Silent sign-in for offline games

• US 8,719,168 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2010
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Murphy, Andrew M., Asmi, Yasser B., Steinglass, Alice P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ravetti, Dante
• Application Number:
  US12/952,000
• Publication Number:
  US 20110065501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,261 Days
• Field of Search: 705/51, 705/16, 705/21, 705/512, 705/59, 705/71, 380/44, 380/262, 380/278, 380/279
• US Class Current: 705/51
• 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 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/532 using secure communication, e.g. by encryption, authentication

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed to silently sign in a user of an offline game title onto an online service. The user is afforded access to select online services to facilitate future online gaming. In a described implementation, a method is disclosed. The method silently signs in a user of an offline game title onto an online gaming service. As a result, the signed-in user may receive one or more online services such as an in-game notification, a friend request (e.g., inviting a user to become a friend), a cross-title game invitation, and/or data corresponding to a friends list.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a game console, at least one user account present on the game console during use by a user of an offline game title on the game console;

determining, by the game console, that automatic sign-in is enabled on the game console for the at least one user account identified;

identifying, by the game console, a most-recently-signed-in user account of the at least one user account as a specific user account to be silently signed in;

silently signing in, by the game console, the specific user account to an online service automatically without requiring action by the user of the offline game title on the game console for effecting the silently signing in;

determining, by the game console, that the user has been silently signed in; and

based at least in part on the determining that the user has been silently signed in, providing the user with access to online services during the use of the offline game title.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the online services comprise at least one of:

access to an in-game notification;

access to a friend request inviting the user to become a friend of another user;

or

access to data corresponding to a friends list.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the online services comprise access to a cross-title game invitation that enables the user to switch from the offline game title to an online game;

the offline game title is played by one or more players with access to the game console; and

the online game allows the user to play the online game against one or more other players online.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, wherein the menu includes a status of the signing in.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, and

providing access to communicate online with other users and a status of the other users as to whether the other users are online or offline using the menu.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silently signing in comprises:

opening a secure communication channel between the game console and a security gateway of a data center;

transmitting data packets between the game console and the data center via the security gateway;

registering a presence of the specific user account with a presence server inside the data center; and

providing the user of the offline game title on the game console with access to the online services available from the data center during the use of the offline game title.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

partially encrypting the data packets comprising voice data and other data, the partially encrypting comprising encrypting the other data without encrypting the voice data; and

communicating the voice data and the other data over the secure communication channel between the game console and the data center using the partially encrypted data packets.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising registering an online presence of the signed-in specific user account, wherein the registering comprises holding and processing data concerning the online presence of the signed-in specific user account at a server for online gaming.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the offline game title, an interface configured to communicate with an online game service via a public network; and

using the interface generated by the offline game title to perform the silently signing in.

10. A game console comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer storage hardware devices storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

identifying at least one user account present on the game console during use by a user of an offline game title on the game console;

determining that automatic sign-in is enabled for the at least one user account identified, wherein a most-recently-signed-in user account is identified as a specific user account for signing in;

determining that a controller is in communication with the game console, the controller including a memory unit having account information corresponding to the specific user account identified on the game console for signing in;

silently signing in the specific user account to an online service based on the account information determined to be in the memory unit of the controller without requiring action by the user of the offline game title on the game console for effecting the signing in;

determining that the user has been silently signed in; and

based at least in part on the determining that the user has been silently signed in, providing the user with access to online services during use of the offline game title.

11. The game console according to claim 10, wherein:

the online services comprise access to a cross-title game invitation that enables the user to switch from the offline game title to an online game;

the offline game title is played by one or more players with access to the game console; and

the online game allows the user to play the online game against one or more other players online.

12. The game console according to claim 10, the operations further comprising generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, wherein the menu includes a status of the signing in.

13. The game console according to claim 10, the operations further comprising:

generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, and

providing access to communicate online with other users and a status of the other users as to whether the other users are online or offline using the menu.

14. The game console according to claim 10, wherein the silently signing in includes operations further comprising:

opening a secure communication channel between the game console and a security gateway of a data center;

transmitting data packets between the game console and the data center via the security gateway;

registering a presence of the specific user account with a presence server inside the data center; and

providing the user of the offline game title on the game console with access to the online services available from the data center during use of the offline game title.

15. A method comprising:

determining, by a game console and based at least in part on account information included in a controller that is coupled to the game console, that automatic silent sign-in is enabled for a user account of a user of an offline game title running on the game console and that the user account corresponds to the account information included in the controller;

based at least in part on the determining that the automatic silent sign-in is enabled, silently signing in the user account to an online service without requiring action by the user of the offline game title during use by the user of the offline game title for effecting the silently signing in;

determining, by the name console, that the user has been silently signed in; and

based at least in part on the determining that the user has been silently signed in, registering an online presence of the signed-in user account at a server for online gaming.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising receiving, during the use of the offline game title, at least one of:

an in-game notification;

a friend request inviting the user to become a friend of another user;

data corresponding to a friends list;

or

a cross-title game invitation that enables the user to switch from the offline game title to an online game.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, wherein the menu includes a status of the signing in.

18. The method according to claim 15, further comprising generating a menu by the offline game title running on the game console, and

providing access to communicate online with other users and a status of the other users as to whether the other users are online or offline using the menu.

19. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

generating, by the offline game title, an interface configured to communicate with an online game service via a public network; and

using the interface generated by the offline game title to perform the silently signing in.