CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/752,737, filed Jun. 26, 2015, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/752,737 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/790,269, filed Mar. 8, 2013 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/790,289, the entire disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/790,269 claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/709,873, filed Oct. 4, 2012, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/790,289 also claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/709,873, filed Oct. 4, 2012.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is related to video game emulation. Among other things, this application describes a method and apparatus for automatically changing an output device from a first output mode to latency reduction mode.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern televisions utilize image processing to improve the quality of the video displayed. For example, televisions may perform digital signal enhancements such as edge enhancements, or the television may utilize a buffer to improve image quality. These image processing steps delay the displaying of video frames. Depending on the television model and the video settings chosen, the delay due to the additional processing may be 50-100 milliseconds or even more. This delay is particularly a concern with plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions. In order to keep the audio synchronized with the video, televisions may delay the audio signal by a similar amount.

However, when utilizing applications that are sensitive to latencies, such as video games, even when the video and audio are synchronized, the delay may still be noticed. In the case of gaming system, it takes a certain period of time, before the user sees the result of his actions (e.g., pressing a button on a game controller) displayed by the television. The delay between the user's action and the display on the television is often referred to as a latency or system lag. This latency creates a problem in quickly moving gaming environments. For example, in a first-person shooter game long latencies may reduce a user's reaction time, and therefore cause the user to be shot when he would otherwise have had time to avoid an incoming attack.

For this reason modern televisions often contain a “game mode” in which some of the image processing steps are disabled in order to reduce the latency. While image quality may be affected by utilizing the game mode, it has been seen as a worthwhile tradeoff for those in the gaming community. The game mode option is especially important in the context of cloud gaming in which the latency due to the television delay forms a significant portion of the overall latency of the system.

However, there is no automatic way to switch between game mode and standard mode. Currently users have to switch back and forth between game mode and standard mode, which is a cumbersome process. Typically this involves entering into a menu and selecting the game mode from a list of options. Further, since the game mode is likely one of many viewing mode options, many gamers may not even be aware that their television supports such functionality. As such, users may be slow to adopt cloud-based gaming because of the perceived system lag that they presume that they cannot decrease. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system that automatically selects the game mode for a user whenever they begin playing.

It is within this context that aspects of the present disclosure arise.

