Distributed network architecture for introducing dynamic content into a synthetic environment

• US 9,122,984 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2008
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• 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:
  US12/075,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20080287194A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,735 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 method to facilitate massively multiplayer online games, the method comprising:

initializing game sub-processes independent from game management processes using a processor;

associating the game sub-processes with at least one process type of a synthetic environment, wherein the at least one process type includes a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, a transaction process, or any combination thereof;

generating the at least one process type of the synthetic environment through collaboration among the game sub-processes and the game management processes, including implementing the game management processes to generate at least a portion of the synthetic environment during a period of inoperability of one or more of the game sub-processes of one process type;

monitoring a number of users supported by one of the game sub-processes of one process type; and

adding or removing a game sub-process of the one process type from the one game sub-process of the one process type based on the number of users supported by the one game sub-process of the one process type, wherein each game sub-process is located on a separate server.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

exchanging messages between the game sub-processes and the game management processes to generate the synthetic environment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the synthetic environment further comprises:

implementing at least two different game management processes for at least two different clients; and

enabling the at least two different clients to access the synthetic environment,

wherein any of the at least two different clients can access the synthetic environment via any of the at least two different game management processes.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating an aggregable process space.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein generating the aggregable process space further comprises:

generating a common process space in which participants can interact for a first subset of data, the participants being associated with at least two different game management servers; and

generating separate process spaces for the participants for a second subset of data.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first subset of data includes transaction-related data and the second subset of data includes geometry-related data.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

managing transactions among participants to ensure that the transactions are atomic transactions.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

scaling a quantity of game sub-process servers independent of a quantity of game management process servers.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

scaling the quantity of game sub-process servers responsive to a demand for the game sub-processes.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

monitoring a loading of the game management process servers; and

scaling the quantity of game sub-process servers as function of the loading.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of game management processes are on a server separate from the game sub-processes.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the game sub-processes includes at least two of the following:

a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, or a transaction process.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium to facilitate massively multiplayer online games, the computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

initialize a game management process independent from one or more game sub-processes;

associating the game sub-processes with at least one process type of a synthetic environment, wherein the at least one process type includes a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, a transaction process, or any combination thereof; and

exchange messages via a network between a server implementing the game management process and servers implementing the one or more game sub-processes to generate the process type of the synthetic environment;

perform the game management process to facilitate at least a portion of the synthetic environment independent of at least one of the servers implementing the one or more game sub-processes of one process type;

monitor a number of users supported by one of the one or more game sub-processes of one process type; and

add or remove a game sub-process of the one process type from the one game sub-process of the one process type based on the number of users supported by the one game sub-process of the one process type, wherein each game sub-process is located on a separate server.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the executable instructions to exchange messages comprise executable instructions to:

establish communications between the server implementing the game management process and a subset of clients; and

facilitate interactions between the synthetic environment and the subset of clients,

wherein the subset of clients and other subsets of clients associated with other servers implementing other game management processes interact with the synthetic environment simultaneously.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the executable instructions to perform the game management process comprise executable instructions to:

determine a portion of data associated with the synthetic environment changed; and

generate a compressed universal message for transmission to a client, the compressed universal message including an indication that the portion of the data changed.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the executable instructions to generate the compressed universal message further comprise executable instructions to:

generate an object including a plurality of property values arranged as a vector;

determine that a property value from the plurality of property values has been modified to identify a modified property value; and

form the compressed universal message to include the modified property value and an index into the vector.

15. 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;

a scalable game subprocess server configured to associate a game subprocess with at least one process type and apply the game subprocess to the game management server as a function of a need for a game to execute the process type, wherein the at least one process type includes a physics process, an artificial intelligence process, a transaction process, or any combination thereof; and

a master scaling server configured to;

monitor a number of users supported by one of the game subprocesses of one process type; and

add or remove a game subprocess of the one process type from the one game subprocess of the one process type based on the number of users supported by the one game subprocess of the one process type,

wherein each game subprocess is located on a separate server;

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

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a plurality of game management servers including the game management server; and

a plurality of scalable game subprocess servers including the scalable game subprocess server,

wherein at least two of the plurality of game management servers are configured to access an aggregable process space as separate process spaces.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a plurality of game management servers including the game management server; and

a plurality of scalable game subprocess servers including the scalable game subprocess server,

wherein at least one of the plurality of scaleable game subprocess servers comprise;

a transaction server configured to perform an atomic transaction in association with a process space that is operable as a common process space.

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

a plurality of game subprocess servers configured to execute game subprocesses with at least one process type, the game subprocess servers comprising;

a physics server configured to execute a physics process;

an artificial intelligence server configured to execute an artificial intelligence process, and

a transaction server configured to execute a transaction process,

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

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, the database being arranged in a distributed network; and

a master scaling server configured to;

monitor a number of users supported by one of the game

subprocesses of one process type; and

add or remove a game subprocess of the one process type based on the number of users supported by the one game subprocess of the one process type, wherein each game subprocess of the one process type is located on a separate server;

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.