Method and device for optical gun interaction with a computer system

Abstract

A device and a method for integrating an optical gun with a computer game system and within a computer game scenario are provided. The preferred embodiment includes an optical gun, or gun, with a communications interface, such as a USB interface, with the computer game system. The gun has sensors that sense when (1) a player is grasping a gun handle, or (2) the gun is holstered. The gun simulates a recoil force when a simulated round is fired. A battery is charged between game periods and drawn down during play. A laser beam is emitted from the gun only when the gun is pointed at a game video screen. Green and red LED's on the gun indicate the presence of a friend or foe character or avatar. The gun includes a zoom control that affects the screen representation of the player's view and visibility in the game scenario. The gun may have bi-directional or unidirectional wireless communications with the computer game system, a battery charger and multi-channel radio carrier frequency auto detect. The gun can determine the nature of the game video screen. A video sampling or tapping wire may enable further enhanced features of the gun.

I claim:  
     
         1 . An optical gun for use with a computer game system, the computer game system having a game computer, a video display and a video signal bus coupling the game computer and the video display, the optical gun comprising: 
 a control module, the control module having a processor and a memory; and    a serial interface, the serial interface coupling the control module and the computer game system.    
     
     
         2 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a voltage power line, a ground line, and at least one signal line.  
     
     
         3 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a USB.  
     
     
         4 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a USB compatible communications bus.  
     
     
         5 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a bi-directional communications bus.  
     
     
         6 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a substantially USB compliant bus.  
     
     
         7 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a communications bus selected from the group consisting of a MICROSOFT XBOX game system compatible communications interface, a MICROSOFT XUSB compatible communications interface, a NINTENDO game system compatible communications bus, an IBM computer system standards compatible communications bus, an APPLE COMPUTER computer system standards compatible communications bus, a SONY CORPORATION PLAYSTATION computer system standards compatible communications bus, a NINTENDO CORPORATION GAME CUBE computer system standards compatible communications bus, a SEGA CORPORATION DREAMCAST computer system standards compatible communications bus, and an IEEE technology society standard compatible communications bus.  
     
     
         8 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a hand detect sensor, the hand detect sensor for detecting a proximity of a human hand to the optical gun and informing the processor of the hand detection.  
     
     
         9 . The optical gun of  claim 8 , wherein the hand detect sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motion detector, a light detector and an electro-mechanical switch.  
     
     
         10 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises: 
 a holster, the holster sized to substantially house a barrel of the optical gun; and    a holster sensor, the holster detect sensor for detecting an insertion of the barrel of the optical gun into the holster, and the holster sensor informing the processor of the holster insertion.    
     
     
         11 . The optical gun of  claim 10 , wherein the holster sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motion detector, a light detector and an electro-mechanical switch.  
     
     
         12 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a recoil simulator generator, the recoil simulator generator for delivering a simulated recoil to a game player as directed by the computer game system.  
     
     
         13 . The optical gun of  claim 12 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a battery, the battery for delivering power to the recoil simulator generator.  
     
     
         14 . The optical gun of  claim 13 , wherein the serial interface comprises a power line, the power line for delivering power to the battery.  
     
     
         15 . The optical gun of  claim 14 , the optical gun further comprising: 
 a holster, the holster sized to substantially house a barrel of the optical gun;    a holster sensor, the holster detect sensor for detecting an insertion of the optical gun into the holster, and the holster sensor informing the processor of the holster insertion; and    wherein the battery is charged when the holster sensor informs the processor of an insertion of the barrel into the holster.    
     
     
         16 . The optical gun of  claim 15 , wherein the holster sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motion detector, a light detector and an electro-mechanical switch.  
     
     
         17 . The optical gun of claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a laser pointer, the laser emitting light when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at the video screen.  
     
     
         18 . The optical gun of claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a visual indicator, the visual indicator informing the user when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at a friend character.  
     
     
         19 . The optical gun of claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a visual indicator, the visual indicator informing the user when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at a foe character.  
     
     
         20 . The optical gun of  claim 19 , wherein the visual indicator informs the user when the optical gun determines that the optical gun is pointed at a friend character.  
     
     
         21 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a zoom control, whereby the user directs the computer game system to increase a magnification of the visual display as presented to the user.  
     
     
         22 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface includes a wireless communications link between the optical gun and the computer game system.  
     
     
         23 . The optical gun of  claim 22 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a multiple wireless communications channel auto detect.  
     
     
         24 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface comprises a wireless uni-directional communications link, whereby the optical gun provides data to the computer game system.  
     
     
         25 . The optical gun of  claim 24 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a multiple channel auto detect.  
     
     
         26 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a video sampling cable, the video sampling cable for providing a video frames as sent to the video display to the optical gun.  
     
     
         27 . The optical gun of  claim 22 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a battery and a battery charger, whereby the battery provide power to the optical gun and the battery charger transmits power to the battery.  
     
     
         28 . The optical gun of  claim 27 , the optical gun further comprising: 
 a holster, the holster sized to substantially house a barrel of the optical gun;    a holster sensor, the holster detect sensor for detecting an insertion of the optical gun into the holster, and the holster sensor informing the processor of the holster insertion; and    wherein the battery is charged when the holster sensor informs the processor of an insertion of the barrel into the holster.    
     
     
         29 . The optical gun of  claim 28 , wherein the holster sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motion detector, a light detector and an electro-mechanical switch.  
     
     
         30 . The optical gun of  claim 4 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a battery and a battery charger, whereby the battery provide power to the optical gun and the battery charger transmits power to the battery.  
     
     
         31 . The optical gun of  claim 30 , the optical gun further comprising: 
 a holster, the holster sized to substantially house a barrel of the optical gun;    a holster sensor, the holster detect sensor for detecting an insertion of the optical gun into the holster, and the holster sensor informing the processor of the holster insertion; and    wherein the battery is charged when the holster sensor informs the processor of an insertion of the barrel into the holster.    
     
     
         32 . The optical gun of  claim 31 , wherein the holster sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motion detector, a light detector and an electro-mechanical switch.  
     
     
         33 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial interface further comprises at least a first connector and a second connector, and where the first connector and the second connector are configured to enable a hardware communication connection with a communications bus.  
     
     
         34 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the gun further comprises a peripheral input module, the peripheral input module operatively connected with the optical gun and the peripheral input module for providing a game player a means to transmit information to the optical gun.  
     
     
         35 . The optical gun of  claim 34 , wherein the peripheral input module further comprises an input device selected from the group consisting of a thumbpad, a foot pedal an optical wheel and a mouse.  
     
     
         36 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a laser pointer, the laser emitting light as directed by the computer game system and as the computer game system determines that the optical gun is pointed at the video screen.  
     
     
         37 . The optical gun of  claim 22 , wherein the optical gun further comprises at least two wireless communications channel selections and manual switch to select one of the at least two wireless communications channel selections for use in wireless communications between the optical gun and the computer game system.  
     
     
         38 . The optical gun of  claim 37 , wherein the at least two wireless communications channel selections comprise unidirectional communications channel selections for use in wireless communications from the optical gun and to the computer game system.  
     
     
         39 . The optical gun of  claim 37 , wherein the at least two wireless communications channel selections comprise bi-directional communications channel selections for use in wireless communications between the optical gun and to the computer game system.  
     
     
         40 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial further comprises a cable bundle, the cable bundle having at least two hardware connectors, each hardware connector for connection with a computer game system.  
     
     
         41 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the serial further comprises a cable bundle, the cable bundle having at least two hardware connectors, each hardware connector for connection with a computer game system, and each connector selected from the group consisting of a MICROSOFT XBOX game system compatible communications interface, a MICROSOFT XUSB compatible communications interface, a NINTENDO game system compatible communications bus, an IBM computer system standards compatible communications bus, an APPLE COMPUTER computer system standards compatible communications bus, a SONY CORPORATION PLAYSTATION computer system standards compatible communications bus, a NINTENDO CORPORATION GAME CUBE computer system standards compatible communications bus, a SEGA CORPORATION DREAMCAST computer system standards compatible communications bus, and an IEEE technology society standard compatible communications bus.  
     
     
         42 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , further comprising a zoom control, wherein the zoom control activates a zoom function, whereby the interaction of the game player within a computer game scenario is affected by manual manipulations of the zoom control.  
     
     
         43 . The optical gun of  claim 42 , wherein a screen image of the video display of the computer game system is affected by manual manipulations of the zoom control.  
     
     
         44 . The optical gun of  claim 22 , wherein the optical gun further comprises a battery and a battery charger, the battery for storing electrical power and providing electrical power to the optical gun, and the battery charger for providing electrical power to the battery, and the battery charger is detachably attached to the battery, whereby the optical gun is detachably attached to the battery charger to recharge the battery and detached from the battery charger for use in game play.  
     
     
         45 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the control module is integrated on a single substrate.  
     
     
         46 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the control module is an integrated semiconductor device.  
     
     
         47 . The optical gun of  claim 1 , wherein the control module is a multi-chip module.