The present invention is generally related to the temporary use of a software license, or other credentials, or other software objects extended to one or more third parties within a pre-selected geographical distance limitation. More particularly, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to supporting a mode of multiplayer gaming in which players that have authorized gaming software may provide a temporary license to other players interested in playing the multiplayer game.
However, many multi-player gaming scenarios cannot be conventionally implemented in advanced computer games without causing various social problems. In the example of
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
An embodiment of the present invention relates to the temporary use of a software license, or other credentials, or other software objects extended to one or more third parties. An exemplary application is in the context of multiplayer games, such as augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) multiplayer games.
An embodiment of the present invention comprising providing an authorized version of multiplayer game software to a first computing device and further providing a temporary license key to the first computing device distributable to other computing devices within a physical distance limit condition. The physical distance limit may be based on any condition associated with two computing device being co-located. This may include a physical distance measurement limitation. Another possibility for a physical distant limit condition is a short-range communication conditions between two communication devices, such as near-field electromagnetic, short-range infrared, optical, sound or other direct communication between two computing devices. Still another possibility for a physical distance limit condition is that two computing devices are communicating with each other via a short range network communication protocol, such as Bluetooth or WiFi. The temporary license key is communicated by a first communication device to a second communication device via a short range communication technique. The temporary license key is preferably transferred in an encrypted format.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of illustrative implementations, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the implementations, there is shown in the drawings example constructions of the implementations; however, the implementations are not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:
A drawback of the gaming environment of
The individual portable computing devices 205-A and 205-B may include features originally developed for smart phones such as a display screen, camera, and a microphone. The individual portable computing devices 205-A and 205-B may also include a variety of different location detection and local signaling or communication features, such as near-field electromagnetic, an infrared signal generator, a local optical signaling interface, an infrared signal detector, an ultrasound signal detector, internal global positioning system location detection, a compass indicative of device orientation, a wireless network interfaces (e.g., Bluetooth or WiFi), motion sensors, and accelerometers.
In the example of
The encryption of the temporary license key(s) stored on the first computing device 205-A may be based, in part, on data locally available to both computing devices. This may include information transferred from the second computing device to the first computing device, data associated with short-range communication links between the communication devices, data on local networks, or other local sensor data. Additionally, the temporary key may include distance limitations. In one embodiment, the temporary license key(s) are encrypted and part of the encrypted key(s) may include global positioning system (GPS) information for the devices such that the license is only valid while the difference between the GPS positions is less than a threshold value that represents the maximum allowed separation of players. Whereas an absolute GPS value may be appropriate for situations where the temporary license is only valid within a fixed distance of a fixed location (such as a school, museum or recreational facility) the relative difference limitation (hereinafter “delta GPS”) allows players to be co-located in moving vehicles such as cars, buses, trains, ships and aircraft.
In one embodiment, any necessary software to confirm co-location and implement the temporary key exchange is transferred as a software module from the first computing device 205-A to the second computing device 205-B. For example, a software module may be exchanged having the capability to encrypt and transfer internal global positioning system information providing the location information of the second computing device. As another example, software to transfer other location information, such as accelerometer data, may also be exchanged depending on implementation and what features are supported by the second computing device.
In the example of
If desired, additional layers of security could be provided, such as embedding a tracking code into the temporary license key to track propagation of the temporary license key in the event that a malicious user tried to improperly distribute the temporary license key.
Each computing device 205-A and 205-B may be implemented in a variety of ways to include network interfaces to communicate with other computing devices. As example, they may be implemented as a hand-held computer or so called “smart phone.” Alternately, they may be implemented as special purpose devices to support AR/VR or be implemented using a smart phone platform specially adapted to support AR/VR such as by including a high speed link for an HMD. More generally, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to compact smart phones as the computing device but could also be implemented by plurality of game consoles or personal computers or other portable game systems, or a combination thereof. The game playing software may also be practiced by augmented reality or virtual reality system.
Thus, in this example of
While an example has been provided of using the local network topology to encrypt the temporary key has been provided, more generally other information available to both devices may be used. Moreover, more elaborate protocols for the two computing devices to agree on an encryption protocol could be provided as software security measures operating in each computing devices.
The temporary license key(s) may be implemented in a variety of ways. In the software industry it is common to associate the granting of a limited use license with the generation and transfer of a so called “license key.” This is often in the form of an encrypted string of information that is cryptographically checked for validity by a copy of the software before operation. This technique allows the actual software to be copied from openly accessible sources, such as web sites, but not run without the proper key or keys. Keys may be made temporary by encrypting time stamps based on internal or external clocks such that algorithms may check to see if authorization is still in force as the software is running. Such techniques are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. A time limit may be specified by a number of minutes, hour, or day after transfer. Alternatively, the time limit may be based on a number of minutes, hours, or days of total game play.
The authority to grant temporary licenses could be a free benefit granted to a person/device that has an authorized license to a game. Alternatively, a small surcharge could be charged for the privilege of granting temporary licenses.
The exchange of the temporary license key(s) may also be performed via a variety of different local communication techniques, including direct short-range device-to-device communication protocols in which two device form a direct communication link with each other. Moreover, the use of direct short range device-to-device communication protocols may also satisfy the physical distance limit condition. For example direct infrared communication between portable computing devices is generally short range. Similarly various ultrasound communication techniques to directly communicate between computing devices is short range. Various techniques for optical communication directly between two computing devices in free space is also typically short range in nature.
As alternate embodiment of the invention shown in
In a similar way, the exchange of the temporary license key(s) may be made by near field communication techniques using various short range direct communications between computing devices. For example,
Another form of short range communication and/or proximity detection is physical contact of portable computing devices and/or coordinated physical movement. Devices equipped with accelerometers or other inertial/magnetic guidance units may use these facilities to verify co-location by “bump” as shown in
It will also be understood that more than one technique may be utilized in combination to verify co-location. For example, two computing devices could exchange GPS data and also data on network topology with co-location being verified via a combination of the techniques. Moreover, in some environments, such as underground buildings, GPS signals may be unavailable. Thus, there may be practical reasons to include a primary co-location detection technique and one or more backup co-location detection techniques in case a primary co-location technique fails.
As yet another example an electric or magnetic signal similarity may also be used to verify co-location. Two computing devices that are co-located are likely to experience similar magnetic signals, electric signals, and electromagnetic signals. For example, a magnetic sensor on each computing device may calculate the local magnetic field (strength and orientation) and transfer this information to the other device. Two computing devices in close proximity are also likely to experience similar strength of given frequency of wireless LAN signals, regardless of whether a particular frequency is used to communication between the two devices Similarly, the strength of local signals not related to wireless links between the two devices may be considered (e.g., local AM signals not related to wireless links between devices) may also be transferred to confirm that both devices receive similar electromagnetic signals.
In one embodiment optical recognition of physical objects or labels is performed by one or both of the computing devices. For example, in a game environment a game board 203 may have physical objects or labels that can be identified (e.g., the shape of a “checker” in check board or labels on the checkerboard or the game pieces). More generally, the shape of any local object may be identified and used as additional information for authentication or as a source of information to encrypt the temporary license key. As an example, if two people are playing a game, an instruction could be given to snap a picture of a common object in view of both players. Information obtained from the object could, in turn, be used to aid in encrypting the temporary license key and performing any necessary decryption. Moreover, the object/label recognition could also be performed as a step or sub-step in confirming co-location. For example, if the game board 203 has a secret code or code label embedded in it, then the second device should be able to receive instructions to take a photo to provide information derivable from the game board 203 and any associated game objects.
A variety of features may be implemented in firmware or software (residing on a local memory in the computing device) to support sharing of temporary keys. In one embodiment, a co-location detection module 712 performs the steps associated with verifying that two computing devices are co-located within a short range network condition or other proximity condition. A co-location temporary key sharing module 714 performs the steps associated with sharing a temporary key, which may be performed in combination with any encryption/decryption. This may be supported by a temporary key encryption/decryption module 716. In principle, if each computing device has compatible firmware or software, an authentication code may be stored on each computing device an authentication module 718 as an additional optional security measure. This additional security code could be exchanged to verify each computing device to each other. An optional throttling module 720 may be included to limit the number and rate of sharing of temporary licenses to provide a barrier to large scale improper sharing. For example, the number of shares per day may be limited to some total number per day consistent with typical ordinary multiplayer game use. Limits on the total numbers of shares per week or month may also be supported. Alternatively, sharp increases in the rate of sharing may also be limited. An optional reporting module 722 may be included to report instances of sharing. For example, when device 700-A licenses a new game from a licensing authority 730 a report may be generated showing the history of sharing of previous games licensing to device 700-A.
In the embodiment of
In one embodiment, the authentication module 718 utilizes RFID technology in which each authentication module 718 includes a reader portion, an ID portion and an RF antenna to support short range RFID. Short range RF signals are then used for each computing device 700 to perform RF identification of another nearby computing device as a security measure.
Moreover, it will be understood that the authentication process could also employ servers for a portion of the authentication process, such as using an external server to provide temporary codes. It will also be understood that more elaborate protocols for the two computing devices to agree on an encryption protocol could be provided as software security measures operating in each computing device, or may be facilitated through one or more servers located on an external network or server cloud.
One aspect of an embodiment of the present invention is that the transfer of a temporary key does not require long distance telecommunication means. In some game environments, such communication means may even be unavailable or unreliable, such as when games play occurs in remote locations with intermittent or poor access to the Internet over long distance wireless cellphone connections. Moreover, providing the temporary key by a short range local communication technique improves security. Limiting the exchange of the temporary keys to a short distance technique provides for the exchange of keys by means that are physically limited to short distances and are reasonably difficult to “spoof” by recording and replaying or transmitting over communication networks.
In some embodiments the temporary license, once granted, may allow separation or “standalone” play for limited time intervals. This may extend to sessions that, for a limited time, are allowed to continue over telecommunication networks. The former case covers situations in which players come together to start a game, but then wish to finish after physically separating. Furthermore, the granting device may host network proxy (or other) services, extended to the temporary device although separated after initial grant.
In one embodiment, additional confirmation of the co-location condition may be performed. For example, the temporary license may be set to have a very short time duration with periodic reactivation being required in order to renew the license key and allow continuing software activation. Setting a short effective temporary license key is an additional optional security mechanism. For example, if reactivation is required every few minutes it provides an additional technique to limit improper distribution of the temporary license.
In one embodiment, a supplier would sell the computing devices customized to support the co-location detection and sharing of temporary license keys. In other embodiments, software necessary to implement the features could be downloaded onto a computing device from a website or supplied from another portable computing device.
While an exchange of a temporary key has been described, more generally any another information needed to play the game may also be exchanged. In some embodiments, physical objects (“tangibles”) may be part of a game set, and copyright holders may wish to include the optical recognition of the tangible or decoding of labels on said tangibles by the visiting device as a part of the authorization process, or temporary lending of digital assets such as game characters to the visiting device.
In some embodiments the intellectual property owner may wish to condition the software to make a purchase offer to the visiting player at the time of, or after, the termination of said temporary license or shared software object. The offer may be for the shared game or object or may be for other associated products, and may include discounts or other incentives and/or limitations. For example, the offer information may be transferred with the temporary key. As an illustrative example, suppose the temporary key has a time limit of 30 days of free play. Information on the time limit and an offer or discounted offer to purchase a full license may also be provided to device receiving the temporary key.
Although an example has been described in which the computing device is separate from the HMD, it will be understood that there are techniques to use a special holder to convert the camera and display of a smart phone into an augmented reality display. Thus, it will be understood that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced on individual smart phones without additional HMDs. However, it will also be understood that embodiments are contemplated in which each computing device is specially adapted and devoted to AR applications.
While examples have been described for AR application, it will be understood that more generally other types of multiplayer games may be supported, such as virtual reality games.
An illustrative embodiment has been described by way of example herein. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that change and modifications may be made to this embodiment without departing from the true scope and spirit of the elements, products, and methods to which the embodiment is directed, which is defined by our claims. Specifically, although the above description has been written in terms of a two player game or item of software, this is not an intended limitation of the invention and those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the invention may be extended to comprise multiple players or software users or indeed some number of human users and some number of automated opponents. Furthermore, although the disclosure is primarily directed to playing computer assisted or augmented games, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the invention may facilitate the granting of temporary use licenses, or similar credentials, for any software product, without limitation.
While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In addition, well known features may not have been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. In accordance with the present invention, the components, process steps, and/or data structures may be implemented using various types of operating systems, programming languages, computing platforms, computer programs, and/or computing devices. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices such as hardwired devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The present invention may also be tangibly embodied as a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium, such as a memory device.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/164,898, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62164898 | May 2015 | US |