Dynamic allocation of computing resources in remote gaming environment

US9433862B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC · US

Inventors

• John Bruno · Snoqualmie, US
• Donald McNamara · Woodinville, US
• Scott Q. Longstreet · Maple Valley, US
• Ashok Chandrasekaran · Redmond, US
• Christopher Lane Boedigheimer · Redmond, US
• Per-Ola Anders Orvendal · Carnation, US
• Joseph Cusimano · Carnation, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 12, 2013
• Grant date: Sep 6, 2016
• Expiry date: Feb 12, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F2209/508
• WIPO field: Furniture, games
• WIPO sector: Other fields

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention monitor and dynamically allocate computing resources to game sessions running within a game service. A game service provides a remote gaming environments to which users connect over a wide area network, such as the internet. A game session runs a single instance of a game title. The game session runs the video game code responsible for creating the playing experience for the users. Various characteristics of the game session may be monitored and used to allocate computing resources. Usage of computing resources, such as central processing unit (“CPU”) may be monitored directly. In another embodiment, the number of players connected to the game session is monitored and computing resources are allocated dynamically as the number of players increases or decreases.