Using a participant list to invite players to an on-line game

• US 7,819,749 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2004
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2004
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Herold, June R., Eichler, Allen J., Fish, Edmund J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Peter DungBa
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lim; Seng Heng
• Application Number:
  US11/017,203
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 463/1, 463/25, 463/42
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5375 for graphically or textually suggesting an action, e.g. by displaying an arrow indicating a turn in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/556 Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5593 involving scheduling aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

An instant messaging user may use a buddy list that includes a user-selected list of potential instant messaging recipients (“buddies”) to identify another instant messaging user with whom instant messages are to be exchanged. An instant messaging user also may use a buddy list for other purposes, such as to initiate playing of an on-line game or to invite participants to play an on-line game. The buddy list may be used as an on-line game leaderboard that presents a list of players of the on-line game in ranked order.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for initiating interaction in a session of an on-line game, the method comprising:

displaying a participant list of on-line potential participants for a general purpose communication interface to a first user, the participant list being associated with the first user of the general purpose communication interface and the on-line game,

receiving, from the first user, an indication of a potential participant of the on-line game accessible over a network of computers, wherein the potential participant is one of the potential participants displayed on the participant list, and wherein the indication represents user input selecting the potential participant from the participant list, and

initiating interaction in a session of the on-line game between the first user and the potential participant, wherein initiating interaction within the session of the on-line game comprises;

enabling transmission of an invitation to the potential participant, the invitation including a game parameter that describes a game option to be used when playing the session of the on-line game,

enabling display of the invitation and the game parameter to the potential participant,

enabling conditional acceptance of the invitation to play the session of the on-line game by the potential participant, the conditional acceptance including an alternative game parameter, and

enabling rejection or acceptance of the alternative game parameter by the first user.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an indication of more than one potential participant of the on-line game accessible over a network of computers, and

wherein initiating comprises enabling transmission of invitations to the more than one participants to play the session of the on-line game.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the more than one potential participants is a potential participant that is not included in the participant list.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the more than one potential participants is a potential participant that is included in the participant list.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling transmission of the invitation comprises enabling transmission of an invitation to a particular potential participant only when presence information associated with the particular potential participant reflects that the particular potential participant is on-line.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling transmission of the invitation comprises enabling transmission of an invitation to a particular potential participant when presence information associated with the particular potential participant reflects that the particular potential participant is off-line.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein enabling transmission of the invitation comprises:

storing the invitation when the particular potential participant is off-line, and

transmitting the invitation to the particular potential participant when presence information associated with the particular potential participant reflects that the particular potential participant is on-line.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein enabling transmission of the invitation comprises enabling transmission of the invitation to the particular potential participant using an electronic mail system.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the participant list includes at least one potential participant of the on-line game that is associated with historical game information, the method further comprising automatically displaying the at least one potential participant of the on-line game in the participant list.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one potential participant of the on-line game associated with the historical information is displayed in the participant list for a limited period of time, and wherein the at least one potential participant of the on-line game is automatically removed from the participant list after the limited period of time.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the limited period of time is related to a number of sessions of the on-line game.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein:

at least some of the participants are geographically dispersed from others of the potential participants, and

each potential participant included in the participant list accesses the on-line game using a computer connected to the network of computers over which the on-line game is accessible.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the participant list comprises a leaderboard associated with an instant messaging service.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the participant list comprises a leaderboard operable within the on-line game.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving user input indicating whether the session of the on-line game is to count toward the ranking of the potential participants, wherein:

initiating comprises generating an invitation that includes a designation of the session of the on-line game as not counting toward the ranking of the potential participants.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the potential participants included in the participant list according to information relating to the on-line game.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, within the participant list, a status of the potential participants of the on-line game within a system for playing the on-line game.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating comprises providing the first user with a control operable to control a function of a system for playing the online game.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the control is selected from the group consisting of a game invitation control and a game join control, the game invitation control being operable to invite at least one selected potential participant to a session of the on-line game, and the game join control being operable to join an existing session of the on-line game in which a selected potential participant is currently participating.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, in the participant list, information regarding second potential participants included in a second potential participant list associated with one or more of the potential participants of the participant list.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, in the participant list, information regarding a readiness to participate in a session of the on-line game of at least one of the potential participants of the participant list.