Board game system and method
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing videogame systems are primarily designed for solitary use and struggle to accommodate family settings where users sit opposite each other, often obscuring peripherals from the camera, limiting interactive experiences.
Innovation Solution
A board game system comprising a game board with a detector array and transmitter that communicates with an entertainment device, allowing for interactive gameplay by detecting game piece positions and transmitting data to update the game state, enabling multiple players to engage in augmented reality experiences without obstructing the camera view.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users sit opposite each other in a family setting, then social interaction and multiplayer experience are improved, but the peripheral is obscured from the camera view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the camera from the peripheral device and places it separately on the game board, allowing the camera to have an unobstructed view while users sit around the board. This separation resolves the contradiction by removing the camera from the position that would be blocked by users' bodies during multiplayer gameplay.
Solution Approach 2:
The game board serves as an intermediary platform that integrates both the camera and the game playing surface. By placing the camera on the board itself rather than in a handheld peripheral, the system mediates between the need for user interaction and the need for clear camera viewing angles.
2Ease of operation
If a peripheral with fiduciary markings is placed between the user and the TV/camera, then augmented reality interaction is improved, but it creates obstruction in family settings
Solution Approach 1:
The camera function is extracted from the peripheral controller and integrated into the game board itself. This allows the fiduciary markings to be on the board rather than on a handheld device, eliminating the need to hold anything between the user and camera while maintaining AR interaction capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the camera, the game board surface, and the fiduciary marking system into a single integrated platform. This combination allows the board to serve multiple functions simultaneously: providing the playing surface, containing the camera for detection, and displaying fiduciary markings for augmented reality overlay alignment.
Data Source
AI summary
A board game system comprises a game board, having a surface adapted to receive a board game overlay, a detector array adapted to detect the respective positions of a plurality of game pieces placed on top of the board game overlay, and a transmitter adapted to transmit data indicating the respective positions to an entertainment device; and an entertainment device, having a receiver adapted to receive from the game board data indicating the respective positions of the plurality of game pieces, a game state analyser operable to update the state of a game in dependence upon the indicated respective positions of the plurality of game pieces, and an image generator operable to generate an image for output to a display, the content of the image being responsive to the detected state of the game.