# US 12,109,498 B2 · Systems and methods for transmitting interactive game features to multiple devices of a shared streaming media session

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- Number: US 12,109,498 B2
- Document ID: US12109498B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/186,666
- Filed: 2023-03-20
- Published: 2023-10-12
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2022-04-06
- Assignees: Discovery.com, LLC
- Applicants: Discovery.com, LLC
- Inventors: Brian F. Roberts; Chad Peltola; Charles Robertson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12109498B2

## CPC

- A63F 13/814: Musical performances, e.g. by evaluating the player's ability to follow a notation
- A63F 13/285: Generating tactile feedback signals via the game input device, e.g. force feedback
- A63F 13/335: using Internet
- A63F 13/338: using television networks
- A63F 13/352: involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
- A63F 13/424: involving acoustic input signals, e.g. by using the results of pitch or rhythm extraction or voice recognition
- A63F 13/44: involving timing of operations, e.g. performing an action within a time slot
- A63F 13/46: Computing the game score
- A63F 13/533: for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
- A63F 13/795: for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
- A63F 13/798: for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame
- A63F 13/86: Watching games played by other players
- H04N 21/252: {Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data}
- H04N 21/2668: Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles {(information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063)}
- H04N 21/4781: {Games}
- A63F 2300/51: Server architecture
- A63F 2300/8064: Quiz
- A63F: CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

## Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing one or more game features across devices associated with a synchronous multimedia stream are disclosed. One method may include: establishing, on the server, a virtual media streaming session; connecting two or more user profiles of a media streaming platform to the virtual media streaming session; providing, in the virtual media streaming session, an article of multimedia content, wherein the article of multimedia content is simultaneously viewable on user devices associated with each of the two or more user profiles; determining, using a processor associated with the server, whether one or more interactive game features associated with the article of multimedia content are activated; and implementing, responsive to determining that the one or more interactive game features are activated, aspects associated with the one or more interactive game features in the virtual media streaming session.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for transmitting interactive game features to multiple devices associated with a synchronous multimedia stream using a server in network communication with at least one database, the method comprising operations including:
establishing, on the server, a virtual media streaming session;
connecting, using a processor associated with the server, two or more user profiles of a media streaming platform to the virtual media streaming session;
initiating streaming, using the processor and in the virtual media streaming session, of an article of multimedia content, wherein the article of multimedia content is simultaneously viewable on user devices associated with each of the two or more user profiles and wherein the article of multimedia content is prerecorded;
implementing, using the processor, aspects associated with one or more interactive game features in the virtual media streaming session; and
transmitting, using the processor and responsive to the implementing, a request for user input from at least one of the two or more user profiles in furtherance of the one or more interactive game features, wherein the request is based on content occurring in the article of multimedia content.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the implementing comprises:
initiating, in the virtual media streaming session, a poll;
receiving, from each of the two or more user profiles, a vote;
determining, based on the receiving, whether a majority vote exists to activate the one or more interactive game features; and
activating, responsive to determining that the majority vote exists, the one or more interactive game features.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the request to provide user input corresponds to a challenge to perform a task and further comprising:
identifying a difficulty associated with the challenge, wherein the difficulty is based on context of the content in the article of multimedia content and wherein the difficulty is one of a lower difficulty or a higher difficulty.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein:
the context of the content for the lower difficulty corresponds to one of: an action taken by a primary character, a phrase spoken by the primary character, and a popular object characteristic;
the context of the content for the higher difficulty corresponds to one of: an action taken by a secondary character; a phrase spoken by the secondary character, and a background object characteristic.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying, in the article of multimedia content, a predetermined event; and
transmitting, responsive to the identifying, instructions to each of the user devices to implement a haptic effect corresponding to the predetermined event.

### Claim 6

A system for transmitting interactive game features to multiple devices associated with a synchronous multimedia stream, the system comprising:
a processor;
at least one database;
a server in network communication with the at least one database and the processor, the server storing instructions that are executable by the processor to:
establish a virtual media streaming session;
connect two or more user profiles of a media streaming platform to the virtual media streaming session;
initiate streaming, in the virtual media streaming session, of an article of multimedia content, wherein the article of multimedia content is simultaneously viewable on user devices associated with each of the two or more user profiles and wherein the article of multimedia content is prerecorded;
implement aspects associated with one or more interactive game features in the virtual media streaming session; and
transmit, responsive to the implementing, a request for user input from to at least one of the two or more user profiles in furtherance of the one or more interactive game features, wherein the request is based on content occurring in the article of multimedia content.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to implement are further configured to cause the processor to:
initiate, in the virtual media streaming session, a poll;
receive, from each of the two or more user profiles, a vote;
determine, based on the receiving, whether a majority vote exists to activate the one or more interactive game features; and
activate, responsive to determining that the majority vote exists, the one or more interactive game features.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the request to provide user input corresponds to a challenge to perform a task and wherein the instructions are further executable to cause the processor to:
identify a difficulty associated with the challenge, wherein the difficulty is based on context of the content in the article of multimedia content and wherein the difficulty is one of a lower difficulty or a higher difficulty.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein:
the context of the content for the lower difficulty corresponds to one of: an action taken by a primary character, a phrase spoken by the primary character, and a popular object characteristic;
the context of the content for the higher difficulty corresponds to one of: an action taken by a secondary character; a phrase spoken by the secondary character, and a background object characteristic.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions are further executable to cause the processor to:
identify, in the article of multimedia content, a predetermined event; and
transmit, responsive to the identifying, instructions to each of the user devices to implement a haptic effect corresponding to the predetermined event.

### Claim 11

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a server in network communication with at least one database, cause the server to perform operations comprising:
establishing a virtual media streaming session;
connecting two or more user profiles of a media streaming platform to the virtual media streaming session;
initiating streaming, in the virtual media streaming session, of an article of multimedia content, wherein the article of multimedia content is simultaneously viewable on user devices associated with each of the two or more user profiles and wherein the article of multimedia content is prerecorded;
implementing, using the processor, aspects associated with one or more interactive game features in the virtual media streaming session; and
transmitting, responsive to the implementing, a request for user input from to at least one of the two or more user profiles in furtherance of the one or more interactive game features to perform a task, wherein the request is based on content occurring in the article of multimedia content.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the implementing determining comprises:
initiating, in the virtual media streaming session, a poll;
receiving, from each of the two or more user profiles, a vote;
determining, based on the receiving, whether a majority vote exists to activate the one or more interactive game features; and
activating, responsive to determining that the majority vote exists, the one or more interactive game features.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the request to provide user input corresponds to a challenge to perform a task and further comprising:
identifying a difficulty associated with the challenge, wherein the difficulty is based on context of the content in the article of multimedia content and wherein the difficulty is one of a lower difficulty or a higher difficulty;
wherein the context of the content for the lower difficulty corresponds to one of: an action taken by a primary character, a phrase spoken by the primary character, and a popular object characteristic;
wherein the context of the content for the higher difficulty corresponds to one of:
an action taken by a secondary character; a phrase spoken by the secondary character, and a background object characteristic.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:
identifying, in the article of multimedia content, a predetermined event; and
transmitting, responsive to the identifying, instructions to each of the user devices to implement a haptic effect corresponding to the predetermined event.

### Claim 15 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the implementing comprises:
identifying, in the article of multimedia content, occurrence of one or more events;
causing, subsequent to the identifying, the article of multimedia content to be paused;
presenting, to users associated with the two or more user profiles, the request for user input, wherein the request for user input corresponds to a question directed to the one or more events;
receiving, in response to the question, user input directed to at least two selectable answer options associated with the question;
presenting a summary of the received user input from the users in the virtual media streaming session; and
causing, subsequent to presenting the received user input for a predetermined period of time, the article of multimedia content to become unpaused.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the presenting comprises concurrently displaying a timer indicating a remaining time in which the user input to the question will be accepted.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the implementing comprises implementing aspects of a first game type to a first subset of the two or more user profiles and implement aspects of a second game type to a second subset of the two or more user profiles.

### Claim 18 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to implement are further configured to cause the processor to:
identify, in the article of multimedia content, occurrence of one or more events;
cause, subsequent to the identifying, the article of multimedia content to be paused;
present, to users associated with the two or more user profiles, the request for user input, wherein the request for user input corresponds to a question directed to the one or more events;
receive, in response to the question, user input directed to at least two selectable answer options associated with the question;
present a summary of the received user input from the users in the virtual media streaming session; and
cause, subsequent to presenting the received user input for a predetermined period of time, the article of multimedia content to become unpaused.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to present are further configured to cause the processor to:
concurrently display a timer indicating a remaining time in which the user input to the question will be accepted.

### Claim 20 (depends on 18)

The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to implement are further configured to cause the processor to:
implement aspects of a first game type to a first subset of the two or more user profiles and implement aspects of a second game type to a second subset of the two or more user profiles.