Networking & Multiplayer

Tencent received 2 patents addressing different layers of multiplayer server performance. The first describes a system that separates where a game is hosted from where players enter the network, allowing players to connect through whichever ISP peering path offers the lowest latency rather than being locked into whatever network path the hosting location dictates. The second tackles server resource efficiency from a different angle, with a system that adjusts how frequently a game server refreshes its state based on what is actually happening in the match, scaling up during intense combat and pulling back during quieter moments to avoid burning compute resources unnecessarily.

Google received 1 patent focused on improving uplink scheduling for wireless devices running cloud games or XR applications over 5G. The system allows a device to modify its uplink transmission resources on a per-traffic-period basis within an already-configured grant, giving it the responsiveness of dynamic scheduling without the latency cost that typically comes with requesting resources on the fly.

Shanghai Lilith Technology received 1 patent covering a client-side rendering approach for large-scale simulation games with heavy combat interactions. Rather than routing every hit calculation through the server in real time, the system pre-calculates damage values and hit rates, then handles the visual display of combat effects locally on the client, using defined phases where hits can register versus phases where they cannot, smoothing out the visual experience without putting constant load on the server.

AviaGames received 2 patents, both centered on the same core problem: running competitive multiplayer matches without requiring all players to be online at the same time. One patent describes a matchmaking system that pairs a live player against a recording of a past player's session, using a skill-based rating approach that combines standard and high-performance ratings to find a fair historical opponent. The second patent extends this concept further by incorporating AI-driven replays of past performances and adding wagering support, using content seeding to ensure both the live player and the historical replay encounter identical game conditions.

Nintendo received 4 patents spanning lobby design, session management, screen sharing, and asynchronous competition. One patent reimagines the pre-match waiting period for racing games by placing players together in a shared open-world environment where they can move around freely while the game fills and prepares, with late arrivals able to watch ongoing races from within that same shared space. Another patent addresses how online sessions handle the balance between active participants and spectators, using a priority system that preserves spots for players actively competing and uses time-based or contribution-based rules to remove viewers when a session reaches its capacity. A third patent solves a cheating problem in voice chat by letting game-level logic control which players in a communication session can see each other's screens, so teammates can share views while opponents cannot. The fourth patent describes a system for ghost data, allowing recorded player performances to respond dynamically to current game conditions rather than simply playing back a fixed replay, making asynchronous competition feel more reactive.

Las Vegas Sands received 1 patent for a server-side validation system designed to catch both bugs and cheating by replaying client-side game actions on the server using identical logic to what runs on the client. The replay happens asynchronously, so the server can validate outcomes without interrupting the player's session, comparing the resulting game states to identify any discrepancies.

Lenovo received 1 patent describing a method for transmitting user interaction data, including pose, gestures, and eye tracking, by embedding it directly into the header extensions of RTP packets rather than sending it as separate data. Because this places interaction data on the same processing path as the media stream itself, it reduces the delay between a user's physical input and the system's response, which matters particularly for cloud gaming and XR applications where that round-trip time is critical.

Roblox received 4 patents, with 2 focused on netcode architecture and 2 on matchmaking infrastructure. The netcode patent describes an approach that gives developers fine-grained control over how individual object types handle lag compensation, rollback, and reconciliation, rather than applying a single set of rules across all objects in a game. The distributed database patent describes a system for massive virtual worlds that partitions the world into regions across servers, uses versioned snapshots to preserve historical states, and allows servers to simulate activity in neighboring regions while remaining the definitive authority only over their own assigned area. On the matchmaking side, one patent allows developers to define their own player-matching rules and scoring criteria using the platform's existing infrastructure, while the second patent builds on this by letting developers configure weighted scoring functions through a UI and even use machine learning models to interpret plain-text developer input to determine appropriate matching weights.

Samsung received 1 patent for a wireless video transmission system that applies different quality degradation strategies depending on whether the content being sent is a game or a video stream. Using metadata from HDMI 2.1's Auto Low Latency Mode to identify the content type, the system prioritizes maintaining frame rate for games during network congestion (at the cost of resolution) while doing the opposite for video, preserving resolution by skipping frames instead.

Sony received 1 patent describing a hybrid server architecture for online games that draws from the player pool itself to provision game servers dynamically. Rather than relying entirely on centralized infrastructure or asking players to manually set up and run dedicated servers, the system automatically allocates hosting responsibilities to consoles within the player pool as needed, without requiring any technical involvement from the players whose hardware is being used.

MediaTek received 1 patent addressing battery consumption on mobile devices running XR or cloud gaming applications over 5G. Existing power-saving modes use fixed wake cycles that do not align well with how AR and VR data actually arrives, so this system introduces adaptive controls that match the device's active listening windows to the real arrival patterns of XR traffic, including accounting for jitter, reducing wasted power without adding latency to the connection.