Greg Harrison (harrisog++at++geocities.com)
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 16:38:58 -0500
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: dorbie++at++SGI.COM [mailto:dorbie++at++SGI.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 5:38 PM
To: info-performer++at++SGI.COM
Subject: News form 4th Wave on a surprising patent
9011.1 Hot Topics
***RTIME Gets Patent for Networked Game Play
(January 26)
RTIME announced that it has received a patent from the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office for its RTIME Interactive Networking
Engine, a client/server networking solution that enables realtime
interactive applications over the Internet. RTIME's invention is
directed at enabling multiuser, interactive applications that
overcome the performance and scalability limitations of large-
scale networks - primarily the Internet. The company's main focus
is to enable multiplayer gaming over the Internet, with customers
that include Panasonic and Acclaim Entertainment.
RTIME's patent (U.S. #5,841,980) is comprised of 54 individual
claims that cover several facets of distributed, interactive
communication systems. Some of these include realtime data
filtering, whereby only relevant data is distributed to each
interested party. Relevance can be based on object location,
type, priority, or data rate. Additionally, RTIME has received
protection for its unique global timebase that keeps disparate
users synchronized within milliseconds to overcome high and
varying network latency. The patent covers both single-server
systems, which are predominant in small-scale applications
supporting 8-32 concurrent users, as well as multi-server systems
that support hundreds or thousands of concurrent users.
RTIME's technology provides support for a variety of applications
that require realtime interaction between multiple, distributed
participants. Such applications include multiplayer gaming,
simulations, education, training, medical and concurrent
engineering. The company's technology resolves the critical
issues of high and variable latency, limited bandwidth, and high
packet loss, using proprietary methods that include three primary
facets:
A fully distributed system architecture that retains national
participation in each application environment by allocating
resources among responsible servers at remote locations;
Multiple "zones of interest" within an application
environment so that only relevant data applicable to each
participant within a given application environment is transmitted
across the network backbone. These zones of interest can be based
on position, type, priority, and data rate of an object; and
Multi-server management provides interaction across
application environment regional boundaries without sacrificing
continuity among participants or increasing the number of
postcards that are transmitted.
The RTIME Interactive Networking Engine is a client/server
software platform that enables the rapid development of high-
performance, multiuser applications and multiplayer games. Some
of its core features include:
Distributed Timebase Manager - on the Internet, latency
varies widely both on different networks and over the course of
time during a game play session. RTIME's Distributed Timebase
Manager keeps a global time synchronization that dynamically
adjusts for each player as his or her latency goes up and down,
and makes realtime decisions about data distribution and object
placement to account for variable latency.
Realtime Filter Manager - players moving within 3D worlds
require rapid updates of other players and objects in their
virtual space, but only information that is relevant to their
zones of interest. RTIME's Realtime Filter Manager uses affinity-
based data distribution to determine the appropriate information
to send to each player in realtime. Affinities can be prioritized
based on object type, location, priority and data rate, and can
be automatically adjusted at runtime on each client for optimized
playability via bandwidth management.
Intelligent Update Manager - RTIME has implemented a series
of protocol-level functions to ensure that the smallest amount of
data is sent over the wire, and that updates occur only when
necessary. The reduction in bandwidth usage helps to increase the
quality of game play and/or the number of potential players and
spectators, while reducing delivery costs on the Internet. RTIME
supports TCP, and has developed a reliable layer around UDP for
faster performance and guaranteed delivery of critical
information.
Server-to-Server Communications - massively multiplayer
"worlds" require much larger user populations to interact in the
same shared space. To achieve this, servers must be inter-
connected and able to share information that is relevant for each
connected gamer. RTIME has developed a server-to-server
architecture that is independent of the game development effort,
allowing additional servers to be plugged in with no additional
programming.
The result of this combined feature set for game developers is
the ability to support multiplayer game genres, including fast-
action "twitch," realtime strategy, simulations, sports titles
and persistent worlds.
The RTIME Interactive Networking Engine(tm) V3.0 is available
immediately.
http://www.rtimeinc.com
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