Systems and methods for establishing direct communication between a server system and a video game controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10773156-B2
Application number	US-201816181211-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2018
Priority date	Nov 5, 2018
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for establishing direct communication between a server system and a video game controller are described. The systems and methods include the video game controller and a computing device. An application is executed by the server system when a session is established by the computing device with the server system. Once the application is executed, the video game controller is used to send an identifier to the server system. The server system verifies the identifier to pair the session with the video game controller. When the video game controller is paired with the session, the video game controller can be used to change a state of a virtual scene that is displayed on the computing device or on a display screen.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for establishing direct communication between a server system and a video game controller, comprising:
establishing, between the server system and a computing device, a game session for executing an application for a user account over a first communication channel, wherein the computing device includes a display device, wherein the execution of the application at the server system produces video output that is encoded to produce a video stream that is communicated to the display device associated with the user account over the first communication channel, wherein the computing device is configured to provide an address of the server system associated with the game session to the video game controller;
receiving, by the server system, a unique identifier from the video game controller over a second communication channel, wherein the unique identifier is received at the address of the server system;
processing, by the server system, the unique identifier to authenticate the unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier being authenticated enables a linking of the video game controller to the game session; and
using, during the game session, an input from the video game controller via the second communication channel to control interactivity of the application that provides the video stream over the first communication channel to the display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving user login information via the first communication channel from the display device;
authenticating the user login information;
wherein said establishing the game session is performed in response to authenticating the user login information, wherein said establishing the game session including providing access to the user account.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application is a game application, wherein said establishing the game session includes sending data for displaying a virtual game scene on the display device for identifying the game application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input includes input information, the method further comprising disallowing the input information to change a state of a virtual scene until the video game controller is linked with the game session.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving the unique identifier from the video game controller over the second communication channel comprises receiving the unique identifier of the video game controller via a router, a modem, and a computer network, wherein the router and the modem are locally situated with respect to the video game controller, wherein said receiving the unique identifier is performed without using the display device and a game console.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving the unique identifier from the video game controller over the second communication channel comprises receiving the unique identifier of the video game controller via a cellular network and a computer network, wherein said receiving the unique identifier is performed without using the display device and a game console.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a pairing request via the first communication channel to the display device upon determining that the unique identifier is authentic, wherein the pairing request includes a notification that the video game controller is to be paired with the game session;
receiving a response to the pairing request via the second communication channel;
determining whether the response to the pairing request is positive or negative,
wherein said linking of the video game controller to the game session comprises pairing the video game controller with the game session in response to determining that the response to the request is positive, wherein said linking occurs to enable the input to processed by the server to control the interactivity of the application.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second communication channel includes a router coupled to a computer network, wherein the unique identifier includes an identifier of the video game controller or a biometric identification of the user or an identifier of the router, or a combination of two or more thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said processing the unique identifier comprises determining whether the unique identifier matches a pre-registered identifier registered with the user account for which the game session is established, wherein the unique identifier is different from user login information used to access the game session for the user account,
wherein said linking of the video game controller to the game session comprises pairing the video game controller with the game session in response to determining that the unique identifier matches the pre-registered identifier, wherein said pairing occurs to enable the input to be processed by the server to control the interactivity of the application.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said linking occurs to enable the input to be processed by the server to control the interactivity of the application, wherein the game session includes an instance of the game session.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the input from the video game controller via the second communication channel;
determining a state of a virtual scene according to the input;
generating a plurality of frames based on the state of the virtual scene;
encoding the frames to output a plurality of encoded frames;
sending the encoded frames via the first communication channel to the display device.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video game controller is a hand-held controller and has a different internet protocol (IP) address than an IP address of the display device.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication channel includes a router and a modem.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second communication channel bypasses the computing device.

15. A system for establishing direct communication between a server and a video game controller, comprising:
a processor of the server, wherein the processor is configured to establish a game session with a computing device for executing an application for a user account over a first communication channel; and
a video game controller coupled to the server via a second communication channel, wherein the computing device is configured to provide an address of the server associated with the game session to the video game controller, wherein the video game controller is configured to send a unique identifier over the second communication channel to the processor at the address of the server,
wherein upon receiving the unique identifier, the processor is configured to:
process the unique identifier to authenticate the unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier being authenticated establishes a link of the video game controller to the game session; and
enable an input from the video game controller via the second communication channel to control interactivity of the application with a display device of the computing device, wherein the interactivity of the application with the display device occurs to provide video and audio via the first communication channel to the display device.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first communication channel includes a modem, a router, and a computer network, wherein in response to establishing the link between the video game controller and the game session, the one or more processors are further configured to send data to the display device for displaying a virtual scene on the

Assignees

• Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC

Inventors

• Colenbrander Roelof Roderick

Classifications

• H04N21/8173

  End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game · CPC title

• H04N21/63 Primary

  Control signaling {related to video distribution} between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients {or between remote clients}, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing (real-time session protocols H04L65/1101; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104) · CPC title

• H04L67/14

  Session management (for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066) · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• A63F13/79

  involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories · CPC title