Video game overlay
First Claim
1. A game delivery system, comprising:
- game logic configured to provide a game environment based on game rules and game commands received from one or more game players;
a graphics processing unit configured to render the game environment to video data;
an encoding pipeline configured receive the rendered video data and overlay data, the overlay data defining an image associated with a game feature controlled by the game logic, the image defined by the overlay data mapped to a specific region on a display of a client computing system corresponding to at least one of the one or more game players, wherein mapping of the overlay data to the specific region is directed by the game logic, the encoding pipeline configured to combine the overlay data with the rendered video data, the encoding pipeline configured to encode the combination of the overlay data and the video data into a data format compatible with a destination codec for transmission over a network to the destination codec, wherein the encoding pipeline is dynamically provisioned in response to a signal received from the client computing system; and
an output configured to provide the encoded combination of the overlay data and the video data over the network to the client computing system having the destination codec.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A video server is configured to provide streaming video to players of computer games over a computing network. The video server can provided video of different games to different players simultaneously. This is accomplished by rendering several video streams in parallel using a single GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The output of the GPU is provided to graphics processing pipelines that are each associated with a specific client/player and are dynamically allocated as needed. A client qualifier may be used to assure that only clients capable of presenting the streaming video to a player at a minimum level of quality receive the video stream. Video frames provided by the video server optionally include overlays added to the output of the GPU. These overlays can include voice data received from another game player.
381 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A game delivery system, comprising:
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game logic configured to provide a game environment based on game rules and game commands received from one or more game players; a graphics processing unit configured to render the game environment to video data; an encoding pipeline configured receive the rendered video data and overlay data, the overlay data defining an image associated with a game feature controlled by the game logic, the image defined by the overlay data mapped to a specific region on a display of a client computing system corresponding to at least one of the one or more game players, wherein mapping of the overlay data to the specific region is directed by the game logic, the encoding pipeline configured to combine the overlay data with the rendered video data, the encoding pipeline configured to encode the combination of the overlay data and the video data into a data format compatible with a destination codec for transmission over a network to the destination codec, wherein the encoding pipeline is dynamically provisioned in response to a signal received from the client computing system; and an output configured to provide the encoded combination of the overlay data and the video data over the network to the client computing system having the destination codec. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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9. A game delivery system, comprising:
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game logic configured to provide a game environment based on game rules and game commands received from one or more game players; a graphics processing unit configured to render the game environment to video data; an encoding pipeline configured receive the rendered video data and overlay data, wherein an image defined by the overlay data is mapped to a region on a display of the client, the encoding pipeline configured to combine the overlay data with the rendered video data, the encoding pipeline configured to encode the combination of the overlay data and the video data into a data format compatible with a destination codec for transmission over a network to the destination codec; an output configured to provide the encoded combination of the overlay data and the video data over the network to client having the destination codec; a mapping stored in computer readable memory and configured to convert an event at the region to a game command, wherein the mapping is dynamically dependent on a touched location of a touch screen display of the client. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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13. A method of generating game video, the method comprising:
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executing game logic to generate a game environment through execution of program instructions by at least one processor of one or more computers, based on game rules and game commands received from one or more players; rendering the game environment to video data through execution of program instructions by at least one processor of one or more computers; dynamically provisioning an encoding pipeline in response to a signal received from a client computing system; providing the video data to an encoding pipeline; operating the encoding pipeline to digitally combine overlay data with the video data, the overlay data defining an image associated with a game feature controlled by the game logic, the image defined by the overlay data mapped to a specific region on a display of the client computing system corresponding to at least one of the one or more players, wherein mapping of the overlay data to the specific region is directed by the game logic; operating the encoding pipeline to encode the combination of the overlay data and the video data into a data format compatible with a destination codec for transmission over a network to the destination codec; and transmitting the encoded combination of the overlay data and the video data over the network to the client computing system at which the destination codec resides. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification