Method and apparatus for managing a gaming application

• US 8,348,752 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2011
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Berner, Earl, Aldaco, Martha, Kaiafas, Tasos, Skasko, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Masud
• Application Number:
  US13/098,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20120283018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 463/25, 463/40, 709/220, 706/21
• US Class Current: 463/25
• 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 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/31 Communication aspects specific to video games, e.g. between several handheld game devices at close range
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/77 involving data related to game devices or game servers, e.g. configuration data, software version or amount of memory
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/205 for detecting the geographical location of the game platform
• 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 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/538 for performing operations on behalf of the game client, e.g. rendering

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may operate, for example, according to a method for receiving a request to coordinate execution of a gaming application between a communication device and at least one device remotely located from the communication device, selecting a game rendering server from a plurality of game rendering servers according to a determination of at least one characteristic of the communication device, and instructing the game rendering server to transmit a stream associated with the gaming application responsive to determining that the communication device is unable to execute in whole or in part the gaming application from local computing resources of the communication device. The method can further include coordinating an exchange of first control information and second control information between the communication device and the at least one device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving from a communication device a request to initiate a video game with a remote device;

determining a location of the communication device;

selecting a game rendering server from a plurality of game rendering servers according to the location of the communication device;

instructing the selected game rendering server to transmit a video stream associated with the video game responsive to determining that the communication device is unable to execute in whole or in part the video game from first computing resources of the communication device;

detecting at least one difference between the first computing resources of the communication device and second computing resources of the remote device;

instructing at least one of the communication device or the remote device to adapt a resource configuration to correct at least a portion of the at least one difference between the first and second computing resources;

receiving first control information generated by the communication device;

receiving second control information generated by the remote device; and

coordinating an exchange of the first control information and the second control information to enable a multiplayer game of the video game between the communication device and remote device.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising receiving the first control information from the communication device.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instruction which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising transmitting to the selected game rendering server the first control information and the second control information adapted according to the coordinated exchange, wherein the first control information and the second control information are applied by the selected game rendering server to the video game to modify a presentation of the video game and wherein an updated video stream representative of the modified presentation of the video game is transmitted to the communication device by the selected game rendering server.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising receiving the first control information from the selected game rendering server, wherein the first control information is received by the selected game rendering server from the communication device.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the selected game rendering server is operable to:

receive from the coordination server the second control information adapted according to the coordinated exchange;

apply the first control information and the second control information to the video game to modify a presentation of the video game; and

transmit an updated video stream to the communication device representative of the modified presentation of the video game.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the adapted resource configuration applied to at least one of the communication device or the remote device reduces an advantage to play the video game at either of the communication device and the remote device.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first and second computing resources comprises at least one of a difference in audio presentation resources, video presentation resources, input resources, output resources, and an availability of at least one gaming accessory.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining a capability of the communication device to execute the video game;

identifying a software program for controlling at least one aspect of the video game according to the capability of the communication device; and

transmitting the software program to the communication device.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the software program when executed by the communication device causes a presentation in a first portion of a display of the communication device, wherein the first portion comprises a user interface for controlling the at least one aspect of the video game, and wherein a second portion of the display is for presenting a video stream transmitted by the game rendering server.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the coordination server and the selected game rendering server each operate from an Internet Protocol television communication system.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising selecting at least one network element of the Internet Protocol television communication system to reduce latency of a video stream transmitted from the selected game rendering server to the communication device, wherein the at least one network element is selected according to at least one of the location of the communication device and the first computing resources of the communication device.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, a request to coordinate execution of a gaming application between a communication device and a remote device;

selecting, by the system, a game rendering server from a plurality of game rendering servers according to a determination of at least one characteristic of the communication device;

instructing the selected game rendering server to transmit a stream associated with the gaming application responsive to determining that the communication device is unable to execute in whole or in part the gaming application from first computing resources of the communication device;

detecting, by the system, at least one difference between the first computing resources of the communication device and second computing resources of the remote device;

instructing, by the system, at least one of the communication device or the remote device to adapt a resource configuration to correct at least a portion of the at least one difference between the first and second computing resources;

receiving, by the system, first control information generated by the communication device;

receiving, by the system, second control information generated by the remote device; and

coordinating, by the system, an exchange of the first control information and the second control information between the communication device and the remote device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises at least one of a location of the communication device and the first computing resources of the communication device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication device comprises one of a set-top box, a smart phone, and a computer, and wherein the gaming application presents at least one of audio content, video content, and a combination thereof.

15. A rendering server, comprising:

a memory for storing computer instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving instructions from a coordination server to transmit to a communication device a stream associated with a gaming application responsive to a determination by the coordination server that the communication device is unable to process in whole or in part the gaming application from first computing resources of the communication device;

transmitting the stream to the communication device;

receiving from the coordination server first control information and second control information, wherein the first control information is generated by the communication device, wherein the second control information is generated by a remote device, wherein the coordination server is adapted to coordinate an exchange of the first control information and the second control information to enable a multiplayer game between the communication device and the remote device and wherein at least one of the communication device or the remote device are instructed to adapt a resource configuration to correct at least a portion of a detected difference between the first computing resources of the communication device and second computing resources of the remote device.

16. The rendering server of claim 15, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising receiving a request from the coordination server to adapt one or more features of the gaming application to reduce an advantage to play the gaming application from at least one of the communication device and the remote device.

17. The rendering server of claim 16, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising performing at least one of disabling or degrading the one or more features of the gaming application to reduce the advantage to play the gaming application from at least one of the communication device or the remote device.