Physical characteristics based user identification for matchmaking

• US 8,317,623 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Murphy, Brian Scott, Latta, Stephen G., Bennett, Darren Alexander, Wright, Shawn C., Markovic, Relja, Deaguero, Joel B., Geisner, Kevin, Perez, Pedro, Willoughby, Christopher H., Hastings, Ryan Lucas
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US13/153,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20120309538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• Field of Search: 463 40- 44, 705/1
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/655 by importing photos, e.g. of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1093 using visible light
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• 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 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6607 for animating game characters, e.g. skeleton kinematics
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/695 Imported photos, e.g. of the player

Abstract

One or more physical characteristics of each of multiple users are detected. These physical characteristics of a user can include physical attributes of the user (e.g., the user'"'"'s height, length of the user'"'"'s legs) and/or physical skills of the user (e.g., how high the user can jump). Based on these detected one or more physical characteristics of the users, two or more of the multiple users to share an online experience (e.g., play a multi-player game) are identified.

Claims

1. A method implemented in one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, an indication of one or more physical characteristics of a user;

obtaining, by the one or more computing devices and for each of multiple other users, an indication of one or more physical characteristics of the other user; and

identifying, by the one or more computing devices and based at least in part on the one or more physical characteristics of the user and the one or more physical characteristics of at least one of the multiple other users, at least one of the multiple other users with which to share an online experience with the user.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including one or more physical attributes of the user.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including one or more physical skills of the user.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including an indication of a capability of a sensor to detect physical attributes and/or physical skills of the user.

5. A method as recited in claim 1,

the obtaining the indication of the one or more physical characteristics of the user comprising detecting one or more physical characteristics of a group of users,

the obtaining the indication of the one or more physical characteristics of the other user comprising obtaining, for each of multiple other groups of users, one or more physical characteristics of the other group of users, and

the identifying comprising identifying, based at least in part on the one or more physical characteristics of the group of users and the one or more physical characteristics of the multiple other groups of users, at least one of the multiple other groups of users with which to share the online experience with the group of users.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

the indication of the one or more physical characteristics of the user comprising a generated score for the user;

the indication of the one or more physical characteristics of each of the multiple other users comprising a generated score for each of the multiple other users; and

the identifying comprising identifying, based at least in part on the generated score for the user and the generated scores for the multiple other users, at least one of the multiple other users with which to share the online experience with the user.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, the generated score for the user having been generated by associating different weights with different physical characteristics of the one or more physical characteristics of the user, and the generated score for each of the multiple other users having been generated by associating the different weights with the different physical characteristics of the one or more physical characteristics of each of the multiple other users.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including at least one physical characteristic that changes over time, the method further comprising storing the one or more physical characteristics of the user, and replacing a previously detected and stored physical characteristic with a later detected physical characteristic.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including at least one physical characteristic that changes over time, the method further comprising storing the one or more physical characteristics of the user, and combining a previously detected and stored physical characteristic with a later detected physical characteristic.

10. One or more computer storage media devices having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

detect one or more physical characteristics of a user;

obtain, for each of multiple other users, an indication of one or more physical characteristics of the other user; and

identify, based at least in part on the one or more physical characteristics of the user and the one or more physical characteristics of at least one of the multiple other users, at least one of the multiple other users with which to share an online experience with the user.

11. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the indication of the one or more physical characteristics of the other user comprising a score generated by analyzing the one or more physical characteristics of the other user.

12. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 11,

the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to generate, based on the detected one or more physical characteristics of the user, a score for the user, and

the instructions causing the one or more processors to identify at least one of the multiple other users comprising instructions causing the one or more processors to identify, based at least in part on the generated score of the user and the scores of the multiple other users, at least one of the multiple other users with which to share the online experience.

13. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 12, the instructions causing the one or more processors to generate a score for the user comprising instructions causing the one or more processors to generate a score for the user by associating different weights with different physical characteristics of the one or more physical characteristics, and combining the weighted physical characteristics of the user.

14. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including one or more physical attributes of the user, and the one or more physical characteristics of the other user comprising one or more physical attributes of the other user.

15. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including one or more physical skills of the user, and the one or more physical characteristics of the other user comprising one or more physical skills of the other user.

16. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10,

the instructions causing the one or more processors to detect one or more physical characteristics of the user comprising instructions causing the one or more processors to detect one or more physical characteristics of a group of users,

the instructions causing the one or more processors to obtain an indication of one or more physical characteristics of the other user comprising instructions causing the one or more processors to obtain, for each of multiple other groups of users, an indication of one or more physical characteristics of the other group of users, and

the instructions causing the one or more processors to identify at least one of the multiple other users comprising instructions causing the one or more processors to identify at least one of the multiple other groups of users with which to share an online experience.

17. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including at least one physical characteristic that changes over time, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to store the detected one or more physical characteristics of the user, and replace a previously detected and stored physical characteristic with a later detected physical characteristic.

18. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including at least one physical characteristic that changes over time, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to store the detected one or more physical characteristics of the user, and combine a previously detected and stored physical characteristic with a later detected physical characteristic.

19. One or more computer storage media devices as recited in claim 10, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to present, for choosing by the user of one or more identifiers of users with which the user is to share an online experience, identifiers of the at least one of the multiple other users.

20. A method implemented in one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

detecting, by the one or more computing devices, one or more physical characteristics of a user, the one or more physical characteristics of the user including one or more physical skills, and generating a score of the user indicating the one or more physical characteristics of the user;

obtaining, by the one or more computing devices and for each of multiple other users, a score indicating the one or more physical characteristics of the other user, the one or more physical characteristics of the other user including one or more physical skills of the other user; and

identifying, by the one or more computing devices and based at least in part on the score of the user and the scores of the multiple other users, at least one of the multiple other users identifiers of which are to be presented to the user for the user to choose one or more of the identified other users with which to play a multi-player game with the user.