Server Input Processing for Online Game Response Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
In online gaming systems, delays occur from user input to image rendering due to timing inconsistencies and network conditions, leading to unnatural game image displays and loss of smoothness.
Innovation Solution
A server and terminal system that acquires and processes operation information based on predetermined intervals, with execution control mechanisms to handle missing data and network jitter, ensuring consistent image updates by re-executing previous inputs if necessary and restricting processing within specific intervals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If operation information is acquired and processed in accordance with a predetermined timing (vertical synchronization signal timing) as in dedicated game machines, then the execution and drawing are synchronized, but delays are caused by acquisition, transmission, and processing at the terminal, deteriorating the response characteristic from user input to play image reflection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by having the server acquire operation information at the timing when it is received from the terminal, rather than having the terminal acquire it at predetermined intervals and wait for server processing. This inversion eliminates the cumulative delays of terminal acquisition, transmission, and server processing while maintaining synchronization through the server's timing control.
Solution Approach 2:
The server performs preliminary actions by acquiring operation information as soon as it is transmitted from the terminal, before the predetermined timing interval elapses. This preliminary acquisition allows the server to process and generate image information in advance, reducing the overall response time while maintaining synchronization through controlled execution timing.
2Loss of time
If operation information is acquired at the server's timing, then network transmission delays are reduced, but the time interval between sequentially received operation information is not constant due to network conditions, causing unnatural display intervals and loss of smoothness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic action by having the server execute processing and generate image information at fixed predetermined intervals, regardless of when operation information is received. This periodic execution ensures constant display intervals and smooth game playback, while the server buffers and processes received operation information to fit this periodic schedule.
Solution Approach 2:
The server employs beforehand cushioning by maintaining a buffer of operation information and using execution control logic to handle variations in reception timing. This cushioning mechanism allows the server to absorb network jitter and packet loss, ensuring that image information is generated at constant intervals without unnatural displays or loss of smoothness.
3Speed
If operation information is transmitted sequentially through the network, then real-time communication is achieved, but packet loss and variable transmission intervals occur, making display interval constancy difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs feedback mechanisms where the server monitors the reception status of operation information and adjusts its execution control accordingly. When packet loss or variable intervals are detected, the execution control logic compensates by re-executing processing with previous operation information or adjusting timing, ensuring display interval constancy is maintained despite communication reliability issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The server prepares for potential packet loss by maintaining buffers and alternative execution paths. The execution control logic is designed to handle missing or delayed operation information by using previously received data, ensuring that display intervals remain constant and smooth even when communication reliability deteriorates.
Data Source
AI summary
A delay is suppressed that occurs in a period of time from the actual inputting of operation information into a terminal by a user to the forming of image information corresponding to this operation information in a server and the displaying of this image information on the terminal. Provided is a server having: operation information acquisition means configured to sequentially acquire each piece of operation information sequentially transmitted from a terminal through a network; execution means configured to execute an application by executing processing corresponding to the each piece of operation information in accordance with a timing with which the operation information acquisition means acquired the each piece of operation information; execution control means configured, if a first predetermined interval has passed from a moment when the execution means started processing corresponding to first operation information of the each piece of operation information without acquiring second operation information acquired after the first input information, to make the execution means execute processing in accordance with the first input information again; and transmission means configured to transmit image information based on the execution of the application by the execution block to the terminal.