U.S. Pat. No. 11,872,497

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques for customer-generated video game player matchmaking in a multi-tenant environment are described herein. In some examples, a gaming service may allow an individual customer to employ a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm for use in matching video game players together into different game sessions. The gaming service may be a multi-tenant gaming service, which is a gaming service that hosts execution of video game sessions for a plurality of different customers (e.g., developers). Each customer may pay the gaming service for the use of resources (e.g., game servers) that are employed to host game sessions on behalf of the customer. In some examples, the gaming service may provide its own service-generated matchmaking algorithm. The gaming service may allow each individual customer to select either a service-generated matchmaking algorithm or a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm for use in matching players to game sessions hosted on behalf of the customer. In some examples, the gaming service may provide a matchmaking configuration application programming interface (API) call, which may be issued by a customer and may allow the customer to indicate whether a service-generated matchmaking algorithm or a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm will be used for a respective group of video game sessions.

In some existing conventional matchmaking scenarios, a gaming service may allow an individual customer to select a limited set of rules that may be used in combination with a service-generated matchmaking algorithm. For example, a customer may be capable of selecting features such as team size, relative player skill levels for the teams, and the like. However, the use of customer-selected rules with a service-generated matchmaking algorithm is different from a scenario in which a customer generates (e.g., creates code for) the customer's own matchmaking algorithm (i.e., a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm). For example, allowing the use of a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may offer a number of advantages. Specifically, allowing the use of customer-generated matchmaking algorithms may save time for customers in scenarios when customers have already generated (e.g., coded) their matchmaking algorithm. Additionally, allowing the use of customer-generated matchmaking algorithms may be more efficient by allowing customers to easily transport their algorithms between different gaming services. Furthermore, allowing the use of customer-generated matchmaking algorithms may be beneficial for scenarios in which a customer wishes to employ features that are not supported by a service-generated matchmaking algorithm and/or customer-selectable rules.

In some examples, matchmaking requests may be received by the gaming service, and corresponding matchmaking tickets may be created and queued. The matchmaking tickets are indications of corresponding matchmaking requests. The matchmaking tickets may include indications of the players associated with the corresponding ticket/request as well as other related information. In some examples, a set (e.g., batch) of matchmaking tickets may be obtained (e.g., consumed from the front of a queue) and provided for processing by a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm. In some cases, the set of matchmaking tickets may be provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm using a publish and subscribe protocol. For example, the matchmaking tickets may be provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm by a monitoring service that is integrated with the multi-tenant gaming service and that allows indications of events to be routed to targets based on one or more rules.

The customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may then use the matchmaking tickets to assist in finding matches between different subsets of players. In some examples, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may be executed by one or more serverless computing functions whose execution may be triggered based on receipt of the matchmaking tickets. The use of serverless computing functions may reduce costs and increase efficiency, such as by allowing customers to pay based on execution of the algorithm (e.g., as opposed to paying for the use of dedicated computing resources for execution of the algorithm).

In addition to the matchmaking tickets, the gaming service may also provide player characteristic data corresponding to the players that are being matched. The player characteristic data may indicate respective player characteristics, such as player skill levels, desired characters that the players would like to control, game maps that the players would like to play on, and the like. The player characteristic data may also assist the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm in finding matches between different subsets of players. In some examples, the gaming service may provide the player characteristic data to a data storage service, which may store the player characteristic data. Additionally, in some examples, each of the matchmaking tickets that is provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may include a link to corresponding player characteristic data for the player(s) to which the ticket corresponds. The link may be used, by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, to retrieve the corresponding player characteristic data from the data storage service. In some cases, this may be a time-limited link that is only valid for a configurable time period, such as a pre-signed uniform resource locator (URL). Thus, the use of a time-limited link may help to improve security for the player characteristic data, such as by limiting access to the player characteristic data to only a configurable time period after the time limited link is activated. In some examples, the time-limited link may be activated just before the matchmaking tickets are provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm. It is noted that other security techniques may additionally or alternatively be employed for accessing of the player characteristic data, such as encryption keys and the like.

The customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may then determine player matches based on the matchmaking tickets and corresponding player characteristic data. In some examples, this may include determinations of players that are assigned to a match as well as team selections for those players. When the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm finds matches between players, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may report the matches back to the gaming service. In some examples, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may report the matches to the gaming service via a match reporting API call of the gaming service. In one specific example, for each match determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, the match reporting API call may include indications of the players within the match, mappings between the players and their respective teams, and other related information. The match reporting API call may also include an indication of whether the matchmaking process is continuing or completed. If the matchmaking process is continuing, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is still evaluating the matchmaking tickets and player characteristic data and still attempting to form matches between players. If the matchmaking process is completed, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is finished evaluating the matchmaking tickets and player characteristic data and is no longer attempting to form matches between players.

Thus, the match reporting API call may be issued multiple times by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm for a given set of matchmaking tickets. This may allow the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm to report matches as they are determined, as opposed to waiting to find all matches and then reporting all determined matches at once. For example, a first API call may be issued to report a first determined match, and this first API call may indicate that the matchmaking status is continuing. A second API call (and optionally additional API calls) may then subsequently be issued to report additional matches that are determined after the first API call. It is not required that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm must find a match for every player that is included in a set of matchmaking requests.

Upon receipt of a match reporting API call (or other indication of a reported match), the gaming service may proceed to perform various operations associated with implementation of the match. For example, if the players are matched into a new game session, the gaming service may launch the new game session and host execution of the new game session. Additionally, the matched players may connect to the game session. Furthermore, in some examples, when the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm has completed the matchmaking evaluation process for a given set of matchmaking tickets, this may be reported to the game service, such as by indicating that the matchmaking status is complete via the match reporting API call. Upon receiving a report that the matchmaking status is complete, the gaming service may provide a subsequent set of matchmaking tickets to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, and the process may be repeated.

FIG.1is a diagram illustrating an example customer-generated matchmaking algorithm implementation system that may be used in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown inFIG.1, a customer120of multi-tenant gaming service100has selected to employ a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for use in matching video game players together into different game sessions. Customer120may be a video game developer. As should be appreciated, in addition to customer120, multi-tenant gaming service100may have any number of additional customers (not shown inFIG.1). In some examples, matchmaking requests may be received by the multi-tenant gaming service100, and corresponding matchmaking tickets111may be created and queued. The matchmaking tickets111are indications of corresponding matchmaking requests. The matchmaking tickets111may include indications of the player(s) associated with the corresponding requests as well as other related information.

In some examples, a matchmaker worker service101may provide matchmaking tickets111for processing by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110. In the example ofFIG.1, the matchmaking tickets111are provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110via publish and subscribe protocol112. For example, the matchmaking tickets may be provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110by a monitoring service that is integrated with the multi-tenant gaming service100and that allows indications of events to be routed to targets based on one or more rules. In some examples, the matchmaking tickets111may be provided in successive sets (e.g. batches), and each set may be processed together by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110. Specifically, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may use the matchmaking tickets111to assist in finding matches between different subsets of players. In some examples, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may be executed by one or more serverless computing functions whose execution may be triggered based on receipt of a set of the matchmaking tickets111. The use of serverless computing functions may reduce costs and increase efficiency, such as by allowing customer120to pay based on execution of the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110(e.g., as opposed to paying for the use of dedicated computing resources for execution of the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110). Additionally, in some examples, the matchmaking tickets111may be enqueued into a queue from which they are obtained by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110.

The matchmaker worker service101also provides player characteristic data121corresponding to the matchmaking tickets111. The player characteristic data121may indicate respective player characteristics for players associated with matchmaking tickets111, such as player skill levels, desired characters that the players would like to control, game maps that the players would like to play on, and the like. The player characteristic data121may also assist the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110in finding matches between different subsets of players. In some examples, the matchmaker worker service101may provide the player characteristic data121to a data storage service122, which may store the player characteristic data121. Additionally, in some examples, each of the matchmaking tickets111that is provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may include a link to corresponding player characteristic data121for the player(s) to which the ticket corresponds. The link may be used, by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, to retrieve the corresponding player characteristic data121from the data storage service122.

As shown inFIG.1, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may determine matches based on the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121. When the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110finds matches between players, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may submit match reports131back to the multi-tenant gaming service100. The match reports131are reports of matches that are determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110. In some examples, the match reports131may include indications of players that are assigned to a match as well as team selections for those players. Additionally, in some examples, the match reports131may be made via a match reporting API call of the multi-tenant gaming service100. In one specific example, for each match determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, the match reporting API call may include indications of the players within the match, mappings between the players and their respective teams, and other related information. The match reporting API call may also include an indication of whether the matchmaking process is continuing or complete. If the matchmaking process is continuing, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is still evaluating a given set (e.g., batch) of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and still attempting to form matches between players. If the matchmaking process is complete, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is finished evaluating a given set of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and is no longer attempting to form matches between players. Thus, the match reporting API call may be issued multiple times by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for a given set of the matchmaking tickets111. This may allow the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110to report matches as they are determined, as opposed to waiting to find all matches and then reporting all determined matches at once. For example, a first API call may be issued to report a first determined match, and this first API call may indicate that the matchmaking status is continuing. A second API call (and optionally additional API calls) may then subsequently be issued to report additional matches that are determined after the first API call. It is not required that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm must find a match for every player that is included in a set of matchmaking tickets111.

In the example ofFIG.1, the match reports131may be received by a game proxy service103, which may receive and process incoming customer communications. The match reports131may then be provided to a matchmaking service102, which may generally manage the matchmaking process. The match reports131may then be provided to the matchmaker worker service101. Upon receipt of the match reports131, the multi-tenant gaming service100may proceed to perform various operations associated with implementation of the match. For example, if the players are matched into a new game session, the multi-tenant gaming service100may launch the new game session and host execution of the new game session. Additionally, the matched players may connect to the game session. Furthermore, in some examples, when the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110has completed the matchmaking evaluation process for a given set of matchmaking tickets111, this may also be reported via the match reports131(e.g., by indicating that the matchmaking status is complete in the match reporting API call). Upon receiving a report that the matchmaking status is complete, the matchmaker worker service101may provide a subsequent set of matchmaking tickets111to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, and the process may be repeated.

As described above, the multi-tenant gaming service100is a gaming service that hosts execution of video game sessions for a plurality of different customers (e.g., video game developers). Each customer may pay the gaming service for the use of resources (e.g., game servers) that are employed to host game sessions on behalf of the customer. In some examples, the multi-tenant gaming service100may provide its own service-generated matchmaking algorithm. The multi-tenant gaming service100may allow each individual customer to select either a service-generated matchmaking algorithm or a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm for use in matching players to game sessions hosted on behalf of the customer. In some examples, the multi-tenant gaming service100may provide a matchmaking configuration application programming interface (API) call, which may be issued by a customer and may allow the customer to indicate whether a service-generated matchmaking algorithm or a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm will be used for a respective group of video game sessions.

Referring now toFIG.2, an example is shown in which multi-tenant gaming service100allows different customers to select either service-generated matchmaking algorithm210or customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for use in player matchmaking. Specifically, the multi-tenant gaming service100has customer120and customer220(as well as any number of additional customers not shown inFIG.2). The multi-tenant gaming service100hosts execution of hosted game sessions240on behalf of customer120. Similarly, the multi-tenant gaming service100hosts execution of hosted game sessions230on behalf of customer220. In the example, ofFIG.2, customer120selects to use customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for hosted game sessions240, while customer220selects to use service-generated matchmaking algorithm210for hosted game sessions230.

It is noted that, in some examples, multi-tenant gaming service100may allow even a single customer to select to use customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for one subset of the customer's hosted game sessions and to use service-generated matchmaking algorithm210for another subset of the customer's hosted game sessions. For example, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110could be selected for game sessions in a given region and for a given game title, game level and/or game fleet, while the service-generated matchmaking algorithm210could be selected for game sessions in a different region and for a different game title, game level and/or game fleet.

As described above, in some examples, each of the matchmaking tickets111that is provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may include a link to corresponding player characteristic data121for the player(s) to which the ticket corresponds. The link may be used, by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, to retrieve the corresponding player characteristic data121from the data storage service122. In some cases, this may be a time-limited link that is only valid for a configurable time period, such as a pre-signed URL. The use of a time-limited link may help to improve security for the player characteristic data121, such as by limiting access to the player characteristic data121to only a configurable time period after the time limited link is activated. In some examples, the time-limited link may be activated just before the matchmaking tickets are provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110.

Referring now toFIG.3, examples are shown of pre-signed URL's302A-N that may be included in matchmaking tickets111. In the example ofFIG.3, matchmaking tickets111include matchmaking ticket111A, matchmaking ticket111B and matchmaking ticket111N. Matchmaking ticket111A corresponds to Player A, matchmaking ticket111B corresponds to Player B, and Matchmaking ticket11IN corresponds to Player N. Additionally, player characteristic data121A corresponds to Player A and matchmaking ticket111A, player characteristic data121B corresponds to Player B and matchmaking ticket111B, and player characteristic data121N corresponds to Player N and matchmaking ticket111N. As shown, matchmaking ticket111A includes a pre-signed URL302A, which is usable to access player characteristic data121A. Additionally, matchmaking ticket111B includes a pre-signed URL302B, which is usable to access player characteristic data121B. Furthermore, matchmaking ticket111N includes a pre-signed URL302N, which is usable to access player characteristic data121N. Thus, the use of pre-signed URL's302A-N may improve the security of the player characteristic data121A-N. By activating the pre-signed URL's302A-N just before the matchmaking tickets111A-N are provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, the duration during which the pre-signed URL's302A-N are valid will likely correspond to the time that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110will evaluate the player characteristic data121A-N and attempt to find matches for players corresponding to matchmaking tickets111A-N (Players A-N). In some examples, the duration of the configurable time period during the pre-signed URL's102A-N are valid may be based on a typical time period that is required to find matches. This may provide security by having the pre-signed URL's102A-N remain valid only for an expected time period during which the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may be expected to access the player characteristic data121A-N. It is noted thatFIG.3shows an example in which each of matchmaking tickets111A-N includes a respective pre-signed URL102A-N. It is noted, however, that there is no requirement that there must be a one-to-one relationship between matchmaking tickets and pre-signed URL's. For example, in some cases, multiple matchmaking tickets may have associated player characteristic data that is accessed via a single pre-signed URL. As another example, in some cases, a single matchmaking ticket could have associated player characteristic data that is accessed via multiple pre-signed URL's.

Referring back toFIG.1, it is shown that, when the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110finds matches between players, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may submit match reports131back to the multi-tenant gaming service100. The match reports131are reports of matches that are determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110. As described above, in some examples, the match reports131may be made via a match reporting API call of the multi-tenant gaming service100. In one specific example, for each match determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, the match reporting API call may include indications of the players within the match, mappings between the players and their respective teams, and other related information. The match reporting API call may also include an indication of whether the matchmaking process is continuing or complete.

Referring back toFIG.4, an example of a match reporting API call format400will now be described in detail. As shown inFIG.4, the reporting API call format400includes match list404, which a list that includes match information403A-N for each match that is being reported in a given match reporting API call. In this example, the match information403A-N includes player lists401A-N, respectively, and player-team mappings402A-N, respectively. Each player list401A-N includes a listing of players that are included in a respective match. Additionally, each player-team mapping402A-N includes a mapping of players, to teams, for the respective match. For example, player information403A may provide information for a first match. Player list401A may provide a listing of players that are included in the first match. Player-team mapping402A may provide a mapping of each player listed, in player list401A, to a respective team. As another example, player information403B may provide information for a second match. Player list401B may provide a listing of players that are included in the second match. Player-team mapping402B may provide a mapping of each player listed, in player list401B, to a respective team. It is noted that match information403A-N may additionally, or alternatively, include other information, such as a mapping of player to characters, map information, and the like.

In the example ofFIG.4, the reporting API call format400also includes matchmaking status indication405. In some examples, the matchmaking status indication405may indicate that the matchmaking status is continuing or complete. If the matchmaking status is continuing, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is still evaluating a given set (e.g., batch) of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and still attempting to form matches between players. If the matchmaking status is complete, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is finished evaluating a given set of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and is no longer attempting to form matches between players (and that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is ready to receive and evaluate a next set of matchmaking tickets).

In some examples, a timeout period may be selected for reporting of matches. The timeout period may be a configurable time duration within which the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is required to respond to the gaming service in order to continue the matchmaking process. In some examples, if the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm does not respond to the gaming service with the matchmaking timeout period, then the matchmaking process may be assumed to be completed for a current set of matchmaking tickets, and a subsequent set of matchmaking tickets may be sent to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm. The timeout period may be initiated when a current set of matchmaking tickets is provided to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm. The timeout period may also be restarted after receipt of a match reporting API call or other match report. The purpose of the timeout period may be to avoid creating a permanent delay in scenarios when the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is incapable of finding matches for a current set of matchmaking tickets. This may occur when the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is not executing due to an outage, is experiencing a bug or other error condition, or is otherwise incapable of finding matches for a current set of matchmaking tickets. In some examples, in order to avoid exceeding the timeout period, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may issue a match reporting API call prior to the expiration of the timeout period. If no matches have been found, the match reporting API call may include an empty match list (i.e., with no match information) and a matchmaking status of continuing.

Referring now toFIG.5, some example match reporting API calls501and502will now be described in detail. In the example ofFIG.5, the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110may first issue match reporting API call501and then subsequently (at a later time) issue match reporting API call502. As shown inFIG.5, match reporting API call501is used to report two matches, which are Match AAA and Match BBB. Specifically, Match AAA is a match between Player A and Player B. Player A is mapped to Team001, while Player B is mapped to Team002. Additionally, Match BBB is a match between Player C and Player D. Player C is mapped to Team003, while Player D is mapped to Team004. Furthermore, match reporting API call501includes a matchmaking status of continuing, which indicates that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is still evaluating a given set (e.g., batch) of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and still attempting to form matches between players. As also shown inFIG.5, match reporting API call502is used to report only a single match, which is Match CCC. Specifically, Match CCC is a match between Player E, Player F, Player G and Player H. Players E and G are mapped to Team005, while Players F and H are mapped to Team006. Furthermore, match reporting API call502includes a matchmaking status of complete, which indicates that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is finished evaluating a given set of the matchmaking tickets111and player characteristic data121and is no longer attempting to form matches between players (and that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110is ready to receive and evaluate a next set of matchmaking tickets). It is noted that, while many of the above examples relate to scenarios in which multiple players are included in a match, there may be scenarios in which only a single player is included in a match. For example, a single player could be matched with a bot, such as when the single player cannot be successfully matched with any other available players.

FIG.6is a flowchart illustrating an example customer-generated matchmaking algorithm implementation process that may be used in accordance with the present disclosure. The process ofFIG.6is initiated at operation610, at which a selection to use a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is received, by a multi-tenant gaming service, from a first customer of the multi-tenant gaming service. As described above, the multi-tenant gaming service hosts video games for a plurality of customers including the first customer. For example, as shownFIG.2, a first customer (e.g., customer120) may select to use customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110for matching players to game sessions. In some examples, the selection to use the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may be received via a create matchmaking configuration API call, which may be issued by a customer and may allow the customer to indicate whether a service-generated matchmaking algorithm or a customer-generated matchmaking algorithm will be used for a respective group of video game sessions. As also described above, in some examples, the multi-tenant gaming service may provide a service-generated matchmaking algorithm. The multi-tenant gaming service may allow the first customer (and other customers) to select between usage of the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm or the service-generated matchmaking algorithm. For example, as shownFIG.2, a second customer (e.g., customer220) may select to use service-generated matchmaking algorithm210for matching players to game sessions.

At operation612, indications of a plurality of video game player matchmaking requests are provided, by the multi-tenant gaming service, based on the selection, for processing by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm. In some examples, the providing of the video game player matchmaking requests may be performed via a publish and subscribe protocol. For example, as shown inFIG.1, matchmaking tickets111are provided are provided by the multi-tenant gaming service100, to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110, via publish and subscribe protocol112. As described above, the matchmaking tickets111are indications of a plurality of video game player matchmaking requests. As also described above, the matchmaking tickets111may be provided one set (e.g., batch) at a time to the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm110.

At operation614, player characteristic data is provided, by the multi-tenant gaming service, based on the selection, for the processing by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, the player characteristic data corresponding to the plurality of video game player matchmaking requests. For example, the player characteristic data may correspond to the video game player matchmaking requests by including data regarding characteristics of players for whom the matchmaking requests are issued. In some examples, the indications of the plurality of video game player matchmaking requests may include links that allow the player characteristic data to be obtained from a data store. Additionally, in some examples, the links may be valid only for a limited time duration. For example, in some cases, the indications of the plurality of video game player matchmaking requests may include pre-signed URL's that allow the player characteristic data to be obtained from a data store. Referring back toFIG.3, it is shown that matchmaking tickets111A-N may include pre-signed URL's302A-N, respectively, for accessing player characteristic data121A-N, respectively. In some examples, the player characteristic data may indicate characteristics, such as player skill levels, desired characters that the players would like to control, game maps that the players would like to play on, and the like.

The indications of the plurality of video game player matchmaking requests and the player characteristic data may be used, by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm to determine matches between players. In some examples, customer-generated matchmaking algorithm may be executed using a serverless computing function that is triggered based on receipt of the indications of the plurality of video game player matchmaking requests. At operation616, an indication of a first player match determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is received, by the multi-tenant gaming service. The first player match is determined, by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, based on the video game player matchmaking requests and the player characteristic data. The first player match is between at least a first player and a second player. In some examples, the indication of the first player match may be received via a match reporting API call of the multi-tenant gaming service. As described above, in some examples, the match reporting API call may optionally include indications of one or more matches that are determined by the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm, including indications of the players included in each match and a player-team mapping. Thus, the indication of the first player match may include player-team mappings. The match reporting API call may also include a matchmaking status indication, such as whether matchmaking status is continuing or complete. If the matchmaking status is continuing, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is still evaluating a current set (e.g., batch) of the matchmaking tickets and player characteristic data and still attempting to form matches between players. If the matchmaking status is complete, this means that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is finished evaluating a current set of the matchmaking tickets and player characteristic data and is no longer attempting to form matches between players (and that the customer-generated matchmaking algorithm is ready to receive and evaluate a next set of matchmaking tickets).

At operation618, execution of a first video game session to which the first player and the second player are connected is hosted, by the multi-tenant gaming service. The first player and the second player may be connected to the first video game session based on the first player match. For example, in some cases, if the first player and the second player are matched to a new video game session, then the new video game session may be launched by the video gaming service. In other examples, the first player and the second player may be matched to a pre-existing video game session, such as to replace players that exited the pre-existing video game session. In one specific example, a match may be assigned to a server and player sessions may be created for each player (e.g., the first player and the second player). Each player session may include a respective universally unique identifier (UUID). Each player session may be shared with the respective player. When a player connects to the game session, the player may present the player session (e.g., UUID). A validation process may then be performed to match a player identifier for the player with the player session. When the presented player session and the player identifier are a valid match, then the player may access the game session.

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.