Soft reservation system and method for multiplayer video games

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10286326-B2
Application number	US-201514712541-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2015
Priority date	Jul 3, 2014
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of reserving gameplay sessions for players in a multiplayer video game, the method being implemented by a host computer having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the host computer to perform the method, wherein said host computer is in data communication with a plurality of computing devices and wherein each of said plurality of computing devices is configured to interact with an instance of the multiplayer video game, the method comprising:
using a scoring engine in the host computer to identify a first player for which an unrequested reservation to play in a gameplay session of the multiplayer game is to be made, wherein said unrequested reservation is a reservation to play in the gameplay session of the multiplayer game made before the first player expresses an interest in playing in said gameplay session;
using at least one of the scoring engine or an analytics and feedback engine coupled with the scoring engine in the host computer to determine first availability information associated with the first player, wherein the first availability information indicates an estimated time at which the first player will be available to play in the gameplay session;
using at least one of the scoring engine or the analytics and feedback engine in the host computer to identify a second player for inclusion in the gameplay session based on a potential match of the first player and the second player; and
using a pipelining engine configured to access data indicative of at least one of the match score of the first player and the second player, a game profile of the first player, a profile of the first player, a game progression of the first player, a game mode of interest to the first player, a log in time of the first player, or a log in time of preferred players of the first player; wherein the pipelining engine is a modular programmatic component, executed by the host computer, and wherein the pipelining engine is further configured to generate the unrequested reservation, within the multiplayer video game, for the first player to play in the gameplay session with the second player based on the first availability and said data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein using at least one of the scoring engine and the analytics and feedback engine to identify the second player comprises:
using the scoring engine to generate a match score for the potential match of the first player and the second player; and
using the analytics and feedback engine to determine that the match score exceeds a predetermined threshold value to match the first player and the second player to play in the gameplay session.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein data indicative of the game profile of the first player comprises one or more gameplay preferences of the first player.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the gameplay session caters to the first gameplay preference of the first player, and wherein identifying the second player comprises:
using the pipelining engine to determine that the unrequested reservation for the second player to play in the gameplay session has already been made.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more gameplay preferences comprises a preference to play with one or more preferred players, and wherein using the pipelining engine to generate the unrequested reservation for the first player to play in the gameplay session with the second player comprises:
determining that the second player is among the one or more preferred players; and
determining that the second player is or will be available to play in the gameplay session.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining first availability information comprises:
using the analytics and feedback engine to predict the estimated time at which the first player will be available to play in the gameplay session.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein predicting the estimated time at which the first player will be available to play in the gameplay session comprises:
using at least the scoring engine to determine that the first player is playing in a current gameplay session; and
using at least the analytics and feedback engine to determine an expected completion time of the current gameplay session, wherein the estimated time is based on the expected completion time.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein predicting the estimated time at which the first player will be available to play in the gameplay session comprises:
using at least the analytics and feedback engine to determine a logon time that the first player is expected to logon to play in one or more gameplay sessions.

9. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
providing an interim gameplay session to the first player until the gameplay session has started.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the interim gameplay session is associated with an expected completion time, the method further comprising using at least the scoring engine or the analytics and feedback engine to:
determine a second expected completion time of a current gameplay session of the second player; and
identify the interim gameplay session based on the expected completion time and the second expected completion time.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the expected completion time is on or before the second expected completion time.

12. A system for reserving gameplay sessions for players in a multiplayer video game, the system comprising:
a host computer, wherein said host computer is in data communication with a plurality of computing devices, wherein each of said plurality of computing devices is configured to interact with an instance of the multiplayer video game and wherein said host computer has one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the host computer to:
execute a scoring engine to identify a first player for which an unrequested reservation to play in a gameplay session of the multiplayer game is to be made, wherein said unrequested reservation is a reservation to play in the gameplay session of the multiplayer video game made before the first player expresses an interest in playing in said gameplay session;
execute at least an analytics and feedback engine coupled with the scoring engine to determine first availability information associated with the first player, wherein the first availability information indicates an estimated time at which the first player will be available to play in the gameplay session;
execute at least an analytics and feedback engine coupled with the scoring engine to identify a second player for inclusion in the gameplay session based on a potential match of the first player and the second player; and
execute at least a pipelining engine coupled with the scoring engine and the analytics and feedback engine to access data indicative of at least one of the match score of the first player and the second player, a game profile of the first player, a profile of the first player, a game progression of the first player, a game mode of interest to the first player, a log in time of the first player, or a log in time of preferred players of the first player; wherein the pipelining engine is a modular programmatic component executed by the host computer, and wherein the pipelining engine is further executed to generate, within the multiplayer video game, the unrequested reservation for the first player to play in the gameplay session with the second player based on the first availability and said data.

Assignees

• Activision Publishing Inc

Inventors

• Marr Michael D
• Kaplan Keith S
• Lewis Nathan T

Classifications

• G07F17/3269

  Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine · CPC title

• G07F17/3255

  Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements · CPC title

• G07F17/3237

  about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players · CPC title

• G07F17/3227

  Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters · CPC title

• A63F2300/575

  for trading virtual items · CPC title