Game Execution Environments

• US 20130203508A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 08/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Andrew Buchanan Gault, Rui Filipe Andrade Pereira
• Inventors: Pereira, Rui Filipe Andrade, Gault, Andrew Buchanan
• Granted Patent: US 8,784,210 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• 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 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/409 Data transfer via television network
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/51 Server architecture
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/538 for performing operations on behalf of the game client, e.g. rendering
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 : I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 : Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 : Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 : Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 : Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 : for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 : Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 : Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 : Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 : Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/42 : characterised by implementation details or hardware specially adapted for video compression or decompression, e.g. dedicated software implementation H04N19/635 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/44 : Decoders specially adapted therefor, e.g. video decoders which are asymmetric with respect to the encoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 : Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 : characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards

Abstract

Systems and methods for executing multiple video games, or other sources of video, include a game execution environment in which each game application is executed on the same operating system but within a virtual I/O shell. The virtual I/O shell includes virtual video, audio and input channels that allow each game application to operate as if it had dedicated drivers. In some embodiments, the systems and methods of the invention are used to provide video streams to a plurality of clients over the internet.

Claims

1. A method for virtualizing drivers of data associated with an application, comprising:

receiving a first request to play a game from a first client device via a network;

executing an instance of a game application on a hardware device in response to receiving the request;

establishing a virtual shell to drive data between the instance of the game application and the first client, the instance of the game application executed by an operating system, the operating system executed by the hardware device;

receiving a second request to play the game from a second client device via the network; and

driving data between the instance of the game application and the second client device by using the virtual shell upon receiving the second request,

wherein the method is executed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether to switch from using the hardware device to another hardware device upon receiving the second request to play the game, wherein determining whether to switch is based on a comparison of a quality of service associated with use of the hardware device and a quality of service associated with use of the other hardware device or based on a comparison of a lag time associated with use of the hardware device and a lag time associated with use of the other hardware device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first client device is the same as the second client device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first client device and the second client device includes a personal computer, a game console, a tablet computer, a telephone, and a handheld game player.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first client device has a different IP address than an IP address of the second client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the game application is executed to play the game.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual shell includes a virtual input channel driver, a virtual sound driver, a virtual video channel driver, a virtual control channel driver, or a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual input channel driver provides inputs received from the first and second client devices to the instance of the game application.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual sound channel driver transfers sound data between the first client device and the instance of the application.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the first client device and the instance of the application, wherein the virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the second client device and the instance of the application.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual control channel driver transfers control commands from the first client device to the instance of the application to control the game.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating system and hardware device are non-virtualized.

13. A method for virtualizing drivers of data associated with an application, comprising:

receiving a first request to play a game from a first client device via a network;

executing an instance of a game application on a hardware device in response to receiving the request;

establishing a virtual shell to drive data between the instance of the game application and the first client device, the instance of the game application executed by an operating system, the operating system executed by the hardware device;

receiving a second request to play the game from a second client device via the network;

spawning an additional instance of the game application on the hardware device upon receiving the second request; and

establishing an additional virtual shell to drive data between the additional instance of the game application and the second client device, the additional instance executed by the operating system,

wherein the method is executed by a processor.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining whether to switch from using the hardware device to another hardware device upon receiving the second request to play the game, wherein determining whether to switch is based on a comparison of a quality of service associated with use of the hardware device and a quality of service associated with use of the other hardware device or based on a comparison of a lag time associated with use of the hardware device and a lag time associated with use of the other hardware device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first client device is the same as the second client device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the virtual shell includes a virtual input channel driver, a virtual sound driver, a virtual video channel driver, a virtual control channel driver, or a combination thereof, wherein the additional virtual shell includes an additional virtual input channel driver, an additional virtual sound driver, an additional virtual video channel driver, an additional virtual control channel driver, or a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual input channel driver provides inputs received from the first client device to the instance of the game application, wherein the additional virtual input channel driver provides inputs received from the second client device to the additional instance of the game application.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual sound channel driver transfers sound data between the first client device and the instance of the application, and wherein the additional virtual sound channel driver transfers sound data between the second client device and the additional instance of the application.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the first client device and the instance of the application, wherein the additional virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the second client device and the additional instance of the application.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual control channel driver transfers control commands from the first client device to the instance of the application to control the game, and wherein the additional virtual control channel driver transfers control commands from the second client device to the additional instance of the application to control the game.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the operating system and hardware device are non-virtualized.

22. A method for virtualizing drivers of data associated with an application, comprising:

receiving a first request to play a first game from a first client device via a network;

executing a first game application on a hardware device in response to receiving the request;

establishing a virtual shell to drive data between the first game application and the first client device, the first game application executed by an operating system, the operating system executed by the hardware device;

receiving a second request to play a second game from a second client device via the network;

executing a second game application on the hardware device upon receiving the second request; and

establishing an additional virtual shell to drive data between the second game application and the second client device, the second game executed on top of the operating system,

wherein the method is executed by a processor.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining whether to switch from using the hardware device to another hardware device upon receiving the second request to play the second game, wherein determining whether to switch is based on quality of service associated with use of the other hardware device.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the first client device is the same as the second client device.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the virtual shell includes a virtual input channel driver, a virtual sound driver, a virtual video channel driver, a virtual control channel driver, or a combination thereof, wherein the additional virtual shell includes an additional virtual input channel driver, an additional virtual sound driver, an additional virtual video channel driver, an additional virtual control channel driver, or a combination thereof.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the virtual input channel driver provides inputs received from the first client device to the first game application, wherein the additional virtual input channel driver provides inputs received from the second client device to the second game application.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the virtual sound channel driver transfers sound data between the first client device and the first game application, and wherein the additional virtual sound channel driver transfers sound data between the second client device and the second game application.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the first client device and the first game application, wherein the additional virtual video channel driver transfers video data between the second client device and the second game application.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the virtual control channel driver transfers control commands from the first client device to the first game application to control the first game, and wherein the additional virtual control channel driver transfers control commands from the second client device to the second game application to control the second game.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein the operating system and hardware device are non-virtualized.