Collaborative online gaming system and method
AssigneeElectronic Arts Inc.
InventorJesper Jensen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method, and computer program product for collaborative online gaming, including at least one of providing a central repository master browser system; providing an experience calibrated match-making service; providing a dynamic multiplayer server component auto deployment and aggregation system; providing a lobby centric simultaneous and collaborative client game play launching feature; and providing a video game screen over-layer technology giving users access to a control interface while inside a video game being played.
Claims19
A method for collaborative online gaming, comprising:
- identifying a plurality of game servers, at least some of which are configured to allow connections from devices operated by new players and at least some of which are configured to allow a new player to join an ongoing game instance, wherein a game instance is an instantiation of a game program executed by a game server and is an ongoing game instance if at least one player is playing, or initiating play, in that game instance;
- gathering data relevant to one or more of said players, wherein said data comprises a player rating for each player for at least one game instance and at least two players currently using that game instance, and a consolidated rating for that game instance based on the player ratings for rated players currently playing that game instance;
- injecting the gathered data into a database cloud for storing persistent state data for one or more players and game servers;
- identifying a new player rating of a prospective new player;
- and
- matching the prospective new player with one or more game instance executed by one or more of the plurality of game servers, wherein the matching is based on a comparison of the new player rating and the consolidated ratings of the one or more game instances.
A collaborative online gaming system, implemented using at least one game server capable of communicating with a plurality of player devices operated by game players, the system comprising:
- one or more game server, at least some of which are configured to allow connections from devices operated by new players and at least some of which are configured to allow a new player to join an ongoing game instance, wherein a game instance is an instantiation of a game program executed by the game server;
- logic for gathering data relevant to one or more of said game players wherein said data comprises a player rating for each player for at least one game instance and at least two players currently using that game instance, and a consolidated rating for that game instance based on the player ratings for rated players currently playing that game instance;
- logic for injecting the gathered data into a database cloud for storing persistent state data for one or more players and game servers;
- and
- logic for matching a prospective new player with one or more game instance executed by one or more of the plurality of game servers, wherein the matching is based on a comparison of the new player rating and the consolidated ratings of the one or more game instances.
A method for collaborative online gaming, comprising:
- identifying a plurality of game servers, each configured to allow connections from devices operated by players and each configured to execute one or more instantiations of a game program, wherein each game instantiation, when executing, serves one or more players through communication to and from player-operated devices;
- coordinating selection among a subset of a plurality of players to form a game group comprising a plurality of players;
- providing a communications interface to the players of a game group to allow the game group to collectively determine a preferred set of game parameters;
- storing an agreed-upon set of game parameters in a database cloud for storing persistent state data for one or more players and game servers;
- instantiating a game program using the agreed-upon set of game parameters;
- and
- providing a game interface for the players of the game group, thereby allowing for collaborative online gaming among the players in the game group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.