Intelligent game loading
First Claim
1. A game system including a processor, comprising:
- a video source configured to provide a streaming video to a first client geographically remote from the video source, the streaming video being generated at the video source responsive to a present game state of a computer game program, wherein the present game state of the computer game program is dependent on game control commands received from the first client; and
a download manager configured to dynamically determine, responsive to the present game state of the computer game program, a download sequence of a plurality of parts of an executable content of the computer game program, anddownload parts of the executable content according to the download sequence, from a code source to the first client via a network, in parallel with the streaming video provided to the first client from the video source;
wherein the download manager is configured to dynamically modify the download sequence based on a determination of probabilities of other game states of the computer game program being reached from the present game state of the computer game program, and knowledge of which resources will be required in those other game states.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computing system is configured to execute a computer program on a server and to provide a video stream of the program output to a geographically remote client over a communication network. The computing system is further configured to provide executable content of the computer program to the client over the communication network in parallel with the video stream. When a sufficient amount of the executable content has been provided to the client execution of the computer program is transitioned from the server to the client. The transition optionally includes communicating a state of the computer program from the server to the client. The executable content can be provided to the client in an order that is determined based on the state of the computer program. Those parts of the executable content deemed most likely to be necessary to support game play on the client are given priority.
394 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A game system including a processor, comprising:
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a video source configured to provide a streaming video to a first client geographically remote from the video source, the streaming video being generated at the video source responsive to a present game state of a computer game program, wherein the present game state of the computer game program is dependent on game control commands received from the first client; and a download manager configured to dynamically determine, responsive to the present game state of the computer game program, a download sequence of a plurality of parts of an executable content of the computer game program, and download parts of the executable content according to the download sequence, from a code source to the first client via a network, in parallel with the streaming video provided to the first client from the video source; wherein the download manager is configured to dynamically modify the download sequence based on a determination of probabilities of other game states of the computer game program being reached from the present game state of the computer game program, and knowledge of which resources will be required in those other game states. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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6. A game system including a processor, comprising:
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a video source configured to provide a streaming video to a first client geographically remote from the video source, the streaming video being generated at the video source responsive to a present game state of a computer game program, wherein the present game state of the computer game program is dependent on game control commands received from the first client; and a download manager configured to dynamically determine, responsive to the present game state of the computer game program, a download sequence of a plurality of parts of an executable content of the computer game program, and download parts of the executable content according to the download sequence, from a code source to the first client via a network, in parallel with the streaming video provided to the first client from the video source; wherein the download manager is configured to change a characteristic of the streaming video so that a rate at which the streaming video is downloaded is reduced, when there is a significant probability that a part of the executable content will be needed on the first client before it is downloaded to the first client. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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16. A method of providing a computer game, the method comprising:
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executing game logic on a video server in a server side mode of game execution to render a video stream based on a present game state, wherein the present game state is dependent on game control commands received from a client; providing the video stream from the video server to the client over a communication network; dynamically determining, responsive to the game state, a download sequence of a plurality of parts of an executable game code, the executable game code being configured to generate video based on the game state; and providing the parts of the executable game code to the client in parallel with the video stream according to the download sequence; wherein the dynamically determining the download sequence is based on a determination of probabilities of other game states being reached from the present game state, and knowledge of which resources will be required in those other game states. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification