Item Mediation Server for Online Game Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing online gaming systems face inefficiencies in mediating game item exchanges between user terminals, leading to increased network traffic and resource usage, as well as reduced convenience and reliability in game item transfers.
Innovation Solution
A network server with a communicator and processor that facilitates game item exchanges by verifying game item validity, managing digital currency, and updating ownership between user terminals, reducing the number of communications required and enhancing transfer reliability through an item mediation server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If user terminals directly communicate with the game server to exchange game items, then the exchange process is simple, but network traffic increases and network resources are consumed excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an item mediation server as an intermediary component between user terminals and the game server. This mediator handles game item exchange requests, verifying item validity, checking user ownership, and coordinating transfers. By routing exchanges through this dedicated mediator rather than direct terminal-to-server communication, the system reduces overall network traffic and optimizes resource utilization while maintaining exchange functionality.
2Reliability
If multiple communication rounds are used to verify game item validity and ownership, then transfer reliability is improved, but network traffic and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The item mediation server performs preliminary verification actions before executing the actual game item transfer. It pre-validates item existence and ownership status by querying the game server in advance, and pre-checks user credentials. This preliminary action ensures that when the transfer is initiated, the verification is already complete, reducing the need for multiple back-and-forth communication rounds and minimizing total communication time while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the item mediation server receives verification results from the game server and uses this feedback to determine whether to proceed with the transfer. The feedback loop allows the mediator to make informed decisions about transfer validity without requiring multiple explicit confirmation rounds between user terminals and the game server, thereby reducing communication overhead while ensuring reliable transfers.
3Ease of operation
If the game server directly handles item transfers between users, then the transfer process is straightforward, but the game server's processing load and network resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the game item transfer functionality by separating the mediation role from the game server. The item mediation server handles the complex mediation tasks including verification, validation, and coordination, while the game server focuses on its core gaming functions. This segmentation offloads processing load from the game server to the specialized mediation server, reducing the game server's energy consumption and resource usage while maintaining straightforward transfer operations through the mediator.
Data Source
AI summary
A network server includes a communicator and at least one processor coupled to the communicator. The at least processing is configured to: receive a first data signal from a first user terminal that is shared with a game server; transfer to the game server a first request, together with the first data signal, to verify validation of a game item when a first message including information relating to the game item is received from the first user terminal; receive from the second user terminal a second message relating to the game item; and transfer to the game server a second request, together with the first data signal, to change an owner of the game item from a first game ID associated with the first user terminal to a second game ID associated to the second user terminal in response to determining whether second message is authorized.