Electronic invitations for an on-line game

• US 7,828,661 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2004
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2004
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Herold, June R., Eichler, Allen J., Fish, Edmund J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Peter DungBa
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed; Masud
• Application Number:
  US11/016,879
• Time in Patent Office: 2,149 Days
• Field of Search: 463 40- 42, 709/205, 709/206, 709/202, 709/224, 715/708, 715/739, 726/4
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• 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: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

An instant messaging user may use a buddy list that includes a user-selected list of potential instant messaging recipients (“buddies”) to identify another instant messaging user with whom instant messages are to be exchanged. An instant messaging user also may use a buddy list for other purposes, such as to initiate playing of an on-line game or to invite participants to play an on-line game.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for inviting a participant to play a session of an on-line game, the method comprising:

receiving, from a user designated as a game organizer, an indication of a potential participant of an on-line game accessible over a network of computers;

enabling transmission of an invitation to the potential participant to play the session of the on-line game, wherein;

the invitation includes a game parameter to be applied to the session of the on-line game and a revise control operable to enable the potential participant to indicate a different game parameter for the on-line game, and

the game parameter represents a configuration parameter indicating how the online game is to be played;

receiving an indication of a different game parameter from the potential participant, the different game parameter representing a configuration parameter of the game indicating how the on-line game is to be played and a condition under which the potential participant is willing to play the on-line game; and

communicating the different game parameter to the user designated as the game organizer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user designated as the game organizer is a user designated as an organizer of the session of the on-line game, and the method further comprising applying the different game parameter to the session of the on-line game without affecting the designation of the game organizer of the session of the on-line game.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the different game parameter to the session of the on-line game; and

designating the potential participant as a game organizer of the session of the on-line game.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the different game parameter to the session of the on-line game; and

designating the potential participant as a game organizer of the session of the on-line game to replace the user designated as the game organizer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the different game parameter to the user designated as the game organizer comprises:

communicating a decline indicator for the on-line game session to the user designated as the game organizer; and

sending a new invitation to the user designated as the game organizer for a new session of the on-line game, wherein the new invitation includes a new game parameter to be applied to the new session of the on-line game.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the invitation includes a control to conditionally accept the invitation to indicate that the invited participant is only willing to play if a revised game parameter is applied to the session of the on-line game.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the revise control is operable to initiate an instant messaging session between a user who received the invitation and a user who sent the invitation.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the revise control is operable to initiate a chat session between a user who received the invitation and a user who sent the invitation.

9. A computer-implemented method for initiating an on-line game, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user, an indication of a second user of an on-line game accessible over a network of computers and an indication of at least one selection of a game condition to be applied to the session of the on-line game;

enabling transmission of an invitation to the second user to play the session of the on-line game, wherein the invitation includes the indication of the at least one selection of a game condition to be applied to the session of the on-line game;

enabling transmission of a reply invitation to the first user that invited to play the session of the online game, wherein the reply invitation includes an indication of at least one different selection of a game condition to be applied to the session of the on-line game;

receiving an indication of acceptance of the at least one different selection of a game condition to be applied to the session of the on-line game; and

initiating the session of the on-line game, wherein at least one different selected game condition is applied to the session of the on-line game.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first user is a user designated as an organizer of the session of the on-line game, and the method further comprising applying the different selected game condition to the session of the on-line game without affecting the designation of the organizer of the session of the on-line game.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

applying the different selected game condition to the session of the on-line game; and

designating the second user as a game organizer of the session of the on-line game.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

applying the different selected game condition to the session of the on-line game; and

designating the second user as a game organizer of the session of the on-line game to replace the first user designated as a game organizer.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein enabling transmission of a reply invitation to the first user comprises:

communicating a decline indicator for the on-line game session to the first user; and

sending a new invitation to the first user for a new session of the on-line game, wherein the new invitation includes a new game parameter to be applied to the new session of the on-line game.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the invitation includes a control to conditionally accept the invitation to indicate that the second user is only willing to play if a revised game parameter is applied to the session of the on-line game.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the revise control is operable to initiate an instant messaging session between the first and second users.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the revise control is operable to initiate a chat session between the first and second users.