Network protocol for switching between plain text and compressed modes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10645139-B2
Application number	US-201715628327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2017
Priority date	Apr 6, 2017
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

Technologies are described for enabling a network protocol that supports switching between communication modes, including a plain text mode and a compressed mode. Switching between the plain text mode and the compressed mode can be performed without closing a network connection between devices. The network protocol can support communication among the devices interacting with a live interactive video game streaming service. The network protocol can also communicate throttling and/or aggregation messages between the devices of the live interactive video game streaming service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device comprising:
a processing unit; and
memory;
the processing unit configured to execute computer instructions performing network protocol operations for network communication, the operations comprising:
establishing a network connection between the computing device and a second computing device via a data communication network;
exchanging network packets using a plain text mode with the second computing device over the network connection;
receiving, from the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, requesting a switch of the network connection from the plain text mode to a compressed mode;
sending, to the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, accepting the switch of the network connection to the compressed mode;
after the switch to the compressed mode, exchanging network packets using the compressed mode with the second computing device over the network connection;
detecting that a processing unit load of the first computing device or the second computing device is above a threshold value; and
based at least in part on detecting the processing unit load above the threshold value, sending, between the first computing device and the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, requesting a switch of the network connection to fall back from the compressed mode to the plain text mode;

wherein the network connection remains open during the operations and does not close when switching between the plain text mode and the compressed mode.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein network packets communicated over the network connection that use the plain text mode include a data frame header variable with a first value indicating the plain text mode, and wherein network packets communicated over the network connection that use the compressed mode include the data frame header variable with a second value indicating the compressed mode.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the network connection operates over a WebSockets protocol, and wherein the data frame header variable is an opcode variable.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is part of a live interactive video game streaming service, and wherein the second computing device is a viewer computing device.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is part of a live interactive video game streaming service, and wherein the second computing device is a broadcaster computing device.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the network packet requesting the switch to the compressed mode comprises an indication of a plurality of available compression algorithms to use for the compressed mode in order of preference, and wherein the network packet accepting the switch to the compressed mode indicates which of the plurality of available compression algorithms will be used for the compressed mode.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is part of a live interactive video game streaming service, and wherein the second computing device is a broadcaster computing device, the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the broadcaster computing device, a network packet indicating a throttling rule for live interactive control messages received from viewer devices.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is part of a live interactive video game streaming service, and wherein the second computing device is a broadcaster computing device, the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the broadcaster computing device, a network packet indicating a cooldown time for a live interactive control; and
transmitting the network packet indicating the cooldown time to one or more viewer devices.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is part of a live interactive video game streaming service, the operations further comprising:
transmitting, to one or more viewer computing devices, a network packet indicating a sampling rate for an analog interactive control.

10. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein a fall back from the compressed mode to the plain text mode can be requested, by the computing device or the second computing device, at any time by sending a network packet using the plain text mode.

11. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the network protocol operations support a fall back from the compressed mode to the plain text mode by sending any network packet using the plain text mode, regardless of whether the any network packet sent using the plain text mode requests a switch to fall back.

12. The computing device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
detecting an error in a received network packet that uses the compressed mode; and
based at least in part on detecting the error, sending, to the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, requesting a switch of the network connection to fall back from the compressed mode to the plain text mode.

13. A method, implemented by a computing device, for performing network protocol operations for network communication, the method comprising:
establishing a network connection between the computing device and a second computing device via a data communication network;
exchanging network packets using a plain text mode with the second computing device over the network connection;
sending, to the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, requesting a switch of the network connection from the plain text mode to a compressed mode;
receiving, from the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, accepting the switch of the network connection to the compressed mode;
after the switch to the compressed mode, exchanging network packets using the compressed mode with the second computing device over the network connection;
detecting that a processing unit load of the first computing device or the second computing device is above a threshold value; and
based at least in part on detecting the processing unit load above the threshold value, sending, between the first computing device and the second computing device over the network connection, a network packet, using the plain text mode, requesting a switch of the network connection to fall back from the compressed mode to the plain text mode;
wherein the network connection remains open during the method and does not close when switching between the plain text mode and the compressed mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein network packets communicated over the network connection that use the plain text mode include a data frame header variable with a first value indicating the plain text mode, and wherein network packets communicated over the network connection that use the compressed mode include the data frame header variable with a second value indicating the compressed mode.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the network connection operates over a WebSockets protocol, and wherein the data frame header variable is an opcode variable.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the computing device is a viewer computing device communicating over the network connection with the second computing device that is part of a live interactive video game streaming service.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the networ

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Smith Gregory M
• Suver Molly Rose
• Peet Connor
• Payzer Gershom L
• Fox Richard Michael

Classifications

• A63F13/335

  using Internet · CPC title

• H04N5/268

  Signal distribution or switching · CPC title

• A63F2300/572

  Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video · CPC title

• A63F13/497

  Partially or entirely replaying previous game actions · CPC title

• A63F13/86

  Watching games played by other players · CPC title