Method of and system for minimizing the effects of time latency in multiplayer electronic games played on interconnected computers

Claim 1

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a second user computer a data packet from the first user computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: a packet time that is based on a time when the data packet was transmitted from the first user computer; and information for rendering the object within the virtual space; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer to associate a time relative to an internal clock of the second user computer with the received data packet; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution to render the object on the second user computer in the virtual space with time dependent attributes that correspond to a current time during each game loop.

Claim 2

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a second user computer a data packet from the first user computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: a packet time that is based on a time when the data packet was transmitted from the first user computer; and information for rendering the object within the virtual space; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer to associate a time relative to an internal clock of the second user computer with the received data packet; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution to render the object on the second user computer in the virtual space with time dependent attributes that correspond to a current time during each game loop.

Claim 6

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a second user computer a data packet from the first user computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: an identifier of the object; a packet time that is based on a time when the data packet was transmitted from the first user computer; and position information for the object within the virtual space at the packet time; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer; adding a base clock offset value to the packet time of the received data packet, wherein the base clock offset value corresponds to differences between the packet time and received time of data packets received previously by the second user computer; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution on the second user computer to render the object in the virtual space at a position that corresponds to a current time during each game loop.

Claim 7

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a second user computer a data packet from the first user computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: an identifier of the object; a packet time that is based on a time when the data packet was transmitted from the first user computer; and position information for the object within the virtual space at the packet time; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer; adding a base clock offset value to the packet time of the received data packet, wherein the base clock offset value corresponds to differences between the packet time and received time of data packets received previously by the second user computer; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution on the second user computer to render the object in the virtual space at a position that corresponds to a current time during each game loop.

Claim 14

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a data packet from the first user computer to a server computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: an identifier of the object; a packet time that is based on an internal clock value of the first user computer at a time when the data packet was transmitted; and position information for the object within the virtual space at the packet time; transmitting the data packet from the server computer to selected ones of the plurality of user computers identified by the server computer via the communications network; receiving at a second user computer the data packet from the server computer via the communications network; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer; adding a base clock offset value to the packet time of the received data packet, wherein the base clock offset value corresponds to differences between the packet time and received time of data packets received previously by the second user computer, wherein the base clock offset value is determined by the following steps that are executed by the second computer: determining a new clock offset value, wherein the new clock offset value corresponds to a difference between the packet time and a time the data packet was received by the second user computer; making a predetermined incremental adjustment to the base clock offset value if the new clock offset value does not equal the base clock offset value; and setting the base clock offset value equal to the new clock offset value if a predetermined count is exceeded by a number of consecutive occasions on which the new clock offset value and base clock offset value differ by more than a predetermined threshold amount; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution on the second user computer to render the object in the virtual space at a position that corresponds to a current time during each game loop.

Claim 15

A method of rendering an object in a multiplayer electronic game virtual space such that time latency effects are reduced, wherein the object is controlled by a first one of a plurality of user computers in communication with each other across a communications network, wherein each user computer executes a game loop that renders objects within the virtual space, and wherein game loop execution on the plurality of user computers is asynchronous, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a data packet from the first user computer to a server computer via the communications network, wherein the data packet comprises: an identifier of the object; a packet time that is based on an internal clock value of the first user computer at a time when the data packet was transmitted; and position information for the object within the virtual space at the packet time; transmitting the data packet from the server computer to selected ones of the plurality of user computers identified by the server computer via the communications network; receiving at a second user computer the data packet from the server computer via the communications network; interrupting asynchronous game loop execution at the second user computer; adding a base clock offset value to the packet time of the received data packet, wherein the base clock offset value corresponds to differences between the packet time and received time of data packets received previously by the second user computer, wherein the base clock offset value is determined by the following steps that are executed by the second computer: determining a new clock offset value, wherein the new clock offset value corresponds to a difference between the packet time and a time the data packet was received by the second user computer; making a predetermined incremental adjustment to the base clock offset value if the new clock offset value does not equal the base clock offset value; and setting the base clock offset value equal to the new clock offset value if a predetermined count is exceeded by a number of consecutive occasions on which the new clock offset value and base clock offset value differ by more than a predetermined threshold amount; and resuming asynchronous game loop execution on the second user computer to render the object in the virtual space at a position that corresponds to a current time during each game loop.