Three-Dimentional Image Generation Patent

[Migraine]

This one seems a bit interesting...

 

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20050237323&OS=20050237323&RS=20050237323

 

It's being discussed over at Gamespot over here:

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=24363887&page=0

 

It describes (in rediculously complex language, as usual with these patents) a specific method of generating three-dimentional images or a three-dimentional environment.

 

It doesn't seem to talk about magic 3d objects floating in space, visors or projectors... but it seems to suggest that the image on the screen responds to the position from which it is viewed, which sounds pretty nifty.

 

I don't see how this could be done without some kind of head-tracking device (attached to a pair of headphones and mic, maybe?), or maybe it can be, i dunno. I just really like the idea of the contents of my TV acting like a real 3D space, can you imagine it? leaning to your left slightly in order to peak round corners and that kinda thing? A bit like a traditional hologram, but with next-gen graphics. It would add an amzing sense of immersion to a game and would also be an impressive visual trick which would make the innocent bystander say 'Wow!'.

 

Funny, this would go really well with the controller, as it follows a pattern... A lot of people have commented on the fact that people move a traditional controller around while playing a game. Turning it from side to side, for example, while playing a racing game. The Revo controller takes this action and impliments it into the gameplay. But am I the only one who has found myself ducking down really low and looking up at the screen in order to desperately try and shoot at a steeper angle (only to wonder what the hell you're doing a few moments later)? Well, maybe nintendo have implimented this into their console as well... It seems a logical step towards making their entertainment more immersive by implimenting even more of the player's natural reactions.

 

Ive possibly gone overboard, here... but it's a nice thought nevertheless, and gives us a breather from the other, seemingly less plausable, possibilities regarding the revolution's display methods.

[Hellfire]

I'm sick of discussion patents. They're totally inconclusive, because companies patent technologies all the time when they're researching something. The patent was filed October 27, 2005, I doubt that Nintendo would patent such an important Revolution feature this late.

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

Check on the ducking, and trying to look around corners. Occasionally trying to avoid incoming fire has also occured hehe.

[ndreamer]

i didn't read it all but from what i read it seemed like it is ment to be a beater way of controling a camera, like in a 3rd person game. but im probley wrong.

[MunKy]

I used to move my NES pad to try and make Mario jump further

This would be kool if its true, people are always trying to physically(sp) look round corners in FPS'.

[Gabrian]

Sounds quite nice, Nintendo will explain it at the E3 and it will be awesome, I think.

[The Peeps]

It always shows how immersed you are in a game if you try to look round corners and duck with your character I do it all the time. Nintendo have already tried to make use of this instinct reaction with tilt sensors in Gameboy Games...

I agree with Hellfire about this though, Nintendo wouldn't have waited that long to fill out a patent if it was about 3D holograms or projections or whatever, it's probably just a way for the camera to be less annoying when playing platformers (In Mario64 it's always going behind walls or generally facing the wrong way).

[Domo Kun]

I don't really get this, so I could be wildly wrong, but 3D glasses maybe? That could work...

[Nintendork]

I used to move my NES pad to try and make Mario jump further

This would be kool if its true, people are always trying to physically(sp) look round corners in FPS'.

 

That was Miyamoto's inspiration for the Revolution controller.

Basically patents are great but at the end of the day.. Hellfire is right I bet 60% of the ideas companies like Microsoft, Apple and Nintendo file never get used..

 

I might eat my hat at a later date but I pretty much ruled out projection technology in Revolution.. I could be wrong though. We could be here hours debating Nintendo philosophy, Economic experience.. Marketting strategies.

 

But my time can be used better elsewhere.

 

If no other news comes through today I'll read it tonight.

[DCK]

I think it's quite simple - it seems to be patenting the way the Revolution controller senses it position and the game's viewpoint can be adjusted by moving the revmote.

[Kurtle Squad]

I think it's quite simple - it seems to be patenting the way the Revolution controller senses it position and the game's viewpoint can be adjusted by moving the revmote.

 

yeah...that's what I thought...

[Patch]

It seems to be describing the problem encountered in all current third-person 3D games - that of when an object is between the player's character and the camera viewpoint, therefore hiding the character from view. It describes various solutions:

 

1. Moving the camera viewpoint while staying at the same distance from the character.

2. Moving the camera viewpoint closer to the player until it is in front of the object.

3. Moving the camera viewpoint inside the object.

 

It then goes on for far too long about how a game can detect this happening and then (and this is the real purpose of the patent I think) how a game can detect varying degrees of hiding.

 

Anyway, right at the end it says this:

 

[0105] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a description is given as to the game system to which the video game apparatus and the monitor are separately provided. It is needless to say that the present invention is also applicable to hand-held game apparatuses to which a monitor and a game apparatus are integrally provided, mobile phones with game capabilities, and computers such as PDAs and lap-top PCs.

 

Which is pretty much saying the patent can be applied to any videogaming apparatus that has an input method and a display method. So nothing Revolution-specific I'm afraid.

[YenRug]

Unless this is a recent update, then this has already been discussed months ago.

[BigTac]

http://www.depthq.com/

 

Lightspeed design does presentations for lots of companies including Nintendo. This might not mean anything but I found it interesting.

 

Look on the right site of the page:

Lightspeed Design has been a leader in stereo 3D for over a decade, developing new hardware and software technologies and presenting 3D to millions through museum theaters, corporate events, and a world exposition.

 

Lightspeed has considerable expertise in 3D projection, software development, and electronics. Clients include Mercedes, U.S. Army, Continental Teves, Procter & Gamble, Nintendo, IMAX Corporation, and Disney Imagineering.

 

Under sales and marketing:

InFocus™DepthQ™ gives salespeople a unique and versatile 3D presentation option that’s powerful, portable, and packs a punch. Marketing professionals will be delighted with the “WOW†factor. The InFocus™DepthQ™ 3D projector also supports standard 2D applications for video and PowerPoint.

 

Now of course if nintendo used their tech in the Revolution it would be customized for the Revolution.

[Stabby]

I'm actually convinced the Rev will make use of a 3D visual medium. There are too many hints:

 

- "touching is good but feeling is better": what has the controller got to do with that? With objects coming at you, you can reach out and interact within a 3D environment.

 

- Miyamoto wants games to fill a whole room but he didn't want to say more about that: Miyamoto usually gets what he wants (he convinced Yamauchi to use expensive cartridges for the N64)

 

- Brooke Burgess' comments: a game machine beating IMAX to introducing 3D to the mainstream market, a 3D periphal for gamecube being shown behind closed doors at E3 2004 (though that could have been the controller). I don't know where he got the last comment from, but he heard the first from one of Brooke Burgess' assistants. Now if anyone is in a position to catch all the latest rumours in the entertainment industry, it would be Rodriguez.

 

- Nintendo using the big room in the Kodak Theatre, the same room where the oscars are hold:

 

 

Nintendo claims they moved because there wasn't enough room in the Ball Room (of previous years), but why move to a room in which 5000 people fit, instead of a slightly bigger room? The big room happens to be one of the few theatres with 3D technology, which is perfect to showcase a 3D visual medium.

 

- no games shown yet: Nintendo might wait until the full revealing of the Revolution and not to disappoint with the graphics. When asking Nintendo why no games will be shown until E3, they said people will have to try the games in order to understand them. What's there not to understand about the controller?

 

- Nintendo has experimented with VR/3D before with the Virtual Boy. Technology has advanced much further now. The technology is available, ready for mass production and consumer affordable.

 

- No HD: maybe to compensate for something else?

 

- It would fit perfectly with the controller: it would be cool to aim in fps but wouldn't it be more exciting if bullets are flying right at you?

 

- Iwata: when you start up the Revolution, you will say wow. He said that right after discussing the inferior graphics, but I don't think he was talking about the graphics in that sentence.

 

- DVD support: Nintendo usually adapts their own technology, but not this time. Maybe Nintendo will become a supporter of 3D movies?

 

- Zelda delay: why would Nintendo delay Zelda to the Revolution launch? Obviously including Rev controls isn't that much work. Maybe they want to showcase something big? Surely the controller isn't big enough to delay Zelda even more? I guess Nintendo needs a big franchise to showcase 3D technology, so they launch the game (for gamecube) together with the Revolution.

[Kav]

I still don't believe it there's any truth in this.

[phez_boy]

hmmm so many possibilities... but at the same time i dont wanna get my hope up and be shattered. the only thing i cant get past is the other feature, and how they say it is gunna b so super awesome to the max, but the controller was pretty darn good... i cant see how they would top it

[DCK]

Stabby, you just want it too much. All those comments that, if you bend them enough, vaguely hint to a different display system are really all destroyed by the comments like 'Rev games will look beautiful on any TV', 'I've tested the Rev to work on every TV' and the picture of the Revolution in front of a normal LCD TV.

[Nintendork]

Nintendo floor vision all over again..

 

The arguments put forward are a slippery slope of assumptions jumping from one small possibility to a smaller one.. then another.

 

if they filed a patent it could be in the Revolution.. and because they've not shown games this might be the secret. Because they rented out a big theatre it might be to project big things like holograms and stuff and this could be because of that and then that might be.

 

See what I mean? it's a downward spiral of Big Ifs.

 

I think DCK put hit the pin on the head there really.. You want it to an extent where it has clouded your ability to see.

[mario114]

If we can't decide on what it is, just think how easily other companies will get around it, and copy what ever it is...

[DCK]

If we can't decide on what it is, just think how easily other companies will get around it, and copy what ever it is...

Yeah, $ony must not ghet thiz!111!

 

Letz quicly remove teh thread be4 $ony haxxorz it?!?

 

Seriously though, this isn't a major patent.