MODULAR EXPANSION SYSTEM FOR BOARD GAMES WITH ELECTRONIC CONTROL

Abstract

The present invention aims at making a modular expansion system for hybrid or table games with electronic control, allowing to extend the traceability and extend the interaction area outside an original sensorized surface and especially outside the investigation area of a contactless identification system associated with the main board of the gaming system. This allows the user to enlarge the gaming surface outside the interactive surface of the original system and to obtain an interactive gaming surface which reproduces, for example the environment layout, enabling to interact in a more realistic way with the virtual gaming events and environments. According to the proposed solution, any gaming board, equipped with an original magnetic tracking system for tracking position and a identifying system (for example contactless or RFID type) for the identification of the playable elements and accompanied by physical interaction elements and a system communicating with a gaming apparatus (PC, tablet, console) where a software or an interacting video game is running, is expanded/extended by means of a series of additional elements, able to connect to each other and to said gaming board, said elements being provided with an extremely economical and reliable position tracing system based only on magnetic sensors and an appropriate tracing method.

Claims

1. A modular expansion system for board games comprising: a main board equipped with an identification system configured to detect playable elements provided with an identifying marker; a magnetic tracking system configured to detect playable elements provided with a magnetic marker; a processing unit having a communication interface and at least one main board interlock; a plurality of gaming area expansion elements for the main board, the gaming area expansion elements being equipped with magnetic sensors and a processing unit provided with a univocal identification code; and fieldbus for connecting the gaming area expansion elements to the main board.

2. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 1, where the gaming area expansion elements further comprise: at least one interlock configured to be coupled with the at least one main board interlock or with other expansion element interlocks; and variable shape and size pieces depending on an implemented videogame environment.

3. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 1, where the processing unit further comprises: an interface connected to the magnetic sensors; and an interface connected to the fieldbus.

4. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 1, wherein the gaming area expansion elements comprise a printed circuit made on a flexible support.

5. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic sensors are formed by a printed electronic technique and a surface deposition of substances sensitive to a magnetic field.

6. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 2, wherein the gaming area expansion elements are powered through the at least one interlock.

7. The modular expansion system for board games according to claim 2, wherein the gaming area expansion elements communicate via the fieldbus through the at least one interlock.

8. A method for tracking positioning and movement of playable elements provided with magnetic marker and identifying marker within a modular expansion system for board games, comprising: providing the modular expansion system, the modular expansion system comprising: a main board equipped with an identification system configured to detect playable elements provided with an identifying marker; a magnetic tracking system configured to detect playable elements provided with a magnetic marker; a processing unit having a communication interface and at least one main board interlock; a plurality of gaming area expansion elements for the main board, the gaming area expansion elements being equipped with magnetic sensors and a processing unit provided with a univocal identification code; and a fieldbus for connecting the gaming area expansion elements to the main board; detecting identifying markers of the playable elements by the identification system provided with the main board; collecting data about a state of the magnetic sensors for all the expansion elements connected to the fieldbus; for every playable element, leaving the main board sensorized area, verifying the activation state of the magnetic sensors installed on all the expansion elements, and memorizing identification and positioning corresponding to the element actually occupied by the playable element; and tracking any subsequent displacements of each playable element outside the sensorized area of the board by memorizing the sensors sequence activated by the magnetic marker during its movement along the expansion elements.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: gathering, by a fieldbus connection, the univocal identification codes of the CPUs related to the currently connected expansion elements; collecting, for each expansion elements as identified, the univocal identification codes of the CPUs of the adjacent expansion elements; and correlating data collected at the previous points and memorizing the data related to spatial positioning of the identified expansion elements.

10. A modular expansion system for board games, comprising: a main board comprising an identification system, the identification system being configured to detect an identifying marker of at least one playable element; a magnetic tracking system configured to detect a magnetic marker of the at least one playable element; a processing unit comprising a communication interface and at least one main board interlock; a plurality of gaming area expansion elements for the main board, the gaming area expansion elements being equipped with magnetic sensors and a processing unit provided with a univocal identification code; and a fieldbus for connecting the gaming area expansion elements to the main board.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Further characteristics and advantages of the proposed technical solution will be further explained in the following description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment integrated with the following accompanying figures where:

[0036] FIG. 1 represents an example of the modular expansion system for board games with electronic control.

[0037] FIG. 2 represents an example of a main board which can be extended by means of the proposed solution.

[0038] FIG. 3 represents an example of an expansion unit to be employed within the proposed system.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0039] With reference to the attached drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1 of the same, an example is provided in order to explain how to implement the modular expansion system for board games with electronic control object of the invention; such system consisting of: [0040] a main board (100), provided with a sensorized area (101), intended for positioning appropriate miniatures (120). Said board (100) being able to communicate, via an appropriate interface (103), wired or wireless, with a gaming platform (200) on which a specific gaming software (210) is running. Said board (100) is furthermore provided with at least one interlock (105) suitable for enabling the cascade connection of appropriate expansion elements (180); [0041] A series of expansion elements (180), each provided with appropriate interlocks (185) for interconnection with the main board and with further expansion elements, able to communicate with the main board via fieldbus (115); [0042] A series of miniatures depicting game characters (120) which can be freely positioned on the sensorized area (101) of the main board (100) and on the expansion elements (180); [0043] A series of decorative elements (130), which can be positioned on the expansion elements (180).

[0044] With reference to the attached drawings, and in particular to FIG. 2 thereof, an example of a main board (100) is provided and it is represented how the proposed expansion system object can extend the functions of such main board. The board consists of a sensorized area (101), it is provided with a series of magnetic sensors (106) and also with an identification system (104) such as the antenna of a RFID system or the vision field of an optical recognition system.

[0045] Objects (120) provided with magnetic markers (126) and with identification markers (124), as for example RFID tags or QR code can be positioned, within the sensorized area (101).

[0046] Furthermore, the base (100) is provided with at least one interlocking connection system (105), suitable for enabling connection with further sensorized expansion elements.

[0047] Furthermore, the base is equipped with a central data processing unit (110), consisting of a CPU (111) able to acquire the data produced by the identification system (114) connected to the identification tool (104), by the management interface (116) for the magnetic sensors (106) installed on the board, as well as those exchanged with the expansion elements through a wired or wireless fieldbus (115). Data of the various systems can be memorized on a memory (112), processed by the CPU (111) and, then, transmitted to an outer device (200) via an interface (103), by means of an appropriate communication unit (113).

[0048] With reference to the attached drawings, and in particular to FIG. 3 thereof an exemplary embodiment of an expansion unit (180) according to the invention is represented. Said expansion unit has a series of interlocks (185), for connecting to the main board and/or to other expansion units, and is provided with a series of magnetic sensors (186), controlled by a microcontroller (189), through an integrated interface (187) which includes also a processing unit (188) and an interface (183) for a fieldbus (115) either wired or wireless, which enables communication with the main board.

[0049] Gaming elements (130) provided with appropriate magnetic markers (136) and gaming elements (120) provided with magnetic marker (126) and identifying marker (124) can be freely positioned on the expansion elements.

[0050] With reference to the attached drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it is represented the control system object of the invention (100) including all the related expansion units (180) and all the elements (120, 130) that can be employed by the user to interact with a software (210) running on the gaming platform (200) connected to the system with the interface (103).

[0051] While using the main board (100), the player can position objects (120) on the sensorized area (101); such objects are provided with an appropriate identification marker (124) and magnetic marker (126). The system identifies the objects through the identification apparatus (114) and acquires the information related to the initial position of the objects through the magnetic sensor system (116); such information is stored in the memory (112) and used by the CPU (111) for tracking of the objects, as long as they move.

[0052] By connecting an expansion element (180) to the main board (100) through the interlock (105), said expansion element transmits to the master CPU (111) by means of the fieldbus (115) the information concerning to the state of its own magnetic sensors (186). When an object (120) leaves the sensorized area (101) of the main board (100) and moves to an expansion element (180), the central system (110) keeps trace of the object's movements itself through the information provided from the magnetic sensor network (186) and transmit such information to the gaming system (200), using an appropriate method consisting of the following steps: [0053] detecting the identifying markers (124) of the playable elements (120) by means of the identification system (114) of the main board (100); [0054] acquiring the state of the magnetic sensors (186) for all the expansion elements (180) connected to the fieldbus (115); [0055] for each playable element (120) leaving the sensorized area of the main board (100), the system for the possible activation of a magnetic sensor (186) located on one of the expansion elements (180) and eventually memorize the identification and position data pair; [0056] tracking the subsequent displacements of each playable element (120) outside the sensorized area of the board (100) by memorizing the sensor sequence (186) activated by the magnetic marker (126) moving along the expansion elements (180).

[0057] By placing gaming elements provided with magnetic markers (130) on the expansion elements (180), the user can prevent the movement of the interactive objects (120), determining obligatory paths and particular conformations of the resulting interactive gaming area.

[0058] By joining the main board (100) together with multiple expansion elements (180), through the interlocks (105, 185), the user can make interactive surfaces also very extensive and articulated, whose shape and dimensions can be detected and mapped by the gaming system through a method which allows to identify all the expansion elements (180) used and connected to the main board (100) through the fieldbus (115).

[0059] Such method comprises the following steps: [0060] acquiring, via fieldbus (115) the univocal identification codes of the CPUs (188) for all the expansion elements (180) used and connected to the fieldbus itself; [0061] acquiring, for each of the expansion elements (180) identified in the previous point, the univocal identification codes of the CPUs (188) of the adjacent expansion elements (180), connected through the interlocks (185); [0062] correlating the acquired data to the previous points and memorizing the data related to the spatial positioning and mapping of the identified expansion elements (180).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0063] The proposed solution applies to hybrid table games, with electronic control, which can be connected to electronic systems such as PC, Console, Tablet, Smartphone, for recreational play activities. The proposed solution is effective, easy to make and employs and enables to extend the interactive board games area with electronic control over the original surface, through a series of low cost expansion modular elements which can be freely positioned, thus allowing the user to make interactive surfaces also very complex and extensive and able to reproduce gaming environments with varying shapes and sizes; thanks to modularity, enables to create extremely various interface systems in terms of size and shape, not limited only to the original shape of the main board, but which can be freely configured based on the user's will or based on specific gaming patterns. This expansion system, for example, can be used to reproduce gaming environments with very variable shapes and sizes, extending and enlarging the gaming surface in addition to the main board interactive area geometry, allowing to create a physical depiction of the gaming environments layout, reproduced in the software (210) running on the gaming system (200).