Statistics system for online console-based gaming

• US 20030228908A1
• Filed: 06/10/2002
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: VanAntwerp, Mark D., Caiafa, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US10/170,001
• Publication Number:
  US 20030228908A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking

Abstract

In a statistics system for online console-based gaming, a user'"'"'s rating is added to the system by inserting an identifier of the user into an appropriate location in a rating table. The user is also assigned to one of multiple rating groups, and a count of users associated with that rating group is modified accordingly. A relative position of the user in the assigned rating group is also associated with the user, and the relative positions of any other users assigned to that same rating group are modified accordingly. A user'"'"'s ranking is retrieved by identifying which of the multiple rating groups the user is assigned to and generating a count of how many users are assigned to groups with higher rating ranges than the user'"'"'s group. The user'"'"'s relative position within the user'"'"'s group is then added to the count to generate the ranking of the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a game console, a score of a user;

identifying, based at least in part on the score, a location in a score table where an identifier of the user is to be inserted;

assigning the user to one of a plurality of groups;

modifying a count of users associated with the group to which the user is assigned;

associating, with the identifier of the user, a relative position of the user in the assigned group, wherein the associating is based at least in part on the user'"'"'s score; and

modifying, for each user in the assigned group that has a lower score than the user, a relative position associated with each such user.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the count of users comprises incrementing the count of users by one.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the relative position associated with each such user comprises incrementing the relative position of each such user by one.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the score table includes, for each of a plurality of users for which scores are received, the following:

an identifier of the user;

an identifier of one of the plurality of groups to which the user is assigned;

the score of the user; and

the relative position of the user within the group to which the user is assigned, wherein the relative position is dependent on both the score of the user and the scores of other users within the group.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the score of the user is associated with a game played by the user, the method further comprising:

identifying, based on the game played by the user, one of a plurality of score tables into which the identifier of the user is to be inserted.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a plurality of score tables, wherein each score table is associated with a different one of a plurality of game titles; and

identifying which of the plurality of score tables into which the identifier of the user is to be inserted based at least in part on which of the plurality of game titles the score of the user is associated with.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of groups has an associated range of scores, wherein each user assigned to the group has a score within the range of scores associated with the group.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein assigning the user to one of the plurality of groups comprises:

identifying whether a single group has an associated range of scores that includes the user'"'"'s score or whether multiple groups have an associated range of scores that include the user'"'"'s score;

if a single group exists, then assigning the user to the single group; and

if multiple groups exist, then identifying one of the multiple groups that has a quantity of users assigned to it that is less than a threshold amount, and assigning the user to the one of the multiple groups.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a node of a tree structure associated with the group to which the user is assigned, wherein the tree structure is used to assist in generating user rankings;

incrementing by one a count associated with the node; and

incrementing by one a count associated with each node of the tree that is situated in a path from the node to a root node of the tree.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising storing the trees structure in a persistent store.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

checking whether a quantity of users associated with the group to which the user is assigned is at a threshold amount; and

if the quantity is at the threshold amount, then splitting the group into multiple groups and assigning each of the users associated with the group to one of the multiple groups.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of groups has a group table having a plurality of entries, each entry including:

an identifier of the group;

a range of scores associated with the group; and

a value to indicate whether the count is equal to a threshold value.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each entry further includes a count of a number of users assigned to the group.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, from a game console, an identifier of a user;

identifying, in a rating table, an entry that includes the identifier;

identifying one of a plurality of rating groups to which the user is assigned;

modifying a count of users associated with the rating group to which the user is assigned; and

modifying, for each other user in the rating group to which the user is assigned that has a lower rating than the user, a relative position associated with each such user.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein modifying the count of users comprises decrementing the count of users by one.

16. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein modifying the relative position associated with each such user comprises incrementing the relative position associated with each such user by one.

17. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the rating table includes, for each of a plurality of users for which ratings are stored, the following:

an identifier of the user;

an identifier of one of the plurality of rating groups to which the user is assigned;

the rating of the user; and

the relative position of the user within the rating group to which the user is assigned, wherein the relative position is dependent on both the rating of the user and the ratings of other users assigned to the rating group.

18. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

identifying a node of a tree structure associated with the rating group to which the user is assigned, wherein the tree structure is used to assist in generating user rankings;

decrementing by one a count associated with the node; and

decrementing by one a count associated with each node of the tree that is situated in a path from the node to a root node of the tree.

19. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

receive, from a game console, an identifier of a user and a new rating for the user;

identify, in a rating table, an entry that includes the identifier;

identify one of a plurality of groups to which the user was previously assigned;

decrement a count of users associated with the group to which the user was previously assigned;

increment, for each other user in the group to which the user was previously assigned that has a lower rating than the user, a relative position associated with each such user;

identify, based at least in part on the new rating, a new location in the rating table where the identifier of the user is to be inserted;

assign the user to a new group of the plurality of groups;

increment a count of users associated with the new group;

associate, with the identifier of the user, a relative position of the user in the new group, wherein the association is based at least in part on the user'"'"'s rating; and

decrement, for each other user in the new group that has a lower rating than the user, a relative position associated with each such user.

20. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the rating table includes, for each of a plurality of users for which ratings are stored, the following:

an identifier of the user;

an identifier of one of the plurality of groups to which the user is assigned;

the rating of the user; and

the relative position of the user within the group to which the user is assigned, wherein the relative position is dependent on both the rating of the user and the ratings of other users assigned to the group.

21. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

identify a node of a tree structure associated with the new group, wherein the tree structure is used to assist in generating user rankings;

increment by one a count associated with the node; and

increment by one a count associated with each node of the tree that is situated in a path from the node to a root node of the tree.

22. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of groups has a group table having a plurality of entries, and wherein each entry includes:

an identifier of the group;

a range of ratings associated with the group; and

a value to indicate whether the count is equal to a threshold value.

23. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 22, wherein each entry further includes a count of a number of users assigned to the group.

24. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to retrieve a ranking for the user, wherein the ranking indicates how a rating associated with the user compares to other ratings associated with other users;

identify a leaf node of a tree, wherein the leaf node corresponds to the new group;

traverse a path in the tree from the leaf node to a root node of the tree, summing selected counts along the path;

identify the relative position of the identifier of the user in the new group; and

generate, as the requested ranking, a sum of the relative position and the summation of selected counts along the path.

25. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

receive a user identifier for which a ranking is to be retrieved, wherein the ranking indicates how a rating associated with the identified user compares to other ratings associated with other users;

identify which of a plurality of groups the user identifier is assigned to;

identify a leaf node of a tree, wherein the leaf node corresponds to the group to which the user identifier is assigned;

traverse a path in the tree from the leaf node to a root node of the tree, summing selected user counts along the path;

identify a relative position of the user identifier within the group to which the user identifier is assigned; and

generate, as the ranking, a sum of the relative position and the summation of selected user counts along the path.

26. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the ratings comprise game scores.

27. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the ratings comprise game scores from different users playing a same game title on different game console platforms.

28. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the summing selected user counts along the path comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

set an initial total count value to zero; and

for each of the leaf node and every node along the path between the leaf node and the root node,

check whether the node has a left sibling, and

add a count value associated with the left sibling to the total count value.

29. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the tree comprises a plurality of leaf nodes, wherein each leaf node corresponds to one of the plurality of groups, wherein each leaf node has an associated count value that identifies a count of users that are assigned to the corresponding group, wherein multiple levels of nodes exist in the tree between the plurality of leaf nodes and a root node of the tree, and wherein each node in the multiple levels of nodes has an associated count of users that is a sum of the counts of users of the children of the node.

30. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the tree comprises a binary tree.

31. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the user identifier is an identifier of a friend of a user initiating a request to retrieve the ranking.

32. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a game console, causes the one or more processors to:

identify a plurality of friends of a user of the game console;

access a server to retrieve, for each of the plurality of friends, an indication of how the plurality of friends and the user rank for a game title compared to one another; and

display, to the user, how well the plurality of friends and the user rank for the game title compared to one another.

33. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 32, wherein the indication of how the plurality of friends and the rank for the game title compared to one another comprises a ranking generated by the statistics server.

34. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 32, wherein the indication of how the plurality of friends and the rank for the game title compared to one another comprises, for each of the plurality of friends and the user, a score associated with the friend or user.

35. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

receive a request to identify a window of user rankings to retrieve, wherein the request includes a reference indication of where the window is situated;

retrieve one or more user rankings that are lower than the user ranking associated with the reference indication;

retrieve one or more user rankings that are higher than the user ranking associated with the reference indication; and

return, as at least part of the window of user rankings, the retrieved rankings.

36. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 35, wherein the reference indication comprises a user ranking.

37. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 35, wherein the reference indication comprises a user identifier, and wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to retrieve the user ranking associated with the reference indication, and return, as at least part of the window of user rankings, the retrieved user ranking.

38. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 35, wherein the request further includes an indication of a number of user rankings that are lower than the user ranking associated with the reference indication to include in the window of user rankings, and an indication of a number of user rankings that are higher than the user ranking associated with the reference indication to include in the window of user rankings.

39. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 35, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to retrieve a user ranking further comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

receive a user identifier for which a ranking is to be retrieved;

identify which of a plurality of rating groups the user identifier is assigned to;

identify a leaf node of a tree, wherein the leaf node corresponds to the rating group to which the user identifier is assigned;

traverse a path in the tree from the leaf node to a root node of the tree, summing selected user counts along the path;

identify a relative position of the user identifier within the rating group to which the user identifier is assigned; and

generate, as the ranking, a sum of the relative position and the summation of selected user counts along the path.

40. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 39, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the summing selected user counts along the path comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

set an initial total count value to zero; and

for each of the leaf node and every node along the path between the leaf node and the root node,

check whether the node has a left sibling, and

add a count value associated with the left sibling to the total count value.

41. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

establish a plurality of rating groups;

assign each user, based on a rating of the user, to one of the plurality of rating groups;

generate a relative position of each user within the assigned group, wherein for each user the relative position is generated based at least in part on the rating of the user and the ratings of any other users assigned to the same group;

split, when a number of users in a group reaches a threshold amount, the group into multiple groups, each of the multiple groups including one or more users previously assigned to the group; and

use a data structure to determine a ranking of a particular user based at least in part on both the relative position of the particular user within the group to which the user is assigned and a number of users in each of one or more groups ranked higher than the group assigned to the user.

42. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the data structure comprises a tree structure.

43. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the rating comprises a score of a game played by the user on a remote game console.

44. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein for each user the relative position is further generated independent of ratings assigned to any other users that are assigned to other groups of the plurality of rating groups.

45. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the multiple groups comprise two groups.

46. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein each of the multiple groups includes a number of users that is approximately equal to the number of users in each of the other of the multiple groups.

47. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein one of the multiple groups comprises the group that was split.

48. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the data structure comprises a uniform-depth tree having a plurality of leaf nodes, wherein each of the plurality of leaf nodes corresponds to one group of the plurality of rating groups.

49. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the data structure is maintained in random access memory.

50. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to maintain a rating table having a plurality of entries, wherein each entry is associated with a particular user and includes:

an identifier of the particular user;

an identifier of one of the plurality of rating groups to which the particular user is assigned;

the rating of the particular user; and

the relative position of the particular user within the rating group to which the particular user is assigned, wherein the relative position is dependent on both the rating of the particular user and the rating of other users within the rating group.

51. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to maintain a groups table having a plurality of entries, wherein each entry is associated with a particular group and includes:

an identifier of the group;

a range of ratings associated with the group; and

a value to indicate whether the count is equal to a threshold value.

52. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 51, wherein each entry further includes a count of a number of users assigned to the group.

53. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the data structure comprises a tree and wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a user identifier for which a ranking is to be retrieved, wherein the ranking indicates how a rating associated with the identified user compares to other ratings associated with other users;

identify which of a plurality of groups the user identifier is assigned to;

identify a leaf node of the tree, wherein the leaf node corresponds to the group to which the user identifier is assigned;

traverse a path in the tree from the leaf node to a root node of the tree, summing selected user counts along the path;

identify a relative position of the user identifier within the group to which the user identifier is assigned; and

generate, as the ranking, a sum of the relative position and the summation of selected user counts along the path.

54. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 53, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the summing selected user counts along the path comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

set an initial total count value to zero; and

for each of the leaf node and every node along the path between the leaf node and the root node,

check whether the node has a left sibling, and

add a count value associated with the left sibling to the total count value.

55. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 41, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to identify a window of user rankings to retrieve, wherein the request includes a reference indication of where the window is situated;

retrieve one or more user rankings that are lower than the user ranking associated with the reference indication;

retrieve one or more user rankings that are higher than the user ranking associated with the reference indication; and

return, as at least part of the window of user rankings, the retrieved rankings.

56. A system comprising:

a persistent store device configured to,

maintain a rating table that assigns user identifiers to bucket identifiers, and further stores both a rating for the user identifier and a relative position for the user identifier, wherein the relative position is based at least in part on the rating for the user identifier and the ratings of other user identifiers assigned to the same bucket, and

maintain a bucket table that stores, for each of a plurality of buckets, a range of ratings for user identifiers assigned to the bucket and a count of user identifiers assigned to the bucket; and

a statistics server device, coupled to the persistent store device, and configured to,

split, when a number of users assigned to a bucket reaches or exceeds a threshold amount, the bucket into multiple buckets, each of the multiple buckets including one or more users previously assigned to the bucket, and

use a tree structure to determine a ranking of a particular user based at least in part on both the relative position of the particular user within the bucket to which the user is assigned and a number of users in each of one or more buckets ranked higher than the bucket to which the user is assigned.

57. A system comprising:

a gateway device configured to receive requests from game consoles via an insecure network and communicate the requests to other devices via a secure network;

a front door device configured to receive requests via the secure network from the security gateway and translate the requests to a format expected by a statistics server device; and

a persistent store device configured to,

maintain a rating table that assigns user identifiers to bucket identifiers, and further stores both a rating for the user identifier and a relative position for the user identifier, wherein the relative position is based at least in part on the rating for the user identifier and the ratings of other user identifiers assigned to the same bucket,

maintain a bucket table that stores, for each of a plurality of buckets, a range of ratings for user identifiers assigned to the bucket and a count of user identifiers assigned to the bucket; and

wherein the statistics server device is configured to,

split, when a number of users assigned to a bucket reaches a threshold amount, the bucket into multiple buckets, each of the multiple buckets including one or more users previously assigned to the bucket, and

use a tree structure to determine a ranking of a particular user based at least in part on both the relative position of the particular user within the bucket to which the user is assigned and a number of users in each of one or more buckets ranked higher than the bucket to which the user is assigned.