Activision Publishing Inc. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160085607 | COMPUTE RESOURCE MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method for monitoring the health of a compute resource includes determining a baseline for the amount of time required for the resource to complete a specific task, monitoring the resource to measure the amount of time actually used by the resource to complete the task in a given instance, comparing the baseline time to the measured time, and determining if the resource is operating within acceptable tolerances based on the comparison. An alert may be created or other remedial action may be taken if the resource is not operating within acceptable tolerances. | 03-24-2016 |
20160082350 | VIDEOGAME SYSTEM AND METHOD THAT ENABLES CHARACTERS TO EARN VIRTUAL FANS BY COMPLETING SECONDARY OBJECTIVES - A videogame may be provided to one or more users in which characters controlled by users earn fans that impact the videogame similarly to fans in real life. For example, a character may earn virtual currency, be invited to participate in events and/or teams, obtain sponsorships, and/or experience other impacts associated with fanbase size. The videogame may include one or more primary objectives presented to the user. The performance of the primary objectives by the user may impact the progression of a character being controlled by the user through the videogame. The videogame may further include provide one or more fan objectives within the game which can be performed by the character being controlled by the user to earn fans to be included within a fanbase associated with the character in the game | 03-24-2016 |
20160005270 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DRIVING MICROTRANSACTIONS IN MULTIPLAYER VIDEO GAMES - A system and method is provided that drives microtransactions in multiplayer video games. The system may include a microtransaction arrange matches to influence game-related purchases. For instance, the system may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player. A junior player may wish to emulate the marquee player by obtaining weapons or other items used by the marquee player. | 01-07-2016 |
20160001186 | GROUP COMPOSITION MATCHMAKING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLAYER VIDEO GAMES - A system and method is provided that recommends group compositions in multiplayer video games. The system may suggest a composition of a group of players using a matchmaking process. For example, one or more players may wish to form or join a group of players for a given game, but not know what would be an appropriate mix of player styles, player roles, skill levels, and/or other player characteristics that would make an optimal group, given the player's own characteristics. The system may identify optimal groups based on matchmaking related information such as, without limitation, game profile, player profile, prior match scores, prior quality scores, and/or other information. Optimal groups may be those that have performed successfully (e.g., accomplished the most wins, objectives, etc.), are associated with the highest player enjoyment (e.g., based on match and/or quality scores), and/or otherwise are deemed to be desirable. | 01-07-2016 |
20160001182 | SOFT RESERVATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLAYER VIDEO GAMES - A soft reservation system and method is provided facilitates an unrequested reservation of a gameplay session in multiplayer video games. A soft reservation may include a match between two or more players for one or more subsequent gameplay sessions that are reserved for the players. The system may, for instance, anticipate an interest by players in a gameplay session and make a soft reservation for the players, who may not have explicitly requested the reservation, to play in the gameplay session. A soft reservation may be made for a player based on a match score, a game profile, a player profile, and/or other information. | 01-07-2016 |
20160001181 | MATCHMAKING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLAYER VIDEO GAMES - A matchmaking system and method is provided that facilitates optimization of player matches for multiplayer video games. The system may provide a generalized framework for matchmaking using historical player data and analytics. The framework may facilitate automatic determinations of an optimal mix of players and styles to produce the most satisfying user experiences. The system may dynamically update analytical processes based on statistical or otherwise observed data related to gameplay at any given time. In this manner, the system may continually tune the matchmaking process based on observations of player behavior, gameplay quality, and/or other information. | 01-07-2016 |
20150352448 | SOCIAL NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USE WITH AND INTEGRATION INTO A VIDEO GAME - A centralized social network tool is configured to interface with and integrates into one or more videogames and/or videogame series. The social network tool may be integral to the theme of the games and be pervasive within game play. The social network may drive progression of the story and interaction between characters. According to another aspect of the invention, the members of the social network may include actual members (corresponding to real people) and virtual members (e.g., artificial intelligence controlled bot members). The virtual members may be part of the social network and may interact with real members within and outside of the game as part of the theme of the game. | 12-10-2015 |
20150314194 | REACTIVE EMITTERS FOR VIDEO GAMES - A reactive emitter associated with an object in a video game emits an asset in response to a secondary effect of an activity that occurs in the video game within a vicinity of the object. | 11-05-2015 |
20150310866 | DIALOG SERVER FOR HANDLING CONVERSATION IN VIRTUAL SPACE METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR HAVING CONVERSATION IN VIRTUAL SPACE - A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars. | 10-29-2015 |
20150157940 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES ON TOUCHSCREEN-BASED DEVICES - The present invention relates to systems and methods for controlling a weapons-related video game on a touchscreen-based device. Aspects of the invention simplify the act of aiming at a target on a touchscreen-based device by: presenting a virtual environment from a first viewpoint and a user interface to a player, the user interface comprising at least one graphical user input element, the virtual environment including a plurality of targets, at least some of which has assigned priorities; assigning a priority to at least one of the targets; determining a highest-priority target out of the at least one of the targets that have been assigned a priority; receiving an indication that the at least one graphical user input element has been selected by a user; and, in response, determining a second viewpoint for viewing the virtual environment that is different from the first viewpoint for viewing the virtual environment, relative to the highest-priority target. | 06-11-2015 |
20150157929 | VIDEOGAME WITH E-COMMERCE TRANSACTION SUPPORT - The present invention provides methods and system relating to videogames with improved e-commerce features. In some aspects of the invention, the improved e-commerce features include allowing players to purchase virtual goods from within gameplay without interrupting gameplay. | 06-11-2015 |
20150157928 | VIDEO GAME WITH IMPROVED SOCIAL NETWORKING FEATURES - The present invention provides methods and system relating to video games with improved social networking features. In some aspects of the invention, the improved social networking features include allowing players to associate their virtual items and/or characters with one or more sponsor players. The association alters the attributes of the virtual items and/or characters. | 06-11-2015 |
20150127818 | MEDIA PLAYLIST CONSTRUCTION FOR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for generating song playlists for use in an immersive virtual environment. Generally, playlists may be generated based on stored music preference data. The music preference data may be generated by storing user interactions with specific songs. The user interactions may be associated with characteristics of the user's situational context within the virtual world. The music preference data may be indexed by song name, and/or by musical properties. Subsequently, the music preference data may be used to generate a playlist adapted to the user's current situation within the virtual world. | 05-07-2015 |
20150126276 | AVATAR PROTECTION WITHIN A VIRTUAL UNIVERSE - Methods, program products, services and devices are provided for protecting a protected avatar from actions of a second avatar within a virtual universe. Protection is implemented for a protected avatar from a second avatar within a virtual universe, including identifying an activity of the second avatar and disqualifying the second avatar from engaging in the identified activity within the virtual universe as a function of a relation of the identified activity to the protected avatar. A protective action is defined, associated with the identified activity and executable against the protected avatar or the second avatar. Activity of the protected avatar or the second avatar is monitored within the virtual universe for an occurrence of the identified activity, and the protective action is executed against the protected avatar or the second avatar in response to detecting the occurrence of the identified activity. | 05-07-2015 |
20150080129 | INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAME WITH VISUAL LIGHTING EFFECTS - A video game includes a peripheral device that senses the presence and identity of toy objects near or on the peripheral. Each of the toy objects includes an identification device such as an RFID tag. Each of the toys is also associated with a corresponding game character or object. The peripheral device provides lighting effects based on characteristics of the game character or aspects of the game play sequence thereby enhancing the user's gameplay experience. | 03-19-2015 |
20150077206 | DEVICES AND METHODS FOR PAIRING INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED DEVICES - A first device may be paired to a second device, with the first and second devices including inductive elements, the devices may be paired by aligning a first magnetic element of a first device and a second magnetic element of a second device. At least one additional magnetic element is used to redirect magnetic fields generated by the first magnetic element and the second magnetic element away from the inductive elements. | 03-19-2015 |
20150019729 | USE OF INFORMATION CHANNELS TO PROVIDE COMMUNICATIONS IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT - The invention generally relates to virtual environments, and more particularly to systems and methods for communicating in virtual environments. A method of providing communication in a virtual universe (VU) includes instantiating and assigning an information channel to a first client of the VU, associating at least one additional client of the VU to the information channel, and conveying data placed on the information channel to the first client and the at least one additional client. | 01-15-2015 |
20140364240 | VIDEO GAME WITH BACKWARDS-COMPATIBLE TOYS - Aspects of the present invention relate to a computer-implemented method useful in playing a video game having multiple versions, the method being implemented by a video game platform that includes one or more processors, the method comprising: executing a version of the video game on the video game platform; receiving information from a memory of a toy, the information comprising type information and subtype information; displaying a representation of a game character associated with the toy, the representation of a game character based at least on the type information; using the subtype information to determine whether the toy corresponds to a different version of the video game than the version being executed; and conducting gameplay involving the representation of the game character, wherein aspects of gameplay are based in part on whether the toy corresponds to a different version of the video game than the version being executed. | 12-11-2014 |
20140358770 | GIFT CARD WITH PRINCIPAL VALUE AND AUXILIARY VALUE - The present invention relates to methods and systems involving a gift card comprising a principal value and auxiliary value. The principal value may represent a monetary or pre-sale value, while the auxiliary value may represent a virtual good. | 12-04-2014 |
20140344725 | GENERATING DATA FOR MANAGING ENCOUNTERS IN A VIRTUAL WORLD ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for providing information for avoiding specific users of an immersive virtual environment. Generally, a primary user may specify other users to be avoided in a blacklist. The blacklisted users may be specified to be avoided at all times, or may be specified to be avoided in certain situations. In one embodiment, a user may be added to the blacklist during a specific situation, resulting in the characteristics of the situation being automatically stored in the blacklist. Subsequently, the blacklist may be used to determine the locations of the blacklisted users matching the current situation. The primary user may then avoid the locations having the greatest probability of encountering blacklisted users. | 11-20-2014 |
20140248944 | SYSTEM AND METHOD CONFIGURED TO UNLOCK CONTENT WITHIN A VIDEOGAME - A system and method are configured to provide a videogame to one or more players. The videogame may involve a series of different sets of content within which players perform activities. A group of players may be associated with the content sets. The players may include virtual players controlled by artificial intelligence and one or more real world players. Players may progress through the videogame by moving from content sets to content sets, performing objectives in the various content sets, and interacting with the players within those content sets. | 09-04-2014 |
20140187317 | STREAMING OF MEDIA STREAMS FROM A GAME CONSOLE - An approach is provided for streaming of media streams (e.g., from a game console). In one implementation, a media stream that includes a secondary view of the game world may be generated at the game console. The secondary view may be of a lower-quality version of a primary view of the game world. The generation of the media stream may include: prefetching, to a cache of the game console, portions of the primary view and/or instructions for encoding the portions; and encoding, based on the prefetching, the portions to produce the secondary view. In another implementation, game play information may be executed to reproduce previous game play of a previous game session during a reproduction of the previous game session. Augmentation content may be added to the reproduced game session during the reproduction of the previous game session, creating an augmented game session having one or more views for streaming. | 07-03-2014 |
20140171201 | VIDEO GAME SYSTEM HAVING NOVEL INPUT DEVICES - A video game system includes an input device, where the input device has at least one physiological sensing device for determining at least one physiological state of a user. The input device further has at least one motion sensing device for determining the motion and/or position of the input device and/or the user. The video game system further comprises a processor for using the physiological state and the motion and/or position of the input device and/or user to control game play. | 06-19-2014 |
20140063004 | Collapsing areas of a region in a virtual universe to conserve computing resources - Described herein are processes and devices that coalesced and/or collapse areas in a region of a virtual universe to conserve computing resources. Some embodiments are directed to detecting an indication to reduce usage of a computing resource in the virtual universe and, in response, determining the first area of the virtual universe for coalescing and collapsing into the second area of the virtual universe. In some embodiments, the first area comprises a plurality of virtual universe objects. Some embodiments are further directed to selecting a first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects for moving from the first area into the second area, coalescing the first set of the plurality of virtual universe objects into the second area from the first area, and, in response, collapsing the first area of the virtual universe. | 03-06-2014 |
20140032211 | DIALOG SERVER FOR HANDLING CONVERSATION IN VIRTUAL SPACE METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR HAVING CONVERSATION IN VIRTUAL SPACE - A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars. | 01-30-2014 |
20130337911 | SYSTEM AND METHOD CONFIGURED TO UNLOCK CONTENT WITHIN A VIDEOGAME - A system and method are configured to provide a videogame to one or more players. The videogame may involve a series of different sets of content within which players perform activities. A group of players may be associated with the content sets. The players may include virtual players controlled by artificial intelligence and one or more real world players. Players may progress through the videogame by moving from content sets to content sets, performing objectives in the various content sets, and interacting with the players within those content sets. | 12-19-2013 |
20130296058 | SERVER BASED INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAME WITH TOYS - A video game system comprising a console (such as a game console, computer, mobile device or web site), a peripheral for a gaming platform, and a toy. The gaming platform is capable of identifying the toy and a character corresponding to the toy is depicted in the video game. The video game character corresponding to the toy has certain characteristics and/or attributes. The data for these characteristics and attributes is stored on a server accessible to each compatible gaming platform. As the user uses the character to play the video game, thereby altering the character's characteristics and attributes, the updated attributes are stored by the game system to the server connected to the game system. Updated character data is thereafter available to the user for subsequent game play via any gaming platform connected to the server. | 11-07-2013 |
20130254043 | CONTROLLING AND USING VIRTUAL UNIVERSE WISH LISTS - Described herein are examples of a virtual universe wish list as well as its control and use. Some embodiments are directed to determining a selection of an object in a virtual universe that is a desired by a user, which user is represented by a first avatar. Some embodiments are further directed to designating the object as a desired item in a wish list for the first avatar. The wish list may be stored in the avatar's virtual universe inventory. Some embodiments are further directed to determining a second avatar in the virtual universe that possesses an instance of the virtual object. Some embodiments are further directed to generating an advertisement to obtain the instance of the virtual object from the second avatar on behalf of the first avatar. | 09-26-2013 |
20130190088 | HANDHELD DEVICE WIRELESS MUSIC STREAMING FOR GAMEPLAY - Systems and methods are disclosed for streaming of audio data of separate streams in at least two different formats. In some embodiments handheld game devices are in wireless communication and a first of the handheld game devices streams audio data during game play to a second of the handheld game devices. In some embodiments the audio data includes audio data from a plurality of streams of audio data. In some embodiments the streams of audio data include streams of audio data in different formats, generally different compressed formats, some of which may be selected based on whether a device includes circuitry specifically configured to decompress audio data in a specific data format. | 07-25-2013 |
20130012279 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PLAYING A MUSIC VIDEO GAME WITH A DRUM SYSTEM GAME CONTROLLER - A system and method for playing a multi-player music video game with a drum system video game controller is provided. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for providing a drum solo with a music based multi-player video game. In another embodiment, the invention relates to a system for providing analog input from one or more drum sensors used in game play associated with a music based multi-player video game. In yet another embodiment, the invention relates to a method for preventing interference between the one or more drum sensors. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for mapping digital information indicative of input to a video game controller in a first form to information in a second form, the second form conforming to a protocol for inputs to a video game console executing a music based multi-player video game. | 01-10-2013 |