Low latency datagram-responsive computer network protocol

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11077365-B2
Application number	US-201916450904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2019
Priority date	Jun 27, 2018
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing a shared augmented reality environment are provided. In particular, the latency of communication is reduced by using a peer-to-peer protocol to determine where to send datagrams. Datagrams describe actions that occur within the shared augmented reality environment, and the processing of datagrams is split between an intermediary node of a communications network (e.g., a cell tower) and a server. As a result, the intermediary node may provide updates to a local state of a client device when a datagram is labelled peer-to-peer, and otherwise provides updates to the master state on the server. This may reduce the latency of communication and allow users of the location-based parallel reality game to see actions occur more quickly in the shared augmented reality environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a cell tower, a datagram from a sending client device that is connected to a shared augmented reality environment, the datagram including data regarding an action in the shared augmented reality environment and an indicator of whether the datagram is peer-to-peer;
determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer based on the indicator;
responsive to determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer, sending the datagram to one or more target client devices connected to the shared augmented reality environment to update a local state of the shared augmented reality environment at the one or more target client devices in view of the action; and
responsive to determining that the datagram is not peer-to-peer, sending the datagram to a server to update a master state of the shared augmented reality environment at the server in view of the action.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicator is included in a header portion of the datagram.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer comprises:
determining, based on the indicator, that the datagram should be sent peer-to-peer;
identifying a specific target client device based on a header of the datagram;
determining whether the specific target client device is currently connected to the cell tower; and
responsive to the specific client device currently being connected to the cell tower, determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the datagram is sent to the server responsive to determining the specific target client device is not currently connected to the cell tower.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local state of the shared augmented reality environment is updated in view of the action with a latency between 1 millisecond and 20 milliseconds.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the datagram to one or more target client devices comprises:
identifying client devices currently connected to the cell tower and the shared augmented reality environment; and
sending the datagram to the identified client devices to update each client device's local state of the shared augmented reality environment in view of the action.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer, the datagram is also sent to the server.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer comprises:
comparing the indicator to a list of indicators maintained by the cell tower; and
determining the datagram is peer-to-peer responsive to the indicator being included in the list of indicators.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the indicator identifies at least one of: an AR session, a user, a device, or a game account.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by a processor, the instructions comprising:
instructions for receiving, at a cell tower, a datagram from a sending client device that is connected to a shared augmented reality environment, the datagram including data regarding an action in the shared augmented reality environment and an indicator of whether the datagram is peer-to-peer;
instructions for determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer based on the indicator;
responsive to determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer, instructions for sending the datagram to one or more target client devices connected to the shared augmented reality environment to update a local state of the shared augmented reality environment at the one or more target client devices in view of the action; and
responsive to determining that the datagram is not peer-to-peer, instructions for sending the datagram to a server to update a master state of the shared augmented reality environment at the server in view of the action.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the indicator is included in a header portion of the datagram.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer comprises:
determining, based on the indicator, that the datagram should be sent peer-to-peer;
identifying a specific target client device based on a header of the datagram;
determining whether the specific target client device is currently connected to the cell tower; and
responsive to the specific client device currently being connected to the cell tower, determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the datagram is sent to the server responsive to determining the specific target client device is not currently connected to the cell tower.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the local state of the shared augmented reality environment at the target client device is updated in view of the action with a latency between 1 millisecond and 20 milliseconds.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein sending the datagram to one or more target client devices comprises:
identifying client devices currently connected to the cell tower and the shared augmented reality environment; and
sending the datagram to the identified client devices to update each client device's local state of the shared augmented reality environment in view of the action.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, responsive to determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer, the datagram is also sent to the server.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the datagram is peer-to-peer comprises:
comparing the indicator to a list of indicators maintained by the cell tower; and
determining the datagram is peer-to-peer responsive to the indicator being included in the list of indicators.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the indicator identifies at least one of: an AR session, a user, a device, or a game account.

19. A cell tower comprising:
a local data store storing a list of client devices connected to the cell tower; and
a routing module configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving a datagram addressed to a target client device, wherein the datagram includes data regarding an action in a shared augmented reality environment;
determining whether the target client device is in the list;
determining, responsive to the target client device being in the list, that the datagram is peer-to-peer;
responsive to determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer, sending the datagram to the target client device to update a local state of the shared augmented reality environment at the target client device in view of the action; and
responsive to determining that the datagram is not peer-to-peer, sending the datagram to a server to update a master state of the shared augmented reality environment at the server in view of the action.

20. The cell tower of claim 19 , wherein the datagram further includes an indicator of whether the datagram is peer-to-peer in a header portion of the datagram, and wherein determining that the datagram is peer-to-peer is further responsive to the indicator.

Assignees

• Niantic Inc

Inventors

• Turner Peter
• Cervantes Jaime Ivan
• Hu Si Ying Diana

Classifications

• H04L67/131

  Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality · CPC title

• H04L67/60

  Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources (admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L67/63

  Routing a service request depending on the request content or context · CPC title

• A63F13/358 Primary

  Adapting the game course according to the network or server load, e.g. for reducing latency due to different connection speeds between clients · CPC title

• A63F13/65

  automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition · CPC title