Cloud Gaming Instance Switching During User Absence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud gaming systems incur unnecessary server costs when users are away from their seats, particularly due to the use of high-performance server instances that continue to run even when not needed, leading to increased expenses.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device and method that dynamically adjusts server instances based on user presence or absence, switching to lower performance levels when the user is inactive, using multiple processors with varying performance levels to manage streaming and reduce costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high-performance server instances are used to ensure optimal gaming performance, then gaming performance is improved, but server cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic performance adjustment by switching between high-performance and low-performance server instances based on user presence and activity status. The system transitions from a static high-performance configuration to a dynamic configuration that adapts to usage patterns, reducing server costs during inactive periods while maintaining optimal performance when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the performance parameters of server instances based on user absence detection. When a user is detected as absent, the system switches to a low-performance instance with reduced computational resources, thereby lowering server costs while maintaining acceptable service levels for background tasks or queued operations.
2Loss of energy
If server instances are terminated when users are away to reduce costs, then server cost is reduced, but game playing is terminated regardless of user intent
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining low-performance server instances during user absence periods, preparing the environment in advance. This ensures that when the user returns, the game session can be quickly resumed without interruption, as the server instance is already running in a low-power state rather than being completely terminated.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic server instance management that adapts between high-performance and low-performance modes based on user presence. This dynamic approach allows the system to reduce costs during absence while maintaining the capability to quickly restore full performance when the user returns, balancing cost reduction with session continuity.
3Reliability
If multiple server instances are maintained for different users to ensure availability, then service availability is improved, but server cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the number and performance level of server instances based on actual usage patterns. Instead of maintaining multiple high-performance instances continuously, the system creates high-performance instances only when users are present and switches to low-performance instances during absence periods, reducing overall server costs while maintaining service availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the performance parameters of server instances based on user activity status. When users are absent, the system switches to low-performance instances with reduced resource allocation, thereby reducing the total cost of maintaining multiple instances while still ensuring service availability for active users.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a communication interface; and one or more processors operatively connected to the communication interface, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: execute an application at a first performance level by running a first instance, control the communication interface to stream a screen corresponding to the execution of the application to an external device, and execute, based on information corresponding to a user absence received from the external device through the communication interface, the application at a second performance level by running a second instance, wherein the second performance level is lower than the first performance level.