JP3310376B2 - Input device using laser and control method of input device using laser - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device using a laser used in a game machine and a control method for an input device using a laser.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Laser irradiating means for irradiating a laser beam by a trigger operation toward a screen on which an image is projected, photographing means for photographing the screen, and a laser beam on the screen from a video signal photographed by the photographing means. Position detecting means for detecting the irradiation position of the beam,
Input devices using a laser adapted to obtain an input signal from the position detecting means are known. An input device of this type is a shooting device in which a predetermined target appears on a screen or a device that provides a computer with numerical data of XY coordinates, such as a digitizer, using a large display so that a plurality of humans can recognize it. Amusement devices are known in which an image is projected and the player shoots the image using a laser beam gun. In these input devices, even if a relatively weak laser beam is used, there is a risk that visual impairment may occur if the laser beam hits a human eye for a certain period of time due to erroneous operation or the like.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-262597 discloses a safety device for a laser gun game machine. This safety device emits infrared light from the bottom of the gun,
The direction of the gun, that is, the direction of the laser emitted from the muzzle, is specified based on whether or not a sensor provided on the housing detects the infrared ray. If the sensor detects the infrared ray, the safety device determines that the gun is directed to the screen, and keeps the laser irradiation on. However, if the sensor has not detected the infrared ray, it is determined that the direction of the gun is directed to something other than the screen, and the laser irradiation is kept off.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional safety device, there is a problem in setting a positional relationship between the gun and the housing for receiving infrared rays. That is, if the positional relationship between the gun and the housing is set gently, there is a possibility that the laser beam may be kept on even if the laser beam is applied to a part other than the screen, and a problem remains on safety. In addition, if the positional relationship between the gun and the housing is strictly defined, there will be no safety problems, but since the position of the gun is limited to one place, the player will not be able to play the game every time he is passionate about the game and moves. There is a risk of killing. Further, since a sensing medium called infrared ray is separately provided, there is a problem that the mechanism becomes complicated and the cost increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, can secure the security against laser beam irradiation, increases the degree of freedom of the laser beam irradiation position, and has a simple structure and uses an inexpensive laser. And a method for controlling an input device using a laser.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a laser irradiating means capable of irradiating a laser beam by a trigger operation, a control unit for controlling the operation of the laser irradiating means, and a photographing of a screen. An input device using a laser having a photographing means for performing the operation, and a position detecting means for detecting an irradiation position of the laser beam in the screen from a video signal photographed by the photographing means. When is irradiated,
It is determined whether or not the laser beam is being irradiated on the screen from the presence or absence of the position detection signal from the position detection means.When there is no laser beam position detection signal, the laser beam irradiation by the trigger operation is disabled. After that, the laser beam is switched so as to automatically irradiate the laser beam for a predetermined time at a time interval, and when the position detection signal of the automatically irradiated laser beam is detected by the position detecting means, the automatic irradiation is stopped. It is characterized in that control for switching the laser beam irradiation enabled by the trigger operation is performed again.

The present invention is effective when the predetermined time of the laser beam to be automatically irradiated is a time for ensuring safety even when the laser beam is irradiated to human eyes.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling an input device using a laser having laser irradiation means capable of irradiating a laser beam by a trigger operation. When the beam is not in the screen, the laser beam irradiation by the trigger operation is disabled, and thereafter, the laser beam is switched to automatically irradiate the laser beam for a predetermined time at a time interval. When the laser beam is within the screen, the automatic irradiation is stopped and the laser beam can be again irradiated by the trigger operation.

[0009]

According to the above construction, it is determined whether or not the laser beam is being irradiated on the screen, and if there is no laser beam position detection signal, the laser irradiation means is switched to disable the laser irradiation by the trigger. Safety can be ensured using existing equipment. In addition, when laser irradiation by the trigger is impossible, the laser irradiation means automatically irradiates a short-time irradiation laser beam that can ensure safety even if it is illuminated by the laser irradiation means, and the beam point of the laser beam on the screen is detected Then, the laser irradiating means is switched so as to enable the laser irradiation by the trigger, so that the returning operation can be simplified.

[0010]

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a shooting game device as an example of an input device using a laser according to the present invention. First, the shooting game device will be described.

The shooting game apparatus of the present embodiment has a stand 1
2, a game device main body 20 including a TV projector for projecting a shooting video image in which a predetermined target appears at the screen 10, and a laser directed toward the screen 10 by a trigger operation of the player 100. And a laser gun 14 as a laser irradiation unit that emits the beam 200. The player 100 is configured to aim at targets that appear one after another on the screen 10 and emit a laser beam to enjoy a shooting game.

At this time, the apparatus according to the present embodiment employs the beam point P (X,
Y) The coordinates are detected, the (X, Y) coordinates of the detected beam point P are collated with the display position of the target, and the target of the laser beam 200 is determined. And
When the laser beam hits, the target image to be shot is displayed on the screen 10, and when the laser beam 200 comes off, the shot image of the laser beam is simply displayed.

In this embodiment, the laser gun 1 is used.
Reference numeral 4 is connected to the game apparatus main body 20 by a cord 21 and configured to transmit and receive power for laser generation and various signals to and from the game apparatus main body 20.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the shooting game apparatus according to the present embodiment. The shooting game apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a game operation circuit 22, a ROM 24 storing a predetermined game program, an image synthesis circuit 26, and a TV projector for projecting a predetermined shooting video image on the screen 10. 28.

The game operation circuit 22 performs an operation for synthesizing a predetermined game screen based on a game program stored in the ROM 24 and a signal input from a hit discrimination circuit 46 to be described later. In the present embodiment, it is also configured as a control unit that controls the laser gun 14 while outputting it to the combining circuit 26. The image synthesizing circuit 26 synthesizes a shooting video image in which a predetermined target appears according to the operation signal, and converts this into a TV image.
The image is projected on the screen 10 via the projector 28.

As shown in FIG. 1, the player 100 aims the laser gun 14 at a predetermined target and fires the laser beam 200 while watching the video image projected on the screen 10. Thereby, the beam point P of the laser beam 200 is projected on the screen 10.
In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the upper left corner of the screen 10 is defined as the origin (0, 0), the horizontal direction is defined as the X axis, the contraction direction is defined as the Y axis, and the landing position of this beam point P is defined as (X, Y) coordinates. It is designed to detect.

That is, in order to detect the beam point P of the laser beam 200, the shooting game apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to shoot the screen 10 using the video camera 30. Here, the shooting range of the video camera 30 is set to substantially match the video image projection range of the TV projector 28. Also,
The video camera 30 of the present embodiment is provided with a filter 32 and an aperture 34. The filter 32 is formed so as to selectively pass the laser beam 200 and light in a band near the laser beam 200. Thereby, the video camera 30
Can remove all the noise contained in the video image and the like via the filter 32 and selectively photograph only the beam point P. Further, the diaphragm 34 is provided with a filter 3
The light input through the light source 2 is narrowed down, a noise portion having a small power is cut off, and the beam point P is further narrowed down to an appropriate size to be input to the video camera 30.

FIG. 3 shows a timing chart of the video signal 300 output from the video camera 30 and the video signal 310 and the like output after waveform shaping by the waveform shaping circuit 36. As shown in FIG.
The video signal 300 output from the
When the beam point P is projected on the screen 10, the beam point signal P is included. The waveform shaping circuit 36 shapes the pulse waveform of the video signal 300 and outputs it to the counter circuit 38.

The counter circuit 38 receives the high frequency clock pulse 3 shown in FIG.
20 is input. Each time the vertical synchronizing signals B1, B2, B3,... Are output from the waveform shaping circuit 36, the counter circuit 38 clears the count value at its rising edge. Then, the counter circuit 38 outputs each vertical synchronization signal B
The counting of the pulse signal 320 is started at the fall of 1 and stopped when the beam point P included in the video signal 310 is output. Such an operation,
In synchronization with the vertical synchronizing signals B1, B2, B3,..., It is performed for each screen field (each screen of 1/60 second), and the count value is output to the arithmetic circuit 42 for each screen field.

The arithmetic circuit 42 divides the count value by a predetermined number of reference pulses every time the count value is output from the counter circuit 38 in this manner, and calculates the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the beam point P on the screen. Calculation output. Specifically, the number of pulses corresponding to the time required for the video camera 30 to scan the image in the horizontal direction (X-axis direction) (the time for one horizontal scan) is set as the reference pulse number, and the counter circuit 38 Is divided by the reference pulse number. The quotient obtained at this time represents the value of the Y coordinate of the beam point P, and the remainder represents the value of the X coordinate of the beam point P. In this way, the arithmetic circuit 42 calculates and outputs the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point from the count value of the counter circuit 38.

In order to alternately write and read the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point P calculated and output as described above, the apparatus of this embodiment includes a control unit 44 and a pair of read enable signal output circuits. 50A and 50B and a pair of output holding circuits 52A and 52B are provided.

The control section 44 synchronizes with the rise of the vertical synchronizing signals B1, B2, B3,... Output from the waveform shaping circuit 36, and as shown in FIG.
A and EB are alternately switched to H level and L level.

When the vertical synchronizing signal B1 is output and, for example, the read enable signal EB is set at the L level, the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point P output from the arithmetic circuit 42 are stored in the output holding circuit 52B. Is written to.
At this time, since the read enable signal EA input to the other output holding circuit 52A is set to the H level, the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point previously clutched to this output circuit 52A are determined by the game calculation circuit. Output to 22.

When the next vertical synchronizing signal B2 is output, the read enable signals EA and EB switch between H level and L level. For this reason, the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point P output from the arithmetic circuit 42 in this field are latched by the output holding circuit 52A. At this time, (X, Y) of the beam point P previously latched by the output holding circuit 52B. Y) The coordinates are output to the game operation circuit 22. In this way, in the device of this embodiment, writing and reading of the beam point P (X, Y) coordinates to and from the output holding circuits 52A and 52B are performed alternately.

The hit discrimination circuit 46 compares the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point P input to the game operation circuit 22 with the target display coordinate area calculated and output by the game operation circuit 22, The hit determination of the light beam 200 is performed. That is, when it is determined that the (X, Y) coordinate of the beam point P is included in the predetermined display area of the target, it is determined that the light beam 200 has hit the target, and the hit detection signal is output to the game calculation circuit. Output to 22.

The game calculation circuit 22 determines the laser beam 200 based on the hit discrimination signal and the beam point coordinates.
The image synthesizing circuit 26 and the TV projector display an impact image on the screen when the target is off the target, and display an image of the target on the screen 10 when the laser beam 200 hits the target. 28 is controlled.

In the above-mentioned shooting game apparatus, a laser beam 200 to be irradiated on the screen 10 due to an erroneous operation of the laser gun 14 by the player 100 or the like.
May come off the screen 10.
At this time, if the laser beam 200 hits everybody's eyes, there is a risk of causing visual impairment. In order to eliminate such danger, the present invention takes the following measures.

The game calculation circuit 22 is also configured as a control unit for controlling the laser gun 14 as described above. The game calculation circuit 22 determines whether the (X, Y) coordinates of the beam point have been input at the time of trigger operation of the laser gun 14. Judge. That is, it is determined whether the CCD camera has recognized the laser beam point on the screen 10. When the (X, Y) coordinates are input to the game operation circuit 22, it is determined that the laser gun 14 is irradiated toward the screen 10, and the (X, Y) coordinates are transmitted to the game operation circuit 22.
If the coordinates are not input, it is determined that the laser gun 14 is out of the screen 10 and irradiated.

Thus, when the game operation circuit 22 determines that the laser gun 14 has been irradiated toward the screen 10, the game operation circuit 22 holds the laser gun 14 in an ON state in which irradiation can be performed by a trigger operation. Therefore, the player 100 can continue the game as it is. However, laser gun 1
When it is determined that the irradiation of No. 4 has deviated from the screen 10,
As shown in the timing chart of FIG.
4 is switched to an off state in which irradiation by the trigger operation is disabled and is held, and the laser beam is not irradiated even when the player 100 performs the trigger operation. Therefore, screen 1
Irradiation of the laser beam 200 deviating from zero is prevented, and it does not hit the human eye.

[0030] Thus, the safety of the shooting game device is ensured. However, the laser beam 200 is
If the laser gun 14 is kept in the off state by irradiating the game, the game is in a suspended state.
If safety can be confirmed, it is desired to return the game immediately.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a laser beam is automatically irradiated from the laser gun 14 at each time interval. The laser beam for automatic irradiation is relatively weak, and it has been confirmed that if the irradiation time is very short, safety can be ensured even when the laser beam hits the eyes. Therefore, the laser beam for automatic irradiation is set to a time that can be judged by the CCD camera 30 in consideration of safety so as not to cause a problem even if it hits the eyes of everybody. Irradiation is performed for 1/60 second of a short time. Then, the CCD camera 3 checks whether the laser beam of the automatic irradiation is irradiated on the screen 10.
Judge with 0.

In this determination, if the (X, Y) coordinates of the laser beam for automatic irradiation are input to the game operation circuit 22 in the same manner as above, it is determined that the laser gun 14 is pointed at the screen 10. The game is returned. However, if the (X, Y) coordinates are not input to the game operation circuit 22, it is determined that the laser gun 14 has not yet been pointed at the screen 10, and the off state of the laser gun 14 is maintained. In the off state, the search operation by the laser beam of the automatic irradiation every one second is repeated, and the game is returned only after safety is confirmed.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the game operation circuit is used as a control unit for controlling the laser gun. However, the control unit of the laser gun may be provided at any appropriate position as long as a position detection signal can be obtained by irradiating the screen 10 with the laser beam. Can be controlled. Further, in the above embodiment, when the operation of the laser gun is started, the laser beam is first irradiated by the operation of the player, but when the operation is started, safety is first confirmed by the laser beam of automatic irradiation, and then the operation of the laser gun by the player is performed. Irradiation with a laser beam can also be enabled.

The present invention is not limited to a shooting game device,
Naturally, it is applicable to various input devices using a laser.

【The invention's effect】

According to the present invention, the safety of the laser can be ensured by using the laser irradiating means and the position detecting means provided in the input device, and therefore, a simple and inexpensive apparatus can be provided. Furthermore, even if the laser irradiation unit is turned off, the laser beam is automatically irradiated at predetermined time intervals, and when the position of the laser beam is detected, the laser irradiation unit is returned to the on state. The return operation is also easy. Furthermore, even if the position of the laser irradiation means is arbitrary, the safety of the input device can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective explanatory view of a shooting game device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the shooting game device.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing an operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a timing chart illustrating a control operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Screen 14 Laser Gun 22 Game Operation Circuit 28 TV Projector 30 Video Camera P Beam Point 200 Laser Beam

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-262597 (JP, A) JP-A-49-103497 (JP, A) JP-A 2-14591 (JP, U) JP-A 54-103 120900 (JP, U) JP-B-59-18640 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F41G 3/26 A63F 9/02 F41A 17/30

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A laser irradiation means capable of irradiating a laser beam by a trigger operation, a control unit for controlling the operation of the laser irradiation means, a photographing means for photographing a screen, and a video signal photographed by the photographing means. In an input device using a laser having a position detecting means for detecting an irradiation position of a laser beam in a screen, the control unit, when a laser beam is irradiated by a trigger operation, a position detection signal from the position detecting means It is determined from the presence or absence of the laser beam whether or not the screen is irradiated with the laser beam.When there is no laser beam position detection signal, the laser beam irradiation by the trigger operation is disabled, and after that, the time interval is increased. Switch to automatically irradiate the laser beam for a predetermined time, and the position detection signal of the automatically irradiated laser beam is When detected by the position detecting means, an input device using a laser, characterized by a control for switching to be irradiated with a laser beam by again triggering the operation stop the automatic exposure. 2. The laser according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time of the laser beam for automatically irradiating is a time for ensuring safety even when the laser beam is irradiated to human eyes. The input device to use. 3. A control method of an input device using a laser having a laser irradiation means capable of irradiating a laser beam by a trigger operation, wherein the trigger operation is performed when the laser beam irradiated by the trigger operation is not in the screen. Laser beam irradiation is disabled, and thereafter, switching is performed so as to automatically irradiate the laser beam for a predetermined time at a time interval, and when the automatically irradiated laser beam is within the screen, the automatic irradiation is performed. A control method of an input device using a laser, wherein the laser beam is switched to be irradiated again by a trigger operation again.