Video compression system and method for reducing the effects of packet loss over a communication channel

A system comprising:

• a plurality of servers for executing one or more video games;
• an inbound packet routing network configured to receive packet streams from client devices of a plurality of users over a data network and route the packet streams to the one or more video games being executed, the packet streams include user control input, the one or more video games are operable to compute A/V data responsive to the user control input;
• and
• one or more video compression units configured to,
• receive the A/V data from the one or more video games,
• compress portions of the A/V data using a plurality of processing units to generate compressed A/V data,
• generate forward error correction (FEC) data to protect select portions of the compressed A/V data, wherein the select portions are identified to likely cause visual artifacts, if lost, and
• route the compressed A/V data with the FEC data to client devices associated with each of the plurality of users over a corresponding communication channel, wherein each client device is provided with a dedicated compressed A/V data stream on behalf of that user, the compressed A/V data representing video images of a video game being executed on one or more servers of the plurality of servers,
• wherein operations of executing the video games, computing A/V data responsive to the control signals, compressing portions of the A/V data, and routing the compressed A/V data to each of the users are performed to provide streaming interactive video gaming to one or more client devices of the one or more of the plurality of users and the FEC data is used to ensure recreation of selection portions of the A/V data.