Method for user session transitioning among streaming interactive video servers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current media devices and gaming systems are complex, costly, and inefficient, with issues such as obsolescence, compatibility problems, high power consumption, and piracy, leading to user frustration and economic inefficiencies in the media and gaming industries.
Innovation Solution
A hosting service architecture where video games and applications are hosted on servers, with clients receiving compressed video and audio streams over the internet, reducing hardware requirements and mitigating piracy, and allowing for low-latency, high-performance gaming without the need for expensive hardware upgrades.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If video games and applications are hosted locally on user devices, then processing power and performance can be maximized, but hardware costs and device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a hosting service architecture that acts as an intermediary between users and computing resources. Instead of requiring powerful local hardware, the system hosts video games and applications on remote servers, delivering them as compressed video and audio streams to client devices. This mediator approach allows users to access high-performance applications without needing expensive local hardware upgrades.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple media devices and formats are supported locally, then compatibility and versatility improve, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The hosting service architecture provides universal access to multiple video game and application formats through a single client device. The server-side infrastructure handles format compatibility and conversion, allowing users to access diverse content without needing multiple specialized devices or worrying about format support. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate hardware solutions.
3Ease of manufacture
If video games are distributed as downloadable files, then piracy and unauthorized copying increase, but distribution costs decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses controlled copying mechanisms where video games are delivered as compressed video streams rather than downloadable executable files. The game logic and core assets remain on the server and are never fully copied to the client device. This approach maintains distribution efficiency while preventing unauthorized copying and piracy, as the actual game code cannot be extracted or redistributed.
4Productivity
If high-performance hardware is provided locally, then gaming performance improves, but power consumption and energy costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The hosting service acts as an energy-efficient intermediary by performing computationally intensive tasks on server hardware rather than local client devices. The server infrastructure handles all heavy processing, rendering, and computation, while client devices only need to decode and display video streams. This distribution of computational workload significantly reduces power consumption at the user end while maintaining high gaming performance through server-side processing power.
Data Source
AI summary
A method by which a streaming interactive video user session is handed off from one streaming interactive video server to another without noticeable disruption to the video stream or the user interactivity. A compression technique utilized includes executing a video game on a game server to generate a stream of uncompressed streaming interactive video for a first player participating in a multiplayer session of the video game; receiving input commands at the game server over a network, wherein the input commands provide instructions for executing the video game in association with the first player and are generated from an input device of the first player; and compressing video frames associated with the execution of the video game at the first game server using tiles, wherein one tile from each video frame is encoded as an I tile, and remaining tiles in the corresponding video frame are encoded as P tiles.