Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090221368 | Method and system for creating a shared game space for a networked game - Techniques for creating a shared virtual space based on one or more real-world spaces are disclosed. Representations of the real-world spaces are combined in different ways to create a shared virtual game space within which each person's real-world movements are interpreted to create a shared feeling of physical proximity and physical interaction with other people on the network. One or more video cameras in one real-world area are provided to generate video data capturing the users as well as the environment of the users. The shared virtual space is created in reference to the respective real-world spaces that may be combined in various ways. Depending on a particular application, the shared virtual space will be embedded with various virtual objects and representative objects. Together with various rules and scoring mechanisms, such a shared virtual space may be used in a videogame that can be played by multiple players in a game space within which player's movements are interpreted to create a shared feeling of physical proximity and physical interaction with other players on the network. | 09-03-2009 |
20090221374 | Method and system for controlling movements of objects in a videogame - Techniques for controlling movements of an object in a videogame are disclosed. At least one video camera is used at a location where at least a player plays the videogame, the video camera captures various movements of the player. A designated device (e.g., a game console or computer) is configured to the video data to derive the movements of the player from the video data, and cause the object to respond to the movements of the player. When the designated device receives video data from more than one locations, players at the respective locations can play a networked videogame that may be built upon a shared space representing some or all of the real-world spaces of the locations. The video game is embedded with objects, some of which respond to the movements of the players and interact with other objects in accordance with rules of the video games. | 09-03-2009 |
20090288064 | Method and apparatus for non-disruptive embedding of specialized elements - Techniques for non-disruptive embedding of specialized elements are disclosed. In one aspect of the techniques, ontology is defined to specify an application domain. A program interface (API) is also provided for creating raw features by a developer. Thus a module is provided for at least one form of statistical analysis within the ontology. The module is configured automatically in a computing device with the API in response to a system consistent with the ontology, wherein the system has no substantial requirement for specialized knowledge of that form of statistical analysis, and the module has no substantial requirement for specialized knowledge of particular functions provided by the system. | 11-19-2009 |
20100004896 | Method and apparatus for interpreting orientation invariant motion - Techniques for interpreting orientation invariant motion are disclosed. Unlike a prior art controller (e.g., a WII game controller) that has a specific physical design to induce or force a user to grip the controller in a consistent way, a disclosed controller does not have such a physical design and allow a user to grip the controller in any way that is comfortable to the user (e.g., around an axis z), one or more transformation or rotations are designed to transform or rotate readings from inertial sensors housed in the controller to readings independent from how the controller is being gripped by a user. | 01-07-2010 |
20100113153 | Self-Contained Inertial Navigation System for Interactive Control Using Movable Controllers - A movable game controller for controlling aspects of a computer controlled game display with apparatus for determining the linear and angular motion of that movable controller. The apparatus includes a plurality of self-contained inertial sensors for sensing the tri-axial linear and tri-axial angular motion of the moving controller. Each sensor is mounted at a fixed linear position and orientation with respect to the others. The linear and angular motion of the controller is computed from the correlated motion sensor readings of each of the plurality of self-contained inertial sensors. | 05-06-2010 |
20120151539 | Pre-Buffering Audio Streams - One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for identifying and pre-buffering audio/video stream pairs. The method includes the steps of predictively identifying for pre-buffering at least one audio/video stream pair that may be selected for playback by a user subsequent to a currently playing audio/video stream pair, computing a first rate for pre-buffering an audio portion of the at least one audio/video stream pair and a second rate for pre-buffering a video portion of the at least one audio/video stream pair, downloading the audio portion at the first rate and downloading the video portion at the second rate, and storing the downloaded audio portion and the downloaded video portion in a content buffer. | 06-14-2012 |
20120260214 | RECOMMENDING DIGITAL CONTENT BASED ON IMPLICIT USER IDENTIFICATION - One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for recommending digital content to a user of a digital content application based on continually learned patterns of behavior. Based on metrics collected from a current session of the digital content application, properties associated with one or more users interacting with the application are inferred. The inferred properties are matched against previously defined patterns of behavior to identify digital content that could be presented to the one or more users for optional selection. | 10-11-2012 |
20130159384 | WEB SERVER CONSTRAINT SUPPORT - Techniques are disclosed for a web server to support constraints specified by a client. In one embodiment, the web server receives, from the client, a request for one or more blocks of data. The request includes one or more constraints provided by the client. The web server may perform an action responsive to an increase in network congestion, based on the one or more constraints. Accordingly, the web server may handle the request in a manner that more closely meets the needs of the client. | 06-20-2013 |
20130159498 | MEASURING USER QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE FOR A STREAMING MEDIA SERVICE - Techniques are disclosed for representing a user quality of experience (QoE) experienced by users of a streaming media service using a single QoE metric. The single QoE metric may be determined based on a set of empirical characteristics relating to the streaming video service such as startup latency, video quality, and the likelihood of interruptions in streaming playback. The empirical characteristics may be weighted according to how much one factor influences user quality of experience, relative to the others. Representing the QoE as a single metric may allow a streaming media service provider to improve key business measures such as subscriber retention and engagement. | 06-20-2013 |
20130283112 | UPSTREAM FAULT DETECTION - Techniques are described for detecting faults in media content based on the behavior of users viewing the media content. Embodiments stream a first instance of media content to one or more users. The behavior of the one or more users is monitored while the users are viewing the streaming first instance of media content. Embodiments then determine whether the first instance of media content is faulty, based on the monitored behavior of the one or more users. | 10-24-2013 |
20140092009 | Methods and Systems for Dynamic Calibration of Movable Game Controllers - A video gaming system includes a wireless controller that senses linear and angular acceleration to calculate paths of controller movement over a broad range of controller motion. The system also includes an electromagnetic alignment element, such as a set of LEDS. The controller includes an additional sensor to sense light from the LEDs over a relatively restricted range of controller motion, and use this sensed light to dynamically calibrate the controller when the controller passes through the restricted range of motion over which the sensor senses the light. | 04-03-2014 |
20140108671 | PARTITIONING STREAMING MEDIA FILES ON MULTIPLE CONTENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS - Techniques are disclosed for generating preference rankings in response to requests for streaming media content received from client devices. The preference rankings are used to indirectly partition streaming media content across different content distribution networks (CDNs). Such partitions may be referred to as a “soft” partition, as all of the streaming media content remains available from each CDN. That is, the partitioning of content across CDNs is not absolute, and any content item may be requested from any CDN. Doing so ensures that content remains available even where the preferred CDN for a given content item fails, while at the same time increasing the probability of a cache hit at the CDNs, without increasing the cost or the actual cache sizes of the content caches of different CDNs. | 04-17-2014 |