US 12,005,343 B2
Placement of virtual elements in a virtual world associated with a location-based parallel reality game
Keith P. Golden, San Francisco, CA (US); Mark A. Aubin, Sunnyvale, CA (US); John V. Hanke, Piedmont, CA (US); Phillip Craig Keslin, San Jose, CA (US); James Dinkelacker, Lahaina, HI (US); Charles Spirakis, Los Altos, CA (US); and Alexander Vladimirov, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to NIANTIC, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by Niantic, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 25, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/411,293.
Application 17/411,293 is a continuation of application No. 16/661,682, filed on Oct. 23, 2019, granted, now 11,167,205.
Application 16/661,682 is a continuation of application No. 15/728,462, filed on Oct. 9, 2017, granted, now 10,486,059, issued on Nov. 26, 2019.
Application 15/728,462 is a continuation of application No. 13/955,089, filed on Jul. 31, 2013, granted, now 9,782,668, issued on Oct. 10, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/677,529, filed on Jul. 31, 2012.
Prior Publication US 2021/0379484 A1, Dec. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. A63F 13/00 (2014.01); A63F 13/216 (2014.01); A63F 13/332 (2014.01); A63F 13/35 (2014.01); A63F 13/65 (2014.01)
CPC A63F 13/00 (2013.01) [A63F 13/216 (2014.09); A63F 13/332 (2014.09); A63F 13/35 (2014.09); A63F 13/65 (2014.09)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of locating virtual elements in a virtual world, the method comprising:
hosting, at a server, a parallel reality game associated with the virtual world, the virtual world having a geography that parallels at least a portion of the real world such that a player can navigate the virtual world by moving to different geographic locations in the real world, the parallel reality game including interactions with virtual elements in the virtual world stored in a game database;
receiving, at the server, data indicating geographic locations of mobile devices in the real world during a first time period, the mobile devices associated with a plurality of players of the parallel reality game;
identifying, at the server and based on the data indicating the geographic locations of mobile devices in the real world during the first time period, a first area in the real world as a low traffic area during the first time period;
responsive to the first area being the low traffic area during the first time period, determining, at the server, to not place a virtual element at a location in the virtual world corresponding to the first area during the first time period;
determining, at the server and based on the data indicating the geographic locations of mobile devices in the real world during the first time period, a location for the virtual element in the virtual world;
updating the game database to include the virtual element at the determined location; and
transmitting, by the server to mobile devices associated with one or more of the plurality of players, information for displaying the virtual element at the determined location in the virtual world.