Implementing computer activity-based challenges

• US 9,576,434 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2011
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Parks, William T., Webb, Jonathan Warren, Wang, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Galka, Lawrence
• Application Number:
  US13/190,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20130029765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,038 Days
• Field of Search: 463/42
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• 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: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3279 wherein the competition is one-to-one, e.g. match

Abstract

A computer activity-based challenge may be posted by a computer system to a social network associated with a user of the computer system. A notification may be received from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge. A result obtained by each subscriber who accepted the challenge may be recorded by the computer system after receiving the result from the social network. In some implementations a value associated with the challenge may be updated using dynamic scoring.

Claims

1. A method for implementing computer activity-based challenges, comprising:

a) posting a computer activity-based challenge by a computer system to a computer-implemented social network associated with a user of the computer system;

b) receiving a notification from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge; and

updating a worth of the challenge with the computer system using dynamic scoring, wherein the worth of the challenge is the award granted to a subscriber upon completion of the challenge, wherein the dynamic scoring dynamically ties the worth of the challenge to a difficulty of the challenge according to results from subscribers who accept the challenge, wherein updating the worth includes increasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect increased difficulty and decreasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect decreased difficulty, wherein the difficulty is determined by analyzing the ratio of the number of subscribers who complete a challenge to the number of subscribers who accept a challenge, and wherein the worth of the challenge is updated after each subscriber result.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording a result obtained by each subscriber who accepted the challenge by the computer system after receiving the result from the social network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after a) and before b), receiving a notification from the social network by the computer system indicating receipt of the challenge by one or more subscribers of the social network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscribers receiving the challenge are filtered by the computer system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the subscribers are filtered based on their location.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the subscribers are filtered based on their names.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge received by the subscribers are filtered by the social network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the challenge is filtered by title of a computer associated with the challenge.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the challenges is filtered by keyword.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the worth associated with the challenge is assigned an initial worth prior to acceptance of the computer activity-based challenge by the subscribers of the social network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the worth involves determining a ratio between a current number of subscribers who have won the challenge and a current number of subscribers who have accepted the challenge, wherein a lower ratio reflects increased difficulty and a higher ratio reflects decreased difficulty.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge is created by the user of the computer system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge is constrained by one or more parameters of a computer game.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the challenge is a challenge to beat the user'"'"'s high score in the computer game.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more criteria for the challenge include things not directly related to gameplay activity of a single game.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more criteria for the challenge include a user'"'"'s physical location, purchase history, or gameplay history.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge is a collaborative challenge in which members of a group challenge each other to achieve a goal.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the challenge includes a challenge to defeat the user in a head-to-head mode of a computer game.

19. A system for implementing computer game activity-based challenges, comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

computer coded instructions embodied in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer coded instructions are configured to implement a method for employing computer game activity-based challenges, comprising;

a) posting a computer activity-based challenge by a computer system to a computer-implemented social network associated with a user of the computer system;

b) receiving a notification from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge; and

updating a worth of the challenge with the computer system using dynamic scoring, wherein the worth of the challenge is the award granted to a subscriber upon completion of the challenge, wherein the dynamic scoring dynamically ties the worth of the challenge to the difficulty of the challenge according to results from subscribers who accept the challenge, wherein updating the worth includes increasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect increased difficulty and decreasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect decreased difficulty, wherein the difficulty is determined by analyzing the ratio of the number of subscribers who complete a challenge to the number of subscribers who accept a challenge, and wherein the worth of the challenge is updated after each subscriber result.

20. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium for employing computer game activity-based challenges, said computer program product having;

a) computer readable program code means for posting a computer activity-based challenge by a computer system to a computer-implemented social network associated with a user of the computer system;

b) computer readable program code means for receiving a notification from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge; and

updating a worth of the challenge with the computer system using dynamic scoring, wherein the worth of the challenge is the award granted to a subscriber upon completion of the challenge, wherein the dynamic scoring dynamically ties the worth of the challenge to the difficulty of the challenge according to results from subscribers who accept the challenge, wherein updating the worth includes increasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect increased difficulty and decreasing the worth of the challenge if the results reflect decreased difficulty, wherein the difficulty is determined by analyzing the ratio of the number of subscribers who complete a challenge to the number of subscribers who accept a challenge, and wherein the worth of the challenge is updated after each subscriber result.