Associated content item instances

• US 9,827,500 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baklov, Rosen Ognyanov, Lawson, Nicholas Joshua, Gilmore, Patrick, Donges, Michael, Connors, Joseph Conlin, Schenk, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US14/579,135
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 463 31
• 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 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat

Abstract

A first content item instance may be played by one or more participants and may be presented by one or more first compute nodes to the one or more participants. Information associated with the first content item instance may be collected. The information may include, for example, game state, user inputs, and other information associated with the first content item instance. The information may be provided as input to a second content item instance executing at one or more second compute nodes. Audio and/or video information output by the second content item instance may then be collected, and data including the collected information may be transmitted to one or more third compute nodes for presentation to spectators. Spectator feedback may be received and provided back to the first content item instance, which may be presented based, at least in part, on the spectator feedback.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing content comprising:

receiving, from one or more first compute nodes, information associated with a first content item instance;

providing the information associated with the first content item instance as input to a second content item instance executed by one or more second compute nodes;

collecting at least one of audio or video information corresponding to output of the second content item instance; and

transmitting data including the at least one of audio or video information to one or more third compute nodes for presentation, wherein input is received that indicates at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information associated with at least a portion of the transmitted data, and wherein the at least portion of the transmitted data is presented in combination with the at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the first content item instance comprises at least one of control input associated with the first content item instance or state information associated with the first content item instance.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the one or more first compute nodes, participant audio information provided by one or more participants of the first content item instance; and

inserting the participant audio information into the transmitted data.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the participant audio information includes a plurality of portions each provided by a respective participant of a plurality of participants of the first content item instance, and wherein each portion of the plurality of portions is inserted into the transmitted data in accordance with one or more respective audio effects.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first content item instance captures a first scene from a first virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, and wherein the second content item instance captures the first scene from a second virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, wherein the second virtual camera perspective is at least partially different from the first virtual camera perspective.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted data is received by a plurality of third compute nodes, and wherein at least one of the plurality of third compute nodes selects at least one of video or audio presentation effects that are used to present the transmitted data on at least one other of the plurality of third compute nodes.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted data comprises video information that is presented at the one or more third compute nodes with a different resolution than a resolution at which the first content item instance is presented.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted data comprises graphics with at least one of higher complexity or greater detail than graphics provided by the first content item instance.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon instructions that, upon execution by one or more second compute nodes, cause the one or more second compute nodes to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from one or more first compute nodes, information associated with a first content item instance;

providing the information associated with the first content item instance as input to a second content item instance executed by the one or more second compute nodes;

collecting at least one of audio or video information corresponding to output of the second content item instance; and

transmitting data including the at least one of audio or video information to one or more third compute nodes for presentation, wherein input is received that indicates at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information associated with at least a portion of the transmitted data, and wherein the at least portion of the transmitted data is presented in combination with the at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the information associated with the first content item instance comprises at least one of control input associated with the first content item instance or state information associated with the first content item instance.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, further the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more first compute nodes, participant audio information provided by one or more participants of the first content item instance; and

inserting the participant audio information into the transmitted data.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the participant audio information includes a plurality of portions each provided by a respective participant of a plurality of participants of the first content item instance, and wherein each portion of the plurality of portions is inserted into the transmitted data in accordance with one or more respective audio effects.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9 wherein the first content item instance captures a first scene from a first virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, and wherein the second content item instance captures the first scene from a second virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, wherein the second virtual camera perspective is at least partially different from the first virtual camera perspective.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the transmitted data is received by a plurality of third compute nodes, and wherein at least one of the plurality of third compute nodes selects at least one of video or audio presentation effects that are used to present the transmitted data on at least one other of the plurality of third compute nodes.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the transmitted data comprises video information that is presented at the one or more third compute nodes with a different resolution than a resolution at which the first content item instance is presented.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the transmitted data comprises graphics with at least one of higher complexity or greater detail than graphics provided by the first content item instance.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors

one or more memories to store a set of instructions, which if executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from one or more first compute nodes, information associated with a first content item instance;

providing the information associated with the first content item instance as input to a second content item instance executed by one or more second compute nodes;

collecting at least one of audio or video information corresponding to output of the second content item instance; and

transmitting data including the at least one of audio or video information to one or more third compute nodes for presentation, wherein input is received that indicates at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information associated with at least a portion of the transmitted data, and wherein the at least portion of the transmitted data is presented in combination with the at least one of visual overlay information or audio commentary information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the information associated with the first content item instance comprises at least one of control input associated with the first content item instance or state information associated with the first content item instance.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more first compute nodes, participant audio information provided by one or more participants of the first content item instance; and

inserting the participant audio information into the transmitted data.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the participant audio information includes a plurality of portions each provided by a respective participant of a plurality of participants of the first content item instance, and wherein each portion of the plurality of portions is inserted into the transmitted data in accordance with one or more respective audio effects.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the first content item instance captures a first scene from a first virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, and wherein the second content item instance captures the first scene from a second virtual camera perspective with respect to the first scene, wherein the second virtual camera perspective is at least partially different from the first virtual camera perspective.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the transmitted data is received by a plurality of third compute nodes, and wherein at least one of the plurality of third compute nodes selects at least one of video or audio presentation effects that are used to present the transmitted data on at least one other of the plurality of third compute nodes.