System for remote game access

• US 7,841,946 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ELBO, Inc. (Gamestop Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Spawn Labs, Inc. (Gamestop Corporation)
• Inventors: Walker, Peter Anthony, Becca, Oswald Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Suhol, Dmitry
• Assistant Examiner(s): GARNER, WERNER G
• Application Number:
  US11/761,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20080045338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 463 40- 42
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/23 for interfacing with the game device, e.g. specific interfaces between game controller and console
• 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 13/32 using local area network [LAN] connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/323 between game devices with different hardware characteristics, e.g. hand-held game devices connectable to game consoles or arcade machines
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/33 using wide area network [WAN] connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/54 involving acoustic signals, e.g. for simulating revolutions per minute [RPM] dependent engine sounds in a driving game or reverberation against a virtual wall
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2488 Remotely playable
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/52 with a remote control
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/204 the platform being a handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/402 Communication between platforms, i.e. physical link to protocol
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/403 Connection between platform and handheld device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/405 being a wireless ad hoc network, e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Pico net
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/406 Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/409 Data transfer via television network
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/513 : server hierarchy, e.g. local, regional, national or dedicated for different tasks, e.g. authenticating, billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/538 : for performing operations on behalf of the game client, e.g. rendering
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 : for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 : Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 : Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 : Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A system for allowing a user to remotely access a game includes: a game console; a remote console client configured to receive a game control signal; and a remote console server. The remote console server includes an audio and video encoder configured to receive an audio output and a video output from the game console and to convert the audio output and the video output to a network packet. The remote console server also includes: a game controller emulation unit and a network interface configured to send and receive the network packet. The game controller emulation unit is configured to receive a game controller signal from the game console and to send the game controller signal to the remote console client and to receive a game controller input from the remote console client and send the game controller input to the game console.

Claims

1. A system for allowing a user to remotely access a game, the system comprising:

a game console, the game console being one of a plurality of various types of game consoles, the game console further having a game controller port, an audio output, and a video output; and

a remote console server comprising;

a console virtualization engine configured to allow access to the game console to be managed through the remote console server, to allow a remote console client to communicate with various types of game consoles, and to allow the game console to receive game control signals from a plurality of different types of devices, the console virtualization engine comprising;

an audio and video encoder configured to;

receive the audio output and the video output from the game console; and

convert the audio output and the video output to a network packet to be sent to the remote console client;

a game controller emulation unit configured to;

receive a game control signal from the remote console client through a network packet;

convert the game control signal to a controller input signal expected by the game controller port for the game console; and

send the controller input signal to the game controller port for the game console; and

a network interface coupled to the console virtualization engine, the network interface being configured to send network packets to the remote console client and to receive network packets from the remote console client.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote console server further comprises a memory card emulation unit configured to emulate a memory card for the game console, the remote console server being further configured to store a game configuration from the game console using the memory card emulation unit and to restore a game configuration to the game console using the game emulation unit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote console server is further configured to communicate with a global server.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the global server is configured to save a game configuration from a remote console server and to restore a game configuration to a remote console server; and

the remote console server is configured to restore a game configuration to the game console through a memory card emulation unit, the memory card emulation unit being configured to emulate a memory card for the game console.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the global server is configured to allow an owner of a game console to expose and manage remote access to the game console through the remote console server.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the remote console server is configured to announce its presence by registering with other remote console servers or with the global server.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the global server is configured to keep track of a usage of remote console servers by a remote console client.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the global server is configured to bill a user or an owner of a remote console server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote console client is configured to display a message in addition to the video output from the game console.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the message is an advertisement targeted to a user based on a usage pattern of a set of games played or viewed.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a global web portal system, wherein the user may access a plurality of real-time multimedia streams of live game play through the global web portal system.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a group of additional remote console servers, wherein each remote console server is configured to send a network packet that announces a presence of the remote console server and the remote console client is configured to locate the remote console server having a lowest latency with respect to the remote console client.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising a portal that enables franchising of a set of remote console servers owned by the user, wherein the portal enables management of the set of remote console servers as a common pool.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote console server is configured to digitize an analog signal from the game console.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote console server is configured to automatically adjust a quality and a latency of a transmitted video depending on an available bandwidth or a type of image being transmitted.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the remote console server is configured to automatically load game help information.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the remote console server is configured for a plurality of audio-video encoding configurations wherein an image resolution, a frame rate, a compression rate, and a latency rate can be adjusted.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the remote console server incorporates a plurality of game console controllers and game save memory emulation systems.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the game controller emulation unit is further configured to receive a game controller signal from the game console and to send the game controller signal to the remote console client through a network packet.

30. The system of claim 3, wherein the global server is configured to manage access to a plurality of game consoles by a plurality of remote console clients through a plurality of remote console servers using the console virtualization engines within the remote console servers.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the global server is configured to communicate with the remote console clients to allow the remote console clients to locate a remote console server and associated game console and once located, to send and receive network packets to and from the located remote console server.

19. A remote console server for providing remote access to a game console comprising:

an audio input unit configured to receive audio signals from a game console;

a video input unit configured to receive video signals from the game console;

a console virtualization engine configured to allow access to a game console to be managed, to allow a remote console client to communicate with various types of game consoles, and to allow a game console to receive game control signals from a plurality of different types of devices, the console virtualization engine comprising;

an audio and video encoder configured to convert the audio and video signals to network packets to be sent to a remote console client;

a game controller emulation unit configured to;

receive a game control signal from the remote console client through a network packet;

convert the game control signal to a controller input signal expected by a game controller port for the game console; and

send the controller input signal to the game controller port for the game console; and

a network interface coupled to the console virtualization engine, the network interface being configured to send network packets to a remote console client and to receive network packets from a remote console client.

20. The remote console server of claim 19, further comprising a memory card emulation unit configured to emulate a memory card for a game console, wherein a game configuration from the game console can be stored using the memory card emulation unit and wherein a game configuration can be restored to the game console using the memory card emulation unit.

28. The remote console server of claim 19, wherein the game controller emulation unit is further configured to receive a game controller signal from the game console and to send the game controller signal to the remote console client through a network packet.

32. The remote console server of claim 19, wherein the remote console server is further configured to communicate with a global server to expose the remote console server and to manage its access.

33. The remote console server of claim 19, wherein the remote console server is configured to communicate with multiple game controller ports for a game console to allow multi-controller multiplayer game play on the game console.

34. The remote console server of claim 19, wherein the remote console server is configured to provide audio output and video output from a game console to more remote console clients than a number of players allowed by a game running on the game console.

35. The remote console server of claim 20, wherein the memory card emulation unit is configured to save a game configuration to a global server and to restore a game configuration from a global server.

21. A method for allowing a user to remotely access a game, comprising:

providing a remote console server including a console virtualization engine configured to allow access to a game console to be managed through the remote console server, to allow a remote console client to communicate with various types of game consoles, and to allow a game console to receive game control signals from a plurality of different types of devices;

receiving with the remote console server an audio output and a video output from a game console;

using the console virtualization engine to convert the audio output and the video output to network packets;

sending the network packets with the audio output and video output from the remote console server to a remote console client via a network interface;

receiving with the remote console server a game control signal in a network packet from the remote console client via the network interface;

using a game controller emulation unit within the console virtualization engine to convert the game control signal to a controller input signal expected by a game controller port for the game console; and

sending the controller input signal to the game controller port for the game console.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising storing a game configuration from the game console using a memory card emulation unit within the remote console server and restoring a game configuration to the game console using the memory card emulation unit.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising saving a game configuration from a remote console server to a global server and restoring a game configuration to a remote console server from a global server.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising communicating from the remote console server to a global server to expose the remote console server and to manage remote access to the remote console server.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising using the console virtualization engine to communicate with multiple game controller ports for the game console to allow multi-controller multiplayer game play on the game console.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein further comprising providing audio output and video output from a game console through the remote console server to more remote console clients than a number of players allowed by a game running on the game console.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a game controller signal from the game console and sending the game controller signal to the remote console client via the network interface.