Description APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROL IN BALL GAME

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a ball sports game, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for providing great freedom and convenience when the user controls a player character and a ball in computer games of ball sports as they desire. Background Art

[2] In general, a player character and a ball must be controlled together with an appropriate user interface when a ball sports game is controlled. Conventionally, the player character and the ball are controlled using combinations of several function keys and direction keys on a keyboard, which are limited to indicating 8 directions. The keyboard cannot fully reflect the intention of the user in controlling the movement of the player character and cannot accurately control the ball that moves like a projectile and thus has limitations in that the game play is simple or restricted within preset patterns.

[3] Although an apparatus which allows the user to input more than 8 directions through a joypad or joystick to overcome the limitations of the keyboard has been introduced, the joypad or joystick is not universally used in PC environments and also has limitations in that it cannot quickly or accurately control the movements of the player character and the ball. Thus, most users play games using the keyboard.

[4] The conventional control method not only has the limitations in that it cannot quickly or accurately control the movements of the player character and the ball as described above but also has problems in that control results contrary to the intention of the user may occur under many various situations that may occur in actual ball sports and it is necessary for the user to learn the control method for a very long time in order to control the player character and the ball as they intend.

[5] In addition, if games of ball sports are played using the conventional control method, patterns of control results are easily read by users and the styles of the games of ball sports are simplified to decrease the interest in the games of ball sports.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[6] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to allow the user to control a player character and a ball in a game as in the real world in various situations that may occur in ball sports.

[7] It is another object of the present invention to allow the user to control a player character and a ball as accurately as they intend in games of ball sports.

[8] It is another object of the present invention to allow the user to control a player character and a ball as quickly as they intend in games of ball sports.

[9] It is another object of the present invention to allow anyone to easily learn how to control a player character and a ball in games of ball sports. Technical Solution

[10] First, the term "mouse" in the specification of this application including the claims refers to a general concept of input means including not only a mechanical mouse (for example, a ball mouse), an optical mouse, or an optical mechanical mouse, which are generally used in desktop computers, notebook computers, and the like, but also any other input means that provides click and move functions without any specific limitations to the number of buttons on it. That is, without being limited to the mouse for use with computers, the term "mouse" in the specification of this application including the claims refers to any input means that performs, as a game controller of a video game machine, the same functions (for example, including click and move functions) as those of a generally used computer mouse.

[11] In addition, the term "game" in the specification of this application including the claims refers to a general concept including not only a computer game, a video console game (for example, a game run on the Sony Playstation or the Microsoft Xbox), and an online game but also a game that is run on a mobile device that can be accessed by a device that performs mouse functions.

[12] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a game of a ball sport, the method comprising the steps of receiving a mouse input signal from a user; and controlling at least one of a movement direction of a player character and a movement direction of a ball in a game using the mouse input signal, wherein the ball sport is one of basketball, volleyball, hockey, ice hockey, and American football.

[13] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the controlling step includes controlling the movement direction and a destination of the player character based on a click of a first button of a mouse and controlling the movement direction of the ball based on a click of a second button of the mouse.

[14] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a game of a ball sport, the method comprising the steps of receiving a mouse input signal from a user; and controlling at least one of a movement direction of a player character and a movement direction of a ball in a game using the mouse input signal, wherein the movement direction of the player character is

determined by a position at which a first button of a mouse is clicked, and the ball sport is one of basketball, volleyball, hockey, ice hockey, and American football.

[15] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the movement direction of the ball is determined by a position at which a second button of the mouse is clicked and a movement speed of the ball is determined by a time during which the second button of the mouse is kept pressed.

[16] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a movement speed of the player character is increased if the first button of the mouse is clicked with a specific key on a keyboard being pressed.

[17] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a game apparatus capable of running a game of a ball sport, the apparatus comprising a receiver for receiving a mouse input signal from a user; and a command controller for controlling at least one of a movement direction of a player character and a movement direction of a ball in a game according to the mouse input signal, wherein the game is of one of basketball, volleyball, hockey, ice hockey, and American football.

[18] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the command controller controls the movement direction and a destination of the player character based on a click of a first button of a mouse and controls the movement direction of the ball based on a click of a second button of the mouse.

[19] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an online game server for providing a game of a ball sport to at least one client, wherein the server is constructed to allow the client to perform the above methods.

[20] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an online game server for providing a game of a ball sport to at least one client, wherein the server is constructed to perform the method according to the above methods.

Advantageous Effects

[21] The present invention allows the user to control the motion of a player character and the movement of a ball through a mouse when using a ball sports game program. This allows the user to escape from the environment in which movement control is limited to the 8 directions of the direction keys on the conventional keyboard so that anyone can easily and accurately move the player character and intuitively control the movement of the ball as they intend. This allows users to easily learn how to use ball sports game programs, making it possible to create a new market of game programs of a different type from the conventional ones. Brief Description of the Drawings

[22] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a control system for ball sports games using

a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[23] FIG. 2 illustrates how a player character is moved in a soccer game using a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[24] FIG. 3 illustrates how the movements of a player character and a ball are controlled during an attack in a soccer game using a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[25] FIG. 4 illustrates how the movement of a player character is controlled during a defense in a soccer game using a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[26] FIG. 5 illustrates a network environment in which the control system for ball sports games using the mouse according to the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented online.

[27] (Description of Reference Numerals of Main Parts of Drawings)

[28] 104: player character/ball position recognizer

[29] 106: player character/ball state recognizer

[30] 108: mouse/keyboard control event detector

[31] 110: command controller

[32] 112: player character motion determinator

[33] 114: ball movement determinator

[34] 116: graphic output unit

[35] 502: server 504: client

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[36] Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although a control method used in a soccer game among a variety of games of ball sports will be described as a most typical embodiment, it is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the soccer game and can also be applied to basketball games, volleyball games, hockey games, ice hockey games, and American football games in which the motion of a player character and the movement of a ball must be controlled together.

[37] First, as shown in FIG. 1, a control system for games of ball sports according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a player character/ball position recognizer 104, a player character/ball state recognizer 106, a mouse/keyboard control event detector 108, a command controller 110, a player character motion determinator 112, a ball (projectile) movement determinator 114, and a graphic output unit 116. Each of the components of the control system for ball sports games according to the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented by software or hardware and can also be implemented by a combination of software and hardware.

[38] First, the player character/ball position recognizer 104 defines the current plane coordinates using the X and Z axes in the coordinate system of the X (horizontal), Y (vertical), and Z (height) axes and determines the current positions of a player character and a ball present in a game that is being controlled by the user. The positions of the player character and the ball are represented by the coordinates of the X and Z axes. The position of each of the player character and the ball on each axis can be determined based on the distance from the origin on the axis.

[39] The player character/ball state recognizer 106 determines the current states of a player character and a ball present in a game that is being controlled by the user. The player character/ball state recognizer 106 identifies and defines all motions that a selected player character can do and all states of the ball. Particularly, motion states of a player character are classified into states after which the player character can do specific motions and other states. For example, the states of a player character may include ball-possession and ball-absent states, active (or moving) and inactive states, and normal and abnormal states. An example of the abnormal state is a state in which the player character has fallen.

[40] The following are the reasons why the states of the player character are classified in this manner. The first reason is to implement a natural connection between motions. In order to control a ball (projectile), the character needs to do a motion to kick or throw the ball or to strike it with a specific tool. In order to allow the player character to do this motion, the state of the player character previous to the motion must be a ball- possession state, an active state, or an inactive state. If the player character is in a state in which it has fallen or is already doing a motion to control the ball, redundant processing of the ball control motion may be omitted in order to achieve a natural connection between motions. The second reason is to process different results for the same keyboard and mouse input according to the motion state of the character. Specifically, the control system performs a process to allow the character to do a motion to control the ball if an input is received from the user when the character is doing a motion while in possession of the ball. The control system performs a process to allow the character to do a motion to strike, take possession of, or catch the ball if an input is received from the user when the character is not in possession of the ball.

[41] The mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 detects a control action that the user has input through a mouse or keyboard connected to a personal computer or a video game machine in order to instruct a player character in a game, which the user desires to control, to do an intended motion. In this embodiment, inputs from the keyboard and mouse are processed by a MS Windows program, which is an operating system (OS). In the present invention, inputs from the keyboard and mouse are not necessarily processed by the MS Windows program and may be processed by any

other OS program and may also be processed using a separate input detection program. The mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 determines whether or not a specific key on the keyboard is being pressed or has been pressed. The mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 also checks and identifies the control state of a portion of the mouse, which determines and moves the position of the mouse pointer, and the button state of the mouse such as whether or not a left and/or right button of the mouse is being pressed or whether or not it has been released after being pressed for a short time or whether or not it has been released after being pressed for a long time.

[42] The command controller 110 identifies a specific command to cause the player character or the ball to do a motion or make a movement in the current game according to the control input of the mouse and/or keyboard of the user detected by the mouse/ keyboard control event detector 108 and performs control operations for controlling the movements of the player character and the ball and displaying the control results to the user. When performing these control operations, the command controller 110 selects an appropriate command with reference to the positions of the player character and the ball recognized by the player character/ball position recognizer 104 and the states of the player character and the ball recognized by the player character/ball state recognizer 106. Commands selected by the command controller will again be described in detail later.

[43] Next, the player character motion determinator 112 determines a motion of the player character to be played according to the command from the command controller 110 and the ball movement determinator 114 determines a movement of the ball according to the command from the command controller 110.

[44] Finally, the graphic output unit 116 processes and outputs the motion of the character and the movement of the ball determined by the player character motion determinator 112 and the ball (projectile) movement determinator 114 so that they can be displayed on an output device including a monitor.

[45] As shown in FIG. 1, the operations of the player character/ball position recognizer

104, the player character/ball state recognizer 106, the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108, the command controller 110, the player character motion determinator 112, the ball movement determinator 114, and the graphic output unit 116 are repeated at intervals of a specific time. The specific time can be determined based on the frame of the display. For example, the specific time can be determined to be a time (for example, 0.2 seconds) suitable for game operations.

[46] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the respective operations of the components of the system. The present invention is not limited to the specific order of operations illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the operations of the player character/ball position recognizer 104, the player character/ball state recognizer 106, and the mouse/keyboard

control event detector 108 can be performed in any other order and the operations of the player character motion determinator 112 and the ball movement de terminator 114 can also be performed in any other order.

[47] Reference will now be made to example configurations of commands selected by the command controller 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 and Table 1.

[48] Table 1

[49] The following is a brief summary of Table 1. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the position to which the player character is to move is determined by a position at which the right mouse button is clicked, the movement speed is determined by a key on the keyboard pressed together with the mouse button, the position to which the player character is to move while in possession of the ball is determined by a position at which the left mouse button is clicked, the movement speed of the ball is determined by a time during which the left mouse button is pressed, and the height of the ball is determined by the distance between the player character and the position to which the ball is to move.

[50] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the right button of the mouse is used to move the player character. If the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 detects that the user has clicked a specific position using the right mouse button, the command controller 110 generates a command to move the player character to the clicked position regardless of whether the player character is in possession of the ball (corresponding to Cases 1 to 3 in Table 1) or is not in possession of the ball (corresponding to Cases 4 to

6 in Table 1). Strictly speaking, if the user clicks a specific position using the right button, the movement direction and the destination of the player character are determined by the click and the destination can be changed while the player character is on the way to it since the user can set a new position according to the position of the ball after the user clicks the specific position using the right button.

[51] Case 1 and Case 4 in Table 1 describe the cases where the user clicks the right mouse button while the player character is in possession of the ball and while the player character is not in possession of the ball to issue a command to move the player character to the clicked position at a normal speed, respectively. The command controller 110 issues a command to move the player character to the clicked position at a low speed if the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 detects that the user has pressed the "Z" key on the keyboard together with the right button of the mouse as in Case 3 in Table 1. The command controller 110 issues a command to move the player character to the clicked position at a high speed if the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 detects that the user has pressed the "Shift" key on the keyboard together with the right button of the mouse as in Cases 2 and 5 in Table 1. Although not shown, the movement speed of the player character may be determined by the time during which the right button of the mouse is pressed, without using the "Shift" key on the keyboard. The command may be constructed so that the movement speed of the player character increases as the time during which the right button of the mouse is pressed increases. Alternatively, the movement speed may be determined based on the distance between the player character and the position at which the right button is clicked.

[52] On the other hand, the left button of the mouse is used to control the movement

(passing or shooting) of the ball when the player character is in possession of the ball during an attack as illustrated in Cases 6 to 9 in Table 1 and FIG. 3. The movement direction of the player character and the movement (passing or shooting) direction of the ball may be set to different directions by using the left mouse button to control the movement of the ball and using the right mouse button to control the movement of the player character as described above.

[53] When the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 detects that the user has clicked the left mouse button at a specific position, the command controller 110 issues a command to move the ball to the clicked position as shown in FIG. 3. The position to which the ball is to move can be determined by the clicked position of the left button of the mouse as shown in FIG. 3. Strictly speaking, the movement direction and the destination of the ball are selected by the click and the destination can be changed since the ball may fail to reach the destination due to intercept or the like while moving to the destination although the expression "the position to which the ball is to move" is used in the previous description.

[54] On the other hand, the movement speed of the ball can be determined by the time during which the left button of the mouse is pressed as shown in FIG. 3. The movement (passing or shooting) speed of the ball is low if the time during which the left mouse button is pressed is short as in Cases 6 and 7 in Table 1 and the movement (passing or shooting) speed of the ball is high if the time during which the left mouse button is pressed is long as in Cases 8 and 9 in Table 1. A display bar indicating the speed of the ball according to the time during which the left mouse button is pressed may also be provided as a user display as shown in FIG. 3.

[55] On the other hand, the height of the ball while moving can be automatically determined from both the position of the player character and the position to which the ball is to move. The height of the ball can be automatically determined to be small if the distance between the position of the player character and the position to which the ball is to move is small as in Cases 6 and 8 in Table 1 and can be automatically determined to be large if the distance between the position of the player character and the position to which the ball is to move is large as in Cases 7 and 9 in Table 1.

[56] In addition, the mouse and/or the keyboard can be used to issue commands for various attack motions. In one example, a command can be constructed to allow the ball to rotate if the user releases the left button of the mouse after moving the pointer while pressing the left button with the "Control" key on the keyboard being pressed as in Case 10 in Table 1.

[57] Although not illustrated in Table 1, the command controller 110 may be designed to issue a command to cause the user's own player character to take possession of the ball from an opposing player character which is in possession of the ball if the user brings the player character near the opposing player character within a specific distance during a defense and may also be designed to issue a command to cause their own player character to do a sliding tackle when the left mouse button is clicked.

[58] The embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and Table 1. Although the right mouse button is used to move the player character and the left mouse button is used to move the ball in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this and the functions set for the left and right mouse buttons may be reversed, which will achieve almost the same advantages. In addition, any keys on the keyboard can be set to be used according to the convenience of the user. Particularly, the game may be provided with a customize function to allow the user to determine the keys used on the keyboard or to select the functions of the right/left mouse buttons.

[59] FIG. 5 illustrates a network environment in which the control system for ball sports games using the mouse according to the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented online. The system of FIG. 5 includes at least one online game server

502, at least one client 504, and a network 506 connecting them. The server 502 provides an online ball sports game service to the client 504 and the client 504 provides an online sports game interface to the user. The following is a description of how the server 502 and the client 504 operate with reference to FIG. 1. It is apparent that the mouse/keyboard control event detector 108 and the graphic output unit 116 of FIG. 1 are located in the client 504. However, each of the player character/ball position recognizer 104, the player character/ball state recognizer 106, the command controller 110, the player character motion determinator 112, and the ball movement de- terminator 114 may be located in any of the server 502 and/or the client 504. That is, the operations described above with reference to FIG. 1 may all be performed at the server 502 only and may all be performed at the client 504 only and some of the operations may also be performed at the server 502 while the remaining operations are performed at the client 504.

[60] The embodiments described above allow the user to control the destination and movement speed of a player character and the destination, movement speed, and height of a ball when the player character is in possession of the ball, and the defending motion of the player character using the mouse and/or the keyboard in a soccer game. However, it is apparent that the game control method according to the present invention described above is not limited to soccer games and can also be applied to basketball games, volleyball games, hockey games, ice hockey games, and American football games which employ, as basic motions or elements to be controlled, the destination and movement speed of a player character and the destination, movement speed, and height of a ball when the player character is in possession of the ball, and the defending motion of the player character.

[61] Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments are illustrative only without limiting the present invention. Those with ordinary knowledge in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.