Information collection during game play

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9283476-B2
Application number	US-84346807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2007
Priority date	Aug 22, 2007
Publication date	Mar 15, 2016
Grant date	Mar 15, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods allow an on-line game to extract information relevant to a specific need of a game platform or service platform. The specific need relates to management and use of digital content, and is addressed by designing and playing an on-line collaborative game. The rules of the game intend to solve a specific task dictated by the specific need. Players' responses to the game generate a wealth of information related to a specific task objective, such as ranking, sorting, and evaluating a set of digital content items. To compel participation in a game, players can be rewarded with monetary value rewards. As a game illustration, an image selection game (ISG) that exploits human contextual inference is described in detail. The information extracted from ISG is a list of key-image associations, relevant for the task of image sorting and ranking.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
memory coupled to the one or more processors;
a task component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to define an objective to be accomplished and information to be collected during a game play of a collaborative game;
a profiling component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to build profiles of multiple players based at least in part on behavior of the multiple players in past collaborative games, and to store the profiles of the multiple players in a player intelligence store, the profiles of the multiple players characterizing the multiple players and respective expertise in one or more specific fields;
an artificial intelligence component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to construct similarity measures using the profiles of the multiple players stored in the player intelligence store, and to apply a hierarchical and density based clustering algorithm to identify a plurality of players for playing the collaborative game based at least in part on values of the similarity measures;
a display component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to cause a display of information of at least one player of the plurality of players in response to receiving a consent from the at least one player, wherein the information of the at least one player comprises an endorsement of the collaborative game to add a social aspect to the collaborative game and additional information that engages at least one other player of the plurality of players to join the collaborative game; and
a scoring component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to award a first number of score points to a first player of the plurality of players upon completion of a task related to the objective.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a storage component to store the information collected during the game play.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a fraud component that mitigates fraud aimed at indiscriminately increasing awarded score points, and manipulating the information collected during the game play of the collaborative game in anticipation of a use of the information.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the objective includes associating an image with a query, ranking a plurality of images, or sorting a plurality of images.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the objective includes ranking a universal resource locator (URL) for an on-line based search, assessing relevance of an on-line search result, or assessing relevance of a snippet content to summarize an on-line search result.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the objective includes translation of natural language documents from a first language to a second language, or transcription of handwritten content, telephone conversations, or music or song lyrics.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the objective includes identifying webpage spam or email message spam.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the objective includes assessing a blog reputation, relevance, and tone.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a content store that stores content relevant to accomplishing the objective, the content includes an image, an email message, a blog fragment, a query log, a universal resource locator (URL) listing, a title list and a fragment of movies, songs, and books, both in English and foreign languages, a question listing, a published scientific article, a “fact book” and a profile of a university, college, or high school, a set of occupational data, an entertainment information, a health information, and/or a document in a foreign language.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a game store that includes a plurality of games that facilitate accomplishing the objective defined by the task component.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:
defining an objective to be accomplished and information to be collected during a game play of a collaborative game;
building profiles of multiple players based at least in part on behavior of the multiple players in past collaborative games, the profiles of the multiple players characterizing the multiple players and respective expertise in one or more specific fields;
storing the profiles of the multiple players in a player intelligence store;
constructing similarity measures using the profiles of the multiple players stored in the player intelligence store;
applying a hierarchical and density based clustering algorithm to identify a plurality of players for playing the collaborative game based at least in part on values of the similarity measures;
causing a display of information of at least one player of the plurality of players in response to receiving consent from the at least one player, the information of the at least one player comprising an endorsement of the collaborative game to add a social aspect to the collaborative game and additional information that engages at least one other player of the plurality of players to join the collaborative game; and
awarding a first number of score points to a first player of the plurality of players upon completion of a task related to the objective.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the task is relevant to a third-party entity, and the method further comprises extracting information relevant to the task by playing the collaborative game, and selling the information to the third-party entity.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising penalizing a second player of the plurality of players in response to determining that the second player communicates with another player of the plurality of players to dissuade the second player from using communication to commit a fraud.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining whether a second player of the plurality of players is a legitimate player by monitoring a response time of the second player.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising using responses of the plurality of players to develop test data for training and learning of an artificial intelligence agent that is used in solving the task of the collaborative game.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising penalizing a second player of the plurality of players in response to determining that the second player communicates with one or more other players during the game play of the collaborative game, the penalizing comprising deducting score points from the second player based at least on a number of communications of the second player with the one or more other players.

17. A computing device comprising:
one or more processors;
memory coupled to the one or more processors;
a profiling component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to build profiles of multiple players of a collaborative game based at least in part on behavior of the multiple players in past collaborative games, and to store the profiles of the multiple players in a player intelligence store, the profiles of the multiple players characterizing the multiple players and respective expertise in one or more specific fields;
an artificial intelligence component stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to construct similarity measures using profiles of multiple players stored in a player intelligence store, and apply a hierarchical and density based clustering algorithm to identify a plurality of players for playing the collaborative game based at least in part on values of the simil

Assignees

• Mityagin Anton
• Lakshmiratan Aparna
• Gunawardana Asela J
• Meek Christopher A
• Chickering David M
• Bennett Paul N
• Paek Timothy S
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Mityagin Anton
• Lakshmiratan Aparna
• Gunawardana Asela J
• Meek Christopher A
• Chickering David M
• Bennett Paul N
• Paek Timothy S

Classifications

• A63F13/12 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A63F2300/5586

  for enforcing rights or rules, e.g. to prevent foul play · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• A63F2300/558

  by assessing the players' skills or ranking · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title