System architecture and methods for composing and directing participant experiences

• US 8,903,740 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Net Power & Light, Inc (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vonog, Stanislav, Surin, Nikolay, Lemmey, Tara
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TIEN C
• Application Number:
  US13/874,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20130339222A1
• Time in Patent Office: 581 Days
• Field of Search: 725/93, 725/62, 725/39, 709/206, 709/224, 709/231, 726/29, 235/492, 370/254, 715/753
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/27 characterised by a large display in a public venue, e.g. in a movie theatre, stadium or game arena
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• 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 13/358 Adapting the game course according to the network or server load, e.g. for reducing latency due to different connection speeds between clients
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• 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 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/402 Communication between platforms, i.e. physical link to protocol
• 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 2300/5506 using advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5513 involving billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

The present invention contemplates a variety of improved methods and systems for providing an experience platform, as well as sentio or experience codecs, and experience agents for supporting the experience platform. The experience platform may be provided by a service provider to enable an experience provider to compose and direct a participant experience. The service provider monetizes the experience by charging the experience provider and/or the participants for services. The participant experience can involve one or more experience participants. The experience provider can create an experience with a variety of dimensions and features. As will be appreciated, the following description provides one paradigm for understanding the multi-dimensional experience available to the participants. There are many suitable ways of describing, characterizing and implementing the experience platform contemplated herein.

Claims

1. A system for composing and directing multi-dimensional participant experiences, the system facilitated via a low-latency transmission protocol and sentio codecs for encoding and decoding multi-dimensional data streams, the system provided by a service provider for use by an experience provider, the system comprising:

a plurality of devices, wherein each device includes a specific experience agent, and wherein each specific experience agent including a specific (application programming interface) API and a specific sentio codec;

an experience server in communication with the plurality of devices, the experience server including;

a first experience agent, the first experience agent including a first API and a first sentio codec; and

an experience composition engine;

a content server in communication with the experience server and configured to provide a first content layer to the experience composition engine;

a service platform in communication with the experience server and configured to provide services to the plurality of devices and the experience server, the service platform including;

a plurality of service engines; and

a second experience agent including a second API and a second sentio codec, the service of at least one service engine exposed via the second API; and

wherein, the experience composition engine is configured to;

receive layers from the content server and the plurality of devices;

request services from the service platform via the first experience agent; and

compose and direct a participant experience using the layers, and services performed by the service platform.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices are in communication via a wireless network.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein a single participant is using the plurality of devices for a heterogeneous experience.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein a plurality of participants are involved in the participant experience via the plurality of devices.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the specific experience agent instantiated on each specific device is programmed according to operational capabilities of each specific device.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the experience server, the service platform, and the content server are in a data center.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the data center is distributed.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first content layer provided by the content server is video content.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an ad server in communication with the experience server and operable to provide a second content layer to the experience composition engine, the second layer including at least one advertisement.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of service engines include a first set of service engines provided by the service provider.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the plurality of service engines include a second set of service engines provided by one or more third-parties.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the service provider charges the experience provider for utilization of the service engines.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the service provider charges the experience provider for utilization of the second set of services, and the service provider shares revenue with the one or more third-parties.

14. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the services engines are distributed across a plurality of servers.

15. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each service engine has a corresponding experience agent including a corresponding API and a corresponding sentio codec.