Wii Vitality Sensor patent unearthed, indicates how the peripheral works, game example included
– Vitality Sensor fires a light beam on one end
– Photodetector on the other end
– Hemoglobin absorbs some amount of infrared light due to the fact that the player’s finger is in between the light source and photodetector
– Pulse rate rises under stress, increases blood flow, as well as the concentration of hemoglobin in a fingertip
– More hemoglobin, less infrared absorption on the photodetector side
– Blood flow rate and hemoglobin in your finger tip should be less if you’re calm, so the photodetector can absorb more light
– Vitality Sensor measures a player’s “relax fluid”
– Relax fluid calculated by measuring a cardiac cycle, which is R wave to R wave, over 100 pulses
– This figure can be compared to the relax fluid of some aged persons like Brain Age
– Stretch game mentioned in Nintendo’s patent
– Tilt the Wiimote up/down to move a character
– Players need to adjust their breathing to match the ceiling’s dips and drops
– Character moves automatically
– Screen scrolls to the right
– Inhale to fire the smiling blob’s hat up towards the ceiling, exhale to drop
– Vitality Sensor used to pick up inhales/exhales
– Increase in heart rate means a player inhaled, decrease means exhaled
– Height of the ceiling adjusts to players breathing, changes to get players into a more relaxing breathing pattern
– Tilt the Wiimote to allow the blob’s body dive up and down when it’s flying
– Lose points if you hit the ceiling or floor
– Relax fluid from before and after the game shown
– Goal is to increase the amount of relax fluid, so it should go up along with parasympathetic nervous system activity
