# US 11,896,910 B2 · System and method of cheat detection in video games > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,896,910 B2 - Document ID: US11896910B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/352,050 - Filed: 2023-07-13 - Published: 2023-11-09 - Granted: 2024-02-13 - Earliest claimed: 2017-09-05 - Assignees: State Space Labs, Inc. - Applicants: State Space Labs, Inc. - Inventors: Kevin Desimone; David J. Heeger; Wayne E. Mackey - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11896910B2 ## CPC - A63F 13/75: Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players - A63F 13/798: for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame - A63F 13/44: involving timing of operations, e.g. performing an action within a time slot - 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 13/837: Shooting of targets - A63F 2300/535: for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters - A63F: CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract A system and method may detect cheating in a computer game, by receiving inputs to a computer game from an entity (which may be a cheater or bot; or a human), comparing the inputs from the entity to data related to inputs to a computer game from human players, and based on the comparing, determining if the entity is a human player or a cheater. The comparing may be based on performance metrics derived from the inputs, and may be by statistical analysis or, comparing a statistical distribution. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of detecting cheating in a computer game, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of inputs to a computer game from a plurality of human players; receiving a plurality of inputs to the computer game from an entity; computing performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the plurality of human players; computing performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the entity; characterizing a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the plurality of human players; characterizing a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the entity; comparing the performance metrics from the plurality of inputs from the entity to the performance metrics from the plurality of inputs from the plurality of human players, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the entity to the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the plurality of human players; and based on the comparing, determining if the entity is a human player or a cheater. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metrics are selected from the group consisting of: movement kinematics, movement amplitude, movement speed, accuracy of movement landing point, movement reaction time, reaction time between target appearance and initiation of a movement, swipiness, movement variability, movement precision, motor acuity, speed-accuracy trade-off, proportion of movements for which there is no shot, number corrective movements to hit a target, shot performance, shot time, shot speed, shot error, shot variability, shot precision, number of shots to hit a target, and proportion of targets for which the player hits the target. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs are provided by an input device selected from the group consisting of: computer mouse, keyboard, mobile computing device, mobile telephone, mobile device, and game controller. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising, if it is determined that the entity is a cheater, taking action from the group consisting of: informing other entities that the entity is a cheater; stopping the play of the entity; adding the entity's username to a list of cheaters; removing the entity from a leaderboard; banning the entity from the game; freezing the account of the entity; and undoing effects the entity's actions have had on other entities. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is a human player, or a bot providing input, and determining that the entity is a cheater indicates the entity is a bot. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising, if it is determined that the entity is a player using a bot, taking action from the group consisting of: informing other entities that the entity is a cheater; stopping the play of the entity; adding the entity's username to a list of cheaters; removing the entity from a leaderboard; banning the entity from the game; freezing the account of the entity; and undoing effects the entity's actions have had on other entities. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises calculating a likelihood that the statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the entity corresponds to human input represented by the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the plurality of human players; and the entity is determined to be a cheater if the likelihood is below a threshold. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises calculating a distance between the statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the entity and the statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the plurality of human players; and the entity is determined to be a cheater if the distance is greater than a threshold. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises a comparison of two probability density functions. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each statistical distribution is created based on a probability density. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each statistical distribution is a multivariate distribution. ### Claim 12 A system for detecting cheating in a computer game, the system comprising: a memory; and a processor to: receive a plurality of inputs to a computer game from a plurality of human players; receive a plurality of inputs to the computer game from an entity; compute performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the plurality of human players; compute performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the entity; characterize a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the plurality of human players; characterize a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the entity; compare the performance metrics from the plurality of inputs from the entity to the performance metrics from the plurality of inputs from the plurality of human players, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the entity to the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the plurality of human players; and based on the comparing, determine if the entity is a human player or a cheater. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the performance metrics are selected from the group consisting of: movement kinematics, movement amplitude, movement speed, accuracy of movement landing point, movement reaction time, reaction time between target appearance and initiation of a movement, swipiness, movement variability, movement precision, motor acuity, speed-accuracy trade-off, proportion of movements for which there is no shot, number corrective movements to hit a target, shot performance, shot time, shot speed, shot error, shot variability, shot precision, number of shots to hit a target, and proportion of targets for which the player hits the target. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more inputs are provided by an input device selected from the group consisting of: computer mouse, keyboard, mobile computing device, mobile telephone, mobile device, and game controller. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is to, if it is determined that the entity is a cheater, take action from the group consisting of: informing other entities that the entity is a cheater; stopping the play of the entity; adding the entity's username to a list of cheaters; removing the entity from a leaderboard; banning the entity from the game; freezing the account of the entity; and undoing effects the entity's actions have had on other entities. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the entity is a human player, or a bot providing input, and determining that the entity is a cheater indicates the entity is a bot. ### Claim 17 A method of detecting cheating in a computer game, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of inputs to a computer game from a plurality of human players; receiving a plurality of inputs to the computer game from an entity; computing performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the plurality of human players; computing performance metrics based on the plurality of inputs from the entity; creating a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the plurality of human players; creating a statistical distribution of the performance metrics from the entity; comparing the statistical distribution of performance metrics based on the inputs from the entity to the statistical distribution of performance metrics from the plurality of human players; and based on the comparing, determining if the entity is a human player or a player using a bot. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the performance metrics are selected from the group consisting of: movement kinematics, movement amplitude, movement speed, accuracy of movement landing point, movement reaction time, reaction time between target appearance and initiation of a movement, swipiness, movement variability, movement precision, motor acuity, speed-accuracy trade-off, proportion of movements for which there is no shot, number corrective movements to hit a target, shot performance, shot time, shot speed, shot error, shot variability, shot precision, number of shots to hit a target, and proportion of targets for which the player hits the target. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the inputs are provided by an input device selected from the group consisting of: computer mouse, keyboard, mobile computing device, mobile telephone, mobile device, and game controller. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein each statistical distribution is a probability density function.