Hybrid Game Control System Merging Manual Input and Gesture Recognition
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video and computer game control systems lack the ability to provide fine-grained, intuitive control that combines the benefits of manual input devices with gesture recognition, limiting the complexity and type of interactions possible between the user and the game environment.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid control system that integrates a hand-held controller with a camera-based control system, using a computing device to receive manual input and analyze image streams from a capture device to recognize gestures, allowing separate control of game elements through both manual and motion-based inputs, enhancing interaction complexity and intuitiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a hand-held controller with buttons and joysticks is used, then fine-grained control of game elements is achieved, but the system lacks intuitive gesture recognition capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a hand-held controller system with a camera-based gesture recognition system into a unified control architecture. The controller handles precise button/joystick inputs while the camera captures gestures, and both input streams are processed together to control game elements, thereby merging the precision of manual control with the intuitiveness of gesture recognition.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system is designed to accept multiple types of inputs through different interfaces: physical buttons and joysticks on the hand-held controller, plus visual gestures captured by the camera. This multi-functional input system allows the same game control architecture to handle diverse interaction modes, enhancing versatility while maintaining control precision.
2Ease of operation
If voice recognition and gesture recognition are used without hand-held controllers, then intuitive interaction is achieved, but fine-grained control capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges gesture recognition (captured by camera) with traditional hand-held controller inputs into a unified control scheme. Gestures provide intuitive interaction for certain game elements while the hand-held controller maintains fine-grained control precision for other elements, combining the advantages of both approaches in a complementary manner.
3Device complexity
If a single control method is used, then system simplicity is maintained, but interaction complexity and versatility are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into distinct input channels: hand-held controller inputs for precise control tasks and camera-based gesture inputs for intuitive interactions. Each channel processes specific types of commands independently, allowing the system to maintain simplicity in individual control paths while achieving high versatility through their combination.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified control architecture is designed to handle multiple input types through a common processing framework. The system universally accepts both controller signals and gesture data, routing them through integrated logic to control various game elements, thereby maintaining architectural simplicity while supporting complex interactions.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Control of separate computer game elements is described. In one example, a computer game system displays a computer game to a user, the computer game comprising at least one avatar and an environment. Manual input commands are received from a hand-operated controller operated by the user, and are used to control the display of the avatar in the computer game. Substantially concurrently with the manual input, a stream of images from an image capture device depicting the user is also received. A portal, separate to the avatar, is displayed in a region of the computer game display, which shows the received stream of images to the user. The stream of images of the user is analyzed and a gesture performed by the user is recognized. The recognized gesture is used to control displayed interaction between the portal and the environment.