Invitation Server for Multi-Device Session Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multiplayer matchmaking systems are unsuitable for mobile devices due to their 'long tail' of few users per game, leading to poor matchmaking experiences and high costs for developers to maintain dedicated game servers, and standard push notification systems are unreliable for conveying game state and user identity.
Innovation Solution
An Invitation Server system that facilitates multi-device application sessions by managing invitations, authenticating users, and pushing notifications to client devices, ensuring reliable delivery of invitation data and user authentication across multiple applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If standard push notification systems are used for invitation delivery, then device compatibility is improved, but reliability of conveying game state and user identity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an invitation server as an intermediary component that sits between the push notification system and the game application. The server receives push notifications, extracts invitation data, validates user identities, and manages game state information. This intermediary layer allows the system to use reliable push notifications for delivery while the server ensures the reliability of game state and user identity conveyance, resolving the contradiction between device compatibility and reliability.
2Reliability
If developers maintain dedicated game servers for each application, then session reliability is improved, but server maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the game server functionality into a centralized invitation server that handles multiple game applications simultaneously. Instead of each developer maintaining separate dedicated servers, the invitation server consolidates session management, user authentication, and game state tracking across multiple applications. This merging reduces the total number of servers needed, lowering maintenance costs while maintaining session reliability through centralized management.
Solution Approach 2:
The invitation server is designed as a universal platform that can serve multiple different game applications with varying requirements. It provides multi-functional capabilities including user authentication, invitation management, game state tracking, and session coordination that can be shared across numerous applications. This universality allows a single server infrastructure to support many games, reducing per-application server maintenance costs while ensuring reliable sessions through dedicated server functionality.
3Adaptability or versatility
If mobile devices remain on and persistently connected to host game sessions, then matchmaking capability is improved, but device power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invitation server acts as an intermediary that maintains persistent connections and manages game sessions centrally, eliminating the need for mobile devices to remain constantly connected. The server handles session maintenance, player coordination, and game state management, allowing devices to go into sleep mode while maintaining matchmaking capability through the server's persistent presence and connection management.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses for handling an invitation to a multi-device networked-application session are disclosed. In one such method, a client device receives a pushed invitation notification from an invitation server. The pushed invitation notification indicates that an inviter user has invited an invitee user to join a multi-device session of a networked application, but the pushed invitation notification omits an invitation payload to enable the invitee user to join the multi-device session. The client device notifies the user of the client device, and the user indicates to accept the invitation. The client device responds to the invitation server, authenticates the user, and receives from the invitation server an invitation payload, according to which the client device attempts to join the multi-device session.