Distributed network architecture for introducing dynamic content into a synthetic environment

• US 9,104,962 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Trion World ABC LLC
• Original Assignee: Trion Worlds, Incorporated (Samarion SE)
• Inventors: Lee, Robert Ernest, Maltzen, Jason A., Aldridge, David M., Farina, Bryan Joseph, Van Caneghem, Jon Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Masud
• Application Number:
  US11/715,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20080220873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,080 Days
• Field of Search: 463/42, 463/31, 463/1, 370/338, 709/220, 709/203, 709/225, 709/226, 709/231, 455/418, 718/100, 718/105, 715/730
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 13/352 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 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6009 for importing or creating game content, e.g. authoring tools during game development, adapting content to different platforms, use of a scripting language to create content
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to computer-based simulations and synthetic environment generation, and more particularly, to a system, a computer-readable medium, a method and an apparatus for generating synthetic environments in a distributed architecture to, among other things, introduce dynamic content.

Claims

1. A system for generating synthetic environments, the system comprising:

a plurality of game management servers including a game management server configured to generate a synthetic environment with which a number of participants interact;

a plurality of scalable game subprocess servers associated with a plurality of process types and including a scalable game subprocess server configured to generate a game subprocess of a corresponding process type among the process types associated with the game management server as a function of a need for a game subprocess of the process type; and

a master scaling server configured to;

monitor load demand for the plurality of process types including at least two of the following;

a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, or a transaction process, each process type being located on a separate scalable game subprocess server;

determine whether the load demand for one of the process types increases more than a first predetermined threshold or decreases more than a second predetermined threshold;

in the event that the load demand for the one process type increases more than the first predetermined threshold, add a scalable game subprocess server of the one process type to the plurality of scalable game subprocess servers; and

in the event that the load demand for the one process type decreases more than the second predetermined threshold, remove a scalable game subprocess server of the one process type from the plurality of scalable game subprocess servers,

wherein the game management server and the scalable game subprocess server are disposed in a distributed network architecture.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the synthetic environment is a persistent world.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the game management server is further configured to modify interaction of the participant with the synthetic environment at the game management server rather than at a client.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of game management servers are separate from the plurality of scalable game subprocess servers.

4. A system for generating synthetic environments, the system comprising:

a game management server configured to generate a synthetic environment with which a number of participants interact; and

a scalable game subprocess server associated with a plurality of process types and configured to generate a game subprocess of a corresponding process type among the process types associated with the game management server as a function of a need for a game subprocess of the process type;

a master scaling server configured to;

monitor load demand for the plurality of process types including at least two of the following;

a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, or a transaction process, each process type being located on a separate scalable game subprocess server;

determine whether the load demand for one of the process types increases more than a first predetermined threshold or decreases more than a second predetermined threshold;

in the event that the load demand for the one process type increases more than the first predetermined threshold, add another scalable game subprocess server of the one process type; and

in the event that the load demand for the one process type decreases more than the second predetermined threshold, decrease the number of the scalable game subprocess server of the one process type; and

a messaging system configured to propagate messages including a universal data structure that are configured to integrate data into a node,

wherein the game management server and the scalable game subprocess server are disposed in a distributed network architecture.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the node further comprises one or more of the following:

the game management server, the scalable game subprocess server, a data base and a client.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the messaging system is configured to transmit a subset of data associated with a server-side universal data structure in response to a client indicating a modification to the synthetic environment.

7. The system of claim 4 further comprising:

an instance management schema configured to enable the node to implement data in the universal data structure.

8. The system of claim 4 further comprising:

a plurality of universal message interfaces each being configured to provide data in the universal data structure in a form useable by the node.

9. The system of claim 4 wherein the universal data structure is of a class of an object-oriented programming language.

10. The system of claim 4 further comprising:

a plurality of universal message interfaces each being configured to provide data in the universal data structure without converting the universal data structure into a data arrangement for use by the node.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the plurality of universal message interfaces each is configured to detect whether each of the messages is intended for the node.

12. The system of claim 4 further comprising:

a plurality of universal message interfaces at least one of which is configured to format the universal data structure in a platform-independent format.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the platform-independent format includes a format defined by an extensible markup language.

14. A system for generating computer-generated synthetic environments, the system comprising:

a master scaling server configured to;

monitor load demand for a plurality of game subprocess servers, the plurality of game subprocess servers including at least two of the following;

a physics server, an artificial intelligence server, or a transaction server;

determine whether the load demand for one of the plurality of game subprocess servers increases more than a first predetermined threshold or decreases more than a second predetermined threshold;

in the event that the load demand for the one game subprocess server increases more than the first predetermined threshold, add a game subprocess server of the one game subprocess server to the plurality of game subprocess servers; and

in the event that the load demand for the one game subprocess server decreases more than the second predetermined threshold, remove a game subprocess server of the one game subprocess server from the plurality of scalable game subprocess servers;

a plurality of game management servers each configured to generate a synthetic environment with which participants interact; and

a database configured to store data for generating the synthetic environment, each of the plurality of game management servers, the plurality of game subprocess servers, and the database are arranged in a distributed network,

wherein the plurality of game management servers, the plurality of game subprocess servers, and the database implement a universal data structure as formatted into messages that propagate within at least a portion of the distributed network.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a visibility server configured to detect an intersection of visibility range of a participant with a can-be-seen range of an entity to determine that the entity is visible to the participant; and

an instance server configured to offload physics processing for a group of the participants that otherwise would be performed by the physics server.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a user server configured to associate multiple clients requesting to interact with the synthetic environment with multiple game management servers.

17. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a patch server configured to transmit portions of updated data to clients during interactions with the system,

wherein non-received portions of updated data is substituted with default data for generating proxy assets.