U.S. Pat. No. 10,112,110

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The development of systems adapted to broadcast output streams of games has resulted in scenarios where multiple persons, and in some instances many persons, request to view or subscribe to receive streamed output of game playing of a particular player. Indeed, a single game player may have hundreds of persons who subscribe to receive streamed output of games participated in by the particular game player.

In some circumstances, a person may be interested in playing a game with individuals who subscribe to watch the person's game play. For example, a person may wish to have one or more friends who subscribe to the person's game feed added to the actual game. In a scenario where a particular game player has a large number of people who subscribe to the game player's game broadcasts, the game player may wish to further engage her audience of subscribers by inviting a few of her subscribers to actually play the game with her.

Existing systems lack automated mechanisms by which subscribers may participate in actually playing a game with a game player whose feed they subscribe to. Manual techniques are typically employed. For example, a game player might use out-of-game communications such as texting and/or chat to communicate with subscribers in order to determine whether subscribers are eligible to play a game and, if so, coordinate their inclusion in and joining of the game. But such techniques have proven cumbersome, labor intensive, and slow.

Applicant discloses herein systems and methods that automate initiation of game sessions with streaming viewers or subscribers. In an example gaming environment, game participants use client devices to communicate with a gaming server and thereby engage in playing a game with each other. For example, a first game participant may use a first client device and a second game participant may use a second client device to communicate with an on-line video game server and communicate through the game server to play a game with each other. Persons register with a streaming server and request to view or subscribe to receive a streaming output of a particular game participant engaging in a particular game. For example, a person operating a third client device may communicate over a network with a streaming server in order to request to receive a stream of the play of the first game participant. In such a scenario, the person operating the third client device who has requested to receive the game stream may receive from the streaming server a streamed output of the game session between the first game participant and the second game participant.

In the scenario wherein persons are registered to receive a stream of output for game sessions by a particular game participant, the game participant may wish to have a person that is registered to receive a stream of the game output participate in an actual playing of the game. Applicants disclose herein systems and methods for automated initiation or establishment of game sessions with broadcast subscribers who, for purposes of this disclosure, may be any person that requests to view a game session and may be referred to interchangeably as either a viewer or subscriber. In an example embodiment, a participant who uses a first client node to play a video game via an on-line game server may select to invite one or more persons who are subscribers to the particular participant's game feed. For example, the game participant may wish to invite one or more friends who subscribe to the participant's game feed. In another scenario, the game participant may wish to invite one or more of numerous subscribers to the participant's game feed in order to further engage her subscribers. In an example embodiment, the game participant's game client interface is programmed to receive a request to initiate playing a game with one or more persons who are registered to receive streams of game output from the particular participant. The user interface may provide a mechanism to enter parameters relating to the request. For example, the user interface may allow the operator to specify the number of subscribers who may participate in the game session as well as any criteria for selecting subscribers from the entire universe of subscribers. The request to initiate a game session with one or more subscribers is communicated over a network to the game server.

The game server, which may also be referred to as a content item server, receives the request and responds to the request by creating a session identifier for the proposed game session. The game server communicates a request to initiate a game session with one or more subscribers to the streaming server. The request comprises information identifying the particular game player from who the request originated, the particular game to which the request applies, the particular session identifier created by the game server, and any additional information for designating parameters for the invitation such as, for example, the number of subscribers who may participate and the qualifications of those who may participate.

The streaming server determines the subscribers that are authorized to participate in the game play based upon the parameters defined in the request. In an example embodiment, the streaming server queries a database containing information about the subscribers in order to identify those subscribers that satisfy the parameters for inclusion in the game. For example, where the parameters associated with the request specify the invitation applies to one or more subscribers to a particular game player and a particular game, the streaming server queries the database to identify subscribers that subscribe to receive a stream output for the particular game player and the particular game. The streaming server may further determine whether the particular subscribers are registered to play the particular game. In some instances, the streaming server may determine that additional data may be needed in order to identify subscribers who may meet the specified criteria. For example, the request parameters may indicate the request applies to subscribers who are registered with the content item/game server to play the game and who play the game frequently. In such instances, the streaming server may request information about particular subscribers from the content item/game server. For example, in the scenario where the invitation applies only to person who play the game frequently, the streaming server may request information about the frequency with which a potential candidate plays the game.

Once the streaming server has identified subscribers that satisfy the parameters associated with the request, the streaming server prepares and transmits instructions for providing notice to the identified subscribers of the request. The instructions for providing notice may be any that are suitable including, for example, instructions to generate a user interface feature that provides notice of the request to engage in game play with the particular game player. The instructions are communicated to streaming clients that correspond to the subscribers that have been identified as authorized to join the game play session.

The streaming clients implement the instructions to provide notice of the request. For example, the streaming clients present a user interface that identifies the offer to participate in game play with the particular player and the particular game. A user interface feature such as, for example, a button may include on the interface so as to allow the particular streaming subscriber to accept the offer. If the user selects to accept the offer and requests to participate in the game, the request to participate is communicated to the streaming server.

In response to receiving requests to participate from the streaming clients, the streaming server communicates information identifying the particular subscriber individuals who have accepted to participate in the game play to the gaming server. In an example embodiment, streaming server communicates game account identifiers corresponding to the subscriber individuals.

In response to receiving the requests to participate in the games, the content item/game server creates a game session and associates with the game session the particular subscriber persons who have requested to participate. The content item/game server communicates information identifying the game session and details for accessing the session to the streaming server.

In response to receiving the game session information, the streaming server generates instructions for launching game clients at the client nodes of the subscribers who requested to participate in the game play. The instructions are communicated to the streaming server clients for each of the subscribers that has been designated to participate in the game session. At each streaming client that receives the instructions, the streaming client interfaces with the operating system to launch the game server client. The streaming server client provides commands to the game client to log the particular user into the game and place the user in a meeting location within the game for the particular game session.

Example Computing System

FIG. 1is a diagram illustrating an example computing environment suitable for automated play session initiation with a subscriber. An example computing environment comprises server systems100and client systems or nodes110A-E. Server systems100comprise content item server140and streaming server170. Content item server140is programmed to provide content services such as gaming services to client devices. Streaming server170is programmed to store parameter values associated with users and client devices110A-E for streaming output related to applications such as those that interact with content item server140. Server systems100and client nodes110A-E are programmed to communicate with one another, such as over one or more communication networks, including, for example, one or more local area networks (LAN's) and wide area networks (WAN's), such as the Internet. Server systems100may be distributed across any number of different servers and/or devices, at any number of different locations, which may themselves communicate over any number of different communications networks.

As shown inFIG. 1, client nodes110A-C each include a respective content item client111A-C which correspond to and communicates with content item server140. Content item clients111A-C and content item server140may collectively execute a content item. A content item may be any computing functionality which, in the example instance ofFIG. 1, comprises a portion executing on content item server140and a portion executing on client devices110A-C. In an example embodiment, the content item may be a massively multiplayer online (MMO) video game or other video game. In such an embodiment, content item server140is a game server and content item clients111A-C are game client application instances.

Persons operating client devices110A-C, who in the gaming context may be referred to as players or participants, log on or otherwise connect to the content item, i.e. video game, using content item clients111A-C. In the example scenario depicted inFIG. 1, client110A is operated by Participant A, client110B is operated by Participant B, and client110C is operated by Participant C. In an example embodiment, participants connect to the content item by providing, via content item clients111A-C, identity and authentication information, such as a user name and password, which may be matched by server components100to an existing username and password for the participant.

In the scenario wherein the content item is a game, each content item client111A-C may, on behalf of a respective player or participant, control a respective character or other participant-controlled entity within the content item. Each content item client111A-C receives participant input information, such as may be provided though one or more user input components (e.g., touch screen, controller, camera, microphone, mouse, keyboard, etc.) at clients110A-C. For example, participants may provide input for controlling respective characters, such as by performing various actions (e.g., firing a weapon, driving a car, moving from one location to another, etc.). Upon receiving the participant input information, content item clients111A-C collect and forward content state data associated with the user input to the content item server140.

Upon being received by content item server140, incoming content state data from content item clients111A-C may be provided to content state manager146. Content state manager146generally perform operations related to communication of content item state among content item clients111A-C. For example, in some cases, content state manager146may identify an update to content state data from one of content item clients111A-C and then forward the update to each other content item client111A-C, such that each of content item clients111A-C are able to update and maintain respective versions of the state of the content item. For example, each of content item clients111A-C may, in some cases, receive, from content state manager146, updates regarding actions performed by other characters controlled by other content item clients111A-C.

In addition to forwarding information about participant-controlled characters, content item server140may also provide, to content item clients111A-C, information about other objects within a virtual area of the content item. For example, content item server140may provide information about objects such as trees, clouds, lakes, rivers, cliffs, birds, fish, animals, structures, vehicles, non-player characters (NPC's), and many other objects. The provided information may include, for example, any information associated with rendering of the objects at the respective clients110A-C, such as location, orientation, size, color, texture, shading, lighting, reflectivity, associated audio data, and any other associated information.

Upon being received by content item clients111A-C, the state, object, and other content item information from content item server140may be processed and then used to render image data, such as video data, associated with the content item. In particular, content item clients111A-C may provide the received content item information to respective content rendering components112A-C for rendering of image data, such as video data, associated with the content item. In greater detail, for example, content rendering components112A-C may include one or more graphics processing units (GPU's) for rendering of image data, such as video data, as well as various audio processing components for processing and rendering of audio data. As should be appreciated, the GPU's and/or other image data processing components may perform various graphics rendering operations, such as geometry operations, shading, texturing, lighting, and other graphics pipeline operations. Upon being rendered, the image and audio data associated with the content item may be presented using one or more output devices (e.g., display screen, speakers, etc.).

Content item server140comprises database150in which is stored information relating to the services provided by content item server140. For example, content item server140stores in content server database150, data identifying individual accounts of players or participants who are registered to play the game service provided by content item server140. In an example embodiment, content server database150may comprise a game account ID for each player that has account with content item server140along with information about the particular player such as number of games played, time spent playing, game scores, original date of joining, etc. Information relating to the particular game sessions including session identifiers and the participants or players assigned to each session are also captured and stored in content server database150by content item server140. For example, content item server140may store in content server database150a session ID for each game session controlled by server140and store in relation to each session ID the account IDs of players assigned to or participating in the particular session.

FIG. 2provides a graphical depiction of data that may be stored in an example embodiment of database150. Game player table210comprises data relating to the persons or players who are registered to play a particular online game. As shown, player table210stores for each registered game player a game account ID220that is used to uniquely identify the player within the system. Game player table210further comprises for each registered game player, historical information about the game player relative to the system such as, for example, the following: start date222identifying the date the particular player joined the system; games played224identifying the total number of game sessions the particular player has participated in; game scores226identifying the scores achieved by the particular player; and time played228identifying the total elapsed time of play. Session table230comprises data relating to active or ongoing game sessions. As shown, session table230has recorded therein for each game session, a session ID232which uniquely identifies the game session within the system. Also recorded is a meeting area234which identifies a virtual meeting space or lobby where game players associated with the session may meet prior to the game playing. Session table230further comprises for each session ID, the game account ID's236of the game players who are participating in the particular game session. Score238and play time240are recorded for each participating player.

Streaming server170is adapted to stream output received from client nodes110to other client nodes. For example, in the scenario where a Participant A is operating a gaming application on device110A, the output rendered on device110A may be communicated to streaming server170. Streaming sever170communicates the streamed output to client nodes that have requested or subscribed to receive the output from device110A. In an example scenario wherein client nodes110D and110E have previously subscribed with streaming server170to receive output from Participant A executing a particular content item such as a particular game, streaming server170streams the output content stream received from client node110A to nodes110D and110E. Streamed image and audio data received from streaming server170at client nodes110D and110E is presented to Participants D and E, respectively, by respective stream playback components113D and E via output components, such as, for example, a display screen and audio speakers. Stream playback components113C-E may include any components that are capable of playing streamed image and audio data, such as a web browser, various well-known video and/or audio players, and the like. It will be appreciated that client nodes110may have both a content item client111component and stream playback component113. Accordingly, client nodes110A-E may be used both to participate in a content item such as a game application, as well as view the output stream generated by a user participating in a content item.

As shown, streaming server170comprises streaming database180which is adapted to store data relating to the services provided by streaming server170. For example, streaming database180is adapted to store data identifying persons who have subscribed to receive streaming output through streaming server170. In an example embodiment, streaming server database180may comprise a streaming account ID for each person, i.e., subscriber, who has an account with streaming server140entitling the person to stream game output. Stored in relation to the streaming account ID for each subscriber are details regarding the particular game players and games for which the particular subscriber has subscribed to receive streamed output. For example, a particular subscriber's streaming account ID may have stored in relation to it gaming account IDs of the game players whose streams the particular subscriber is registered to receive along with the game IDs of the particular games for which streams may be received. Streaming server database150may further comprise for each person with a registered account, data identifying whether the particular person has an account to actually play the game which he or she is registered to stream. For example, streaming database180may have stored in relation to each person's streaming account ID, the game account IDs for any game server that the particular person is registered to play. Streaming database180may further have stored in relation to each person's streaming account ID, data relating to the use of the particular streaming service including, for example, the number of streaming sessions participated in, the period for which the particular subscriber has been a subscriber, and the particular streaming sessions the particular subscriber has received including the details of the game including the game players.

FIG. 3provides a graphical depiction of data that may be stored in an example embodiment of database180. As shown, streaming database180comprises a streaming subscriber table310that is used to store information about persons who are registered with the system to have output streamed to them. Streaming subscriber table310comprises for each registered streaming user, a streaming account ID320that is used to uniquely identify the streaming subscriber within the system. Streaming subscriber table310further comprises for each registered subscriber, information identifying historical information about the streaming engaged in by the particular subscriber such as, for example, the following: start date322identifying the date the particular subscriber joined the system; games streamed324identifying the total number of game sessions the particular subscriber has streamed; and time streamed326identifying the total elapsed time of streaming received by the particular subscriber.

Streaming database180further comprises related streaming information table330which is adapted to record information relating to streaming of particular games by the streaming subscribers. As shown, streaming information table330comprises for each streaming subscriber, who is identified by a streaming account ID332, a game ID334which identifies a game the particular subscriber is registered to stream. Also specified are a game account ID336which corresponds to the particular game player whose output feed is to be streamed. Session ID338corresponds to the particular game session that is being streamed. Streaming information table330still further comprises information about the particular streaming subscriber's involvement with the particular game as a game player. For example, where the particular subscriber is registered to play the game being streamed, streaming information table330identifies the streaming subscriber game account ID340and an indication of whether or not the game client has been installed by the subscriber342.

Content item server140and streaming server170are programmed to provide automated initiation of game sessions between a game player and subscribers to the game player's streamed output. In an example embodiment, content item server140receives a request to initiate a game session from a particular game player such as Participant A at client node110A. Content item server140communicates the request to streaming server170which references database180to identify streaming subscribers who receive streaming output of games played by Participant A. Streaming server170communicates a notification to the streaming client for the identified streaming subscribers. In response to receiving acceptances from particular subscribers, streaming server170communicates information identifying the accepting subscribers to the game server which creates a game session and adds the accepting subscribers to the game session. Streaming server170communicates instructions to the streaming clients of the accepting subscribers to launch game clients and log in the subscribers to the designated game session.

Example Game Session Initiation Processing

FIGS. 4A-Edepict a diagram of example processing for initiating a game session between a game participant and one or more stream subscribers. As shown inFIGS. 4A-E, headings are provided identifying “Game Client Operations,” “Game Server Operations,” Streaming Server Operations, and “Streaming Client Operations.” Operations that are performed by each of the game clients110A-C, content item/game server140, streaming server170, and streaming clients110D-E are arranged under the corresponding heading.

Referring toFIG. 4A, blocks410a-dindicate that for purposes of an initial state, each of game client nodes110A-C, content item server140, streaming server170, and streaming clients110D-E perform operations typical of their intended use. For example, client nodes110A-C may be operated by game participants to play a video game while content item server140servers video game content to nodes110A-C. Streaming server170receives streams of game content from one or more of clients110A-C and streams the content to one or more of client systems110D-E. Streaming client nodes110D-E interface with streaming server170to receive the streamed game play content.

At block412, game client110A generates and transmits a request to invite stream subscribers to participate in a game with Participant A operating client node110A. In an example scenario, a game participant such as, for example, Participant A who operates client node110A, and in particular content item client111A, to play a video games, may wish to have a person, e.g., Participant D, that is registered to receive a stream of the game output participate in an actual playing of the game. For example, Participant A may wish to invite one or more friends who subscribe to the participant's game feed. In another scenario, Participant A may wish to invite one or more of numerous subscribers to the participant's game feed in order to further engage her subscribers. In an example embodiment, client interface111A, which is a game client interface, is programmed to receive input from Participant A to initiate a game session with one or more subscribers who are registered to receive streams of game output from Participant A. Game client interface111A may provide a mechanism to enter parameters relating to the request. For example, game client interface111A may allow the operator to specify the number of subscribers who may participate in the game session as well as any criteria for selecting subscribers from the entire universe of subscribers. The request to initiate a game session with one or more subscribers is communicated to content item server140.

At block414, content item server140receives the request and, at block416, responds to the request by creating a session identifier for the proposed game session. The session identifier, which may be referred to as a session ID, may be unique to the proposed game session between the requesting game player, e.g., Participant A, and the subscribers who qualify and elect to participate. At block418, content item server140generates and communicates a request to initiate a game session with one or more subscribers to the streaming server. The request comprises information identifying the particular game player from whom the request originated, the particular game to which the request applies, the particular session identifier created by the game server, and any additional information for designating parameters for the invitation such as, for example, the number of subscribers who may participate and the qualifications or characteristics of those who may participate. In an example embodiment, the request may comprise a game player account identifier (game account ID) identifying the requesting game player, a game identifier (game ID) identifying the particular game to which the request applies, and a session identifier (session ID) identifying the newly created session. Information identifying parameters, qualifications, or characteristics of subscribers who may participate may include, for example, that the subscriber is registered to play the particular game and further has a particular history of playing the game that meets certain criteria. For example, the specified characteristics may specify one or more of the following: length of time having account for playing the game; proficiency at playing the game as dictated, for example, by game scores; and length of time that the person has subscribed to receive broadcasts of the game.

At block420, the request to engage in a game playing session is received at streaming server170. At block422, streaming server170determines the subscribers that are authorized to participate in the game play based upon the parameters defined in the request. In other words, streaming server170determines whether the characteristics of a particular subscriber satisfy the parameters or characteristics specified in the request. In an example embodiment, streaming server170queries database180containing information about the subscribers in order to identify those subscribers that satisfy the parameters for inclusion in the game. For example, where the parameters associated with the request specify that the invitation applies to subscribers to a particular game player and a particular game, streaming server170queries database180to identify subscribers that subscribe to receive a stream output for the particular game player and the particular game. Streaming server170may further query database180to determine whether the subscribers are registered to play the particular game to which the offer applies. For example, streaming server170may query database180to determine if the potential subscribers have a game account ID used to play the particular game. Still further, streaming server170may further determine whether or not the subscribers have the game client installed thereon.

In some instances, and as shown at decision block424, streaming server170may determine that additional data may be needed in order to identify subscribers who may meet parameters or criteria specified in the request received from content server140. For example, the request parameters may indicate the request applies to subscribers who are registered with content item server140to play a particular game and whose play of the game meets certain criteria. For example, the invitation to play the game may only apply to persons who frequently play the game, who have achieved a particular level of competence, i.e., score, who have been players for a particular length of time, etc. Streaming server170may determine that it does not have data sufficient to evaluate the subscribers. In particular, streaming server170may not have information regarding use of the online game by each of one or more subscribers. In such an instance, at block426, streaming server170may generate and transmit a request for data regarding one or more subscribers for whom additional data may be useful. The request for additional information may comprise any information needed to retrieve the requested data. For example, streaming server170may determine and include in the request, the game account identifier employed within content item server140and corresponding to each of the one or more steaming subscribers for whom information is being requested.

At block428, content item server140receives the request. At block430, content item server140determines the data responsive to the request. In an example embodiment, content item server140queries database150to retrieve information. For example, where the request seeks the scores made by one or more players associated with a particular account or game player identifiers, content item server140queries database150for data relating to the particular account or game player identifiers. At block432, content item server140transmits the retrieved data. In the transmitted data, the persons to whom the data applies may be identified using the corresponding game player account and/or game player identifier.

At block434, streaming server234receives the data. In an example embodiment, the received data comprises data regarding the use of the game by the particular subscribers for whom the request for additional data was made. In the event the responsive information refers to persons by game account identifiers, streaming server234uses data in database180to identify the corresponding subscriber identifying information.

Processing continues at block422where streaming server234uses the additional data to identify the particular subscribers who satisfy the parameters or characteristics specified in the request received from content item server140.

At block440, streaming server170generates and transmits instructions to provide notice of the request to the identified subscribers. The instructions to provide notice may be any that are suitable including, for example, instructions to generate a user interface feature that provides notice of the request to engage in game play with the particular game player. The instructions are communicated to streaming clients that correspond to the subscribers that have been identified as authorized to join the game play session. In an example scenario, the instructions may be transmitted to client devices110D and110E which may correspond to subscribers identified at block422.

At block442, the client devices receive the instructions. In an example scenario, the instructions are received at streaming clients113D and113E operating on client devices110D and110E respectively.

At block444, the client devices execute the instructions to provide notice of the request to participate in a game session. In an example embodiment, streaming clients113D and113E generate a user interface feature that provides notice of the request to enter into a game session. In an example embodiment, the user interface feature identifies the offer, the particular game to which applies, and the particular player from whom the offer was received. Streaming clients113D and113E may create a visual user interface output feature that provides notice of the request. In another example, streaming clients113D and113E may create an audible output feature that provides notice of the invitation.

At block446, streaming clients113D and113E receive user input selecting to participate in the game session. A user interface feature such as, for example, a button may be included on the interface so as to allow the particular streaming subscriber to accept the offer. If the user selects to accept the offer and requests to participate in the game, at block448, a request to accept the offer and participate or join the game play is generated and communicated to streaming server170.

At block450, the request to accept the offer is received at streaming server170. Processing continues at block452where streaming server170generates and transmits a request to join the game session. The request to join the game session comprises any information needed to provide proper notice. In an example embodiment, a request may comprise for each subscriber that has been identified to participate in the game session, the game account number used within content item server140to identify the particular subscriber.

At block456, the request to join the proposed game session is received by content item server140. At block458, content item server140associates the particular subscribers/players with the game session. In an example embodiment, content item server140updates database150with information associating account numbers or player identifiers with the session identifier.

At block460, content item server140identifies or creates a meeting place for the particular session. In connection with on-line games, it is common practice to provide a virtual space where game players can view information about an upcoming game session prior to the session beginning. Such virtual spaces are referred to by various different names including, for example a “lobby.” At block460, content item server140defines a new lobby including creating a new lobby object identifier, and stores in database an indication of the account numbers or player identifiers associated with the particular lobby.

At block462, content item server140communicates relevant details regarding the game session. The communication comprises any information that may be needed in order for the identified subscribers to actually join the game session. In an example embodiment, the information may comprise: an identifier of the game, e.g., game ID; an identifier of the game player originating the session, e.g., game account ID; the session identifier, e.g., session ID; and an identifier of the meeting place designated by content item server140, e.g., meeting area ID.

At block464, the details regarding the session are received at streaming sever170. At block466, streaming server170retrieves logic for joining the session and meeting place identified in the received session details. In an example embodiment, streaming server170may query database180for details regarding logging into the particular game identified in the game session and accessing a meeting place within the particular game. The information may specify particular application programming interface calls that should be made to the game client in order to have the game client log into the game and access a meeting space.

At block468, streaming server170generates and transmits instructions to the streaming client113. In an example scenario, the instructions indicate to the streaming client to launch a game client112corresponding to the particular game, log into the particular game, and access a meeting location for the particular game session. It will be appreciated that where more than one subscriber has been identified to join the game, instructions are sent to the client devices110corresponding to each identified subscriber.

At block470, streaming clients, e.g.,113D and113E, that corresponding to the identified subscribers receive the instructions. At block472, streaming clients113D and113E implement the instructions and cause corresponding game clients to be launched. For example, each of streaming clients113D and113E may make a call to the operating system executing on the particular node110and request that a game client111is launched.

At block474, each of streaming clients113D and113E make calls to the game client using an application programming interface to log the relevant subscriber into the relevant game session and to access the meeting place specified in the information received from content item server140. Thereafter, subscribers at client devices110D and110E may participate in the game session with Participant A who originated the request for the game session.

It will be appreciated that if a subscriber who has requested to participate in the game session should change her mind, streaming server170may communicate a request to remove the particular subscriber from the session to content item server140which updates content item database150to remove the particular subscriber from the game session. In response to one subscriber being removed from a game session, a place may become available for another subscriber. Accordingly, streaming server170may again transmit information inviting subscribers to participate. If another subscriber requests to join the game session, streaming server170communicates account information for the newly requesting subscriber to content item server140. Content item server140updates database150to associate the new subscriber to the game session.

Example Processing Architecture

It will be appreciated that the processing described in connection withFIGS. 4A-Emay be comprised in a system architecture adapted to provide web services or cloud based services. Client nodes110A-E may access the server systems140and170via any suitable networking system which may comprise the Internet and/or World Wide Web.FIG. 5depicts an example operating environment suitable for providing on-line services such as those described herein in connection with servers140and170.

FIG. 5is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a data center85that can provide computing resources to users70aand70b(which may be referred herein singularly as user70or in the plural as users70) via user computers72aand72b(which may be referred herein singularly as computer72or in the plural as computers72) via a communications network73. Data center85may be configured to provide computing resources for executing applications on a permanent or an as-needed basis. The computing resources provided by data center85may include various types of resources, such as gateway resources, load balancing resources, routing resources, networking resources, computing resources, volatile and non-volatile memory resources, content delivery resources, data processing resources, data storage resources, data communication resources and the like. Each type of computing resource may be available in a number of specific configurations. For example, data processing resources may be available as virtual machine instances that may be configured to provide various web services. In addition, combinations of resources may be made available via a network and may be configured as one or more web services. The instances may be configured to execute applications, including web services, such as application services, media services, database services, processing services, gateway services, storage services, routing services, security services, encryption services, load balancing services, application services and the like. These services may be configurable with set or custom applications and may be configurable in size, execution, cost, latency, type, duration, accessibility and in any other dimension. These web services may be configured as available infrastructure for one or more clients and can include one or more applications configured as a platform or as software for one or more clients. These web services may be made available via one or more communications protocols. These communications protocols may include, for example, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or non-HTTP protocols. These communications protocols may also include, for example, more reliable transport layer protocols, such as transmission control protocol (TCP), and less reliable transport layer protocols, such as user datagram protocol (UDP). Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices and the like.

Each type or configuration of computing resource may be available in different sizes, such as large resources—consisting of many processors, large amounts of memory and/or large storage capacity—and small resources—consisting of fewer processors, smaller amounts of memory and/or smaller storage capacity. Customers may choose to allocate a number of small processing resources as web servers and/or one large processing resource as a database server, for example.

Data center85may include servers76aand76b(which may be referred herein singularly as server76or in the plural as servers76) that provide computing resources. These resources may be available as bare metal resources or as virtual machine instances78a-d(which may be referred herein singularly as virtual machine instance78or in the plural as virtual machine instances78). In an example embodiment, virtual machine instances78cand78dmay be instances of content item server140and/or streaming content server170. The virtual machine instances78cand78dmay be configured to perform all, or any portion, of the techniques for providing content items such as gaming services and/or streaming services and/or any other of the disclosed techniques in accordance with the present disclosure and described in detail above. As should be appreciated, while the particular example illustrated inFIG. 5includes one virtual machine in each server, this is merely an example. A server may include more than one virtual machine or may not include any virtual machines.

The availability of virtualization technologies for computing hardware has afforded benefits for providing large scale computing resources for customers and allowing computing resources to be efficiently and securely shared between multiple customers. For example, virtualization technologies may allow a physical computing device to be shared among multiple users by providing each user with one or more virtual machine instances hosted by the physical computing device. A virtual machine instance may be a software emulation of a particular physical computing system that acts as a distinct logical computing system. Such a virtual machine instance provides isolation among multiple operating systems sharing a given physical computing resource. Furthermore, some virtualization technologies may provide virtual resources that span one or more physical resources, such as a single virtual machine instance with multiple virtual processors that span multiple distinct physical computing systems.

Referring toFIG. 5, communications network73may, for example, be a publicly accessible network of linked networks and possibly operated by various distinct parties, such as the Internet. In other embodiments, communications network73may be a private network, such as a corporate or university network that is wholly or partially inaccessible to non-privileged users. In still other embodiments, communications network73may include one or more private networks with access to and/or from the Internet.

Communication network73may provide access to computers72. User computers72may be computers utilized by users70or other customers of data center85. For instance, user computer72aor72bmay be a server, a desktop or laptop personal computer, a tablet computer, a wireless telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an e-book reader, a game console, a set-top box or any other computing device capable of accessing data center85. User computer72aor72bmay connect directly to the Internet (e.g., via a cable modem or a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)). Although only two user computers72aand72bare depicted, it should be appreciated that there may be multiple user computers.

User computers72may also be utilized to configure aspects of the computing resources provided by data center85. In this regard, data center85might provide a gateway or web interface through which aspects of its operation may be configured through the use of a web browser application program executing on user computer72. Alternately, a stand-alone application program executing on user computer72might access an application programming interface (API) exposed by data center85for performing the configuration operations. Other mechanisms for configuring the operation of various web services available at data center85might also be utilized.

Servers76shown inFIG. 5may be servers configured appropriately for providing the computing resources described above and may provide computing resources for executing one or more web services and/or applications. In one embodiment, the computing resources may be virtual machine instances78. In the example of virtual machine instances, each of the servers76may be configured to execute an instance manager80aor80b(which may be referred herein singularly as instance manager80or in the plural as instance managers80) capable of executing the virtual machine instances78. The instance managers80may be a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or another type of program configured to enable the execution of virtual machine instances78on server76, for example. As discussed above, each of the virtual machine instances78may be configured to execute all or a portion of an application.

It should be appreciated that although the embodiments disclosed above discuss the context of virtual machine instances, other types of implementations can be utilized with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein. For example, the embodiments disclosed herein might also be utilized with computing systems that do not utilize virtual machine instances.

In the example data center85shown inFIG. 5, a router71may be utilized to interconnect the servers76aand76b. Router71may also be connected to gateway74, which is connected to communications network73. Router71may be connected to one or more load balancers, and alone or in combination may manage communications within networks in data center85, for example, by forwarding packets or other data communications as appropriate based on characteristics of such communications (e.g., header information including source and/or destination addresses, protocol identifiers, size, processing requirements, etc.) and/or the characteristics of the private network (e.g., routes based on network topology, etc.). It will be appreciated that, for the sake of simplicity, various aspects of the computing systems and other devices of this example are illustrated without showing certain conventional details. Additional computing systems and other devices may be interconnected in other embodiments and may be interconnected in different ways.

In the example data center85shown inFIG. 5, a server manager75is also employed to at least in part direct various communications to, from and/or between servers76aand76b. WhileFIG. 5depicts router71positioned between gateway74and server manager75, this is merely an exemplary configuration. In some cases, for example, server manager75may be positioned between gateway74and router71. Server manager75may, in some cases, examine portions of incoming communications from user computers72to determine one or more appropriate servers76to receive and/or process the incoming communications. Server manager75may determine appropriate servers to receive and/or process the incoming communications based on factors such as an identity, location or other attributes associated with user computers72, a nature of a task with which the communications are associated, a priority of a task with which the communications are associated, a duration of a task with which the communications are associated, a size and/or estimated resource usage of a task with which the communications are associated and many other factors. Server manager75may, for example, collect or otherwise have access to state information and other information associated with various tasks in order to, for example, assist in managing communications and other operations associated with such tasks.

It should be appreciated that the network topology illustrated inFIG. 5has been greatly simplified and that many more networks and networking devices may be utilized to interconnect the various computing systems disclosed herein. These network topologies and devices should be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It should also be appreciated that data center85described inFIG. 5is merely illustrative and that other implementations might be utilized. It should also be appreciated that a server, gateway or other computing device may comprise any combination of hardware or software that can interact and perform the described types of functionality, including without limitation: desktop or other computers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, PDAs, tablets, cellphones, wireless phones, pagers, electronic organizers, Internet appliances, television-based systems (e.g., using set top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders) and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities.

In at least some embodiments, client nodes110A-E and servers such as servers140and170that implement a portion or all of one or more of the technologies described herein may include a computer system that includes or is configured to access one or more computer-accessible media.FIG. 6depicts a computer system that includes or is configured to access one or more computer-accessible media. In the illustrated embodiment, computing device15includes one or more processors10a,10band/or10n(which may be referred herein singularly as “a processor10” or in the plural as “the processors10”) coupled to a system memory20via an input/output (I/O) interface30. Computing device15further includes a network interface40coupled to I/O interface30.

In various embodiments, computing device15may be a uniprocessor system including one processor10or a multiprocessor system including several processors10(e.g., two, four, eight or another suitable number). Processors10may be any suitable processors capable of executing instructions. For example, in various embodiments, processors10may be embedded processors implementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86, PowerPC, SPARC or MIPS ISAs or any other suitable ISA. In multiprocessor systems, each of processors10may commonly, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA.

System memory20may be configured to store instructions and data accessible by processor(s)10. In various embodiments, system memory20may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash®-type memory or any other type of memory. In the illustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementing one or more desired functions, such as those methods, techniques and data described above, are shown stored within system memory20as code25and data26.

In one embodiment, I/O interface30may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic between processor10, system memory20and any peripherals in the device, including network interface40or other peripheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface30may perform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations to convert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory20) into a format suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor10). In some embodiments, I/O interface30may include support for devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/O interface30may be split into two or more separate components, such as a north bridge and a south bridge, for example. Also, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface30, such as an interface to system memory20, may be incorporated directly into processor10.

Network interface40may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between computing device15and other device or devices60attached to a network or networks50, such as other computer systems or devices, for example. In various embodiments, network interface40may support communication via any suitable wired or wireless general data networks, such as types of Ethernet networks, for example. Additionally, network interface40may support communication via telecommunications/telephony networks, such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communications networks, via storage area networks such as Fibre Channel SANs (storage area networks) or via any other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

In some embodiments, system memory20may be one embodiment of a computer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions and data as described above for implementing embodiments of the corresponding methods and apparatus. However, in other embodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon different types of computer-accessible media. Generally speaking, a computer-accessible medium may include non-transitory storage media or memory media, such as magnetic or optical media—e.g., disk or DVD/CD coupled to computing device15via I/O interface30. A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium may also include any volatile or non-volatile media, such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM (read only memory) etc., that may be included in some embodiments of computing device15as system memory20or another type of memory. Further, a computer-accessible medium may include transmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals conveyed via a communication medium, such as a network and/or a wireless link, such as those that may be implemented via network interface40.

A network set up by an entity, such as a company or a public sector organization, to provide one or more web services (such as various types of cloud-based computing or storage) accessible via the Internet and/or other networks to a distributed set of clients may be termed a provider network. Such a provider network may include numerous data centers hosting various resource pools, such as collections of physical and/or virtualized computer servers, storage devices, networking equipment and the like, needed to implement and distribute the infrastructure and web services offered by the provider network. The resources may in some embodiments be offered to clients in various units related to the web service, such as an amount of storage capacity for storage, processing capability for processing, as instances, as sets of related services and the like. A virtual computing instance may, for example, comprise one or more servers with a specified computational capacity (which may be specified by indicating the type and number of CPUs, the main memory size and so on) and a specified software stack (e.g., a particular version of an operating system, which may in turn run on top of a hypervisor).

A compute node, which may be referred to also as a computing node, may be implemented on a wide variety of computing environments, such as commodity-hardware computers, virtual machines, web services, computing clusters and computing appliances. Any of these computing devices or environments may, for convenience, be described as compute nodes.

A number of different types of computing devices may be used singly or in combination to implement the resources of the provider network in different embodiments, for example computer servers, storage devices, network devices and the like. In some embodiments a client or user may be provided direct access to a resource instance, e.g., by giving a user an administrator login and password. In other embodiments the provider network operator may allow clients to specify execution requirements for specified client applications and schedule execution of the applications on behalf of the client on execution platforms (such as application server instances, Java™ virtual machines (JVMs), general-purpose or special-purpose operating systems, platforms that support various interpreted or compiled programming languages such as Ruby, Perl, Python, C, C++ and the like or high-performance computing platforms) suitable for the applications, without, for example, requiring the client to access an instance or an execution platform directly. A given execution platform may utilize one or more resource instances in some implementations; in other implementations, multiple execution platforms may be mapped to a single resource instance.

In many environments, operators of provider networks that implement different types of virtualized computing, storage and/or other network-accessible functionality may allow customers to reserve or purchase access to resources in various resource acquisition modes. The computing resource provider may provide facilities for customers to select and launch the desired computing resources, deploy application components to the computing resources and maintain an application executing in the environment. In addition, the computing resource provider may provide further facilities for the customer to quickly and easily scale up or scale down the numbers and types of resources allocated to the application, either manually or through automatic scaling, as demand for or capacity requirements of the application change. The computing resources provided by the computing resource provider may be made available in discrete units, which may be referred to as instances. An instance may represent a physical server hardware platform, a virtual machine instance executing on a server or some combination of the two. Various types and configurations of instances may be made available, including different sizes of resources executing different operating systems (OS) and/or hypervisors, and with various installed software applications, runtimes and the like. Instances may further be available in specific availability zones, representing a logical region, a fault tolerant region, a data center or other geographic location of the underlying computing hardware, for example. Instances may be copied within an availability zone or across availability zones to improve the redundancy of the instance, and instances may be migrated within a particular availability zone or across availability zones. As one example, the latency for client communications with a particular server in an availability zone may be less than the latency for client communications with a different server. As such, an instance may be migrated from the higher latency server to the lower latency server to improve the overall client experience.

In some embodiments the provider network may be organized into a plurality of geographical regions, and each region may include one or more availability zones. An availability zone (which may also be referred to as an availability container) in turn may comprise one or more distinct locations or data centers, configured in such a way that the resources in a given availability zone may be isolated or insulated from failures in other availability zones. That is, a failure in one availability zone may not be expected to result in a failure in any other availability zone. Thus, the availability profile of a resource instance is intended to be independent of the availability profile of a resource instance in a different availability zone. Clients may be able to protect their applications from failures at a single location by launching multiple application instances in respective availability zones. At the same time, in some implementations inexpensive and low latency network connectivity may be provided between resource instances that reside within the same geographical region (and network transmissions between resources of the same availability zone may be even faster).

As set forth above, content may be provided by a content provider to one or more clients. The term content, as used herein, refers to any presentable information, and the term content item, as used herein, refers to any collection of any such presentable information. A content provider may, for example, provide one or more content providing services for providing content to clients. The content providing services may reside on one or more servers. The content providing services may be scalable to meet the demands of one or more customers and may increase or decrease in capability based on the number and type of incoming client requests. Portions of content providing services may also be migrated to be placed in positions of reduced latency with requesting clients. For example, the content provider may determine an “edge” of a system or network associated with content providing services that is physically and/or logically closest to a particular client. The content provider may then, for example, “spin-up,” migrate resources or otherwise employ components associated with the determined edge for interacting with the particular client. Such an edge determination process may, in some cases, provide an efficient technique for identifying and employing components that are well suited to interact with a particular client, and may, in some embodiments, reduce the latency for communications between a content provider and one or more clients.

In addition, certain methods or process blocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processes described herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or states may be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, or multiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state. The example blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel or in some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removed from the disclosed example embodiments.

It will also be appreciated that various items are illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while being used, and that these items or portions thereof may be transferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes of memory management and data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of the software modules and/or systems may execute in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computing systems via inter-computer communication. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the systems and/or modules may be implemented or provided in other ways, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc. Some or all of the modules, systems and data structures may also be stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a network or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. The systems, modules and data structures may also be transmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission media, including wireless-based and wired/cable-based media, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some or all of the elements in the list.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular feature, characteristic, step, module or block is necessary or indispensable. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions disclosed herein. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of certain of the inventions disclosed herein.