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Sony Files Patent On "Any-Object" Motion Control
Oracle Goddess writes "Sony filed a patent for a system where a camera can dynamically map any real world object for use in a video game. The patent states that the objects 'include items such as coffee mugs, drinking glasses, books, bottles, etc.' While these are given as examples, the object mapping system is not limited to those objects; it can identify any three dimensional object. The system looks similar to Microsoft's Project Natal, but instead of driving with an imaginary steering wheel, players can use an everyday item like a plate. Although this may seem a bit silly at first, the eventual uses for such a system could be wide-ranging and lead to novel and useful controllers for all sorts of systems and applications."
"Prior Art"?
kulakovich
So what proc will they use for this? There current choice is highly suspect (imo)...
'cause they sure won't make much selling special controllers anymore.
As with all inventions, this will lead to ungodly adult game uses.
stuff |
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Namaste
Other "common" objects that would be just asking to be used in a game: - Swords, knives - Batons, staves, nunchucks - Guns, rifles - insert lethal weapon of your choice here) I mean, you're playing an FPS or an RPG and you can use any item as a controller? Who can resist going overboard with realism!
can take the stains out of patent law that allows things like this. What if a user wants to use a wiimote as their motion device of choice with Sony's system? At that point does it fall under Sony's blanket patent? This is like carpet bombing - no specific target, just try and cover as much ground as you can.
Sony also showed off some video motion recognition stuff, only they used tagged controllers the video could recognize from the markings. Rather than being "just like natal" it sounds like what they showed.
It seems like you have to have some kind of object to interact with to make a game interesting, otherwise simple body movements alone are too limiting and clumsy. Even just using a lightsaber, you have to have some way to turn it on and off - you didn't see obi-wan using voice controls or resorting to the Clapper.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
FTS:
[I]nstead of driving with an imaginary steering wheel, players can use an everyday item like a plate.
What about the plastic steering wheel that came with Mario Kart Wii? Would that work?
I can see a surge in flight simulator popularity. Not only do you have a built-in joystick you can also jack off using the same hand!
But this is SONY!!! Where is the unmitigated HATE in the summary?
I mean, I WANT to buy lots of shaped plastic and form for absurd $$$ from Nintendo. Doesn't everyone?
And besides, everyone knows that MS are the only ones to Innovate in the whole computer business. I mean, if it weren't for them we'd all be using abacuses ... without even the helpful advice of Clippy!
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
The first thing I though of was the Chapelle show "Trading Spouses" skit where the guy finds the woman's dildo and is waving it around like a light saber.
"I don't have to think. I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news." - Meat Puppets
you can download camspace and use your webcam to track objects and control games right now:
http://www.camspace.com/
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Tried to find it here http://patft.uspto.gov/, but couldn't locate it. Anyone got the patent number?
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Was anybody else's first thought......using your own penis as a joystick?
No? I must have something wrong with me.....
Either make the lightsaber automatically activate when opponents are nearby, or just leave it active all the time...
That doesn't sound like much of a game to me - much of the fun is turning the thing on and off! In fact I have to say, that I'd prefer a game where you simply turn lightsabers on and off to some Star Wars games we've had over the years...
A Star Wars game does seem the most likely candidate for a good adaptation for full-body controls, though frankly I doubt the general populace is going to be doing flips much.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm pretty sure I've seen this demoed, might even have come in a demo with a Logitech camera I got several years ago.
You can hold "everyday item's like a plate" with Natal too. The difference is that you don't have to for it to work.
This is yet another patent where they haven't actually gotten the specified technology to work as described; they just patent it ahead of time so when somebody else gets it to work they can sue them. The USPTO needs to bring back the requirement for a working prototype.
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There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
If theres anything in this patent that isn't described in detail in this book:
http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vgg/hzbook/
and/or implemented in this library:
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/cgi-pub/oleykin/website/OpenCVHelp/
i'll be pretty damn surprised.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
Scooby doo went there years ago. could an animation count as prior art?
Gender is a linguistic term; a grammatical category for words. The term that covers male and female members of a species is "sex".
Actually, as someone who generally favors description over prescription in language, the above claim might seem a trifle hypocritical, but the fact is, I simply like saying "words have gender, people have sex". :)
Furthermore, the use of the namby-pamby term "gender" in cases where "sex" works just fine--merely because some clueless people might feel it's risque or something--is the kind of politically correct garbage that makes me want to kick some...ass. Not bottom, not hiney, not rear, not posterior--ass.
The way the patent system works, all they have to do is add one little phrase to all this "per existing tech" and make it innovative. In this case, blah blah blah (the stuff you mentioned) followed by "to control an object or avatar within a virtual world".
Bam! USPTO considers it innovative cuz no one else has done all the blah blah blah "to control an object or avatar within a virtual world".
I've seen surface videos where everyday objects were recognized, not to mention someone else pointed out OpenCV. Seems like Sony has been blindfolded for this kind of stuff.
-]Phreak Out[-
Wow Wing Commander just become so much fun. I can't wait.
Remember the fake Nintendo ON video? Even that featured mapping real objects into the game world.