Entertainment apparatus and method
First Claim
1. An entertainment device for running a game program available as both a demonstration version and a full version, the entertainment device comprising:
- a network communicator for communicating with a remote device over a network;
program code and resources for running the full version of the game program and operable to interact with remote devices also running the full version of the game program, the game program providing, when executed by the entertainment device, game features corresponding to the program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; and
a program resource classifier for classifying which program resources are available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the game program;
wherein the entertainment device is responsive to a determination that a remote device is running the demonstration version of the program code to restrict the use of program resources to those program resources identified by the program resource classifier as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demonstration version of game program, thereby conforming the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program to the operating characteristics of the demonstration version of the game program.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An entertainment device comprises communication means for communicating with a remote device over a network; program code and resources for running a full version of the program, the program code being operable to interact with remote devices also running a full version of the program; and program resource classification means, and in which when communication with a remote device indicates that the remote device is running a demonstration version of the program code; the program code on the entertainment device restricts the use of program resources to those identified by the program resource classification means as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the program, thereby restricting the full version of the program to operate substantially as a demo version of the program for the purposes of interaction with a demo version of the program being run on the remote device.
17 Citations
35 Claims
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1. An entertainment device for running a game program available as both a demonstration version and a full version, the entertainment device comprising:
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a network communicator for communicating with a remote device over a network; program code and resources for running the full version of the game program and operable to interact with remote devices also running the full version of the game program, the game program providing, when executed by the entertainment device, game features corresponding to the program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; and a program resource classifier for classifying which program resources are available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the game program; wherein the entertainment device is responsive to a determination that a remote device is running the demonstration version of the program code to restrict the use of program resources to those program resources identified by the program resource classifier as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demonstration version of game program, thereby conforming the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program to the operating characteristics of the demonstration version of the game program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A server, comprising:
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a network communicator for communicating with a remote device over a network; a processor implementing program code and resources and configured to run a full version of a hosted game program, the processor being configured to interact with remote devices running a full version of the game program, the game program providing, when executed by the entertainment device, game features corresponding to program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; the processor further implementing a program resource classifier for classifying whether program resources are available to or compatible with a demonstration version of the game program; and a mode selector for selecting between full and demonstration versions of the game program, and in which; when the mode selector selects the demonstration version of the game program, the processor implementing the program code hosted on the server only uses program resources identified by the program resource classifier as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demonstration version of the game program, wherein the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program conform to the operating characteristics of the demonstration version of the game program. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of software interaction, comprising the steps of:
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installing a full version of a computer game program on a suitable device, the game program being implemented by a processor of the suitable device, the game program providing, when implemented by the processor, game features corresponding to program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; the game program accessing a remote device that is hosting a demo version of the game program; the processor, when executing the game program, accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the game program are required by the demo version of the program; and the processor, when executing the game program, restricting the game program'"'"'s use of the program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with the demo version of the game program as if it were a demo version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demo version of the game program, wherein the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program conform to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the game program. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method of software interaction comprising the steps of:
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installing a full version of a computer game program on a suitable device acting as a server, the game program being implemented by a processor of the server; selecting a full version mode or demo version mode for running the computer game program, the game program providing, when implemented by the processor, game features corresponding to program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; and upon selecting the demo version mode, the processor, when executing the game program, accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the game program are required by the demo version of the game program; the processor, when executing the full version of the game program, restricting the full version'"'"'s use of the program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with remotely connected devices running the demo version of the game program as if the full version of the game program were the demo version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demo version of the game program, wherein the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program conform to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the game program. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:
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installing a full version of a computer game program on a suitable device, the game program providing, when implemented by the processor, game features corresponding to program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; the game program accessing a remote device that is hosting a demo version of the game program; the game program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the game program are required by the demo version of the game program; and the game program restricting the game program'"'"'s use of program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with the demo version of the game program as if the game program were a demo version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demo version of the game program, wherein the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program conform to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the game program.
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35. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:
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installing a full version of a computer game program on a suitable device acting as a server, the game program providing, when implemented by the server, game features corresponding to program resources, the game features including one or more of game levels, game characters, non-player characters, game animations or visual effects, character behaviours, game sounds, environment maps and textures; selecting a full version mode or demo version mode for running the computer game program; and upon selecting the demo version mode, the game program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the game program are required by the demo version of the game program; the full version of the game program restricting the full version'"'"'s use of the program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with remotely connected devices running the demo version of the game program as if the full version of the game program were the demo version of the game program so that the game program does not present, or inhibits the use or selection of, game features corresponding to resources classified as incompatible with or unavailable to the demo version of the game program, wherein the operating characteristics of the full version of the game program conform to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the game program.
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Specification