Synchronizing Physical and Virtual Environments in Interactive Games
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing entertainment systems fail to seamlessly integrate physical and virtual environments, limiting the immersive user experience by not allowing real-time synchronization of physical and virtual changes during interactive games or augmented reality experiences.
Innovation Solution
The system determines environmental changes in a game and controls physical devices such as lighting, temperature, and audiovisual devices to synchronize with the virtual environment, ensuring that physical changes occur in sync with the game events, enhancing the user's experience by dynamically adjusting the environment based on the game's metadata and user interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple home systems are integrated into a play experience, then the immersive user experience is enhanced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the control of multiple environmental devices by assigning specific roles to different devices (e.g., lighting devices for atmosphere, audiovisual devices for sound effects, temperature control for comfort). Each device is independently controlled based on its function, reducing the complexity of managing all devices as a single unified system while still achieving integrated immersive experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary control mechanism that coordinates multiple environmental devices based on game events. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of device integration by providing a unified interface for controlling diverse devices through game-driven commands, allowing the system to manage multiple devices without increasing user complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If physical environmental changes are synchronized with virtual game events, then user engagement is enhanced, but the timing coordination difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where game events trigger environmental changes, and the system monitors the timing of these changes to ensure synchronization. The feedback loop adjusts the timing of environmental device activation based on actual game event occurrence, making the timing coordination adaptive and reducing the difficulty of precise synchronization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring environmental devices with timing parameters based on anticipated game events. The system determines the appropriate timing for environmental changes in advance and sets up the devices accordingly, reducing the real-time timing coordination difficulty while maintaining synchronized user engagement.
3Manufacturing precision
If environmental devices are controlled to effect desired changes before game events, then the synchronization precision is improved, but the time management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by calculating the required advance time for environmental device changes based on the anticipated timing of game events. It determines how much time needs to be allocated for each environmental change and schedules the devices accordingly, improving synchronization precision while managing time efficiently through structured time allocation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic time management where the system adjusts the timing parameters of environmental changes based on the actual game event schedule. The time allocation for environmental device activation is made dynamic and adaptive, allowing the system to optimize synchronization precision while minimizing time management complexity through real-time adjustment.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques to synchronize changes in physical and virtual environments. An environmental change that will occur during a specified playback event within an interactive game is determined. An amount of time sufficient to permit an environmental device to effect a desired change in the physical environment before the specified playback event occurs is determined. The environmental device is controlled based on the amount of time, to effect the desired change synchronously with the environmental change.