Inventory management of virtual items in computer games

• US 20040266505A1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Keam, Nigel S., Pryor, Leon
• Granted Patent: US 7,713,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/32 using local area network [LAN] connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/63 by the player, e.g. authoring using a level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• 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 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/404 characterized by a local network connection
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/50 characterized by details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5513 involving billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6018 where the game content is authored by the player, e.g. level editor or by game device at runtime, e.g. level is created from music data on CD
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games

Abstract

Within a game, a filter is applied to a game inventory based on an attribute of each one of a plurality of virtual items. The filter can be player defined, game developer defined, system programmer defined, or a combination thereof. In certain versions, the virtual items that satisfy the query provided by the filter are displayed to the player. The player can thereupon access any one of the virtual items that are represented by the icons that satisfy the filtering query. In one version, the attributes of the virtual items can be changed using the filtering game inventory system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

filtering a plurality of virtual items based on their attributes; and

displaying the filtered items in a game inventory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes are invisible.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising constructing the filter.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a player of the game constructs the filter.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a game developer of the game constructs the filter.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein a plurality of items included in the inventory are accessed through a plurality of filters.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein certain ones of the plurality of filters are defined by a player of the game, and other ones of the plurality of filters are defined by a game developer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein only those virtual items that satisfy a query that corresponds to the filter are selected by the filter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the virtual items are displayed over an inventory management portion of the display.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the query includes a structured query language (SQL) query.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of filters, and each filter is indicated by a distinct inventory filter icon.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting a virtual item icon to display the virtual item corresponding to the virtual item icon.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter is displayed as a portion of a user interface, further comprising the player at least partially defining the filter.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying items that match a selected filter to a player.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a mouse is used to select the filter.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a joystick is used to select the filter.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a computer display button is used to select the filter.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein a computer display menu is used to select the filter.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter is represented by a name.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter is represented by a symbol.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter is displayed as part of the screen displaying the inventory.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising altering the attribute of the virtual item.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a game display, the game display at least partially includes an inventory management portion, the inventory management portion further includes;

an inventory filter icon that can be selected to yield a selected inventoried package display, the selected inventoried package display displays zero or more virtual item icons, each displayed virtual item icon represents a virtual item that includes the attributes filtered based on the inventory filter icon.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein dragging a virtual item icon associated with one of the virtual items to a different location on the game display alters the attributes of that virtual item.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a player defines the inventory filter icon.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a game developer defines the inventory filter icon.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the game display further includes an action screen portion.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the apparatus searches a plurality of items for a game, and the apparatus displays only those items that satisfy search criteria as set forth by the attributes filtered by the inventory filter icon.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a player provides attributes and selects items based on the criteria using a user interface.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the apparatus highlights the attributes of certain desirable virtual items to a player.

31. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

apply a filter to an inventory based on an attribute of each one of a plurality of virtual items that are used within the game.

32. The computer executable instructions of claim 31, further comprising constructing the filter.

33. The computer executable instructions of claim 31, wherein a player of the game defines the filter.

34. The computer executable instructions of claim 31, wherein a game developer of the game defines the filter.

35. The computer executable instructions of claim 31, wherein certain ones of the plurality of filters are defined by a player of the game, and other ones of the plurality of filters are defined by a game developer.

36. The computer executable instructions of claim 31, wherein only those virtual items that satisfy a query that corresponds to the filter are displayed to a player in the filter.

37. An apparatus comprising:

a game server, the game server at least partially includes an inventory management portion, the inventory management portion further includes an inventory filter icon that can be selected to yield a selected inventoried package display, the selected inventoried package display displays at least one virtual item icon, each displayed virtual item icon represents a virtual item that includes the attributes filtered by the inventory filter icon.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein a player defines the inventory filter icon.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein a game developer defines the inventory filter icon.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the game display further includes an action screen portion.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the apparatus searches a plurality of items for a game, and the apparatus displays only those items that satisfy search criteria as set forth by the attributes filtered by the inventory filter icon.

42. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein a player provides attributes and selects items based in the criteria using a user interface.

43. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the apparatus highlights the attributes of certain desirable virtual items by a player.