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Patent Arcade

In the business of video games, intellectual property protection is critical to success, and Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks are the bricks with which your IP portfolio is built. The Patent Arcade is the web's primary resource for video game IP law, news, cases, and commentary. Editor-in-Chief: Ross Dannenberg, Esq.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,383 (Race Cautions)

U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,383: Systems and Methods for Simulating Game State Changes Responsive to an Interrupt Condition

Issued May 11, 2004, to Electronic Arts, Inc.


Summary:
This Electronic Arts patent describes a simulation module to simulate events occurring during a cautionary period of an event, such as when in a NASCAR game a yellow flag is raised, or when a player wrecks out of a race. During this “cautionary period,” a user may, for example, obtain performance related-statistics; view a partially or complete simulation of a completed race; or determine the projected outcome of an ongoing race based on current statistics. Several aspects of the invention include (1) a method to interrupt a normal game, simulate parts of the ongoing game, derive updated statistics, and resume the game; (2) a method to interrupt a normal game, derive statistics from the normal game, and compare such statistics with statistics from a past or predicted outcome; (3) and a collection of files configured to store such data on a computer-readable medium.

Exemplary Claim:
1. A method of simulating game state changes responsive to an interrupt condition in a computer-implemented racing game, comprising:

generating an interrupt condition during game play of the racing game at a first game state, the first game state having a first set of statistics associated therewith;

responsive to said interrupt condition, interrupting game play and calculating a second set of statistics associated with a second game state by simulating events that occur after the first game state based on the first set of statistics; and

wherein the second game state is a completed game state, and wherein the second set of statistics includes statistics associated with a completed race.

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