The electronic game industry has seen a dramatic evolution from the first electronic ping-pong game ("pong") to the state of modern games and consumer home electronics. In general, hardware advances that have increased processing power and reduced cost has fueled this evolution. The increased availability of low cost processing power, as well as consumer expectation for improved game content, demands that new games be developed to take advantage of this processing power. This can be seen especially in the new 64 bit processing devices such as the Nintendo 64.TM. and the processing power available in home personal computer games and/or in arcade game platforms. These new hardware platforms are so powerful that a whole new genre of games has to be developed in order to fully utilize the hardware.
Electronic game input, traditionally, has been limited to joy sticks, button paddles, multi-button inputs, trackballs and even a gyro mouse that has a gyroscope means for determining the orientation of the mouse. Recently Nintendo has deployed a "rumble" device to provide vibratory feedback to game console users. Traditional computer input means are well know to those in the arts and require no further discussion. The gyro-mouse, in the context of the present invention, however, deserves some further discussion.
The gyro-mouse, provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,154 to Hotelling et al., the relevant portions herein incorporated by reference in their entirety, provides a means for using the gyroscopic effect in a computer input device to recover user input. The gyro-mouse provides a gyroscope contained within a ball so that ball may be rotated. This rotation translates into two dimensional or three dimensional motion for software receiving the gyro-mouse input to display on a computer screen. Thus, the gyro-mouse is somewhat an extension of the track ball paradigm for a computer input device.
The gyroscopic effect has also been harnessed for practical commercial applications. One of the more interesting gyroscopic effects is brought about through the principal of conservation of angular momentum. As witnessed in gyroscopic phenomena, a gyroscope creates a force at right angles to a force that attempts to "topple" the gyroscope. Thus, a gyroscope when left alone or mounted in a double gimbal arrangement allowing the gyroscope to move freely in both axes, will resist movement and/or attempt to hold its own angular position. Gyroscopes are also known to have precession due to the earth's effect on the gyroscope. Gyroscope procession is not especially pertinent to the present invention, however, its principals and mathematical proofs and formula are herein incorporated by reference.
The navigational arts also provide a means for harnessing gyroscopic phenomena to determine the inertial position of a vehicle such as an aircraft. In an inertial navigation system, the gyroscope is mounted in a double gimballed arrangement and allowed to rotate without resistance in all directions. As the aircraft turns, rotates, and/or changes direction the gyroscopic effect keeps the inertial navigation gyroscope at the same angle. High precision means are used to determine how much the gyrostat has rotated, in actuality the aircraft rotating around the gyroscope, and this measurement in combination with high precision accelerometers provides a means for tracking the change in an aircraft direction. This instrumentality in conjunction with precision timing and velocity measurements provides a means for continuously determining an aircraft navigational position.
In another application of the gyroscopic effect, a large gyroscope can be used to create an effect that in some aspects is the reverse that of an inertial navigation system. Here, a large gyrostat mass (the flywheel) can be use to stabilize or position certain objects such as spacecraft. In the spacecraft application, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,420, the relevant portions herein incorporated by reference in their entirety, large flywheels and high torque motors and brakes are used to topple the flywheel. The spacecraft then feels a moment of thrust at right angles to the torque that is applied to the gyrostat. This way, and in others such as the "pure" inertia of rotation of causing a flywheel mass to accelerate or decelerate rotation, spacecraft attitude may be changed through gyrostatic means. In other stabilization applications, gyrostats are used to stabilize platforms such as cameras and other precision instruments, in general by attaching a gyrostat to the instrument platform.
Gyrostats have been used in conjunction with wheels to provide linear propulsion. Through a systems of gears and linkages, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,260, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, provides a means for translating the gyrostatic toppling effect into a linear force for propulsion.