{
  "patent_number": "US RE36574",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Early Video Games Synchronized Gameplay Over Modems",
  "original_title": "USRE36574E - Video game",
  "summary": "A 1998 patent describing a method to keep two remote video games in sync by exchanging command signals and timing codes over a modem connection.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a hardware assembly that sits between a video game console and a modem to enable remote multiplayer gaming. It captures player inputs (like button presses) from the local console and receives similar inputs from a remote player via a data link. A synchronizer component then ensures these two sets of inputs are fed into the game's processor at the same time. It also uses a counting mechanism to track when the game states drift apart; if the synchronization codes don't match for a set number of cycles, the system retrieves stored player parameters to re-align the games.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover modern high-speed internet multiplayer architectures that rely on server-side state reconciliation.",
    "Does not cover wireless or Bluetooth-based controller synchronization.",
    "Does not cover cloud gaming where the game logic runs on a remote server rather than a local console.",
    "Does not cover synchronization methods that do not utilize a specific local and remote synchronization code comparison."
  ],
  "filed": "1998-02-09",
  "granted": "2000-02-15",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "MILTON HAROLD W",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/milton-harold-w",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Jeffrey Tenenbaum",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/jeffrey-tenenbaum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Hochstein",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/peter-hochstein"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 16,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "gaming",
    "telecommunications"
  ],
  "abstract": "A local video game (310) including a communicating controller (326). The controller (326) receives local command signals created by a set of player controls (316). The controller (326) also receives remote command signals received through a modem (324) which were created by a remote video game (320) through a similar set of player controls. The controller (326) includes a synchronizer (328) which produces synchronizing codes to be sent to the remote video game (320) to synchronize the games. The synchronizer (328) synchronizes the local and remote command signals such that both are received by a game microprocessor (322) simultaneously. Memory (336) stores the player parameters and are retrieved whenever the synchronization codas of the local (310) and remote (320) video games have not matched for a predetermined number of iterations.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/RE36574/game-boy",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/RE36574/game-boy/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/USRE36574",
  "relatedPatents": []
}