Synchronizing mission progress in peer-to-peer cooperative games

• US 8,308,570 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fiedler, Glenn
• Primary Examiner(s): Suhol, Dmitry
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUFFY, DAVID W
• Application Number:
  US12/621,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20110118033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 463/9, 463 40- 42
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/34 using peer-to-peer connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• 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 13/85 Providing additional services to players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/408 Peer to peer connection
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5533 using program state or machine event data, e.g. server keeps track of the state of multiple players on in a multiple player game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/632 by branching, e.g. choosing one of several possible story developments at a given point in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for a multiplayer video game on a peer-to-peer network in which a player'"'"'s or players'"'"' missions are tracked individually as mission lines, each mission line being composed of a series of ordered objectives. Each objective generally must be completed in order of the sequence with no forking of objective paths. Each objective can include one or more conditions that can be completed in any order within the objective. Players can go off on different missions and then come back to synchronize their mission progress so that they benefit from the other player'"'"'s gameplay. Players can also synchronize the conditions achieved within the missions during long missions with many difficult conditions to achieve in order to advance their combined progress.

Claims

1. A multiplayer game system using a peer-to-peer network architecture, comprising:

a first machine executing a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order to progress to a subsequent objective, the first machine tracking a first mission progress line for a first player including which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the first mission progress line occurring during a first time period;

an interface for a peer-to-peer network, the first machine enabled to receive information through the peer-to-peer interface from a second machine executing the video game and tracking a second mission progress line for a second player, the second mission progress line tracking which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the second mission progress time occurring during a second time period, the second time period occurring outside of the first time period and wherein the first machine and second machine are not in communication during the second time period,

wherein the first machine is enabled to synchronize mission progress of the players by updating the first mission progress line with a union of a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the first player and a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the second player.

2. A method of synchronizing a multiplayer video game on machines connected in a peer-to-peer network architecture, the method comprising:

providing on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players;

tracking on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved;

receiving on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine, the second machine having tracked at least a portion of the second mission progress line while the first machine was unavailable to communicate regarding the game; and

updating the first mission progress line with the received data regarding the second mission progress line, such that an updated first mission progress line of the first player is at least the union of the first mission progress line and the second mission progress line.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

sending from the first machine data regarding the first mission progress line for the first player; and

causing the second mission progress line for the second player to be updated on the second machine with the sent data regarding the first mission progress line, such that mission progress between the first and second players is synchronized.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein updating includes updating the second mission progress line with a union of a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the first player and a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the second player.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein one of the objectives is killing a number of characters, and each of the conditions of the objective is killing a particular enemy.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the receiving and updating are performed as a result of connecting at least one of the first and second machines to the peer-to-peer network.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the providing, tracking, and updating are performed while the first and second machines are on the peer-to-peer network.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the providing, tracking, receiving, and updating are performed in the order recited.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein unavailable to communicate about the game further comprises being powered down.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein unavailable to communicate about the game further comprises executing a different game.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein unavailable to communicate about the game further comprises executing a program other than the video game.

12. A method of synchronizing a multiplayer video game on machines connected in a peer-to-peer network architecture, the method comprising:

tracking on a first machine a first instance of a mission progress line of a first player of a video game, the mission progress line including a sequence of objectives to be accomplished by a player during gameplay;

receiving information from a second machine for a second instance of the mission progress line of a second player of the video game, at least a portion of progress within the second instance of the mission progress line occurring at a time when the first machine and second machine are not in communication; and

updating on the first machine the first instance of the mission progress line with the second instance of the mission progress line, the updating occurring while the machines operate on a peer-to-peer network, such that an updated first instance of the mission progress of the first player in the video game is at least the union of the first instance of the mission progress line and the second instance of the mission progress line.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

causing the second machine to update the second instance of the mission progress line with the first instance of the mission progress line, such that mission progress of the first and second players in the video game is synchronized.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the updating occurs as a result of connecting at least one of the first and second machines to the peer-to-peer network.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein an objective of the sequence of objectives includes one or more conditions, all of which must be achieved before progressing to a subsequent objective.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

performing an action at a start of an objective; and

performing an action at an end of the objective.

17. A machine-readable storable medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform operations, the operations comprising:

providing on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players;

tracking on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved;

receiving on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine; and

crediting the first mission progress line to form a union of the first mission progress line and the received data regarding progress in the second mission progress line that is achieved when disconnected from the peer-to-peer network.

18. A computer system executing instructions in a computer program, the computer program instructions comprising program code to:

provide on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players;

track on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved;

receive on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine, the second machine having updated at least a portion of the second mission progress line while the first machine was powered down; and

update the first mission progress line with the received data regarding the second mission progress line, such that an updated first mission progress line of the first player is at least the union of the first mission progress line and the second mission progress line.