Adaptive application selection in cloud gaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9675890-B2
Application number	US-201313873382-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2013
Priority date	Apr 28, 2011
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for remotely provisioning immediately executable games with license control in secure environments. Immediately initially executable portions of games are pushed onto user desktops, and when games are selected for play, additional components of selected games are streamed to said desktops.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing a remote gaming service, comprising the actions of:
a) downloading over a network to a game station, without explicit user designation, at least an initially immediately playable portion of at least one game, said game being chosen at least partially in dependence on at least some of:
usage information of said game station,
usage heuristics of said game station,
current and prior amounts of storage used of said game station, and
available bandwidth;
when a user selects a particular game from said downloaded games,
b) beginning execution of said game virtualized at said game station using the initially immediately playable portion of said game;
using a file system hook to augment a client file system of said game station with a file system overlay used to control access of an operating system of said game station to the client file system through the file system hook;
intercepting a file system call for at least one of additional components used in continued execution of said game virtualized at said game station from said operating system using said file system hook;
determining if the at least one of said additional components resides in local storage at said game station;
if it is determined the at least one of said additional components is absent from said local storage,
c) streaming over a network to said game station the at least one of said additional components, said streaming beginning contemporaneously with and continuing at least partially concurrently with said executing, and providing the at least one of said additional components to said operating system through said file system overlay by said file system hook for use in continued execution of said game virtualized at said game station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein whether said additional components are resident in or streaming to said game station is hidden from users of said game station.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one choice made during play of said particular game causes streaming of at least one additional component of said particular game or of optional additional content of said particular game.

4. The method claim 1 , wherein once a portion of a game has been pushed or streamed to said game station, said game station can act as an application source with respect to said portion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said initially immediately playable portion of said particular game is a pre-virtualized packaged version of said particular game.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said initially immediately playable portion comprises of at least the whole executable of a game.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, direct a computing apparatus to perform the steps of:
a) downloading over a network to a game station, without explicit user designation, at least an initially immediately playable portion of at least one game, said game being chosen at least partially in dependence on at least some of:
usage information of said game station,
usage heuristics of said game station,
current and prior amounts of storage used of said game station, and
available bandwidth;
when a user selects a particular game from said downloaded games,
b) beginning execution of said game virtualized at said game station using the initially immediately playable portion of said game;
using a file system hook to augment a client file system of said game station with a file system overlay used to control access of an operating system of said game station to the client file system through the file system hook;
intercepting a file system call for at least one of additional components used in continued execution of said game virtualized at said game station from said operating system using said file system hook;
determining if the at least one of said additional components resides in local storage at said game station;
if it is determined the at least one of said additional components is absent from said local storage,
c) streaming over a network to said game station the at least one of said additional components, said streaming beginning contemporaneously with and continuing at least partially concurrently with said executing, and providing the at least one of said additional components to said operating system through said file system overlay by said file system hook for use in continued execution of said game virtualized at said game station.

8. A method for providing a remote gaming service, comprising the actions of:
a) collecting user preference data using at least one first game station and at least one game pusher, said user preference data comprising at least some of:
usage information of said first game station and/or at least one other game station,
usage heuristics of said first game station and/or at least one other game station,
current storage used of said first game station and/or at least one other game station, and
available bandwidth;
b) downloading by said first game station from said game pusher or pushing by said game pusher to said first game station, without explicit user designation, at least an initially immediately playable portion of at least one game, said game being chosen at least partially in dependence on said user preference data;
when a user selects said game from said downloaded or pushed games,
c) beginning execution of said game virtualized at said first game station using the initially immediately playable portion of said game;
using a file system hook to augment a client file system of said first game station with a file system overlay used to control access of an operating system of said first game station to the client file system through the file system hook;
intercepting a file system call for at least one of additional components used in continued execution of said game virtualized at said first game station from said operating system using said file system hook;
determining if the at least one of said additional components resides in local storage at said first game station;
if it is determined the at least one of said additional components is absent from said local storage,
d) streaming over a network to said first game station the at least one of said additional components, said streaming beginning contemporaneously with and continuing at least partially concurrently with said executing, and providing the at least one of said additional components to said operating system through said file system overlay by said file system hook for use in continued execution of said game virtualized at said first game station.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein whether said additional components are resident in or streaming to said first game station is hidden from users of said first game station.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one choice made during play of said particular game causes streaming of at least one additional component of said particular game or of optional additional content of said particular game.

11. The method claim 8 , wherein once a portion of a game has been pushed or streamed to said first game station, said first game station can act as an application source with respect to said portion.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising controlling, without explicit user designation, deletion of portions, components and complete games from said first game station.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein said initially immediately playable portion of said particular game is a pre-virtualized packaged version of said particular game.

14. The method of claim 13 , further

Assignees

• Numecent Holdings Ltd
• Numecent Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Ahiska Yavuz
• Ahiska Bartu

Classifications

• A63F13/60

  Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• A63F2300/6036

  for offering a minigame in combination with a main game · CPC title

• A63F2300/552

  for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device · CPC title

• G06F8/63

  Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order · CPC title