WO2000067863A1

WO2000067863A1 - Fishing pole accessory for a computer game

Info

Publication number: WO2000067863A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/012844
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas John Roberts; Alexander Figueiredo
Original assignee: Mad Catz, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-05-11
Filing date: 2000-05-10
Publication date: 2000-11-16
Also published as: AU5001800A

Abstract

A remote accessory for a computer game simulates a fishing pole. The accessory has an elongated flexible member which is reminiscent of a fishing pole, and motorized elements which vibrate the flexible member in order to give the impression that the player has caught a fish. Internal acceleration switches sense 'casting' and 'snaring' performed by the player.

Description

FISHING POLE ACCESSORY FOR A COMPUTER GAME

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to n electronic game input device which simulates a fishing pole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic games are often accessorized with input devices, for example a joystick, which a player uses to control actions in the game. For games whic simulate movement, such as driving or flying, the position of the joystick determines the direction of movement of the player or his or her game piece, By changing the direction of movement the player hopes to maneuver successfully through the game.

A need exists for an input accessory for an electronic game, which input accessory simulates a fishing pole.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an input accessory for an electronic game, which accessory simulates the input and feedback that a person experiences while fishing. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic game input accessory which vibrates and/or has an actual pole which flexes and jerks much like a real fishing pole does when catching fish. These and other objects are achieved by providing a remote fiβhing pole accessory for an electronic game, comprising a portable housing; an elongated flexible member on said housing, said member simulating a fishing pole; jerking means for imposing a jerking motion to said flexible member relative to said housing; and a controller for receiving signals from a remote source and controlling said j erking means to j erk said flexible member.

These and other objects are also achieved by providing a remote fishing pole accessory for an electronic game, comprising a portable housing; an elongated flexible member on said housing, said member simulating a fishing pole; jerking means for imposing a jerking motion to said flexible member relative to said housing; a controller for receiving signals from a remote source and controlling said jerking means to jerk said flexible member; and a transmission line operatively connected to said controller for carrying signals between the remote source and said accessory.

According to one embodiment, the present invention is an accessory which includes a hand-held housing that can be held with one hand. A fishing reel handle can be operated by the player's other hand. The housing includes a simulated fishing pole that flexes automatically when appropriate signals are received from a remote game device or generated internally to the accessory. Acceleration switches are also provided to sense the direction and strength of jerking motions that the player may initiate while playing a software game,

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the detailed description and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the description and examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are not intended to limit the breadth of the invention since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given below, together with the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 shows a top view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a right side view of the embodiment of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a schematic of certain components used with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following description of the preferred embodiments refers to an accessory for a computer game, but it should be understood that the accessory can be any remote input apparatus connected through wired or wireless connection(s) to an electronic device, such as a computer game. The computer games contemplated by the present invention include games played on personal computers, or electronic games played on televisions or other monitors through dedicated game systems such as Nintendo64 or Sony PlayStation.

Figures 1 and2 show different views of a computer game accessory according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Accessory 10 is a hand-held input apparatus simulating the handle portion of a fishing pole. It has, as input devices, a main trigger 12, a right side trigger 14, a left side trigger (not shown) which is essentially a mirror-image of the right side trigger 14, a hat switch 15 and first and second input buttons 17, 18. On the right side of the accessory 10 is a simulated reel handle 16 which can be rotated manually much like a real fishing reel. The reel handle 16 can alternatively be placed on the left side of the accessory for left-handed players. As shown in the figures, the left side of the accessory 10 has a second hat switch 19 which, like the hat switch 15, is moved manually in four directions like a joystick in order to change the input signals being supplied to the game.

Each of the input switches on the accessory 10 are operatively connected to a controller 50 on internal printed circuit board 60 which generates control signals based upon which of the switches is activated by the player of the computer game. The signals that are generated are consistent with the format and scale necessary to communicate with the remote game system. For example, when the accessory 10 is a remote accessory for use with a device such as Nintendo64 or Sony PlayStation or a personal computer, communication line 13 must carry signals that conform to their format. Similarly, the switches and triggers on the accessory must initiate whatever signals that the remote game will need in order to play the software game. Communication line 13 is shown on the proximal end of the accessory and preferably carries signals bidirectionally, and optionally supplies power to/from the accessory 10, Line 13 can alternatively be a wireless communication path and/or separated into more than one line. Power to the accessory's electronic components can also be supplied by a battery or a standard power cord connected to a wall outlet. The accessory 10 includes a main handle 20 hich is held by the player during the game.

The input devices on the body portion 22 of the accessory 10 are positioned on and around the main handle 20 so that they are accessible by the player's fingers. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to any particular size, arrHngement or type of switches or input devices. On the underside of the accessory 10 is a port 22 into which can be inserted a memory card.

Such cards are known in the art and can be used to store information about a particular game being played, for example the player's score, The port can be modified to accept more than one memory card at a time, The port can also be configured to receive and deliver signals to a rumble pack, which is a component known to those skilled in the an.

The accessory 10 also includes a display and/or audio device 24 which may be placed on the top surface of the accessory. As the game is played, the controller can inform the player of game situations by changing the visual and or audible indications on device 24.

Fixedly attached to a distal end of the accessory 10 is a simulated fishing pole 30. The pole includes an elongated flexible but resilient member 32, such as a long strip, pole or rod of plastic, wood, or metal. The member is preferably a few inches to a foot long, but it can be any length and can be of any flexible material. It can be solid, hollow, or it can have an outer shell surrounding a different material inside. It can be tapered, s shown in Figures I and 2, or not. It can have any cross section, such as a circular cross section, and can be adorned to be aesthetically pleasing. Because it extends from the main portion of the accessory 10, it can be made retractable like a telescoping multi-piece antenna, or detachable through clips, screws, a simple tongue-and-groove arrangement generally transverse to the length of the member 32, etc. At the end of the flexible member 32 is a hook 34 or some other means which connects member 32 to a semi-rigid pull cord 36. Pull cord 36 is preferably made up of two similar plastic pieces linked together at a connection point 38, but it can be a single piece of any suitable material, regardless whether semi-rigid or not. The cord extends from the hook 34 into the body portion of the accessory 10 where it is connected to a gear train 40. Preferably the pull cord enters the body portion near, but not at, the location where the flex ble member extends from the body in order to flex the flexible member downward, upward, or sideways.

Gear train 40 preferably includes at least one motorized rotating gear 41 which is driven by command signals from the controller 50. The gear train can be attached to the printed circuit board 60 in order to facilitate manufacture of the accessory 10 or it can be secured against an inside wall. The gear train is designed to pull on the pull cord 36 to that the far end of flexible member 32 flexes like a real fishing pole. Gear 41 has a perimeter attached to an end of the pull cord 36, and is driven by preliminary gears 42, 3. The gear 42 has two geared surfaces, an inner surface having a smaller diameter and an outer surface having a larger diameter. The inner surface drives the geared outer surface of gear 41. Like gear 42, the earlier gear 43 also has inner and outer geared surfaces, the outer one of which contacts the inner geared surface of gear 42. The outer surface of gear 43 is, in turn, driven by a motor (not shown).

Gear 41 need not rotate in complete revolutions when pulling on the cord 36, and instead can be driven back-and- forth in order to produce a series of short pulls. The driving element can be a small motor for gear 43, with the gears 42, 41 stepping-down the speed of rotation by having the larger outer and smaller inner geared surfaces. In the illustrated embodiment, gear 41 has a larger outer diameter than gears 42 and 43. Because of the proximity between the base 32a of member 32 and the entrance 36a foτ pull cord 36 into the housing of accessory 10, the pull cord 36 need only be pulled on the order of a centimeter or so to bring about a satisfactory flex in member 32. The stepping-down of the motor's speed means an increase in force on the pull cord, and that the motor rotates many times to drive the gear 41 about a quarter-turn or so.

When game situations call for an appropriate tactile (or visual) sensation to be given to the player, controller 50 issues one or more instructions to the gear train 40. Gear train 40 then operates to pull on the pull cord 36, which in turn pulls on the flexible member 32 and gives the player a shaking sensation, or at least a visual sensation that the fishing pole is flexing, When Used with a software game that simulates fishing, the shaking sensation can simulate catching a fish- Also, when the player uses the reel handle 16, the controller can intermittently activate the rotatable gear train 40 in order to simulate the fish fighting against being caught, In typical software games, the remote game device suppli es an accessory with rumble commands which trigger a vibration component such as a rumble pack inside the accessory to activate. These same commands can be used to activate the gear train 40. Alternatively, the controller 50 make its own decision whether to activate the gear train.

The gear train 40 of the present invention can be implemented in various ways. One way is to use the rotatable motorized gear to pull on the cord 36, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that any pulling device can be used. For example, a linear actuator or voice coil motor can substitute for, or supplement, the rotating gear. A motor and cam arrangement can also pull on th« pull cord 36, aβ can a motorized pulley. As shown generically in Figure 3, when using a rotating device the axis of rotation should be non-parallel with the cord 36, and the connection point between the device and the cord 36 should be off-axis so that the cord is pulled in a manner that gives a back-and- orth movement. This gives the flexible member 32 a wobbling and bowing movement

Other embodiments contemplate an internal rumble pack 52 which can, but need not operate simultaneously with the gear train 40. The rumble pack would give added shaking motion to the accessory 10. The versatility and permutations that the present invention offers will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing this description.

Internal to the accessory 10 are one or more gravity or acceleration switches. Such switches are known, per se, and generate signals whenever they are subjected to a directional force of a predetermined strength. The switches supply controller 50 with an indication that the player is moving the accessory 10 in a given direction, such as upward. The switches can also give control er 50 a sense of how strong the acceleration forces are, When used with software games that simulate fishing, such switches can tell the controller when the player is trying to snare the virtual hook in a fish's mouth by jerking the accessory 10. It is preferred to have a plurality of acceleration switches so that more than one direction of movement of the accessory can be sensed by the controller SO. The present invention can be illustrated by describing an embodiment specifically designed for use with Nintendo64 game systems. In such embodiment, the accessory 10 replaces the known "A" and "Z" buttons with internal acceleration switches. All other switch inputs that Nintendo64 expects are delegated among the finger switches that lie on the outside of the accessory 10 as described above, so that the accessory 10 can be used as a normal game controller. The "L" button has also been removed from external access and is actuated by turning the reel handle 1 .

The reel handle 16 is connected to an encoder or other sensing device which transmits signals to the controller 50 as the reel handle 16 is rotated by the player. Preferably, an optical transistor pair (Figure 3) interacts with a wheel having one or more extensions 102. The wheel is concentrically mounted on the shaft of the reel handle, inside the body of the accessory 10. The pair includes an LED 101a and an optical sensor 101b, When the extension 102 passes between the elements of the transistor pair, a transition signal is generated. These transition signals are sensed by the controller 50 and indicate how far the reel has been rotated. In the illustrative embodiment, the signals are used as the "L" button signal of a Nintendo64 controller. In order for the software game to gather the "L" button signal from the accessory 10, the game can be programmed to poll the accessory 10 at periodic intervals in order to see whether another transition signal has been generated, i.e., in order to see how fast the player is rotating the reel handle. The transition signals can translate into the amount of fishing line that has been reeled in by the player.

As an example, if two light blocking regions 102 and two light transmitting regions exist on the wheel, then four transitions are encountered for every complete rotation of the reel handle 16. The frequency of the transitions reflects the reel handle's speed of rotation. The game software can be designed to poll the controller 50 at intervals appropriate for the number of transition that occur so that none of the player's physical effort goes unnoticed by the game. If one assumes that the reel handle 16 can be rotated at a maximum speed of five complete rotations per second, then the four transitions encountered per rotation in the illustrative embodiment translates into a maximum frequency of twenty transitions per second. The game can thus be programmed to poll controller 50 twenty times per second or faster in order to detect another "L" button signal (if any) and thereby learn how fast the reel handle is being rotated without missing any transitions. The frequency with which a particular game should poll the controller 50 will vary from game to game, but the goal should be to avoid losing any "L" button transitions. The acceleration switches are also used in the present invention to determine how far the player "casts" fishing line, Casting is accomplished by first setting a cast strength level. The display 24 and any of the input switches can be used to select a cast strength. Strength can be set up statically using one of the hat switches. The player then initiates a cast by giving forward motion to the accessory 10, much like a real fishing pole. The internal acceleration switches then produce a signal having a value commensurate with the amount of acceleration experienced during the cast.

The signal(s) are received by controller 50 which then generates a control signal based upon the cast strength level, and either processes the control signal internally in order to generate signals for flexing member 32 and or producing visual, audible, or rumble-sensations to theplayer, or transmits the control signal to the remote game. Cast strength level is an optional feature, and is useful for allowing both stronger and weaker people to use the accessory. In a preferred embodiment, the cast signal is transmitted from the accessory as the "A" signal for a Nintendo64 game,

The acceleration switches are preferably also used when "setting" the hook in a fish's mouth. When the playerjerka the accessoiy 10, the acceleration switches sensitive to the direction of the jerk provide the controller with an indication of when and how strong the jerk was. Controller 50 produces a signal which is transmitted to the remote game as the "Z" signal in the Nintendo64 embodiment.

The artisan will recognise that the accessory is not limited to Nintendo64 or Sony PlayStation game systems, and instead can be adapted for use with other game systems. The accessary's switches simply need to be configured to produce whatever signal types those game systems expect to receive from their remote controller.

The invention having been thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways, not only in construction but also in application. For example, more than one pull cord and gear train can be connected to the flexible member. The optical extensions 102 and the spaces between them can be any light passing and light blocking components. The flexible member can be integrated with the housing of the accessory, or it can be a separate piece connected by glue, screws, etc. The flexible member can be integrated with a jerking mechanism, such as by using piezoelectric vibrating components to constitute the pole, Some of the features of the present invention, such as the flexing member 32 and its drive system, can be used with stand-alone self- contained computer games rather than accessories for remote games, Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, but rather as modifications intended to be encompassed within the scope αf the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is: 1 A remote fishing pole accessory for an electronic game, comprising: a portable housing; an elongated flexible member on said housing, said member simulating a fishing pole; jerking means for imposing a jerking motion to said flexible member relative to said housing; and a controller for receiving signals from a remote source and controlling said jerking means to jerk said flexible member.

2. The remote accessory of claim 1 , further comprising; at least one acceleration switch operatively connected to said controller and sensitive o movement of said accessory. wherein said controller generates signals based upon the player's movement of said accessory.

3 , The remote accessory of claim 1 , wherein said jerking means include: a pull cord connected to said flexible member; and a rotating member connected to said pull cord and operatively connected to said controller, for pulling on said pull cord.

4. The remote accessory of claim 3 , wherein said rotating member includes a motor and at least one cam, said cam being connected lo an end of said pull card.

5. The remote accessory of claim 1 , further comprising a rumble pack operatively connected to said controller for generating tactile sensations in said accessory.

6. A remote fishing pole accessory for an electronic game, comprising: a portable housing; an elongated flexible member on said housing, said member simulating a fishing pole; jerking means for imposing a jerking motion to said flexible member relative to said housing; a controller for receiving signals from a remote source and controlling said jerking means to jerk said flexible member; and a transmission line operatively connected to said controller for carrying signals between the remote source and said accessory.

7. The remote accessory of claim 6, wherein the signals are configured for a format used by Nintendo 64 game systemβ.