Continuous gesture recognition for gaming systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10290176-B2
Application number	US-201715852009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2017
Priority date	Feb 14, 2014
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

A method for controlling a wagering gaming apparatus includes displaying a game on a display screen, receiving, from a sensor device, a plurality of location data points corresponding to a plurality of locations of an anatomical feature of the player in three-dimensional space as the anatomical feature of the player moves in the three-dimensional space, analyzing a first group of the location data points to identify a first input command, the first group of location data points comprising sequential location data points, causing a first action to be taken in the game, the first action being determined based on the first input command, and analyzing a second group of the location data points to identify a second input command, the second group of location data points comprising sequential location data points. The first group of location data points and the second group of location data points at least partially overlap.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling an electronic gaming machine, the method comprising:
displaying a game on a screen of a display device of the wagering game apparatus;
receiving, from a sensor device, location data points corresponding to a plurality of locations of an anatomical feature of a player in three-dimensional space as the anatomical feature of the player moves in the three-dimensional space;
analyzing a first group of the location data points to identify a first input command, the first group of location data points comprising sequential location data points;
causing a first action to be taken in the game, the first action being determined based on the first input command; and
analyzing a second group of the location data points to identify a second input command, the second group of location data points comprising sequential location data points;
wherein at least one of the location data points in the first group of the location data points is included in the second group of the location data points.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
rendering a three-dimensional display of a game on the display device, said rendering comprising visually projecting a three-dimensional game component out of the screen of the display device and toward the player;
wherein at least one of the first group of location data points corresponds to a projected location of the three-dimensional game component; and
wherein the first input command is associated with the three-dimensional game component.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second input command is not associated with the three-dimensional game component.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the first group of the location data points in a buffer, wherein analyzing the first group of the location data points comprises analyzing the first group of stored data points to identify the first input command; and
storing the second group of the location data points in the buffer, wherein analyzing the second group of the location data points comprises analyzing at least one of the first group of stored data points together with the second group of stored data points to identify the second input command.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second input command is a continuation of the first input command.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anatomical feature of the player comprises a hand of the player.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor device comprises a mobile computing device including an accelerometer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor device comprises a contactless sensor device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the location of the anatomical feature of the player comprises:
determining whether the location of the anatomical feature of the player matches a location to which the display device is configured to visually project a three-dimensional game component; and
in response to determining that at least one of the plurality of locations of the anatomical feature of the player matches the location to which the display device is configured to visually project the game component, identifying, as the first input command, a virtual manipulation of the game component.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
visually projecting a second three-dimensional game component at a second location; and identifying, as the second input command a virtual manipulation of a second game component.

11. A method for controlling an electronic gaming machine, the method comprising: displaying a game on a screen of a display device of the wagering game apparatus;
receiving, from a sensor device, location data points corresponding to a plurality of locations of a plurality of anatomical features of a player in three-dimensional space as the anatomical features of the player move in the three-dimensional space;
analyzing a first group of the location data points to identify a first input command, the first group of location data points comprising sequential location data points;
causing a first action to be taken in response to the first input command; and
analyzing a second group of the location data points to identify a second input command, the second group of location data points comprising sequential location data points, wherein at least one of the location data points in the first group of location data points is included in the second group of location data points; and
causing a second action to be taken in the game in response to the second input command.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
rendering a three-dimensional display of a game on the display device, said rendering comprising visually projecting a three-dimensional game component out of the screen of the display device and toward the player;
wherein at least one of the first group of location data points corresponds to a projected location of the three-dimensional game component; and
wherein the first input command is associated with the three-dimensional game component.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
storing the first group of the location data points in a buffer;
analyzing the first group of stored data points to identify the first input command; storing the second group of the location data points in the buffer; and
analyzing at least one of the first group of stored data points together with the second group of stored data points to identify the second input command.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second input command is a continuation of the first input command.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
capturing an image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player; and
analyzing the image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player to identify a plurality of fingertips of the player.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein analyzing the image of the anatomical feature of the player comprises:
performing an edge detection operation on the image of the anatomical feature of the player to obtain an edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player; and
analyzing the edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player to identify regions of high convex curvature in the edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising analyzing the image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player to identify multiple fingertips of the player.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein analyzing the image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player comprises:
performing an edge detection operation on the image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player to obtain an edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player; and
analyzing the edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player to identify multiple regions of high convex curvature in the edge enhanced image of the plurality of anatomical features of the player.

19. A method for controlling an electronic gaming machine, the method comprising: displaying a game on a screen of a display device of the wagering game apparatus;
receiving, from a sensor device, location data points corresponding to a plurality of locations of an anatomical feature of a player in three-dimensional space as the anatomical feature of the player moves in the three-dimensional space;
analyzing a first group of the location data points to identi

Assignees

• Igt Reno Nev

Inventors

• Froy David Vincent
• Idris Fayez

Classifications

• G07F17/3211

  Display means · CPC title

• G07F17/3209 Primary

  Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen · CPC title

• G07F17/3206

  Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics · CPC title

• G07F17/3262

  Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played · CPC title