Mapping Virtual Settings to Physical Locations via Storytelling Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current home entertainment technologies, such as video games, primarily limit user interactions to virtual worlds and do not effectively incorporate real-world physical environments, lacking immersive and interactive experiences that integrate auditory and visual effects in response to user actions across multiple devices and locations.
Innovation Solution
The development of storytelling devices and a networked system that utilize infrared signals, physical projectiles, and haptic feedback to create an immersive play environment, where action figures, vehicles, and other devices interact and respond to user inputs, and can be part of a distributed storytelling experience across remote locations, enhancing realism and engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If video games use traditional controllers and virtual world interactions, then the system is simple to operate, but the immersion and interaction with real-world physical environments are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces camera devices as intermediaries that capture real-world physical environments and translate them into virtual game contexts. The camera acts as a mediator between the physical world and the virtual game world, allowing interactions in the real environment to influence the virtual game without requiring complex specialized controllers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical controllers with camera-based sensing systems. Instead of using physical controllers to interact with the game, the system uses camera devices to capture and interpret physical environment data, substituting mechanical input methods with optical sensing and image processing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If hand-held gaming devices include camera devices to capture physical scenes, then the device can interact with the real world, but the alterations apply only to a single image and do not incorporate user's alterations in subsequent captured images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the system continuously monitors captured images, detects changes in the physical environment, and updates the virtual game state accordingly. This feedback loop ensures that virtual alterations persist across multiple captured images by comparing new images against the current virtual state and making appropriate adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary actions by pre-processing captured images to identify and track physical objects and features before integrating them into the virtual game context. This preliminary identification and tracking ensures that virtual alterations are consistently applied to the correct real-world objects across multiple images, maintaining stability and coherence.
3Illumination intensity
If video game systems provide photo-realistic graphics on inexpensive hardware, then the visual quality is improved, but the interaction remains limited to the virtual world without influencing physical objects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the virtual game world with the real physical world by overlaying virtual elements onto captured real-world images and allowing physical objects to be detected and integrated into the game context. This combining of virtual and physical realms enables interactions that span both worlds while maintaining high graphical realism through the use of advanced graphics engines.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides a more immersive and interactive experience by allowing devices to react to user actions and physical interactions, creating a dynamic and realistic play environment that integrates multiple devices and locations, enhancing user engagement and realism.
Implementation Method 1
an infrared transmitter configured to transmit coded infrared signals representative of stimuli events to an infrared receiver
Data Source
AI summary
A method, computer-readable medium, and system are disclosed for an interactive storytelling environment. The method comprises identifying a plurality of storytelling devices available to participate in a storytelling experience, at least one of the plurality of the storytelling devices comprising a first beacon device. The method further comprises beginning playback of a first story of the storytelling experience, the first story comprising a first plurality of predetermined actions associated with a predetermined first virtual setting, the first virtual setting mapped to the first beacon device. The method further comprises determining a location of a user using the first beacon device, and during playback of the first story and using at least one of the plurality of storytelling devices, producing one or more of the at least one audiovisual effect corresponding to the first virtual setting based on the determined location of the user.