# US 10,369,472 B1 · Virtual environment mapping system

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- Number: US 10,369,472 B1
- Document ID: US10369472B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 15/474,975
- Filed: 2017-03-30
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2017-03-30
- Assignees: Electronic Arts Inc.
- Applicants: Electronic Arts Inc.
- Inventors: Mohamed Marwan Mattar; Meng Wu; John Kolen; Navid Aghdaie; Kazi Atif-Uz Zaman
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10369472B1

## CPC

- A63F 13/5378: for displaying an additional top view, e.g. radar screens or maps
- A63F 13/35: Details of game servers
- A63F 13/65: automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
- A63F 13/79: involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
- G06F 16/29: Geographical information databases
- G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
- G06F 16/955: using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
- G06N 20/00: Machine learning
- H04N 21/8153: {comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image}
- A63F: CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

## Abstract

The present disclosure provides embodiments of a virtual mapping system for using real world geographical locations to generate virtual environments within game applications. The virtual mapping system allows a game application to identify geographical information associated with real world locations. The geographical information can be used by the game application to recreate the selected geographical location using virtual assets from the game application.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computer-implemented method comprising:
under control of one or more hardware computing devices configured with specific computer-executable instructions, the specific computer-executable instructions stored in an electronic hardware memory,
receiving, over a network from a user computing system executing a game application, a location identifier data packet comprising an indication of a geographic location;
receiving, over the network, geographic information data packets from at least one mapping service, the geographic information data packets comprising geographic data associated with the geographic location;
determining a geographic region based at least in part on the location identifier data packet and the geographic information data packets;
identifying a plurality of geographic entities within the geographic region based at least in part on an analysis of at least a portion of the geographic information data packets;
for at least a subset of the plurality of geographic entities within the geographic region, determining attributes defining the geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of defined geographic entities;
accessing virtual asset data in a physical data store, wherein the physical data store is configured to store virtual asset data structures storing virtual asset data defining a plurality of virtual assets used within the game application;
for each defined geographic entity of the plurality of defined geographic entities, matching, using a machine learning based model, the defined geographic entity to a virtual asset based at least in part on the determined attributes of the defined geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of matched virtual assets;
generating a virtual environment map comprising matched virtual assets of the plurality of matched virtual assets positioned at defined locations within the virtual environment map, wherein the defined locations of the matched virtual assets within the virtual environment map correspond to locations of the geographic entities within the geographic region;
transmitting a map output data packet to the user computing system, the map output data packet comprising instructions for display of the virtual environment map within the game application;
receiving a feedback data packet from the game application associated with the matching of the defined geographic entity to the virtual asset, wherein the feedback data packet identifies a change of the matched virtual asset to a different virtual asset within the virtual environment map; and
updating the machine learning based model based, at least in part, on the feedback data packet.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the geographic entity define visual characteristics of the geographic entity.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each geographic entity of the plurality of geographic entities is at least one of vegetation, a structure, infrastructure, or terrain.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying a user account associated with the game application;
identifying virtual assets associated with the user account;
identifying matched virtual assets in the virtual environment map that are not associated with the user account; and
determining a recommendation associated with the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the recommendation comprises an identification of one or more actions required within the game application to acquire the one or more of the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.

### Claim 6

A system comprising:
an electronic data store configured to store virtual asset data storing virtual asset data defining a plurality of virtual assets used within a game application;
a hardware processor in communication with the electronic data store, the hardware processor configured to execute specific computer-executable instructions to at least:
receive, over a network from a user computing system executing the game application, a location identifier data packet comprising an indication of a geographic location;
determine a geographic region based at least in part on the location identifier data packet and geographic information associated with the geographic location, wherein the geographic region comprises a plurality of geographic entities;
for at least a subset of the plurality of geographic entities within the geographic region, determine attributes defining the geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of defined geographic entities;
access virtual asset data in the electronic data store;
for each defined geographic entity of the plurality of defined geographic entities, match, using a machine learning based model, the defined geographic entity to a virtual asset based at least in part on the determined attributes of the defined geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of matched virtual assets;
generate a virtual environment map comprising matched virtual assets of the plurality of matched virtual assets positioned at defined locations within the virtual environment map, wherein the defined locations of the matched virtual assets within the virtual environment map correspond to locations of the geographic entities within the geographic region;
transmit a map output data packet to the user computing system, the map output data packet comprising instructions for display of the virtual environment map within the game application;
receive a feedback data packet from the game application associated with the matching of the defined geographic entity to the virtual asset, wherein the feedback data packet identifies a change of a matched virtual asset to a different virtual asset within the virtual environment map; and
update the machine learning based model based, at least in part, on the feedback data packet.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the geographic information comprises at least one of visual data, supplemental data, or categorical data.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the geographic information comprises topographical information of the geographic region.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to execute instructions to:
identify a user account associated with the game application;
identify virtual assets associated with the user account;
identify matched virtual assets in the virtual environment map that are not associated with the user account; and
determine a recommendation associated with the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, wherein the recommendation comprises an identification of one or more actions required within the game application to acquire one or more of the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.

### Claim 11

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
under control of one or more hardware computing devices configured with specific computer-executable instructions, the specific computer-executable instructions stored in an electronic hardware memory,
receiving, over a network from a user computing system executing a game application, a location identifier data packet comprising an indication of a geographic location;
determining a geographic region based at least in part on the location identifier data packet and geographic information associated with the geographic location, wherein the geographic region comprises a plurality of geographic entities;
for at least a subset of the plurality of geographic entities within the geographic region, determining attributes defining the geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of defined geographic entities;
accessing virtual asset data in a physical data store, wherein the physical data store is configured to store virtual asset data structures storing virtual asset data defining a plurality of virtual assets used within the game application;
for each defined geographic entity of the plurality of defined geographic entities, matching, using a machine learning based model, the defined geographic entity to a virtual asset based at least in part on the determined attributes of the defined geographic entity, resulting in a plurality of matched virtual assets;
generating a virtual environment map comprising matched virtual assets of the plurality of matched virtual assets positioned at defined locations within the virtual environment map, wherein the defined locations of the matched virtual assets within the virtual environment map correspond to locations of the geographic entities within the geographic region;
transmitting a map output data packet to the user computing system, the map output data packet comprising instructions for display of the virtual environment map within the game application;
receiving a feedback data packet from the game application associated with the matching of the defined geographic entity to the virtual asset, wherein the feedback data packet identifies a change of a matched virtual asset to a different virtual asset within the virtual environment map; and
updating the machine learning based model based, at least in part, on the feedback data packet.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the attributes of the geographic entity define visual characteristics of the geographic entity.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more hardware computing devices are further configured to execute instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying a user account associated with the game application;
identifying virtual assets associated with the user account;
identifying matched virtual assets in the virtual environment map that are not associated with the user account; and
determining a recommendation associated with the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the recommendation comprises an identification of one or more actions required within the game application to acquire the one or more of the matched virtual assets that are not associated with the user account.