Apple Inc.

Philip Smith

Andrew H Vyrros

Patrick G Gates

Jeremy Matthew Werner

Erik Strahm

Gabriel Belinsky

An apparatus, method, and machine-readable medium are described for establishing peer-to-peer ('P2P') communication channels. In particular, in one embodiment, a matchmaker service performs a series of operations to service match requests received from a group of mobile devices. In one embodiment, the matchmaker service groups the match requests into matchable sets based on the application for which the requests are received and one or more variables associated with the application. Match requests within each match set can then be matched based on variables such as the NAT type, connection type and language associated with each of the mobile devices. Other variables such as geographical location, experience level, and age of the match requests may also be used to render match decisions.

Apparatus and method for matching users for online sessions

A system and method are described for initiating a turn-based game before the entire set of users to participate in the turn-based game have been identified. For example, a first user may initiate a turn-based game having a plurality of slots. In response, the first user is assigned to a first slot in the plurality of slots and the first user is allowed to take a turn in the turn-based game in the first slot before all of the other plurality of slots have been assigned to other users. One or more additional users are then matched to the first user based on a specified set of matching criteria and the new users are assigned to one or more additional slots in the plurality of slots. The additional users then take turns in the turn-based game according to their slots.

Growing community of inventors

Davis, CA, United States of America

Philip Smith