U.S. patent application number 11/470254 was filed with the patent office on 2008-03-06 for networked lottery.
Invention is credited to Sam Johnson.
Application Number | 20080058056 11/470254 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39152417 |
Filed Date | 2008-03-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080058056 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Johnson; Sam |
March 6, 2008 |
NETWORKED LOTTERY
Abstract
A network based lottery gaming system that generates or receives
lottery entries as users perform certain actions. The numbers are
identified with the users and collected over a period of time--the
game interval. At the conclusion of the game interval, the
collected entries are compared to a winning entry to identify if
and who the winners are. Awards can be generated and paid out to
the winners based on a payout table.
Inventors: |
Johnson; Sam; (Las Vegas,
NV) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SMITH FROHWEIN TEMPEL GREENLEE BLAHA, LLC
Two Ravinia Drive, Suite 700
ATLANTA
GA
30346
US
|
Family ID: |
39152417 |
Appl. No.: |
11/470254 |
Filed: |
September 6, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/17 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 17/329 20130101;
G07F 17/3225 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/17 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Claims
1. A method to provide a lottery like game, the method comprising
the steps of: detecting the generation of an entry qualifying
sequence generated as a result of an independent action not related
to a lottery game; determining an identity associated with the
detected sequence; storing the detected sequence along with the
determined identity; generating a winning sequence; comparing the
detected sequence to the winning sequence; selecting an award based
on a payout table and the comparison of the detected sequence and
the winning sequence; and providing the award, if any to an entity
associated with the determined identity.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the payout table includes award
definitions for complete matches and partial matches and, the step
of comparing the detected sequence to the winning sequence
comprises determining the commonality between the glyphs in the
detected sequence and the winning sequence.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the payout table includes awards
for complete matches and partial matches and, the step of comparing
the detected sequence to the winning sequence comprises determining
commonality between the values and positions of the glyphs in the
detected sequence and the winning sequence.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected sequence is a
telephone number and the step of detecting the generation of an
entry qualifying sequence generated as a result of an independent
action not related to a lottery game further comprises detecting
the dialing of a telephone number.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected sequence is a
transaction identifier sequence and the step of detecting the
generation of an entry qualifying sequence generated as a result of
an independent action not related to a lottery game further
comprises detecting the generation of a transaction identifier as
the result of performing a transaction.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transaction is an Internet
based transaction and the transaction identifier is an invoice
number and the step of detecting the generation of an entry
qualifying sequence further comprises detecting the occurrence of
the transaction and obtaining the invoice number.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of detecting the
generation of an entry qualifying sequence further comprises
prompting the party conducting the transaction to opt in to the
lottery event and then receiving an affirmative response from the
party.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: defining
a game interval; and the step of comparing the detected sequence to
the winning sequence applies to a plurality of detected sequences
entered during the game interval.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the detected sequence is a
telephone number and further comprising the steps of: providing a
cellular telephone to a participant; and the step of detecting the
generation of an entry qualifying sequence generated as a result of
an independent action not related to a lottery game further
comprises detecting the dialing of a telephone number using the
provided cellular telephone.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected sequence is a
telephone number and further comprising the steps of: providing
cellular telephone service to a plurality of participants; and the
step of detecting the generation of an entry qualifying sequence
generated as a result of an independent action not related to a
lottery game further comprises detecting the dialing of telephone
numbers from each of the plurality of participants over a
particular period of time.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the award is related to a
reduction in the cost of cellular telephone service.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the award is related to an
increase in the number of free minutes.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected sequence is based
on a dialed telephone number and further comprising the steps of:
providing cellular telephone service to a plurality of
participants; and the step of detecting the generation of an entry
qualifying sequence generated as a result of an independent action
not related to a lottery game further comprises detecting the
dialing of telephone numbers from each of the plurality of
participants over a particular period of time and using the
detected number as input to generate a number to be the detected
sequence.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting the
generation of an entry qualifying sequence comprises detecting at
least one of the type of sequence types selected from the group of
sequence types including a dialed telephone number, an email
address, an accessed internet address, a time of day, a date and
time of day and a randomly generated sequence.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected sequence is an
analog to digital conversion of voice signals detected during a
telephone call and the step of detecting the generation of an entry
qualifying sequence generated as a result of an independent action
not related to a lottery game further comprises detecting the voice
signals and converting them into a qualifying sequence.
16. A method to provide a lottery like game, the method comprising
the steps of: detecting the dialing of a telephone number;
determining an identity associated with the origination of the
dialing; storing the detected telephone number along with the
determined identity; generating a winning number; comparing the
detected telephone number to the winning number; selecting an award
based on a payout table and the comparison of the detected
telephone number and the winning number; and providing the award,
if any to an entity associated with the determined identity.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the payout table includes award
definitions for complete matches and partial matches and, the step
of comparing the detected telephone number to the winning number
comprises determining the commonality between the values of the
digits.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the payout table includes
awards for complete matches and partial matches and, the step of
comparing the detected telephone number to the winning number
comprises determining commonality between the values and positions
of the digits.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:
defining a game interval; and the step of comparing the detected
telephone number to the winning number applies to a plurality of
detected telephone numbers entered during the game interval.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the detected telephone number
is one that is based on a telephone number dialed using a cellular
telephone and further comprising the steps of: providing a cellular
telephone to a participant; and the step of detecting the dialing
of a telephone number further comprises detecting the dialing of a
telephone number using the provided cellular telephone.
21. A method to provide a lottery like game to a plurality of
cellular telephone subscribers, the method comprising the steps of:
detecting the dialing of a telephone numbers by members of the
plurality of cellular telephone subscribers; determining an
identity the cellular telephone subscriber for each detected
telephone number; storing the detected telephone numbers along with
the determined identity; generating a winning number; comparing the
detected telephone numbers received over a duration of time to the
winning number; if one or more of the detected telephone numbers is
a winning telephone number by satisfying matching criteria
established by a payout table, determining an award value
associated with each winning telephone number; and providing the
awards the cellular subscribers associated with the winning
telephone numbers.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to both the gaming
industry and telephone and/or network technology and, more
particularly, to providing a lottery system based on sequences
entered or generated by participants utilizing the network for
performing and action such as placing a call on a telephony network
or concluding an online transaction using the Internet.
[0002] Years ago, the word "churn" would conjure up wonderful
visions of a motherly woman, working away over a clay pot, making
butter for her family. Today, the mention of the word is quite
different, especially for those in the communications industry. The
word "churn" to a telecommunications service provider causes a
cold, tingly feeling to run up and down their spine and causes the
hairs on their neck to stand-up. In the telecommunications
industry, churn refers a customer leaving one service provider and
transitioning to another. The telecommunications industry is
constantly looking for techniques to reduce their churn rate.
[0003] Some techniques that have been employed to reduce churn
include providing financial incentives such as discounts and free
services, the addition of new features, and upgrading equipment.
Although these techniques, as well as other techniques have been
instrumental in reducing churn, service provider companies are
still in need of new and innovative techniques for reducing churn.
Thus, there remains in the telecommunications industry a need for
new and innovative techniques to decrease churn.
[0004] Churn is especially evident in the cellular telephone
industry. Cellular service providers offer free minutes, roll-over
minutes, free telephone upgrades and feature rich packages in an
effort to attract and retain customers. Along with the churn issue,
the cellular industry also faces another challenge--maximizing
minute usage. Because cellular service providers generate revenue
based on the number of minutes of talk time of their customers, the
service providers are very motivated to increase the minute usage
of their customer base. Increasing the minutes of usage of a
cellular telephone service subscriber really includes two facets.
One facet is focused on lengthening the duration of telephone calls
and the other is focused on increasing the number of telephone
calls. Thus, there is a need in the art for a technique to provide
an incentive to cellular telephone customers that will discourage
churn and encourage the users to place more calls and/or to extend
the length of their calls.
[0005] Furthermore, when you look at a cellular telephone from a
systems perspective, one realizes that a cellular telephone is
actually a two-way radio and a computer. Because of this particular
structure, cellular telephones have migrated into complex devices
combining widely divergent technologies, such as MP3 players,
cameras, personal assistants, Internet browsers, email
applications, game platforms, and the like, with the cellular
telephone technology. This has resulted in opening a wide array of
techniques that can be employed to reduce churn and increase the
number of usage minutes for cellular service subscribers.
[0006] The concept of churn can also be applied in many other
settings other than telecommunications settings. For instance,
online merchants greatly desire the attraction of customer traffic.
For instance, online merchants such as EBAY, AMAZON.COM,
OVERSTOCK.COM and many others could benefit from a technique that
would encourage consumers to use their site and to return to their
site next time a transaction is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention provides a solution to the
above-described needs in the art and other needs in the art by
providing a lottery like gaming environment for telecommunication
subscribers. In general, telecommunication service subscribers that
opt in or are provided service in accordance with the present
invention, create entries into the lottery like game by performing
certain actions. For instance, in one embodiment of the present
invention, the action could be an action completely independent
from the lottery game and common for standard usage of the service
(i.e., dialing a telephone number). In another embodiment of the
invention, the subscriber may take specific actions that are
related to or directed towards generating lottery entries. In
either case, the subscriber generates an entry into the lottery
game.
[0008] Entries are collected by the system for a period of time and
then a drawing is performed. While collecting the entries, each
entry collected is associated with the identity of the subscriber
and then stored for later reference. When the game period expires,
a winning sequence is identified and then compared to the entries
into the game. If there is a match, the winners are provided an
award. The award is typically based on a predefined payout table.
The winning sequence can be generated randomly from the total
domain of possible outcomes or, in some embodiments, may be
generated from the domain of recorded entries randomly selected. In
this latter embodiment, each lottery event can be guaranteed to
produce at least one winner.
[0009] These and other aspects, features and embodiments of the
present invention are more fully described in the detailed
description that follows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a generic
environment in which embodiments of the present invention can be
deployed.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps involved in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps involved in
a cellular based embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] The present invention is directed towards a lottery-like
game that can be utilized by telecommunication service providers to
reduce churn and/or increase system usage. In addition, embodiments
of the present invention can also be offered by
non-telecommunication service providers simply as a promotional
activity, revenue generator, recreation, etc. In general, the
present invention is a lottery-like game that is coupled to a
telecommunications system. The invention is a lottery-like game in
that participants enter, select or generate entry sequences over a
period of time. At the conclusion of the period of time, the
entered sequences are compared to a winning sequence to determine
if there are any winners and to identify who the winners are. A
subscriber to the telecommunications system can enter, select or
generate a sequence for the lottery-like game simply by performing
standard and expected operations with the telecommunications
equipment, or by performing non-standard, game-specific activities.
For instance, a standard and expected operation in a cellular
telephone based telecommunications system would be the dialing of a
destination telephone number. On the other hand, a non-standard,
game-specific activity may include entering a sequence of digits
after being prompted by the telephone display or the
telecommunications system. A period of time is defined for the
entry of sequences. Upon the expiration of the period of time,
either one of the entered sequences is selected as a winning
sequence or, a random sequence is generated and compared to the
entered sequences to identify a winner. A payout table can be
utilized to establish the winning criteria and the awards to
winners.
[0014] Now turning to the figures, further details, aspects,
embodiments and features of the present invention are described in
more detail.
[0015] FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a generic
environment in which embodiments of the present invention can be
deployed. The environment 100 is a telecommunications system that
includes one or more end-user devices 110A-110n that are
communicatively coupled to the telecommunications network
infrastructure 130 through communication channels or media
120A-120n. A lottery system 140 is also coupled to the
telecommunications network infrastructure. The lottery system 140
interfaces to a database 150 or other memory system or device for
providing data storage and optionally an awards provisioning system
160.
[0016] It will be appreciated that the generic environment can
represent a variety of specific environments such as the public
switched telephone network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, a
voice over IP (VOIP) network, a data network, an email-centric
network, or the like. Further, it will be appreciated that the
telecommunications network cloud 130 may represent a combination of
two or more similar and very different network types. For instance,
the lottery system 140 may interface to the PSTN infrastructure, a
cellular infrastructure and a VOIP infrastructure. Thus, the
telecommunication cloud 130 may represent multiple infrastructures
or the lottery system 140 may be connected to multiple network
clouds 130.
[0017] The end-user telecommunication devices 110 can include a
variety of devices such as, telephones, cellular handsets, personal
data assistances, personal computers, two-way pagers, proprietary
devices, or the like.
[0018] In the preferred embodiment, the telecommunication devices
are used to gain communicative access to another device, either
within or without the same telecommunications network.
Communicative access is obtained by entering a destination address
into the telecommunications device and transmitting a request for
connection to the destination address to the telecommunications
network. For instance, in a PSTN based embodiment, the
telecommunication devices will typically be telephone units.
Entering the destination address in this embodiment includes
dialing the destination telephone number using the telephone unit.
As the number is dialed, or after completion of dialing, signals
are transmitted to the telecommunications network as a request to
setup a connection to the destination number. In a cellular
telephone system based embodiment, the destination number is
transmitted as a connection request command to the mobile switching
office. In an Internet based embodiment, the communicative access
can be obtained by entering an IP address or URL into a browser
application or by sending a VOIP connection request identifying the
destination. In an email system embodiment, communication access is
obtained by placing a destination address into the email and
transmitting the email message to the email server. It will be
appreciated, that these examples are provided only as non-limiting
examples to help illustrate the general characteristics of the
present invention.
[0019] Embodiments of the present invention operate to capture or
gain access to the destination addresses that are submitted to gain
access through the telecommunications network. The identity of the
party or the source of the destination number is also obtained and
stored into the database by the lottery system 140 along with the
destination number. Thus, non-limiting examples of the destination
addresses may include telephone numbers, portions of telephone
numbers, email addresses, mobile identification numbers, IP
addresses, or the like. It should also be appreciated that the
entry sequences may only be based on a destination address. For
instance, the destination address could be used as a seed to a
random number generator. In addition, other information could be
used as, or to generate, the entry sequence. For instance, the time
of day and/or the date that a connection request is made may be
used to generate an entry sequence. Furthermore, the simple action
of making a connection request may simply be used to trigger the
generation of a random number. Those skilled in the art will also
appreciate that other techniques may be used. For instance, the
timing between key presses of a user could be used as input to a
random number generation. In addition, a user may be requested or
prompted by the telecommunications system to enter a sequence using
the keyboard. Another technique would be to take digital samples of
any voice signals that may be detected on the communications line.
These digital samples could be used to directly convert over to a
random number or may be used as a seed to a random number
generator. Thus, a variety of techniques may be used to generate
the entry sequences and although one or more of the described
techniques may in and of itself be considered a novel aspect of the
present invention, the present invention is not to be limited to
any particular technique.
[0020] The lottery system 140 collects the destination addresses
(or entry sequences) from the telecommunications system 130 for a
finite period of time. For instance, the lottery may run daily,
hourly, weekly, monthly, etc. Once the period of time is up, the
collected destination addresses are used as the domain of lottery
entries. In one embodiment, a winning sequence is randomly
generated and then compared to the collected destination addresses.
Depending on the similarity between the winning sequence and each
collected destination address, an award may be granted. For
instance, in one embodiment, only an exact match will result in
generation an award. In another embodiment, graduated awards may be
presented based on the proximity of the match. For instance, one
award may be provided for an exact match and a reduced award may be
provided in all but one of the items in the sequence match the
winning sequence. It will be appreciated to those skilled in the
art that various payout tables can be generated to define the
awards available through the various embodiments of the present
invention and the present invention should not be limited to any
particular payout construction.
[0021] In some embodiments, an awards processing system 160 may be
used to provision the award system. Such a system can operate to
automatically contact the winning participants or to automatically
generate awards.
[0022] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps involved in
one embodiment of the present invention. The process 200 begins by
the initialization of a new game. This process can include a
variety of tasks, but in general, the tasks will at least include
starting of a new period of time over which the lottery game will
extend. Once the new game is initialized, the game begins. During
the operational period of time for the lottery game 208, the
process operates to detect when a sequence is generated 212. Once
the sequence generation is detected, the identity that is
associated with the generated sequence is identified 216. The
generated sequence and the identity of the associated party are
stored into memory 220. This process continues until the lottery
game is over. Thus far, the duration of the lottery game has been
described as being time based. However, those skilled in the art
will appreciate that the duration of the lottery game may also be
event based. For instance, the lottery game may continue until a
certain number of entries are collected. Alternatively, the lottery
game may generate a winning sequence at the onset and continue
until the winning sequence is collected. Furthermore, the duration
of the lottery may be tied to other events occurring the various
embodiments of the invention my employ such defining events.
[0023] Once the duration of the lottery game is concluded, the
process continues by selecting a winning sequence 240. It should be
appreciated that the winning sequence can be selected at anytime in
this process but it is being portrayed as generated chronologically
at this point simply as a non-limiting example. The winning
sequence can be selected by generating a random number, or can be
generated using some other means such as selecting a particular
sequence from the domain of possible sequences. In addition, in
some embodiments, the winning sequence may be selected directly
from collected generated sequences--thereby guaranteeing a winner.
However, in the illustrated embodiment, a winning sequence is
selected and then compared to the stored generated sequences 244.
Based on the results of this comparison, awards may be granted to
the winning entries 248. Processing may then return to step 204 to
initialize the beginning of another lottery game.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps involved in
a cellular based embodiment of the present invention. The
illustrated embodiment is a specific, non-limiting example of a
particular embodiment of the present invention that can be used to
limit churn and increase minute usage in a cellular system. It
should be appreciated that although the illustrated embodiment may
in and of itself be novel, the present invention is not necessarily
limited to this particular embodiment.
[0025] The process 300 begins by a cellular service provider
provisioning one or more subscribers with cellular telephones to be
used on the provider's cellular system 304. This process may
include running a special for new subscribers, or can be offered to
existing subscribers or a combination of both. In either case,
particular cellular subscribers are identified as being
participants in the lottery event. Once the participants are
identified and provisioned, the game interval commences 308. During
the active period of the game, numbers that are dialed by the
participating subscribers using the cellular system are detected
and maintained along with the identity of the subscriber 312. In
addition, a winning sequence for the particular gaming interval is
also generated 316. Once the gaming interval is over, the dialed
numbers are examined and compared to the winning sequence to
determine if there are any winners (i.e., matching sequences) 320.
If a dialed number qualifies for an award based on a comparison
with the winning sequence, the award is provided to the subscriber
associated with the dialed number 324. The process can then
continue at step 308 with a new gaming interval. Alternatively, the
process can continue at step 304 to allow additions or deletions of
the pool of participants. In another embodiment, processing can
continue at step 316 to generate another winning sequence. In this
embodiment, multiple winners can be identified or, if there were no
winners using the first winning sequence, a new winning sequence
can be generated. This process can be repeated until a winner is
identified.
[0026] More specifically, the illustrated embodiment can operate to
capture every telephone call made by a participant and
automatically enter the 7 digits (or 10 digits) that were dialed
into the lottery drawing. The drawing takes place periodically,
such as once every night or some other frequency (or even
instantly). The outcome of the drawing will be determined based on
the telephone call or telephone calls made between each drawing.
Similar to other lotteries and/or sweepstakes, prizes are paid
against a given pay table. Thus, if you hit 3 of the 7 digits you
win $X, 4 of the 7 digits $Y and 7 of the 7 digits awards the
jackpot.
[0027] Throughout the present description, the term "entered
sequence" and "winning sequence" has been used. It should be
appreciated that these sequences can take on a variety of forms. In
one embodiment, the sequences can simply be a 7 or 10 digit
telephone number. However, it should be appreciated that this is a
non-limiting example and the sequence can simply be a single value,
an integer, a value generated through a analog to digital
conversion, an output of a random number generated, a series of
characters, a series of glyphs, etc. It should be appreciated that
a glyph is defined as any symbol or character, whether it is a
letter, number, punctuation mark, graphic or other displayable
element.
[0028] It should also be appreciated that the present invention can
be incorporated into other types of systems that are not typically
considered telecommunications systems. For instance, the present
system could be employed in a point-of-sale environment. In such an
embodiment, each time a receipt is issued to a customer (i.e., when
ever a customer makes a purchase) an entry sequence can be
generated either randomly, based on the invoice or receipt number
of any of a variety of other information. These entry sequences can
then be entered into the lottery game. Similarly, the present
invention can be incorporated into an online transaction, such as
EBAY or ITUNES. In such an embodiment, when a transaction is
conducted (i.e. winning a bid on EBAY or downloading a song from
ITUNES), a sequence can be entered or generated and entered into
the lottery game for the next drawing. Similarly, the present
invention could be used in information based Internet services such
as mapping services, weather services, news services, etc. Each
time a user accesses a particular web site, and entry for the
lottery may be generated. Likewise, each time the user actuates and
application available on a website, such as generating driving
directions on MAPQUEST, an entry in the lottery may be
generated.
[0029] In the description and claims, each of the verbs, "comprise"
"include" and "have", and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate
that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a
complete listing of members, components, elements or parts of the
subject or subjects of the verb.
[0030] The present invention has been described using detailed
descriptions of embodiments thereof that are provided by way of
example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
It will be appreciated that other uses of the present invention are
also anticipated. The described embodiments comprise different
features, not all of which are required in all embodiments of the
invention. Some embodiments of the present invention utilize only
some of the features or possible combinations of the features. The
scope of the invention is limited only by the following claims.
* * * * *