Unified Player List Display for Real-Time Game Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing game apparatuses only display a list of players within a short distance, limiting communication connections and convenience in multi-play modes.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus with a communicating unit, searching unit, and display controlling unit that allows real-time communication and information exchange with both pre-stored and newly searched players, enabling discrimination between stored and searched information, and facilitating communication connections without suspending applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If only searched players are displayed, then real-time communication capability is improved, but communication connection convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two different player information sources (pre-stored players and newly searched players) into a single unified display list, allowing users to access both real-time and historical communication options in one interface, thereby resolving the contradiction between real-time capability and connection convenience
2Ease of operation
If pre-stored player information is displayed, then communication connection convenience is improved, but real-time communication capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges pre-stored player information with newly searched player information into a single integrated display, ensuring that both convenience (access to stored contacts) and real-time capability (access to currently available players) are simultaneously provided to the user
3Loss of information
If application is suspended to display player information, then information exchange is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously searching for and storing player information in the background before it is needed, so that when display is required, the information is already prepared and can be shown without suspending the main application, thus maintaining both information exchange and productivity
Data Source
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Figure 3(A)~3(B)
AI summary
An information processing apparatus that functions as a game apparatus includes a first LCD and a second LCD, and usually, a game screen of a single-play game is displayed on the first LCD and a list screen is displayed on the second LCD. In the list screen, an icon of a player of another game apparatus that is searched as a passer-by is displayed as well as icons of a player of another game apparatus that is registered as a friend and a player of another game apparatus that is determined as an acquaintance. That is, during a time that game processing of the single-play is being performed, the game screen is displayed and a list of a player who is registered and a player who exists in the neighborhood is displayed. The player sends an offer of a battle-play to a desired player through an operation using the list screen at an arbitrary timing during a time that the game processing of the single-play is being performed.