Portable game machine and computer-readable recording medium

US 7,786,997 B2
Filed: 08/20/2004
Issued: 08/31/2010
Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
Status: Active Grant

First Claim

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1. A portable game machine comprising:

a first display;

a second display;

three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a first game image based on three-dimensional model data for each frame;

capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the first game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry as two-dimensional image data;

storage locations that store the two-dimensional image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;

two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a second game image based on two-dimensional image data in a previous frame already stored in the storage locations;

output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the first game image and another one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the second game image, wherein two successive frames of the same sequence of scenes are displayed on the first and second display, respectively and wherein the output destination setting program logic circuitry alternates the setting of the first display and the second display for each successive frame,wherein in an n-th frame of the same sequence of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, is output to the first display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, captured in an (n−

1)-th frame and based on the two-dimensional image data, is output to the second display, andin an (n−

1)-th frame of the sequence of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is output to the second display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, based on the two-dimensional image data and captured in the n-th, frame is output to the first display.

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Abstract

In each odd-numbered frame, a game image generated by a three-dimensional image processing unit 31 is supplied to a first LCD 11, and then a game image identical to the generated game image is stored in a first VRAM 21a. Also, a two-dimensional image processing unit 37 supplies the game image stored in the immediately-preceding even-numbered frame in a second VRAM 21b to a second LCD 12. On the other hand, in each even-numbered frame, a game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing unit 31 is supplied to the first LCD 12, and then a game image identical to the generated game image is stored in the second VRAM 21b. Also, the two-dimensional image processing unit 37 supplies the game image stored in the immediately-preceding odd-numbered frame in the first VRAM 21a to the first LCD 11. With this, in a portable game machine including two display units, different three-dimensional game images can be simultaneously displayed by a single three-dimensional image processing unit on the two display units without flicker on the display screens.

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13 Claims

1. A portable game machine comprising:
- a first display;
  
  a second display;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a first game image based on three-dimensional model data for each frame;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the first game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry as two-dimensional image data;
  
  storage locations that store the two-dimensional image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a second game image based on two-dimensional image data in a previous frame already stored in the storage locations;
  
  output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the first game image and another one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the second game image, wherein two successive frames of the same sequence of scenes are displayed on the first and second display, respectively and wherein the output destination setting program logic circuitry alternates the setting of the first display and the second display for each successive frame,wherein in an n-th frame of the same sequence of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, is output to the first display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame and based on the two-dimensional image data, is output to the second display, andin an (n−
  
  1)-th frame of the sequence of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is output to the second display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, based on the two-dimensional image data and captured in the n-th, frame is output to the first display.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- - 2. The portable game machine according to claim 1, further comprising:
    - a first line buffer which temporarily stores data for one line of the first game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, whereinthe data for one line stored in the first line buffer is sequentially output to one of the first display and the second display, thereby eventually outputting an entirety of the first game image to the one of the first display and the second display, andthe capture programmed logic circuitry sequentially captures the data for one line stored in the first line buffer, thereby eventually storing the entirety of the first game image in the storage locations.
  - 3. The portable game machine according to claim 2, wherein the storage locations include a first storage area and a second storage area, the portable game machine further comprises:
    - a second line buffer which temporarily stores data for one line of the second game image generated by the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry;
      
      a first selector which switches an output destination of the capture programmed logic circuitry between the first storage area and the second storage area;
      
      a second selector which switches an output destination of the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry between the first storage area and the second storage area;
      
      a third selector which switches an output destination of the first line buffer and an output destination of the second line buffer between the first display and the second display; and
      
      a controller which controls a time of switching of each of the first selector, the second selector, and the third selector.
  - 4. The portable game machine according to claim 1, wherein the storage locations are provided with storage areas that correspond to at least two virtual screens to be used when the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry generates the second game image,the capture programmed logic circuitry outputs the captured game image alternately to the storage areas in the storage locations that correspond to the at least two virtual screens, andthe two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry outputs one of the at least two virtual screens to the first display and another one of the at least two virtual screens to the second display.
  - 5. The portable game machine according to claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry alternately generates and outputs, for each frame, game images representing two different states of a virtual three-dimensional game space.
  - 6. The portable game machine according to claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry alternately generates and outputs two different game images representing a state of a single virtual three-dimensional game space captured by a virtual camera with two different settings.

7. A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein a program causing a computer connected to a display to function as:
- a display unit for causing the display to display a first screen and a second screen;
  
  a three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a first game image for each frame based on three-dimensional model data;
  
  a capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the first game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing mechanism as two-dimensional image data;
  
  storage locations which stores the two-dimensional image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  a two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a second game image based on two-dimensional image data in a previous frame already stored in the storage location; and
  
  an output destination selector which selects one of the first display screen and the second display screen as an output destination of the first game image and another one of the first display screen and the second display screen as an output destination of the second game image wherein two successive frames of the same sequence of scenes are displayed on the first and second displays, respectively, and wherein the output destination selector alternates the selection of the first screen and the second screen as being the first display and the second display for each successive frame of the same sequence of scenes, andwherein in an n-th frame of the same sequences of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, is output to the first display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame and based on the two-dimensional image data, is output to the second display, andin an (n+1)-th frame of the same sequence of scenes,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is output to the second display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, based on the two-dimensional image data and captured in the n-th frame, is output to the first display.

8. A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein a program to be executed in a portable game machine including:
- a first display;
  
  and a second display;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a first game image based on three-dimensional model data for each frame;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the first game image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry as two-dimensional image data;
  
  storage locations that stores the two-dimensional image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a second game image based on two-dimensional image data in a previous frame already stored in the storage location; and
  
  output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the first game image and another one of the first display and the second display as an output destination of the second game image, whereinin an n-th frame,causing the three-dimensional image processing unit to generate the first display image;
  
  causing the capture programmed logic circuitry to capture the first display image;
  
  causing the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate the second game image based on two-dimensional image data captured in the n-th frame; and
  
  causing the output destination setting programmed logic circuitry to set the first display as the output destination of the first game image and the second display as the output destination of the second game image; and
  
  in an (n+1)-th frame,causing the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate the first display image;
  
  causing the capture programmed logic circuitry to capture the first display image;
  
  causing the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate the second game image based on two-dimensional image data captured in the n-th frame; and
  
  causing the output destination setting circuit to set the second display as the output destination of the first game image and the first display as the output destination of the second game image.
- View Dependent Claims (9)
- - 9. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 8, whereinthe three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry generates game images representing a virtual three-dimensional game space viewed from a first view point and a second view point that are different from each other,the program causes the computer to perform further:
    - causing the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate, in the n-th frame, a first game image based on the first view point; and
      
      causing the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate, in an (n+1)-th frame, a first game image based on the second view point.

10. A portable game machine comprising:
- a first display;
  
  a second display;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a game image based on three-dimensional model data and outputs the game image as a real-time image;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry;
  
  storage locations which store, as a captured image, image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which reads, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image generated in a previous frame by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and outputs the captured image; and
  
  output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first and second displays, which is different from an output destination of a real-time image outputted in the previous frame, as an output destination of a real-time image currently outputted from the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and which sets another one of the first and second displays, which is different from the output destination of the currently outputted real-time image, as an output destination of the captured image outputted from the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry,wherein in an n-th frame,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, is output to the first display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame and based on the two-dimensional image data, is output to the second display, andin an (n+1)-th frame,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is output to the second display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, based on the two-dimensional image data and captured in the n-th frame, is output to the first display.

11. A portable game machine comprising:
- a first display;
  
  a second display;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a game image based on three-dimensional model data and outputs the game image as a real-time image;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry;
  
  storage locations which store, as a captured image, image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which reads, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image generated in a previous frame by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry and outputs the captured image; and
  
  output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first and second displays as an output destination of the real-time image outputted from the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry and which sets another one of the first and second displays, which is different from the output destination of the real-time image, as an output destination of the captured image outputted from the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, whereinin an n-th frame, wherein n is an integer no less than two,at a same time as the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is outputted to the first display, the capture programmed logic circuitry captures the real-time image, andthe two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry outputs, to the second display, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame, andin an (n+1)-th frame,at a same time as the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is outputted to the second display, the capture programmed logic circuitry captures the real-time image, andthe two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry outputs, to the first display, a captured image corresponding to the real-time image captured in the n-th frame.

12. A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein a program causing a computer to function as:
- a display unit for causing the display to display a first screen and a second screen;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a game image based on three-dimensional model data and outputs the game image as a real-time image;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry;
  
  storage locations which store, as a captured image, image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which reads, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image generated in a previous frame by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and outputs the captured image, andoutput destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first and second screens, which is different from an output destination of a real-time image outputted in the previous frame, as an output destination of a real-time image currently outputted from the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and which sets another one of the first and second screens, which is different from the output destination of the currently outputted real-time image, as an output destination of the captured image outputted from the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry,wherein in an n-th frame,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, is output to the first display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame and based on the two-dimensional image data, is output to the second display, andin an (n−
  
  1)-th frame,the first game image, generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry is output to the second display and is simultaneously captured, and the second game image, based on the two-dimensional image data and captured in the n-th frame, is output to the first display.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a program to be executed in a portable game machine including:
- a first display;
  
  a second display;
  
  three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which generates a game image based on three-dimensional model data and outputs the game image as a real-time image;
  
  capture programmed logic circuitry which captures the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry;
  
  storage locations which store, as a captured image, image data captured by the capture programmed logic circuitry;
  
  two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry which reads, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image generated in a previous frame by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and outputs the captured image; and
  
  output destination setting programmed logic circuitry which sets one of the first and second displays as an output destination of the real-time image outputted from the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and which sets another one of the first and second displays, which is different from the output destination of the real-time image, as an output destination of the captured image outputted from the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, the program causing a computer of the portable game machine to perform;
  
  in an n-th frame wherein n is an integer no less than two,causing the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate a real-time image;
  
  causing the capture programmed logic circuitry to capture the real-time image;
  
  causing the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to read, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to a real-time image captured in an (n−
  
  1)-th frame; and
  
  causing the output destination setting programmed logic circuitry to set the first display as an output destination of the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and to set the second display as an output destination of the captured image read from the storage locations by the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry; and
  
  in an (n+1)-th frame,causing the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to generate a real-time image;
  
  causing the capture programmed logic circuitry to capture the real-time image;
  
  causing the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry to read, from the storage locations, a captured image corresponding to the real-time image captured in the n-th frame; and
  
  causing the output destination setting programmed logic circuitry to set the second display as an output destination of the real-time image generated by the three-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry, and to set the first display as an output destination of the captured image read from the storage locations by the two-dimensional image processing programmed logic circuitry.

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Litigation Campaign Assessment

Current Assignee
Nintendo Company Limited
Original Assignee
Nintendo Company Limited
Inventors
Ohta, Keizo, Yoshino, Hiroshi, Yasumoto, Yoshitaka, Nishida, Kenji
Primary Examiner(s)
Wu; Xiao M
Assistant Examiner(s)
Hoang; Phi

Application Number

US10/921,957
Publication Number

US 20050227761A1
Time in Patent Office

2,202 Days
Field of Search

463/32, 463/31, 345/3.1
US Class Current

345/531
CPC Class Codes

A63F 2300/1075   using a touch screen

A63F 2300/203   Image generating hardware

A63F 2300/204   the platform being a handhe...

A63F 2300/301   using an additional display...

A63F 2300/63   for controlling the executi...

A63F 2300/6669   using a plurality of virtua...

G06F 3/1438   using more than one graphic...

G06T 15/005   General purpose rendering a...

G09G 3/003   to produce spatial visual e...

H04N 21/4781   Games

Portable game machine and computer-readable recording medium

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Portable game machine and computer-readable recording medium

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