DATA LOCKER MANAGEMENT

• US 20130005488A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Evans, Ethan Z., Frazzini, Michael Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,668,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/43
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/493 Resuming a game, e.g. after pausing, malfunction or power failure
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/77 involving data related to game devices or game servers, e.g. configuration data, software version or amount of memory
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/554 by saving game or status data
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5586 for enforcing rights or rules, e.g. to prevent foul play
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/575 for trading virtual items
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/636 involving process of starting or resuming a game
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/084 using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments enabling users to identify themselves to a computing device and then be provided access to the entitlement locker of applications and/or data to which the user is entitled.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program comprising:

code that maintains a plurality of entitlement lockers for a plurality of users in a remote network storage device, each entitlement locker corresponding to a respective user;

code that receives identification of a current user;

code that receives a request from a local computing device of the current user to emulate a mobile game on the local computing device;

code that emulates the mobile game in response to verifying that the mobile game is included in an entitlement locker of the current user; and

wherein the mobile game is emulated as being executed on a virtual mobile computing device, wherein a model of the virtual mobile computing device matches a model of an actual mobile computing device registered to the current user.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

code that receives a request to access entitlement data that is stored remotely from the local computing device; and

code that grants access to the entitlement data in response to verifying that the entitlement data is included in the entitlement locker of the current user.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

code that denies a subsequent request to emulate the application in response to expiration of a license period for the current user to access the application.

4. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

a locker management application executable in the at least one computing device, the locker management application comprising;

logic that maintains a plurality of entitlement lockers for a plurality of users in a remote network storage device, each entitlement locker corresponding to a respective user;

logic that receives identification of a current user;

logic that receives a request to emulate an application on the at least one computing device;

logic that emulates the application in response to verifying that the application is included in the entitlement locker of the current user; and

logic that denies a request to emulate the application in response to verifying that the application is not included in the entitlement locker of the current user.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein upon subsequent addition of the application to the entitlement locker of the current user, a subsequent request from a local computing device currently being utilized by the user to emulate the application is granted.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein application media is streamed to a local computing device currently being utilized by the current user as part of an emulation of the application.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the application is emulated as being executed on a virtual computing device, wherein a model of the virtual computing device matches a model of a computing device registered to the current user.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

logic that signs off the current user as currently using the virtual computing device after detecting a designated period of inactivity on the virtual computing device, wherein the virtual computing device no longer has access to the current user'"'"'s entitlement locker until the current user signs on again to the virtual computing device.

9. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

logic that receives a request to access entitlement data stored by the at least one computing device; and

logic that grants access to the entitlement data in response to verifying that the entitlement data is included in the entitlement locker of the current user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the entitlement data comprises at least one of a music file, an image file, a video file, and an electronic book file.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein upon addition of a new application to the entitlement locker of the current user, a subsequent request from a local computing device currently being utilized by the current user to emulate the application is granted.

12. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a computing device, identification of a current user of the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device, a request to launch an application on the computing device; and

launching, by the computing device, the application in response to verifying that the application is included in an entitlement locker of the current user,

wherein a plurality of entitlement lockers for a plurality of users, including the current user, is maintained in a remote network storage device, each entitlement locker corresponding to a respective user.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

after verifying that the application is included in the entitlement locker of the current user, transferring the application from the remote network storage device to the computing device and installing the application on the computing device so that the application can be launched.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to access entitlement data stored remotely from the computing device; and

granting access to the entitlement data in response to verifying that the entitlement data is included in the entitlement locker of the current user.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the entitlement data comprises at least one of a music file, an image file, a video file, and an electronic book file.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

downloading a token to the computing device that grants the current user the right to access the application for a defined period after verifying that the application is included in the entitlement locker of the current user.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

signing off the current user as currently using the computing device after detecting a designated period of inactivity on the computing device.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

denying a request to launch the application in response to verifying that the application is not contained in the entitlement locker of the current user, wherein upon subsequent addition of the application to the entitlement locker of the current user, a subsequent request to launch the application from the current user is granted.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

denying a subsequent request to launch the application in response to expiration of a license period for the current user to access the application.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

receiving identification of a second current user of the computing device;

receiving a request to launch a second application on the computing device; and

launching the second application in response to verifying that the application is included in an entitlement locker of the second current user,

wherein the application and the second application are concurrently executing on the computing device.