The present invention is directed to a method and system for controlling the state of an interactive application and controlling delivery of the interactive application to one or more users. The system of the present invention is a system for delivering an interactive application to one or more users of a communications network and may comprise an interactive application adapted to the communications network; a user access device adapted to receive said interactive application; control means for establishing parameters under which said interactive application is rendered on said user access device; and mediation means for establishing terms for the interaction between the at least one user and other users and the communications network.

A game system executes a game that progresses in response to action commands issued on a plurality of electronic devices. When a first action command has been issued on a first electronic device, the system notifies a second electronic device, which is different from the first electronic device, of the issuance of the action command on the first electronic device. The system also sets a first time period until an action triggered by the first action command is reflected in the game, and after the elapse of the first time period from the time based on the first action command, reflects the action triggered by the first action command in the game executed by the second electronic device.

An apparatus and method are described for retaining system state of an online application such as a video game. For example, a method according to one embodiment comprises: executing a application on a server in response to user input from a client; transmitting video generated by the application over a network connection from the server to the client; detecting that the network connection has become unusable or impaired; responsively pausing the execution of the application from a current point of execution; and resuming the execution of the application from the current point of execution upon detecting that the network connection has become usable or unimpaired.

The present invention concerns a method and a device for estimating the value of an input in a real-time system. It concerns more particularly real time interactive systems where the input is tracked using a first sensor, typically a camera in presence of a perturbing factor. The perturbing factor is estimated using a second sensor. The component of input computed values due to the perturbing factor are cancelled based on this estimation. A next input value is then estimated from the previous computed input values where the perturbing factor has been cancelled. The estimation is then corrected by applying back the estimation of the perturbing factor.

Methods and systems for processing instructions by an online video game hosting system are provided. One example method includes receiving a control signal for a video game. The control signal is received by a server of the online video game hosting system, and the control signal is transmitted from a client device to the server over a network. Then, executing the online video game by the server while receiving the control signal. The executing causes generation of a sequence of video frames and encoding the sequence of video frames to generate a first compressed sequence of video frames and generate a second compressed sequence of video frames. Transmitting the first compressed sequence of video frames to the client device over the network for decoding by the client device to produce a first decoded sequence of video frames for displaying on a display of the client device. Receiving feedback information from the client device, the feedback information used to determine whether one or more of the first compressed sequence of video frames has been successfully decoded at the client device and modifying the encoding of the sequence of video frames in response to the feedback information. The second compressed sequence of video frames are directed to a storage associated with the server and wherein the quality of the second compressed sequence of video frames is higher than a quality of the first compressed sequence of video frames.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for dynamic quality of service (QoS) management for multi-player gaming. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for dynamic QoS management for multi-player gaming is provided. The method includes monitoring a multi-player game and detecting a game moment for a game player in the multi-player game. The method also includes determining a degree of sensitivity for the game moment and enhancing access to a computing resource of the game player in response to determining the game moment to be highly sensitive. In one aspect of the embodiment, the method additionally includes detecting a subsequent game moment for the game player in the multi-player game, determining a degree of sensitivity for the subsequent game moment, and reducing access to the computing resource of the game player in response to determining the game moment to be less sensitive.

There is provided a method of synchronizing a portable device with an online user account. The method comprises establishing a first connection between the portable device and an online application, receiving data from the online application concerning the online user account, including a persona, updating the portable device with a portable user account corresponding to the online user account, including the persona, terminating the first connection between the portable device and the online application, recording modifications to the portable user account on the portable device after terminating the first connection, establishing a second connection between the portable device and the online application, uploading the modifications to the portable user account recorded on the portable device to the online application, and updating the portable user account according to modifications to the online user account performed by the online application to synchronize the portable user account with the online user account.

A method of and system for handling latency issues encountered in producing real-time entertainment such as games of skill synchronized with live or taped televised events is described herein. There are multiple situations that are dealt with regarding latencies in receiving a television signal with respect to real-time entertainment based on the unfolding games played along with the telecasts. Systemic delays, arbitrarily imposed delays of a broadcast signal and variances in the precise broadcast times of taped television programs have to be equalized so as to provide fair entertainment.

A network game system includes a server apparatus and a plurality of video game apparatuses connected to the server apparatus. A party includes player characters of a plurality of players. When the party battles with an opponent character, the server apparatus simultaneously transmits movie playback information to each video game apparatus for starting playback of a movie. Each of the players can skip the movie at a desired timing. A screen is displayed on each video game apparatus that has skipped the movie until the battle starts. When information is received from each video game apparatus that indicates playback of the movie has ended, the server apparatus simultaneously transmits battle start information to each video game apparatus.

Embodiments of the present invention split game processing and rendering between a client and a game server. A rendered video game image is received from a game server and combined with a rendered image generated by the game client to form a single video game image that is presented to a user. Game play may be controlled using a rich sensory input, such as three-dimensional image data and audio data. The three-dimensional image data describes the shape, size and orientation of objects present in a play space. The rich sensory input is communicated to a game server, potentially with some preprocessing, and is also consumed locally on the client, at least in part. In one embodiment, latency sensitive features are the only features processed on the client and rendered on the client.