FILE PREFETCHING FOR GAMING APPLICATIONS ACCESSED BY ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20150283462A1
• Filed: 04/08/2014
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Nextbit Systems, Inc. (Razer Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chan, Michael A., Fleming, Michael K., Quan, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 10,105,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 13/355 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 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• 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 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

Techniques introduced here enable cloud-based file prefetching for gaming applications running on electronic devices. The electronic devices store certain gaming data files on a remote storage server and preload some of the files locally to include file access efficiency. Gaming data file access patterns on the electronic devices are analyzed, individually and collectively, using a cloud service to detect global access patterns and help determine which gaming data files to preload on each of the electronic devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

tracking, by a processor of a client device, access data for one or more gaming applications that have been accessed by a user of the client device;

sending the access data to a server, wherein the server performs an individual analysis of the access data provided by the client device and a collective analysis of access data provided by the client device and one or more other client devices; and

receiving a prefetching profile from the server, wherein the prefetching profile identifies, based on the individual and collective analyses, gaming data files that are likely to be accessed by the user of the client device;

based on the prefetching profile, determining which gaming data files will be accessed by the user of the client device that are not available at the client device;

prefetching and storing at the client device the determined gaming data files prior to being requested by the user of the client device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the access data include one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications that have been accessed by the client device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access data include an access time for which the one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications have been accessed by the client device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access data include a duration spent on each of the one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications that have been accessed by the client device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the access data include other applications running concurrently on the client device with each of the one or more gaming applications.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the prefetching profile includes a likelihood that each of the identified gaming data files will be accessed within a specified timeframe.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein prefetching of the specified gaming data files is performed in order of likelihood.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a gaming data file;

serving the gaming data file from the first storage in response to the request when it is determined that the gaming data file is in the first storage;

determining whether the gaming data file is in the second storage when it is determined that the gaming data file is not in the first storage; and

moving the gaming data file from the second storage to the first storage when it is determined that the gaming data file is in the second storage.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

retrieving the gaming data file from an external source when it is determined that the gaming data file is not in the second storage; and

storing the retrieved gaming data file in the first storage.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a server, access data for one or more gaming applications provided by a plurality of client devices;

based on the access data, using one or more algorithms to, individually and collectively, analyze the access data from the plurality of client devices to determine a likelihood that one or more gaming data files associated with the one or more gaming applications will be accessed within a specific timeframe for each client device of the plurality of client devices;

generating a prefetching profile for each client device of the plurality of client devices, wherein the prefetching profile includes the determined likelihood that one or more gaming data files will be accessed.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the determined likelihood that one or more gaming data files will be accessed is based on other applications that have run concurrently on the client device with the one or more gaming applications.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the determined likelihood that one or more gaming data files will be accessed is based on one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications that have been accessed by the client device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the determined likelihood that one or more gaming data files will be accessed is based on an access time for which the one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications have been accessed by the client device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the determined likelihood that one or more gaming data files will be accessed is based on a duration spent on each of the one or more levels of the one or more gaming applications that have been accessed by the client device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising sending the prefetching profile for each of the plurality of client devices to a respective one of the plurality of client devices.

16. A client device comprising:

a processor configured to track access data for one or more gaming applications accessed by the client device;

a sending module configured to send the access data for the one or more gaming applications to a server; and

a receiving module configured to receive a prefetching profile from the server, wherein the prefetching profile identifies, based on a collective analysis of access data for one or more gaming applications from the client device and other client devices, gaming data files that are likely to be accessed by the client device;

a data manager configured to prefetch gaming data files from an external source based on the prefetching profile, wherein the gaming data files to be prefetched are not available at the client device.

17. The client device of claim 16, further comprising:

a primary memory configured to store gaming data files; and

a handler module configured to accept requests for specific gaming data files, and to serve the specific gaming data files from the primary memory.

18. The client device of claim 17, further comprising:

a secondary memory configured to store prefetched gaming data files, wherein the handler module is further configured to move specific prefetched gaming data files to the primary memory prior to serving.

19. The client device of claim 17, wherein the primary memory is further configured to store the access data and the prefetching profile.

20. The client device of claim 16, wherein gaming data files are prefetched in order of likelihood of being accessed.