Variable Time Scale Synchronization for Multi-Player Game Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-player online interactive entertainment systems struggle to integrate high-speed action elements in a way that accommodates the reaction times of average players, while also addressing network latency issues.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for facilitating variations in time scale within a shared environment, allowing clients to render game scenes at different speeds, such as slow-motion, to compensate for network latency and enhance player reaction time, using a server that manages time scale transitions and client programs to synchronize rendering across multiple clients.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high-speed action elements are integrated into the game, then dramatic effect and faithfulness to source material are improved, but average players cannot react in time due to superhuman reflexes in the fictional world
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the time scale adjustable rather than fixed. The game engine dynamically modifies the passage of time within the virtual environment, allowing temporal parameters to change based on game conditions and player needs, thus resolving the contradiction between faithful high-speed action representation and playable reaction times
Solution Approach 2:
The patent directly changes the time parameter of the game environment. By introducing a time scale modifier that can slow down or speed up virtual time independently of real-time, the system allows high-speed action sequences to be played at reduced speeds, making them accessible to average players while maintaining fidelity to the source material's action intensity
2Adaptability or versatility
If multi-player online setting is used, then competitive and cooperative enjoyment are improved, but network latency creates technical issues affecting gameplay
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the modified time scale as an intermediary mechanism to mask network latency effects. By slowing down the virtual environment's time passage, the system extends the temporal window for networked interactions, allowing players to perceive and respond to remote players' actions despite transmission delays, thus maintaining smooth multi-player experience
Solution Approach 2:
The time scale modification acts as a preemptive cushion against network latency problems. By proactively slowing down time before latency issues manifest as problematic gaps or desynchronization, the system creates a temporal buffer that absorbs network variability and prevents gameplay disruptions
3Ease of operation
If time scale variation is implemented, then player reaction time and network latency tolerance are improved, but system complexity increases due to server management and client synchronization requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the time scale management functionality into the existing game engine architecture. Rather than implementing a separate complex time management subsystem, the time scale modifier is integrated into the game loop and rendering pipeline, allowing existing components to handle time variations and reducing overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service by having the game engine automatically handle time scale adjustments without requiring complex external coordination. The modified time parameter propagates through the engine's existing synchronization mechanisms, allowing clients and server to maintain coherence through already-present communication protocols rather than requiring new complexity
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a system and method for facilitating variations in a time scale for a shared environment. There is provided a method for use by a processor of a server for facilitating variations in a time scale for a shared environment, the method comprising receiving a message generated by a first client of a plurality of clients in response to a variation in the time scale, for rendering the shared environment, caused by a user of the first client, and sending a second message to a second client of the plurality of clients in response to receiving the first message to communicate the variation in the time scale caused by the first client, so as to cause the second client to render the shared environment approximately synchronously in accordance with the variation in the time scale.