Squad command interface for console
Contents
1. 1302 WA mw 2 O 4 AU E Squad Command 1310 OO sex 136 1 134 1 104 1 X E s i rc 1 Close Menu NT UNA d sss 702 1304 OO 136 2 1342 OX O 104 2 og Fig 14 U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 14 of 14 US 7 594 847 1500 E SN u d TN syin US 7 594 847 1 SQUAD COMMAND INTERFACE FOR CONSOLE BASED VIDEO GAME TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to video games for console based gaming systems and more particularly to an interface that enables a player to interact with a squad of characters in a shooter video game BACKGROUND One genre of video games is known as shooter games in which players engage in forms of combat using various weap ons Within the shooter genre the game may be developed in a first person context in which the player views the scenes through the eyes of the shooter Alternatively the game may be architected in a third person context where the player views the scenes from a camera viewpoint removed from each character Some shooter games enable the player to control squads of characters rather than just a single character The player can give an order to a selected character of the squad and that character carries out the orders without direct intervention from the player Represent2. 4 A user interface as recited in claim 1 wherein the first graphical user interface contains profile images of one or more of the multiple squad characters that are arranged to map visually onto one or both ofthe at least one actuator or at least one other of the actuators 5 console based video game system comprising a game console having memory and a processor a game controller associated with the game console and a shooter video game executable by the processor and displayable on a screen associated with the shooter video game to facilitate squad based combat during which a player issues commands to a squad of characters by actuating one or more actuators on the game control ler wherein the shooter video game supports a squad command interface displayable on the screen that maps character selection and command selection to at least one of the actuators wherein the shooter video game is configured to enable the player to concurrently with a single actuation of an individual actuator of the game controller select a plurality of squad characters the US 7 594 847 13 plurality being an integer greater than one and less than all of the multiple squad characters and invoke a com mand change user interface displayable on the screen and wherein said single actuation initiates display ofthe command change user interface on the screen in which at least a portion ofthe video game is viewable through the command change
3. U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 4 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 322 2 U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 5 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 132 1 KE r Sos 136 eos 132 2 104 gt U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 6 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 LESS T U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 7 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 au Squad Command U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 8 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 y 900 902 COMBAT CAMPAIGN YES 906 SECOND TIME WITHIN TiME PERIOD SWITCH TO CHARACTER SURFACE BUTTONS PRESSED YES 926 CHARACTER Move COMMAND SELECTED YES 9 DISPLAY DESTINATION LOCATOR AND ENABLE SELECTION 930 APPLY COMMAND TO SELECTED CHARACTER S 924 CLOSE COMMAND CHANGE UI U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 9 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 bien nmm Fig 10 U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 10 of 14 US 7 594 847 0 T hs i SS Fig Ul U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 11 of 14 US 7 594 847 Options RESUME Game RESTART MISSION RETURN TO CHECKPOINT gt 12 U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 12 of 14 US 7 594 847 136 1 OQ 136 2 134 1 134 2 104 1 104 2 Fig 15 U S Patent Sep 29 2009 Sheet 13 of 14 US 7 594 847 1300
4. and enabling utilizing the one or more processors ofthe game console a player to issue simultaneously a common command to multiple characters of a squad by actuating one or more actuators of a game controller associated with the game console wherein the common command can be issued to a plurality of characters which is less than all of the multiple characters of the squad and wherein the squad based video game is configured to enable the player to concurrently with a single actuation of an individual actuator of the game controller select the plurality of squad characters the plurality being an integer greater than one and less than all of the multiple squad characters and invoke a partially transparent command change user interface wherein the presenting comprises presenting a first graphical user interface on the screen to enable character selection and presenting a second graphical user interface on the screen the second graphical user interface compris ing the partially transparent command change user interface wherein the second graphical user interface contains command icons of one or more possible issu able commands the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto at least one of the actuators 12 A user interface for a squad based shooter video game executable by one or more processors of a game console the user interface comprising an indication displayable on a screen pertaining to the ga
5. move to command is issued 1 the No branch from block 926 or after the player places the destination locator block 928 the command issued to the one or more selected characters are applied block 930 At block 924 the command change UI is closed and the player is returned to the combat campaign block 902 Thereafter the squad status display is once again returned to the lower left hand corner ofthe scene The action contin ues with the squad characters carrying out their associated commands as represented by the current command icon in the squad status display Character Status Icons Another feature supported by the squad command inter face is a set of character status icons that appear when char acters enter certain modes of operation In the described implementation there are three modes and hence there are three corresponding status icons that are individually and selectively depicted as part of the squad status display 310 The three status icons include a sniping icon to represent a sniper mode a special ability icon to represent when a char acter has a special ability and a talking icon to represent a talking mode These status icons are merely representative and more or less status icons for different character modes may be employed in other implementations FIG 10 shows an example screen display 1000 when a character is in sniper mode In this example the Hawk and Brutus characters are operating in sniper mo
6. with a single actuation of an individual actuator of the game controller select the plurality of squad characters the plurality being an inte ger greater than one and less than all of the multiple squad characters and invoke a command change user interface displayable on the screen and wherein at least a portion of the user interface is persistently visible on the screen during play of the game and wherein said single actuation initiates display ofthe command change user interface on the screen in which at least a portion of the video game is viewable through the command change user interface wherein the interface comprises a first graphical user interface to enable player selection of the multiple squad characters and a second graphical user interface comprising the com mand change user interface wherein the second graphical user interface contains command icons of possible commands that can be issued by actuating at least one of the actuators the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto the at least one actuator 2 A user interface as recited in claim 1 wherein the indi cation comprises character profiles of one or more of the multiple characters and icons associated with the character profiles that represent the current commands 3 Auser interface as recited in claim 1 wherein the second graphical user interface is juxtaposed to the first graphical user interface to enable issuance of the common command
7. 104 1 104 4 A front panel I O subassembly 242 supports the functionality of the power button 112 and the eject button 114 as well as any LEDs light emitting diodes or other indicators exposed on the outer surface of the game console The subassemblies 240 1 240 2 and 242 are coupled to the module 214 via one or more cable assemblies 244 Eight memory units 140 1 140 8 are illustrated as being connectable to the four controllers 104 1 104 4 1 two memory units for each controller Each memory unit 140 offers additional storage on which games game parameters and other data may be stored When inserted into a controller the memory unit 140 can be accessed by the memory control ler 202 system power supply module 250 provides power to the components of the gaming system 100 A fan 252 cools the circuitry within the game console 102 console user interface UI application 260 is stored on the hard disk drive 208 When the game console is powered US 7 594 847 5 on various portions ofthe console application 260 are loaded into RAM 206 and or caches 210 212 and executed on the CPU 200 The console application 260 presents a graphical user interface that provides a consistent user experience when navigating to different media types available on the game console The game console 102 implements a cryptography engine to perform common cryptographic functions such as encryp tion decryption authentication d
8. 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 428 411 8 2002 Togami 463 4 6 468 160 B2 10 2002 Eliott 6 509 896 1 2003 Saikawa et al 6 712 704 B2 3 2004 Eliott 6 717 569 4 2004 Gruhl etal 345 157 6 769 989 B2 8 2004 Smith et al 6 951 516 B1 10 2005 Eguchi et al 2002 0065119 1 5 2002 463 4 2002 0103031 1 8 2002 Neveu etal 463 49 2003 0045360 Al 2004 0162137 Al 2004 0166914 Al 2006 0178179 1 3 2003 Hora 8 2004 Eliott 8 2004 Ishihata et al 8 2006 Neveu etal 463 5 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Screen shots of Conflict Desert Storm from cubemedia ign com cube image conflictostormocubl jpg to 8 jpg cfictdtorml jpg to 20 jpg gendeserstormgcl jpg to 9 jpg constormzgcubedl jpg to 8 jpg downloaded Feb 27 2006 IGN review of Conflict Desert Storm cube ign com objects 480 480753 html downloaded Feb 27 2006 Take2 Interactive review of Conflict Desert Storm www games com index php p games amp platform Xbox amp title cds downloaded Feb 27 2006 SCi Ltd news releases of Conflict Desert Storm indicating pub lic preview on Nov 16 and 17 2001 in Cannes France games sci co uk games basic asp version_id 23 downloaded Feb 27 2006 Wikipedia articles for Military Organization and D Pad down loaded from www wikipedia org N
9. 216 A 3D graphics processing unit 220 and a video encoder 222 form a video processing pipeline for high speed and high resolution graphics processing Data is carried from the graphics processing unit 220 to the video encoder 222 via a digital video bus not shown An audio processing unit 224 and an audio codec coder decoder 226 form a correspond ing audio processing pipeline with high fidelity and stereo processing Audio data is carried between the audio process ing unit 224 and the audio codec 226 via a communication link not shown The video and audio processing pipelines output data to an A V audio video port 228 for transmission to the television or other display In the illustrated implemen tation the video and audio processing components 220 228 are mounted on the module 214 Also implemented on the module 214 are a USB host controller 230 and a network interface 232 The USB host controller 230 is coupled to the CPU 200 and the memory controller 202 via a bus e g PCI bus and serves as host for the peripheral controllers 104 1 104 4 The network inter face 232 provides access to a network e g LAN Internet etc and may be any of a wide variety of various wired or wireless interface components including an Ethernet card a modem a Bluetooth module a cable modem and the like The game console 102 has two dual controller support subassemblies 240 1 and 240 2 with each subassembly supporting two game controllers
10. ability icon 1102 next to the Tex character profile 314 and the Brutus character profile 318 The special ability icon 1102 is illustrated as an exclamation point FIG 12 shows an example screen display 1200 when a character is in a talking mode In this example the Tex char acter is talking as indicated by a talking icon 1202 illumi nated next to the Tex character profile 314 in the squad status display 310 The talking icon 1202 is illustrated as a cartoon like speaking bubble When a selected character 1 in talking mode the game facilitates communication between the player and the character When a character is talking a com munication dialog not shown is depicted on the screen Multiplayer Split Screen The squad based shooter game supports multiple players In the standalone setting a gaming system equipped four controllers can support up to four players When multiple US 7 594 847 11 players participate the screen is split to accommodate the different game views for the various players When the screen is split the amount of viewing space available for each player is significantly diminished The squad command UI is there fore slightly modified to accommodate this smaller viewing space FIG 13 shows a split screen display 1300 when two play ers are playing The display 1300 has an upper panel 1302 for a first player using controller 104 1 and a lower panel 1304 for a second player using controller 104
11. controller The squad status display identifies a current command being carried out by each squad character as well as the character s health The command change user interface can be selectively invoked by a player when the player wishes to issue a new command to one or more squad characters When invoked the command change interface shows an enlarged squad sta tus display that is repositioned at center screen adjacent to a command option menu The command option menu has graphical icons representative of possible commands that may be issued to the characters The command icons are graphically arranged to map onto another actuator e g a set of surface buttons on the controller In this manner the player 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 65 2 can intuitively select one or more characters using the first actuator and issue commands to selected characters using the second actuator BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 illustrates a gaming system with a game console and one or more controllers FIG 2 is a block diagram of the gaming system that is capable of supporting a squad based shooter video game FIG 3 illustrates an exemplary scene of the squad based shooter video game where a squad status display is presented in a lower left hand corner ofthe screen to indicate a status of each squad character FIG 4 shows an enlarged view of the squad status display to illustrate character health bars that represent the
12. controller and a second graphical user interface juxtaposed to the first graphical user interface to enableissuance of the com mon command to the multiple characters wherein the second graphical user interface comprises the com mand change user interface and wherein the second graphical user interface contains command icons of possible commands that can be issued by the player the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto one or both of the at least one actuator or at least one other actuator of the game controller 16 A user interface as recited in claim 15 wherein the indication comprises character profiles ofthe individual char acters and icons associated with the character profiles that represent the current commands
13. expires 1 the Yes branch from block 906 the process interprets the players action as wanting to switch characters and camera viewpoints Hence at block 908 the game switches to the new character selected by the player and the camera view point changes If no second tap is received within the time period i e the No branch from block 906 the character associated with the tapped point on the D pad is selected block 910 and the command change UI is instantly opened block 912 This is shown for example in transition from FIG 6 to FIG 7 where the player taps the D pad once to select a character e g Hawk and bring up the command change UI 700 in FIG 7 Once the command change UI 700 is opened the game awaits input from the player via the D pad 134 or one of the surface buttons 136 The player can select one or more char acters using the D pad 134 and or issue a command to the selected character s using the surface buttons 136 Accord ingly at blocks 914 and 916 the game determines whether the D pad or the surface buttons have been pressed The com mand change UI remains upon until either the D pad or one of the surface buttons is pressed i e the loop formed by the No branches from blocks 914 and 916 Depression of the D pad 134 alternately selects or unse lects characters on the squad Accordingly upon depression of the D pad 1 the Yes branch from block 914 it is determined whether the charact
14. for the remainder of the mission or respawned with a new life to continue play in the current mission With reference again to FIG 3 the squad status display 310 also informs the player as to the current orders being carried out by the squad members Each character has an associated current order icon 324 In this illustration all four characters have the same order namely the stand ground command as represented by the three vertical bars in the current order icon 324 There are other commands in addition to the stand ground command and each character may be assigned the same or different commands FIG 5 shows the squad status display 310 in which each character has a different command In the described imple mentation the video game supports four different commands stand ground move to fire at will and cover me The Tex character profile 314 has an associated current order icon 324 1 depicting a move to command The move to com mand allows the player to reposition the Tex character 302 to another location in the scene The move to command is graphically illustrated as a direction arrow The Hawk char acter profile 316 has an associated current order icon 324 2 depicting a cover me command which instructs the Hawk character 304 to provide protective gunfire and or backup while another character is moving positions The cover me command is illustrated as a pair of b
15. slots may be modified A power button 112 andan eject button 114 are also positioned on the front face of the game console 102 The power button 112 switches power to the game console and the eject button 114 alternately opens and closes a tray of the portable media drive 106 to allow insertion and extraction of the storage disc 108 The game console 102 connects to a television or other display not shown via A V interfacing cables 120 A power cable 122 provides power to the game console The game console 102 may further be equipped with internal or exter nally added network capabilities as represented by the cable or modem connector 124 to facilitate access to a network such as a local area network LAN or the Internet Each controller 104 is coupled to the game console 102 via a wireor wireless interface In the illustrated implementation the controllers are USB Universal Serial Bus compatible and are connected to the console 102 via serial cables 130 The controller 102 may be equipped with any of a wide variety of user interaction mechanisms As illustrated in FIG 1 each controller 104 is equipped with two thumbsticks 132 1 and 132 2 a directional or D pad 134 surface buttons 136 and two triggers 138 These mechanisms are merely representative and other known gaming mechanisms may be substituted for or added to those shown in FIG 1 A memory unit MU 140 may be inserted into the control ler 104 to provide additional and p
16. user interface and wherein the com mand change user interface contains one or more com mand icons of possible commands that can be issued the one or more command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto one or both of the at least actuator or at least one other of the actuators 6 A console based video game system as recited in claim 5 wherein the game controller has a D pad and a set of surface but tons and the squad command interface maps the character selection to the D pad and the command selection to the surface buttons 7 console based video game system as recited in claim 5 wherein the squad command interface enables assignment of one command to multiple characters with an individual single actuation of one or both ofthe at least actuator or the at least one other actuator 8 A console based video game system comprising a game console having memory and a processor a game controller associated with the game console and a shooter video game executable by the processor on the game console and displayable on a screen pertaining to the game console to facilitate squad based combat dur ing which commands are issuable to a squad of multiple characters by actuating one or more actuators on the game controller wherein the shooter video game sup ports a squad command interface displayable on the screen that includes a persistently visible squad status display and a command change user interface that e
17. 2 This association of panels with controllers is merely representative for discus sion purposes player need not use controllers in any par ticular order For example a player using a controller inserted in the fourth slot on the game console could play alone or be joined later in the game by a player using a controller inserted into the first slot In one implementation the screen panels are related to the controller slot positions So in the case above the player who joined later by attaching the game controller to the first slot would be given the upper panel 1302 whereas the first player using the fourth slot would be given the lower panel 1302 In multi player operation the squad status dis play is not persistently displayed in order to conserve space This is illustrated by the upper panel 1302 where the squad status display is not shown leaving only the radar display 312 However as represented in lower panel 1304 when the second player wants to switch characters or issue a new command the second player taps on the D pad 134 2 to invoke a reduced size squad status display 1310 The reduced size squad status display 1310 is a reduced or minimized version of the squad status display 310 of FIG 3 It includes the character profiles arranged to map onto the D pad actuator the current command icons and the character health bars In the same was as described above the player can select a new character using the D pad 134 2 o
18. 3 36 463 37 463 38 Conflict Desert Storm Xbox version user manual SCi Ltd 58 Field of Classification Search 463 30 33 Release date ofthe game established as Sep 30 2002 Public preview 463 36 38 2 4 7 49 50 40 42 5 345 156 of the game Nov 16 and 17 2001 in Cannes France 345 161 184 273 148 B Continued See application file for complete search history Continued 56 References Cited Primary Examiner Dmitry Suhol U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 2 941 915 6 1960 Manning 156 167 3 005 055 A 10 1961 Mattke 341 184 4 029 915 A 6 1977 708 145 4 091 234 5 1978 Bristow 345 161 4 124 787 A 11 1978 Aamoth et al 200 6 A 4 256 931 3 1981 Palisek 200 5 A 4 275 611 6 1981 Asher 74 471 XY 4 349 708 9 1982 Asher 200 6 A 4 575 591 3 1986 Lugaresi 200 6 4 687 200 8 1987 Shirai 463 37 Assistant Examiner Matthew D Hoel 57 ABSTRACT A squad command interface for a squad based shooter video game maps character selection and command selection to actuators on a game controller Players can select squad char acters and issue a single order to multiple characters with few controller actuations 16 Claims 14 Drawing Sheets 05 7 594 847 1 Page
19. US007594847B1 a2 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 594 847 B1 York et al 45 Date of Patent Sep 29 2009 54 SQUAD COMMAND INTERFACE FOR 4 896 003 1 1990 Hsieh 200 6 A CONSOLE BASED VIDEO GAME 4 947 461 A 8 1990 Yoshioka etal 200 5 4 992 631 2 1991 Gee 200 5 75 Inventors James York Austin TX US 5 164 554 11 1992 Ikunami 200 5 E Randy J Pagulayan Seattle WA US 5 296 845 3 1994 Haller 463 9 Tim V Fields Austin TX US 5343219 8 1994 DuBosque Jr 345 160 5411 270 5 1995 Naka et al RE35 314 E 8 1996 Lo 73 Assignee Vp Corporation Redmond WA as 5 640 179 6 1997 Lake 345 161 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 5 724 558 3 1998 Svancarek et al patent is extended or adjusted under 35 5 824 933 10 1998 84 609 U S C 154 b by 554 days 6 371 849 4 2002 Togami 463 4 6 394 897 5 2002 Togami 463 4 21 Appl No 10 269 500 22 Filed Oct 11 2002 51 Int Cl Continued AG3F 13 02 2006 01 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS A63F 13 04 2006 01 AO3F 13 06 2006 01 JP 11 197359 A 7 1999 A63F 13 10 2006 01 A63F 13 12 2006 01 A63F 9 02 2006 01 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 2 pem 463 5 463 2 463 30 463 31 46
20. ative squad based games include Project Eden which is developed by Core Design Ltd and published by Eidos Interactive for Sony s Playstation game system and X Squad which is developed and published by Electronic Arts for Sony s Playstation game console In previous squad based third person shooter games the interfaces used for issuing a command to a squad member were cumbersome In some games the interfaces were imple mented as a series of pull down menus that the player had to traverse in order to assign a particular command to a specific character Accordingly there is a need for an improved interface for issuing commands to a squad of characters in a shooter video game SUMMARY squad command interface for squad based shooter video game is described The squad command interface maps character selection and command selection to actuators on a handheld game controller to facilitate efficient and intuitive operation Players can select squad characters and issue a single order to multiple characters with few controller actua tions In the described implementation the squad command interface has a squad status display and a command change user interface The squad status display is persistently visible during combat action and is located in a non focal region of the screen It depicts character profiles ofthe squad characters in a graphical arrangement that maps the profiles to a first actuator e g a directional pad on the
21. auto matically closes after the command is issued The player is returned to the scene and the squad status display is returned to the lower left hand corner This is essentially shown in FIG 6 with the exception that the current order icons for the Tex and Hawk character profiles 314 and 316 would now exhibit the fire at will command special case arises when the move to command is issued In this case a destination locator is depicted on the screen to identify the location to where the one or more characters are to move The player can move the destination locator to a desired location using the thumbsticks on the controller 104 and then select that location by pressing one of the surface buttons on the controller 104 In one implemen tation the destination locator is shaped as an inverted pyra mid although other shapes icons or indicia may be used Once the player chooses a location the command change UI 700 15 closed and the player is returned to the action The selected characters that were given the move to command begin moving to the chosen location The squad command interface thus provides an effective and efficient mechanism for facilitating player interaction with the character One or more characters can be easily selected with corresponding taps on the D pad and then a command can be issued with a single press of a surface button This allows the player to give a common order simul taneously to multiple chara
22. combat action and is located in a non focal region of the screen such as the lower left hand corner as shown The status display 310 is integrated with a radar display 312 that indicates where various characters of the squad are located relative to one another In the illustrated example the squad status display 310 encircles the radar display 312 and depicts 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 profile images of the four squad characters The profiles include a first character profile 314 for the Tex character 302 a second character profile 316 for the Hawk character 304 a third character profile 318 for the Brutus character 306 and a fourth character profile 320 for the Flint character 308 The squad status display 310 indicates which character is currently selected In FIG 3 the Brutus character 306 is selected as represented by a highlighted boundary around the Brutus character profile 318 When the Brutus character is selected the camera viewpoint resides proximal to and behind the Brutus character 306 in the scene 300 The four character profiles 314 320 on the squad status display 310 are mapped visually and spatially to a first actua tor on the controller 104 In one implementation the first actuator is the D pad 134 A player can select a different character and change the camera viewpoint by actuating the D pad 134 at distinct pad coordinates north west south east that correspond to the four c
23. cters with one button press FIG 9 shows a process 900 for issuing commands to one or more characters The process 900 1s illustrated as a series of blocks that represent individual operations or acts performed by the gaming system in response to executing the video game The process 900 may be implemented in any suitable US 7 594 847 9 hardware software firmware or combination thereof In the case of software and firmware process 900 represents a set of operations implemented as computer executable instructions stored in memory and executable by one or more processors At block 902 the video game supports an ongoing combat campaign Depending on the game configuration the player is orchestrating a squad of characters through one or more missions When the player wishes to issue a command to one or more characters in the squad the player depresses the D pad 134 on the controller 104 Accordingly at block 904 the process detects whether the D pad is pressed If no actua tion is detected 1 the No branch from block 904 the game continues with the ongoing campaign If the D pad is pressed 1 the Yes branch from block 904 the process determines whether a second tap of the D pad is received within a brief time period block 906 The duration of the time period is configurable but suitable time periods range from a one tenth to one quarter of a second If a second press is detected before the time period
24. d 5 The command options 710 716 are arranged geometrically in a diamond orientation and are color coordinated to map visually and spatially to similarly arranged and colored sur face buttons 136 on the game controller 104 More specifi cally the stand ground option 710 is positioned atop the diamond shaped options menu 702 and is colored in a first color e g yellow to map to an uppermost button 720 The move to option 712 resides to the left of the diamond shaped options menu 702 and is colored in a second color e g blue to map to a leftmost button 722 The cover me option 714 is at the bottom of the options menu 702 and is colored in a third color e g green to map to a bottommost button 724 The fire at will option 716 resides to the right of the options menu 702 and is colored in a fourth color e g red to map to a rightmost button 726 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 Once in the command change UI 700 the player can select one or more characters by singletapping the D pad 134 In the illustrated example the player has selected the Tex and the Hawk characters by tapping the north and west points on the D pad 134 It is noted however that other actuators on the controller may be used to select the characters In one imple mentation the UI can be configured to cycle through the character profiles ofthe squad status display 310 upon actua tion ofa trigger a thumbstick or anot
25. de as indicated by a sniping icon 1002 illuminated next to the Hawk character profile 316 and the Brutus character profile 318 in the squad status display 310 The sniping icon 1002 is illustrated as a cross hair sight When a selected character is in sniper mode the main viewing area is changed visually to exhibit an appearance of viewing through a weapon mounted scope scope window 1004 appears on the screen Objects within the scope window 1004 are rendered sharply and clearly while objects outside the scope window 1004 are slightly blurred FIG 11 shows an example screen display 1100 when a character has a special ability Each character has its own special ability In this example the Tex character s special ability is to hold and fire more than one weapon The Tex character 302 1 shown holding two weapons 1104 and 1106 The Brutus character s special ability allows him to see living things more clearly regenerate health be resistant to damage and kill his enemies in a supercharged attack Hence the screen display 1100 which is taken from the perspective of the Brutus character 306 shows the living members in a different manner as if looking through Brutus eyes The characters are rendered in an infernal coloring 1 e a mixture of orange red and yellow against a gray background The squad status display 310 indicates that the Tex and Brutus characters are utilizing their respective special abilities by depicting a special
26. e characters with few controller actua tions and without use of cumbersome pull down menus This allows the player to remain focused on the action rather than being distracted during order issuing processes Although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and or methodological acts it is _ 0 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described Rather the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claimed invention The invention claimed is 1 user interface for a squad based shooter video game system executable by one or more processors of the video game system and displayable on a screen associated with the video game system the user interface comprising an indication displayable on the screen of current com mands that are issued to individual characters of a squad of multiple characters and an interface displayable on the screen to enable a player to issue simultaneously a common command to a plurality of characters of the squad by actuating one or more actuators on a game controller pertaining to the video game system wherein the plurality of characters is less thanall ofthe multiple squad characters and wherein the squad based shooter video game is configured to enable the player to concurrently
27. edia drive 106 The CPU 200 is equipped with a level 1 cache 210 and a level 2 cache 212 to temporarily store 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 data and hence reduce the number of memory access cycles thereby improving processing speed and throughput The CPU 200 memory controller 202 and various memory devices are interconnected via one or more buses including serial and parallel buses a memory bus a periph eral bus and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures By way of example such architectures can include an Industry Standard Architecture ISA bus a Micro Channel Architecture MCA bus an Enhanced ISA EISA bus a Video Electronics Standards Association VESA local bus and a Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI bus As one suitable implementation the CPU 200 memory controller 202 ROM 204 and RAM 206 are integrated onto a common module 214 In this implementation ROM 204 is configured as a flash ROM that is connected to the memory controller 202 via a PCI Peripheral Component Intercon nect bus and a ROM bus neither of which are shown RAM 206 is configured as multiple DDR SDRAM Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM modules that are indepen dently controlled by the memory controller 202 via separate buses not shown The hard disk drive 208 and portable media drive 106 are connected to the memory controller via the PCI bus and an ATA AT Attachment bus
28. ent arrows The Brutus US 7 594 847 7 character profile 318 has an associated current order icon 324 3 depicting a fire at will command which instructs the Brutus character 306 to shoot whenever he deems it appro priate The fire at will command is graphically represented by a circle of arrowheads inwardly trained on a center point The Flint character profile 320 has an associated current order icon 324 4 depicting a stand ground command which instructs the Flint character 308 to stay where she is located and not to advance without further instructions The stand ground command is depicted as three vertical bars It is noted that this is just one representative configuration of a squad status display The number of characters their arrangement and their mapping to the D pad 134 may be modified in other implementation For instance in a different implementation the status display may be configured with profiles of more than four characters and they might be selected by means other than the D pad 134 Command Change UI FIG 6 shows another exemplary scene 600 from the squad based shooter video game title Brute Force In scene 600 the Tex character 302 and the Brutus character 306 are illustrated The Hawk and Flint characters are not shown in this scene As illustrated by the squad status display all four characters of the squad are currently executing the stand ground com mand as indicated by the current
29. er corresponding to the tapped location of the D pad 134 is already selected block 918 If not 1 No branch from block 918 the char acter is selected block 910 and the command change UI is updated to depict a second character as being selected block 912 Conversely if the character is already selected 1 e the Yes branch from block 918 the character is unselected block 920 At block 922 a determination is made as to whether that character is the last of the selected characters leaving all characters unselected If it was not the last char acter unselected 1 the No branch from block 922 the command change UI is updated to show the character unse lected If it was the last character 1 e the Yes branch from block 922 the command change Ul is closed block 924 and the player is returned to the combat campaign block 902 Upon depression ofa surface button 1 the Yes branch from block 916 it is initially determined whether the move to command was issued block 926 This is accomplished by sensing whether the surface button 722 corresponding to the move to command option 712 see FIG 7 is depressed If it is 1 e the Yes branch from block 926 a destination locator is depicted and the player is enabled to move and confirm placement of the destination locator block 928 Ifa 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 command other than the
30. haracter profiles of Tex 314 Hawk 316 Brutus 318 and Flint 320 A double tap of the D pad 134 allows the player to select a new character and simultaneously change the camera viewpoint in the scene It is noted that the game may be configured to support selection of the characters using other actuators on the controller For instance in one implementation a player can depress a button or trigger to cycle through the character profiles of the squad status display 310 in clockwise or counter clockwise rotation The squad status display 310 has a health bar 322 associ ated with each character profile 314 320 to inform the player of the character s health as the battle mission progresses In the illustrated implementation the health bar 322 begins as a solid color bar which represents a character that is healthy and unharmed As the character is hit or injured during the mission the health bar shrinks FIG 4 shows the squad status display 310 in which the character health bar 322 1 for the Hawk character 304 and the character health bar 322 2 for the Flint character 308 are diminished More particularly Hawk s health bar 322 1 has shrunk from full health point 402 to partial health point 404 Flint s health bar 322 2 has experienced similar change Each character s health bar 322 may eventually disappear if that character sustains enough hits or combat injuries If the health bar is exhausted the character may be deemed out of commission
31. health harm associated with each character FIG 5 shows an enlarged view of the squad status display to illustrate a current command being carried out by each character FIG 6 shows another exemplary scene ofthe shooter video game to illustrate selection of characters via the squad status display FIG 7 shows a command change user interface UI that is invoked when a player wants to issue a new command to one or more characters FIG 8 shows the command change UI after issuing a particular command FIG 9 shows an exemplary process for issuing commands to one or more characters FIG 10 shows an exemplary screen display when a char acter is in a sniper mode The squad status display depicts an icon representative of this sniper status FIG 11 shows an exemplary screen display when a char acter is operating with a special ability The squad status display depicts an icon representative of this special ability mode FIG 12 shows an exemplary screen display when a char acter is talking The squad status display depicts an icon representative of the talking mode FIG 13 shows an exemplary a split screen display when two players are playing FIG 14 shows the split screen display when one player is issuing a new command via the command change UI FIG 15 shows an exemplary three way split screen dis play when three players are playing The same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and figures to reference like component
32. her button separate from the command buttons 136 Once the character s are selected the player can issue a command to all selected character s by pressing one of the surface buttons 136 that corresponds to the desired command For instance suppose the player wants to order the Tex and Hawk characters to at will While these characters are selected the player simply presses the corresponding surface button 726 on the controller 104 to issue the command In this manner one button press enables a player to issue a common order to multiple characters When the command change UI 700 is invoked the game can be optionally configured to pause action and give the player time to select character s and issue a command This allows novice players more time to view and select the char acters and commands without any penalty for being slow or unfamiliar with the game Expert players who move skillfully and quickly in and out of the command change UI 700 will experience essentially continuous action with no noticeable pause FIG 8 shows the command change UI 700 immediately after selection of the fire at will command 716 Notice that the current order icons 324 1 and 324 2 associated with Tex and Hawk respectively has been changed from stand ground to fire at will as represented by the fire at will symbol When the player issues the fire at will stand ground or cover me command the command change UI 700
33. igital signing hashing and the like The cryptography engine may be implemented as part of the CPU 200 or in software stored in memory e g ROM 204 hard disk drive 208 that executes on the CPU so thatthe CPU is configured to perform the cryptographic func tions The gaming system 100 may be operated as a standalone system by simply connecting the system to a television or other display In this standalone mode the gaming system 100 allows one or more players to play games watch movies or listen to music However with the integration of network connectivity made available through the network interface 232 the gaming system 100 may further be operated as a participant in a larger network gaming community Video games may be stored on various storage media for play on the game console For instance a video game may be stored on the portable storage disc 108 which is read by drive 106 Alternatively the video game may be stored in hard disk drive 208 being transferred from a portable storage medium or downloaded from a network During play portions of the game are temporarily loaded into RAM memory 206 caches 210 and 212 and executed by the CPU 200 One particular video game of the shooter genre is described next Squad Command Interface In squad based shooter video game a game player issues commands to various squad characters The commands instruct the characters on where to move and how to function in combat The video ga
34. interface as recited in claim 12 wherein the indication comprises character profiles of one or more of the multiple characters and icons associated with the character profiles that represent the current commands 14 A user interface as recited in claim 12 wherein the second graphical user interface is juxtaposed to the first graphical user interface to enable issuance of the common command 15 A user interface for a squad based shooter video game executable by one or more processors of a game console the user interface comprising an indication displayable on a screen pertaining to the game console of current commands that are issued to individual characters of a squad of multiple characters and 20 25 30 16 an interface displayable on the screen to enable a player to issue simultaneously with a single actuation of an indi vidual actuator of a game controller associated with the game console a common command to a plurality of characters ofthe squad the plurality of squad characters being an integer greater than one and less than all ofthe multiple squad characters and invoke a command change user interface displayable on the screen wherein the interface comprises a first graphical user interface to enable player selection of the multiple squad characters wherein the first graphical user interface contains profile images of squad characters that are arranged to map visually onto at least one actuator of the game
35. me console of current commands that are issued to individual characters of a squad of multiple characters and an interface displayable on the screen to enable a player to issue simultaneously a common command to a plurality ofcharacters ofthe squad by actuating one or more game controller actuators associated with the game console wherein the squad based shooter video game is config ured to enable the player to concurrently with a single actuation of an individual game controller actuator select the plurality of squad characters the plurality US 7 594 847 15 being an integer greater than one and less than all of the multiple squad characters and invoke a command change user interface displayable on the screen and wherein the interface comprises a first graphical user interface to enable player selection of the multiple squad characters the first graphical user interface containing profile images of squad characters that are arranged to map visually onto one or both of the at least one game controller actuator or at least one other game controller actuator and a second graphical user comprising the command change user interface wherein the second graphical user contains command icons of possible commands that can be issued by the player the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto at least one of the at least one game controller or the at least one other game controller actuator 13 A user
36. me supports a squad command inter face to facilitate player interaction with the characters The squad command interface includes a squad status display and a command change user interface UI The squad status display is persistently depicted during game play to inform the player of the current commands being carried out by the characters If the player wishes to issues a new command to one or characters the player invokes the command change user interface that presents various command options from which to choose These two components of the squad com mand interface are described separately below Squad Status Display FIG 3 shows an exemplary scene 300 from a squad based shooter video game This particular scene 300 is from a video game title Brute Force which is developed for Microsoft s Xbox gaming system In scene 300 a squad of four char acters is illustrated including a first character 302 named a second character 304 named Hawk a third char acter 306 named Brutus and a fourth character 308 named Flint As is common in third person games the player s viewpoint 15 taken at a position removed from each character Inthis scene a camera is positioned behind the characters and proximal to the Brutus character 306 The squad command interface includes a squad status dis play 310 positioned inthe lower left hand portion ofthe scene 300 The squad status display 310 is persistently visible dur ing
37. nables a player to issue simultaneously a single com mand to a plurality of characters which is less than all of the multiple characters and wherein the shooter video game is configured to enable the player to concurrently with a single actuation of an individual actuator of the game controller select the plurality of squad characters the plurality being an integer greater than one and less than all ofthe multiple squad characters and invoke the squad command interface on the screen and wherein the command change user interface is partially transparent and overlays a current scene in the video game and wherein the command change user interface contains command icons of possible commands issuable by actu ating at least one of the actuators the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto at least one actuator of the game controller 9 In a squad based video game a computer implemented method comprising presenting on a screen pertaining to a game console uti lizing atleast one processorofthe game console a squad command interface and enabling utilizing the at least one processor of the game console a player to issue simultaneously a common command to multiple characters of a squad by actuating one or more actuators of a game controller associated with the game console wherein the common command can be issued to a plurality of characters which 1 less than all of the multiple characters of the squad and whe
38. order icon 324 With the squad command interface a player is able to issue new commands to one or more characters on the squad To change commands the player actuates the D pad 134 on controller 104 to bring up the command change UI More particularly the player single taps the D pad 134 to concur rently select a character and invoke the command change UI To issue a command to Brutus 306 for example the player presses once at the bottom or south portion of the D pad 134 corresponding to the Brutus character profile 318 on the squad status display 310 FIG 7 shows the command change UI 700 that is presented when the player actuates the D pad 134 The command change UI 700 is a partially transparent graphical user inter face that overlays on the current scene The command change UI 700 has an enlarged squad status display 310 with the radar display interior positioned at center screen and adjacent to a command options menu 702 that contains various com mand options available to the player In the illustrated implementation the command options menu 702 identifies four possible command options a stand ground command option 710 a move to command option 712 a cover me command option 714 and a fire at will command option 716 The command options further depict the symbols associated with the commands that are depicted in the current order icon 324 of the status display 310 as described above with respect to FIGS 3 an
39. ortable storage Portable memory units enable users to store game parameters and transport them for play on other consoles In the described implementation each controller is configured to accommo date two memory units 140 although more or less than two units may be employed in other implementations The gaming system 100 is capable of playing for example games music and videos With the different storage offer ings titles can be played from the hard disk drive or the portable medium 108 in drive 106 from an online source or from a memory unit 140 A sample of what the gaming system 100 is capable of playing back includes 1 Game titles played from CD and DVD discs from the hard disk drive or from an online source 2 Digital music played from a CD in the portable media drive 106 from a compressed file on the hard disk drive e g Windows Media Audio WMA format or from online streaming sources 3 Digital audio video played from a DVD disc in the portable media drive 106 from a file on the hard disk drive e g Windows Media Video WMV format or from online streaming sources FIG 2 shows functional components ofthe gaming system 100 in more detail The game console 102 has a central processing unit CPU 200 and a memory controller 202 that facilitates processor access to various types of memory including a flash ROM Read Only Memory 204 RAM Random Access Memory 206 a hard disk drive 208 and the portable m
40. ov 16 2006 Conflict Desert Storm Xbox manual downloaded from www replacementdocs com Feb 27 2006 Ch 2 Operations or Army field manual FM 7 8 released Mar 1 2001 downloaded from www globalsecurity org military library policy fm 7 8 ch2 htm Nov 16 2006 SWAT Close Quarters PC manual downloaded from www replacementdocs com Apr 26 2007 Team Xbox preview of Conflict Desert Storm Xbox version indi cating release date of Sep 30 2002 before filing date games teamxbox com xbox 34 Conflict Desert Storm downloaded Feb 27 2006 SWAT Close Quarters Combat review downloaded from pc ign com objects 011 011663 html 27 2007 establishing release date of Nov 23 1999 http cubemedia ign com cube image gendeserstormc4 jpg cited by examiner on Mar 15 2006 as NPL Machine translation of JP 11 197359 A application JP 10 004275 downloaded from http dossierl ipdl inpit go jp on Jun 17 2009 Manual for Starcraft PC game downloaded from http www replacementdocs com Jan 14 2009 Manual for Command amp Conquer PC game downloaded from http www replacementdocs com Jan 14 2009 Smith David Playstation 2 gt Previews gt Preview Project Eden http ps2 ign com articles 134 134929pl html 4 pages Wessel Craig Talon Mobile Forces PC May 20 2002 http ww gamespy com e32002 pc mf 2 pages Wojnarowica Jakub Wa
41. r tap a second time on a selected character to invoke the command change UI FIG 14 shows the split screen display 1300 in which a reduced size command change UI 1400 is opened in the lower panel 1304 It is similar in layout to the full size com mand change UI 700 The reduced size command change UI 1400 has the reduced size squad status display 1310 disposed adjacent to the command options menu 702 At this point the second player can select another character by depressing the D pad 134 2 or issue a command by pressing one of the surface buttons 136 2 FIG 14 shows another example of a split screen display 1500 when three players are playing Split screen display 1500 has an upper panel 1502 for a first player using control ler 104 1 a lower right hand panel 1504 for a second player using controller 104 2 and a lower left hand panel 1506 for a third player using controller 104 3 this example illustration the third player has invoked the reduced size command change UI 1400 which is opened on the lower left hand panel 1506 The reduced size command change UI 1400 positions the reduced size squad status dis play 1310 along side of the command options menu 702 Conclusion The squad command interface allows game players to issue commands to a squad of characters in an efficient and intuitive manner Players can switch among squad members issue individual commands to individual characters or provide a single order to multipl
42. rSpite Quake 3 Team Arena Demo Nov 24 2000 http firingsquad gamers com games teamarenademo de fault asp 2 pages Eidos Something is Wrong in the Garden of Eden Feb 22 2003 http www cdaccess com html pc projeden htm 3 pages cited by examiner U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 1 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 106 104 1 U S Patent Sheet 2 of 14 Sep 29 2009 US 7 594 847 B1 GAME CONSOLE 102 214 AUT etre E 3D GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT 220 CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT 200 LEVEL 1 CACHE LEVEL 2 CACHE 210 212 FLASH ROM MEMORY AUDIO PROCESSING MEMORY UNIT 224 CONTROLLER 204 202 USB HosT CONTROLLER RAM MEMORY 206 230 PORTABLE HARD DISK MEDIA DRIVE DRIVE 106 208 CONSOLE UI ENCODER 222 228 NW 232 SYSTEM POWER SUPPLY MODULE 250 FAN 252 DUAL CONTROLLER PORT SUBASSEMBLY 240 2 CONTROLLER 104 3 CONTROLLER 104 4 DUAL CONTROLLER FRONT PANEL PORT yo SUBASSEMBLY SUBASSEMBLY 240 1 242 CONTROLLER CONTROLLER 104 1 104 2 140 3 112 444 MEM UNIT MEM UNIT 140 2 140 4 2 2 140 1 140 6 140 8 U S Patent 29 2009 Sheet 3 of 14 US 7 594 847 1 Fife TI fi Wl III II i 302
43. rein the squad based video game is configured to enable the player to concurrently with a single actuation of an individual actuator of the game controller select 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 the plurality of squad characters the plurality being an integer greater than one and less than all of the multiple squad characters and invoke a partially transparent command change user interface wherein the presenting comprises presenting a first graphical user interface on the screen to enable character selection and presenting a second graphical user interface on the screen the second graphical user interface compris ing the partially transparent command change user interface wherein the second graphical user interface contains command icons of one or more possible issu able commands the command icons being arranged to map visually and spatially onto at least one of the actuators 10 A method as recited in claim 9 wherein the second graphical user interface is juxtaposed to the first graphical user interface to enable issuance of a command to selected characters 11 One or more computer readable media comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a game console perform a method comprising in a squad based video game presenting on a screen per taining to the game console utilizing at least one pro cessor ofthe game console a squad command interface
44. s and features DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following disclosure describes a user interface for a squad based third person shooter video game The user inter face allows a player to issue commands to one or more squad members and hence is referred to as the squad command interface The squad command interface maps character selection and command selection to actuators on a handheld game controller to facilitate efficient and intuitive operation Through the interface a player can simultaneously issue the same command to multiple squad characters For discussion purposes the squad command interface is described in the context third person shooter video game for a console based gaming system The gaming system will be described first followed by a discussion of the squad command interface US 7 594 847 3 Gaming System FIG 1 shows an exemplary gaming system 100 It includes a game console 102 and up to four controllers as represented by controllers 104 1 and 104 2 The game console 102 is equipped with an internal hard disk drive and a portable media drive 106 The portable media drive 106 supports vari ous forms of portable storage media as represented by optical storage disc 108 Examples of suitable portable storage media include DVD CD ROM game discs game cartridges and so forth The game console 102 has four slots 110 on its front face to support up to four controllers although the number and arrangement of
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