PERSISTENT AUTONOMOUS AGENTS

• US 20170182418A1
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Published: 06/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Rogers, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 10,092,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• 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 13/493 Resuming a game, e.g. after pausing, malfunction or power failure
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/67 adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/537 for exchanging game data using a messaging service, e.g. e-mail, SMS, MMS

Abstract

The systems and methods are directed towards object driven attributes for characters within a network-based game. More specifically, characters within a network-based game have various attributes that are influenced with the association and/or possession of objects provided by the user. These user-provided objects impact one or more attributes possessed by a character within the network-based game thereby influencing the character'"'"'s actions, personality and motivations. In other embodiments, the characters within the network-based game communicate with players using a variety of methods such as social media, e-mail and text. The communications provide in-game updates for the player to view. The player can provide natural language commands or responses for the characters that may influence the character'"'"'s actions within the game.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a user device, a communication from a character within a network-based game, wherein the communication is generated from the character upon detection of a trigger event, the communication including;

information about the character,

information about the trigger event, and

a request for user input;

inputting, at the user device, a user input in response to the request from the character within the network-based game; and

transmitting the user input response to the network-based game for the character, wherein corresponding network-based game instructions are generated, based on the user input response, for dictating how the character should act with respect to the triggered event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device that is receiving the in-game communication from the character is a smartphone.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the in-game communication is transmitted to the user to view as a SMS/text message, e-mail or social media post.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input is a natural language response to the request for user input, wherein the natural language response is subsequently translated into instructions for the in-game character.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication includes images obtained from within the network game.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the character can obtain two or more objects such that the overall impact of the character attributes based on the received two or more received objects are used to update the current attributes associated with the character and affect the generated instructions for the character within the network-based game.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more significant attributes includes the character'"'"'s statistics, characteristics, motivations and abilities.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating the impact of the one or more current attributes of the character is also based on the length of time the object has been in possession by the character.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating the impact of the one or more current attributes of the character is also based on a period of time associated with a use of the object by the character.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the objects are generated by third-parties.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the third party generated objects include advertisement/brand information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the branded third party generated objects possess characteristics that are superior to other similar objects that are usable within the network-based game.

6. A method comprising:

receiving, from a user, an object for a character within the network-based game, wherein the character within the network-based game has a plurality of attributes used to dictate character actions within the network-based game, and wherein the received object corresponds to a particular identity having one or more significant attributes;

evaluating an impact of the character attributes based on the received object, wherein the evaluated impact is based on a current plurality of attributes associated with the character and the one or more significant attributes associated with the particular identity of the received object;

updating the one or more current attributes associated with the character based on differences between the one or more significant attributes associated with the particular identity of the received object and the current plurality of attributes associated with the character; and

generating instructions for the character within the network-based game based on the updated attributes associated with the character.

15. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from a user, training-based information for the character within the network-based game, wherein the training-based information corresponds to instructions from the user dictating how one or more specific actions are to be performed within the network-based game;

updating the one or more current attributes associated with the character based on the received training-based information from the user; and

generating instructions for the character within the network-based game based on the updated attributes associated with the character based on the received training-based information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the training-based information includes video instructions whereby the user demonstrates how the character should perform the one or more specific actions within the network-based game.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the training-based information includes a step-by-step description for performing the one or more specific actions.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the training-based information includes details for a single step associated with the one or more specific actions.

14. A method comprising:

generating third party based content, wherein the third party based content is generated via an application programming interface to be incorporated into an existing network based game environment;

generating trigger conditions for corresponding third party based content;

incorporating the generated trigger conditions into designated elements of the existing network based game environment; and

processing a particular generated trigger condition when a user interacts with a corresponding network based game environment element, wherein the processed trigger condition provides the generated third party based content for the user in the network based game environment.