Application State Snapshots Using Anchor and Delta Memory
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional save files for applications, particularly video games, are difficult to share and manage, often negating user progress and requiring manual access to earlier saves, making distribution and collaboration challenging.
Innovation Solution
An entertainment device and method that compiles gameplay logic data into anchor and delta snapshots, allowing users to save and manage game states at arbitrary points, share these snapshots, and reconstruct game states for collaborative play or challenges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional save files are made accessible for sharing, then ease of distribution is improved, but risk of inadvertent damage and game state corruption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary validation system that checks save files against the game's state space before allowing them to be loaded. This mediator layer prevents direct corruption of game state while still allowing sharing, as the validation logic verifies compatibility without requiring users to understand the underlying data structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback mechanisms that validate save files before use, checking whether the saved state is consistent with the current game version and configuration. This feedback loop prevents incompatible or corrupted save files from being loaded, thereby avoiding inadvertent damage while maintaining distribution capability.
2Ease of operation
If save files are made easily accessible, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability of game state integrity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A validation intermediary is introduced between the save file and the game state loading process. This intermediary checks whether the save file's state space matches the current game configuration, ensuring integrity while maintaining ease of access through automated validation rather than manual verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation of save files before they are loaded into the game state. By checking compatibility and integrity in advance, the system ensures that only valid save files are accepted, thereby maintaining game state reliability while keeping the process transparent and easy to use.
3Reliability
If manual access to earlier saves is required, then game state integrity is maintained, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service validation where the save file automatically verifies its own integrity and compatibility with the current game state. This eliminates the need for manual user intervention to check or manage save file validity, thereby maintaining integrity while improving user convenience through automated processes.
4Reliability
If save files are protected from access, then game state integrity is maintained, but ease of distribution deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a validation intermediary that enables distribution of protected save files without compromising their security or integrity. The intermediary system verifies save files during the distribution and loading process, allowing users to share and transfer save files while automated validation ensures that protection and integrity are maintained throughout the distribution chain.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of accessing the state of a currently operating application comprises a second application accessing and saving copies of plural memory values relating to the state of the currently operating application as an anchor memory value set, the second application accessing and saving copies of changes to said memory values as a delta memory value set, more often than saving an anchor memory value set, and forming a snapshot of the currently operating application at a selected moment by combining a preceding anchor memory value set and subsequent delta memory value sets up to said selected moment.