REPLAY AND RESUMPTION OF SUSPENDED GAME

• US 20140094313A1
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Watson, Brian Michael Christopher, Suba Miura, Victor Octav, Stine, Jacob P., Cardell, Nicholas J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,248,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• 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 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/634 for replaying partially or entirely the game actions since the beginning of the game

Abstract

A client device platform may provide an emulator with game inputs to advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state. The emulator may record the game inputs. Once the emulation of the game is suspended, the client device platform may deliver a replay request to the emulator. Upon receiving the replay request, the emulator may re-emulate the game inputs that have been stored in the emulator'"'"'s memory. The re-emulation will produce the replay which may be delivered back to the client device platform. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A nontransitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for generating a replay of an emulated game, and wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) recording the one or more game inputs;

c) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

d) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network and suspending emulation of the emulated game;

e) receiving a replay request from the client device platform over the network;

f) generating a replay by re-emulating the emulated game with the one or more recorded game inputs; and

g) delivering the replay to the client device platform over the network.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the emulator is a deterministic emulator.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the emulator uses basic blocks to emulate the game.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the replay request is received at the same time as the suspension request.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein after receiving the suspension request from the client device platform, the method further comprises generating a snapshot of the emulated game, wherein the snapshot is a recording of a state of one or more devices being emulated by the emulator, and wherein each of the one or more devices is in a steady state.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the one or more devices are in the steady state when there are no outstanding disk requests.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the one or more devices are in the steady state when there is no asynchronous activity.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the suspension request is received before the emulator has advanced the emulated game to the second state.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed in fast-forward.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed in slow motion.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed at variable speeds.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more game inputs are received over a period of time.

13. In an emulator configured to operate on a network, a method for generating a replay of an emulated game, comprising:

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) recording the one or more game inputs;

c) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

d) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network and suspending emulation of the emulated game;

e) receiving a replay request from the client device platform over the network;

f) generating a replay by re-emulating the emulated game with the one or more recorded game inputs; and

g) delivering the replay to the client device platform over the network.

14. An emulator configured to operate on a network, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

one or more instructions embodied in memory for execution by the processor, the instructions being configured to generate a replay of an emulated game, the method comprising;

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) recording the one or more game inputs;

c) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

d) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network and suspending emulation of the emulated game;

e) receiving a replay request from the client device platform over the network;

f) generating a replay by re-emulating the emulated game with the one or more recorded game inputs; and

g) delivering the replay to the client device platform over the network.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for generating a replay of an emulated game, and wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

a) delivering one or more game inputs to an emulator over a network, wherein the game inputs are configured to advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) delivering a suspension request to the emulator over the network;

c) delivering a replay request to the emulator over the network; and

d) receiving a replay of the emulated game from the emulator, wherein the replay includes one or more recorded game inputs; and

e) presenting the replay of the emulated game with the client device using the one or more recorded game inputs.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the suspension request is delivered to the emulator before the emulator has advanced the emulated game to the second state.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more game inputs are automatically generated.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more game inputs are delivered over a period of time.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the suspension request and the replay request are delivered at the same time.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed in fast-forward.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed in slow motion.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the replay is configured to be displayed at variable speeds.

23. In a client device platform configured to operate on a network, a method for generating a replay of an emulated game, comprising:

a) delivering one or more game inputs to an emulator over a network, wherein the game inputs are configured to advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) delivering a suspension request to the emulator over the network;

c) delivering a replay request to the emulator over the network;

d) receiving a replay of the emulated game from the emulator, wherein the replay includes one or more recorded game inputs; and

e) presenting the replay of the emulated game with the client device using the one or more recorded game inputs.

24. A client device platform configured to operate on a network, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

one or more instructions embodied in memory for execution by the processor, the instructions being configured to generate a replay of an emulated game, the method comprising;

a) delivering one or more game inputs to an emulator over a network, wherein the game inputs are configured to advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) delivering a suspension request to the emulator over the network;

c) delivering a replay request to the emulator over the network; and

d) receiving a replay of the emulated game from the emulator, wherein the replay includes one or more recorded game inputs; and

e) presenting the replay of the emulated game with the client device using the one or more recorded game inputs.

25. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for a suspending and resuming an emulated game, and wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

c) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network;

d) generating a snapshot of the emulated game, wherein the snapshot is a recording of a state of one or more devices being emulated by the emulator, and wherein each of the one or more devices is in a steady state;

e) receiving a resume request from the client device platform over the network;

f) loading the snapshot, and resuming the emulation of the game.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the emulator is a deterministic emulator.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the emulator uses basic blocks to emulate the game.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the one or more devices are in the steady state when there are no outstanding disk requests.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the one or more devices are in the steady state when there is no asynchronous activity.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the suspension request is received before the emulator has advanced the emulated game to the second state.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the one or more game inputs are received over a period of time.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the snapshot is loaded before the resume request is received.

33. In an emulator configured to operate on a network, a method for suspending and resuming an emulated game, comprising:

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

c) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network;

d) generating a snapshot of the emulated game, wherein the snapshot is a recording of a state of one or more devices being emulated by the emulator, and wherein each of the one or more devices is in a steady state;

e) receiving a resume request from the client device platform over the network;

f) loading the snapshot, and resuming the emulation of the game.

34. An emulator configured to operate on a network, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

one or more instructions embodied in memory for execution by the processor, the instructions being configured to suspend and resume an emulated game, the method comprising;

a) receiving one or more game inputs from a client device platform over the network, wherein the one or more game inputs advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) emulating the emulated game such that the emulated game is advanced to the second state;

c) receiving a suspension request from the client device platform over the network;

d) generating a snapshot of the emulated game, wherein the snapshot is a recording of a state of one or more devices being emulated by the emulator, and wherein each of the one or more devices is in a steady state;

e) receiving a resume request from the client device platform over the network;

f) loading the snapshot, and resuming the emulation of the game.

35. In a client device platform configured to operate on a network, a method for suspending and resuming an emulated game, comprising:

a) delivering one or more game inputs to an emulator over a network, wherein the game inputs are configured to advance an emulated game from a first state to a second state;

b) delivering a suspension request to the emulator over the network; and

c) delivering a resume request to the emulator over the network.