the data stored in the on-board control device and creates a driving game course based on the road or driving course on which the actual vehicle has traveled, based on the acquired data; and a game device that acquires data related to the driving game course created by the game management device and data output from the on-board control device and outputs planar image data representing the entire driving game course, vehicle image data, image data of a landscape ahead of the vehicle, and data on sounds surrounding the vehicle, based on the acquired data. a video display device that acquires the planar image data, the vehicle image data, and the scenery image data from the game device and displays video related to the driving game course; and an audio output device that acquires the ambient sound data from the game device and outputs sound related to the driving game course, wherein the game management device includes a first processing unit that acquires from the on-board control device and stores a start position for creating the driving game course instructed by the driver during the traveling process of the vehicle, a second processing unit that acquires from the on-board control device and stores movement trajectory data of the vehicle from the creation start position, a third processing unit that acquires from the on-board control device and stores a creation end position for the driving game course instructed by the driver during the traveling process of the vehicle, and a fourth processing unit that creates a driving game course based on the data stored in the first to third processing units.

[0007] With this configuration, it is possible to create a driving game course based on the roads and driving courses that an actual vehicle has traveled, and then play a game in which the player drives along the driving game course by operating the control systems (steering, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, gear shift lever, etc.) of the actual vehicle. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, a driving game system can be provided in which roads and driving courses traveled by actual vehicles are created as driving game courses, and a game can be played in which the actual vehicle's control system is operated to drive along the driving game course. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an embodiment of a driving game system according to the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a flowchart used to explain the operation of the game management device. [Figure 3] (a) is a diagram showing an example of a planar image representing the entire driving game course created by the game management device, (b) is a front view showing an example of a 3D landscape image of the plane along the (X)-(X) line of the driving game course of (a) viewed from the direction of the arrow, and (c) is a front view showing an example of a 2D landscape image of the plane along the (X)-(X) line of the driving game course of (a) viewed from the direction of the arrow. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] An embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figures 1 to 3. The driving game system of this embodiment includes an on-vehicle control device 1, a game management device 2, a game device 3, a video display device 4, an audio output device 5, and the like.

[0012] The on-board control device 1 is mounted on a vehicle (not shown) and includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The ECU includes a CPU, a ROM (also called storage), a RAM (also called memory), a communication I / F, and an input / output I / F, which are communicably connected to each other via a bus.

[0013] The vehicle is, for example, an electric vehicle called a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), which runs by driving a motor with electric power stored in a battery.

[0014] In addition, the in-vehicle control device 1 performs processes such as acquiring various data transmitted from the input device 10 and storing it in memory, outputting the acquired data to the game management device 2, displaying image data on the video display device 4, and generating sound on the audio output device 5.

[0015] The input device 10 repeatedly detects physical quantities (steering operation amount, accelerator operation amount, brake operation amount, etc.) that change due to operation of the vehicle's operating system (steering, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, gear shift lever, etc.) and physical quantities related to the vehicle's driving (steering angle, wheel speed, deceleration G, etc.) at predetermined timings, and transmits this detected data to the in-vehicle control device 1 via a CAN (Controller Area Network) communication system installed in the vehicle.

[0016] This input device 10 includes a steering angle sensor 11, an accelerator opening sensor 12, a brake sensor 13, a wheel speed sensor 14, an acceleration sensor 15, a gyro sensor 16, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 17, a camera 18, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) 19, a car navigation system 20, etc.

[0017] The steering angle sensor 11 detects the amount of steering wheel operation (steering angle). The accelerator opening sensor 12 detects the amount of accelerator pedal operation (accelerator opening). The brake sensor 13 detects the amount of brake pedal operation (brake pedal force). The wheel speed sensor 14 detects the rotational speed of the vehicle's wheels. The acceleration sensor 15 measures gravity, movement, vibration, and impact acting on the vehicle. The gyro sensor 16, also known as an angular velocity sensor, uses Coriolis force to detect changes in the rotation and orientation of an object as angular velocity and outputs it as an electrical signal. The GPS receiver 17 receives GPS signals transmitted from GPS satellites to obtain position data on the vehicle's location. The camera 18 is an imaging device that captures images (still images and videos) of the front, and is, for example, a video camera equipped with an imaging element (CCD: Charge-Coupled Device, CMOS: Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) or the like. The camera may also be a so-called TSS camera. The TSS (Toyota Safety Sense) camera is a unique camera manufactured by Toyota Motor Corporation, and is configured with a monocular camera and millimeter-wave radar or laser radar. The LiDAR 19 measures the distance to the vehicle ahead and detects obstacles using very high-frequency radio waves in the 30 to 300 GHz frequency band. The car navigation system 20 uses GPS signals from the GPS receiver 17 to determine the vehicle's location and provides directions to the destination based on the vehicle's location.

[0018] The game management device 2 manages the process of creating a driving game course based on various data acquired from the on-vehicle control device 1, the process of transmitting and receiving data between the on-vehicle control device 1 and the game device 3, and the like.

[0019] In this game management device 2, the in-vehicle control device 1 and the game device 3 are connected by wire or wirelessly.

[0020] The game device 3 executes the processing of various game programs in response to input signals from the attached controller or output signals from various sensors for detecting the operation system of the in-vehicle control device 1, and may be, for example, one of various game devices available on the market.

[0021] The display of the car navigation system 20 installed in the vehicle is used as the video display device 4. However, it may be a display that is a standard feature of the vehicle or a display that is added later.

[0022] The audio output device 5 is a speaker that is a standard feature of the vehicle, or a speaker that can be added later.

[0023] Next, the operation mainly performed by the game management device 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0024] The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 starts when the power switch (not shown) of the game management device 2 is turned on.

[0025] First, in step S1, it is determined based on data input from the on-vehicle control device 1 whether the vehicle has started to move.

[0026] If the determination in step S1 is negative, the flow chart is terminated, whereas if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S2.

[0027] In step S2, it is determined whether or not the starting position of the driving game course desired to be created has been designated.

[0028] If the determination in step S2 is negative, the flow chart is terminated, whereas if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S3.

[0029] In step S3, various data are acquired that are stored in the memory (not shown) of the on-board control device 1. The memory of the on-board control device 1 stores data output from sensors that detect the amount of operation of the vehicle's operating systems (steering angle sensor 11, accelerator opening sensor 12, brake sensor 13), wheel speed sensor 14, acceleration sensor 15, gyro sensor 16, GPS receiver 17, camera 18, LiDAR 19, and car navigation system 20, as well as data on the movement trajectory of the vehicle from the vehicle creation start position.

[0030] In the next step S4, it is determined whether or not an end position of the driving game course desired to be created has been specified. Note that the display (not shown) of the car navigation system 20 is equipped with a touch panel, and when the driver touches the map displayed on the display, data of the touched position is stored in the memory (not shown) of the on-vehicle control device 1. Therefore, the game management device 2 can obtain the start position data and end position data of the driving game course from the memory, and can therefore obtain the movement trajectory data of the vehicle from the start position to the end position.

[0031] If the determination in step S4 is negative, the flow chart is terminated, whereas if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S5.

[0032] In this step S5, for example, a driving game course 31 shown in FIG. 3(a) is created.

[0033] Thereafter, in step S6, it is determined whether the driver of the vehicle has requested the start of the driving game. Here, the game management device 2 makes this determination by recognizing a game start command from the game device 3.

[0034] In step S7, it is determined whether the vehicle is parked. Here, the game management device 2 determines whether the vehicle is parked by recognizing the driving mode (parking mode) of the in-vehicle control device 1.

[0035] If the determination in step S7 is negative, the flow chart is terminated, whereas if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S8.

[0036] In step S8, a game is executed using the driving game course 31 created in step S5. Here, the game management device 2 transmits the driving game course 31 created in step S5 to the game device 3, and executes the game by managing the transmission and reception of operation data, image data, and audio data between the game device 3 and the on-vehicle control device 1.

[0037] The game device 3 outputs data on images and ambient sounds that accompany the progress of the game, such as data on a planar image 32 showing the entire driving game course 31, a 3D landscape image 33, a 2D landscape image 34, and a vehicle image 35 as shown in Figures 3(a) to 3(c), as well as data on ambient sounds that occur as the game progresses, to the on-vehicle control device 1, and the on-vehicle control device 1 controls the images displayed on the vehicle's image display device 4 and the sounds output by the audio output device 5. The 3D landscape image 33 and the 2D landscape image 34 can also display an arrow image or the like that indicates the direction in which the vehicle is traveling.

[0038] In the flowchart of Figure 2, step S2 corresponds to the first processing unit described in the claims, step S3 corresponds to the second processing unit described in the claims, step S4 corresponds to the third processing unit described in the claims, and step S5 corresponds to the fourth processing unit described in the claims.

[0039] As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, roads and driving courses on which an actual vehicle has traveled can be created as a driving game course, and a game can be played in which the actual vehicle's operating systems (steering, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, gear shift lever, etc.) are operated to drive along the driving game course.

[0040] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereto.

[0041] (1) In the above embodiment, an example is given in which the control system of an electric vehicle is used when playing a game, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0042] For example, when playing a game, it is possible to use the control system of a vehicle powered by a gasoline engine or diesel engine, and in such a case, the same effects and advantages as those of the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0043] (2) In the above embodiment, an example was given in which the control system of an actual vehicle was operated when playing the game, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0044] For example, when playing a game, it is possible to operate a controller attached to the game device 3. In such a case, the same effects and advantages as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained. [Industrial Applicability]

[0045] The present invention can be suitably used in a driving game system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0046] 1 on-vehicle control device, 2 game management device, 3 game device, 4 video display device, 5 audio output device, 10 input device, 11 steering angle sensor, 12 accelerator opening sensor, 13 brake sensor, 14 wheel speed sensor, 15 acceleration sensor, 16 gyro sensor, 17 GPS receiver, 18 camera, 19 LiDAR, 20 car navigation system, 31 driving game course, 32 planar image of driving game course, 33 3D landscape image of driving game course, 34 2D landscape image of driving game course, 35 vehicle image of driving game course.

Claims

[Claim 1] an on-board control device that is mounted on an actual vehicle and stores data output from sensors that detect the amount of operation of an operation system of the vehicle, as well as data output from a wheel speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a GPS receiver, a camera, a LiDAR, and a car navigation system; a game management device that acquires data stored in the on-board control device and creates a driving game course based on the road or driving course on which the actual vehicle has traveled, based on the acquired data; a game device that acquires data relating to the driving game course created by the game management device and data output from the on-vehicle control device, and outputs planar image data representing the entire driving game course, vehicle image data, image data of scenery ahead of the vehicle, and data of sounds around the vehicle based on the acquired data; a video display device that acquires the planar image data, the vehicle image data, and the scenery image data from the game device and displays a video related to the driving game course; an audio output device that acquires the ambient sound data from the game device and outputs sounds related to the driving game course; the game management device includes a first processing unit that acquires from the on-vehicle control device and stores a starting position for creating a driving game course instructed by a driver during the course of driving of the vehicle; a second processing unit that acquires movement trajectory data of the vehicle from the creation start position from the on-board control device and stores the movement trajectory data; a third processing unit that acquires from the on-vehicle control device and stores a creation end position of the driving game course instructed by the driver during the traveling process of the vehicle; a fourth processing unit that creates a driving game course based on the data stored in said first to third processing units.

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