GAME GRAMMAR-BASED PACKET CAPTURE AND ANALYSIS APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING GAME TEST

• US 20110130205A1
• Filed: 01/06/2010
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Cho, Chang Sik, Bae, Su Young, Sohn, Kang Min, Park, Chang Joon
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/31 Communication aspects specific to video games, e.g. between several handheld game devices at close range
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/358 Adapting the game course according to the network or server load, e.g. for reducing latency due to different connection speeds between clients
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/402 Communication between platforms, i.e. physical link to protocol
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/575 for trading virtual items

Abstract

A game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus for conducting game test, includes: a packet capture unit for capturing packets of game data transmitted and received between a game client and a game server; a packet analysis unit for analyzing the packets captured by the packet capture unit to generate a game grammar based on analyzed results. Further, the game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus includes a load generation unit for generating packets in compliance with the game grammar to apply the packets to the game server as a load.

Claims

1. A game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus for conducting game test, comprising:

a packet capture unit for capturing packets of game data transmitted and received between a game client and a game server;

a packet analysis unit for analyzing the packets captured by the packet capture unit to generate a game grammar based on analyzed results; and

a load generation unit for generating packets in compliance with the game grammar to apply the packets to the game server as a load.

2. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 1, wherein the packet analysis unit comprises:

a packet generation rule analyzer for defining packet generation rules by analyzing an entire structure of the packets;

an action analyzer for grouping a series of packets into a group to define the group as an action of a game;

a protocol analyzer for analyzing protocols of communication between the game client and the server by analyzing the packets; and

a game grammar generator for generating the game grammar using the packet generation rules, the actions and the protocols.

3. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 2, wherein the packet generation rule analyzer defines the packet generation rules by analyzing a header of each of the packets, a protocol ID and a parameter in the entire structure of the packets.

4. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 2, wherein the packet generation rule analyzer defines header data generation rules, encryption rules, game packet language encoding rules, and time stamp rules after analyzing the entire structure of the packets.

5. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 2, wherein the action analyzer groups the series of packets into a group to define the group as an action such as movement, battle and item trade.

6. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 5, wherein the action is defined using a name of the action, a protocol ID and a time rule.

7. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 2, wherein the protocol analyzer analyzes a protocol for communication between the game client and the server using a header of the packet, a protocol ID and a parameter obtained by the analysis of the entire structure of the packet.

8. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 2, wherein the game grammar generator stores the generated game grammar in eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

9. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 1, wherein the packet capture unit comprises packet data storage for storing the packets of game data captured between the game client and the game server.

10. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 1, wherein the load generation unit generates a plurality of virtual user sessions and generates packets suitable to the game grammar using the generated virtual user sessions to apply the packets to the game server as a load.

11. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis apparatus of claim 10, wherein the load generation unit variably adjusts the number of virtual user sessions depending on a load required for the game test.

12. A game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method for conducting game test, comprising:

capturing packets of game data transmitted and received between a game client and a game server;

analyzing the captured packets to generate a game grammar based on analyzed results; and

generating packets in compliance with the game grammar to apply the packets to the game server as a load.

13. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 12, wherein the generating a game grammar comprises:

defining packet generation rules by analyzing an entire structure of the packets;

grouping a series of packets into a group to define the group as an action of a game;

defining protocols of communication between the game client and the server by analyzing the packets; and

generating the game grammar using the packet generation rules, actions and the protocols.

14. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 13, wherein the packet generation rules are defined by analyzing a header of each of the packets, a protocol ID and a parameter in the entire structure of the packets.

15. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 13, wherein the generating packet generation rules comprises:

defining header data generation rules of the packets;

defining encryption rules of the packets;

defining game packet language encoding rules by analyzing the packets; and

defining time stamp rules by analyzing header data of the packets.

16. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 13, wherein the defining the group as an action of a game comprises:

grouping the series of packets into a group based on the packet generation rules; and

defines the group as an action, such as movement, battle and item trade, by analyzing characteristics of the grouped packets.

17. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 16, wherein the action is defined using a name of the action, a protocol ID and a time rule.

18. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 12, wherein the generating packets to the game server as a load comprises:

generating a plurality of virtual user sessions;

generating packets suitable to the game grammar by the virtual user sessions; and

transmitting the generated packets to the game server and generating a load on the game server.

19. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 18, wherein the virtual user sessions are configured such that the number of virtual user sessions generated depending on a load required for the game test is variably adjusted.

20. The game grammar-based packet capture and analysis method of claim 12, wherein the game grammar is stored in XML.