Information processing apparatus

• US 10,182,087 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2018
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takaichi, Tomoki, Shiomi, Norihiko, Fujihara, Masahiro, Ogawa, Tomohiro, Ohno, Erika
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US15/962,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20180241788A1
• Time in Patent Office: 265 Days
• Field of Search: 709231
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

A streaming data acquisition section acquires streaming data distributed from a server and including an application image, and a streaming data reproduction section reproduces the streaming data. A command input acceptance section accepts a command input to an application inputted by a user. A command transmission section transmits the inputted command. The command is provided to an information processing apparatus of a distributor of the streaming data and is reflected on processing of the application being executed in the information processing apparatus.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a first acquisition circuit operating to acquire streaming data including an application image;

a second acquisition circuit operating to acquire command information to an application based on specification information of the application;

an image generation circuit operating to reproduce the streaming data to generate the application image and generate a command image based on the command information;

an acceptance circuit operating to accept a command input to the application in response to input of comment data; and

a transmission circuit operating to transmit the inputted command;

wherein the application is a game being played by a player user and being viewed by a spectator user, and the inputted command is a command inputted by the spectator user that is reflected on processing of the game, such that an interactive game execution environment is implemented;

wherein the comment data is inputted by the spectator user and the command inputted by the spectator user is contained in the comment data and extracted from the comment data.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a third acquisition circuit operating to acquire specification information of a distributor who provides the streaming data and specification information of the application,

wherein the transmission circuit transmits the inputted command based on the specification information of the distributor.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second acquisition circuit acquires the command information from a server.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission circuit transmits the inputted command as comment data to a server.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a comment image generating circuit operating to extract the command from the comment data.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the comment image generating circuit extracts from the comment data a predetermined character string associated with the command.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the comment data contains the command and a predetermined character string adjacent the command, the predetermined character string establishing a location of the command in the comment data.

8. A method of implementing an interactive game environment, the method comprising the steps:

acquiring streaming data including an application image;

acquiring command information to an application based on specification information of the application;

reproducing the streaming data to generate the application image;

generating a command image based on the command information;

accepting a command input to the application in response to input of comment data; and

transmitting the inputted command;

wherein the application is a game being played by a player user and being viewed by a spectator user, and the transmitted command is a command of the spectator user that is reflected on processing of the game, such that an interactive game execution environment is implemented;

wherein the comment data is inputted by the spectator user and the command inputted by the spectator user is contained in the comment data and extracted from the comment data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising acquiring specification information of a distributor who provides the streaming data and specification information of the application, wherein transmitting the inputted command includes transmitting the inputted command based on the specification information of the distributor.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein acquiring the command information includes acquiring the command information from a server.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the inputted command includes transmitting the inputted command as comment data to a server.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising extracting the command from the comment data.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting the command includes extracting from the comment data a predetermined character string associated with the command.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the comment data contains the command and a predetermined character string adjacent the command, the predetermined character string establishing a location of the command in the comment data.

15. A non-transitory, computer readable recording medium containing a computer program for causing a computer to carry out actions, comprising:

acquiring streaming data including an application image;

acquiring command information to an application based on specification information of the application;

reproducing the streaming data to generate the application image;

generating a command image based on the command information;

accepting a command input to the application in response to input of comment data; and

transmitting the inputted command;

wherein the application is a game being played by a player user and being viewed by a spectator user, and the transmitted command is a command of the spectator user that is reflected on processing of the game, such that an interactive game execution environment is implemented;

wherein the comment data is inputted by the spectator user and the command inputted by the spectator user is contained in the comment data and extracted from the comment data.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the actions further comprise acquiring specification information of a distributor who provides the streaming data and specification information of the application, and wherein transmitting the inputted command includes transmitting the inputted command based on the specification information of the distributor.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein acquiring the command information includes acquiring the command information from a server.

18. The medium of claim 15, wherein transmitting the inputted command includes transmitting the inputted command as comment data to a server.

19. The medium of claim 15, further comprising extracting the command from the comment data.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein extracting the command includes extracting from the comment data a predetermined character string associated with the command.