# US 10,441,886 B2 · Dynamic allocation of contextual assistance during game play

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- Number: US 10,441,886 B2
- Document ID: US10441886B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/882,092
- Filed: 2018-01-29
- Published: 2019-08-01
- Granted: 2019-10-15
- Earliest claimed: 2018-01-29
- Assignees: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
- Applicants: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC
- Inventors: Warren M. Benedetto; Landon Noss
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10441886B2

## CPC

- A63F 13/5375: for graphically or textually suggesting an action, e.g. by displaying an arrow indicating a turn in a driving game
- A63F 13/798: for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame
- A63F 13/422: automatically for the purpose of assisting the player, e.g. automatic braking in a driving game
- A63F 13/67: adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use
- A63F 13/85: Providing additional services to players
- G06V 40/174: {Facial expression recognition}
- G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence)
- G10L 25/63: for estimating an emotional state
- A63F: CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING

## Abstract

The present disclosure describes methods and systems directed towards a dynamic allocation of contextual assistance during gameplay. By analyzing user gameplay and reactions of a user while the user is participating in a video game, appropriate gameplay assistance can be assigned. The different assistance information can be offered and/or provided to the user based on a current state of the user performance within the game. The system and methods allow for customization of what type of gameplay assistance can be provided to each user and when the assistance should be provided. In this way there is a balance between assisting the user to minimize the level of frustration and letting the user experience the video game to minimize spoilers.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for dynamic allocation of contextual assistance during gameplay, the system comprising:
a first party platform that obtains user data, the user data pertaining to user reactions to a video game, the user reactions indicative of a level of frustration;
an assistance server that stores assistance information associated with the video game, wherein the assistance information corresponds to overcoming a challenge within the video game; and
a performance server that:
monitors the user data to identify the level of frustration in reaction to the video game,
compares the identified level of frustration against pre-determined thresholds corresponding to the assistance information stored at the assistance server,
instructs the assistance server to transmit the assistance information based on the comparison between the identified level of frustration and the pre-determined thresholds,
monitors a first subsequent user data after the user receives the assistance information from the assistance server, the first subsequent user data indicating that the user has not overcome the challenge and includes an updated level of frustration,
instructs the assistance server to transmit the assistance information corresponding to the updated level of frustration,
monitors a second subsequent user data after the user receives the additional information from the assistance server, the second subsequent user data indicating that the user has overcome the challenge, and
modifies a user profile associated with the user, the user profile storing a general trend of performance by the user that correspond to the pre-determined thresholds, wherein the modification modifies the general trend of the performance by the user based on the monitored first and second subsequent user data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the first party platform includes sensors used to collect biometric information from the user, the biometric information used to characterize the user reactions to the video game.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the biometric information collected by one of the sensors includes the heart rate of the user.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the first party platform also includes a microphone used to collect voice inputs from the user, the voice inputs used to characterize the user reactions to the video game.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system of claim 4, wherein the voice inputs includes expletives.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the microphone also detects a frequency of the expletives.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the first party platform includes a camera used to capture images of facial expressions the user, the images of facial expressions used to characterize the user reactions to the video game.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined thresholds are based on the video game.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the pre-determined thresholds are based on a current difficulty of the video game.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined thresholds are based on normalized data from other users who played the same video game as the user.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined thresholds are unique to the video game.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined thresholds are unique to a genre of the video game.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-determine thresholds are unique to the user.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the general trend characterizes user data regarding the challenge over a period of time.

### Claim 15

A method for dynamic allocation of contextual assistance during gameplay, the method comprising:
storing assistance information associated with the video game, wherein the assistance server transmits corresponding assistance information that assists the user to overcome a challenge within the video game;
monitoring the user data to identify a level of frustration of the user within the video game;
comparing the identified level of frustration against pre-determined thresholds associated with corresponding assistance information to be provided to the user;
instructing the assistance server to transmit assistance information based on the comparison between the identified level of frustration and the pre-determined thresholds;
monitoring a first subsequent user data after the user receives the assistance information from the assistance server, the first subsequent user data indicating that the user has not overcome the event and includes an updated level of frustration;
instructing the assistance server to transmit assistance information based on the updated level of frustration;
monitoring a second subsequent user data after the user receives the additional information from the assistance server, the second subsequent user data indicating that the user has overcome the event; and
modifying a user profile associated with the user, the user profile storing a general trend of the performance of the user that correspond to the pre-determined thresholds, wherein the modification modifies the general trend of the performance of the user based on the monitored first and second subsequent user data.