U.S. Patent No. 10,818,142: Creation of winner tournaments with fandom influence

Issued October 27, 2020, to Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC
Filed/Priority to February 28, 2018

Overview:

U.S. Patent No. 10,818,142 (the ‘142 patent) relates to filling vacancies in esports tournaments with remote, nonprofessional players. The ‘142 patent details a method which first involves establishing an esports tournament with different professional players and ranking them to establish matches between them. Remote viewers are identified as eligible players for tournament participation. The professional player winner from the first match is determined and gameplay statistics are generated. When a vacancy in the tournament is present, an eligible remote player is selected to fill the vacancy and a connection is established between the selected player and the tournament to facilitate participation and provide the player with a reconstructed view of the tournament. When selected, a remote player will get an authorization which they must confirm, sometimes with a limited timeframe to accept. Eligibility can be determined by finding a valid ticket purchase or subscription, a certain skill level, social media-demonstrated fandom of a professional player, and/or a compatible computer with the esports tournament. In the instance where a fan of a professional is selected, a handicap could be applied to the professional. The ‘142 patent could increase remote audience investment in esports tournaments and give unrecognized, skilled players the chance to be discovered.

 

Abstract:

The present disclosure describes methods and systems directed towards creation of winner tournaments. Instead of using traditional tournament bracket structures which establish pre-set match-ups between participating players in a tournament at an e-sport event, the present disclosure broadens the scope of participants who may be eligible to also participate within the same tournament but who may not initially be attending the e-sport event. With the e-sport competitive scene, not only do professionals compete against each other during a live e-sport event but remote users remotely viewing the e-sport event can also be introduced into the tournament structure as well. These remote users can be introduced into the live e-sport event for the purpose of also competing against competitive players as well as being introduced as an exhibition match with the professionals (e.g. fans of the professionals selected based on social media). Therefore, the systems and methods would select and facilitate eligible remote users to compete with the professionals even if the remote user is not at the live e-sport event venue.

 

Illustrative Claim:

1. A method for creating winner tournaments, the method comprising: establishing an e-sport tournament having a plurality of different professional competitors; generating rankings for each of the professional competitors, the generated rankings used to establish matches between the competitors; identifying one or more remote viewers eligible to participate in the e-sport tournament, each of the remote viewers remotely viewing the e-sport tournament on a respective computing device, wherein the identification includes processing user information about each of the remote viewers; initiating matches of the e-sport tournament between the matched competitors, wherein a conclusion of the initiated match provides a winning competitor and gameplay statistics; detecting that a vacancy within the e-sport tournament is present; selecting one of the identified eligible remote viewers to fill in the detected vacancy; requesting the selected remote viewer for authorization to participate in the e-sport tournament; establishing a player communication channel between the selected remote viewer and the e-sport tournament, wherein the established player communication channel facilitates participation by the selected remote viewer with the e-sport tournament and has a lower latency than a distribution communication channel that is used to remotely view the e-sport tournament; and providing the selected remote viewer with a reconstructed viewpoint of the e-sport tournament using collected information from the e-sport tournament at a specified point in time.

U.S. Patent No. 10,963,132: Digital jukebox device with improved karaoke-related user interfaces, and associated methods

Issued March 30, 2021, to TouchTunes Music Corp.
Filed: September 17, 2020 (claiming priority to March 18, 2009)

Overview:

U.S. Patent No. 10,963,132 (the ‘132 patent) is one of many patents concerning an entertainment system or jukebox with an interactive user interface (“UI”) which can access social network information. The ‘132 patent sets out a jukebox device with a touch screen display, allowing users to flip through digital songbooks for a pay-for-play jukebox and karaoke machine. Processing resources and the touch screen display cooperate to cause the device to function in different pay-for-play modes. The display presents a first set of screens that list various media available for playback, resembling pages of a book. Each page has a maximum number of entries corresponding to a subset of the total media available, including at least a song name. The screens dynamically rearrange when an input is received indicating a letter for a song name or an artist, so that the listed entries starting with that letter are at the top of a newly turned page.

The UI is 3D and intends to be easy to use; it has clear buttons and also can be interacted with via touch. When touch is used, it tracks the user input so the page turning animation follows a user’s touch.



The ‘132 patent also allows users to set up accounts with photo avatars for the device’s pay-for-play karaoke with certain social media accounts. The display can be configured to display a performer identifier screen which identifies the user who selected the song in the pay-for-play karaoke mode. This can be determined automatically if a user logs into a jukebox device. The avatar can be retrieved from the social media account or taken with a camera connected to the device.



There are a huge variety of appearances and other features this device could have. Ultimately, the ‘132 patent aims to be fun and easy to use. The game modes pictured at the top like, Dareoke, look fun!

 

Abstract:

Certain exemplary embodiments relate to entertainment systems and, more particularly, certain exemplary embodiments relate to jukebox systems that incorporate digital downloading jukebox features along with karaoke jukebox and/or photobooth features. A combined karaoke/photobooth/jukebox may enable more integrated performance-like experiences in an in-home or out-of-home location or venue. By leveraging vast audio media libraries, trusted rights-respecting network infrastructure, and on-site image/video capturing from integrated recorders and/or remote portable devices, a more sociable experience may be created for karaoke jukebox patrons, e.g., where custom content can be generated and shared in a safe and legally appropriate manner.

 

Illustrative Claim:

1. A jukebox device, comprising: processing resources, including at least one processor and a memory; and a touch screen display device, wherein the processing resources and the touch screen display device cooperate with one another to cause the jukebox device to function in at least a pay-for-play jukebox mode and a different pay-for-play karaoke mode, wherein the processing resources is configured to present, on the touch screen display device in one or both said modes, a first set of screens that each list at least a portion of instances of media available for playback via the jukebox in a manner that resembles a book having multiple pages, each said page including at most a predefined maximum number of entries corresponding to a subset of instances of said media available for playback via the jukebox, and each said entry indicating at least a song name associated with the corresponding instance of media that is selectable for playback via the jukebox device, and wherein the first set of screens each include a common set of control elements for re-organizing and navigating through the book, and wherein said re-organizing includes dynamically rearranging, when an input is received indicating a letter for a song name or an artist, the listed portions of the instances of media such that ones of said entries starting with the indicated letter are listed starting at the top of a newly turned page in said book by dynamically reformatting the newly turned page to cause said entries that ordinarily would not appear at the start of a page to be adjusted accordingly to start at the top of the newly turned page.

U.S. Patent No. 11,023,095: Providing a first person view in a virtual world using a lens

Issued June 1, 2021, to Cinemoi North America LLC
Filed/Priority to July 12, 2019

Overview:

U.S. Patent No. 11,023,095 (the ‘095 patent) relates to providing a first-person view, to a user, from the perspective of an avatar in a virtual world having avatars. The ‘095 patent details a method of providing an avatar’s point of view in a virtual world by adjusting a location and orientation, including a point of gaze, of an avatar as it moves through a virtual world. The first location and point of gaze is identified and a second point of gaze is determined using an eye-tracking system which monitors the eye movements of the user. The first point of gaze is adjusted based on the second point, and based on the adjusted gaze, the lens of at least one remote camera is also adjusted. Image data is collected using the adjusted lens and corresponds to at least one real-world object in a real environment. Then a scene of the virtual world, as seen by the avatar, is generated, communicating from the computing device to the user device the scene and causing the user device to display the generated scene. The ‘095 patent could offer the option to view from the perspective of in-game avatars to users navigating a virtual world.

 

Abstract:

An interactive virtual world having avatars. Scenes in the virtual world as seen by the eyes of the avatars are presented on user devices controlling the avatars. In one approach, a method includes identifying a location of an avatar in a virtual world, and a point of gaze of the avatar; adjusting, based on the point of gaze, a lens that directs available light received by the lens so that the lens can focus on objects at all distances; collecting, using the adjusted lens, image data; and generating a scene of the virtual world as seen by the avatar, the scene based on the collected image data, the location of the avatar, and the point of gaze of the avatar.

 

Illustrative Claim:

1. A method, comprising: adjusting, by a computing device, a location of an avatar and an orientation of the avatar based on input received in a user device, wherein the location of the avatar changes as the avatar moves through a virtual world, and the orientation includes a point of gaze; identifying, by the computing device, a first location of the avatar in the virtual world, and a first point of gaze of the avatar; determining, using an eye-tracking system, a second point of gaze of a user of the user device, wherein the eye-tracking system monitors one or more eye movements of the user; adjusting the first point of gaze of the avatar based on the determined second point of gaze of the user; adjusting, at least based on the adjusted first point of gaze, at least one lens of at least one remote camera; receiving image data collected using the adjusted lens, the image data corresponding to at least one real-world object in a real-world environment; generating a scene of the virtual world as seen by the avatar, the scene based on the collected image data, the first location of the avatar in the virtual world, and the orientation of the avatar in the virtual world; communicating, by the computing device to the user device, the generated scene; and causing the user device to display the generated scene.