Resource management for data center based gaming

• US 8,790,184 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Kruglick, Ezekiel
• Primary Examiner(s): DEODHAR, OMKAR A
• Application Number:
  US13/634,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20130260891A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users

Abstract

Technologies are presented for managing a resource demand on a data center providing game services by adjusting a probability of various kinds of game events. Data center load data may be received and used to adjust occurrence tables associated with both one-off and lengthy game events that may direct game clients toward events that may involve lesser resource demand. Contrary to conventional load balancing for non-gaming applications, the methods described herein may take advantage of the pseudorandom event nature that may be a part of a game experience in gaming applications. The resource demand may be altered without changing the number of customers served or the quality of service provided. Thus, resource management may be enhanced while serving the same number of customers.

Claims

1. A method to manage data center resources for a game service, the method comprising:

deploying the game service for a plurality of game clients;

providing a sequence of game events to the game clients based on a probability of occurrence for the game events in the sequence;

determining a resource demand on a data center infrastructure due to the deployed game service;

if the resource demand is above a predefined resource threshold, modifying the probability of occurrence for at least one of the game events such that the sequence of game events is modified to reduce the resource demand; and

one of encouraging or incentivizing at least one of the game clients to select a game event in the sequence such that the resource demand is reduced as a result of the selection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification of the sequence of game events is substantially undetectable to the game clients.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preserving a pseudorandom nature of the sequence of game events when modifying the sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the game clients are one of encouraged or incentivized by one of a game service provider and/or a data center deploying the game service through one or more of:

an in-game reward, an in-game penalty, an out-of-game reward, an out-of game-penalty, a game objective, a game scenario, a game play indicator, a game congestion indicator, and an inter-player communication.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

incentivizing a game service provider to one of;

manage the resource demand by modifying the probability of occurrence for the at least one of the game events;

or

enable a data center deploying the game service to manage the resource demand by modifying the probability of occurrence for the at least one of the game events.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the game events are distinguished by one or more of:

a different game location, a different game time, a different game scenario, and/or a different subset of participating game clients.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an expected resource demand based on historical usage; and

if the expected resource demand is above the predefined resource threshold, one or more of;

modifying the probability of occurrence for at least one of the game events,

incentivizing the at least one of the game clients to select another game event in the sequence, and

incentivizing a game service provider to enable a data center deploying the game service to manage the resource demand by modifying the probability of occurrence for the at least one of the game events,

such that the resource demand is reduced.

8. A data center configured to deploy a game service for a plurality of game clients, the data center comprising:

a management server configured to;

monitor a data center infrastructure; and

determine a resource demand on the data center infrastructure; and

at least one server configured to;

deploy the game service;

provide a sequence of game events to the game clients based on a probability of occurrence for the game events in the sequence;

receive an alert from the management server if the resource demand is above a predefined resource threshold;

modify the probability of occurrence for at least one of the game events, if the resource demand is above a predefined resource threshold, such that the sequence of game events is modified to reduce the resource demand; and

preserve a pseudorandom nature of the sequence of game events when modifying the probability of occurrence.

9. The data center of claim 8, wherein at least one of the servers is further configured to:

one of encourage or incentivize at least of the game clients to select a game event in the sequence such that the resource demand is reduced as a result of the selection.

10. The data center of claim 8, wherein at least one of the servers is further configured to:

maintain a dynamic table of occurrences indexing game events to probabilities of occurrence.

11. The data center of claim 8, wherein the predefined resource threshold is a computed score.

12. The data center of claim 8, wherein the resource demand is determined based on consumption of one or more of:

a memory allocation, a data storage capacity, a processing capacity, a network bandwidth, a cooling capacity, and a power capacity.

13. The data center of claim 8, wherein the data center is configured to deploy a plurality of game services from a plurality of game vendors and the at least one server is further configured to employ an event occurrence application programming interface (API) to modify the probability of occurrence.

14. The data center of claim 13, wherein the management server is further configured to provide incentives to the plurality of game vendors to provide the event occurrence API and a plurality of game sequence options associated with different levels of resource consumption.

15. The data center of claim 13, wherein the management server is further configured to enable the plurality of game vendors to update the event occurrence API in order to provide probabilities of occurrence for additional game events.

16. The data center of claim 8, wherein the data center is configured to deploy the game service in a zone-oriented architecture and the management server is further configured to:

determine a first resource demand for a first zone server and a second resource demand for a second zone server; and

if the first resource demand exceeds the second resource demand, modify the probability of occurrence for at least one of the game events such that the sequence shifts from the first zone server to the second zone server.

17. A game vendor server configured to deploy a game service for a plurality of game clients, the game vendor server comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute a game application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, the game application configured to;

provide a sequence of game events the game clients based on a probability of occurrence for the game events in the sequence;

monitor a resource demand server due to the deployed game service; and

if the resource demand is above a predefined resource threshold, one or more of;

modify the probability of occurrence for at least one of the game events, incentivize at least one of the game client to select a game event in the sequence, and move at least one of the game client to a different game instance,

such that the resource demand is reduced while preserving a pseudorandom nature of the sequence of game events.

18. The game vendor server of claim 17, wherein the modification of the sequence of game events is substantially undetectable to the game clients.

19. The game vendor server of claim 17, wherein the game clients are incentivized through one or more of:

an in-game reward, an in-game penalty, an out-of-game reward, an out-of game-penalty, a game objective, a game scenario, a game play indicator, a game congestion indicator, and an inter-player communication.

20. The game vendor server of claim 17, wherein the game events are distinguished by one or more of:

a different game location, a different game time, a different game scenario, and/or a different subset of participating game clients.