Patent Publication Number: US-11660534-B2

Title: Pre-loading translated code in cloud based emulated applications

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/416,060 to Jacob P. Stine et al., filed May 17, 2019 and entitled “PRE-LOADING TRANSLATED CODE IN CLOUD BASED EMULATED APPLICATIONS”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/416,060 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/640,483 to Jacob P. Stine et al., filed Jul. 1, 2017 and entitled “PRE-LOADING TRANSLATED CODE IN CLOUD BASED EMULATED APPLICATIONS”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/640,483 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/631,785 to Jacob P. Stine et al., filed Sep. 28, 2012 and entitled “PRE-LOADING TRANSLATED CODE IN CLOUD BASED EMULATED APPLICATIONS”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, provisional application Ser. No. 61/666,628, filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “DETERMINING TRIGGERS FOR CLOUD-BASED EMULATED GAMES”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, provisional application Ser. No. 61/666,645, filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “HAPTIC ENHANCEMENTS FOR EMULATED VIDEO GAME NOT ORIGINALLY DESIGNED WITH HAPTIC CAPABILITIES”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, provisional application Ser. No. 61/666,665, filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “CONVERSION OF HAPTIC EVENTS INTO SCREEN EVENTS”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, provisional application Ser. No. 61/666,679, filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “SUSPENDING STATE OF CLOUD-BASED LEGACY APPLICATIONS”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, application Ser. No. 13/631,725, (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,248,374 issued Feb. 2, 2016), filed Sep. 28, 2012, and entitled “REPLAY AND RESUMPTION OF SUSPENDED GAME”, to Brian Michael Christopher Watson, Victor Octav Suba Miura, Jacob P. Stine, and Nicholas J. Cardell, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, application Ser. No. 13/631,740, (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,707,476 issued Jul. 18, 2017), filed Sep. 28, 2012, and entitled “METHOD FOR CREATING A MINI-GAME” to Brian Michael Christopher Watson, Victor Octav Suba Miura, and Jacob P. Stine, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, co-pending application Ser. No. 13/631,803, filed Sep. 28, 2012, and entitled “ADAPTIVE LOAD BALANCING IN SOFTWARE EMULATION OF GPU HARDWARE”, to Takayuki Kazama and Victor Octav Suba Miura, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to commonly-assigned, application Ser. No. 13/631,812 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,849,372 issued Dec. 26, 2017), filed Sep. 28, 2012, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY WITHOUT INCREASING LATENCY IN EMULATION OF A LEGACY APPLICATION TITLE”, to Jacob P. Stine and Victor Octav Suba Miura, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure is related to video game emulation. Among other things, this disclosure describes a method and apparatus for pre-loading emulated applications. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Video games are commonly loaded into a random access memory (RAM) before a player may begin playing the game. This loading process may take a substantial amount of time. Instead of showing a blank screen to the game player, games are often designed with a loading screen. Loading screens may be a picture or a video related to the game, or even a progress bar. However, these loading screens are often not desirable. Preferably, once a game is selected, the game should be immediately playable. The effects of loading time are compounded further when games are being emulated and being delivered over a cloud based network. The delivery over the network may create an additional wait time. Also, network delays may cause the delivery of the emulated data to a game player&#39;s device to be slowed as well. 
     Further still, games are designed to be loaded from a predetermined starting position. Incremental buffering may be used in order to make the game load faster from this predetermined starting position. Incremental buffering is a technique that may be used to allow a game to load faster. Instead of having to build a large buffer from the beginning of the game, the buffer is initially small and then grows in size as the gameplay progresses. However, when a game is loaded at a location where the incremental buffering was not incorporated into the design of the game, the loading time may take even longer because a larger buffer must first be built at this position of the game. With the growth in popularity of mini-games, the ability to load a game quickly from any point in the game is highly desirable. In order to implement faster loading through incremental buffering, a game designer would be required to re-code parts of the game. This additional step would increase the time and cost required for developing mini-games. 
     Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for pre-loading translated code in a cloud based emulation. It is within this context that aspects of the present disclosure arise. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of a client device platform and an emulator residing on a cloud based server communicating over a network according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  2 A  is a block diagram of a method for pre-loading an emulated application according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  2 B  is a block diagram describing the instructions for how an emulator may pre-load an application according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  3 A  is a block diagram of a method for pre-loading a snapshot according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  3 B  is a block diagram describing the instructions for how an emulator may pre-load a snapshot according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    is a drawing of the game selection menu displayed on a client device platform that illustrates how a prediction engine may determine which game to pre-load according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Although the following detailed description contains many specific details for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the aspects of the present disclosure described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claims that follow this description. 
     According to aspects of the present disclosure, an emulator may be one of a plurality of virtual machines on a cloud based server. The emulator may be created by the server in response to demand for a given emulated application. Once the emulator has been generated by the server, the emulator may access an application that is to be emulated. The emulator may then begin translating the code of the application. The translated code may be stored in a cache. When a client device platform selects the application that has been emulated by the emulator, the emulator may deliver the translated application data to the client device platform over the network. According to aspects of the present disclosure, the emulated application may be a legacy game, a snapshot of a legacy game, an audio file, a video file, a mobile application, a desktop application or a web application. 
     According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the emulator may be provided with a snapshot of a legacy game. The snapshot of the legacy game may have addresses of the stored data abstracted from the snapshot. This enables the snapshot to be platform independent. However, the emulator needs the addresses of the data in order to properly emulate the legacy game. Therefore, the addresses may be generated from platform independent information in the snapshot through an automated process. Once the addresses have been generated, the emulator may begin translating the code and storing emulated game data in a memory. Once the legacy game has been selected by a client device platform, the emulator may deliver the emulated data to the client device platform over a network. 
     According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the prediction engine may direct the emulator as to which legacy game it should begin loading before a client device platform makes a selection for a game. By way of example, and not by way of limitation the prediction engine may use historical data, player profile information, trigger information from a game currently being played, or behavior patterns in order to determine which game should be pre-loaded by the emulator. 
       FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram illustrating a system containing components that can implement emulation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. An emulator  107  may be one of a plurality of emulators  107  on a cloud based server  104 . An emulator  107  may be accessed by a client device platform  103  over a network  160 . The client device platform  103  may access alternative emulators  107  over the network  160 . The emulators  107  may be identical to each other, or they may each be programed to emulate unique legacy game titles  106  or unique sets of legacy game titles  106 . The emulator  107  may be a virtual machine that can be built or deleted by a cloud based server  104 . This enables the cloud based server  104  to meet the demand during times of peak usage without having to waste resources when usage is low. 
     The client device platform  103  may include a central processor unit (CPU)  131 ′. By way of example, a CPU  131 ′ may include one or more processors, which may be configured according to any suitable processor architecture, e.g., a dual-core, quad-core, multi-core, or Cell processor architecture. The client device platform  103  may also include a memory  132 ′ (e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). The CPU  131 ′ may execute a process-control program  133 ′, portions of which may be stored in the memory  132 ′. The client device platform  103  may also include well-known support circuits  140 ′, such as input/output (I/O) circuits  141 ′, power supplies (P/S)  142 ′, a clock (CLK)  143 ′ and cache  144 ′. The client device platform  103  may optionally include a mass storage device  134 ′ such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, tape drive, or the like to store programs and/or data. The client device platform  103  may also optionally include a display unit  137 ′ and a user interface unit  138 ′ to facilitate interaction between the client device platform  103  and a user. The display unit  137 ′ may be in the form of a cathode ray tube (CRT) or flat panel screen that displays text, numerals, or graphical symbols. The user interface unit  138 ′ may include a keyboard, mouse, joystick, light pen, or other device. A controller  145 ′ may be connected to the client device platform  103  through the I/O circuit  141 ′ or it may be directly integrated into the client device platform  103 . The controller  145 ′ may facilitate interaction between the client device platform  103  and a user. The controller  145 ′ may include a keyboard, mouse, joystick, light pen, hand-held controls or other device. The controller  145 ′ may also be capable of generating a haptic response  146 ′. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the haptic response  146 ′ may be implemented in the form of mechanical vibrations or any other feedback corresponding to the sense of touch. The client device platform  103  may include a network interface  139 ′, configured to enable the use of Wi-Fi, an Ethernet port, or other communication methods. 
     The network interface  139 ′ may incorporate suitable hardware, software, firmware or some combination of two or more of these to facilitate communication via an electronic communications network  160 . The network interface  139 ′ may be configured to implement wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet. The client device platform  103  may send and receive data and/or requests for files via one or more data packets over the network  160 . 
     The preceding components may exchange signals with each other via an internal system bus  150 ′. The client device platform  103  may be a general purpose computer that becomes a special purpose computer when running code that implements embodiments of the present invention as described herein. 
     The emulator  107  may include a central processor unit (CPU)  131 . By way of example, a CPU  131  may include one or more processors, which may be configured according to any suitable processor architecture, e.g., a dual-core, quad-core, multi-core, or Cell processor architecture. The emulator  107  may also include a memory  132  (e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). The CPU  131  may execute a process-control program  133 , portions of which may be stored in the memory  132 . The emulator  107  may also include well-known support circuits  140 , such as input/output (I/O) circuits  141 , power supplies (P/S)  142 , a clock (CLK)  143  and cache  144 . The emulator  107  may optionally include a mass storage device  134  such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, tape drive, or the like to store programs and/or data. The emulator  107  may also optionally include a display unit  137  and user interface unit  138  to facilitate interaction between the emulator  107  and a user who requires direct access to the emulator  107 . By way of example and not by way of limitation an engineer may need direct access to the emulator  107  in order to program the emulator  107  to properly emulate a desired legacy game  106  or to add additional mini-game capabilities to a legacy game  106 . The display unit  137  may be in the form of a cathode ray tube (CRT) or flat panel screen that displays text, numerals, or graphical symbols. The user interface unit  138  may include a keyboard, touchpad, touch screen, mouse, joystick, light pen, or other device. The emulator  107  may include a network interface  139 , configured to enable the use of Wi-Fi, an Ethernet port, or other communication methods. 
     The network interface  139  may incorporate suitable hardware, software, firmware or some combination of two or more of these to facilitate communication via the electronic communications network  160 . The network interface  139  may be configured to implement wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet. The emulator  107  may send and receive data and/or requests for files via one or more data packets over the network  160 . 
     The preceding components may exchange signals with each other via an internal system bus  150 . The emulator  107  may be a general purpose computer that becomes a special purpose computer when running code that implements embodiments of the present invention as described herein. 
     The emulator  107  may access a legacy game  106  through the internal system bus  150 . There may be more than one legacy game  106  stored in the emulator. The legacy games may also be stored in the memory  132  or in the mass storage device  134 . Additionally, one or more legacy games  106  may be stored at a remote location accessible to the emulator  107  over the network  160 . Each legacy game  106  contains game code  108 . When the legacy game  106  is emulated, the game code  108  produces legacy game data  109 . Legacy game data  109  may be received by the client device platform  103  and displayed on the display unit  137 ′. 
     By way of example, a legacy game  106  may be any game that is not compatible with a client device platform  103 . By way of example and not by way of limitation, the legacy game  106  may have been designed to be played on Sony Computer Entertainment&#39;s PlayStation console, but the client device platform  103  is a home computer. By way of example, the legacy game  106  may have been designed to be played on a PlayStation 2 console, but the client device platform  103  is a PlayStation 3 console. Further, by way of example and not by way of limitation, a legacy game  106  may have been designed to be played on a PlayStation console, but the client device platform  103  is a hand held console such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) or Vita from Sony Computer Entertainment. 
     In some implementations, but not all, the emulator  107  may be a deterministic emulator. A deterministic emulator is an emulator that may process a given set of game inputs the same way every time that the same set of inputs are provided to the emulator  107 . Game inputs may be signals sent by the client device platform  103  to the emulator  107  in order to advance the emulated game from a first state to a second state. By way of example, the game inputs may be directions for the main character of a game to move on the screen, a selection of an item from a menu in the game or any other action that may take place during the playing of the game. An emulator  107  may be made deterministic by eliminating any dependencies in the code run by the emulator  107  that depend from asynchronous activity. Asynchronous activities are events that occur independently of the main program flow. This means that actions may be executed in a non-blocking scheme in order to allow the main program flow to continue processing. Therefore, by way of example, and not by way of limitation, the emulator  107  may be deterministic when the dependencies in the code  108  depend from basic blocks that always begin and end with synchronous activity. By way of example, basic blocks may be predetermined increments of code at which the emulator  107  checks for external events or additional game inputs  347 . The emulator  107  may also wait for any activities that run asynchronously within a system component to complete before proceeding to the next basic block. When no asynchronous activities are running, the emulator  107  may be thought of as running all of the basic blocks of the code  108  in lock step. In such a case, the emulator  107  is sometimes said to be in a “steady state”. 
     As shown in  FIG.  2 A , the emulator  107  may be configured to implement a method for pre-loading a legacy game  106  according to an inventive method  260 . Various aspects of the method  260  may be implemented by execution of computer executable instructions running on the emulator  107  in conjunction with the actions client device platform  103 . Specifically, an emulator  107  may be configured, e.g., by suitable programming, to implement certain emulator instructions  270 . 
     According to a first aspect of the present disclosure the emulator  107  may begin method  260  by deciding which legacy game  106  will be pre-loaded at  261 . This selection is made before a client device platform makes a request for a legacy game  106 . By selecting a game to pre-load before the request is made by the client device platform  103 , the game will be ready to play without a delay due to the loading. The selection process may be implemented by a prediction engine  147 . The prediction engine  147  may be a process control program  133  stored in a memory  132  on the emulator  107  or on a mass storage  134 . Alternatively, the prediction engine  147  may be located in a memory on the cloud based server  104 . 
     According to aspects of the present disclosure, the prediction engine  147  may use historical data to choose which game will be pre-loaded. By way of example, the historical data may be information of how often a legacy game  106  is requested by all of the users accessing the cloud based server  104 . This information may be further defined by the date and time. This information may show that there are patterns of usage based on the day of the week and/or the time of the day. For example, based on historical data, on Monday through Friday during the fall, there may be a historically observed spike in usage and requests for a particular first person shooting game at around 4:00 P.M. In order to have sufficient instances of the first person shooting game loaded when a client device platform  103  requests this specific legacy game  106 , the emulator may choose the first person shooting legacy game  106  to pre-load. 
     According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the prediction engine  147  may track the navigation of a client device platform on the cloud based server  104  in order to choose which legacy game  106  will be pre-loaded. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the client device platform  103  may access a legacy game selection menu  400 . The game selection menu  400  may be displayed on the display  137 ′ of the client device platform.  FIG.  4    is a diagram of the menu  400  as seen on the display  137 ′. Once the client device platform  103  accesses the menu  400 , the emulator may begin pre-loading one of the legacy games A-F. Further, the emulator may track a cursor  448  in order to more accurately predict which of the legacy games will be requested by the client device platform  103 . By way of example, if the cursor  445  is hovering over legacy game B, for a predetermined time, then the emulator may select legacy game B to pre-load. The navigation of the client device platform may also be tracked by alternative indicators. By way of example and not by way of limitation, eye tracking may be used to detect which game a user of the client device platform may be focusing on in order to make a selection of a game to pre-load. 
     According to addition aspects of the present disclosure, the prediction engine  147  may use a user profile corresponding to the client device platform  103  in order to choose which legacy game  106  will be pre-loaded. A user profile may track the usage history of a client device platform  103 . By way of example, and not by way of limitation usage history may include which legacy games  106  the client device platform  103  has requested and how many times each legacy game  106  has been requested. The usage history may also track usage patterns for an individual client device platform based on the time of day and/or the day of the week. Through analyzing this information in the user profile, the prediction engine may more accurately select which legacy game  106  the client device platform  103  will request next. 
     According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, the prediction engine  147  may use triggers within a legacy game  106  that is currently being played by a client device platform  103  in order to choose which legacy game  106  should be pre-loaded. Triggers are further described in commonly assigned application Ser. No. 61/666,628 filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “DETERMINING TRIGGERS FOR CLOUD-BASED EMULATED GAMES”. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, triggers that may be used by the prediction engine could be a score, a time remaining in the game, or finishing a predetermined portion of a game. A score may be used by the prediction engine as an indication of the performance of the client device platform  103 . If the score is above a certain value, then the client device platform  103  may be a skilled player, and may be more likely to request a similar game  106  that has a higher degree of difficulty next. In the alternative, if the score is below a certain value, then the client device platform  103  may be a novice player, and therefore may be more likely to request a legacy game  106  which has a lower degree of difficulty next. The time remaining in the game may be used by the prediction engine to indicate that a new legacy game  106  may be requested soon. When the client device platform  103  finishes a predetermined portion of the game, the prediction engine may determine that the next legacy game  106  in a series of legacy games  106  will be requested next, and therefore the emulator may begin pre-loading the next legacy game  106  in the series. 
     It should be noted that any of the previously stated types of information, or any other type of information may be used in combination or singularly by the prediction engine  147  in order to determine which legacy game  106  should be pre-loaded. Additionally, more than one legacy game may be pre-loaded in order to increase the probability that the legacy game  106  eventually requested by the client device platform  103  has been pre-loaded by the emulator  107 . 
     Once the snapshot has been selected by the prediction engine  147 , the emulator  107  may retrieve the legacy game  106  at  262 . The legacy game  106  may be stored on a memory external to the emulator  107 , but accessible over the network  160 . By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the legacy game  106  may be stored on a memory on the cloud based server  104 . Alternatively, the legacy game  106  may already be stored on a memory within the emulator  107  such as the mass storage  134  and therefore may be accessed over the internal system bus  150 . 
     After the legacy game  106  has been retrieved by the emulator  107 , method  260  continues with the emulator  107  beginning the translation of the legacy game data at  263 . The translation of the legacy game data is an emulation of the legacy game  106  which allows the legacy game  106  to be translated into a format that is compatible with the client device platform  103 . The translation of the game may be ended once the game is at a starting position. The starting position may be an initial game menu, or it may be where the game play begins. The translated legacy game data is then stored in a memory  132  on the emulator at  264 . The memory may be a cache memory in order to increase the speed of delivery once the game is requested. Finally at  265 , the translated legacy game data is delivered to the client device platform  103  over the network  160  when the client device platform  103  makes a request for the legacy game  106 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  2 B , a set of emulator instructions  270  may be implemented, e.g., by the emulator  107 . The emulation instructions  270  may be formed on a nontransitory computer readable medium such as the memory  132  or the mass storage device  134 . The emulator instructions  270  may also be part of the process control program  133 . The instructions include choosing a legacy game  106  to pre-load at  271 . Thereafter, the instructions include retrieving the legacy game  106  at  272 . Next, the emulator  107  is provided with instructions for translating the legacy game data into a format that is compatible with the client device platform at  273 . Once the legacy game data has been translated, the emulator instruction  270  may include storing the translated legacy game data in a memory at  274 . Finally, at  275  the instructions may include delivering the translated legacy game data over the network to the client device platform  103  after the request for the legacy game  106  has been made by the client device platform  103 . 
       FIG.  3 A  is a bock diagram of a method  360  in accordance with an additional aspect of the present disclosure. This additional aspect of the present disclosure describes how a snapshot may be pre-loaded by an emulator  107 . Snapshots are platform-independent recordings of the state of the emulator  107  at a point during emulation of a legacy game  106 . Snapshots may contain platform-dependent information that can be useful but not essential for restoring the state of the emulation. For example, a snapshot may include a number of graphics processor plug-ins, such as a texture cache, that may be ignored. Snapshots are further described in commonly assigned application Ser. No. 61/666,679, filed Jun. 29, 2012, and entitled “SUSPENDING STATE OF CLOUD-BASED LEGACY APPLICATIONS”. Snapshots may be used when the game being loaded is a mini-game. Mini-games are short portions of a game that might not begin at the designated starting position of the legacy game  106  as originally designed. Mini-games are further described in commonly-assigned, co-pending application Ser. No. 13/631,740, filed Sep. 28, 2012, and entitled “METHOD FOR CREATING A MINI-GAME”. 
     As shown in  FIG.  3 A , the emulator  107  may be configured to implement a method for pre-loading a snapshot according to an inventive method  360 . Various aspects of the method  360  may be implemented by execution of computer executable instructions running on the emulator  107  in conjunction with the actions of the client device platform  103 . Specifically, an emulator  107  may be configured, e.g., by suitable programming, to implement certain emulator instructions  370 . 
     According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the emulator  107  may begin method  260  by determining which snapshot will be pre-loaded at  261 . This selection is made before a client device platform  103  makes a request for a snapshot to be loaded. By selecting a snapshot to pre-load before the request is made by the client device platform  103 , the snapshot will be ready to play without a delay. The process of pre-loading a snapshot is important for preventing a delay in the gaming experience for the user because snapshots may not begin at the original starting position of the legacy game  106  they are generated from. Since the snapshot initiates the play of the game from an intermediate position of the legacy game  106 , incremental buffering may not be available. Without incremental buffering the loading of the snapshot may require additional loading time to because a larger buffer is needed to initiate the game play, as opposed to the smaller buffer when incremental buffering is available. 
     The selection process may be implemented by a prediction engine  147 . The prediction engine  147  may be a process control program  133  stored in a memory  132  on the emulator  107  or on a mass storage  134 . The prediction engine  147  may be similar to that of the prediction engine described above for use with loading a legacy game  106  from its original starting position. As such, in order to predict which snapshot will be chosen next by the client device platform  103 , the prediction engine  147  may use historical data, track the navigation of a client device platform on the cloud based server  104 , utilize a user profile corresponding to the client device platform  103 , or use triggers within a legacy game  106  that is currently being played by a client device platform  103 . 
     It should be noted that each of the previously stated types of information or any other type of information may be used in combination or singularly by the prediction engine  147  in order to determine which snapshot should be pre-loaded. Additionally, more than one snapshot may be pre-loaded in order to increase the probability that the snapshot eventually chosen by the client device platform  103  has been pre-loaded by the emulator  107 . 
     Once the snapshot has been selected by the prediction engine  147 , the emulator  107  may retrieve the snapshot at  362 . The snapshot may be stored on a memory external to the emulator  107 , but accessible over the network  160 . By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the snapshot may be stored on a memory on the cloud based server  104 . Alternatively, the snapshot may already be stored on a memory within the emulator  107  such as the mass storage  134  and therefore may be accessed over the internal system bus  150 . 
     Once the snapshot has been retrieved, the emulator  107  may generate the platform dependent addresses for the specific instance of the emulator  107  at  364 . According to some aspects of the present disclosure the address space for every instance of an emulator  107  may be randomized for security purposes through address space layout randomization (ASLR). Therefore, the emulator&#39;s address space may be abstracted from the snapshot in order for a snapshot to be platform independent. As such, in order to pre-load a snapshot, the address space information for the specific instance of the emulator  107  that is loading the snapshot may need to be generated. The specific address information may be generated from the platform independent information within the snapshot with an automated script. Additional information may be added to a translated code cache that marks dependent addresses for code and/or data. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, when a device loads the snapshot, markers in the code cache may be used to relocate code and/or data to reflect the changed emulating system&#39;s memory map. 
     After the address information is generated, the emulator  107  may begin translating the legacy game data at  364  in order to build a buffer. The translation of the legacy game data is an emulation of the legacy game  106  which allows the legacy game  106  to be in a format that is compatible with the client device platform  103 . The snapshot provides the starting position of the legacy game  106 , and instructs every device running on the emulator  107  what state it should be in for the legacy game  106  to be executed properly from that point. However, since the snapshot starting point may not be the original starting position of the legacy game  106 , a buffer may also be needed since there might not be incremental buffering at that position of the legacy game  106 . The translation of the legacy game data may be ended once the game is at the snapshot starting position and a sufficient buffer has been built to run the game properly from that position. Thereafter, the translated buffered data is stored in a memory  132  on the emulator  107  at  365 . The memory may be a cache memory in order to increase the speed of delivery once the snapshot is requested by the client device platform  103 . Finally at  366 , the translated legacy game data is delivered to the client device platform  103  over the network  160  when the client device platform  103  makes a request for the snapshot. 
     As shown in  FIG.  3 B , a set of emulator instructions  370  may be implemented, e.g., by the emulator  107 . The emulation instructions  370  may be formed on a nontransitory computer readable medium such as the memory  132  or the mass storage device  134 . The emulator instructions  370  may also be part of the process control program  133 . The instructions include choosing a snapshot to pre-load at  371 . Next, the emulator  107  is provided with instructions for retrieving the snapshot at  372 . Thereafter, the instructions include generating the platform dependent addresses that allow the emulator  107  to process the snapshot at  373 . Then at  374 , the instructions include building a buffer by translating the legacy game data into a format that is compatible with the client device platform at  374 . Once the legacy game data has been translated, the emulator instruction  370  may include storing the translated legacy game data in a memory at  375 . Finally, the instructions may include delivering the translated legacy game data over the network  160  to the client device platform  103  after the request for the game has been made by the client device platform  103  at  376 . 
     While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. Any feature described herein, whether preferred or not, may be combined with any other feature described herein, whether preferred or not. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article “A”, or “An” refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for.”