Patents Assigned to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
  • Patent number: 9100933
    Abstract: A broadcast message may be initiated or received at a peer node. The node obtains an uplink bandwidth available for broadcasting the message over the network and a number of copies that can be broadcast based on the available bandwidth. The node determines a range of key values for finger nodes that should receive copies of the broadcast message from a finger table. The finger table entries include references to finger nodes and key values associated with the finger nodes. The node determines which other nodes should receive copies of the broadcast message from range of key values and the number of copies. The node also determines an End ID for each recipient node. A copy of the broadcast message and corresponding End ID is sent to a finger node if the finger node's key value is within a range of key values specified by the End ID.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Yutaka Takeda, Steven Thomas, Attila Vass
  • Patent number: 9098181
    Abstract: Provided is an information processing apparatus configured to: display on a screen a display target range, which is a part of a display region including display elements arranged therein; and move the display target range in the display region in accordance with a direction of a scroll instruction when the scroll instruction is received from a user in a state in which the display target range is displayed, in which a movement amount of the display target range in accordance with the scroll instruction is changed based on a position of the display target range in the display region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignees: SONY CORPORATION, SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Munetaka Tsuda, Shuji Hiramatsu, Shigeru Enomoto, Motoki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9092135
    Abstract: A virtual object can be controlled using one or more touch interfaces. A location for a first touch input can be determined on a first touch interface. A location for a second touch input can be determined on a second touch interface. A three-dimensional segment can be generated using the location of the first touch input, the location of the second touch input, and a pre-determined spatial relationship between the first touch interface and the second touch interface. The virtual object can be manipulated using the three-dimensional segment in c) as a control input. The manipulated virtual object can be displayed on a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Ruxin Chen
  • Patent number: 9092809
    Abstract: A sales system according to an embodiment includes a sales management device and a license management device. When a recording medium on which a digital content is recorded has been sold from a final seller to an end user through the distribution channel of the recording medium, the sales management device communicates the sales information to the license management device. On condition that the sales information has been communicated from the sales management device, the license management device provides a license for enabling the use of the digital content to the user terminal. When the recording medium has been sold to the end user, the sales management device supports transferring part of the sales price of the recording medium to the intermediate seller involving the distribution of the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignees: SONY CORPORATION, SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventor: Yuhei Yabe
  • Patent number: 9092513
    Abstract: A community establishing site is connected to an information terminal via a network. When the user enters a search keyword into the information terminal, an entered-information acquiring unit acquires the search keyword through a web server, and registers it together with user information in a user information master. A community establishing unit extracts users who have entered the same search keyword, from the plurality of users registered in the user information master, and records them in a community information master, thereby establishing a community. An information extracting unit transmits the user information of other users who belong to the same community to the information terminal through the web server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Masayuki Chatani
  • Publication number: 20150207730
    Abstract: It is made possible for a user to set whether to download data used by a program without waiting for the acceptance of a download permission or download the data in response to the acceptance of the download permission via a screen that allows for making the setting for a plurality of programs. An input/output control section (90) accepts, from the user, a setting as to whether to select an automatic download state or a manual download state via a screen that allows for doing so for a plurality of programs. If the setting of selecting the automatic download state is accepted, an item management section (96) downloads the data from a server without waiting for the acceptance of the download permission from the user when a predetermined condition is satisfied. If the setting of selecting the manual download state is accepted, the item management section (96) downloads the data from the server in response to the acceptance of the download permission from the user when the predetermined condition is satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2013
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Eiichi Nishina, Shohei Konno, Hiroshi Tamate, Keisuke Ichikawa, Kazuhiro Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20150207876
    Abstract: A timing at which communication is to be attempted subsequently is set such that a timing when an information processing apparatus is incommunicatable with a communication counterpart and communication is not carried out is later than a timing when a condition different from the condition that the information apparatus is incommunicatable with a communication counterpart is satisfied and communication is not carried out. When a communication timing comes, if communication with a server is impossible, a timing is set later by a time period than the communication timing as a new communication timing but sets, if a predetermined condition different from a condition that communication with the server is impossible is satisfied, a timing later by a time period, which is shorter than the time period, than the communication timing as a new communication timing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2013
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Keisuke Ichikawa, Eiichi Nishina
  • Publication number: 20150207759
    Abstract: A distributed computing system is provided that is configured to allocate more non-use time of each client computer to distributed computing. This distributed computing system includes a server computer and a plurality of client computers. Each of the plurality of client computers has a schedule data storage block (20) configured to store schedule data indicative of a time at which the client computer participates in distributed computing; a control block (22) configured to request the server computer for data related with distributed computing in accordance with the schedule data; and a program execution block (20) configured to receive data transmitted in accordance with the request and execute information processing related with the distributed computing on the basis of the received data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2013
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventor: Hisashi Tomita
  • Patent number: 9088747
    Abstract: To provide a video display system for allowing a user to look at and listen to video and sound on various means. A video display system has a video display device and a portable video display device, connected to each other for communication. The video display device produces own device video data and own device sound data to be displayed and reproduced, respectively, on the video display device; displays the own device video data and reproduces the own device sound data; encodes these data into a data format which the portable video display device is able to handle, to thereby produce other device video data and other device sound data; and sends to the portable video display device. The portable video display device receives these data, and decodes and displays the other device video data, and decodes and reproduces the other device sound data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignees: SONY CORPORATION, SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Ikuo Tsukagoshi, Kenichi Imai, Takenori Ohshima, Yuichi Nishimori, Masaru Masuda
  • Patent number: 9084934
    Abstract: A game controller includes a plurality of LEDs formed on the rear of a case. The plurality of LEDs are arranged two-dimensionally in its layout area. The game controller has a plurality of PWM control units which are provided inside the case and control the lighting of the plurality of LEDs, respectively. The PWM control units control the lighting of the LEDs based on a control signal from a game apparatus. The game apparatus acquires a captured image of the game controller, and acquires the position of the game controller in the captured image based on the positions of the LEDs in the captured image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Teiyu Goto, Katsu Saito, Akio Ohba, Hiroyuki Segawa
  • Patent number: 9087347
    Abstract: A system and method for preparing entertainment software for reduced network delivery time includes analyzing entertainment software to identify a first stage implementing a subset of the functionality of the entertainment software such that the first stage is deliverable to an entertainment platform across a network more quickly than the delivery of the entire entertainment software, and preparing the identified first stage for download, such that the identified first stage may be downloaded and used on the entertainment platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Stewart Sargaison, Brian Watson, Simon Booth, Victor Octav Suba Miura
  • Patent number: 9088811
    Abstract: An information providing system for accurately providing a user with information that matches the user at a small calculating cost. The system includes a feature vector generating unit for generating a feature vector of each of a plurality of persons, and a user cluster generating unit for classifying the plurality of persons into a plurality of clusters based on the feature vector of each of the plurality of persons. The system selects at least one of the plurality of clusters based on a feature vector of a specified person, and outputs information related to the selected cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Seiichi Takamura, Hideaki Watanabe, Hirotoshi Maegawa
  • Patent number: 9084938
    Abstract: A handheld device is provided, comprising: a sensor configured to generate sensor data for determining and tracking a position and orientation of the handheld device during an interactive session of an interactive application presented on a main display, the interactive session being defined for interactivity between a user and the interactive application; a communications module configured to send the sensor data to a computing device, the communications module being further configured to receive from the computing device a spectator video stream of the interactive session that is generated based on a state of the interactive application and the tracked position and orientation of the handheld device, the state of the interactive application being determined based on the interactivity between the user and the interactive application; a display configured to render the spectator video stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Osman, Yunpeng Zhu, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Publication number: 20150199117
    Abstract: A hand-held electronic device, method of operation and computer readable medium are disclosed. A processor is operably coupled to the visual display and touch interface. Instructions executable by the processor may be configured to a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements; b) perform a tessellation that divides the image into one or more regions that fill the display, each region corresponds to a different active element, a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability of use of the corresponding active element within a given time frame; c) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to a corresponding one or more of the regions; and d) activate a particular active element in response to a touch on a corresponding active portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Publication date: July 16, 2015
    Applicant: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Gary M. Zalewski, Charles Nicholson
  • Patent number: 9078047
    Abstract: Provided is a content reproduction device which enables a user watching or listening to a content on a given content reproduction device to discontinue the watching thereof or listening thereto and then easily resume the watching of the same content or listening thereto from a discontinued state on another content reproduction device. When reproduction of a content is discontinued, discontinued state information indicating a reproduction state of the content at a time point of the discontinuation is transmitted to a watching/listening history management server (20) and the discontinued state information stored in the watching/listening history management server (20) is received from the watching/listening history management server (20), and the reproduction of the content is started from a state determined based on the received discontinued state information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Hisayuki Kunigita, Seung Hyun Lee, Ju Yeong Ji
  • Patent number: 9072968
    Abstract: A game device includes an input position acquiring unit and a first game control unit. The input position acquiring unit acquires a position of an entry provided by a player to a touch panel, which can concurrently detect entries at multiple points. The first game control unit displays objects and a sequence in which the objects should be erased on a screen image, and, in case that a position of an entry acquired is at a position corresponding to a position where an object to be erased next is displayed, erases the object from the screen image. The first game control unit includes: a single tap input control unit that, when an input on one object is acknowledged, erases the object; and a multiple-graphic-symbol-tap input control unit that, when inputs on multiple objects are acknowledged concurrently, erases those objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Kenji Sakai, Eiji Yamada, Katsuyuki Kanetaka
  • Patent number: 9067139
    Abstract: A method for determining the position of a controller device, comprises: receiving dimensions of the display input by a user of the computer-based system; capturing successive images of the display at the controller device; determining a position of the controller device relative to the display based on the dimensions of the display and a perspective distortion of the display in the captured successive images of the display; providing the determined position of the controller to the computer-based system to interface with the interactive program to cause an action by the interactive program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaodong Mao, Noam Rimon
  • Publication number: 20150177898
    Abstract: A driving unit successively selects one drive line from among a plurality of drive lines of a touch inputting device and applies a driving voltage to the selected drive line. A voltage detection unit successively selects one sensing line from among a plurality of sensing lines and detects an output voltage of the selected sensing line. An arithmetic operation unit determines a resistance value of a pressure-sensitive resistive element provided at the location at which the selected drive line and the selected sensing line cross with each other based on the driving voltage and the output voltage. The driving unit applies 0 volts or a bias voltage equal to or lower than the driving voltage to the other drive lines than the selected drive line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2013
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Shinichi Hirata
  • Patent number: D732602
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Taichi Nokuo
  • Patent number: D733140
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
    Inventors: Tetsu Sumii, Ennin Huang