PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8734255-B2
Application Number: US-88650510-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Methods and systems for providing a game center having player specific options and statistics

Abstract:
Described herein are methods and systems for providing a game center having player specific options and statistics. For example, in at least certain embodiments, a game center module can provide a friends option such that a user can view and select from a list of friends. The game center module can provide friend details of a selected friend including a list of games played together between the user and the selected friend and a list of other games in common between the user and the selected friend. In an embodiment, the list of games in common and the list of other games in common each include a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a friends option of a game center module; 
 sending data to be presented on a graphical user interface of a system in response to the selection of the friends option, the data indicative of a list of friends; 
 receiving a selection of a friend from the list of friends; and 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of details of the selected friend, the details including a first list of games played together for games in common between a user and the selected friend and a second list of other games in common that have not been played together between the user and the selected friend, wherein each friend has an account that is associated with an account of the user. 
 
     
     
       2. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first list of games comprises a separate selectable option for each game and each game of the first list of games displays a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       3. The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , wherein the second list of games comprises a selectable option for each game with each selectable option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       4. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the gaming details of the selected friend further comprises a third list of games owned by the friend and not owned by the user. 
     
     
       5. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of an option from the first list of games; 
 sending data to be presented to the graphical user interface, the data indicating game details for the selected game; 
 receiving a selection of a leaderboard option provided by the game details; 
 sending data to be presented to the graphical user interface, the data indicative of a leaderboard that includes a first ranked list of top players and the user among the user&#39;s friends for the game associated with the selected option. 
 
     
     
       6. The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the leaderboard includes a second ranked list of top players and the user among all players for the game associated with the selected option. 
     
     
       7. The computer-implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the first ranked list further comprises a ranking for the selected friend for the game associated with the selected option, wherein the rankings of the first ranked list and the second ranked list are also generated based on one of the following time periods: today, this week, and all time, wherein the leaderboard further comprises a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and a show more option to show an additional number of players. 
     
     
       8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a computing system cause said system to perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a friends option of a game center module; 
 sending data to be presented on a graphical user interface of a system in response to the selection of the friends option, the data indicative of a list of friends; 
 receiving a selection of a friend from the list of friends; and 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of details of the selected friend, the details including a first list of games played together for games in common between a user and the selected friend and a second list of other games in common that have not been played together between the user and the selected friend, wherein each friend has an account that is associated with an account of the user. 
 
     
     
       9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the first list of games comprises a separate selectable option for each game and each game of the first list of games displays a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium-of  claim 8 , wherein the second list of games comprises a selectable option for each game with each selectable option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the gaming details of the selected friend further comprises a third list of games owned by the friend and not owned by the user. 
     
     
       12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a selection of an option from the first list of games; 
 sending data to be presented to the graphical user interface, the data indicating game details for the selected game; 
 receiving a selection of a leaderboard option provided by the game details; 
 sending data to be presented to the graphical user interface, the data indicative of a leaderboard that includes a first ranked list of top players and the user among the user&#39;s friends for the game associated with the selected option. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the leaderboard includes a second ranked list of top players and the user among all players for the game associated with the selected option. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the first ranked list further comprises a ranking for the selected friend for the game associated with the selected option, wherein the rankings of the first ranked list and the second ranked list are also generated based on one of the following time periods: today, this week, and all time, wherein the leaderboard further comprises a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and a show more option to show an additional number of players. 
     
     
       15. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a friend from a list of friends provided by a game center module; and 
 sending data to be presented on a graphical user interface of a system, the data indicative of details of the selected friend, the details including a first list of games played together for games in common between a user and the friend and a second list of other games in common that have not been played together between the user and the friend, wherein each friend has an account that is associated with an account of the user, and wherein the data for each game on the first list of games includes a game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
 
     
     
       16. The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , wherein the data for each game on the second list of games includes a game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       17. The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of an option associated with one of the games from the first or second list of games; 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of game details of the selected game; 
 receiving a selection of a leaderboard option provided by the game details; 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of a leaderboard that includes a first ranked list of a number of top players including the user if the user is ranked within the number of top players or a number of top players and an additional ranking for the user for the game associated with the selected option if the user is not ranked within the number of top players. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the leaderboard further includes a second ranked list of top players and the user among all players for the game associated with the selected option. 
     
     
       19. The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the rankings of the leaderboard are generated based on a plurality of games recently played by the user. 
     
     
       20. The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the first ranked list further comprises a ranking for the selected friend for the game associated with the selected option, wherein the rankings of the first ranked list and the second ranked list are also generated based on one of the following time periods: today, this week, and all time, wherein the leaderboard further comprises a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and a show more option to show an additional number of players. 
     
     
       21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a computing system cause said system to perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a friend from a list of friends provided by a game center module; and 
 sending data to be presented on a graphical user interface of a system, the data indicative of details of the selected friend, the details including a first list of games played together for games in common between a user and the friend and a second list of other games in common that have not been played together between the user and the friend, wherein each friend has an account that is associated with an account of the user, and wherein the data for each game on the first list of games includes a game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
 
     
     
       22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the data for each game on the second list of games includes a game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     
     
       23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 21 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a selection of an option associated with one of the games from the first or second list of games; 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of game details of the selected game; 
 receiving a selection of a leaderboard option provided by the game details; 
 sending data to be presented on the graphical user interface, the data indicative of a leaderboard that includes a first ranked list of a number of top players including the user if the user is ranked within the number of top players or a number of top players and an additional ranking for the user for the game associated with the selected option if the user is not ranked within the number of top players. 
 
     
     
       24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein the leaderboard further includes a second ranked list of top players and the user among all players for the game associated with the selected option. 
     
     
       25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein the rankings of the leaderboard are generated based on a plurality of games recently played by the user. 
     
     
       26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the first ranked list further comprises a ranking for the selected friend for the game associated with the selected option, wherein the rankings of the first ranked list and the second ranked list are also generated based on one of the following time periods: today, this week, and all time, wherein the leaderboard further comprises a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and a show more option to show an additional number of players. 
     
     
       27. A system, comprising:
 a computer-readable medium to store a game center module; 
 one or more processing units coupled to the computer-readable medium, 
 an input/output device coupled to the one or more processing units, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to receive a selection of a friends option of the game center module, to send data to be presented to the input/output device, the data indicative of a list of friends, to receive a selection of a friend from the list of friends, and to send data to be presented to the input/output device, the data indicative of friend details of the selected friend including a first list of games played together for games in common between a user and the selected friend and a second list of other games in common that have not been played together between the user and the selected friend, wherein each friend has an account that is associated with an account of the user. 
 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 27 , wherein the first and second list of games comprises a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a set of achievements for the friend while playing the respective game. 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 28 , wherein each option also indicates a comparison of a user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game.

Description:
CLAIM TO PRIORITY 
     This application claims the benefit of commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application No. 61/321,861 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A GAME CENTER” filed on Apr. 7, 2010 by Marcel van Os, and commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application No. 61/378,886 entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING A GAME CENTER” filed on Aug. 31, 2010 by Marcel van Os, the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
     The invention to be disclosed and claimed in this application was prematurely and without Apple&#39;s authorization disclosed to the public when a prototype of Apple&#39;s iPhone 4 was apparently stolen from an Apple engineer on Mar. 25, 2010. The U.S. priority applications, on which this application is based, were not filed before the apparent theft. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods that provide a game center having player specific options and statistics for gaming applications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Various devices such as electronic devices, computing systems, portable devices, and handheld devices have software gaming applications. These devices can network with each other for a multi-player gaming experience. 
     One prior gaming device allows players to interact with each other online. This gaming device allows the sharing of a game and accomplishments between players. A user with a game console accesses an online game service to share the gaming experience with other players. 
     However, this prior approach has limitations in terms of connecting players, playing games with other players, and tracking player performance. 
     SUMMARY 
     Described herein are methods and systems for providing a game center. For example, in at least certain embodiments, a game center module provides a game center having player specific options and statistics. The game center module can provide a friends option such that a user can view and select from a list of friends. The game center module can provide friend details of a selected friend including a list of games played together between the user and the selected friend and another list of other games in common between the user and the selected friend. 
     In one embodiment, the list of games played together includes a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. The list of other games in common includes a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. Upon selection of an option from the list of games played together or the list of game in common the game center module may provide game details regarding the selected game and a leaderboard option. Selection of the leaderboard option causes the generation of a leaderboard that includes rankings for top players, the user, and optionally the selected friend for the selected game. 
     The present disclosure includes systems and devices that perform these methods, including data processing systems which perform these methods, and machine readable media which when executed on data processing systems cause the systems to perform these methods. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a functional block diagram of a game center module for managing a game center in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary overview of exemplary gaming options provided by a game center module located on a client system in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  300  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized player specific options and statistics; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  400  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized game achievement options; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  500  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized game details based on being accessed via a friends option or a games option; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  600  of matching players who have recently played games together; 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  700  of providing a multi-player game invite to invite players based on a user&#39;s list of friends or auto-matching players with a game service; 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  800  of receiving a gaming invite with a client system; 
         FIG. 9A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  900  that is generated upon initiation of the game center module in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  925  that is generated upon selection of a profile option  910  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9C  illustrates an exemplary user interface  960  having account information options in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9D  illustrates an exemplary user interface  970  that is generated upon selection of a profile option  910  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1000  having a list of friends  1050  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 11A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1100  having friend details of a particular friend in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 11B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1191  having friend details of a particular friend in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 12  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1200  having a list of games  1250  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 13  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1300  having gaming details of a particular game in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 14A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1400  having a leaderboard in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 14B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1491  having a leaderboard in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 15A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1500  having game details for a specific game in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 15B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1582  having game details for a specific game in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 16A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1600  having a leaderboard in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 16B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1691  having a leaderboard in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 17  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1700  having achievements in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 18A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1800  having achievements in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 18B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1850  having achievements in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 19  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1900  having recent players from recent matches with the user in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 20  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2000  having details for a player from recent matches in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 21  illustrates a an exemplary user interface  2100  having list of notifications (e.g., friend requests, updates) in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 22  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2200  having details for a received friend request in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 23  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2300  having a friend request communication in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 24  illustrates an alert message in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 25-27  illustrate user interfaces provided by a game center module during a multi-player gaming experience in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 28  illustrates an exemplary welcome alert  2810  that slides across a user interface  2800  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 29  illustrates an exemplary achievement award  2910  that slides across an user interface  2900  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 30  illustrates a touch I/O system  3001  that can receive touch input for interacting with computing system  3003  via wired or wireless communication channel  3002  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 31  shows a wireless system which includes the capability for wireless communication in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 32  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary API architecture, which may be used in one embodiment of the present invention; 
       In  FIG. 33  (“Software Stack”), in one embodiment of the present invention, applications can make calls to Services A or B using several Service APIs and to Operating System (OS) using several OS APIs; 
         FIGS. 34-36  illustrate exemplary alerts or notifications presented to a user interface upon receiving a game invite in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 37-42  illustrate exemplary user interfaces designed for certain systems in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 43  illustrates a desired object  4300  having texture in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 44  illustrates a template object  4400  in one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 45  illustrates an exemplary user interface having an exemplary form  4500  with various input fields  4510 - 4514  in one embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 46  illustrates an exemplary computer-implemented method for adding texture to objects of user interfaces in one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Described herein are methods and systems for providing a game center having player specific options and statistics. For example, in at least certain embodiments, a game center module located on a system provides the game center. The game center may be a central area in a gaming system that provides information for numerous games, clients, players, etc., or any combination thereof. The games can be educational, have utility, provide entertainment, or be any category of software applications provided by an application service (e.g., application store). 
     The game center module can provide a friends option such that a user can view and select from a list of friends. The game center module can provide friend details of a selected friend including a list of games played together between the user and the selected friend and another list of other games in common between the user and the selected friend. 
     In one embodiment, the list of games played together includes a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. The list of other games in common includes a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. Upon selection of an option from the list of games played together or the list of game in common the game center module may provide game details regarding the selected game and a leaderboard option. Selection of the leaderboard option causes the generation of a leaderboard that includes rankings for top players, the user, and optionally the selected friend for the selected game. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a general network topology implemented in one embodiment of the present invention can include a group of “client” or “peer” computing systems  120 - 123 , respectively, communicating with one another and with one or more services  109 - 114  over a network  130 . Although illustrated as a single network cloud in  FIG. 1 , the “network”  130  can be comprised of a variety of different components including public networks such as the Internet and private networks such as local Wi-Fi networks (e.g., 802.11n home wireless networks or wireless hotspots), local area Ethernet networks, cellular data networks, and WiMAX networks, to name a few. For example, system  120  may be connected to a home Wi-Fi network represented by network link  125 , system  121  may be connected to a 3G network (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (“HSUPA”), etc) represented by network link  126 , system  122  may be connected to a WiMAX network represented by network link  127 , and system  123  may be connected to a public Wi-Fi network represented by network link  128 . Each of the local network links  125 - 128  over which the systems  120 - 123  are connected may be coupled to a public network such as the Internet, thereby enabling communication between the various systems  120 - 123  over the public network. However, if two systems are on the same local or private network (e.g., the same Wi-Fi network), then the two systems may communicate directly over that local/private network, bypassing the public network. It should be noted, of course, that the underlying principles of the present disclosure are not limited to any particular set of network types or network topologies. 
     Each of the systems  120 - 123  illustrated in  FIG. 1  can communicate with a data service  100  that may include a collaborative service  109  (e.g., game service, music creation service, document creation service), a connection data exchange (CDX) service  110 , a matchmaker service  111 , an invitation service  112 , an account service  113 , and an application service  114 . In one embodiment, the collaborative service  109  enables users to collaborate with collaborative applications. For example, the collaborative service  109  may be a game service that enables users to collaborate for multi-player gaming applications. The game service may include or access any of the services  110 - 114  to provide a game center. The game service may include or access any of the services  110 - 114 . For example, the game service may include services  111  and  112 . The services  109 - 114  can be implemented as software executed across one or more physical computing systems such as servers. As shown in  FIG. 1 , in one embodiment, the services may be implemented within the context of a larger data service  100  managed by the same entity (e.g., the same company) and accessible by each of the systems  120 - 123  over the network  130 . The data service  100  can include a local area network (e.g., an Ethernet-based LAN) connecting various types of servers, a storage area networks (“SANs”) and databases. In one embodiment, the databases store and manage data related to each of the user systems (e.g., client systems, computer systems, mobile systems)  120 - 123  and the users of those systems (e.g., user account data, system account data, user application data, etc.). 
     In one embodiment, a game center module  130 - 133  is located on each system  120 - 123 . The game center module is associated with a game center software application that manages a game center in conjunction with the game service. The game center module includes sub-modules (e.g., profile, friends, games, notifications) for managing the game center and providing the gaming experience for multi-player gaming. 
     In one embodiment, the game center module  130 - 133  is implemented on a game framework such as that described in co-pending applications U.S. patent application No. 61/321,854, entitled “APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLLABORATIVE ONLINE APPLICATIONS,” Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Mike Lampell; U.S. patent application No. 61/321,842, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MATCHING USERS FOR ONLINE SESSIONS”, Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Jeremy Werner, Phillip Smith, Andrew H. Vyrros; U.S. patent application No. 61/321,832, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INVITING USERS TO ONLINE SESSIONS”, Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Andrew H. Vyrros, Jeremy Werner, and Patrick Gates; U.S. patent application No. 61/321,841, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING AND UTILIZING BACKUP COMMUNICATION CHANNELS”, Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Jeff Tung, Barry A. Whitebook, Joe Abuan, Hyeonkuk Jeong, Andy Yang, and Roberto Garcia; and U.S. patent application No. 61/321,851, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENTLY AND SECURELY EXCHANGING CONNECTION DATA”, Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Joe Abuan, Jeff Tung, Robert Quattlebaum, Barry A. Whitebook, and Roberto Garcia (hereinafter “Co-pending Applications”), which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and which are incorporated herein by reference. It should be noted, however, that the game framework described in the co-pending applications is not required for complying with the underlying principles of the invention. Additionally, in one embodiment, the friend service operations described herein (e.g., displaying friends lists, sending/receiving friend requests, etc) are managed by the friend service described in the co-pending application U.S. patent application No. 61/321,848, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENTLY MANAGING DATA IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE”, Filed Apr. 7, 2010 by Amol Pattekar, Jeremy Werner, and Patrick Gates, (hereinafter “Friend Service Application”), which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, each user is identified within the friend service by either a unique destination signaling identifier (“DSID”) or a unique handle. In one embodiment, a DSID is used to identify users who are known to have accounts on the friend service. These users are sometimes referred to as “in-network users.” A handle can be used to identify users who are not known to have accounts on the friend service  100 . These users are sometimes referred to as “out-of-network users.” This may include users who have not yet registered an account on the friend service and/or users who have an account on the friend service but who have not yet associated a particular handle with their account. 
     A “friend” may be defined as a user having an account that is associated or linked with an account from another user. More details in regards to the friends service operations and defining a “friend” are described in the co-pending Friend Service Application. 
     The matchmaker service  111  can match two or more systems for a collaborative peer to peer (P2P) session based on a specified set of conditions. For example, users of two or more of the systems may be interested in playing a particular multi-player game. In such a case, the matchmaker service  111  may identify a group of systems to participate in the game based on variables such as each user&#39;s level of expertise, the age of each of the users, the timing of the match requests, the particular game for which a match is requested and game-specific variables associated with the game. By way of example, and not limitation, the matchmaker service  111  may attempt to match users with similar levels of expertise at playing a particular game. Additionally, adults may be matched with other adults and children may be matched with other children. Moreover, the matchmaker service  111  may prioritize user requests based on the order in which those requests are received. The underlying principles of the present disclosure are not limited to any particular set of matching criteria or any particular type of P2P application. More details in regards to the matchmaker service are described in co-pending U.S. patent application No. 61/321,842. 
     In response to a match request, the matchmaker service  111  can coordinate with the CDX service  110  to ensure that all matched participants receive the necessary connection data for establishing P2P sessions in an efficient and secure manner. 
     In one embodiment, the invitation service  112  also identifies systems for participation in collaborative P2P sessions. However, in the case of the invitation service  112 , at least one of the participants is specifically identified by another participant. For example, the user of system  120  may specifically request a collaborative session with the user of system  121 . As with the matchmaker service  111 , in response to an invitation request, the invitation service  112  can identify the set of participants and coordinate with the CDX service  110  to ensure that all participants receive the necessary connection data for establishing P2P sessions in an efficient and secure manner. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary overview of gaming options provided by a game center module located on a client system in one embodiment of the present invention. The game center module  200  includes a profile sub-module  210  for providing user profile information (e.g., status information, representation, account data), a friends sub-module  220  for providing information related to a user&#39;s friends (e.g., list of friends, editing of friends, games played with friends), a gaming sub-module  230  for providing gaming information for games owned by the user, and a notifications sub-module  240  for providing various types of notifications (e.g., requests, gaming updates, etc.). Each of the sub-modules may provide a user interface with selectable options. 
     The profile sub-module  210  associated with a profile option provides access to the profile editor option  212  (e.g., avatar editor option) and account data option  214  of the user. An avatar is a representation of a computer user or their alter ego. An avatar is often in the form of a three-dimensional (3D) model used in computer games or a two-dimensional (2D) icon or picture or image or clip art used on Internet forums, social networks and other communities. Avatars can also be used in video games, including online interactive gaming environments. The avatar editor option can create and edit a user&#39;s avatar. More details regarding avatars, avatar editing, and features of avatars are described in U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/321,716, entitled “PERSONALIZING COLORS OF USER INTERFACES,” filed Apr. 7, 2010, by Marcel van Os, and U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/321,840, entitled “AVATAR EDITING ENVIRONMENT,” filed Apr. 7, 2010, by Marcel van Os et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     A friends sub-module  220  associated with a friends option provides access to a friends list option  222 . These friends can be editing by the user. The list of friends may be friends within one or more networks (e.g., gamecenter network). Certain information (e.g., name, status, representation) regarding each friend is included in the list of friends. A user can obtain additional information regarding a friend by selecting one of the friends. This user selection generates friend details option  224  for the selected friend. These details for the selected friend may include a representation (e.g., avatar), a status, statistics, a list of games played with the friend, a list of other games in common with the friend, a list of games owned by the friend but not owned by the user, etc. A user can select one of the games owned by the friend that the user would like to play. In one embodiment, if the user does not own this game, then the user is automatically directed to an application store option  226  to access the selected game. 
     A gaming sub-module  230  associated with a gaming option provides access to a games list option  232 . Games can be added or deleted from the list of games. Certain information (e.g., game manufacturer, game name, rating) regarding each game may be included in the list of games. A user can obtain additional information regarding a game by selecting one of the games. This user selection generates game details option  234  for the selected game. The games details option  234  can be accessed from option  232  and also from option  224 . These game details for the selected game may include a leaderboard option  235 , an achievements option  236 , a play application/game option  237 , a recently played games option  238 , and a tell a friend (TAF) option  239 . 
     In one embodiment, these options provided by game details  234  may appear differently depending upon whether a user accessed the game details option  234  from the games list option  232  or from the friend details option  224 . For example, if the option  234  is accessed via option  232 , then the leaderboard and achievements options relate to the user. If the option  234  is accessed via option  224 , then the leaderboard and achievements options relate to a comparison mode with a comparison of user and friend gaming statistics. 
     A notifications sub-module  240  associated with a notification option provides access to a notification list option  242 . These notifications can be edited by the user. The list of notifications may be outgoing requests that are sent or incoming requests that have been received within one or more networks (e.g., gamecenter network). The notification may include gaming updates for a certain game, a notification regarding a new release of a game or a new game being released, etc. Certain information (e.g., name, status, representation) regarding each request is included in the list of notifications s. A user can obtain additional information regarding a notification by selecting one of the notifications. This user selection generates notification details option  244  for the selected notifications. In one embodiment, these details for the selected notifications (e.g., request) may include an invitation to a friend, etc. A user can select an invitation option  246  to invite a new friend. If a new friend is invited at option  246 , then option  222  is accessed. Other options and relationships between the options can be provided by the game center module in addition to those illustrated in  FIG. 2 .  FIGS. 3-8  illustrate exemplary flow diagrams for various computer-implemented methods of providing a game center with a game center module and game service. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  300  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized player specific options and statistics. The computer-implemented method  300  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  300  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     At block  302 , the processing logic receives a user selection to initiate the game center application and associated game center module. At block  304 , the processing logic can automatically present to the graphical user interface selectable options (e.g., profile, friends, games, notifications) of the game center module. At block  306 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of a friends option of the game center module. At block  308 , the processing logic can send data to be automatically presented to a graphical user interface of the system in response to the user selection. The data is indicative of a list of friends. At block  310 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of a friend from the list of friends. The processing logic can send data to be automatically presented to the graphical user interface. The data is indicative of friend details of the selected friend including a list of games played together, a list of other games in common, and a list of games owned by the friend, but not owned by the user at block  312 . 
     In an embodiment, the list of games played together includes a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a set of achievements for the friend while playing the respective game. Each option may also indicate a comparison of a user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. The processing logic may receive a user selection of an option from one of the list of games at block  314 . At block  316 , the processing logic can determine whether a user selection of a game from the games played together or games in common lists is received. At block  318 , the processing logic can send data to be automatically presented to the graphical user interface. The data is indicative of game details for the selected game if a game from the games played together list or games in common list is received. At block  320 , the processing logic may then optionally receive a user selection of a leaderboard option from game details of the selected game. The leaderboard may include rankings for top players, the user, and the friend for the selected game. Alternatively, the leaderboard may include rankings for top players and the user. 
     In another embodiment, the processing logic receives a user selection of a game from the games owned by the friend and not owned by the user list at block  314 . In this case, at block  322 , the processing logic can automatically direct the user to an application service (e.g., application store) to purchase the selected game in response to the user selection. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  400  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized game achievement options. The computer-implemented method  400  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  400  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     The game center module is initiated and presents selectable options (e.g., profile, friends, games, notifications) as discussed in blocks  302  and  304  of computer-implemented method  300 . At block  402 , processing logic can generate data to be presented to a graphical user interface of a system. The data is indicative of game details of a selected game associated with a game center module (e.g., software application). The game details are associated with a game details option (e.g., game details option  234 ), which can be accessed via a friends option or a games option as discussed above and illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The game details include an achievement option that indicates a set of achievements of a user for the selected game. At block  404 , the processing logic receives a user selection of the achievement option. At block  406 , the processing logic can generate data to be presented to the graphical user interface. The data includes achievement data that includes a list of achievements and completion status of these achievements for the selected game. 
     In one embodiment, the game details are accessed via a games option. In this case, the achievement data includes a user&#39;s score based on a number of achievements completed. The achievement data also includes a list of achievements with each achievement having an achievement icon if the achievement is completed by the user. Alternatively, progress information is provided that indicates an amount of completion if the achievement has not been completed. 
     In another embodiment, the game details are accessed via a friends option. In this case, the processing logic receives a user selection of a friend prior to receiving the user selection of the achievement option. The achievement data that is generated in response to the user selection of the achievement option includes a comparison of a user&#39;s score based on a number of achievements completed by the user to a friend&#39;s score based on a number of achievements completed by the friend. The achievement data also includes an indication for the friend regarding whether the friend has completed each achievement in the list of achievements and another indication for the user regarding whether the user has completed each achievement in the list of achievements. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  500  of providing a game center on a client system with a game center module having customized game details based on being accessed via a friends option or a games option. The computer-implemented method  500  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  500  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     The game center application and associated module are initiated and the module presents selectable options (e.g., profile, friends, games, notifications) as discussed in blocks  302  and  304  of computer-implemented method  300 . At block  502 , processing logic may receive either a user selection of a friends option causing generation of a friends list option followed by a user selection of a friend from the friends list or alternatively the processing logic may receive a user selection of a games option. At block  504 , the processing logic can send data to be presented to the graphical user interface. The data is indicative of friend details or a games list based on the respective user selection(s) received at block  502 . For example, friend details are generated in response to a user selection of a friend from the friends list option. Alternatively, a games list is generated in response to a user selection of the game option. At block  506 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of a game from a list of games owned by a selected friend (i.e., user selection of a game from friend details option) or a user selection from a list of games owned by the user (i.e., user selection of a game from games list option). At block  508 , the processing logic can send data to be presented to the graphical user interface. The data is indicative of game details of a selected game associated with the game center module. The game details include comparison information for a selected friend and the user for the selected game if the user accesses the gaming details from the friend details option (e.g., friend detail option  224 ). Alternatively, the game details include user information only about the user for the selected game if the user accesses the gaming details from the games list option (e.g., games list option  232 ). 
     In one embodiment, the comparison information includes a leaderboard option that indicates a comparison of a user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the selected game. The comparison information may further include an achievement option that indicates a comparison of the user&#39;s set of achievements and the selected friend&#39;s set of achievements for the selected game. 
     In another embodiment, the user information includes a leaderboard option that indicates a user&#39;s ranking for the selected game and an achievement option that indicates a user&#39;s set of achievements for the selected game. Thus, the game details option presents a first set of options in a comparison mode if accessed via a friend details option and a second set of options in a non-comparison mode if accessed via a games list option. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  600  of matching players who have recently played games together with a client system. The computer-implemented method  600  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  600  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     The game center application and associated game center module are initiated and the module presents selectable options (e.g., profile, friends, games, notifications) as discussed in blocks  302  and  304  of computer-implemented method  300 . A user can select a friends option or a games option in order to access a game details option for a specific game as discussed in blocks  502 ,  504 , and  506  of computer-implemented method  500  and also illustrated in  FIG. 2 . At block  602 , the processing logic can generate data to present to a graphical user interface of a system. The data is indicative of game details of a selected game associated with a game center module with the gaming details having a recent matches option. At block  604 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of the recent matches option. At block  606 , the processing logic can generate data to present to the graphical user interface. The data includes recent matches data that includes recent matches between the user and one or more other players. The data includes games the user recently played with the one or more other players. For example, the data may include a list of players and associated games recently played with the user. The players may include friends or alternatively friends and non-friends. 
     The list of players may include gaming information for each friend of the user such as name, status message, representation (e.g., avatar), and date of last match with the user. The gaming information for each non-friend of the user may include name, representation (e.g., avatar), and date of last match with the user. Each player in the list of players is associated with a selectable option. 
     At block  608 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of a selectable option associated with a non-friend. At block  610 , the processing logic can generate data to present to the graphical user interface details. The data includes details in regards to the selected non-friend including a notification (e.g., send friend request) option and a report concern option. At block  612 , the processing logic may receive a user selection of the send friend request option. At block  614 , the processing logic can generate data to present to the graphical user interface. The data includes a friend request to be sent to the selected non-friend who recently played a game with the user. Thus, a user can invite a non-friend to become a friend based on a list of players that recently played games with the user. A “friend” may be defined as a user having an account that is associated or linked with an account from another user. More details in regards to the friends service operations and defining a “friend” are described in the co-pending Friend Service Application. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  700  of providing a multi-player game invite to invite players based on a user&#39;s list of friends or auto-matching with a game service. The computer-implemented method  700  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  700  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     At block  702 , processing logic in response to a user selection initiates a multi-player gaming application on a system. At block  704 , the processing logic can generate data to present to a graphical user interface of the system. The data includes a gaming invite having a list of friends of a user that provides an ability to invite one or more friends for the multi-player gaming application. The friends can be invited individually or simultaneously. At block  706 , the processing logic may receive data that identifies one or more of a user&#39;s friends to invite to play the multi-player gaming application (e.g., receive a user selection of at least one friend from the list of friends in order to invite the at least one friend to play the multi-player gaming application). At block  708 , the processing logic can generate data to present to the graphical user interface. The data includes invite status information for the one or more invited friends and the one or more auto-matched players. The invite status information may includes a list of invited friend positions and one or more auto-matched player positions if needed to meet a minimum player requirement for the multi-player gaming application with each auto-matched player position having an invite friend option. A multi-player gaming application typically has a minimum and a maximum number of player slots or positions. Any empty positions that need to be filled and are not filled by friends of the user can be automatically filled by the auto-matching function of the game center module. In one embodiment, in response to the user&#39;s selection of a friend at block  706 , a series of invitation transactions may be implemented with the invitation service  112  such as those described in the Co-Pending applications. Additionally, in one embodiment, in order to fill additional player slots or positions, a series of matchmaking transactions may be implemented with a matchmaking service  111  such as those described in the Co-Pending applications. 
     In one embodiment, each invite friend position has status information including waiting or ready. Each invite friend position having a waiting status may also have an uninvite player option. At block  710 , the processing logic optionally receives a user selection of the uninvite player option associated with an invite friend position having a waiting status in order to uninvite the previously invited friend associated with the invite friend position. The user selection of the uninvite player option and subsequent confirmation allows the user to replace the previously invited friend with a player selected automatically by the matchmaker service or a player selected by the user. The invite friend position has a waiting status, which indicates that an invited friend has not accepted an invite. An invite friend position having a ready status, which indicates that the friend has accepted the invitation, may not be replaced with an auto-match player. Alternatively, the invite friend position may have an auto-match option. A user selection of this option causes the invite friend position having a waiting status to be replaced with an auto-match player position. 
     At block  712 , the processing logic optionally receives a user selection of an invite friend option associated with an auto-match friend position in order to replace the auto-match position with the invite friend position. Thus, a user can enjoy a multi-player gaming experience with friends and auto-matched players. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a flow diagram in one embodiment of the present invention for a computer-implemented method  800  of receiving a gaming invite with a client system. The computer-implemented method  800  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  800  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. 
     At block  802 , the processing logic receives with a system of a user an invite from a specific friend of the user to play a specific game. At block  804 , the processing logic determines whether the user owns the specific game. At block  806 , the processing logic presents to a graphical user interface various options including an access option to access the specific game if the user does not own the specific game, a decline option to decline the game invite, and an optional dismiss option to dismiss the game invite. Selection of the dismiss option allows the user to decide at a later time whether to decline or access the game. 
     At block  808 , the processing logic automatically directs the user to an application service (e.g., application store) to purchase the specific game in response to a user selection of the access option (e.g., purchase, application store). Alternatively, the processing logic may automatically direct, in response to the user selection of the access option, the user to the application service to access for free a fully functional version of the game for a limited time period or a limited functionality demo copy. 
     At block  810 , the processing logic presents to a graphical user interface an accept option to accept the invite and play the specific game with the sender of the invite if the user owns the specific game on the device. The processing logic also presents to the graphic user interface a decline option to decline the invite and optionally a dismiss option to dismiss the invite for a period of time. 
     At block  812 , the processing logic presents to a graphical user interface a download option to accept the invite and download the specific game with the sender of the invite if the user owns the specific game, but not on the device being used currently by the user. The processing logic also presents to the graphic user interface a decline option to decline the invite and optionally a dismiss option to dismiss the invite for a period of time. 
     For example, in one embodiment, one player generates and sends an invite to another player. The data service  100  may locate the player to receive the invite and the invitation service  112  sends the invite to this player who can then easily and quickly obtain the game or play the game as discussed above. 
       FIGS. 9A-9D ,  10 - 29 ,  34 - 42  and  45  illustrate exemplary user interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces (GUI)) provided by a game center module located on a client system in accordance with at least certain embodiments of the present disclosure.  FIG. 9A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  900  that is generated upon initiation of the game center module in one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, option  910  is associated with a user profile, option  920  is associated with friends, option  930  is associated with gaming applications (e.g., games), and option  940  is associated with notifications. 
       FIG. 9B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  925  that is generated upon selection of a profile option  910  in one embodiment of the present invention. For example, a user may select option  910  from an initial game center user interface  900  and the processing logic automatically generates and presents a user interface  925  illustrated in  FIG. 9B  having different profile options. These profile options may include generating/editing option  954  to generate a representation  950  (e.g., 2D avatar, 3D avatar) for the user (e.g., Mel), status message  952 , and an account information option  956 . The account information may relate to an account for account services  113 . 
       FIG. 9C  illustrates an exemplary user interface  960  having account information options in one embodiment of the present invention. The processing logic generates user interface  960  in response to a user selection of option  956 . In one embodiment, option  956  displays a user&#39;s email address. This interface  960  includes password option  940 , alias option  942 , game invite option  944 , and email option  946 . 
       FIG. 9D  illustrates an exemplary user interface  970  that is generated upon selection of a profile option  910  in one embodiment of the present invention. For example, a user may select option  910  from an initial game center user interface  900  and the processing logic automatically generates and presents a user interface  970  illustrated in  FIG. 9D . The user interface  970  includes the user&#39;s name or user name (e.g., MEL), a number of gaming friends (e.g., 55), a number of games played by the user (e.g., 73), and a number of completed achievements (e.g., 15). The user interface  970  also includes a status message  978  that is set by the user. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1000  having a list of friends  1050  in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1000  is generated in response to a user selection of the friends option (e.g., option  820 ). The list of friends  1050  can be searched with a search option  1060  using various search categories (e.g., name, nickname). One or more databases having friend information (e.g., email, name, nickname) can be searched to find a friend by name or nickname. Information for each friend (e.g., user name  1 , user name  2 , user name  3 ) in the list of friends is displayed on the user interface  1000 . This friend information includes user name, a status message provided by the friend (e.g., I just dominated this game), an optional representation (REPR) for the friend, and the game most recently played by the friend, etc. The representation may be an avatar for the friend. A user selection of option  1070  provides a list of the user&#39;s contacts and associated contact information (e.g., phone #, email address, URL, address, additional fields, etc.). 
       FIGS. 11A and 11B  illustrate exemplary user interfaces  1100  and  1191  having friend details of a particular friend in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interfaces  1100  and  1191  can be generated in response to a user selection of a friend from the list of friends  1050 . These user interfaces include friend details for the selected friend including a user name (e.g., nickname or name) option  1150 , number of friends, number of games played, number of achievements, an optional representation (e.g., avatar)  1160 , a list  1170  of games played together between the friend and the user, a list  1180  of other games in common between the friend and the user, and a list  1190  of games owned by the friend, but not owned by the user (e.g., Mel). For each game played together, the list  1170  may include a game icon (e.g., 14), achievements of the friend for the particular game, the name of the game, and a comparison of how the friend and the user rank on the leaderboard (e.g., ranked higher than me, ranked waaaaaaaay higher than me, ranked about the same as me) for a particular game. For example, the friend is ranked higher than the user for game name  4  displayed in the list  1170 . 
     In certain embodiments, the user and friends rankings are compared to each other and displayed. For example, for game name  4  the friend may be ranked in the 47 th  percentile and the user is ranked in the 49 th  percentile. In this case, the friend and the user are ranked about the same. In another embodiment, the friend is ranked first and the user is ranked last for the game name  4 . In this case, the friend is ranked waaaaaaaay higher than me. 
     The game icon may be retrieved from the client system or a server if the client system does not have the game icon. In an embodiment, a friend selects a color for the friend&#39;s representation (e.g., avatar). Processing logic generates this color on the user&#39;s system and also automatically selects a complementary color or background based on the friend&#39;s color. The background color may be used for at least some of the text on this user interface  1100 . 
     The user selections (e.g., color, background pattern) for the user&#39;s representation (e.g., avatar) or other settings may be broadcast such that new game developers can use these selections as part of the game. For example, a user having a color preference of blue may be able to play a new game with the user automatically or by default having a blue game component (e.g., avatar, car) while playing the game. 
     For each game in common, the list  1180  may include a game icon (e.g., 15), achievements of the friend for the particular game, the name of the game, and a comparison of how the friend and the user rank on the leaderboard (e.g., “ranked higher than me”) for a particular game. For example, the friend is ranked lower than the user for game name  5  displayed in the list  1180 . 
     For each game owned by the friend and not owned by the user (e.g., Mel), the list  1190  may include a game icon (e.g., 16), the game manufacturer of the particular game, the name of the game, a rating for a particular game (e.g., 2 out of 5 stars), and a cost of purchasing the particular game. For example, game name  6  has a two star rating and costs $1.99 to purchase from an online application store. The processing logic automatically directs the user to an online application store (e.g., application service  114 ) to purchase the selected game in response to the user selection of one of these games (e.g., game name  6 ). 
     The game center module may provide a user interface to buy a fully functionally version of the game. Alternatively, the game center module may provide a user interface to access for free a fully functional version of the game for a limited time period or a limited functionality demo copy. In another embodiment, the game center module provides an application seed that uniquely identifies the gaming application on a server (e.g., application store). 
     In another embodiment, a user receives an invite from a specific friend to play a specific game that the user does not have. As discussed above, the game center module provides a user interface to buy a fully functional version of the game. Alternatively, the game center module provides a user interface to access for free a fully functional version of the game for a limited time period or a limited functionality demo copy. In yet another embodiment, the game center module provides an application seed that uniquely identifies the gaming application on a server (e.g., application store). In an embodiment, these different options are based on a gaming application&#39;s preferences for providing limited rights or full rights. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1200  having a list of games  1250  in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1200  is generated in response to a user selection of the games option (e.g., option  1230 ). The list of games  1250  can be ordered alphabetically or in order of most recently played. In an embodiment, the list of games  1250  still includes a particular game even if the user deletes the particular game from the system. 
     Information for each game in the list of games is displayed on the user interface  1200 . This game information includes game icon, user achievements for this game, game name, and ranking for the user playing this game. For example, game name  11  is displayed with game icon  11 . The user has 30 of 52 achievements and ranks 250 th  out of 1,000 players. Alternatively, the ranking for the user can be a ranking among the user&#39;s friends rather than a ranking among everyone. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1300  having gaming details of a particular game in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1300  is generated in response to a user selection of a game (e.g., game name  11 ) from the list of games  1250 . This user interface includes details for the selected game including a game icon, a leaderboard option  1350 , an achievement option  1354 , a recent matches (e.g., recently played) option  1360 , and a tell a friend option  1370 . The leaderboard option  1350  includes a number of achievements, a representation (e.g., avatar) of the user, and a ranking for the user. The user interface  1300  also includes a play option  1380 . A selection of the option  1380  causes the game (e.g., game name  11 ) to be played. Alternatively, if the user does not have this particular game (e.g., game name  11 ), then the play option  1380  is replaced with a buy option that links the user to an application store or the play option  1380  could be replaced with a get it option that downloads the game from the application store or another location. 
     A selection of the option  1350  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1400  as illustrated in  FIG. 14A  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1400  is a leaderboard that includes the previously selected game name (e.g., game name  11 ), a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and at least a partial list of the leaderboard. The user interface  1400  includes a today option  1450 , a this week option  1452 , an all time option  1454 , a friends options  1460 , and an everyone option  1470 . The list of leaders can be filtered and ranked based on these options. 
     In certain embodiments, a certain number of top players are listed (e.g., five) and if the user (e.g., Mel) is not in this list, then the user&#39;s ranking is also listed (e.g., 25 th ). A show more option  1480  can be selected to display additional player rankings. Optionally, a games recently played option  1490  can filter the rankings to show rankings of the players that played in the most recent games (e.g., 10 most recent games). 
     Alternatively, a selection of the option  1350  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1491  as illustrated in  FIG. 14B  in accordance with one embodiment. User interface  1491  includes a selectable leaderboard option  1492  to select among different leaderboards (e.g., leaderboard  1 , leaderboard  2 , etc.). For example, Game Name  11  may include 4 different tracks that are not related to each. A different leaderboard can be generated for each track. A merged leaderboard may include rankings aggregated from all tracks. The user interface  1491  includes a today option  1450 , a this week option  1452 , and an all time option  1454 . The list of leaders can be filtered and ranked based on these options. 
     Friends  1494  includes a ranked list of Mel&#39;s friends for Game Name  11 . Everyone  1496  includes a ranked list of all users for Game Name  11 . 
     In certain embodiments, a certain number of top players are listed (e.g., five) and if the user (e.g., Mel) is not in this list, then the user&#39;s ranking is also listed (e.g., 25th). A show more option (e.g.,  1495 ,  1497 ) can be selected to display additional player rankings. Optionally, a games recently played option  1490  can filter the rankings to show rankings of the players that played in the most recent games (e.g., 10 most recent games). Different types of metrics can be defined for creating the rankings in the leaderboard. For example, the metrics may include points, number of top finishes, number of finishes within a certain threshold, etc. A game developer can define these metrics and the leaderboard. The user interfaces (e.g.,  1400 ,  1491 ) may be presented as a smaller snapshot during a game for convenience of the users. The leaderboard presented during a game may have selectable or non-selectable options during the game. 
     Returning to  FIG. 13 , a selection of the option  1354  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1700  as illustrated in  FIG. 17  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1700  includes achievements for the user with respect to the selected game (e.g., game name  11 ). The achievements include a score based on a number of achievements completed by the user (e.g., 30/52 and a resulting score of 180 points). The user interface  1750  includes a list of achievements  1750 . Each achievement has a name, descriptive lines, and an icon if the user has completed the achievement. Otherwise, the icon is replaced with progress information that indicates a current amount of progress toward completing the achievement (e.g., 70%, 30%). The icon may include a question mark (?) if the user has not made any progress towards completing the achievement or less than a certain threshold of progress. 
     Returning to  FIG. 13 , a selection of option  1360  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1900  as illustrated in  FIG. 19  in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1900  includes a list of players  1950  from recent matches with the user. For example, all players from the 10 most recent matches with the user can be displayed. The list  1950  may include only friends or all players based on the selection of friend option  1960  or all player option  1962 . More information can be shared for friends compared to non-friends. For example, the shared gaming information for each friend of the user may include a name, a status message, a representation (e.g., avatar), and session data (e.g., date of last match with the user). The shared gaming information for each non-friend of the user may include a name, a representation (e.g., avatar), and session data. In an embodiment, session data is obtained from a server. In another embodiment, session data is not shared for friends or non-friends. Each player in the list of players is associated with a selectable option. 
     A selection of a player that is already a friend causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1100  for the selected friend. A selection of a player that is not a friend causes the processing logic to generate user interface  2000  as illustrated in  FIG. 20  in one embodiment of the present invention in order to invite this player to become a friend. User interface  2000  may include a name, a representation (e.g., avatar), and session data for the selected non-friend. Send friend request option  2050  can be selected to generate an exemplary user interface having a friend request communication as illustrated in  FIG. 23  or this request can be added to an exemplary user interface having a list of requests as illustrated in  FIG. 21  and discussed in more detail below. Alternatively, a concern can be reported regarding this selected player by selecting option  2060  from user interface  2000 . Optionally, user interface  2000  may also include a player rating option  2070 . The user can provide a rating for the player that was recently matched with the user. Selection of option  2080  causes the generation of the previous user interface  1900 . 
     Returning to  FIG. 13 , a selection of option  1370  from user interface  1300  causes the processing logic to generate a user interface for creating a communication (e.g., an email message). The user can send the communication to a friend. 
       FIG. 15A  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1500  having game details for a specific game in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1500  is generated in response to a user selection of a game (e.g., game name  11 ) from user interface  1100  that includes friend details for a particular friend of the user. The user interface  1500  includes details for the selected game including a game icon, a leaderboard option  1550 , an achievements option  1560 , and a tell a friend option  1570 . The leaderboard option  1550  includes a comparison of rankings between the previously selected friend (e.g., Susie) and the user. The user interface  1500  also includes a play option  1580  for playing the selected game. 
       FIG. 15B  illustrates an exemplary user interface  1582  having game details for a specific game in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  1582  is generated in response to a user selection of a game (e.g., game name  11 ) from user interface  1100  that includes friend details for a particular friend of the user. The user interface  1582  includes details for the selected game including a game name, a comparison of points for the user (e.g., Mel) and the friend (e.g., Susie), a leaderboard option  1586 , an achievements option  1588 . The leaderboard option  1586  includes a comparison of rankings (e.g., 4/55, 25/55) between the previously selected friend (e.g., Susie) and the user for the user&#39;s friends. Rankings (e.g., top 15%, top 25%) for Susie and the user among everyone may also be included. An achievements option  1588  includes a comparison of achievements between Susie and the user (e.g., 32/52, 30/52). The user interface  1582  also includes a play option  1584  for playing the selected game. 
     A selection of the option  1550  from  FIG. 15A  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1600  as illustrated in  FIG. 16A  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1600  is a leaderboard that includes the previously selected game name (e.g., game name  11 ), a number of games played by the user, a number of players in the leaderboard, and at least a partial list of the leaderboard. The user interface  1600  includes a today option  1650 , a this week option  1652 , an all time option  1654 , a friends options  1660 , and an everyone option  1670 . The list of leaders can be filtered and ranked based on these options. 
     In certain embodiments, a certain number of top players are listed (e.g., five) and if the user is not in this list, then the user&#39;s ranking is also listed (e.g., 25 th ). The selected friend (e.g., Susie) may also be included in the rankings to show a comparison between Susie and the user (e.g., Mel). A show more option  1680  can be selected to display additional player rankings. Optionally, a games recently played option  1690  can filter the rankings to show rankings of the players that played in the most recent games (e.g., 10 most recent games). 
     Returning to  FIG. 15B , a selection of the option  1586  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1691  as illustrated in  FIG. 16B  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1691  includes a selectable leaderboard option  1692  to select among different leaderboards (e.g., leaderboard  1 , leaderboard  2 , etc.). Alternatively, a merged leaderboard may include rankings from all leaderboards. The user interface  1691  includes a today option  1650 , a this week option  1652 , and an all time option  1654 . The list of leaders can be filtered and ranked based on these options. 
     Friends  1694  includes a ranked list of Mel&#39;s friends for Game Name  11 . Everyone  1696  includes a ranked list of all users for Game Name  11 . 
     In certain embodiments, a certain number of top players are listed (e.g., five) and if the user (e.g., Mel) is not in this list, then the user&#39;s ranking is also listed (e.g., 250th). Susie&#39;s ranking may also be listed even if she is not in the certain number of top players. A show more option (e.g.,  1695 ,  1697 ) can be selected to display additional player rankings. As discussed above, the user interfaces (e.g.,  1600 ,  1691 ) may be presented as a smaller snapshot during a game for convenience of the users. 
     Returning to  FIG. 15A , a selection of the option  1560  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1800  as illustrated in  FIG. 18A  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1800  includes a comparison of scores for the user and the selected friend with the scores being based on a number of achievements completed. For examples, Susie has 210 points and Mel has 180 points for game name  11 . User interface  1800  also includes a list of achievements for the previously selected game name (e.g., game name  11 ) and displays these achievements for the previously selected friend (e.g., Susie) and the user. For example, Susie has completed achievements  1  and  3  as illustrated in  FIG. 18 , but Susie has not completed achievements  2  and  4 . The user has completed achievements  1  and  2  as illustrated by the icons  1  and  2 , but has not completed achievements  3  and  4 . Each achievement has a name, descriptive lines, and an icon if the user has completed the achievement. Otherwise, the icon is replaced with progress information that indicates in numerical and graphical form a current amount of progress toward completing the achievement (e.g., 70%, 25%). 
     Returning to  FIG. 15B , a selection of the option  1588  causes the processing logic to generate user interface  1850  as illustrated in  FIG. 18B  in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  1850  includes a comparison of scores and achievements for the user and the selected friend with the scores being based on a number of achievements completed. For example, Susie has 210 points and 32 achievements and Mel has 180 points and 30 achievements for game name  11 . User interface  1850  also includes a list of achievements for the previously selected game name (e.g., game name  11 ) and displays these achievements for the previously selected friend (e.g., Susie) and the user. For example, Susie has completed achievements  1  and  3  as illustrated in  FIG. 18 , but Susie has not completed achievements  2  and  4 . The user has completed achievements  1  and  2  as illustrated by the icons  1  and  2 , but has not completed achievements  3  and  4 . Each achievement has a name, descriptive lines, and an icon if the user has completed the achievement. Otherwise, the icon is replaced with progress information that indicates in numerical and graphical form a current amount of progress toward completing the achievement (e.g., 70%, 25%). An icon may include a question mark indicator (?) if the user has made no progress or has made less than certain threshold of progress. A game of Game Name  11  can be started between Susie and Mel with the selection of play option  1860 . 
     Returning to  FIG. 15A , a selection of option  1570  from user interface  1500  causes the processing logic to generate a user interface for creating a communication (e.g., an email message). The user can send the communication to a friend. 
     The game center module and game service provide a game center in which a user can send and receive notifications (e.g., friend requests, game invitations, game updates, etc).  FIGS. 21-27  illustrate exemplary user interfaces for friend requests and game invitations. 
       FIG. 21  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2100  having a list of notifications (e.g., friend requests, updates) in one embodiment of the present invention. A user selection of a notification option  2140  generates a user interface  2100  as illustrated in  FIG. 21 . The user interface  2100  includes a list of notifications  2150  received or sent by a user. A selection of option  2160  causes the processing logic to generate a list of notifications (e.g., friend requests, updates) received while a selection of option  2162  causes the processing logic to generate a list of notifications (friend requests, updates) sent. A user selection of option  2170  provides a list of the user&#39;s contacts and associated contact information (e.g., phone #, email address, URL, address, additional fields, etc.). 
     In an embodiment, an incoming friend request may be associated with an email address. The user&#39;s address book or contact information associated with the user&#39;s contacts can be searched to find a match with the email address. If a match occurs, then the incoming friend request will display a real name or nickname for the player who sent the incoming friend request to the user. 
     In one embodiment, option  2160  is selected and then user name  22  is also selected.  FIG. 22  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2200  having a received friend request in one embodiment of the present invention. User interface  2200  is generated in response to the selection of user name  22  from the list  2150 . The user interface  2200  includes details regarding the player that sent the friend request such as a representation (e.g., avatar) and a short message from this player. The user interface  2200  also includes accept option  2250  to accept a request, decline option  2252  to decline a request, optional view option  2254  to view more details regarding the request, and an optional dismiss option  2256  to dismiss the friend request and possibly block future requests from the same player for a certain time period or indefinitely. 
     In an embodiment, user interface  2200  includes options  2250 ,  2252 ,  2254 , and  2256 . In certain embodiments, options  2254  and  2256  are both not included or only one of these options is not included. In certain embodiments, various combinations of these options are possible. Options may also be provided that permit a user to defriend a current friend, decline a friend request once and never receive another invite from this player, or limit friend requests in time (e.g., 1 invite/week). 
     The user interface  2200  also includes a report concern option  2260  to report a concern regarding the player that sent the invitation. A user selection of the request option  2270  causes the generation of the user interface  2100 . 
       FIG. 23  illustrates an exemplary user interface  2300  having a send friend request communication in one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  2300  may be generated in response to various user selections. For example, the user interface  2300  is generated in response to a user selection from a friend list (e.g., option  1070 ), a request list (e.g., option  2170 ), or a recently played option (e.g., send friend request  2050 ). 
     In one embodiment, the user interface  2300  includes a send option  2350  to send the friend request communication to a player, a cancel option  2352  to cancel the communication, a To field  2380  that displays the selected player&#39;s user name and is associated with an email address, a text field  2360  for composing a message, and a virtual keyboard  2370 . The user interface  2300  may represent an email message. A user selection of the send option  2350  causes an alert message  2400  as illustrated in  FIG. 24  to appear on a graphical user interface of the system in one embodiment of the present invention. The alert message  2400  indicates that the friend request has been sent and the friend will be added to the user&#39;s friend list upon acceptance. A selection of an acknowledgement option  2410  will clear the alert message  2400  from the graphical user interface. 
     In an embodiment, the To field  2380  is prefilled with a user name based on a previous user selection (e.g., selection of option  2050 ). Alternatively, a user can enter contact information (e.g., name, nickname, alias, email address, phone number) into the field  2380 . In another embodiment, a user can select option  2354  and search for contact information for a player to invite from the user&#39;s contacts or address book. The user may be able to determine from the contact information whether a particular player is registered with the game service associated with the game center module. 
     After a user selects the send option  2350 , a server associated with the game service receives the contact information in the field  2380 . If the contact information is an email address, then the server uses the email address to find a matching email in email accounts registered with the game service or account service. The recipient of the friend request then receives a push notification that appears in the game center module associated with the recipient. If the contact information is not an email address (e.g., alias), then an email address for the recipient can be found using the contact information if the recipient is registered with the game service. Otherwise, if the recipient is not registered with the game service, then an external social network (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) can be searched to find an email address for the recipient. For example, Facebook data can be obtained for the recipient and an email sent to Facebook with this email requesting the email address of the recipient. 
     In one embodiment, the recipient has a client system (e.g., Apple iPod Touch®, Apple iPhone®, Apple iPad®) and an account with the game service. Upon receipt of the friend request, the game center module of the recipient is launched and the recipient can accept the friend request. 
     In an embodiment, the recipient has the client system, but does not have an account with the game service. Upon receipt of the friend request, the game center module of the recipient is launched and the recipient receives a recommendation to join the game service associated with the game center module. In another embodiment, the recipient does not have a client system. In this case, the recipient receives the email message and can be directed to web page to join the game service. 
       FIGS. 25-27  illustrate user interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces) provided by a game center module during a multi-player gaming experience in one embodiment of the present invention. After a user has initiated a multi-player gaming application, the user interface  2500  is generated to allow the user to invite between a minimum and a maximum number of players for the multi-player game. The user interface  2500  includes a list of the user&#39;s friends that can be invited individually or simultaneously for playing the multi-player game with the user. A user can select one or more friends with options  2570 - 2573  and then can select play or done option  2560  or cancel with option  2562 . If a user selects option  2560 , then user interface  2600  is generated. User interface  2600  includes a list of players  2650  associated with positions or slots (e.g.,  2680 ,  2682 ,  2684 ,  2686 ) for the multi-player game. The multi-player game in this example requires 4 to 8 players. In other embodiments, fewer than 4 players may be needed or more than 8 players may be allowed. The players may have established peer to peer connections at this time of waiting in a “lobby” for the players to be assembled. The players may exchange messages or chat with each other. The user can control the lobby environment and mute and/or alter player volume levels. 
     The list  2650  includes four positions that are filled with the user (e.g., Mel), an invited friend (e.g., user name  1 ) that has received an invite but not yet responded, and two auto-match players that will be filled automatically by the game service and matchmaker  111 . The list  2650  may include four additional positions for this example. The user can select at least one friend based on one or more factors (e.g., gaming abilities) of the user&#39;s friends for the multi-player gaming application. 
     The matchmaker service can perform the auto-matching and can select auto-match players based on various factors (e.g., player skill level, leaderboard rankings, achievement score, user&#39;s ratings, location, time zone, players that are ready to play, age, etc.). 
     The user interface  2600  also includes a play now option  2660 , a cancel option  2662 , an add player option  2670 , and a remove player option  2672 . In an embodiment, a user selection of an add player option  2670  causes the generation of user interface  2500  and the user can add one or more players by selecting one or more friends. The add player option  2670  can be disabled if a maximum number of players for the game has been reached. A user selection of a remove player option  2672  allows the user to remove one or more players by selecting one or more players that have filled one of the positions listed in list  2650 . The remove player option  2672  can be disabled if a minimum number of players for the game has been reached. 
     A user selection of an uninvite option  2652  and subsequent confirmation allows the user to replace the current player (e.g., user name  1 ) with a player selected automatically by the matchmaker service or a player selected by the user. A user selection of an invite friend option  2654  or  2656  allows the user to replace the auto-match player with a player selected by the user. For example, a user can select the invite option  2654  and invite a friend (e.g., user name  2 ). These selections cause the generation of user interface  2700 . The auto-match position  2684  associated with invite option  2654  has been replaced with a friend (e.g., user name  2 ) associated with position  2784  having an uninvite option  2754  in user interface  2700 . Additionally, user name  1  has accepted the invite and the status for position  2782  has been updated to “Ready.” The auto-match option  2652  has been removed from this position because user name  1  has accepted the invite. 
     In an embodiment, if user name  1  had declined the invite from the user, then position  2682  or  2782  briefly changes colors and/or flashes. Then, the position reverts to auto-matching. If the invited friend (e.g., user name  1 ) fails to respond within a certain time period or frequency, then the invited friend is replaced with auto-matching. Alternatively, the invited player can always decline invites from certain other players. The user selected positions and auto-match positions can be ordered with the user selected positions listed first near the top of the user interface. 
     In an embodiment, one player position has a ready status, two other positions have a waiting status, and remaining positions are filled with auto-matching. If one player selects a play now option (e.g., 2660, 2760), then the game can begin with the player with the ready status and auto-matching players for the other positions. Additional auto-matching players can be added if necessary to meet the minimum player requirement of the game. An alert may be generated indicating that play is beginning without the friends that have a waiting status. In one embodiment, an alert may be generated indicating that a problem needs to be resolved before play can begin or the alert can be generated during play. If Mel drops out of the game or loses connectivity at the time of initiation of the game, then his position can be replaced with an auto-match player. 
     In certain embodiments, alerts within a game are provided. For example, upon entering a game a welcome alert may slide across the graphical user interface.  FIG. 28  illustrates an exemplary welcome alert  2810  that slides across a user interface  2800  in one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 29  illustrates an exemplary achievement award  2910  that slides across a graphical user interface  2900  in one embodiment of the present invention. The achievement award  2910  is generated in response to a user completing an achievement. 
     In an embodiment, a user can report a concern regarding a player from within a game. A user can also display ratings for other players from within a game. 
     The user interfaces discussed in the present disclosure are merely examples. Other variations and modifications are within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, some user interfaces have been shown with four options (e.g., profile option, friend option, games option, notifications option) near the bottom of the user interfaces. These options can be located in other locations on the user interfaces or not displayed at all. 
     Described embodiments may include touch I/O device  3001  that can receive touch input for interacting with computing system  3003  as illustrated in  FIG. 30  via wired or wireless communication channel  3002  in one embodiment of the present invention. Touch I/O device  3001  may be used to provide user input to computing system  3003  in lieu of or in combination with other input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, etc. One or more touch I/O devices  3001  may be used for providing user input to computing system  3003 . Touch I/O device  3001  may be an integral part of computing system  3003  (e.g., touch screen on a laptop) or may be separate from computing system  3003 . 
     Touch I/O device  3001  may include a touch sensitive panel which is wholly or partially transparent, semitransparent, non-transparent, opaque or any combination thereof. Touch I/O device  3001  may be embodied as a touch screen, touch pad, a touch screen functioning as a touch pad (e.g., a touch screen replacing the touchpad of a laptop), a touch screen or touchpad combined or incorporated with any other input device (e.g., a touch screen or touchpad disposed on a keyboard) or any multi-dimensional object having a touch sensitive surface for receiving touch input. 
     In one example, touch I/O device  3001  embodied as a touch screen may include a transparent and/or semitransparent touch sensitive panel partially or wholly positioned over at least a portion of a display. According to this embodiment, touch I/O device  3001  functions to display graphical data transmitted from computing system  3003  (and/or another source) and also functions to receive user input. In other embodiments, touch I/O device  3001  may be embodied as an integrated touch screen where touch sensitive components/devices are integral with display components/devices. In still other embodiments a touch screen may be used as a supplemental or additional display screen for displaying supplemental or the same graphical data as a primary display and to receive touch input. 
     Touch I/O device  3001  may be configured to detect the location of one or more touches or near touches on device  3001  based on capacitive, resistive, optical, acoustic, inductive, mechanical, chemical measurements, or any phenomena that can be measured with respect to the occurrences of the one or more touches or near touches in proximity to device  3001 . Software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof may be used to process the measurements of the detected touches to identify and track one or more gestures. A gesture may correspond to stationary or non-stationary, single or multiple, touches or near touches on touch I/O device  3001 . A gesture may be performed by moving one or more fingers or other objects in a particular manner on touch I/O device  3001  such as tapping, pressing, rocking, scrubbing, twisting, changing orientation, pressing with varying pressure and the like at essentially the same time, contiguously, or consecutively. A gesture may be characterized by, but is not limited to a pinching, sliding, swiping, rotating, flexing, dragging, or tapping motion between or with any other finger or fingers. A single gesture may be performed with one or more hands, by one or more users, or any combination thereof. 
     Computing system  3003  may drive a display with graphical data to display a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI may be configured to receive touch input via touch I/O device  3001 . Embodied as a touch screen, touch I/O device  3001  may display the GUI. Alternatively, the GUI may be displayed on a display separate from touch I/O device  3001 . The GUI may include graphical elements displayed at particular locations within the interface. Graphical elements may include but are not limited to a variety of displayed virtual input devices including virtual scroll wheels, a virtual keyboard, virtual knobs, virtual buttons, any virtual UI, and the like. A user may perform gestures at one or more particular locations on touch I/O device  3001  which may be associated with the graphical elements of the graphical user interface (GUI). In other embodiments, the user may perform gestures at one or more locations that are independent of the locations of graphical elements of the GUI. Gestures performed on touch I/O device  3001  may directly or indirectly manipulate, control, modify, move, actuate, initiate or generally affect graphical elements such as cursors, icons, media files, lists, text, all or portions of images, or the like within the GUI. For instance, in the case of a touch screen, a user may directly interact with a graphical element by performing a gesture over the graphical element on the touch screen. 
     Alternatively, a touch pad generally provides indirect interaction. Gestures may also affect non-displayed GUI elements (e.g., causing user interfaces to appear) or may affect other actions within computing system  3003  (e.g., affect a state or mode of a GUI, application, or operating system). Gestures may or may not be performed on touch I/O device  3001  in conjunction with a displayed cursor. For instance, in the case in which gestures are performed on a touchpad, a cursor (or pointer) may be displayed on a display screen or touch screen and the cursor may be controlled via touch input on the touchpad to interact with graphical objects on the display screen. In other embodiments in which gestures are performed directly on a touch screen, a user may interact directly with objects on the touch screen, with or without a cursor or pointer being displayed on the touch screen. 
     Feedback may be provided to the user via communication channel  3002  in response to or based on the touch or near touches on touch I/O device  3001 . Feedback may be transmitted optically, mechanically, electrically, olfactory, acoustically, or the like or any combination thereof and in a variable or non-variable manner. 
     Attention is now directed towards embodiments of a system architecture that may be embodied within any portable or non-portable device including but not limited to a communication device (e.g. mobile phone, smart phone), a multi-media device (e.g., MP3 player, TV, radio), a portable or handheld computer (e.g., tablet, netbook, laptop), a desktop computer, an All-In-One desktop, a peripheral device, or any other system or device adaptable to the inclusion of system architecture  3100 , including combinations of two or more of these types of devices.  FIG. 31  is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention of system  3100  that generally includes one or more computer-readable mediums  3101 , processing system  3104 , Input/Output (I/O) subsystem  3106 , radio frequency (RF) circuitry  3108  and audio circuitry  3110 . These components may be coupled by one or more communication buses or signal lines  3103 . 
     It should be apparent that the architecture shown in  FIG. 31  is only one example architecture of system  3100 , and that system  3100  could have more or fewer components than shown, or a different configuration of components. The various components shown in  FIG. 31  can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits. 
     RF circuitry  3108  is used to send and receive information over a wireless link or network to one or more other devices and includes well-known circuitry for performing this function. RF circuitry  3108  and audio circuitry  3110  are coupled to processing system  3104  via peripherals interface  3116 . Interface  3116  includes various known components for establishing and maintaining communication between peripherals and processing system  3104 . Audio circuitry  3110  is coupled to audio speaker  3150  and microphone  3152  and includes known circuitry for processing voice signals received from interface  3116  to enable a user to communicate in real-time with other users. In some embodiments, audio circuitry  3110  includes a headphone jack (not shown). 
     Peripherals interface  3116  couples the input and output peripherals of the system to processor  3118  and computer-readable medium  3101 . One or more processing units  3118  communicate with one or more computer-readable mediums  3101  via controller  3120 . Computer-readable medium  3101  can be any device or medium (e.g., storage device, storage medium) that can store code and/or data for use by one or more processing units  3118 . Medium  3101  can include a memory hierarchy, including but not limited to cache, main memory and secondary memory. The memory hierarchy can be implemented using any combination of RAM (e.g., SRAM, DRAM, DDRAM), ROM, FLASH, magnetic and/or optical storage devices, such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact disks) and DVDs (digital video discs). Medium  3101  may also include a transmission medium for carrying information-bearing signals indicative of computer instructions or data (with or without a carrier wave upon which the signals are modulated). For example, the transmission medium may include a communications network, including but not limited to the Internet (also referred to as the World Wide Web), intranet(s), Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Local Area Networks (WLANs), Storage Area Networks (SANs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) and the like. 
     One or more processing units  3118  run various software components stored in medium  3101  to perform various functions for system  3100 . In some embodiments, the software components include operating system  3122 , communication module (or set of instructions)  3124 , touch processing module (or set of instructions)  3126 , graphics module (or set of instructions)  3128 , one or more applications (or set of instructions)  3130 , and game center module [or set of instructions]  3138 . In an embodiment, a game center application is associated with a game center module  3138  that includes sub-modules (e.g., profile  210 , friends  220 , games  230 , notifications  240 ). Each of these modules, sub-modules, and above noted applications correspond to a set of instructions for performing one or more functions described above and the methods described in this application (e.g., the computer-implemented methods and other information processing methods described herein). These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise rearranged in various embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, medium  3101  may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, medium  3101  may store additional modules and data structures not described above. 
     Operating system  3122  includes various procedures, sets of instructions, software components and/or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components. 
     Communication module  3124  facilitates communication with other devices over one or more external ports  3136  or via RF circuitry  3108  and includes various software components for handling data received from RF circuitry  3108  and/or external port  3136 . 
     Graphics module  3128  includes various known software components for rendering, animating and displaying graphical objects on a display surface. In embodiments in which touch I/O device  3112  is a touch sensitive display (e.g., touch screen), graphics module  3128  includes components for rendering, displaying, and animating objects on the touch sensitive display. 
     One or more applications  3130  can include any applications installed on system  3100 , including without limitation, a game center application, a browser, address book, contact list, email, instant messaging, word processing, keyboard emulation, widgets, JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition, voice replication, location determination capability (such as that provided by the global positioning system (GPS)), a music player, etc. 
     Touch processing module  3126  includes various software components for performing various tasks associated with touch I/O device  3112  including but not limited to receiving and processing touch input received from I/O device  3112  via touch I/O device controller  3132 . 
     System  3100  may further include game center module  3138  having sub-modules (e.g., profile  210 , friends  220 , games  230 , notifications  240 ) for performing the method/functions as described herein in connection with  FIGS. 3-8 . In one embodiment, the game center module  3138  may at least function to provide customized player specific options and statistics. For example, the game center module may provide a user with the ability to build and modify a list of friends within the gamecenter. The user can select a specific friend and view games played with the friend, games in common, and games owned by the friend but not by the user. The user can view rankings and achievements for each of these games. The user can select one of these games to generate game details having a leaderboard option. Upon selection of the leaderboard option the game center module  3138  generates a leaderboard for the user and the friend. The game center module  3138  also provides the ability for a user to obtain a game owned by the friend, but not owned by the user. 
     In another embodiment, a system (e.g.,  3003 ,  3100 ) includes a computer-readable medium (e.g.,  3101 ) that stores a game center module  3138 , one or more processing units (e.g.,  3118 ) that execute a set of instructions associated with the game center module  3138 , and an input/output device (e.g.,  3001 ,  3112 ). The one or more processing units may be configured to receive a selection of a friends option of the game center module, to send data to be presented to the input/output device. The data is indicative of a list of friends. The one or more processing unit also may be configured to receive a selection of a friend from the list of friends and to send data to be presented to the input/output device. The data is indicative of friend details of the selected friend including a first list of games played together between a user and the selected friend and a second list of other games in common between the user and the selected friend. The first list of games may include a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. The second list of games may also include a list of options with each option indicating a respective game name and a comparison of the user&#39;s ranking and the selected friend&#39;s ranking for the respective game. 
     In another embodiment, the game center module provides customized game details based on being accessed via a friends option or a games option. The game center module  3138  provides gaming details of a selected game with the gaming details having comparison information for a selected friend and the user if the user selects the friends option and the gaming details having user information if the user selects the games option. The comparison information can include a leaderboard option that indicates a comparison of a user&#39;s ranking and the friend&#39;s ranking for the selected game. The comparison information may also include an achievement option that indicates a comparison of a user&#39;s set of achievements and a friend&#39;s set of achievements for the selected game. The user information can include a leaderboard option that indicates a user&#39;s ranking for the selected game and an achievement option that indicates a user&#39;s set of achievements for the selected game. 
     In another embodiment, the game center module  3138  can provide a user with an invite from a specific friend of the user to play a specific game. The game center module  3138  determines whether the user owns the specific game and provides a game option to access the specific game if the user does not own the specific game. 
     Module  3138  may also interact with game center application  3130  to provide the methods and functionality described herein. Module  3138  may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Although module  3138  is shown to reside within medium  3101 , all or portions of module  3138  may be embodied within other components within system  3100  or may be wholly embodied as a separate component within system  3100 . 
     I/O subsystem  3106  is coupled to touch I/O device  3112  and one or more other I/O devices  3114  for controlling or performing various functions. Touch I/O device  3112  communicates with processing system  3104  via touch I/O device controller  2032 , which includes various components for processing user touch input (e.g., scanning hardware). One or more other input controllers  2034  receives/sends electrical signals from/to other I/O devices  3114 . Other I/O devices  3114  may include physical buttons, dials, slider switches, sticks, keyboards, touch pads, additional display screens, or any combination thereof. 
     If embodied as a touch screen, touch I/O device  3112  displays visual output to the user in a GUI. The visual output may include text, graphics, video, and any combination thereof. Some or all of the visual output may correspond to user-interface objects. Touch I/O device  3112  forms a touch-sensitive surface that accepts touch input from the user. Touch I/O device  3112  and touch screen controller  3132  (along with any associated modules and/or sets of instructions in medium  3101 ) detects and tracks touches or near touches (and any movement or release of the touch) on touch I/O device  3112  and converts the detected touch input into interaction with graphical objects, such as one or more user-interface objects. In the case in which device  3112  is embodied as a touch screen, the user can directly interact with graphical objects that are displayed on the touch screen. Alternatively, in the case in which device  3112  is embodied as a touch device other than a touch screen (e.g., a touch pad), the user may indirectly interact with graphical objects that are displayed on a separate display screen embodied as I/O device  3114 . 
     Touch I/O device  3112  may be analogous to the multi-touch sensitive surface described in the following U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932 (Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     Embodiments in which touch I/O device  3112  is a touch screen, the touch screen may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD (light emitting polymer display) technology, OLED (organic LED), or OEL (organic electro luminescence), although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. 
     Feedback may be provided by touch I/O device  3112  based on the user&#39;s touch input as well as a state or states of what is being displayed and/or of the computing system. Feedback may be transmitted optically (e.g., light signal or displayed image), mechanically (e.g., haptic feedback, touch feedback, force feedback, or the like), electrically (e.g., electrical stimulation), olfactory, acoustically (e.g., beep or the like), or the like or any combination thereof and in a variable or non-variable manner. 
     System  3100  also includes power system  3144  for powering the various hardware components and may include a power management system, one or more power sources, a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converter or inverter, a power status indicator and any other components typically associated with the generation, management and distribution of power in portable devices. 
     In some embodiments, peripherals interface  3116 , one or more processing units  3118 , and memory controller  3120  may be implemented on a single chip, such as processing system  3104 . In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips. 
     In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the system  3003  or system  3100  or combinations of systems  3003  or  3100  can be used to implement at least some of the methods discussed in the present disclosure. 
     Some portions of the detailed descriptions are presented in terms of algorithms which include operations on data stored within a computer memory. An algorithm is generally a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations typically require or involve physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. 
     It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, can refer to the action and processes of a data processing system, or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the system&#39;s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the system&#39;s memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. 
     The present disclosure can relate to an apparatus for performing one or more of the operations described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a machine (e.g. computer) readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a bus. 
     A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, machines store and communicate (internally and with other devices over a network) code and data using machine-readable media, such as machine storage media (e.g., magnetic disks; optical disks; random access memory; read only memory; flash memory devices; phase-change memory). 
     One or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) may be used in some embodiments. An API is an interface implemented by a program code component or hardware component (hereinafter “API-implementing component”) that allows a different program code component or hardware component (hereinafter “API-calling component”) to access and use one or more functions, methods, procedures, data structures, classes, and/or other services provided by the API-implementing component. An API can define one or more parameters that are passed between the API-calling component and the API-implementing component. 
     An API allows a developer of an API-calling component (which may be a third party developer) to leverage specified features provided by an API-implementing component. There may be one API-calling component or there may be more than one such component. An API can be a source code interface that a computer system or program library provides in order to support requests for services from an application. An operating system (OS) can have multiple APIs to allow applications running on the OS to call one or more of those APIs, and a service (such as a program library) can have multiple APIs to allow an application that uses the service to call one or more of those APIs. An API can be specified in terms of a programming language that can be interpreted or compiled when an application is built. 
     In some embodiments the API-implementing component may provide more than one API, each providing a different view of or with different aspects that access different aspects of the functionality implemented by the API-implementing component. For example, one API of an API-implementing component can provide a first set of functions and can be exposed to third party developers, and another API of the API-implementing component can be hidden (not exposed) and provide a subset of the first set of functions and also provide another set of functions, such as testing or debugging functions which are not in the first set of functions. In other embodiments the API-implementing component may itself call one or more other components via an underlying API and thus be both an API-calling component and an API-implementing component. 
     An API defines the language and parameters that API-calling components use when accessing and using specified features of the API-implementing component. For example, an API-calling component accesses the specified features of the API-implementing component through one or more API calls or invocations (embodied for example by function or method calls) exposed by the API and passes data and control information using parameters via the API calls or invocations. The API-implementing component may return a value through the API in response to an API call from an API-calling component. While the API defines the syntax and result of an API call (e.g., how to invoke the API call and what the API call does), the API may not reveal how the API call accomplishes the function specified by the API call. Various API calls are transferred via the one or more application programming interfaces between the calling (API-calling component) and an API-implementing component. Transferring the API calls may include issuing, initiating, invoking, calling, receiving, returning, or responding to the function calls or messages; in other words, transferring can describe actions by either of the API-calling component or the API-implementing component. The function calls or other invocations of the API may send or receive one or more parameters through a parameter list or other structure. A parameter can be a constant, key, data structure, object, object class, variable, data type, pointer, array, list or a pointer to a function or method or another way to reference a data or other item to be passed via the API. 
     Furthermore, data types or classes may be provided by the API and implemented by the API-implementing component. Thus, the API-calling component may declare variables, use pointers to, use or instantiate constant values of such types or classes by using definitions provided in the API. 
     Generally, an API can be used to access a service or data provided by the API-implementing component or to initiate performance of an operation or computation provided by the API-implementing component. By way of example, the API-implementing component and the API-calling component may each be any one of an operating system, a library, a device driver, an API, an application program, or other module (it should be understood that the API-implementing component and the API-calling component may be the same or different type of module from each other). API-implementing components may in some cases be embodied at least in part in firmware, microcode, or other hardware logic. In some embodiments, an API may allow a client program (e.g., game center application) to use the services provided by a Software Development Kit (SDK) library. In other embodiments an application or other client program may use an API provided by an Application Framework. In these embodiments the application or client program may incorporate calls to functions or methods provided by the SDK and provided by the API or use data types or objects defined in the SDK and provided by the API. An Application Framework may in these embodiments provide a main event loop for a program that responds to various events defined by the Framework. The API allows the application to specify the events and the responses to the events using the Application Framework. In some implementations, an API call can report to an application the capabilities or state of a hardware device, including those related to aspects such as input capabilities and state, output capabilities and state, processing capability, power state, storage capacity and state, communications capability, etc., and the API may be implemented in part by firmware, microcode, or other low level logic that executes in part on the hardware component. 
     The API-calling component may be a local component (i.e., on the same data processing system as the API-implementing component) or a remote component (i.e., on a different data processing system from the API-implementing component) that communicates with the API-implementing component through the API over a network. It should be understood that an API-implementing component may also act as an API-calling component (i.e., it may make API calls to an API exposed by a different API-implementing component) and an API-calling component may also act as an API-implementing component by implementing an API that is exposed to a different API-calling component. 
     The API may allow multiple API-calling components written in different programming languages to communicate with the API-implementing component (thus the API may include features for translating calls and returns between the API-implementing component and the API-calling component); however the API may be implemented in terms of a specific programming language. An API-calling component can, in one embedment, call APIs from different providers such as a set of APIs from an OS provider and another set of APIs from a plug-in provider and another set of APIs from another provider (e.g. the provider of a software library) or creator of the another set of APIs. 
       FIG. 32  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary API architecture, which may be used in one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 32 , the API architecture  3200  includes the API-implementing component  3210  (e.g., an operating system, a library, a device driver, an API, an application program, software or other module) that implements the API  3220 . The API  3220  specifies one or more functions, methods, classes, objects, protocols, data structures, formats and/or other features of the API-implementing component that may be used by the API-calling component  3230 . The API  3220  can specify at least one calling convention that specifies how a function in the API-implementing component receives parameters from the API-calling component and how the function returns a result to the API-calling component. The API-calling component  3230  (e.g., an operating system, a library, a device driver, an API, an application program, software or other module) makes API calls through the API  3220  to access and use the features of the API-implementing component  3210  that are specified by the API  3220 . The API-implementing component  3210  may return a value through the API  3220  to the API-calling component  3230  in response to an API call. 
     It will be appreciated that the API-implementing component  3210  may include additional functions, methods, classes, data structures, and/or other features that are not specified through the API  3220  and are not available to the API-calling component  3230 . It should be understood that the API-calling component  3230  may be on the same system as the API-implementing component  3210  or may be located remotely and accesses the API-implementing component  3210  using the API  3220  over a network. While  FIG. 32  illustrates a single API-calling component  3230  interacting with the API  3220 , it should be understood that other API-calling components, which may be written in different languages (or the same language) than the API-calling component  3230 , may use the API  3220 . 
     The API-implementing component  3210 , the API  3220 , and the API-calling component  3230  may be stored in a machine-readable medium (e.g., computer-readable medium), which includes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer or other data processing system). For example, a machine-readable medium includes magnetic disks, optical disks, random access memory; read only memory, flash memory devices, etc. 
     In  FIG. 33  (“Software Stack”), in one embodiment of the present invention, applications can make calls to Services A or B using several Service APIs and to Operating System (OS) using several OS APIs. Services A and B can make calls to OS using several OS APIs. 
     Note that the Service  2  has two APIs, one of which (Service  2  API  1 ) receives calls from and returns values to Application  1  and the other (Service  2  API  2 ) receives calls from and returns values to Application  2 . Service  1  (which can be, for example, a software library) makes calls to and receives returned values from OS API  1 , and Service  2  (which can be, for example, a software library) makes calls to and receives returned values from both OS API  1  and OS API  2 . Application  2  makes calls to and receives returned values from OS API  2 . 
       FIGS. 34-36  illustrate exemplary alerts or notifications presented to a graphical user interface upon receiving a game invite in one embodiment of the present invention. Initially, a system of a user receives an invite from a specific player (e.g., friend from user&#39;s list of friends, non-friend) of the user to play a specific game. Processing logic determines whether the game associated with the game invite is owned by the user on the current system, owned but not on the current system, or not owned by the user. The invite may be in the form of an alert  3400  if the game is owned by the user on the current system. The alert  3400  includes a user name (e.g., user name  40 ) of the player that sent the invite, a game name (e.g., game name  2 ), and a message field  3410 . The player that creates the invite composes a message in the message field  3410 . 
     If the user owns the game (e.g., game name  2 ) on the user&#39;s current system, then the alert  3400  also includes an accept option  3420  to accept the specific game, a decline option  3420  to decline the game invite, and an optional dismiss option to dismiss the game invite. Selection of the dismiss option allows the user to decide at a later time whether to decline or access the game. 
     The invite may be in the form of an alert  3500  if the user owns the game, but not on the current system being used by the user. The alert  3500  includes a user name (e.g., user name  40 ) of the player that sent the invite, a game name (e.g., game name  2 ), and a message field  3510 . The player that creates the invite composes a message in the message field  3510 . 
     The alert  3500  also includes a decline option  3520  to decline the game invite, a download option  3530  to download the game from an online application service (e.g., application store), and an optional dismiss option to dismiss the game invite. Selection of the dismiss option allows the user to decide at a later time whether to decline or download the game. 
     The invite may be in the form of an alert  3600  if the user does not own the game. The alert  3600  includes a user name (e.g., user name  40 ) of the player (e.g., friend) that sent the invite, a game name (e.g., game name  2 ), and a message field  3610 . The alert  3500  also includes a decline option  3620  to decline the game invite, an access option  3530  (e.g., app store, buy) to access a fully functional or limited version of the game from an online application service (e.g., application store), and an optional dismiss option  3640  to dismiss the game invite. Selection of the dismiss option  3640  allows the user to decide at a later time whether to decline or download the game. 
     Upon a user selection of the access option  3630 , the processing logic automatically directs the user to an application service (e.g., application store) to purchase the specific game in response to a user selection of the access option (e.g., buy, application store). Alternatively, the processing logic may automatically direct, in response to the user selection of the access option, the user to the application service to access for free a fully functional version of the game for a limited time period or a limited functionality demo copy. In one embodiment, a game invite includes at least one of a graphical icon for the game, a game name, a rating for the game, an ability to access the game, and a price for purchasing the game. 
       FIGS. 37-42  illustrate exemplary user interfaces designed for systems with larger displays in one embodiment of the present invention. For example, these systems may include any system or device having a display larger than a display of a mobile phone device.  FIG. 37  illustrates a user interface  3700  with a searchable list of friends and additional information in accordance with one embodiment. User interface  3700  includes content similar to that of the user interfaces illustrated in  FIGS. 10 and 11B . The user interface  3700  includes a search option  3702  and a list of friends  3710 . A user selection of option  3704  provides a list of the user&#39;s contacts and associated contact information (e.g., phone #, email address, URL, address, additional fields, etc.). 
     The user interface  3700  also includes information  3720 , which includes a user&#39;s name (e.g., Mel), a number of friends, a number of games played, and a number of achievements. The information  3720  also includes games we played together  3730  (e.g, games that Mel and a selected friend have played together), other games in common  3740 , and games not owned by Mel  3750 . 
       FIG. 38  illustrates a user interface  3800  with achievement information for a particular game in accordance with one embodiment. The user interface  3800  includes a game name, a play option  3802 , a tell a friend option  3804 , a ranking  3806  for the game, a number of achievements for the game, and achievements (e.g., 18 achievements) for the game. 
       FIG. 39  illustrates a user interface  3900  with leaderboard information for a particular game in accordance with one embodiment. User interface  3900  includes a selectable leaderboard option  3902  to selected among different leaderboards (e.g., leaderboard  1 , leaderboard  2 , etc.). For example, Game Name  15  may include 4 different tracks that are not related to each. A different leaderboard can be generated for each track. A merged leaderboard may include rankings aggregated from all tracks. The user interface  3900  includes a today option  3950 , a this week option  3911 , and an all time option  3912 . The list of leaders can be filtered and ranked based on these options. 
     Friends  3994  includes a ranked list of Mel&#39;s friends for Game Name  11 . Everyone  3996  includes a ranked list of all users for Game Name  15 . 
     In certain embodiments, a certain number of top players are listed (e.g., 10, 20) and if the user (e.g., Mel) is not in this list, then the user&#39;s ranking is also listed (e.g., 1900th). A show more option (e.g.,  3995 ,  3997 ) can be selected to display additional player rankings. 
       FIG. 40  illustrates a user interface  4000  that displays games played for a particular user in accordance with one embodiment. The user interface  4000  includes a user name (e.g., Mel), a number of games played for the user, and the games played (e.g., 24 games played) for the user. The gaming information for each game includes a game icon, a number of completed achievements for the game, and a game name. 
       FIG. 41  illustrates a user interface  4100  that displays a welcome screen upon initiating the game center application for a particular user in accordance with one embodiment. The user interface  4100  includes a user name (e.g., Mel), icons for a number of games played by the user, a number of friends, a number of games played (e.g., 24 games played) for the user, and a number of achievements. 
       FIG. 42  illustrates a user interface  4200  with a list of notifications (e.g., friend requests) and additional information in accordance with one embodiment. User interface  4200  includes content similar to that of the user interfaces illustrated in  FIGS. 21 and 22 . The user interface  4200  includes a list of notifications  4210  received or sent by a user. A selection of option  4260  causes the processing logic to generate a list of notifications (e.g., friend requests, updates) received while a selection of option  4262  causes the processing logic to generate a list of notifications (friend requests, updates) sent. A user selection of option  4270  provides a list of the user&#39;s contacts and associated contact information (e.g., phone #, email address, URL, address, additional fields, etc.). 
     In an embodiment, an incoming friend request may be associated with an email address. The user&#39;s address book or contact information associated with the user&#39;s contacts can be searched to find a match with the email address. If a match occurs, then the incoming friend request will display a real name or nickname for the player who sent the incoming friend request to the user. 
     In one embodiment, option  4260  is selected and then user name  22  is also selected. Information  4230  includes details regarding the player that sent the friend request such as a representation (e.g., avatar) and a short message from this player. The user interface  4200  also includes an accept option  4250  to accept a request, decline option  4252  to decline a request, and a report a concern option  4260  to report a concern regarding the user name  22 . Additional options may also be provided as illustrated and discussed in conjunction with the description of  FIG. 22 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, the user interfaces illustrated in  FIGS. 37-42  may also be used in mobile phone devices. 
       FIG. 43  illustrates a desired object  4300  having texture in one embodiment of the present invention. The desired object  4300  includes end components  4302  and  4304  and a component  4306  having texture. This object  4300  may be difficult to create using a repeating method that repeats smaller components to form a larger desired object. 
       FIG. 44  illustrates a template object  4400  in one embodiment of the present invention. The template object may be an enlarged version of the desired object in one dimension (e.g., a width dimension). Portions of the object  4400  can be selected (or other portions can be blocked or masked) in order to form the desired object  4300 . For example, the components  4402 ,  4406 , and  4404  can be selected to form the desired object  4300 . The component  4408  is blocked or removed from object  4400 . In this manner, various types of objects with texture can be created. 
       FIG. 45  illustrates an exemplary form  4500  with various input fields  4510 - 4514  in one embodiment of the present invention. A game developer can easily use the form  4500  or other types of forms and apply texture layers to create customized user interfaces. 
       FIG. 46  illustrates an exemplary computer-implemented method for adding texture to objects of user interfaces in one embodiment of the present invention. The computer-implemented method  4600  is performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a system), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method  4600  is performed by the game center module  200  located on a client system. At block  4601 , the processing logic provides a form with one or more input fields to a user interface. At block  4602 , the processing logic receives a selection of an input field. At block  4604 , the processing logic receives a selection of a texture layer to be added to a desired object associated with the input field. At block  4606 , the processing logic generates a template object with the texture layer (e.g., object  4400 ). The template object may be an enlarged version of the desired object in one dimension (e.g., a width dimension). At block  4608 , the processing logic blocks or masks a portion (e.g.,  4408 ) of the extra wide template object. At block  4610 , the processing logic merges the unblocked portions to form a desired object (e.g.,  4300 ) having the texture layer. At block  4612 , the processing logic repeatedly using one or more template objects to form various types of desired objects in order to create a customized user interface for one or more software applications (e.g., software gaming applications for use with the game center) that are capable of being executed on the system. 
     Various types of texture layers can be used for forming the desired object  4300  or other types of objects. The texture layer(s) can vary in color, intensity, pattern, etc. across portions of a desired object to create a customized object and user interface. 
     In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20100920
Publication Date: 20140527
Grant Date: 20140527
Priority Date: 20100407
Inventors: VAN OS MARCEL
LAMPELL MIKE
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "A63F13/843", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/792", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/31", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/5546", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/558", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/5566", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/556", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/57", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/77", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/5566", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/85", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/795", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/57", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/795", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/77", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/85", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F13/87", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/556", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/5546", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "A63F2300/558", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 44761318