Central Wallet Virtual Currency Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The synchronization of virtual currency balances across multiple user devices, both online and offline, is challenging, leading to overdraft issues and revenue loss for service providers due to unintended multiple uses of balances across devices.
Innovation Solution
A central wallet system allocates virtual currency balances dynamically among user devices based on usage statistics and allows devices to transfer balances locally without a network connection, ensuring synchronization and preventing overdrafts when connected to the central server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a user plays a game offline on a mobile phone using locally stored virtual currency balance, then the user can continue gaming without network connection, but the balance and activities are not synchronized with the backend server, causing overdraft problems when the user returns online
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by allocating virtual currency balances to each user device before offline usage. The central wallet system divides the total virtual currency balance among multiple devices based on usage patterns, ensuring that each device has a pre-allocated amount that can be used offline without causing overdraft issues when synchronized later
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where devices report their offline balance consumption to the central server when reconnected. The server tracks and reconciles the offline activities with the central balance, providing feedback to ensure accurate synchronization and prevent future overdrafts by adjusting allocations based on actual usage patterns
2Ease of operation
If the backend server allows online gameplay with the original recorded balance, then the user experience is smooth and continuous, but the server unintentionally allows the same balance to be used multiple times across multiple devices causing revenue loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the total virtual currency balance into separate allocations for each user device. Instead of maintaining a single centralized balance that all devices access, the system divides the balance among devices based on their usage patterns, ensuring that each device has its own allocated amount that cannot be double-spent across multiple devices
Solution Approach 2:
The central wallet system acts as an intermediary between the backend server and user devices. It manages the virtual currency balances, allocating amounts to devices and tracking their usage. This intermediary layer prevents the server from directly allowing multiple devices to spend the same balance by controlling and monitoring all balance transactions through the wallet system
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments allocate and synchronize virtual currency balance of a user among multiple user devices. A user profile is maintained at a central server. The user profile stores a total virtual currency balance and a designation of multiple user devices associated with the user. The total virtual currency balance may be divided among and allocated to the multiple user devices, for example, based on usage data associated with each user device. The portion of the total virtual currency balance allocated to each user device may be stored locally at a local wallet of the corresponding user device. The local virtual currency balance on a user device may be used to purchase goods or services, such as playing a game. If the locally stored virtual currency balance of a given user device runs low, the user device may request additional virtual currency from other user devices without contacting the central server.