Patents by Inventor Brian Spanton

Brian Spanton has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9881351
    Abstract: Resource processing, such as shader translation, during run time of an application on an emulated platform, can be performed asynchronously from emulation of the application. One or more server computers can be configured to perform such processing remotely from the computers executing the emulation. The one or more server computers can receive resources for processing from multiple computers. The one or more server computers aggregate the resources received from the multiple computers for different applications and process those resources. For example, multiple shaders, discovered from multiple different emulations of an application on multiple computers, are translated and organized by the one or more server computers. The translated shaders can be packaged as an update to the application and redistributed to the computers using the application. Such an update can be installed on the computers as a set of translated shaders for use in the emulation of the application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Barry Bond, Robert Francis, Eric Heutchy
  • Publication number: 20160364831
    Abstract: Resource processing, such as shader translation, during run time of an application on an emulated platform, can be performed asynchronously from emulation of the application. One or more server computers can be configured to perform such processing remotely from the computers executing the emulation. The one or more server computers can receive resources for processing from multiple computers. The one or more server computers aggregate the resources received from the multiple computers for different applications and process those resources. For example, multiple shaders, discovered from multiple different emulations of an application on multiple computers, are translated and organized by the one or more server computers. The translated shaders can be packaged as an update to the application and redistributed to the computers using the application. Such an update can be installed on the computers as a set of translated shaders for use in the emulation of the application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2015
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Barry Bond, Robert Francis, Eric Heutchy
  • Patent number: 8025572
    Abstract: Methods and systems for broadcasting game sessions to be viewable by spectators are disclosed. After receiving game information from game participant clients, the title server determines whether the broadcast the game session to spectators, analyzes and repackages the received telemetry data, optionally embedding additional data, and rebroadcasts the repackaged telemetry as a spectator feed to non-participant spectator client devices for viewing by users of the spectator client devices. Embedded data may include commentary data, a director's cut specifying camera information, instructional data, etc. Each spectator client device can analyze and manipulate the received telemetry data using a copy of the video game executing on the spectator client device, or may simply playback the feed when the feed includes a complete audiovisual file. Spectator clients may submit feedback to the participant clients through the title server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Bachir Babale, James Coliz
  • Patent number: 7632186
    Abstract: Methods and systems for broadcasting game sessions to be viewable by spectators are disclosed. In addition to sending telemetry data to other game clients participating in a game session, one or more game clients in the game session also sends the game telemetry data to a title server for the video game being played. The title server analyzes and repackages the received telemetry data and rebroadcasts the repackaged telemetry as a spectator feed to non-participant spectator client devices for viewing by users of the spectator client devices. Each spectator client device can analyze and manipulate the received telemetry data using a copy of the video game executing on the spectator client device, or may simply playback the feed when the feed includes a complete audiovisual file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Bachir Babale
  • Publication number: 20070191101
    Abstract: Multiplayer tournaments may be established, and then automatically executed by tournament server devices to help provide users with quality matchups against players of similar skill. Tournaments may be defined by an administrator, and then automatically instantiated any number of times to accommodate demand by players. Some tournaments may group players of similar rank in tournament rounds, and may also employ a window factor to prevent players from playing together too soon after playing together in a prior round. Some tournaments may use a leaderboard qualification process, allowing potential entrants to qualify for tournaments by accomplishing feats specified in qualification parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2006
    Publication date: August 16, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: James Coliz, Jeffrey Spradling, Brian Spanton, Scott Plette, Mark Edmonds
  • Publication number: 20070191102
    Abstract: Multiplayer tournaments may be established, and then automatically executed by tournament server devices to help provide users with quality matchups against players of similar skill. Tournaments may be defined by an administrator, and then automatically instantiated any number of times to accommodate demand by players. Some tournaments may dynamically adjust tournament parameters to accommodate a variable number of qualifiers entering the tournament. Tournaments may perform ranking, before and/or during the tournament, based on a calculation of a ratio of player points to a total number of points the player could have received. User interface displays may also be provided to allow players to view details of tournaments for which they have qualified, details on their tournament competitors, or search for tournaments satisfying the user's desired criteria.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2006
    Publication date: August 16, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: James Coliz, Jeffrey Spradling, Brian Spanton, Scott Plette, Mark Edmonds
  • Publication number: 20070117635
    Abstract: Methods and systems for broadcasting game sessions to be viewable by spectators are disclosed. After receiving game information from game participant clients, the title server determines whether the broadcast the game session to spectators, analyzes and repackages the received telemetry data, optionally embedding additional data, and rebroadcasts the repackaged telemetry as a spectator feed to non-participant spectator client devices for viewing by users of the spectator client devices. Embedded data may include commentary data, a director's cut specifying camera information, instructional data, etc. Each spectator client device can analyze and manipulate the received telemetry data using a copy of the video game executing on the spectator client device, or may simply playback the feed when the feed includes a complete audiovisual file. Spectator clients may submit feedback to the participant clients through the title server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2005
    Publication date: May 24, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Bachir Babale, James Coliz
  • Publication number: 20070117617
    Abstract: Methods and systems for broadcasting game sessions to be viewable by spectators are disclosed. In addition to sending telemetry data to other game clients participating in a game session, one or more game clients in the game session also sends the game telemetry data to a title server for the video game being played. The title server analyzes and repackages the received telemetry data and rebroadcasts the repackaged telemetry as a spectator feed to non-participant spectator client devices for viewing by users of the spectator client devices. Each spectator client device can analyze and manipulate the received telemetry data using a copy of the video game executing on the spectator client device, or may simply playback the feed when the feed includes a complete audiovisual file.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2005
    Publication date: May 24, 2007
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Spanton, Bachir Babale