LEADERBOARD SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20120322561A1
• Filed: 06/15/2012
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kohlhoff, Andrew Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,715,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
• 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 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing

Abstract

An entertainment device comprises means to obtain a set of GPS co-ordinates describing the location of the device, means to initiate reverse geocoding responsive to the co-ordinates to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names, means to request, from a leaderboard server, leaderboard data corresponding to one of the hierarchy of geographical names, and means to display some or all of the leaderboard. A leaderboard server comprises means to host multiple leaderboards either linked together according to a geographical hierarchy or each associated with a geographical name, means to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names generated by reverse geocoding, means to identify one or more leaderboards either in a hierarchical sequence corresponding to one or more of the geographical names or whose associated geographical name matches one or more of the geographical names in the hierarchy of geographical names, and means to provide to the client data of selected identified leaderboards.

Claims

1. A method of accessing a leaderboard by an entertainment device, comprising the steps of:

obtaining a set of GPS co-ordinates describing a location of the entertainment device;

initiating a reverse geocoding operation responsive to the set of GPS co-ordinates to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names;

requesting, from a leaderboard server, data of a leaderboard corresponding to one of the hierarchy of geographical names; and

displaying some or all of the leaderboard on a display.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising the step of uploading a user ID and performance metric to the leaderboard server for inclusion on respective leaderboards corresponding to the hierarchy of geographical names.

3. A method according to claim 1, in which the step of requesting the data of the leaderboard from the leaderboard server comprises the steps of:

uploading a user ID; and

requesting the data of a largest leaderboard on which the user ID exceeds a predetermined minimum ranking.

4. A method according to claim 1, in which the step of initiating the reverse geocoding operation comprises the steps of:

detecting a closest location, stored in a database of locations on the entertainment device, to the set of GPS co-ordinates; and

generating the hierarchy of geographical names based upon that closest location.

5. A method of providing a leaderboard to a client by a server, comprising the steps of:

the server hosting a plurality of leaderboards linked to each other according to a geographical hierarchy;

the server obtaining a hierarchy of geographical names generated by reverse geocoding in response to a set of GPS co-ordinates;

the server identifying one or more leaderboards in a hierarchical sequence corresponding to one or more of the geographical names in the obtained hierarchy of geographical names; and

the server providing to the client data of one or more identified leaderboards.

7. A method according to claim 5 in which the step of the server obtaining the hierarchy of geographical names comprises one selected from the list consisting of:

i. the steps of receiving the set of GPS co-ordinates from the client and detecting a closest location, stored in a database of locations on the server, to the set of GPS co-ordinates, and generating the hierarchy of geographical names based upon that closest location;

ii. the steps of receiving the set of GPS co-ordinates from the client, initiating a reverse geocoding operation at a third party service, and receiving the hierarchy of geographical names from the third party service; and

iii. the step of receiving the hierarchy of geographical names from the client.

8. A method according to claim 5 comprising the steps of:

receiving a user ID and a performance metric associated with the user ID; and

adding the user ID and performance metric to each identified leaderboard.

9. A method according to claim 5 comprising the steps of:

receiving a user ID; and

providing the data of a largest leaderboard on which the user ID exceeds a predetermined minimum ranking.

6. A method of providing a leaderboard to a client by a server, comprising the steps of:

the server hosting a plurality of leaderboards each associated with a geographical name;

the server obtaining a hierarchy of geographical names generated by reverse geocoding in response to a set of GPS co-ordinates;

the server identifying one or more leaderboards whose associated geographical name matches one or more of the geographical names in the obtained hierarchy of geographical names; and

the server providing to the client data of one or more identified leaderboards.

10. (canceled)

11. An entertainment device comprising:

means operable to obtain a set of GPS co-ordinates describing a location of the entertainment device;

means operable to initiate a reverse geocoding operation responsive to the GPS co-ordinates to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names;

means operable to request, from a leaderboard server, data of a leaderboard corresponding to one of the hierarchy of geographical names; and

means operable to display some or all of the leaderboard on a display.

12. An entertainment device according to claim 11 comprising:

means operable to upload a user ID and performance metric to the leaderboard server for inclusion on respective leaderboards corresponding to the hierarchy of geographical names.

13. A leaderboard server comprising:

hosting means operable to host a plurality of leaderboards linked to each other according to a geographical hierarchy;

means to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names generated by reverse geocoding in response to a set of GPS co-ordinates;

identifying means operable to identify one or more of the plurality of leaderboards in a hierarchical sequence corresponding to one or more of the geographical names in the obtained hierarchy of geographical names; and

providing means operable to provide, to a client, data of one or more of the identified leaderboards.

15. A leaderboard server according to claim 13, comprising:

a receiver operable to receive a user ID from the client; and

in which

The providing means is operable to provide the data of a largest identified leaderboard on which the user ID exceeds a predetermined minimum ranking.

14. A leaderboard server comprising:

hosting means operable to host a plurality of leaderboards each associated with a geographical name;

means to obtain a hierarchy of geographical names generated by reverse geocoding in response to a set of GPS co-ordinates;

identifying means operable to identify one or more of the plurality of leaderboards whose associated geographical name matches one or more of the geographical names in the obtained hierarchy of geographical names; and

providing means operable to provide, to a client, data of one or more identified leaderboards.