Program mode transition

• US 10,617,946 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2015
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Pereira, Rui Filipe Andrade, Perry, David, Gault, Andrew Buchanan
• Primary Examiner(s): Yoo, Jasson H
• Application Number:
  US14/968,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20160101355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/33 using wide area network [WAN] connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• 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 13/358 Adapting the game course according to the network or server load, e.g. for reducing latency due to different connection speeds between clients
• 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 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/365 Dynamic adaptation of the packet size
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A computing system is configured to execute a computer program on a server and to provide a video stream of the program output to a geographically remote client over a communication network. The computing system is further configured to provide executable content of the computer program to the client over the communication network in parallel with the video stream. When a sufficient amount of the executable content has been provided to the client execution of the computer program is transitioned from the server to the client. The transition optionally includes communicating a state of the computer program from the server to the client. The executable content can be provided to the client in an order that is determined based on the state of the computer program. Those parts of the executable content deemed most likely to be necessary to support game play on the client are given priority.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

executing game logic of a computer game on a server computer system to generate game video of the computer game at the server computer system in response to user input from a client computer system that is remote from said server computer system;

generating a video stream of the game video at the server computer system;

transmitting the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system for display at the client computer system;

maintaining a current game state of the computer game at the server computer system;

determining possible subsequent game states that can occur from the current game state;

determining probabilities of occurrence for the possible subsequent game states;

generating a dynamic download prioritization for segments of the game logic of the computer game corresponding to the possible subsequent game states based on the probabilities of occurrence for the possible subsequent game states;

transmitting segments of the game logic of the computer game corresponding to the possible subsequent game states from the server computer system to the client computer system in accordance with the dynamic download prioritization, while simultaneously transmitting the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system;

determining that an executable subset of the game logic has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system, the executable subset of the game logic being less than an entirety of the game logic, the executable subset of the game logic providing for continued execution of the computer game from the current game state; and

transitioning to execution of the executable subset of the game logic on the client computer system using the transmitted executable subset of the game logic to generate game video of the computer game locally at the client computer system for display at the client computer system and stopping transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

continuing to transmit additional game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system while the executable subset of the game logic is executing on the client computer system to generate game video of the computer game at the client computer system for display at the client computer system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the executable subset of game logic at the client computer system is supplemented by the additional game logic as the additional game logic is transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining that an entirety of the game logic of the computer game has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system; and

upon determining that the entirety of the game logic of the computer game has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system, stopping transmission of game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the executable subset of the game logic executing on the client computer system is not sufficient for continued execution of the computer game; and

upon determining that the executable subset of the game logic executing on the client computer system is not sufficient for continued execution of the computer game,

resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from a current game state to generate game video of the computer game at the server computer system, and

resuming generation of the video stream of the game video at the server computer system, and

resuming transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system for display at the client computer system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

continuing to transmit additional game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system while resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system and while resuming generation of the video stream of the game video at the server computer system and while resuming transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving data defining the current game state at the server computer system from the client computer system prior to resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from the current game state.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

maintaining data defining the current game state on a game server separate from the server computer system and the client computer system; and

receiving data defining the current game state at the server computer system from the game server prior to resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from the current game state.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

maintaining data defining the current game state on the server computer system as the executable subset of the game logic is executed on the client computer system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data defining the current game state is periodically received at the server computer system from either the client computer system or from a game server connected to monitor and record the current game state present on the client computer system.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the video stream through an encoder at the server computer system prior to transmitting the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system, the encoder compatible with a decoder present at the client computer system.

12. A system, comprising:

a server computer system configured to execute game logic of a computer game to generate game video of the computer game in response to user input from a client computer system that is remote from said server computer system, the server computer system configured to generate a video stream of the game video, the server computer system configured to transmit the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system for display at the client computer system,

the server computer system also configured to maintain a current game state of the computer game, the server computer system also configured to determine possible subsequent game states that can occur from the current game state, the server computer system also configured to determine probabilities of occurrence for the possible subsequent game states, the server computer system also configured to generate a dynamic download prioritization for segments of the game logic of the computer game corresponding to the possible subsequent game states based on the probabilities of occurrence for the possible subsequent game states,

the server computer system also configured to transmit segments of the game logic of the computer game corresponding to the possible subsequent game states from the server computer system to the client computer system in accordance with the dynamic download prioritization, while simultaneously transmitting the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system,

the server computer system configured to determine that an executable subset of the game logic has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system, the executable subset of the game logic being less than an entirety of the game logic, the executable subset of the game logic providing for continued execution of the computer game from the current game state,

the server computer system configured to transition to execution of the executable subset of the game logic on the client computer system using the transmitted executable subset of the game logic to generate game video of the computer game locally at the client computer system for display at the client computer system upon determining that the executable subset of the game logic has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system, and

the server computer system configured to stop transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system upon determining that the executable subset of the game logic has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computer system is configured to continue to transmit additional game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system while the executable subset of the game logic is executing on the client computer system to generate game video of the computer game at the client computer system for display at the client computer system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server computer system is configured to select the additional game logic for transmission to the client computer system such that the executable subset of game logic at the client computer system is supplemented by the additional game logic.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server computer system is configured to determine that an entirety of the game logic of the computer game has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system, and wherein the server computer system is configured to stop transmission of game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system upon determining that the entirety of the game logic of the computer game has been transmitted from the server computer system to the client computer system.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computer system is configured to determine that the executable subset of the game logic executing on the client computer system is not sufficient for continued execution of the computer game, and wherein the server computer system is configured to resume execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from a current game state to generate game video of the computer game at the server computer system upon determining that the executable subset of the game logic executing on the client computer system is not sufficient for continued execution of the computer game, and wherein the server computer system is configured to resume generation of the video stream of the game video at the server computer system upon resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system, and wherein the server computer system is configured to resume transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system for display at the client computer system upon resuming generation of the video stream of the game video at the server computer system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server computer system is configured to continue transmitting additional game logic of the computer game from the server computer system to the client computer system while resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system and while resuming generation of the video stream of the game video at the server computer system and while resuming transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the server computer system is configured to receive data defining the current game state at the server computer system from the client computer system prior to resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from the current game state.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a game server separate from the server computer system and the client computer system, the game server configured to maintain data defining the current game state, the server computer system configured to receive data defining the current game state from the game server prior to resuming execution of the game logic of the computer game on the server computer system from the current game state.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the server computer system is configured to maintain data defining the current game state on the server computer system as the executable subset of the game logic is executed on the client computer system.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the server computer system is configured to periodically receive the data defining the current game state from either the client computer system or from a game server connected to monitor and record the current game state present on the client computer system.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computer system includes an encoder configured to compress the video stream prior to transmission of the video stream from the server computer system to the client computer system, the encoder compatible with a decoder present at the client computer system.