Method and apparatus for managing a gaming application

• US 9,457,271 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Berner, Earl, Aldaco, Martha, Kaiafas, Tasos, Skasko, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Masud
• Application Number:
  US14/688,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20150217192A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 463/25, 463/40, 709/220, 706/21
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/31 Communication aspects specific to video games, e.g. between several handheld game devices at close range
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• 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 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• 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 2300/205 for detecting the geographical location of the game platform
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/409 Data transfer via television network
• 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 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/538 for performing operations on behalf of the game client, e.g. rendering

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure includes, for example, a method for receiving from a first device a request to initiate a video game with a second device, determining a location of the first device, detecting a difference between first computing resources of the first device and second computing resources of the second device, instructing the first device, the second device, or both to adjust a resource configuration to mitigate an aspect of the difference between the first computing resources and the second computing resources, and coordinating an exchange of first control information provided by the first device and second control information provided by the second device to enable a multiplayer session of the video game between the first device and the second device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A machine-readable storage device, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor performs operations comprising:

detecting a difference between a first gaming resource of a first device and a second gaming resource of a second device, the difference being detected responsive to a request to initiate a video game;

instructing the first device, the second device, or both to adjust a resource configuration to mitigate the difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource; and

coordinating an exchange of first control information provided by the first device and second control information provided by the second device to enable a multiplayer session of the video game between the first device and the second device.

2. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a presentation by a first display device of the first device and a presentation by a second display device of the second device.

3. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein the presentation by the first and second display devices includes images captured by cameras of the first device and the second device.

4. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein the difference between the presentations by the first display device and the second display device is a difference in a screen size difference, a display resolution, a touch screen capability, a display aspect ratio, or a combination thereof.

5. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in network latency being experienced by the first device and being experienced by the second device.

6. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a capacity of three dimensional controls between the first device and the second device.

7. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first gaming resources and the second gaming resources is a difference in a capacity of a touch screen control between the first device and the second device.

8. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the second control information comprises modified control information generated by the second device responsive to receiving instructions to adjust the resource configuration, and

wherein the processor comprises a group of processors operating in a distributed processing environment.

9. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a system including a processor, a difference between a first presentation parameter of a first device and a second presentation parameter of a second device, wherein the detecting of the difference is responsive to a request to initiate a communication session associated with the first and second devices;

providing, by the system, to the first device, the second device or both, instructions to adjust a resource configuration to reduce the difference between the first presentation parameter and the second presentation parameter; and

coordinating, by the system, an exchange of first control information provided by the first device and second control information provided by the second device to enable the communication session between the first device and the second device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the difference between the first presentation parameter and the second presentation parameter is a difference in a presentation by a first display device of the first device and a presentation by a second display device of the second device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the presentation by the first and second display devices includes images captured by cameras of the first device and the second device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the difference between the first display device and the second display device is a difference in a screen size difference, a display resolution, a touch screen capability, a display aspect ratio, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the difference between the first presentation parameter and the second presentation parameter is a difference in a capacity of a touch screen control between the first device and the second device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the adjusting of the resource configuration of the first device, the second device or both reduces an advantage to play a video game of the communication session at the first device or the second device.

15. A device, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations comprising;

receiving instructions to transmit to a first communication device a stream associated with a gaming application responsive to a determination that the first communication device lacks a resource to locally initiate the gaming application;

transmitting the stream to the first communication device;

receiving first control information and second control information, wherein the first control information is generated by the first communication device, wherein the second control information is generated by a second communication device to enable a multiplayer game between the first communication device and the second communication device, and wherein the first communication device, the second communication device or both are instructed to change a resource configuration to mitigate a detected difference between a first gaming resource of the first communication device and a second gaming resource of the second communication device; and

modifying a feature of the gaming application to reduce an advantage to play the gaming application from one of the first communication device and the second communication device.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the detected difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in network latency between the first device and the second device.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the detected difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a first display device of the first device and a second display device of the second device.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein the detected difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a screen size difference, a display resolution, a touch screen capability, a display aspect ratio, or a combination thereof.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein the detected difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a capacity of three dimensional controls between the first device and the second device.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein the detected difference between the first gaming resource and the second gaming resource is a difference in a capacity of a touch screen control between the first device and the second device.