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US 8,799,168 B2Granted
Secure transfer of online privileges including non-financial options
AssigneeSony Online Entertainment LLC
InventorsDavid Dhunjishaw, Christopher Yates, Andrew Zaffron
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of transferring online privileges, comprising: receiving a request for a payment including one or more non-financial items; debiting the one or more non-financial items from a second account; and crediting the one or more non-financial items to a first account, wherein the first account and the second account are accounts residing in a points server.
Claims9
A method of transferring privileges, comprising:
- selecting by a seller client a game item in an online game provided by a game server;
- representing the game item by item data stored in a game database connected to the game server, and associating the item data having an associated privilege in the online game with a first user account;
- retrieving by the game server the item data from the game database;
- transferring by the game server the item data and a first user identifier of the first user account to an auction server;
- disabling by the game server the item data stored in the game database so that the privilege associated with the item data is no longer available in the online game;
- storing by the auction server the transferred item data and the first user identifier in an auction database connected to the auction server;
- presenting by the auction server an auction for the game item at the auction server;
- accepting by the auction server one or more bids at the auction server for the game item;
- determining by the auction server a winning bid for the game item from among accepted bids, the winning bid indicating a second user identifier and the second user identifier corresponding to a second user account with the game server;
- transferring by an online service company one or more non-financial items based on the winning bid from an account indicated by the second user identifier to an account indicated by the first user identifier,
- wherein the online service company connects to and controls both the game server and the auction server so that a second user associated with the second user account is assured of transfer of the game item for said one or more non-financial items;
- updating by the game server the item data stored in the game database so that the item data is associated with the second user account;
- and
- enabling by the game server the item data stored in the game database so that the privilege is available in the online game.
11 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for use in transferring online privileges, the program comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to:
- select a game item in an online game provided by a game server;
- represent the game item by item data stored in a game database connected to the game server, and associate the item data having an associated privilege in the online game with a first user account;
- retrieve the item data from the game database;
- transfer the item data and a first user identifier of the first user account to an auction server;
- disable the item data stored in the game database so that the privilege associated with the item data is no longer available in the online game;
- store the transferred item data and the first user identifier in an auction database connected to the auction server;
- present an auction for the game item at the auction server;
- accept one or more bids at the auction server for the game item;
- determine a winning bid for the game item from among accepted bids, the winning bid indicating a second user identifier and the second user identifier corresponding to a second user account with the game server;
- transfer one or more non-financial items based on the winning bid from an account indicated by the second user identifier to an account indicated by the first user identifier,
- wherein an online service company connects to and controls both the game server and the auction server so that a second user associated with the second user account is assured of transfer of the game item for said one or more non-financial items;
- update the item data stored in the game database so that the item data is associated with the second user account;
- and
- enable the item data stored in the game database so that the privilege is available in the online game.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.