U.S. Patent No. 11,068,042: Detecting and responding to an event within an interactive videogame
Issued July 7, 2021, to Roku, Inc.
Filed: August 26, 2020 (claiming priority to March 12, 2013)
Oh boy, I wish I could get spam in a video game, too….
Overview:
U.S. Patent No. 11,068,042 (the ‘042 patent) relates to detecting an event within an interactive video game and displaying a notification having to do with that event. The ‘042 patent details a system monitoring play of an interactive video game, searching for matches between a reference and the gameplay to detect the happening of events. When an event occurrence is detected a notification is presented, referencing the occurrence of the event. The notifications could be sent to another user socially connected with the first user, and could consist of indicating level completion, player defeat, or other events. The notification could also offer the player game help, in-game purchases, or real-world purchases and contain a hyperlink to the information. The ‘042 patent could offer players of interactive games notifications associated with events as they occur. Commonplace today, but the patent dates back to 2013, so perhaps it wasn’t as common then.
Abstract:
As a user is being presented with interactive media by a presenting device, a separate monitoring device may be used to monitor the presentation of the interactive media and detect an event that occurs therein. Such a monitoring device may be configured and positioned to access media content from the presentation of the interactive media. For example, the monitoring device may be configured and positioned to record video content with a camera and record audio content with a microphone. Having accessed this media content, the monitoring device may generate an identifier, such as a fingerprint or watermark, of the media content and compare the generated identifier with a reference identifier that is generated from the source of the media content. Based on the generated identifier matching the reference identifier, the monitoring device may detect that an event has occurred within the interactive media presentation and present a corresponding notification.
Illustrative Claim:
- A method comprising: detecting, by a machine, an occurrence of an event within an interactive videogame, wherein detecting the occurrence of the event within the interactive videogame comprises detecting multiple matches each between a respective reference identifier of the interactive video game (“reference identifier) and a respective identifier established from presentation by a device of the interactive videogame (“established identifier”), wherein detecting the multiple matches includes detecting that a first reference identifier matches a second established identifier and detecting that a third reference identifier matches a fourth established identifier, and wherein each identifier is selected from the group consisting of a fingerprint generated from the interactive videogame and a watermark extracted from the interactive videogame; and responsive to at least detecting the occurrence of the event within the interactive videogame, causing presentation of a notification that references the occurrence of the event.