Patents Examined by Steve Rowland
  • Patent number: 11707675
    Abstract: A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a gaming system that cooperates with a graphical user interface to enable user modification and enhancement of one or more audio streams associated with the gaming system. In embodiments, the audio streams may include a game audio stream, a chat audio stream of conversation among players of a video game, and a microphone audio stream of a player of the video game. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: STEELSERIES ApS
    Inventors: Jeffrey Nicholas Mahlmeister, Simon Duffy, Battsengel Lopez, Michael John Lelli, Damien Kevin Granger
  • Patent number: 11710382
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and apparatuses for managing contests that may be made available to one or more participants desiring to participate in a fantasy sports contest in which participants may use their knowledge of players and/or teams found in real-world sports. Participants are enabled to select one or more locations on a grid in order to participate in the contest, each location having been previously associated with two or more real-world players or teams. During the contest, at least one milestone is identified, the milestone being a preselected goal that may be achieved by the players or teams. When the milestone is achieved by one of the players or teams, one or more of the following may occur: (a) the processing apparatus indicates at least one of the participants will receive a prize; (b) at least one of the participants receives milestone-points, and the milestone-points are used to determine one or more winners from among the participants; (c) the contest ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Inventors: Stephen Malvagna, Joseph Maranino
  • Patent number: 11694517
    Abstract: An electronic gaming device comprising a display that displays a plurality of symbols in a plurality of symbol positions, a game controller that determines if the plurality of symbols include a trigger symbol, in response to determining that the plurality of symbols include the trigger symbol, controls the display to display the trigger symbol being transformed into a prize component symbol, incrementally animates a filling of a prize component of a first prize with the prize component symbol, and awards the first prize when a plurality of first prize components have been completely filled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited
    Inventors: Karen Kendall, James Loader, Lauren Paterson, Antoon Visser
  • Patent number: 11688295
    Abstract: A network learning system includes a host being coupled to a first user end and a second user end. A processor of the host end is configured to perform the following steps of: storing original lesson information being sent from the first user end in which the original lesson information has a plurality of content sections; selecting the content sections to form adaptive lesson information based on a learning condition of the second user end; sending the adaptive lesson information to the second user end so that an output device of the second user end outputs the adaptive lesson information based on a view of a simulated space; when the output device of the second user end outputs the adaptive lesson information, recording a value from an input device of the second user end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Shih-Gong Li, Shih-Han Chan, Ming-Kai Jiau
  • Patent number: 11688233
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to distributed systems that include networked master and slave circuits that are each connected to a plurality of electronic gaming machines on a casino floor. Each circuit receives digital information from a data port on an electronic gaming machine to which it is connected and also transmits commands, such as TITO commands, to the electronic gaming machine via the data port. A slave circuit can also function as the master circuit, e.g., when a master circuit fails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Acres Technology
    Inventors: John F. Acres, Mark Dailey
  • Patent number: 11682181
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for generating, selecting, modifying and/or otherwise configuring occluder(s) used in mixed-reality environments. Pose information of a trackable device worn or carried by a user is determined. Based on that pose information, an assumption regarding the user's own pose is determined. An occluder is then configured in a manner to correspond to the assumed pose of the user for use in the mixed-reality environment. By generating the occluder in this manner, improved battery life by the trackable device can be achieved relative to conventional systems that rely entirely on iterative scanning of the user's body to determine body position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Erik Alexander Hill, Kathleen Carol Heasley, Jonathan Gustav Paulovich, Jake Thomas Shields, Constantin Dulu
  • Patent number: 11673059
    Abstract: Implementations described herein relate to methods, systems, and computer-readable media to automatically present suitable content for a particular locale. In some implementations, a computer-implemented method includes receiving gaming content associated with a game associated with a first client locale, the received gaming content including content that is restricted at a second client locale, receiving at least one content alternative, the at least one content alternative being an alternative to replace the received gaming content, generating a first localized rating for the received gaming content and a second localized rating for the at least one content alternative, and automatically providing the received gaming content or the at least one content alternative to a user device associated with the second client locale based on the first localized rating and the second localized rating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Roblox Corporation
    Inventors: Peter John Phillips, Matthew Dean
  • Patent number: 11666828
    Abstract: An information processing device that progresses a game using a game content associated with a player. In response to receiving an obtaining request, the device selects a subset of game contents, where a portion of the game contents has a same identification information and each of the portion of the game contents has a different validity period. The device obtains a validity period associated with each of the selected game contents. When a first game content associated with the player has the same identification information as a second game content, the device updates, for each game content, a validity period of the first game content based on the validity period of the second game content in the subset of game contents. The device then restricts use of the first game content in the game when the validity period of the first game content lapses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: GREE, INC.
    Inventor: Jun Saito
  • Patent number: 11654358
    Abstract: Systems and methods for executing content to be rendered on a screen of a head mounted display (HMD) are provided. One method includes executing the content to render interactive scenes on the screen and tracking an orientation direction of the HMD when worn on a head of a user and the interactive scenes are being rendered on the screen. The method includes changing view directions into the interactive scenes based on changes in the orientation direction of the HMD, such that movements of the head of the user causes the changes in the view directions into the interactive scenes. The method further includes receiving images of a real world space using a camera of the HMD. The camera of the HMD is configured to capture a location of real world objects in the real world space relative to the user of the HMD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Osman, Xiaodong Mao
  • Patent number: 11654360
    Abstract: A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a video game processing program for causing a server to perform functions to control progress of a video game using a virtual space corresponding to map information of a real space and positional information of a user terminal of a user is provided. The functions include: an arranging function configured to arrange objects in the virtual space, at least one attribute of a plurality of attributes being associated with each of the objects; a specifying function configured to specify an object that satisfies a predetermined positional condition with respect to the positional information of the user terminal; and an updating function configured to update information regarding the user based on an attribute of the specified object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takamasa Shiba, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Jun Waga, Yutaka Yoshida
  • Patent number: 11656062
    Abstract: Apparatuses, systems and methods for indicating whether a target has been impacted by a projectile are disclosed. Embodiments may include a microcontroller, an impact sensor, and an impact indicator. Apparatus may include an acoustic sensor and a miss indicator. Acoustic information or impact information may be received by the sensors and sent to the microcontroller unit. A determination may be made regarding whether the target has been impacted. An indication of a hit or a miss may be made by the impact indicator based on the determination. A light redirection element, which may include a light pipe, may direct light from the impact indicator around the edge of a target to a viewer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Inventors: Alex J. Sitzman, Weston D. Petersen, Garet L. Itz, Ivan Dorflinger
  • Patent number: 11648471
    Abstract: Provided are a program, a control method, and an information processing apparatus which may provide an improved user interface on which a user may easily and efficiently execute various processes on a game content. The information processing apparatus may be caused to execute a game content specifying step of specifying a selected game content on the basis of first input operation data from an operation unit, a step of retrieving information from a storage unit, a step of specifying a direction from a start point to an end point of a second input operation on the basis of second input operation data from an operation unit, and an execution step of executing one process associated with the direction from the start point to the end point of the second input operation in the information from the storage unit on the selected game content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: GREE, INC.
    Inventors: Junko Yamanokuchi, Masato Nozaki
  • Patent number: 11638877
    Abstract: When a first input is performed in a predetermined scene, options including elements available in a predetermined game are presented. An element to be used in the predetermined game is determined on the basis of an operation input by a user. In response to a second input, the predetermined game using the determined element is executed. Meanwhile, at a predetermined timing before the predetermined game is started, an element to be used in the predetermined game is automatically determined. When a third input is performed in the predetermined scene, the predetermined game is executed using the automatically determined element. After the predetermined game is ended, a first reward is given to the user if the element used in the predetermined game is the element determined on the basis of the operation input by the user, and a second reward is given if the element is the automatically determined element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: NINTENDO CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yugo Hayashi, Ryosuke Ogata
  • Patent number: 11617947
    Abstract: A video server is configured to provide streaming video to players of computer games over a computing network. The video server can provided video of different games to different players simultaneously. This is accomplished by rendering several video streams in parallel using a single GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The output of the GPU is provided to graphics processing pipelines that are each associated with a specific client/player and are dynamically allocated as needed. A client qualifier may be used to assure that only clients capable of presenting the streaming video to a player at a minimum level of quality receive the video stream. Video frames provided by the video server optionally include overlays added to the output of the GPU. These overlays can include voice data received from another game player.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Buchanan Gault, David Perry, Rui Filipe Andrade Pereira
  • Patent number: 11617951
    Abstract: A game summary may be produced using an event log of in-game events and corresponding game content based on game data associated with a gameplay session(s). The event log may include metadata that indicates times of in-game events and associations between in-game events and game content items that capture the in-game events. A user may interact with in-game events with temporal context, allowing for more informed selections and a better understanding of the gameplay session. Using the event log, a game summary may provide such features as a timeline to convey relative timing of in-game events, a list of in-game events, a map of a virtual environment of the game that is temporally annotated based on in-game events, game status information, and statistical and performance information. A game summary may show trends over time and/or game sessions and convey information for selected sets of players, such as teams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: James Lewis van Welzen, Glenn R. Cochran, Jean Wang, Po-Shih Wang, Jeffrey David Weintraub, Toshant Sharma, Shyam Raikar
  • Patent number: 11607612
    Abstract: A computer device configured to provide a game to a user and to implement a special game element. A gameboard comprising gameboard locations is rendered on a display. A first set of the gameboard locations comprise tiles supporting game objects, and at least one of the gameboard locations does not comprise a tile. A user input selecting one of user selectable game elements supported by the tiles is received, and the device detects match game conditions. At least one tile of the gameboard supports a special game element, which is activated or triggered when a special game element triggering condition is detected. On detection of the special game element triggering condition, The special game element is triggered to cause it to move to a target gameboard location. If there is no tile at the target gameboard location a new tile is generated on the gameboard at the target gameboard location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: KING.COM LTD.
    Inventor: Mick Heijkens
  • Patent number: 11610450
    Abstract: Gaming systems that employ a timer to make one or more inputs, wherein different amounts of time of the timer are based on different inputs made.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: IGT
    Inventors: Vincent S. Lai, Patrick Danielson, Dwayne R. Nelson
  • Patent number: 11607613
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for switching a game mode, and an electronic device are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a game switching instruction in a current game mode; selecting a target game mode according to the game switching instruction; acquiring first game process data of the target game mode and game character data of the current game mode; running a game process of the target game mode according to the first game process data and the game character data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: Shanghai Yiyu Network Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Zhiqin Xu, Mei Peng
  • Patent number: 11602691
    Abstract: Described herein are techniques for providing an in-game virtual boundary. First data is received that is indicative of a user position while the user is playing a video game. It is determined whether the user position is within a warning zone, wherein the warning zone comprises an area between a soft boundary indicative of a safe area for the user and a safe boundary indicative of one or more real-world objects around the user. Based on a relationship between the user position and the safe boundary, a visual indication of a plurality of visual indications of the in-game virtual boundary is determined to provide to the user. Second data indicative of the visual indication is transmitted to a display being viewed by the user while playing the video game.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Ryan William Challinor
  • Patent number: 11600198
    Abstract: Methods and systems allow a user or operator to easily create cyber-training environments for use in a cyber-training system. In one embodiment, the environments are configured as missions. The missions may have a plurality of features, such as training objectives, a mission storyline, a mission order and mission objectives, relative to a mission environment. The mission environment comprises a virtual environment, such as defined by a virtual network having virtual machines or devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Circadence Corporation
    Inventors: Laura Lee, Raymond C. Prouty, Joseph T. Kowtko, Ryan Pressley