System architecture for billing of multi-player games in a wireless environment using GSM/UMTS and WLAN services

Games played by multiple users, each using a wireless termi- nal (e.g., PDA), have tremendous revenue potential for next generation wireless systems. However, the next generation of wireless systems (such as UMTS and other 3G systems) alone will not be able to provide the tight delay bounds re- quired by these multi-player games. We develop a system architecture that enables high-quality games among multi- ple wireless users and at the same time enables network ser- vice providers and game service providers to charge for the gaming service. Our architecture relies on wireless vertical communication conducted over UMTS to register (authen- ticate) the users at the commencement of a game and to report scores at the end of the game. During the game the players exchange information over wireless horizontal com- munication conducted over wireless LANs. Our architecture is particularly well suited for games that have off-line soft- ware distribution, but require a registration (authentication) each time the game is played. In this paper we describe our system architecture, which involves a UMTS-based Wire- less Overlay Communication System (WOCS), and give the protocol for game initiation and score submissions. We also outline business cases for our system architecture and dis- cuss the network provider's perspective.