US 2014/0370981 A1Published application

Reducing the bandwidth requirements of multiplayer gaming sessions

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsGary D. Cudak, Christopher J. Hardee, Randall C. Humes, Adam Roberts

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Abstract

A computer identifies a group of players that are participating in a gaming session that is hosted by the computer. The computer identifies the location of an avatar of a first player included in the group of players. The computer identifies the location of a second avatar of a second player included in the group of players and determining the proximity between the first avatar and the second avatar. The computer determines if the proximity exceeds a threshold. Responsive to the determination that the proximity does not exceed the threshold, the computer sends data for the gaming session to the first player and the first player passes that data to the second player.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of distributing data during a gaming session, the method comprising:

a computer identifying a group of players that are participating in a gaming session, wherein the gaming session is hosted by the computer;
the computer identifying, in the gaming session, an attribute of a first avatar of a first player included in the group of players;
the computer identifying, in the gaming session, an attribute of a second avatar of a second player included in the group of players;
and
the computer determining a weighted value for the first avatar and the second avatar based on the respective identified attributes;
the computer determining if the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar;
and
responsive to the determination that the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar, the computer sending data for the gaming session to the first player, wherein the first player passes the data to the second player thereby reducing the bandwidth required to host the gaming session.

5 more elements

A computer program product for distributing data during a gaming session, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to identify a group of players that are participating in a gaming session, wherein the gaming session is hosted by the computer;
program instructions to identify, in the gaming session, an attribute of a first avatar of a first player included in the group of players;
program instructions to identify, in the gaming session, an attribute of a second avatar of a second player included in the group of players;
and
program instructions to determine a weighted value for the first avatar and the second avatar based on the respective identified attributes;
program instructions to determine if the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar;
and
program instructions to respond to the determination that the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar, by sending data for the gaming session to the first player, wherein the first player passes the data to the second player thereby reducing the bandwidth required to host the gaming session.

6 more elements

A computer system for distributing data during a gaming session, the computer system comprising:

program instructions to identify a group of players that are participating in a gaming session, wherein the gaming session is hosted by the computer;
program instructions to identify, in the gaming session, an attribute of a first avatar of a first player included in the group of players;
program instructions to identify, in the gaming session, an attribute of a second avatar of a second player included in the group of players;
and
program instructions to determine a weighted value for the first avatar and the second avatar based on the respective identified attributes;
program instructions to determine if the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar;
and
program instructions to respond to the determination that the weighted value of the first avatar is greater than the weighted value of the second avatar, by sending data for the gaming session to the first player, wherein the first player passes the data to the second player thereby reducing the bandwidth required to host the gaming session.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.