Resource allocation to game titles in a remote gaming environment

• US 9,628,332 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bruno, Jr., John Peter, McNamara, Donald James, Chandrasekaran, Ashok, Boedigheimer, Christopher Lane, Orvendal, Per-Ola Anders, Cusimano, Joseph, Longstreet, Scott Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Christensen, Scott B
• Application Number:
  US13/897,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• 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 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• 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 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/401 Secure communication, e.g. using encryption or authentication
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• 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 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5533 using program state or machine event data, e.g. server keeps track of the state of multiple players on in a multiple player game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5022 Workload threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention monitor and dynamically allocate computing resources to a game service. A game service provides a remote gaming environments to which users connect over a wide area network, such as the internet. A game session runs a single instance of a game title. The game session runs the video game code responsible for creating the playing experience for the users. In another embodiment, the number of active game sessions is monitored and computing resources are allocated dynamically as the number of sessions increases or decreases.

Claims

1. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of allocating computing resources to a remote game service, the method comprising:

monitoring a count of all active game sessions of a plurality of game sessions of a game title provided by a game service and an amount of standby resources allocated to the game service running the plurality of game sessions of the game title on virtual machines, wherein each of the virtual machines is configured to host up to the plurality of game sessions, wherein the amount of standby resources is allocated to the game service but not being actively used by the all active game sessions, wherein each of the all active game sessions is associated with a different instance of the game title and configured to be accessed by up to a plurality of players;

determining that the amount of standby resources is below a threshold to the game service and the count of all active game sessions has increased; and

based on the determination that the amount of standby resources is below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions has increased, dynamically allocating an additional amount of resources to the standby resources, wherein the standby resources are included in a single standby pool of resources to be allocated to any of the plurality of game sessions as needed.

2. The media of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a game title that is likely to use the additional amount of resources based on a demand for the game title increases faster than demands for other game titles provided by the game service.

3. The media of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the count of all active game sessions are decreasing; and

in response to the amount of standby resources being below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions being decreased, dynamically recycling one or more standby resources to the game service.

4. The media of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting a rendered game image to a game client connected to the game service.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the threshold is adjusted based on a rate of change for present standby resources usage.

6. The media of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a client to join the game service and automatically allocating network resources to route control communications from the client into the game service.

7. A method, comprising:

monitoring a count of all active game sessions of a plurality of game sessions of a game title provided by a game service and an amount of standby resources allocated to the game service running the plurality of game sessions of the game title on virtual machines, wherein each of the virtual machines is configured to host up to the plurality of game sessions, wherein the amount of standby resources is allocated to the game service but not being actively used by the all active game sessions, wherein each of the all active game sessions is associated with a different instance of the game title and configured to be accessed by up to a plurality of players;

determining that the amount of standby resources is below a threshold to the game service and the count of all active game sessions has increased; and

based on the determination that the amount of standby resources is below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions has increased, dynamically allocating an additional amount of resources to the standby resources, wherein the standby resources are included in a single standby pool of resources to be allocated to any of the plurality of game sessions as needed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the threshold is adjusted based on a rate of change for present standby resources usage.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a game title that is likely to use the additional amount of resources based on a demand for the game title increases faster than demands for other game titles provided by the game service.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining that the count of all active game sessions are decreasing; and

in response to the amount of standby resources being below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions being decreased, dynamically recycling one or more standby resources to the game service.

11. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, implement a method of managing computing resources allocated to a remote game service, the method comprising;

monitoring a count of all active game sessions of a plurality of game sessions of a game title provided by a game service and an amount of standby resources allocated to the game service running the plurality of game sessions of the game title on virtual machines, wherein each of the virtual machines is configured to host up to the plurality of game sessions, wherein the amount of standby resources is allocated to the game service but not being actively used by the all active game sessions, wherein each of the all active game sessions is associated with a different instance of the game title and configured to be accessed by up to a plurality of players;

determining that the amount of standby resources is below a threshold to the game service and the count of all active game sessions has increased; and

based on the determination that the amount of standby resources is below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions has increased, dynamically allocating an additional amount of resources to the standby resources, wherein the standby resources are included in a single standby pool of resources to be allocated to any of the plurality of game sessions as needed.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the threshold is adjusted based on a rate of change for present standby resources usage.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a game title that is likely to use the additional amount of resources based on a demand for the game title increases faster than demands for other game titles provided by the game service.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the count of all active game sessions are decreasing; and

in response to the amount of standby resources being below the threshold and the count of all active game sessions being decreased, dynamically recycling one or more standby resources to the game service.