U.S. Pat. No. 11,559,747

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques for securely playing video games with publicized players are described herein. The term publicized player, as used herein, refers to a video game player whose scheduled participation in a video game is publicized, such as by being posted or otherwise indicated in one or more user interfaces. Some examples of publicized players may include certain famous celebrities, influencers, streamers and other well-known players. For example, some video game players may be fans of well-known game players. These fans may covet opportunities to play in a game with the well-known players. Moreover, the well-known players may often enjoy playing in video games with fans, for example because it may provide a fun and authentic way to build, and connect with, their fan bases.

As described herein, a service may be provided that allows fans and other users to securely play along with publicized players, such as certain famous celebrities, influencers, streamers and the like. Generally, the service may allow publicized players to schedule and publicize upcoming games in which they plan to play. The service may also allow fans and other users to search and view a publicized player's upcoming scheduled games, and to acquire access to a game to play along with the publicized player. As will be described in detail below, the service may allow game participation to be scheduled in advance without publicly exposing certain personal information, such as the publicized player's gamertag. The service may also allow users that attempt to acquire access to the games to be screened in advance, thereby helping to prevent trolls and other malicious users from interacting with the publicized players. Moreover, the service may also monitor the user's behavior during gameplay to detect and respond to negative interactions, such as by ejecting an offending user from gameplay.

In some examples, the service may provide a number of user interfaces that assist in allowing this gameplay in a secure manner. For example, the service may provide a publicized player interface that allows publicized players to interact with the service. In some examples, the publicized player interface may allow the publicized player to create a publicized player account for the service or to transfer and use an existing account from another service, such as a video streaming platform, online marketplace, etc. In some examples, upon creating and/or transferring the account, the publicized player may be asked to provide identity verification information to verify his or her purported identity and protect against imposters. The publicized player's account may be associated with respective account information, such as a name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.) and optionally a player identifier (e.g., gamertag), a streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like.

The publicized player interface may allow the publicized players to schedule upcoming video games in which they plan to play. For example, the publicized player interface may provide a browsable listing of supported game titles, from which a publicized player may select one or more game titles for which the publicized player would like to schedule one or more games. The publicized player interface may provide indications of available dates and times, from which a publicized player may select one or more dates and times at which to schedule one or more games. The publicized player interface may also provide additional information, such as a quantity of tickets that the publicized player wishes to be made available for each game, information about fees or compensation, and information regarding whether (and via which streaming platforms) the publicized player would like video of the game to be streamed by the service, such as via the service's streaming channel, via the publicized player's personal streaming channel, and/or via other feeds.

The service may also provide a customer interface that allows customers, such as fans of the publicized players, to interact with the service. In some examples, the customer interface may allow the customer to create a customer account for the service or to transfer and use an existing account from another service, such as a video streaming platform, online marketplace, etc. The customer's account may be associated with respective account information, such as a name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.) and optionally a player identifier (e.g., gamertag), a streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like.

The customer interface may allow a customer to view upcoming video games in which a publicized player is scheduled to participate. The customer interface may also allow the customer to acquire tickets to play along with the publicized player in one or more of those video games. For example, the customer interface may provide a browsable listing of publicized players for which video games have been scheduled. A customer may then select one of the publicized players from the listing in order to view dates and times of upcoming video games in which a publicized player is scheduled to participate. In some examples, the customer may then select one of the video games at a desired date and time. This may allow the customer to acquire tickets for the selected video game. In some examples, the customer may select a quantity of tickets to acquire and provide details about users that are associated with each ticket. For example, for each ticket, the customer may provide a respective name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.) and optionally a player identifier (e.g., gamertag), a streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and other information for the respective user for which the ticket is being purchased. In some examples, if a customer is purchasing a ticket for himself or herself, details about the customer may be pre-populated into the interface based on the customer's account information.

In some examples, a given video game may be divided into multiple time windows for which tickets may be individually acquired. As a specific example, a video game may be scheduled to start at 10:00 and may be scheduled to a have a one hour duration. In some cases, the video game could be divided into two half-hour time windows, such as from 10:00-10:30 and from 10:30-11:00. The service may then allow tickets to be individually acquired to play in either of these half-hour time slots, and the service could also offer other tickets to play in the entire game (i.e., in both time windows).

In some examples, customers may acquire tickets, via the service, based on satisfaction of at least one acquisition criterion. In some cases, the at least one acquisition criterion may include providing a return, such as a monetary and/or non-monetary fee. The term return, as used herein, refers to any monetary and/or non-monetary item that is provided in exchange for a ticket and/or player slot. For example, in some cases, to acquire a ticket, a customer may be required to pay a monetary fee or to provide a non-monetary fee such as credits. In some examples, the required amount of the fee or other return may be based on a membership level and/or other criteria. In yet other examples, there may be no required fee, or no other required return, if the customer has obtained a given membership level. In some cases, before issuing game access information to the customer, the service may verify that the customer has satisfied the at least one acquisition criterion, such as by verifying that the customer has provided any required payments, credits or other returns and/or verifying that the customer has a given membership level.

Additionally, in some examples, the at least one acquisition criterion may include confirming that the customer satisfies one or more behavior standards. For example, as described above, the service may be provided with information about the customer, such as the customer's name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.), player identifier (e.g., gamertag), streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like. The service may then use this information to confirm that the customer has not engaged in malicious behavior or other behavior that the publicized player may consider to be objectionable. For example, the service may confirm that the customer has not previously posted negative comments about the publicized player or other offensive or indecent comments or content. In some cases, before issuing game access information to the customer, the service may also verify that the customer has satisfied these and other behavior standards.

In some examples, at some point after verifying that the at least one acquisition criterion has been satisfied, the service may provide, to the customer, game access information that allows the customer to access the video game. Additionally, the service may provide, to the publicized player, game access information that allows the publicized player to access the video game. In some examples, the game access information may include information such as an identifier of a game server on which the game will be played, an identifier of a given player slot that is reserved for the publicized player or the customer, and the like. Furthermore, in some examples, the publicized player may choose to enter a given game server, and the details of the selected server may then be provided to the customers via the game access information. Additionally, in some examples, the game access information may be encrypted such that underlying details of the game information (e.g., game server identifier, etc.) are not revealed to the publicized players and/or the customers. This may help to prevent the underlying details of the game information from being obtained by hackers and may also prevent customers from voluntarily transferring the underlying details of the game information to other users. Furthermore, in some examples, the game access information may be configured to permit one-time-only access to the video game, such that the same game access information may not be employed to enter the game multiple times and/or by multiple players. Moreover, in some examples, the game access information may be linked to a player identifier (e.g., gamertag) of the publicized player or an individual customer, such that only the publicized player or the individual customer may use the game access information to access the video game.

In some examples, the service may control access to the game server, such as by acquiring administrative privileges on the game server, by otherwise coordinating with a gaming platform that operates the game server, or by operating the game server directly. Once gameplay has started, the service may monitor gameplay, such as by monitoring actions of the customers to ensure that the customers do not violate any behavior standards. For example, the service may monitor chat messages and video streams associated with the game, such as to confirm that customers do not make any comments that are obscene or offensive to the publicized player or other individuals. The service may also monitor in-game actions of the customers, such as to ensure that players do not engage in inappropriate and/or hostile behavior, such as repeatedly targeting and/or injuring the publicized player's in-game character, in-game inventory, etc. In some examples, if a customer violates these or other behavior standards, the service may eject the customer from the game or otherwise penalize the customer.

In some examples, the service may acquire one or more video streaming channel feeds, such as over which to transmit video (optionally including audio) of games that are scheduled and operated by the service. In some examples, the service's one or more video streaming channel feeds may be transmitted via one or more video streaming platforms. In some examples, for server-rendered gaming, the service may receive rendered audio and video of a game from the game server and may then provide the rendered audio and video to the one or more streaming platforms. In other examples, the service may receive game state data from the game server, and the service may use the game state data to render audio and video of the game. The service may then provide the rendered audio and video to the one or more streaming platforms.

Additionally, in some examples, the service may provide an automated streaming feature that allows video (optionally including audio) of a game to be broadcast over a player's own personal video streaming channel feed using the player's streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key). For example, both publicized players and customers may optionally provide their streamer identifiers to the service, such as via user interfaces of the service as described above. Using the automated streaming feature, the service may use a streamer identifier to provide video to streaming platforms and cause the video to be streamed on the player's personal streaming channel, in some cases without requiring any additional action on to be performed by the player (other than merely providing his or her streamer identifier to the service). In some examples, the player may optionally provide webcam video and audio of himself or herself, to the service, for transmission via the automated streaming feature. In some examples, the service may cause any, or all, of the video streams described above, including streams transmitted over the service's channels and personal channels of the players, to be transmitted using live streaming techniques. The term live streaming, as used herein, refer to scenarios in which video content of an event (e.g., video game) may be transmitted to viewers, and at least part of the video content may be played while the event is still occurring (e.g., while the video game is still being played by the players), albeit with some small amounts latency between the time that video content is captured and the time that the video is eventually played to viewers.

FIG.1is a diagram illustrating an example video game interaction system that may be used in accordance with the present disclosure. Game management service100may allow fans and other users to securely play along with publicized players, such as certain famous celebrities, influencers, streamers and the like. Game management service100provides user interfaces101, including publicized player interface102and customer interface103, that assist in allowing this gameplay in a secure manner. Publicized player interface102allows publicized players, such as publicized player111, to interact with the game management service100. In some examples, the publicized player interface102may allow the publicized player111to create a publicized player account for the game management service100or to transfer and use an existing account from another service, such as a video streaming platform, online marketplace, etc. In some examples, upon creating and/or transferring the account, the publicized player111may be asked to provide identity verification information to verify his or her purported identity and protect against imposters. The publicized player's account may be associated with respective account information, such as a name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.) and optionally a player identifier (e.g., gamertag), a streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like.

As shown inFIG.1, publicized player inputs120may be received via the publicized player interface102. The publicized player inputs120may include, for example, selections of game titles for which the publicized player111would like to schedule one or more games. The publicized player inputs120may also include selections of dates and times, at which the publicized player111would like to play. The publicized player inputs120may also include an indication of a player identifier (ID) (e.g., gamertag) and a streamer identifier (ID) (e.g., streamer key) of the publicized player111. A player identifier, as that term is used herein, is an identifier that identifies a video game player on a gaming platform and/or on one or more video games. The player ID may be provided to assist in enabling the publicized player111to access one or more video games, as will be described in detail below. A streamer identifier, as that term is used herein, is an identifier that identifies a streamer that has an associated video streaming channel on a video streaming platform. The streamer ID may be provided to assist in allowing automated streaming on a personal streaming channel of the publicized player111. The streamer identifier is an example of authorization information that allows control of contents of a video feed of the streamer on the video streaming platform.

The publicized player interface102may allow the publicized player111to schedule upcoming video games in which he or she plans to play. Referring now toFIG.2, an example of a publicized player interface display200of publicized player interface102will now be described in detail. The publicized player interface display200includes a game title selection pane201, which includes a listing of supported game titles. In the example ofFIG.2, the supported game titles include Combat Game A, Football Game B, Basketball Game C, Racing Game E, and Fantasy Game E. The game title selection pane201includes checkboxes211-215, which each allows selection of a respective game title. As shown inFIG.2, the publicized player111has activated checkbox211, which results in a selection of Combat Game A. This causes available dates and times for Combat Game A to be displayed in availability selection pane202. The availability selection pane202provides indications of available dates and times for a game title that is selected via game title selection pane201. The availability selection pane202allows the publicized player111to select different dates via backward arrow231(which allows scrolling to back to previous dates) and forward arrow232(which allows scrolling forward to subsequent dates). The availability selection pane202shows available game times for the currently selected date, which is Jun. 2, 2021. In this example, there are four available times on Jun. 2, 2021. Checkboxes221-224allow selection of each of the four respective available times. As shown inFIG.2, the publicized player111has selected checkbox221to indicate that he or she will play in the game starting at 10:00 ante meridiem (a.m.). The publicized player111has also selected checkbox223to indicate that he or she will play in the game starting at 2:00 post meridiem (p.m.).

The publicized player interface display200also includes an account information pane203, which shows information about the account of publicized player111. In this example, the account information pane203shows the name and streamer ID of publicized player111. The See Additional Information button204may allow additional information to be shown, such as the player ID and contact information of the publicized player111. The Edit button205may allow account information to be edited. The publicized player interface102may optionally allow additional information to be provided, such as a quantity of tickets that the publicized player wishes to be made available for each game, information about fees or compensation, and information regarding whether (and via which streaming platforms) the publicized player would like video of the game to be streamed by the service, such as via the service's streaming channel, via the publicized player's personal streaming channel, and/or via other feeds.

The customer interface103may allow customers, such as fans of the publicized players, to interact with the game management service100. In some examples, the customer interface103may allow customers, such as customer112, to create a customer account for the service or to transfer and use an existing account from another service, such as a video streaming platform, online marketplace, etc. The customer's account may be associated with respective account information, such as a name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.) and optionally a player identifier (e.g., gamertag), a streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like. Referring back toFIG.1, it is shown that customer inputs130may be received via the customer interface103. The customer inputs130may include, for example, selections of a publicized player with which the customer112would like to play. The customer inputs130may also include selections of game titles that the customer112would like to play and selection of dates and times at which the customer112would like to play. The customer inputs130may also include an indication of a player identifier (ID) (e.g., gamertag) and a streamer identifier (ID) (e.g., streamer key) of the customer112. The player ID may be provided to assist in enabling the customer112to access a selected video game, as will be described in detail below. The streamer ID may be provided to assist in allowing automated streaming on a personal streaming channel of the customer112.

The customer interface103may allow a customer112to view upcoming video games in which a publicized player is scheduled to participate. The customer interface103may also allow the customer112to acquire tickets to play along with the publicized player in one or more of those video games. Referring now toFIG.3, an example of a customer interface display300of customer interface103will now be described in detail. In this example, customer interface display300includes a publicized player selection pane301that includes a listing of publicized players for which video games have been scheduled. The publicized player selection pane301includes checkboxes311-315, which allow the customer112to select respective publicized players. In this example, the customer112has activated checkbox311in order to select John Celebrity. The activation of checkbox311may cause available dates and times to be shown, in game selection pane302, for games in which John Celebrity is scheduled to play. The game selection pane302allows the customer112to select different dates via backward arrow331(which allows scrolling to back to previous dates) and forward arrow332(which allows scrolling forward to subsequent dates). The game selection pane302shows available game times for John Celebrity for the currently selected date, which is Jun. 2, 2021. In this example, there are two available times on Jun. 2, 2021. Checkboxes321-322allow selection of each of the two respective available times. As shown inFIG.2, the customer112has activated checkbox321in order to select the game starting at 10:00 a.m. This may allow the customer112to acquire tickets for the selected video game.

In this example, activation of checkbox321causes information associated with the game starting at 10:00 a.m. to be displayed in ticket acquisition pane303. Specifically, ticket acquisition pane303displays details about the selected game, such as the game title (Combat Game A), game start time (10:00 a.m.), game duration (one hour), and the publicized player (John Celebrity) that is participating in the game. The ticket acquisition pane303also displays information regarding two time windows for which tickets may be purchased including a first time window (10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.) and a second time window (10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.). Specifically, ticket acquisition pane303shows a respective quantity of remaining tickets for each time window and a respective return that is required to acquire tickets for each time window. In this example, the required return to acquire tickets for either time window is $99 dollars or 99 credits for silver members and $45 dollars or 45 credits for gold members. Input field351allows the customer112to select a number of tickets to acquire for the first time window, while input field351allows the customer112to select a number of tickets to acquire for the second time window. In this example, the number five is entered the into input field351to indicate the customer112wishes to acquire five tickets for the first time window.

In the example ofFIG.3, entering of the number five in user input field351causes ticket information pane304to allow entering of ticket information for five tickets for the first time window (10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.) of the game starting at 10:00 a.m. with John Celebrity. The ticket information pane304allows the customer112to select different tickets via backward arrow333(which allows scrolling to back to previous tickets) and forward arrow334(which allows scrolling forward to subsequent tickets). In this example, ticket two (of five) is the currently selected ticket, which means that the user is currently entering information for ticket two. The ticket information pane304includes input fields341-344, which allow the customer112to enter information for the selected ticket. Specifically, input field341allows entry of a customer name for the ticket, input field342allows entry of a customer email for the ticket, input field343allows entry of a player ID for the ticket, and input field344allows entry of a streamer ID for the ticket.

In some examples, customers may acquire tickets, via the service, based on satisfaction of at least one acquisition criterion. In some cases, the at least one acquisition criterion may include providing a return, such as a monetary and/or non-monetary fee. Referring back toFIG.1, it is shown that return133is provided from customer112to the game management service100. For example, in some cases, to acquire a ticket, customer112may be required to pay a monetary fee or to provide a non-monetary fee such as credits. In some examples, the required amount of the fee or other return133may be based on a membership level and/or other criteria. In the example ofFIG.3, the required return to acquire tickets for either the first or the second time window is $99 dollars or 99 credits for silver members and $45 dollars or 45 credits for gold members. In yet other examples, there may be no required fee, or no other required return, if the customer112has obtained a given membership level. The game management service100includes a verification component104, which verifies that the customer112has satisfied the at least one acquisition criterion, such as by verifying that the customer112has provided any required payments, credits or other returns and/or verifying that the customer112has a given membership level. The game management service100may verify that the at least one acquisition criterion is satisfied before providing game access information134to customer112.

Additionally, in some examples, the at least one acquisition criterion may include confirming that the customer112satisfies one or more behavior standards. For example, as described above, the game management service100may be provided with information about the customer112, such as the customer's name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.), player identifier (e.g., gamertag), streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like. The verification component104may then use this information to confirm that the customer112has not engaged in malicious behavior or other behavior that the publicized player may consider to be objectionable. For example, the verification component104may confirm that the customer112has not previously posted negative comments about the publicized player111or other offensive or indecent comments or content. In some cases, before game access information134is issued to the customer112, the verification component104may also verify that the customer112has satisfied these and other behavior standards.

In some examples, each of the tickets acquired via the customer interface103may be for a respective player slot. In some examples, a player slot represents an available player connection to a video game and/or game server. A player slot may be acquired for an entire duration of a game or for only a selected time window (e.g., the time window or second time window described above). In some examples, the game management service may maintain stored records of player slots for each game as well as indications of whether each player slot has already been acquired by a customer or is still available for acquisition. Acquiring a player slot, as that phrase is used herein, refers to obtaining the rights to use that player slot, such as by satisfying at least one acquisition criterion required to acquire the player slot. When a video game is being played, a customer may subsequently access and use his or her acquired player slot, such as by connecting to a game server that executes the video game using game access information as described below.

After it is verified that the at least one acquisition criterion has been satisfied, the game access component105may generate and provide, to the customer112, game access information134that allows the customer112to access a video game for which the customer112has acquired a player slot, such as by acquiring a ticket for the player slot. As shown inFIG.1, the customer112connects to game server140via connection135. Additionally, the game access component105may also generate and provide, to the publicized player111, game access information124that allows the publicized player111to access the video game. As shown inFIG.1, the publicized player111connects to game server140via connection125. In some examples, the game access information124and134may include information such as an identifier of a game server140on which the game is played, an identifier of a given player slot that is reserved for the publicized player111or the customer112, and the like. Furthermore, in some examples, the publicized player111may choose to enter game server140, and the details of game server140may then be provided to the customer112via the game access information134. Additionally, in some examples, the game access information124and134may be encrypted such that underlying details of the game access information124and134(e.g., game server identifier, etc.) are not revealed to the publicized player111and/or the customer112. This may help to prevent the underlying details of the game access information124and134from being obtained by hackers and may also prevent customers from voluntarily transferring the underlying details of the game access information124and134to other users. Furthermore, in some examples, the game access information124may be configured to permit one-time-only access to the video game, such that the game access information124may not be employed to enter the game multiple times and/or by multiple players. Similarly, the game access information134may be configured to permit one-time-only access to the video game, such that the game access information134may not be employed to enter the game multiple times and/or by multiple players. Moreover, in some examples, the game access information124may be linked to a player identifier (e.g., gamertag) of the publicized player111, such that only the publicized player111may use the game access information124to access the video game. Similarly, in some examples, the game access information134may be linked to a player identifier (e.g., gamertag) of the customer112, such that only the customer112(and no other customers) may use the game access information134to access the video game.

In one specific example, game access information134may include a first encrypted version of a game server identifier that may be sent to customer112. The first encrypted version of the game server identifier may be used one time to allow the customer112to access the game server140. After the customer112accesses the game server140, the first encrypted version of the game server identifier may become unusable, such that other users cannot enter the game server even if they were to obtain and provide the first encrypted version of the game server identifier. Also, in some examples, the first encrypted version of the game server identifier (and/or other game access information) could be linked to the customer112, such as to a player identifier (e.g., gamertag) of customer112. This linkage would also prevent users other than customer112from using the first encrypted version of the game server identifier to gain access to the video game.

In some examples, such as when customer112has acquired a ticket for a time window that is less than the duration of the entire game, the game access information124may be configured to allow access for only the time window corresponding to the customer's ticket. For example, in some cases, the game access information124may be configured to be valid only during the time window (and/or within a specified time period prior to opening of the time window). In other examples, the game access component105may configure the player slot that is acquired by the customer112to open and/or expire at the start and/or end of the time window. In some examples, the game management service100may control access to the game server140, such as by acquiring administrative privileges on the game server140, by otherwise coordinating with a gaming platform that operates the game server140, or by operating the game server140directly.

Once gameplay has started, the game monitoring component106of game management service100may monitor gameplay, such as by monitoring actions of the customers to ensure that the customers do not violate any behavior standards. For example, the game monitoring component106may monitor chat messages and video streams associated with the game, such as to confirm that customers do not make any comments that are obscene or offensive to the publicized player or other individuals. The game monitoring component106may also monitor in-game actions of the customers, such as to ensure that players do not engage in inappropriate and/or hostile behavior, such as repeatedly targeting and/or injuring the publicized player's in-game character, in-game inventory, etc. In some examples, if a customer violates these or other behavior standards, the game management service100may eject the customer from the game or otherwise penalize the customer.

Referring now toFIG.4, an example video streaming configuration will now be described in detail. In the example ofFIG.4, game streaming component107of game management service100obtains video422of a video game being played by publicized player111and customer112(and any number of other players) on game server140. In some examples, for server-rendered gaming, the game streaming component107may receive rendered audio and video of the game from the game server140, and this rendered audio and video may be included in video422. In other examples, the game streaming component107may receive game state data from the game server140, and the game streaming component107may use the game state data to render video422(which may optionally include corresponding audio). In the example ofFIG.4, the game management service100has its own video streaming channel, which is service streaming channel432. As shown inFIG.4, the game streaming component107may cause video422to be transmitted, over service streaming channel432, to viewers495, via one or more video streaming platform(s)490. The game streaming component107may provide the service's streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), which is service streamer ID412, to the one or more video streaming platform(s)490in order to cause the video422to be transmitted over service streaming channel432. The video422may be transmitted from game streaming component107to video streaming platform(s)490, and in turn from video streaming platform(s)490to viewers495, over one or more networks, for example one or more local area networks (LAN's) and/or one or more wide area networks (WAN's), such as the Internet. Additionally, the video422is transmitted using streaming transmission techniques, in which portions of transmitted content are received and played while subsequent portions of the transmitted content are being transmitted.

The game management service100may provide an automated streaming feature that allows video (optionally including audio) of the game to be broadcast over a player's own personal video streaming channel feed using the player's streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key). For example, as shown inFIG.4, publicized player111has provided his or her personal streamer identifier (publicized player (PP) streamer ID411) to the game streaming component107, for example via publicized player interface102as described above. Using the automated streaming feature, the game streaming component107may use PP streamer ID411to cause the video422to be streamed on the publicized player's personal streaming channel (PP streaming channel431), in some cases without requiring any additional action on to be performed by the publicized player111(other than merely providing the PP streamer ID411to the game streaming component107). Additionally, customer112has provided his or her personal streamer identifier (customer streamer ID413) to the game streaming component107, for example via customer interface103as described above. Using the automated streaming feature, the game streaming component107may use customer streamer ID413to cause the video422to be streamed on the customer's personal streaming channel (customer streaming channel433), in some cases without requiring any additional action on to be performed by the customer112(other than merely providing the customer streamer ID413to the game streaming component107).

In some examples, a player may optionally provide webcam video of himself or herself, to the service, for transmission via the automated streaming feature. For example, referring now toFIG.5, it is seen that publicized player111has a corresponding camera501, such as a webcam, which captures camera video521(optionally including audio captured via a corresponding microphone) of the publicized player111as he or she plays the game. In the example ofFIG.5, publicized player111provides camera video521to the game streaming component107. The game streaming component107may then combine the camera video521and the video422, for example as a picture-in-picture video feed, for streaming on PP streaming channel431using PP streamer ID411. Additionally, customer112has a corresponding camera502, such as a webcam, which captures camera video523(optionally including audio captured via a corresponding microphone) of the customer112as he or she plays the game. In the example ofFIG.5, customer112provides camera video523to the game streaming component107. The game streaming component107may then combine the camera video523and the video422, for example as a picture-in-picture video feed, for streaming on customer streaming channel433using customer streamer ID413. In some examples, the game streaming component107may cause any, or all, of the video streams described above, including streams transmitted over the service's channels and personal channels of the players, to be transmitted using live streaming techniques. The term live streaming, as used herein, refer to scenarios in which video content of an event (e.g., video game) may be transmitted to viewers495, and at least part of the video content may be played while the event is still occurring (e.g., while the video game is still being played by the players), albeit with some small amounts latency between the time that video content is captured and the time that the video is eventually played to viewers495.

FIG.6is a flowchart illustrating an example video game interaction process that may be used in accordance with the present disclosure. In some examples, any, or all, of the operations ofFIG.6may be performed by game management service100ofFIG.1. The process ofFIG.6is initiated at operation610, at which one or more interfaces are provided that indicate a plurality of times at which a plurality of publicized players are scheduled to play in a plurality of video games for which a plurality of player slots are acquired based on satisfaction of at least one acquisition criterion. For example, as described above, a game management service may provide a customer interface that indicates a plurality of times at which a plurality of publicized players are scheduled to play in a plurality of video games for which a plurality of player slots are acquired based on satisfaction of at least one acquisition criterion. As shown inFIG.3, the customer interface may allow users (e.g., customers) to select a given publicized player (e.g., John Celebrity) and to view dates and times for upcoming video games in which the publicized player plans to play. Player access to the plurality of video games may be limited to the plurality of publicized players and a plurality of users that acquire the plurality of player slots. The one or more first interfaces may be provided by a service (e.g., game management service100ofFIG.1) that allows the plurality of users to play with the plurality of publicized players without publicly exposing game player identifiers of the plurality of publicized players and identifiers of game servers on which the plurality of video games are played. In some examples, a first publicized player of the plurality of publicized players may be scheduled to play in a first video game of the plurality of video games at a first time of the plurality of times. For example, as shown inFIG.3, John Celebrity is scheduled to play in a video game (e.g., Combat Game A) starting on Jun. 2, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. As also described above, the game management service may provide one or more second interfaces (e.g., publicized player interface102) that allow the plurality of publicized players to schedule the plurality of times at which the plurality of publicized players are scheduled to play in the plurality of video games.

At operation612, a request is received, via the one or more first interfaces, for a first user of the plurality of users to acquire a first player slot of the plurality of player slots for playing in a first video game of the plurality of video games with a first publicized player of the plurality of publicized players. For example, as shown inFIG.3, a request is received via the customer interface for a user (e.g. customer) to acquire a first player slot for playing with John Celebrity in Combat Game A starting at 10:00 a.m. In some examples, the first player slot may allow the first user to play in only part of the first video game that corresponds to a selected time duration. For example, as shown inFIG.3, the user requests five tickets for the 10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. time window. In the example ofFIG.3, the user requests five tickets, such as for the user and four other users to play in the game. The user makes this request by entering the number five in user input field351, which indicates the user's desire to acquire five tickets. As also shown inFIG.3, for each of the five tickets, the customer interface may allow the user to enter respective user information (e.g., name, email address, player ID, streamer ID) for each of the five tickets via ticket information pane304.

At operation614, it is verified that the at least one acquisition criterion has been satisfied in relation to the first user. For example, as described above, customers may acquire tickets, via the service, based on satisfaction of at least one acquisition criterion. In some cases, the at least one acquisition criterion may include providing a return, such as a monetary and/or non-monetary fee. For example, in some cases, to acquire a ticket, a customer may be required to pay a monetary fee or to provide a non-monetary fee such as credits. In some examples, the required amount of the fee or other return may be based on a membership level and/or other criteria. In the example ofFIG.3, a return of $99 dollars or 99 credits is required for each ticket for silver members, while a return of $45 dollars or 45 credits is required for each ticket for gold members. In some cases, before issuing game access information to the first user, the service may verify that the first user has satisfied the at least one acquisition criterion, such as by verifying that the first user has provided any required payments, credits or other returns and/or verifying that the customer has a given membership level. Additionally, in some examples, verifying that the at least one acquisition criterion has been satisfied in relation to the first user may include verifying that the first user satisfies one or more behavior standards included in the at least one acquisition criterion. For example, as described above, the service may be provided with information about the first user, such as the first user's name, contact information (e.g., email, phone number, etc.), player identifier (e.g., gamertag), streamer identifier (e.g., streamer key), and the like. The service may then use this information to confirm that the first user has not engaged in malicious behavior or other behavior that the publicized player may consider to be objectionable. For example, the service may confirm that the first user has not previously posted negative comments about the publicized player or other offensive or indecent comments or content. In some examples, the game management service may monitor various communications media, such as chat pages, and keep records of negative comments made about publicized players. The game management service may then search these records to confirm that the first user has not made negative comments about the first publicized player. As another example, the game management service may perform an Internet search or other electronic search to verify that the first user has not posted negative comments about the first publicized player. In some examples, if the searches (e.g., record search, Internet search, etc.) do not uncover any negative comments or posts about the first publicized player that have been made by the first user, then the this may serve as verification that the first user has satisfied the one or more behavior standards. By contrast, if the searches do uncover negative comments or posts about the first publicized player that have been made by the first user, then the this may violate the one or more behavior standards.

At operation616, publicized player game access information that allows the first publicized player to enter the first video game is provided to the first publicized player. For example, as shown inFIG.1, game access information124is provided by game management service100to publicized player111. At operation618, user player game access information that allows the first user to enter the first video game is provided to the first user. For example, as shown inFIG.1, game access information134is provided by game management service100to customer112. The user player game access information may be provided to the first user based at least in part on verifying that the at least one acquisition criterion has been satisfied in relation to the first user (e.g. at operation614). As described above, in some examples, the game access information may include information such as an identifier of a game server on which the game will be played, an identifier of a given player slot that is reserved for the publicized player or the customer, and the like. Furthermore, in some examples, the publicized player may choose to enter a given game server, and the details of the selected server may then be provided to the customers via the game access information. Additionally, in some examples, the game access information may be encrypted such that underlying details of the game information (e.g., game server identifier, etc.) are not revealed to the publicized players and/or the customers. This may help to prevent the underlying details of the game information from being obtained by hackers and may also prevent customers from voluntarily transferring the underlying details of the game information to other users. Furthermore, in some examples, the game access information may be configured to permit one-time-only access to the video game, such that the same game access information may not be employed to enter the game multiple times and/or by multiple players. For example, the user game access information may be usable only a single time to enter the first video game. Additionally, the publicized player game access information may be usable only a single time to enter the first video game. Moreover, in some examples, the game access information may be linked to a player identifier (e.g., gamertag) of the publicized player or an individual customer, such that only the publicized player or the individual customer may use the game access information to access the video game.

At operation620, video streaming of at least part of the first video game over one or more video streaming platforms is configured via the service's video feed, the publicized player's video feed and/or the first user's video feed. For example, as shown inFIG.4, video422, which is video of a game being played by publicized player111and customer112, may be streamed over service streaming channel432, PP stream channel431and customer streaming channel433. The game management service may employ its own streaming authorization information (e.g., service streamer ID412) to cause the video422to be streamed over its own streaming channel (e.g., service streaming channel432). Additionally, the game management service (e.g., the service that provides the one or more interfaces described above) may receive, from the first user, authorization information that allows control of contents of a video feed of the first user on a video streaming platform. For example, as described above, the game management service may receive the first user's streamer ID (e.g., customer streamer ID413) via the customer interface (e.g., via input field344ofFIG.3). The game management service may then configure, based at least in part on the authorization information, video streaming of at least part of the first video game via the video feed. For example, as shown inFIG.4, the game management service may use customer streamer ID413to cause the video422to be streamed over the customer streaming channel433, such as by providing the customer streamer ID413to a video streaming platform at the initiation of the transmission of video422. Furthermore, the game management service may receive, from the first publicized player, authorization information that allows control of contents of a video feed of the first publicized player on a video streaming platform. For example, as described above, the game management service may receive the first publicized player's streamer ID (e.g., PP streamer ID411) via the publicized player interface. The game management service may then configure, based at least in part on the authorization information, video streaming of at least part of the first video game via the video feed. For example, as shown inFIG.4, the game management service may use PP streamer ID411to cause the video422to be streamed over the PP streaming channel431, such as by providing the PP streamer ID411to the video streaming platform at the initiation of the transmission of video422.

At operation622, activity of the first user is monitored while the first user plays in the first video game. As described above, once gameplay has started, the service may monitor gameplay, such as by monitoring actions of the customers to ensure that the customers do not violate any behavior standards. For example, the service may monitor chat messages and video streams associated with the game, such as to confirm that customers do not make any comments that are obscene or offensive to the publicized player or other individuals. The service may also monitor in-game actions of the customers, such as to ensure that players do not engage in inappropriate and/or hostile behavior, such as repeatedly targeting and/or injuring the publicized player's in-game character, in-game inventory, etc. In some examples, if a customer violates these or other behavior standards, the service may eject the customer from the game or otherwise penalize the customer. At operation624, it is determined whether the first user has violated any behavior standards. For example, in some cases, it may be determined, based on the monitoring, that the first user has violated one or more behavior standards. At operation628, the first user may then be disconnected from the first video game based on violation of the one or more behavior standards. If no behavior standards are violated, the process may proceed to operation626.

At operation626, it is determined whether the first user's allotted time window has expired. For example, as shown inFIG.3, the user acquires tickets for the 10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. time window. Thus, in the example ofFIG.3, the first user's time allotted time window expires at 10:30 a.m. If the first user's time allotted time window has expired, then, at operation628, the first user may be disconnected from the first video game. By contrast, if the first user's time allotted time window has not expired, then the process may return to operation622.

An example system for transmitting and providing data will now be described in detail. In particular,FIG.7illustrates an example computing environment in which the embodiments described herein may be implemented.FIG.7is 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).

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.7, 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.7may 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.7, 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.7, a server manager75is also employed to at least in part direct various communications to, from and/or between servers76aand76b. WhileFIG.7depicts 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.7has 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.7is 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, a server that implements 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.8depicts 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.