Application interface for tracking player identity

• US 9,144,741 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bortnik, Michal, Arthur, Erik John, Macauley, James David, Chen, Ling Tony, Asmi, Yasser B., Lamb, Steven D., Helm, James N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Milap
• Application Number:
  US13/956,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20140162773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• 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 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• 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 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5513 involving billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5526 Game data structure
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players

Abstract

Systems and method for providing a single sign in a gaming console that associates online activity that is out-of-game/cross game, and/or online activity that is in-game, and/or activity that is offline and in-game with that account. While online, a service tracks activity of gamers and provides usage statistics in a profile. While offline, the game console tracks the player'"'"'s activity via a mechanism to collect detailed information about a specific player'"'"'s in-game statistics and accomplishments. The offline activity is cached and uploaded when the console connects to the online service. Players can accumulate achievements offline that are credited towards online activities.

Claims

1. A method of communication between a gaming application executed by a multimedia device and a remote service executed by a server computing device, the method comprising, on the multimedia device:

tracking online user activity occurring when the gaming application is in communication with the remote service;

attributing the online user activity to a user profile that the remote service publishes in an online database, the online database including an interactive guide accessible to the multimedia device and to other game consoles in communication with the remote service, and profiles of other gamers and their achievements earned during execution of the gaming application;

receiving, from the gaming application, data indicating that a plurality of achievements associated with offline user activity occurring during execution of the gaming application were earned when the gaming application was not in communication with the remote service;

storing such data in a local memory of the multimedia device;

after execution and conclusion of a game in the gaming application and after the gaming application establishes communication with the remote service, transmitting the data indicating that the plurality of achievements were earned when the gaming application was not in communication with the remote service; and

synchronizing offline user activity to the profile such that the profile reflects both the offline and online user activity, the offline user activity including the plurality of achievements earned when the gaming application was not in communication with the remote service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said tracking, attributing, receiving, storing, transmitting, and synchronizing are enacted via an application programming interface (API) executing on the multimedia device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile includes in-game statistics and affiliations of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile includes game or device settings, the method further comprising applying such settings to the game or device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein one or more of the settings specify a preference of the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the data in the local memory includes caching user performance statistics during a transient loss of connectivity to the service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of achievements earned when the gaming application was not in communication with the remote service are viewable offline from the multimedia device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the data in the local memory includes storing in a memory unit transportable from the multimedia device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data stored on the transportable memory unit is transferable to another gaming device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to create a new user profile from the multimedia device.