Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Thomas A Langan

Vipul Vijay Hingne

Tian F Lim

Nicholas B Wild

Justin David Brown

Gregory M Smith

Antonio Vargas Garcia

Michael A Siebert

David Matthew Kruse

Ahmed Hassan Mohamed

Navjot Virk

Dan B Kroymann

Brian Scott Aust

Stacey Law

Derek H Smith

Brendan Reville

Andrew Murphy

Ryan Ross Cooper

Bjorn Toft Madsen

Rodney Alan Boyd

A unified platform supports a plurality of game titles and diverse gaming devices to provide publishers and developers with a software development kit (SDK) including application programming interfaces (APIs) for creating multiplayer tournaments. Developers use the SDK to create tournament definitions and permission levels for tournament organizers. Tournament definitions specify configuration values as parameters the unified platform uses to create instances of multiplayer tournaments. Permission levels can define which tournament organizers are able to set up and manage tournaments and can define parameters to which they must adhere. The unified platform can store tournament definitions that are created by game publishers, game developers, or tournament organizers and can use the stored definitions to create tournament instances. The unified platform can use APIs to expose created tournament instances for registration of spectators and players and can use APIs to track tournament play and provide updates corresponding to the progress.

Unified platform for a plurality of titles and gaming devices

A method and system for allowing spectators to experience multimedia information over a network generated by an online video game running on a participant's device comprises a participant system and a universal spectator client system. A participant may utilize a device to experience game play. Each spectator may also have an associated device, which may allow the spectator to receive multimedia information generated by the participant system over a network. A spectator may experience multimedia information generated by a participant regardless of whether the spectator has the same title installed on an associated device and regardless of whether the associated spectator device provides the same capabilities and functionality as the participant device.

Method and system providing spectator information for a multimedia application

A method and system for a platform wide party system that may be deployed in a multiplayer gaming environment. Players may associate themselves with one or more parties, wherein players within a party may choose to automatically exchange messages associated with changes in state of the players in a gaming environment. The party system exposes an API providing a plurality of function calls that may be integrated seamlessly with game play. A first player may indicate desired notification events to be received from a second player associated with the same party as the first player. Upon detection of a desired notification event on the video game console of the second player, an event notification may be communicated to a video game console of the first player causing an action to be performed on the first player's video game console. Actions may include event notifications via text and/or sound, which may be displayed to the first player while engaged in any game session and without requiring the first player to exit the current game session.

Method and system for an integrated platform wide party system within a multiplayer gaming environment

Disclosed is an application programming interface (API) that provides for an extensible avatar system. In one embodiment an API may allow video game applications to retrieve structures of data which represent an avatar. The game can then take those structures and incorporate the data into its own rendering system. In another embodiment an API may allow a video game application to render an avatar to a render target or texture wherein the video game system performs rendering and animation functions.

Programming APIS for an extensible avatar system

An automated direct transaction and delivery system for digital content ('ATDDC') provides for automated detection of missing digital content or resources required for a player or participant to participate in a multimedia application in either a single player or multiplayer environment is described. The ATDDC automatically detects that a player may not have installed particular required content or that a title update is required in order to participate in a media session or video game. Upon detection of missing content or resources the ATDDC provides direct bid to purchase the content or resources, provides for automatic download, installation and configuration of the content while allowing the player to remain in contact with other players within a party.

Automated direct bids to purchase entertainment content upon a predetermined event

A computing device for executing multiplayer game software applications playable with one or more remote peers, the computing device may include a multigame party module that is configured to create a party session that is joinable by the one or more remote peers, the party session may be hosted by the multigame party module. The multigame party module may be configured to establish a peer-to-peer connection between the computing device and a peer computing device of a remote peer in response to a request from a remote peer to join the party session, and place one or more selected party session members into a first game session of a first multiplayer game software application.

Multigame multiplayer party session

Various aspects are disclosed herein for an architecture for online communal and connected experiences. This architecture can be embodied in an application running a host computing device, where the application provides functionalities such as finding modules on local devices or hosted on online services, launching such modules, switching between a plurality of such concurrently running modules, and providing many-to-many text, voice, and video functionality. This application can also interface with managed runtime code on the host computing device, thereby providing inputting, outputting, and network communication means among a plurality of computing devices having different platforms.

Architecture for online communal and connected experiences

Described is a system and method that facilitates fast and reliable synchronization of computer/file system directories. A synchronization (FastSync) subsystem operates in a discovery/enumeration phase to provide a calling client with a set of the differences between directories, and then operates in an action phase to perform operations as directed by the client to synchronize the different directories. The discovery/enumeration and action phases use parallel operation and I/O (input/output) pipelining. Multiple threads are used during enumeration to enumerate each directory's children, and enqueues each sub-directory to be handled by a new thread. During the action phase, when an operation is requested, the FastSync subsystem packages up the operation, item pointer, and context information into an internal context block and queues that packet as a work item for a process thread pool to handle.

Synchronizing file system directories

An improved remote protocol enables efficient and reliable updating of files on a remote server. A gather-copy extension to a remote protocol enables a client to instruct a server to gather portions of data from an existing source file on the server and to copy those portions of data to appropriate offsets within a new destination file on the server. The gather-copy extension thus enables the client to leave blank locations in the destination file into which the client can write new data during a file update. The gather-copy extension also enables the client to effectively delete portions of the source file by not copying them from the source file to the destination file. File updates can therefore be made without having to transfer the entire file from the client to the server.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Thomas A Langan