ENTERTAINMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20100203971A1
• Filed: 09/03/2008
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ealey, Douglas Ralph
• Granted Patent: US 8,360,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44547 Fat binaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

An entertainment device comprises communication means for communicating with a remote device over a network; program code and resources for running a full version of the program, the program code being operable to interact with remote devices also running a full version of the program; and program resource classification means, and in which when communication with a remote device indicates that the remote device is running a demonstration version of the program code; the program code on the entertainment device restricts the use of program resources to those identified by the program resource classification means as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the program, thereby restricting the full version of the program to operate substantially as a demo version of the program for the purposes of interaction with a demo version of the program being run on the remote device.

Claims

1. An entertainment device for running a program available as both a demonstration version and a full version, the entertainment device comprising:

a network communicator for communicating with a remote device over a network;

program code and resources for running the full version of the program and operable to interact with remote devices also running the full version of the program; and

a program resource classifier for classifying which program resources are available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the program;

wherein the entertainment device is responsive to a determination that a remote device is running the demonstration version of the program code to restrict the use of program resources to those program resources identified by the program resource classifier as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demonstration version of the program.

2. An entertainment device according to claim 1 in which the full version of the program operates substantially as the demonstration version of the program for the purposes of interaction with the demonstration version of the program being run on the remote device.

3. An entertainment device according to claim 1 in which the program resource classifier comprises a loading script used by the program to load or otherwise operate upon program resources, the loading script comprising an indication of whether each program resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

4. An entertainment device according to claim 1 in which the program resource classifier comprises a reference table comprising an indication of whether each program resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

5. An entertainment device according to claim 1 in which the program resource classifier comprises an indication embedded within each program resource as to whether that resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

6. An entertainment device according to claim 1, further comprising a remote device ranker, and in which

one or more remote devices contacted by the entertainment device are ranked responsive to whether they are running the full version of the program or the demonstration version of the program.

7. An entertainment device according to claim 1, in which the remote device is an entertainment device operating as a server.

8. An entertainment device according to claim 1, in which the remote device is another entertainment device communicating in a peer-to-peer fashion with the entertainment device.

9. An entertainment device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a server operable to host either a full retail version of a program or a demonstration version of the program; and

a server status reporter,

and in which;

the server status reporter is operable to report whether the server is currently operating as a full server or a demo server.

10. An entertainment device according to claim 1, in which the program is a videogame.

11. A server, comprising

a network communicator for communicating with a remote device over a network;

program code and resources for running a full version of a hosted program, and operable to interact with remote devices running a full version of the program;

a program resource classifier for classifying whether program resources are available to or compatible with a demonstration version of the program; and

a mode selector for selecting between full and demonstration versions of the program,

and in which;

when the mode selector selects the demonstration version of the program,

the program code hosted on the server only uses program resources identified by the program resource classifier as being available to or compatible with the demonstration version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demonstration version of the program.

12. A server according to claim 11, in which the full version of the program operates substantially as a demo version of the program for the purposes of interaction with a demo version of the program being run on the remote device.

13. A server according to claim 11, in which the full version of the program hosted by the server is a full server version.

14. A server according to claims 11, in which the full version of the program hosted by the remote device is a full client version.

15. A server according to claim 11, in which the mode selector comprises a user interface for selecting between full and demo modes.

16. A server according to claim 11, in which the mode selector comprises a receiver for receiving instructions from a master server as to whether to operate in full or demo mode.

17. A server according to claim 11, in which the mode selector comprises a receiver for receiving resource selection requests from remote devices, and a thresholder to determine whether a threshold level of such requests require operation in full mode.

18. A server according to claim 11, in which the mode selector comprises a thresholder to determine whether a threshold proportion of remote devices support the full version of the program.

19. A server according to claim 11, comprising a network communicator for communicating with other servers, and in which

where the mode selector causes the server to switch from demo mode to full mode, the server is arranged to poll other servers currently operating in demo mode to determine whether they have the availability to accommodate those clients of the server that only comprise a demo version of the program, in order to transfer some or all of them together to one of the other servers.

20. A method of software interaction, comprising the steps of:

installing a full version of a computer program on a suitable device;

the program accessing a remote device that is hosting a demo version of the program;

the program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the program are required by the demo version of the program; and

the program restricting its use of program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with the demo version of the program as if it were itself a demo version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the program.

21. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, in which the step of accessing a program resource classification reference comprises accessing a loading script used by the program to load or otherwise operate upon program resources, the loading script comprising an indication of whether each program resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

22. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, in which the step of accessing a program resource classification reference comprises accessing a reference table comprising an indication of whether each program resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

23. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, in which the step of accessing a program resource classification reference comprises accessing an indication embedded within each program resource as to whether that resource is required by the demonstration version of the program.

24. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, and further comprising the step of:

ranking one or more remote devices contacted by the device in response to whether they are running a full version of the program or a demonstration version of the program.

25. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, in which the remote device is a device operating as a server.

26. A method of software interaction according to claim 20, in which the remote device is another device communicating in a peer-to-peer fashion with the device.

27. A method of software interaction comprising the steps of:

installing a full version of a computer program on a suitable device acting as a server;

selecting a full version mode or demo version mode for running the computer program;

and upon selecting the demo version mode,

the program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the program are required by the demo version of the program;

the full version of the program restricting its use of program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with remotely connected devices running the demo version of the program as if the full version of the program were itself the demo version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the program.

28. A method of software interaction according to claim 27 in which the full version of the program hosted by the server is a full server version.

29. A method of software interaction according to claim 27 in which the full version of the program hosted by a remote device is a full client version.

30. A method of software interaction according to claim 27, in which the step of selecting a mode comprises generating a user interface for selecting between full and demo modes.

31. A method of software interaction according to claim 27, in which the step of selecting a mode comprises receiving instructions from a master server as to whether to operate in full or demo mode.

32. A method of software interaction according to claim 27, in which the step of selecting a mode comprises receiving resource selection requests from remote devices, and determining whether a threshold level of such requests require operation in full mode.

33. A method of software interaction according to claim 27, in which the step of selecting a mode comprises determining whether a threshold proportion of remote devices support the full version of the program.

34. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

installing a full version of a computer program on a suitable device;

the program accessing a remote device that is hosting a demo version of the program;

the program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the program are required by the demo version of the program; and

the program restricting its use of program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with the demo version of the program as if it were itself a demo version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the program.

35. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

installing a full version of a computer program on a suitable device acting as a server;

selecting a full version mode or demo version mode for running the computer program;

and upon selecting the demo version mode,

the program accessing a program resource classification reference to determine which of the full set of resources available to the program are required by the demo version of the program;

the full version of the program restricting its use of program resources in accordance with the program resource reference so as to interact with remotely connected devices running the demo version of the program as if the full version of the program were itself the demo version of the program, thereby conforming to the operating characteristics of the demo version of the program.