SIP based VoIP multiplayer network games

• US 7,985,138 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2004
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Acharya, Arup, Singh, Aameek
• Primary Examiner(s): Coburn, Corbett B
• Application Number:
  US10/780,089
• Publication Number:
  US 20050181872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,716 Days
• Field of Search: 463/42
• US Class Current: 463/42
• 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 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/50 characterized by details of game servers
• 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: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for the close coupling of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) with multiplayer network games. Game state dependent voice communications are used as another method of player interaction in the game environment. The system uses SIP enhanced game servers and conference servers with audio mixing capabilities, and the game server controls the creation, maintenance and changing of the voice conferences. Participation in a voice conference is determined by the game state features associated with each player including distance and direction to determine how the voices are mixed in a voice conference.

Claims

1. A method for providing simultaneous context based audio interaction among a plurality of participants in a network based gaming environment, the method comprising:

using a single centralized game server configured to host a single instance of a dynamic, multi-user, network based game to establish a network based game environment containing identifications for a plurality of game participants, the game comprising integrated voice over internet protocol communication capabilities;

maintaining a game state profile for each one of the game participant identifications at the game server, each game state profile comprising game specific context for a given game participant identification;

using solely the game server to send instructions to a conference server separate from the game server to establish a plurality of simultaneous and independent voice over internet protocol based audio conferences within the network based game environment, all of the audio conferences contained within the single network based game instance, each audio conference comprising a group of participant identifications, each group comprising a plurality of participant identifications having a shared game context within the game state profiles comprising parameters or attributes that permit audio communication among the game participants associated with those participant identifications and audio paths between a plurality of geographically distributed audio mixers and communication devices associated with each game participant identification in that group;

using the audio paths for the permitted audio communications among game participants; and

using the game server to switch participants among the audio conferences seamlessly and dynamically during the single network based game instance and non-disruptively to the single network based game instance and any of the audio conferences;

wherein the participant identifications in each group are selected by the game server based solely upon the maintained game state profiles the conference server used to establish audio paths between the plurality of geographically distributed audio mixers and communication devices associated with each game participant in one of the audio conferences solely in response to the instructions sent from the game server, each audio mixer separate from the communication devices associated with each game participant, game server and conference server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the game specific context comprises a common. communication medium, membership in a group, telepathic connections or a shared language.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining a game state profile comprises maintaining a game state profile for each participant in each one of a plurality of distributed game servers associated with each participant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one participant identification is simultaneously contained in at least two identified groups of participant identifications and the associated game participant participates simultaneously in at least two of the independent audio conferences.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying one of the groups of participants based upon changes in the game state profiles of game participants in the group.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of modifying the group of participants comprises removing participants or adding participants from the audio conference associated with that group of participants.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each audio conference comprises a session initiation protocol based audio conference and the step of using the game server to switch participants among the audio conferences further comprises using session initiation protocol signaling messages to switch participants among the audio conferences.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of using session initiation protocol signaling messages to switch participants among the audio conferences further comprises:

obtaining a signal description protocol at the game server from each game participant identification using session initiation protocol signaling messages; and

obtaining a signal description protocol at the game server for the conference server and each audio mixer using session initiation protocol signaling messages.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the game server comprises a back-to-back user agent and maintains audio conferences on behalf of the game participants, instructing the conference server to set up each media path to point to the communication device of each game participant.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a feature vector between each pair of participants in each audio conference, each feature vector comprising direction and distance information between a given pair of participants;

and

using the feature vectors to modify audio signals exchanged between pairs of participants within a given audio conference;

wherein the audio feature vector comprises information about distance, direction, communication medium, transmission frequency or transmission amplitude.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising modifying the audio feature vector in response to changes in the game state profiles of the audio conference participants.

12. The method of claim 1, in the game comprises a sports themed game.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one participant identification is simultaneously contained in at least two identified groups of participant identifications and the associated game participant participates simultaneously in at least two of the independent audio conferences based on single shared contexts within the game state profile that comprises attributes separate from physical proximity among game participants within the game environment.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared game context comprises attributes separate from physical proximity among game participants within the game environment.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining audio path information for each game participant identification from its signal description protocol and communicating the obtained audio path information to the conference server and each audio mixer; and

obtaining audio path information for the conference server and each audio mixer from its signal description protocol and communication the obtain audio path information to the game participant identifications; and

using the communicated audio path information to establish the audio paths between the plurality of geographically distributed audio mixers and communication devices associated with each game participant identification in each group.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer executable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for providing simultaneous context based audio interaction among a plurality of participants in a network based gaming environment, the method comprising:

using a single centralized game server configured to host a single instance of a dynamic, multi-user, network based game to establish a network based game environment containing identifications for a plurality of game participants, the game comprising integrated voice over internet protocol communication capabilities;

maintaining a game state profile for each one of the game participant identifications at the game server, each game state profile comprising game specific context for a given game participant identification;

using solely the game server to send instructions to a conference server separate from the game server to establish a plurality of simultaneous and independent voice over internet protocol based audio conferences within the network based game environment, all of the audio conferences contained within the single network based game instance, each audio conference comprising a group of participant identifications, each group comprising a plurality of participant identifications having a shared game context within the game state profiles comprising parameters or attributes that permit audio communication among the game participants associated with those participant identifications and audio paths between a plurality of geographically distributed audio mixers and communication devices associated with each game participant identification in that group;

using the audio paths for the permitted audio communications among game participants; and

using the game server to switch participants among the audio conferences seamlessly and dynamically during the single network based game instance and non-disruptively to the single network based game instance and any of the audio conferences;

wherein the participant identifications in each group are selected by the game server based solely upon the maintained game state profiles the conference server used to establish audio paths between the plurality of geographically distributed audio mixers and communication devices associated with each game participant in one of the audio conferences solely in response to the instructions sent from the game server, each audio mixer separate from the communication devices associated with the game participants, game server and conference server,

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the step of maintaining a game state profile comprises maintaining a game state profile for each participant in each one of a plurality of distributed game servers associated with each participant.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein at least one participant identification is simultaneously contained in at least two identified groups of participant identifications and the associated game participant participates simultaneously in at least two of the independent audio conferences.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising modifying one of the groups of participants based upon changes in the game state profiles of game participants in the group.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the step of modifying the group of participants comprises removing participants or adding participants from the audio conference associated with that group of participants.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein each audio conference comprises a session initiation protocol based audio conference and the step of using the game server to switch participants among the audio conferences further comprises using session initiation protocol signaling messages to switch participants among the audio conferences.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the game server comprises a back-to-back user agent and maintains audio conferences on behalf of the game participants, instructing the conference server to set up each media path to point to the communication device of each game participant.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising identifying a feature vector between each pair of participants in each audio conference, each feature vector comprising direction and distance information between a given pair of participants;

and

using the feature vectors to modify audio signals exchanged between pairs of participants within a given audio conference;

wherein the audio feature vector comprises information about distance, direction, communication medium, transmission frequency or transmission amplitude.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, further comprising modifying the audio feature vector in response to changes in the game state profiles of the audio conference participants.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of clam 16, wherein the game specific context comprises a common communication medium, membership in a group, telepathic connections or a shared language.