Abstract:
A game platform and a match method for terminal type of client end in an online game include: the game platform side searches preset corresponding relation between terminal type identification information and the game according to the terminal type identification information from client end, and sends the game list which has been found to client end; the game platform side acquires the terminal type identification information corresponding to the assigned user identification according to the assigned user identification in the match request of client end, matches with the terminal type identification information of the client end which asked for match request, and notifies the match result to the client end which asked for match request so that the user could quickly match itself with the game or other users which are fit for its terminal.

Description:
[0001]     The present application is a continuation of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2006/002774, filed Oct. 19, 2006, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200510118226.2, filed Oct. 20, 2005. All of these applications are commonly assigned and incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention relates to the field of information and network techniques, and in particular, to a method for matching the terminal types of clients in online gaming and a gaming platform.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Online gaming is a type of entertainment where players participate in networked gaming by means of modem communications, such as the Internet or mobile communication, which greatly facilitate the operation and popularization of the online gaming owing to their quickness and convenience. Players all around the country, or even the world, may share the pleasure of participating in gaming by using a communication terminal at/besides their hands. Further, the use of highly effective medium, such as the Internet, as carriers makes it possible for people to know the online gaming actively or passively, thereby facilitating the popularization of the online gaming.  
         [0004]     The online gaming, which has exceeded the conventional culture industries and is growing at a good pace, has become a pillar industry in network culture market owing to its convenience and popularization. Thus, it has now become critical for information technologies to provide players with better online gaming services so as to prosper the network culture market.  
         [0005]     In addition to online advertisement and short message, the online gaming has become a profit engine of some websites. Online gaming industry is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the following several years. In China, with several years of rapid growth in the online gaming, a substantial online gaming market has been built up.  
         [0006]     The online gaming provides a new economic developing engine for culture industries in the information age owing to its unique advantages and means. Furthermore, the online gaming is so appealing that manufacturers of electronics such as mobile phones and personal digital devices have made additional profits by adding gaming functions to their products, and some websites have achieved a several-fold increase in the browsing quantity of media advertisements such as online advertisements, thereby making great profits. The emergence of online gaming accessories gives birth to new service industries.  
         [0007]     With the popularization of the online gaming, gaming platforms are expected to have progressively enhanced functionalities in that, for one thing, a variety of online games can be provided on the same gaming platform, for another, with the rapid growth in the number of terminal types, the types of clients corresponding to games will increase accordingly. In view of the differences between terminal types, both players and game developers desire that their games are fitted for various types of terminals, in order to maximize the functionalities of their games and to attract more players. It is not easy for a player having logged onto a gaming platform to choose any games fitted for his terminal by reading many game manuals. In addition, if a player cannot actively get to know whether or not his terminal type matches the terminal of any other player who exchanges with him virtual items, e.g. photos and props, during playing, he may find that the exchanged items cannot be used due to the mismatching between the two terminal types after exchanging. Players may fell bored and thus abandon the gaming platform if problems such as those described above are not properly addressed.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An Embodiment of the invention provides a method for matching the terminal types of clients in online gaming and a gaming platform, thereby enabling matching of a user to a game fitted for his terminal or to other users.  
         [0009]     An embodiment of the invention provides a method for matching the terminal types of clients in online gaming, including the following: 
        pre-storing on a gaming platform a correspondence between terminal type identification information and a list of games fitted for the terminal type;     by the gaming platform, receiving terminal type identification information sent by a client; and     by the gaming platform, obtaining a list of games corresponding to the terminal type of the client according to the terminal type identification information sent by the client and the pre-stored correspondence, and sending to the client the list of games corresponding to the terminal type of the client.        
 
         [0013]     In the pre-stored correspondence, the terminal type identification information is directly corresponding to the list of games fitted for the terminal type; alternatively, the terminal type identification information is indirectly corresponding to the list of games fitted for the terminal type via other identification information.  
         [0014]     The terminal type identification information sent by the client is a type identification uniquely identifying the client.  
         [0015]     The terminal type identification information in the pre-stored correspondence is obtained from the client by the gaming platform when the client logs onto the gaming platform for the first time.  
         [0016]     Another embodiment of the invention provides a method for matching the terminal types of clients in online gaming, including the following: 
        by a gaming platform, receiving a matching request containing a designated user identification sent by a first client; and     by the gaming platform, after receiving the matching request, obtaining terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification, matching the terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification with terminal type identification information of the first client, and notifying a matching result to the first client.        
 
         [0019]     The matching request sent by the first client further contains terminal type identification information of the first client;  
         [0020]     Said obtaining further comprises the following: 
        by the gaming platform, sending a querying message to a second client corresponding to the designated user identification; and     by the second client, returning terminal type identification information of the second client in response to the querying message.        
 
         [0023]     Preferably, each client actively reports its own terminal type identification information when logging onto the gaming platform;  
         [0024]     The gaming platform stores a correspondence between a client and its terminal type identification information;  
         [0025]     The gaming platform queries the correspondence according to a client corresponding to the designated user identification contained in the matching request, and obtains terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification.  
         [0026]     The terminal type identification information is a type identification uniquely identifying the client.  
         [0027]     An Embodiment of the invention provides a gaming platform, including: 
        a module adapted to store a correspondence between terminal type identification information and a list of games fitted for the terminal type;     a module adapted to receive terminal type identification information sent by a client; and     a module adapted to obtain a list of games corresponding to the terminal type of the client according to the terminal type identification information sent by the client and the pre-stored correspondence, and sending to the client the list of games corresponding to the terminal type of the client.        
 
         [0031]     An Embodiment of the invention also provides a gaming terminal, including: 
        a module adapted to send terminal type identification information; and     a module adapted to receive a list of games corresponding to the terminal type.        
 
         [0034]     A further embodiment of the invention provides a gaming platform, including: 
        a module adapted to receive a matching request containing a designated user identification sent by a first client; and     a module adapted to obtain terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification, matching the terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification with terminal type identification information of the first client, and notifying a matching result to the first client.        
 
         [0037]     A further embodiment of the invention provides a game terminal, including: 
        a module adapted to send terminal type identification information;     a module adapted to send a matching request containing a designated user identification; and     a module adapted to receive a matching result obtained by matching the terminal type identification information with terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification.        
 
         [0041]     Further, an embodiment of the invention provides two methods for querying, by a user, the terminal type of other users as detailed below.  
         [0042]     A first client sends to a gaming platform a matching request containing terminal type identification information of the first client and a user identification of a designated user who is intended to match with the first client; the gaming platform obtains terminal type identification information of the designated user from the designated user&#39;s client, matches the obtained terminal type identification information with the terminal type identification information of the first client, and notifies a matching result to the first client.  
         [0043]     When logging onto a gaming platform, each client reports its own terminal type identification information, which is stored by the gaming platform. When receiving a matching request from a first client, the gaming platform directly searches the stored terminal type identification information for the one that can match with the terminal type identification information of the first client, performs a matching, and sends a matching result to the first client.  
         [0044]     By using the above two methods, extra efforts due to mismatching between terminal types can be reduced when users are involved in operations relating to the terminal types, such as virtual item exchanging, and the like.  
         [0045]     The matching of terminal type identification information is performed at the network.  
         [0046]     In summary, in the embodiments of the invention, a gaming platform queries the correspondence between preset terminal type identification information and games according to terminal type identification information from a client, and sends the games to the client. The gaming platform obtains terminal type identification information corresponding to an designated user identification contained in a matching request sent from the client, matches the terminal type identification information corresponding to the designated user identification with the terminal type identification information of the client that has sent the matching request, and notifies a matching result to the client, thereby enabling the matching of a user to a game fitted for his terminal or the communications between the user with other users. As a result, user satisfaction can be improved. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0047]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a structure of a system for matching terminal types according to a first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0048]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0049]      FIG. 3  shows a structure of an exemplary terminal type identification information table used in the method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0050]      FIG. 4  shows a structure of an exemplary gaming client list used in the method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0051]      FIG. 5  shows information in an exemplary terminal type identification table used in the method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0052]      FIG. 6  shows information in another exemplary terminal type identification table used in the method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0053]      FIG. 7  shows information in a gaming client list used in the method for matching terminal types according to the first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0054]      FIG. 8  is a diagram showing a structure of a system for matching terminal types according to a second embodiment of the invention;  
         [0055]      FIG. 9  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to the second embodiment of the invention;  
         [0056]      FIG. 10  is a diagram showing a structure of a system for matching terminal types according to a third embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0057]      FIG. 11  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to the third embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0058]     The objects, technical solutions and advantages of the invention will become more apparent by describing the invention hereinafter in more detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.  
         [0059]     The essence of invention lies in that, a gaming platform pre-stores a correspondence between terminal type identification information and games fitted for the terminal type, and a client reports its own terminal type identification information when performing a “game discovery” operation. The gaming platform queries the pre-stored correspondence according to the terminal type identification information from the client, and sends the queried list of games to the client, thereby enabling a user to quickly find out all games fitted for its own terminal type. Furthermore, in the invention, a client sends to a gaming platform a matching request containing terminal type identification information of the client and a user identification of a designated user that the client intends to match with; the gaming platform obtains terminal type identification information of the designated user either from the designated user&#39;s client or in such a way that each client reports its own terminal type identification information when logging onto the gaming platform, matches the obtained terminal type identification information with the terminal type identification information of the client that has sent the matching request, and finally sends a matching result to the client that has sent the matching request, thereby enabling quick matching of the client that has sent the matching request to other users fitted for the terminal type of the client that has sent the matching request.  
         [0060]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a structure of a system for matching terminal types according to a first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0061]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the system includes two parts: a client side, including a plurality of clients, each of which including game unit; and a gaming platform, including game discovery module, database querying unit and database. The functions and relationships of the above modules will be described in detail in a method according this embodiment.  
         [0062]      FIG. 2  is a process showing a method for matching terminal types according to this embodiment as detailed below.  
         [0063]     Block  210 : A gaming platform pre-stores a correspondence between terminal type identification information and games fitted for the terminal type, which may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer or other personal terminal connectable to the network. In particular, the gaming platform pre-stores terminal type identification information of each client. When a client logs onto a game, the gaming platform searches the pre-stored terminal type identification information, and automatically reads and stores terminal type identification information of the client if it is not present in the pre-stored terminal type identification information, which indicates that this is the first time the client has ever logged onto the game. The terminal type identification information of the client may, of course, also be manually added to the gaming platform. The method for generating the terminal type identification information may be dependent on particular situations. The terminal type identification information is required to uniquely identify this terminal type. For example, if a terminal is a mobile phone, the type identification field in the mobile phone can be utilized as the terminal type identification information.  FIG. 3  shows an exemplary data structure for storing type identification information, in which the fields “terminal identification number”, “terminal model”, “terminal type”, “manufacturer”, “serial number”, “date” and “status” are arranged for the sake of convenience in managing the information, and are not necessary fields. By way of example,  FIGS. 5 and 6  each shows a table for storing terminal type identification information. In  FIG. 4 , the “terminal type identification information” is “MOT-A835/72.32.07.MIB/2.2Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0”, the “terminal model” is “MOT-A835”, the “terminal type” is “duplex mobile phone”, the “manufacturer” is “MOT”, and the “serial number” is “MOT-A835”. In  FIG. 5 , the “terminal type identification information” is “Nokia6600/1.0 (3.38.0) Symbianos/7.0s Series60/2.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration”, the “terminal model” is “Nokia6600”, the “terminal type” is “duplex mobile phone”, the “manufacturer” is “Nokia”, and the “serial number” is “Nokia6600”.  
         [0064]     The gaming platform establishes the correspondence between the terminal type identification information and the games and stores the correspondence in the database in the gaming platform. Said correspondence can be direct correspondence between the terminal type identification information and the games fitted for the terminal type, or the indirect correspondence between the terminal type identification information and the games fitted for the terminal type established via other identification information. By way of example,  FIG. 4  shows a structure for storing gaming clients, in which a character string consisting of terminal models is stored in the field “serial number”, with the terminal models being separated by “;”. As shown in  FIG. 7 , a game named “MagicCarpet” supports terminal models “MOT-A835” and “Nokia6600”. In other words, if the terminal model corresponding to terminal type identification information is “MOT-A835” or “Nokia6600”, a game named “MagicCarpet” is included in the games fitted for the terminal type corresponding to the terminal type identification information.  
         [0065]     Block  220 : It is determined if any client has performed a “game discovery”. If so, the process proceeds to Block  230 .  
         [0066]     Block  230 : the client sends its terminal type identification information to the gaming platform. In particular, the client sends its own terminal type identification information to the game discovery module in the gaming platform when performing the “game discovery”.  
         [0067]     Block  240 : the gaming platform queries games fitted for the client. In particular, after the game discovery module in the gaming platform receives the terminal type identification information of the client, the database querying unit in the gaming platform queries the correspondence between terminal type identification information and games fitted for the terminal type stored in the database according to the terminal type identification information of the client, and obtains the list of games corresponding to the terminal type identification information of the client. By way of example, if the terminal type identification information received by the game discovery module in the gaming platform is “MOT-A835/72.32.07.MIB/2.2 Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0”, in this case, the database querying unit may find in the database that the terminal type corresponding to the terminal type identification information is “MOT-A835”, and that the terminal models supported by the game named “MagicCarpet” are “MOT-835” and “Nokia6600”. Therefore, the game corresponding to the terminal type identification information is “MagicCarpet”.  
         [0068]     Block  250 : the game discovery module in the gaming platform sends to the client the obtained list of games, for selection by the client. In this case, the game discovery module in the gaming platform sends to the client the game name “MagicCarpet”.  
         [0069]     It can be seen that, this embodiment enables a user of a client to quickly find out all games fitted for his terminal type. All operations are automatically performed by the system. The user can directly select a game fitted for his terminal without performing any operation.  
         [0070]      FIG. 8  is a diagram showing a structure of a system for matching terminal types according to a second embodiment of the invention.  
         [0071]     As shown in  FIG. 8 , the system includes two parts: a client side, including a plurality of clients, each of which including a game unit; and a gaming platform, including a terminal type matching unit. The interactions between the client side and the gaming platform will be described in detail in a method according this embodiment.  
         [0072]      FIG. 9  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to the second embodiment of the invention as detailed below.  
         [0073]     Block  910 : a first client sends a matching request to a gaming platform. In particular, when a certain client intends to match its own terminal type with that of a designated user, the client sends a matching request to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform. The matching request contains identification information of the designate user, such as a user identification, and terminal type identification information of the client, which is the same in concept as that mentioned in the first embodiment of the invention and will not be described in detail herein. The terminal may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer or other personal terminal connectable to the Internet. By way of example, when a user A intends to match his own terminal type with that of a user B, the user A sends a matching request to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform. The matching request contains a user identification of the user B and terminal type identification information of the user A.  
         [0074]     Block  920 : the gaming platform sends a querying message to a second client. In particular, after receiving the matching request, the terminal type matching unit sends a querying message to a client corresponding to the designated user according to identification information of the designated user. In the above case, after receiving the matching request, the terminal type matching unit sends a querying message to a client corresponding to the user B according to user identification of the user B contained in the matching request.  
         [0075]     Block  930 : the second client responds to the querying message. In particular, after receiving the querying message, the client corresponding to the designated user returns its own terminal type identification information to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform. In the above case, after receiving the querying message, the user B returns its own terminal type identification information to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform.  
         [0076]     Block  940 : the gaming platform performs matching and sends a matching result to the first client. In particular, after receiving the terminal type identification information of the designated user, the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform matches the terminal type identification information of the designated user with the terminal type identification information of the client sending the matching request, and notifies a matching result to the client sending the matching request. In the above case, the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform matches the terminal type identification information contained in the matching request sent by the user A with the terminal type identification information returned by the user B, and if successful, sends a message indicating a successful matching to the client corresponding to the user A.  
         [0077]     It can be seen that, according to this embodiment, a user may quickly match other users fitted for the terminal type of the user. In this way, extra efforts due to mismatching between terminal types can be reduced when users are involved in operations relating to the terminal types, such as virtual item exchanging, and the like.  
         [0078]      FIG. 10  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to a third embodiment of the invention as detailed below.  
         [0079]     As shown in  FIG. 10 , the system includes two parts: a client side, including a plurality of clients, each of which including a game unit; and a gaming platform, including a terminal type matching unit, a database querying unit and a database. The functions and relationships of the above modules will be described in detail in a method according to this embodiment.  
         [0080]      FIG. 11  is a flow chart showing a method for matching terminal types according to the third embodiment of the invention as detailed below.  
         [0081]     Block  1101 : each client reports its own terminal type identification information when logging onto a gaming platform. The terminal type identification information is the same in concept as that mentioned in the first embodiment of the invention and will not be described in detail herein. The terminal may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer or other personal terminal connectable to networks. By way of example, a client corresponding to a user A is required to report its own terminal type identification information to the gaming platform when logging onto the gaming platform. A client corresponding to a user B is also required to report its own terminal type identification information to the gaming platform when logging on the gaming platform.  
         [0082]     Block  1102 : the gaming platform stores a correspondence between a client and its terminal type identification information. In particular, during gaming, the gaming platform is required to store terminal type identification information of a client in a user information table corresponding to the client. Each time the client logs onto the gaming platform, the gaming platform is required to determine if current terminal type identification information is the same as the terminal type identification information stored in the user information table, if not, the terminal type identification information stored in the user information table will be replaced with the current terminal type identification information.  
         [0083]     Block  1103 : a first client sends a matching request to the gaming platform. In particular, when a certain client intends to match its own terminal type with that of a designated user, the client sends a matching request to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform. The matching request contains identification information of the designate user, such as a user identification. By way of example, when a user A intends to match his own terminal type with that of a user B, the user A sends a matching request to the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform. The matching request contains a user identification of the user B.  
         [0084]     Block  1104 : the gaming platform performs matching and sends a matching result to the first client. In particular, the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform searches the terminal type identification information in the user information table of a client according to the client corresponding to the user identification contained in the matching request, matches that terminal type identification information with the terminal type identification information of the client sending the matching request, and sends a matching result to the client sending the matching request. In the above case, the terminal type matching unit in the gaming platform searches the terminal type identification information in the user information table of the user B according to the client corresponding to the user identification of the user B, matches that terminal type identification information with the terminal type identification information of the user A, and if successful, sends a message indicating a successful matching to the client corresponding to the user A.  
         [0085]     It can be seen that, according to this embodiment, a user may quickly match other users fitted for the terminal type of the user.  
         [0086]     Although the present invention has been described and illustrated by way of some preferred embodiments thereof, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the form and specificity of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.