PLACEMENT OF USER INFORMATION IN A GAME SPACE

• US 20110281648A1
• Filed: 05/11/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Weising, George
• Granted Patent: US 10,786,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/422 automatically for the purpose of assisting the player, e.g. automatic braking in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5372 for tagging characters, objects or locations in the game scene, e.g. displaying a circle under the character controlled by the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5375 for graphically or textually suggesting an action, e.g. by displaying an arrow indicating a turn in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5378 for displaying an additional top view, e.g. radar screens or maps using two or more virtual cameras concurrently A63F13/5252
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/54 involving acoustic signals, e.g. for simulating revolutions per minute [RPM] dependent engine sounds in a driving game or reverberation against a virtual wall
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/70 Game security or game management aspects
• 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 13/85 Providing additional services to players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/305 for providing a graphical or textual hint to the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/306 for displaying a marker associated to an object or location in the game field

Abstract

The generation, association, and display of in-game tags are disclosed. Such tags introduce an additional dimension of community participation to both single and multiplayer games. Through such tags, players are empowered to communicate through filtered text messages and images as well as audio clips that other game players, including top rated players, have generated and placed at particular coordinates and/or in context of particular events within the game space. The presently described in-game tags and associated user generated content further allow for label based searches with respect to game play.

Claims

1. A method for managing user-generated game play advice, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a location within a game space using a virtual coordinate system, the location corresponding to the desirability for rendering of game play advice;

receiving game play advice from a user;

assigning the game play advice to a location within a game space previously identified as desirous of game play advice by using a virtual coordinate system; and

displaying game play advice during subsequent game play at the same location within the game space using the virtual coordinate system, the game play advice displayed in a manner that is appropriate with respect to a present context of game play.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the new game play advice is displayed in a three-dimensional virtual environment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the virtual coordinate system uses X, Y, and Z coordinates.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the game play advice is textual.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the game play advice is visual.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the game play advice is audible.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the game play advice includes a consideration of the ranking of all available game play advice, and wherein only game play advice of a particular ranking is displayed at the location and within the appropriate context.

8. A system for managing user-generated game play advice, the system comprising:

a content submission engine for receiving game play advice over a network;

a virtual coordinate system engine for assigning the game play advice to a particular location within a game space;

a context engine that identifies a context of an event during game play, and wherein the context of the event corresponds to game play advice associated with the particular location within the game space; and

a display engine configured to display game play advice corresponding to the context of the event identified by the context engine and at the location of the event as identified by the virtual coordinate system.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a ranking engine that affects the game play advice displayed by the display engine notwithstanding the context of the event and the location of the event.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a feedback engine that receives feedback from a community of users with respect to the quality of the game play advice displayed by the display engine, wherein the feedback engine and the ranking engine operate to allocate a new ranking to the game play advice in accordance with the feedback received from the community of users, the game play advice being subsequently displayed by the display engine in accordance with the new ranking.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the display engine operates using an asynchronous programming language to continually update displayed game play advice submissions in accordance with a most recent determination as to the context of game play.

12. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor for managing user-generated game play advice, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a location within a game space using a virtual coordinate system, the location corresponding to the desirability for rendering of game play advice;

receiving game play advice from a user;

assigning the game play advice to a location within a game space previously identified as desirous of game play advice by using a virtual coordinate system; and

displaying game play advice during subsequent game play at the same location within the game space using the virtual coordinate system, the game play advice displayed in a manner that is appropriate with respect to a present context of game play.