Touchscreen Control Buffering for Instant Directional Response

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing touchscreen gaming controls face limitations in emulating physical game controllers, particularly due to the presence of a 'dead zone' that requires users to traverse the entire screen for opposite directions, leading to control latency and reduced responsiveness.

Innovation Solution

A touch-based control system that processes touch inputs at various locations, stores movement data in a buffer, and updates commands based on touch input changes, including a directional threshold to clear the buffer and initiate new commands, allowing for quick directional changes without needing to traverse a virtual dead zone.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If virtual control elements emulate physical game controllers on touchscreen, then touchscreen gaming control is enabled, but control latency increases and responsiveness decreases due to dead zone traversal requirement

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetouchscreen gaming controlVSAvoidcontrol latency

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and eliminates the dead zone concept from touchscreen control by implementing direct coordinate mapping where touch positions are immediately translated to character movement commands without requiring traversal through a neutral zone, thus removing the source of control latency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system pre-establishes a direct mapping relationship between touchscreen coordinates and character movement directions, so that when a user touches the screen, the corresponding movement command is immediately executed without needing to traverse through a dead zone first

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of operation

If virtual control elements require traversing the entire screen for opposite directions, then directional control is achieved, but control responsiveness decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedirectional controlVSAvoidcontrol responsiveness

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-defines the relationship between touchscreen positions and movement directions, allowing instant directional response when the user touches the screen, eliminating the need to traverse through intermediate positions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the mechanical dead zone traversal system with a direct digital coordinate-to-direction mapping system, where touch coordinates are immediately converted to movement commands without mechanical intermediate steps

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS10078410B1System to locomote an entity in three dimensional space

Publication Date: 2018.09.18 ELECTRONIC ARTS INC

AI summary

The disclosure includes embodiments directed to a system for controlling the operation of the character that can recognize and process touch inputs at any location on the touchscreen. The system can track the movement of a touch input and generate a game command, such as movement of a character, based on the received touch input. The game command can be stored in a movement buffer. If the position of the touch input changes, the system can update the game command based on the movement of the touch input. If the movement of the touch input exceeds a directional threshold, the system can clear the movement buffer and initiate a new game command based on the touch input. This allows for new game commands to correspond to quick changes in direction provided by the user.