SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSOCIATING PLAYERS OF ELECTRONIC GAMES

• US 20150038233A1
• Filed: 08/02/2013
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Steelseries Aps
• Original Assignee: Steelseries Aps
• Inventors: Rom, Kim, Mahlmeister, Jeffrey Nicholas, Wolff-Petersen, Jacob, Hawver, Bruce, Grever, Francis Arnold, Soelberg, Tino, Nicolella, Christopher John
• Granted Patent: US 9,526,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• 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 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list

Abstract

A system, processor or computer readable device that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, receiving a user attribute of a first user based on a record of stimulation of an electronic gaming accessory of the first user. The record of stimulation is determined responsive to game-related activity in an electronic game application. A first user record is updated responsive to the receiving of the user attribute of the first user, resulting in an updated first user record. The updated first user record is forwarded to a matching service, wherein the matching service matches the first user and a second user based on the updated first user record. Such matching can be used to associate players of electronic games, for example, as members of a team. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, a respective user attribute for each of a plurality of users, wherein the respective user attribute is based on a stimulation record of an electronic game control actuator of a corresponding user of the plurality of users;

determining, by the system, a team profile comprising a plurality of team-member profiles, wherein each team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles comprises a respective team-member profile attribute;

determining, by the system, the team-member profile attribute of a select team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles;

correlating, by the system, the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users with the team-member profile attribute of the select team-member profile; and

matching, by the system, a select user of the plurality of users with the select team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles based on the correlating of the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users with the team-member profile attribute of the select team-member profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users comprises one of a measure of strength, a measure of weakness, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users is indicative of a proficiency corresponding to the stimulation record of the electronic game control actuator of the corresponding user of the plurality of users.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlating of the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users with the team-member profile attribute of the select team-member profile comprises:

deriving, by the system, a measure of performance from the stimulation record of the electronic game control actuator; and

comparing, by the system, the measure of performance and a target range of performance associated with the team-member profile attribute of the select team-member profile, wherein a correlation is determined according to the measure of performance falling within the target range of performance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the select team-member profile is one of a plurality of predetermined team-member profiles associated with a team.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the select team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles corresponds to a first gaming application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the stimulation record of the electronic game control actuator comprises a statistic based on a repeated stimulation of the electronic game control actuator.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving a respective user attribute for each of a plurality of users, wherein the respective user attribute is based on a stimulation record of an electronic gaming accessory of a corresponding user of the plurality of users;

determining a target profile comprising a target attribute;

correlating the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users with the target attribute of the target profile; and

matching a select user of the plurality of users with the target profile based on the correlating of the plurality of the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users and the target attribute of the target profile.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users is determinable without regard to a game action occurring in a gaming application in response to the stimulation of the gaming accessory.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, the target profile is a select team-member profile a plurality of team-member profiles, each team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles having a respective role identity and corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising assessing whether the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users exceeds the role-specific proficiency threshold of the respective role identity.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the target profile corresponds to a first gaming application, and wherein the respective user attribute for each of the plurality of users corresponds to a stimulation record of the electronic gaming accessory of a corresponding user of the plurality of users in relation to a second gaming application.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

comparing the respective user attribute to a corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold of the target profile; and

identifying the respective user attribute as being indicative of a qualified team-member candidate responsive to the comparing of the respective user attribute indicating that the respective user attribute satisfies the corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a respective supplemental user attribute characterizing an aspect of the user; and

filtering the qualified team-member candidate responsive to the supplemental user attribute.

15. A computer-readable storage device, comprising computer instructions, which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a user attribute of a first user based on a record of stimulation of an electronic gaming accessory of the first user responsive to game-related activity in an electronic game application;

updating a first user record responsive to the receiving of the user attribute of the first user, resulting in an updated first user record; and

forwarding the updated first user record to a matching service, wherein the matching service matches the first user and a second user based on the updated first user record.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the user attribute is based on the record of stimulation of the electronic gaming accessory, modified by a game action result of the electronic game application responsive to the stimulation of the electronic gaming accessory.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the user attribute is based on a statistic determined from the record of stimulation of the electronic gaming accessory.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a team profile comprising a plurality of team-member profiles, each team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles having a respective role identity and a corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold; and

assessing from the updated first user record, a suitability of the first user to participate as a team-member characterized by the team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles corresponds to a second gaming application, and wherein the user attribute of the first user corresponds to a stimulation of the electronic gaming accessory in relation to a first gaming application.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, further comprising:

comparing the updated first user record to a corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold of a team-member profile of the plurality of team-member profiles; and

identifying the updated first user record as being indicative of a qualified team-member candidate responsive to the comparing of the updated first user record to the corresponding role-specific proficiency threshold.