US 12,357,908 B2
Tracking file system read operations for instant play of video games, and for client-side discarding and prefetching of game data
Pierre-Loup Miguel Griffais, Mercer Island, WA (US)
Assigned to Valve Corporation, Bellevue, WA (US)
Filed by Valve Corporation, Bellevue, WA (US)
Filed on Oct. 6, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/482,291.
Application 18/482,291 is a continuation of application No. 17/458,054, filed on Aug. 26, 2021, granted, now 11,813,520.
Application 17/458,054 is a continuation of application No. 16/821,716, filed on Mar. 17, 2020, granted, now 11,123,634, issued on Sep. 21, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0033623 A1, Feb. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. A63F 13/352 (2014.01); A63F 13/335 (2014.01)
CPC A63F 13/352 (2014.09) [A63F 13/335 (2014.09); A63F 2300/534 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
sending, by a computing device, to a remote system, a request to acquire a program;
receiving, by the computing device, from the remote system, executable code of the program;
starting to download, by the computing device, to non-volatile memory of the computing device, blocks of data for the program;
preventing, by a processor of the computing device, execution of the executable code until at least one of:
a lapse of a period of time since the blocks started to download; or
an occurrence of an event, and
in response to at least one of the lapse of the period of time or the occurrence of the event, executing, by the processor, the executable code on the computing device while at least some of the blocks are still being downloaded.