Notifying users of options to participate in meta games

• US 9,833,699 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2015
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Chow, David, Oyhenart, Jessica, Lohstroh, Shawn, Yang, Grant, Tomlinson, Jason, Hurd, Daniel, Holme, Kevin, Rouse, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Rowland, Steve
• Application Number:
  US14/935,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20160062521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 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 13/46 Computing the game score
• 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 13/847 Cooperative playing, e.g. requiring coordinated actions from several players to achieve a common goal
• 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 2300/556 Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list
• 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: A63F 2300/5573 player location
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

In a method of notifying a user of an option to participate in a meta game, a presence of a player of a computer-implemented game at a location is detected. An association between a computer-implemented meta-game and the location is identified. The player of the computer-implemented game is presented with an option to participate in the computer-implemented meta-game. An indication of an acceptance of the option to participate in the computer-implemented meta game is received from the player of the computer-implemented game. A performance of an action within the computer-implemented game by the player of the computer-implemented game is reflected within the computer-implemented meta game.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining information on an action occurring in a computer-implemented game;

reflecting the action in a first leaderboard meta game, the first leaderboard meta game selected from a plurality of leaderboard meta games, wherein operations of the first leaderboard meta game are performed on a server system configured to provide gaming to one or more user devices and wherein the computer-implemented meta game corresponds to the computer-implemented game and enables at least one gaming event that is unsupported by the computer-implemented game; and

causing display of a result of the action in a graphical user interface for the first leaderboard meta game on one of the one or more user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified event.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a plurality of computer-implemented games.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising issuing an option to a user to participate in the first leaderboard meta game based on the user being at a specified location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying a player of the computer-implemented game that the player is close to qualifying for a leaderboard of the first leaderboard meta game.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating multiple versions of a leaderboard for the first leaderboard meta game.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a version of a leaderboard for the first leaderboard meta game is one of a leaderboard having a specified level of permanence, a leaderboard having a defined corresponding geographical area, a leaderboard having a specified level of abstraction, and a leaderboard having a specified type of scoring mechanism.

9. An apparatus comprising:

an integration module, implemented using at least one hardware processor, for obtaining information on an action occurring in a computer-implemented game;

reflecting the action in a first leaderboard meta game, the first leaderboard meta game selected from a plurality of leaderboard meta games, wherein operations of the first leaderboard meta game are performed on a server system configured to provide gaming to one or more user devices and wherein the computer-implemented meta game corresponds to the computer-implemented game and enables at least one gaming event that is unsupported by the computer-implemented game; and

causing display of a result of the action in a graphical user interface for the first leaderboard meta game on one of the one or more user devices.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified location.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified event.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a plurality of computer-implemented games.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a notification module for issuing an option to a user to participate in the first leaderboard meta game based on the user being at a specified location.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a notification module for notifying a player of the computer-implemented game that the player is close to qualifying for a leaderboard of the first leaderboard meta game.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising creating multiple versions of a leaderboard for the first leaderboard meta game.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein a version of a leaderboard for the first leaderboard meta game is one of a leaderboard having a specified level of permanence, a leaderboard having a defined corresponding geographical area, a leaderboard having a specified level of abstraction, and a leaderboard having a specified type of scoring mechanism.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

obtaining information on an action occurring in a computer-implemented game;

reflecting the action in a first leaderboard meta game, the first leaderboard meta game selected from a plurality of leaderboard meta games, wherein operations of the first leaderboard meta game are performed on a server system configured to provide gaming to one or more user devices and wherein the computer-implemented meta game corresponds to the computer-implemented game and enables at least one gaming event that is unsupported by the computer-implemented game; and

causing display of a result of the action in a graphical user interface for the first leaderboard meta game on one of the one or more user devices.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified location.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first leaderboard meta game corresponds to a specified event.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising creating multiple versions of a leaderboard for the first leaderboard meta game.