U.S. patent application number 12/180405 was filed with the patent office on 2010-01-28 for skill-based electronic gaming tournament play.
Invention is credited to Edward Scott Cragg, Krzysztof Goworek, Eric Hayashi, Adrian Kurek, Michal Okularczyk, Michael Steuer, Tiago Teixeira, Dmitriy Temesov, Alvin Wong.
Application Number | 20100022307 12/180405 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41569130 |
Filed Date | 2010-01-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100022307 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Steuer; Michael ; et
al. |
January 28, 2010 |
Skill-Based Electronic Gaming Tournament Play
Abstract
A system for managing an electronic gaming tournament between a
plurality of users comprising user database operably associated
with a server containing information related to each of the
plurality of users, a central pseudo-random number generator
providing server-side generated pseudo-random numbers; a tournament
database operably containing information related to an electronic
gaming; a skill-based electronic game operably deployed on a
plurality of client devices, the skill-based electronic game having
at least one of its starting conditions, its behavior or its
appearance determined by one or more psuedo-random equations; a
client-server communication module being deployed on each of the
plurality of client devices operably disposed between each of the
skill-based electronic games and the server, each client-server
communication module providing a tournament menu to the skill-based
electronic game so as to provide user-selectable access to ongoing
tournaments found in the tournament database, and a prize
fulfillment module for distributing the prize indicated in the
tournament database to the user among the tournament participants
who is determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament
ending time.
Inventors: |
Steuer; Michael; (Los
Angeles, CA) ; Temesov; Dmitriy; (San Francisco,
CA) ; Kurek; Adrian; (Gilwice, PL) ; Teixeira;
Tiago; (Iserlohn, DE) ; Goworek; Krzysztof;
(Farowskie Gory, PL) ; Okularczyk; Michal;
(Czestochowa, PL) ; Wong; Alvin; (Daly City,
CA) ; Cragg; Edward Scott; (San Mateo, CA) ;
Hayashi; Eric; (Woodside, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LOEB & LOEB, LLP
321 NORTH CLARK, SUITE 2300
CHICAGO
IL
60654-4746
US
|
Family ID: |
41569130 |
Appl. No.: |
12/180405 |
Filed: |
July 25, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 2300/204 20130101;
A63F 2300/5586 20130101; A63F 2300/552 20130101; G06Q 30/06
20130101; G07F 17/3276 20130101; A63F 13/798 20140902; G07F 17/3295
20130101; A63F 2300/537 20130101; A63F 2300/406 20130101; G06Q
90/00 20130101; A63F 2300/409 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/42 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Claims
1. A system for managing an electronic gaming tournament between a
plurality of users comprising: a user database operably associated
with a server containing information related to each of the
plurality of users, the information related to each user including
a user name, a password, and tournament involvement with scoring
data; a central pseudo-random number generator operably associated
with the server providing server-side generated pseudo-random
numbers; a tournament database operably associated with the server
containing information related to an electronic gaming tournament
including a tournament ID, a tournament type, a tournament ending
time, a plurality of tournament participants selected from the user
database, a plurality of the server-side generated pseudo-random
numbers generated by the central pseudo-random number generator, a
plurality of results associated with each of the tournament
participants, and a prize schedule containing a list of prizes per
tournament; a skill-based electronic game operably deployed on a
plurality of client devices, the skill-based electronic game having
at least one of a plurality of starting conditions, a behavior or
an appearance determined by one or more pseudo-random equations, at
least one of the one or more pseudo-random equations being seeded
by at least a selected one of the server-side generated
pseudo-random numbers, the skill-based electronic game providing a
skill-based score; a client-server communication module being
deployed on each of the plurality of client devices operably
disposed between each of the skill-based electronic game and the
server, each client-server communication module providing a
tournament menu to the skill-based electronic game so as to provide
user-selectable access to ongoing tournaments found in the
tournament database, each client-server communication module
receiving the tournament ID associated with a user-selected ongoing
tournament, the client-server communication module further
providing at least one of the server-side generated pseudo-random
numbers associated with the user-selected ongoing tournament and
communicating the skill-based score to the server along with the
tournament ID and the user name associated with the skill-based
score; and a prize fulfillment module operably associated with the
server for distributing the prize indicated in the tournament
database to the user among the tournament participants who is
determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending
time.
2. The system according to claim 1 wherein each client device
comprises a mobile device selected from the group comprising a
handheld video game system, a mobile phone, a wireless-enabled
personal computer and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
3. The system according to claim 2 wherein the skill-based
electronic game with client-server communication module is
distributed to one of the plurality of client devices via a
wireless communication link for installation in the client
device.
4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the client device
comprises a game console.
5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the client device
comprises a television set-top box.
6. The system according to claim 1 wherein at least some of the
plurality of client devices are operably connected to the server
via a first wireless carrier, the first wireless carrier having a
user database containing a plurality of first wireless-carrier
community user names, each first wireless-carrier community user
name corresponding to a first wireless-carrier community user, the
system further comprising a process operably associated with the
server that receives the first wireless-carrier community user
names from the first wireless carrier, pads each of the first
wireless-carrier community user names with a text string
pre-determined for the first wireless carrier users, and stores the
text padded first wireless-carrier community user names in the user
database as the user name.
7. The system according to claim 1 wherein the information
contained in the user database further includes a physical address,
and wherein the prize fulfillment module issues a fulfillment order
that, when acted upon, results in the prize indicated in the
tournament database being sent to the physical address of the user
among the tournament participants who is determined to have won
each tournament as of the tournament ending time.
8. The system according to claim 7 further comprising an SMS
messenger operably associated with the server and operably
connected to a wireless carriers, wherein the prize fulfillment
module further issues an SMS message to the user among the
tournament participants who is determined to have won each
tournament as of the tournament ending time to confirm the physical
address of the user for shipping of the prize indicated in the
tournament database and wherein the prize fulfillment module
further acts upon a return SMS message from the user regarding the
correctness of the physical address.
9. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a display
screen process operably associated with the server that pushes down
to each of the plurality of client devices via the client-server
communication module one or more screens configured to display
information on a display of the client device.
10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the display screen
process determines dynamically the number of screens to be pushed
down to the client devices wherein the displayed information
includes information that is selected from the group comprising
user information, legal disclaimer information, prize information,
tournament information, and promotional information.
11. The system according to claim 9 wherein the display information
includes a graphical banner.
12. The system according to claim 9 wherein the display screen
process has a language localization table, and the user database
further includes information regarding which localized text string
to send back to the client device associated with each user.
13. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a process
associated with the server that detects user fraud in a tournament
and precludes the sending of the server-side generated
pseudo-random number to each user who participated in the
fraud.
14. The system according to claim 13 wherein the user fraud process
sends an SMS message to each user who participated in the fraud
informing them of detection.
15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the preclusion of
sending of the server-side generated pseudo-random number is only
for a limited amount of time and the SMS message includes
information regarding the limited amount of time.
16. The system according to claim 14 wherein the preclusion of
sending of the server-side generated pseudo-random number is only
for head-to-head tournaments and the SMS message includes this
information.
17. The system according to claim 13 wherein the user fraud
prevention process determines whether a user has sent a first
predetermined number of scores to the server within a first
predetermined of minutes.
18. The system according to claim 1 wherein the user database
further stores a frequent player point value for each of the
plurality of users, the system further comprising a frequent player
point process operably associated with the server that credits the
users with a pre-determined number of points for using the
system.
19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the frequent player
point process credits each user with frequent player points for
every skill-based electronic game played, for tournament
participation, and for winning games.
20. The system according to claim 18 further comprising a raffle
process operably associated with the server that accepts users as
raffle participants upon deducting a pre-determined number of the
frequent player point from the frequent player point value stored
for the user, the raffle process randomly selecting one of the
raffle participants to receive a pre-determined prize.
21. The system according to claim 20 wherein the raffle process
further comprises means for entry of raffle participants
independent of the user database and data contained in the user
database.
22. The system according to claim 1 further including a XML
interface operably connected between the tournament database and
the Internet toward allowing third parties to access information
related to the electronic gaming tournaments.
23. The system according to claim 1 further including a compliance
module deployable on the client device for the development of a
tournament interface for the skill-based electronic game deployed
on the client device, the compliance module providing a simulated
tournament menu to the skill-based electronic game and simulated
connections to the server so as to provide user-selectable access
to a simulated tournament, the compliance module further providing
a compliance module-generated pseudo-random number to the
skill-based electronic game.
24. A software development kit for use in facilitating the
development of software applications for a skill-based electronic
gaming tournament between a plurality of users, the software
development kit comprising: a compliance module operably connected
to a preexisting mobile game interface, the compliance module
providing a simulated tournament menu having a plurality of
configurations to a skill-based electronic game and simulated
connections to a tournament server so as to provide user-selectable
access to a simulated tournament, the compliance module further
providing a compliance module-generated pseudo-random number to the
skill-based electronic game, wherein the compliance module
comprises: a tournament-to-client event handler for integrating
signals from the tournament server to the preexisting mobile game
interface; and a client-to-tournament event handler for integrating
signals from the preexisting mobile game interface to the
tournament server.
25. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
tournament-to-client event handler dynamically feeds tournament
menu configurations into the preexisting mobile game interface.
26. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
compliance module is replaced by a production carrier module to
connect the tournament server to the preexisting game
interface.
27. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
signals handled by the tournament-to-client event handler comprise
commands and data relating to seed information, winnings
information or rankings information.
28. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
signals handled by the client-to-tournament event handler comprise
commands, wherein the commands are selected from the group
comprising end game, final score, start game, resume, cancel game,
and client process destroyed.
29. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
signals handled by the client-to-tournament event handler comprise
commands that reflect user selected actions in the simulated
tournament menu, wherein at least one of said commands is selected
from the group comprising menu selected, back, text input and
submit.
30. The software development kit according to claim 24 wherein the
compliance module provides proof-of-function.
31. The software development kit according to claim 30 wherein the
compliance module provides proof-of-function by taking over control
from the preexisting mobile game interface, and receiving and
sending state changes between a playing portion of the skill-based
electronic game and a tournament portion of the skill-based
electronic game.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates to electronic
gaming, and in particular to improvements in electronic gaming
tournament management.
[0003] 2. Background Information
[0004] Electronic gaming has been well known for a long time.
"Pong," one of the earliest electronic games was essentially a
simplified two-dimenionsional tennis game where two players used
joysticks to move an electronic paddle up and down on the left or
right side of a television screen, respectively, to prevent the
electronic ball from reaching the player's respective edge of the
television screen and to send the electronic ball back toward the
other player's side.
[0005] In the decades since the introduction of Pong, not only have
game play and graphics increased in sophistication, but the
electronics the games are played on have advanced drastically. For
instance, handheld video game systems have developed that enclose a
microprocessor, speaker, user input device and a display in a
portable housing.
[0006] Within these same decades, radiotelephones (commonly
referred to today as mobile or cellular telephones) were introduced
and experienced similarly drastic technological advances. Mobile
phones presently have microprocessors, memory, a video display, one
or more user input devices (such as a keypad), and a
radiotransceiver. More sophisticated radiotelephones may be
referred to as smartphones, a term that reflects these devices
greater computing power, size of memory and/or sophistication of
the user input devices provided. Some portable computers and
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) now have cellular telephone
capabilities resulting in convergence of a variety of technologies.
For purposes of the present disclosure, we will collectively refer
to radiotelephones, mobile telephones, cellular telephones,
smartphones, wireless-enabled PDAs, wireless-enabled portable
computers, and other similar devices as mobile phones.
[0007] Mobile phones communicate with wireless networks, which are
connected, in turn, to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS), to
the Internet and often time to the wireless provider's own computer
network. The wireless providers that own these wireless networks
and other infrastructure provide mobile phones and a variety of
services to their subscribers.
[0008] Some wireless providers provide mobile games for use on the
mobile phones. These mobile games usually reside in the memory of
the mobile phone and run on top of the operating system deployed on
the mobile phone such that the microprocessor, display and user
input device of the mobile phone can be harnessed for game play.
The mobile games may be pre-loaded into the mobile phone memory or
later installed either via the wireless communication link or via a
wired connection between the phone and a computer.
[0009] Thus, there is a need for mobile game platforms that
integrate easily into programs created for a variety of operating
systems and network devices (e.g. mobile phones, personal digital
assistants, personal computers, game consoles and TV set top
boxes).
[0010] Many mobile games are based on popular electronic games from
the personal computer domain. One games that has been adapted from
the personal computer to mobile phones is Tetris.RTM.. In the game
Tetris a variety of shapes fall from the top of a rectangular
playing field or well. As the shapes fall, the user tries to rotate
and move the falling shapes so they will fit together with
previously fallen shapes resting toward the bottom of the well. If
the arrangement of shapes is such that it fills a horizontal line
completely from left to right wall that horizontal line disappears
and the user is awarded points. If the horizontal line has gaps it
cannot disappear and thus becomes the new, higher bottom of the
well. Game play continues until the incomplete lines reach the top
of the well, thus, precluding additional shapes from falling into
the well.
[0011] Using Tetris.RTM. as an example, the type of shape, its
rotation and intial placement into the well is determined by one or
more pseudo-random equations. These one or more pseudo-random
equations are "seeded" with a generated random number such that
each game of Tetris.RTM. appears somewhat different from every
other game of Tetris.RTM.. Use of a random seed to randomly
initiate and determine a game's starting conditions, behavior and
appearance is universally used in electronic games.
[0012] By using the exact same random seed to start an electronic
game, such as Tetris.RTM., two or more players would be faced with
the same level of difficulty and challenges of play, subject only
to difference as a result of each player's different level of skill
in that game. Skill-based electronic game tournaments are based on
this behavior.
[0013] There are primarily two types of skill-based electronic game
tournaments: head-to-head and high-score. Head-to-head involves
seeding two players of a particular games with the same random
number, which is used to initiate and determine such game's
starting conditions, behavior and appearance, and then comparing
their final scores to declare a winner. Each player's wins and
losses are tallied for each particular game, e.g. Tetris.RTM.,
Poker, Pac-Man.RTM., during a particular predetermined period of
time, e.g. Jun. 26-30, 2008, and the user with the best win/loss
percentage is the tournament champion. In a high score (also
referred to as a progressive) tournament, each player receives the
same random number seed every subsequent time they play the game
during the predetermined period of the tournament, e.g. Jun. 26-30,
2008. In particular, everyone playing their first game in a High
Score Tournament receives the exact same seed as everyone else
playing their first game (Seed A) and everyone playing their second
game in that same High Score Tournament receives the exact same
seed as everyone else playing their second game (Seed B). The
absolute highest score (of all attempted games) is the user's high
score. In the end, all users' high scores are compared and the user
with the highest overall score wins the tournament.
[0014] In some of these tournaments, the champion is awarded a
prize. Prizes are pre-determined before the start of each
tournament. For some tournaments, the value of the tournament is so
significant that the value of the prizes offered is very high.
[0015] The higher the prize value the greater the potential for
fraud. For instance, in head-to-head tournaments users have been
traditionally paired by a network in order of entry, so two users
could skew the tournament results by repeatedly entering the
tournament nearly simultaneously in an effort to be intentionally
paired. Then, the first paired-user could quickly and intentionally
lose the game resulting in a very, very low or zero score. The
second paired-user could then, play a shorter game achieving only a
marginally higher score than the first user and still be awarded
the win. In this way, more games could be played by the pair within
the same time as could be the case with arms-length play leading to
a higher number of wins in the same time, thus skewing the
tournament results.
[0016] The methods for potentially defrauding are potentially
unlimited. Accordingly, there is a need to create methods to
substantially thwart fraud in skill-based electronic gaming
tournaments.
[0017] Users pay cellular providers for access to these
tournaments. One model is the pay-per-download model. In this
model, a user is charged once for each game title downloaded to the
user's mobile phone and they are allowed unlimited uses. A second
model is subscription-based. In the subscription-based model, the
user purchases a preset period of time, such as a month, a quarter
or even a year to participate in the various tournaments offered by
the cellular provider. In either event, the cellular provider and
game companies are motivated to keep the subscriber actively
playing. This motivation is provided in many ways, including but
not limited to providing newer, more-complex games and/or larger,
more expensive prizes. As a result the cost of providing mobile
gaming is increasing.
[0018] Thus, there is a need to keep mobile gaming users interested
while developing new revenue sources from the access these
tournaments provide to users.
SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE
[0019] The present disclosure teaches various inventions that
address, in part or in whole, this and other various needs in the
art. Those of ordinary skill in the art to which the inventions
pertain, having the present disclosure before them will also come
to realize that the inventions disclosed herein may address needs
not explicitly identified in the present application. Those skilled
in the art may also recognize that the principles disclosed may be
applied to a wide variety of applications, platforms and
electronic, networked devices.
[0020] One object of the present disclosure is to present a
software development kit that facilitates development of mobile
games for multiple platforms that integrate easily into skill-based
electronic gaming tournaments.
[0021] Another object of the present disclosure is to disclose
systems and methods that thwart fraud in skill-based electronic
gaming tournaments.
[0022] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to disclose
systems and methods that provide a new potential revenue source
while keeping gaming users interested.
[0023] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for
managing an electronic gaming tournament between a plurality of
users. The system comprises a user database, a central
pseudo-random number generator, a tournament database, skill-based
electronic game, and a client-server communication module.
[0024] The user database may be operably associated with a server
containing information related to each of the plurality of users
including a user name, a password, and tournament involvement with
scoring data, and the central pseudo-random number generator may be
operably associated with the server to provide server-side
generated pseudo-random numbers.
[0025] The tournament database may be operably associated with the
server and may contain information related to an electronic gaming
tournaments including a tournament ID, tournament type, tournament
ending time, tournament participants selected from the user
database, a plurality of the server-side generated pseudo-random
numbers generated by the central pseudo-random number generator, a
plurality of results associated with each of the tournament
participants, and a prize.
[0026] The skill-based electronic game may be operably deployed on
a plurality of client devices. The skill-based electronic game may
also have at least one of its starting conditions, its behavior or
its appearance determined by one or more psuedo-random equations,
where at least one of the one or more psuedo-random equations are
seeded by at least a selected one of the server-side generated
pseudo-random numbers. The skill-based electronic game may also
provide a skill-based score.
[0027] The client-server communication module may be deployed on
each of the plurality of client devices operably disposed between
each of the skill-based electronic games and the server. The
client-server communication module may also provide a tournament
menu to the skill-based electronic game so as to provide
user-selectable access to ongoing tournaments found in the
tournament database, and receive the tournament ID associated with
a user-selected ongoing tournament. The client-server communication
module may further provide at least a selected one of the
server-side generated pseudo-random numbers associated with the
user-selected ongoing tournament and communicate the skill-based
score to the server along with the tournament ID and the user name
associated with the skill-based score.
[0028] The prize fulfillment module may be operably associated with
the server for distributing the prize indicated in the tournament
database to the user among the tournament participants who is
determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending
time.
[0029] In one aspect, the client device may comprise a mobile
device selected from the group comprising a handheld video game
system, a mobile phones, a wireless-enabled personal computers, and
a personal digital assistant (PDA).
[0030] In another aspect, the skill-based electronic game with
client-server communication module may be distributed to one of the
plurality of client devices via a wireless communication link for
installation in the client device.
[0031] In yet another aspect, the client device may comprises a
game console.
[0032] In yet another aspect, the system according to claim 1
wherein the client device comprises a television set-top box.
[0033] In yet another aspect, at least some of the plurality of
client devices may be operably connected to the server via a first
wireless carrier, the first wireless carrier having a user database
containing first wireless-carrier community user names. The system
may also further comprise a process operably associated with the
server that receives the first wireless-carrier community user
names from the first wireless carrier, pads each of the first
wireless-carrier community user names with a text string
pre-determined for the first wireless carrier users, and stores the
text padded first wireless-carrier community user names in the user
database as the user name.
[0034] In yet another aspect, the information contained in the user
database may further include a physical address and wherein the
prize fulfillment module issues fulfillment orders that when acted
upon result in the prize indicated in the tournament database being
sent to the physical address of the user among the tournament
participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of
the tournament ending time.
[0035] In yet another aspect, the system may further include an SMS
messenger operably associated with the server and operably
connected to wireless carriers, where the prize fulfillment module
further issues an SMS message to the user among the tournament
participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of
the tournament ending time to confirm the physical address of the
user for shipping of the prize indicated in the tournament database
and further acts upon a return SMS message from the user regarding
the correctness of the physical address.
[0036] In yet another aspect, the system may further include a
display screen process operably associated with the server that
pushes down to each of the plurality of client devices via the
client-server communication module one or more screens configured
to display information on a display of the client device. In
embodiment, the display screen process may determine dynamically
the number of screens to be pushed down to the client devices
wherein the displayed information is selected from the group
comprising user information, legal disclaimer information, prize
information, tournament information, and promotional information.
In one example, the display information may include a graphical
banner. The display screen process may also have a language
localization table, and the user database may further include
information regarding which localized text string to send back to
the client device associated with each user.
[0037] In yet another aspect, the system may further include a
process associated with the server that detects user fraud in a
tournament and precludes the sending of the server-side generated
pseudo-random number to each user who participated in the fraud.
The user fraud process may also send an SMS message to each user
who participated in the fraud informing them of detection. In one
embodiment, the preclusion of sending of the server-side generated
pseudo-random number may be only for a limited amount of time and
the SMS message may include information regarding the limited
amount of time. In another embodiment, the preclusion or sending of
the server-side generated pseudo-random number may be only for
head-to-head tournaments and the SMS message includes this
information. The user fraud prevention process may also determine
whether a user has sent a first predetermined number of scores to
the server within a first predetermined number of minutes.
[0038] In yet another aspect, the user database may further store a
frequent player point value for each of the plurality of users,
where the system further comprising a frequent player point process
operably associated with the server that credits the user with a
predetermined number of points for using the system. The frequent
player point process may also assign the pre-determined number of
points for every skill-based electronic game played, for tournament
participation, and for winning games.
[0039] In yet another aspect, the system may further include a
raffle process operably associated with the server that accepts
users as raffle participants upon deducting a pre-determined number
of the frequent player point from the frequent player point value
stored for the user, where the raffle process randomly selects one
of the raffle participants to receive a pre-determined prize. The
raffle process may also include means for entry of raffle
participants independent of the user database and data contained in
the user database.
[0040] These and other objects and advantages of the present
disclosure will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
having the present drawings, specifications, and claims before
them. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods,
features, and advantages be included within this description, be
within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the
accompanying claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0041] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one potential embodiment of a
system.
[0042] FIG. 1A is a block diagram of one potential embodiment of a
tournament server 200.
[0043] FIGS. 2A and 2B of the drawings are screens shots shown on a
mobile phone display of a user entering into a mobile game enabled
for tournament play.
[0044] FIG. 3 depicts the flow for user selection oft "Prizes Info"
and "Scores."
[0045] FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C depict three exemplary prize information
screen shots on a mobile phone display.
[0046] FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of
enrolling a new user into the tournament server 200.
[0047] FIG. 6 of the drawings is a flow chart depicting a preferred
flow into a mobile game as part of tournament play.
[0048] FIG. 7 of the drawings is a flow chart depicteing a
preferred flow out of a mobile game as part of tournament play.
[0049] FIG. 8 of the drawings depicts a method to minimize this
type of unwelcomed behavior on the system.
[0050] FIG. 9 of the drawings depicts one approach to software
development tools.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0051] While the present disclosure may be embodied in many
different forms, the drawings and discussion are presented with the
understanding that the present disclosure is an exemplification of
the principles of one or more inventions and is not intended to
limit any one of the inventions to the embodiments illustrated.
[0052] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one potential embodiment of a
system. In accordance with the present disclosure, the system is
preferably carrier, platform and device agnostic. For example, the
technology platform may be J2ME, DoJa, BREW, Symbian Windows
Mobile, Palm OS, WIPI, Infusio ExEn or any other technology
platform. For purposes of this disclosure, the present invention
has been generally described in accordance with features and
interfaces that are optimized for a cellular phone utilizing a J2ME
platform, although one skilled in the art would understand that all
such features and interfaces may also be used and adapted for any
other platform and/or device.
[0053] As shown in FIG. 1, the system includes a plurality of
mobile phones 110 deployed by a plurality of wireless carriers 150
wherein each of the wireless carriers are operably connected to the
tournament server 200. Mobile phones 110 may be selected from
radiotelephones, mobile telephones, cellular telephones,
smartphones, wireless-enabled PDAs, wireless-enabled portable
computers, network-enabled devices such as PCs, TV set top boxes
and other similar devices.
[0054] Tournament server 200 may include functions performed in
serial or in parallel on the same computer or across a local or
wide area network distributed on a plurality of computers, where
the computer may be controlled by the Linux operating system. It is
contemplated, however, that the system would work equally well
using a Macintosh.RTM. operating system or even another operating
system such as Windows.RTM., Windows CE, Unix, or a Java.RTM. based
operating system, to name a few. Some details of a preferred
tournament server 200 are shown in FIG. 1a it being understood that
server has further aspects not shown to avoid obscuring the
invention. As shown, tournament server 200 includes a user data
base, tournaments data base and a promotions database. Tournament
server also includes raffle engine 210, web interface 230, SMS
messenger 240 and security module 290.
[0055] The prize award fulfillment module 220 generally issues
fulfillment orders, which are acted upon resulting in a selected
prize being sent to a physical address associated with the winning
user. The prize award fulfillment module 220 may also be
responsible for collecting the physical addresses (i.e. 123 Main
Street, Anywhere, Anyplace USA 12345) associated with a winning
user. These physical addresses may be obtained via the network from
the wireless carriers 150 or (as is more likely) it may be obtained
on-the-fly when a user wins a tournament. This physical address may
be input via the mobile phone 110 especially where that mobile is a
smart phone with a full QWERTY keyboard making text entry easy. It
is expected, however, that most physical addresses will be input
via a web interface 230 to the tournament server 200 using the
user's personal computer and a standard Internet browser connection
to the web interface 230. Once the physical address is obtained for
a user that physical address 265 is stored in the data record
associated with the user. In one embodiment of tournament server
200, an SMS messenger module 240 may be used by the prize award
fulfillment module 220 to inform the user that they won a
tournament or a periodic raffle. In a prefered embodiment, this SMS
notice would also include the current address stored for the user
and a request for confirmation (via reply SMS message) that the
address is correct. Once confirmed, the prize is automatically sent
to the user's physical address by prize award fulfillment module
220.
[0056] Web interface 230 may also include an XML interface that
allows third parties to access tournament information (e.g. leader
boards, recent winners, upcoming tournaments, upcoming prizes, game
titles, descriptions, supported tournament types, screenshots and
thumbnails) in real time. This information may be useful to the
wireless carriers 150 in promotion of the tournament games. This
information may also be used by the users to keep track of
tournaments they are participating in, thus encouraging the users
to become more involved in the tournaments.
[0057] FIGS. 2a and 2b of the drawings are screens shots shown on a
mobile telephone display as the user enters into a mobile game that
has been enabled for tournament play. In particular, FIG. 2a shows
the first two entries of a mobile game menu are preferably "PLAY
TOURNAMENT" and "HELP TOURNAMENT." These two entries have been
added to a previously existing game, such as Tetris.RTM. or as
depicted, Cubis.RTM. (a three-dimensional version of Tetris.RTM.).
If the "PLAY TOURNAMENT" entry is selected, the menu depicted in
FIG. 2b is displayed with the tournament options: head-to-head or
high score play, along with a prize information and score
option.
[0058] FIG. 3 depicts the flow for user selection of "Prizes Info"
and "Scores." In particular, when the user selects "Prize Info"
from the menu of FIG. 2b, the mobile phone makes a call to the
tournament server 200 via the wireless carrier 150 requesting a
first prize information screen displaying a series of server driven
promotional screens, with marketing/promotional messages about
upcoming prizes, tournaments, announcements and tips. That first
prize information screen is displayed on the mobile phone display
once the download is complete. Three exemplary prize information
screens are shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C. With simple configuration
in the tournament server 200, the number of screens can be expanded
and reduced on the fly, with each screen containing its own unique
texts and banner ads. In the prefered embodiment, the head-to-head
and high score prize screens promote the current prizes for the
then active tournaments.
[0059] When the user selects "Scores" from the menu depicted in
FIG. 2b, as indicated in FIG. 3, subsequent menus are displayed to
select between head-to-head and high score scoring and then current
ranking, recent matches, current tournaments and global ranking.
Once the user has selected the choices between the two screens, the
software on the mobile phone makes a call to the tournament server
200 requesting the user requested information.
[0060] When the user selects either head-to-head or high score
play, the software checks whether the mobile device user has
already been registered with the tournament server 200. If the user
has not been registered, a new account registration process is
initated. FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of
enrolling a new user into the tournament server 200. Note that if
the mobile device memory loses registration, tournament server 200
may use the phone number to automatically re-register the
device.
[0061] In a preferred embodiment, tournament server 200 may
optionally check whether a user name associated with the mobile
phone 110 has been previously stored in user database 151
associated with wireless carrier 150. If such a wireless-carrier
community user name 155 exists in database 151, that
wireless-carrier community user name 155 is registered on
tournament server 200 with padding to ensure the tournament user
name 255 is unique within user database 201 of tournament server
200. So, for example under this optional functionality, if wireless
carrier database 155 for the wireless carrier Verizon has a user
name John_Doe that name would be saved in the user database 201 of
tournament server 200 as Verizon's_John_Doe, John_Doe@Verizon,
vzwJohn_Doe, etc. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill
in the art, the particular content of the padding is largely
irrelevant so long as the padding is unique for each wireless
carrier 150 that is associated with a tournament server 200. If
wireless carrier user database 151 has a wireless-carrier community
password 156 associated with wireless-carrier community user name
155 that password would be saved as tournament password 256 in
association with tournament user name 255. After they have been
registered and saved in the tournament server 200, tournament user
name 255 and tournament password 256 are saved within the memory of
mobile phone 110. By automatically adopting a padded-version of the
user's wireless-carrier community user name 155 and (where
available) wireless-carrier community password 156, convenience is
offered to the user making it more likely the user will enroll with
the tournament server and, thus, purchase tournament enabled mobile
games.
[0062] If the user has not been registered and no wireless-carrier
community user name 155 exists in database 151 of wireless carrier
150 or in an embodiment that does not check against the
wireless-carrier database 151, a new account registration process
is initated directly between the mobile phone 110 and the
tournament server 200 via the wireless carrier 150. As shown in
FIG. 5, the user is asked to input a user name via the display and
keypad of the mobile phone 150. Upon completing the input, the user
would select "NEXT" or other appropriate input, which would
transmit the proposed user name to tournament server 200. The
proposed user name is checked against all other user names stored
in tournament database 201. In an embodiment that facilitates
wholesale input of wireless-carrier community user names, the
proposed user name would also be checked to ensure that it did not
include the padding scheme adopted by tournament server 200. If the
proposed user name is acceptable it is stored in tournament
database 201 and an acceptance message is sent via wireless carrier
150 to mobile phone 110, such that the proposed user name is stored
in the memory of the mobile phone 110. Then, as shown in FIG. 5,
the user inputs password the display and keypad of the mobile phone
150. Upon completing the input, the user would select "NEXT" or
other appropriate input, which would transmit the password to
tournament server 200 along with the selected user name that was
just stored in the mobile phone. Alternately, in a preferred
embodiment a numeric password or PIN is automatically assigned
after the user inputs the user name.
[0063] Preferably, an account is registered once and the user name
becomes available for all future games installed on the same mobile
phone 110, such that the user does not need to remember his user
name and/or password to log in. In a prefered embodiment, after
initial registration, log-in is transparent to the user.
[0064] FIG. 6 of the drawings is a flow chart depicting a preferred
flow into a mobile game as part of tournament play. As shown in
FIG. 6, the tournament server 200 provides seeds to the mobile
phones 110 such that every participant in a given game of a given
tournament is given the exact same starting conditions, level
layouts, time limits, sequences of randomized elements (e.g. cards
in a card game, blocks in a puzzle game, enemy artificial
intelligence decisions, etc.). In a high-score tournament all
players will receive the same sequence of seeds over the course of
the tournament (ie all players will receive seed "A" in their first
game of the tournament, then seed "B", etc.) Still, this does not
mean that every player will have the exact same experience. Player
decisions will inevitably impact how the game unfolds. However, if
two players were to play the exact same way, their games should
play out exactly the same--randomized elements should not have any
impact.
[0065] When the user starts a "Head-to-Head" match or a "High
Score" game, he may navigate through a number of screens. In the
embodiment depicted in FIG. 6 there are three screens presented,
but this number could be anywhere between 0 and n. The first screen
is a "welcome message" reminds the user of his user name and pin,
and in a preferred embodiment states the user's current "frequent
player points" balance. The frequent player points encouraged the
user to play more frequently and in multiple games, in order to
obtain more frequent player points towards winning the opportunity
for more prizes. The system may also push a messaage down to mobile
phone 110 with an indication of the user's frequent player
points.
[0066] In FIG. 6, the second screen may be a disclaimer screen (not
shown), which explains legal rules regarding the tournament. As
shown in FIG. 6, the third screen may be a dynamic number of
screens that display tournament instructions. The tournament
instruction screens may explain to the user the prize available to
the winner of the tournament (depicted in FIG. 6), where to check
standings and claim prizes, and advises about the availability of
additional features, such as SMS notifications. In a preferred
embodiment, after the static screen that welcome the user and
provide tournament status but before the start of game play, a
dynamic number of promotional screens may be shown on the mobile
device. These promotional screens will be served up by tournament
server 200 from its database of promotional objects. In one
embodiment, the number of promotional screens served up depends on
the total number of promotional objects in tournament server 200.
It is also contemplated that the promotions may be served up
dynamically based on pre-selected criteria (e.g. the user's cell
phone number, the user's wireless carrier, the user's past and
present tournament game selections, the user's past prize selection
and/or prize viewing history).
[0067] It should be understood from the present disclosure that
promotional screens may be dynamically placed through the display
flow. The total number of screens needs to be managed, however, to
avoid user disatisfaction with the gaming experience due to
over-commercialization. As depicted in FIG. 1, each promotion
stored on the tournament server 200 can have an image (or banner)
and body text associated with it. In a preferred embodiment, each
promotion may be given a value, which may be used to determine the
frequency that the particular promotion is displayed. By way of
example, a promotion rated ten would be essentially five times more
likely to appear than a promotion rated a two. Further, the
advertising module would tie into user profiles, demographics and
behavioral stats to deliver a highly targeted means of advertising
to advertisers.
[0068] The advertising module of the tournament server 200 may keep
track of the advertisements that have been dynamically served to
users, including the identity of the users and/or the number of
times and positioning of the advertisement. Integration of an
advertising server into Play For Prizes to dynamically serve and
keep track of advertisements served to users in game is
contemplated.
[0069] Tournament game play consists of one or multiple levels,
playing similarly to the single player version. However, Tournament
Game Play levels are fully initialized by the server based on
server-provided seeding instructions, guaranteeing that users that
compete directly against each other, experience the exact same
initial conditions and sequence of events. The outcome of game play
is exclusively based on the user's skill and game play decisions
made during the game.
[0070] FIG. 7 of the drawings is a flow chart depicteing a
preferred flow out of a mobile game as part of tournament play. As
shown in FIG. 7, upon completing game play, the game connects to
the tournament server 200 to transmit the results from the game
played on the mobile phone 110. The server 200 reconciles the
result and resolves the winner. In head-to-head, the match result
is usually transmitted back to the mobile device 110, however,
where the score of the competing player is still unknown (i.e. the
direct competing user has not yet been selected or not yet
completed his game). This might be displayed as, for example:
[0071] Match Result:
[0072] You won the match!
[0073] <USER>: 123456
[0074] <OPP>: 123455
[0075] -OR- [0076] Still waiting for your opponent to finish.
[0077] Check later in My Scores to view the final result of your
match.
[0078] Then, the mobile game proceeds to display the user's current
ranking, as well as the top 10 ranked players in both head-to-head
and progressive (or high-score tournaments). The ranking screen may
look something like this:
[0079] Your Ranking
[0080] Tetris.RTM. High Score
[0081] ending Mar. 19, 2008 at 9:40 PM
[0082] Last Score: 3390
[0083] Last Rank: 15 out of 3000
[0084] Your Best: 4010
[0085] Your Rank: 15 out of 3000
[0086] Standings:
[0087] 1. JOHN_DOE [0088] Best: 3825 [0089] Avg: 3700
[0090] Tetris.RTM. High Score
[0091] ending Mar. 19, 2008 at 9:40 PM
[0092] Win/Loss Ratio: 40-5
[0093] Standings:
[0094] 1. JOHN DOE [0095] Win/Loss Ratio: 50-0
[0096] The overall flow, as well as any screen, can be leveraged to
display dynamic banner ads, promoting upcoming prizes and
tournaments, different games, publisher or carrier promotions and
other calls-to-action, before asking the user whether he wishes to
play another tournament game, additional prize promotions screens
may be displayed. The system also may push a message down to mobile
phone 110 that says something like "your current win/loss ratio
ranks you [ranked number], you would need five more wins to move up
in the tournament standings.
[0097] Returning to FIG. 1A, it is depicted that the tournament
server may calculate and track a user's frequent player points 260.
For instance, the tournament server 200 may credit the user with a
pre-determined number of points for every game played, a
pre-determined number of point for tournament participation, and
may, in a preferred embodiment also assign points for winning
games. It is contemplated that the pre-determined number of points
assigned to different games and different tournament types could be
different. It is also contemplated that the number of points
assigned to each game and tournament may be displayed in
association with each tournament or in association with the dynamic
advertising to encourage users to play certain games and in certain
tournaments over other games and tournaments by increasing the
points awarded for those games and tournaments. The frequent player
points would then be redeemable for entries into a periodic prize
raffle. In some jurisdictions, an embodiment of the frequent player
point program that awards points based in any part on playing a
game for pay may be deemed illegal. In those jurisdictions as well
as in other jurisdictions (due to other laws or merely because the
wireless carriers prefer to offer it), users may also make as many
"free" entries as they would like into the period prize raffle by
sending entries to a designated address via regular mail, such as
by post card. When the company running the tournament server 200
receives regular mail raffle entries 160 they are entered into the
raffle engine 210 via a user interface (not shown as such
interfaces are well known in the art). In this manner, both
electronic entries via user redemption of frequent player points
260 and regular mail entries may be treated identically by the
raffle engine 210. Raffle engine 210 conducts the random selection
of one or more winners on a periodic basis and communicates the
identity of the winner and the prize won to the prize award
fulfillment module 220.
[0098] The tournament server is entirely carrier, language and
territory independent. Still, for all users competing against one
another, the same prizes may be offered to all users. This is
accomplished by abstracting all language into a localization table,
and having the tournament server 200 decide which localized text
string to send back to the mobile device 110, based on locale,
territory or carrier. This allows users in multiple countries to
play against each other in the same games, in the same tournaments,
for the same prizes, while receiving all server originated content
in their local language, including prize descriptions and prize
values (e.g. a given prize may be presented as a "EUR 50 Amazon
Gift Certificate" in Germany, and that same prize is presented to a
user in the United Kingdom as a "GBP 30 Amazon Gift
Certificate").
[0099] In theory, two players conspiring can try to cheat the
platform by competing in Head-to-Head tournaments and playing so
many games in a row, that they are all but guaranteed to be matched
up against each other repeatedly. One player can choose to lose on
purpose (send a very low or zero score), which will result in a
very high number of wins for the other person. Since the outcome of
Head-to-Head tournaments is based on Win-Loss ratio, this could
theoretically be a way to affect the outcome.
[0100] FIG. 8 of the drawings depicts a method to minimize this
type of unwelcomed behavior on the system. As shown, for a
preferred embodiment, if a user sends X predetermined number of
scores to tournament server 200 within Y predetermined minutes,
tournament server 200 will not distribute another seed to that user
for a predetermined period (e.g. 24 hours) and a text message
notifying the user that they have been banned is sent preferrably
using SMS messaging. In a preferred embodiment, the SMS message may
also notify the user of a "three strikes then you're out" policy,
meaning that when a user is banned for the third time for
attempting this behavior, the user is banned permanently.
Alternatively, the user may be banned from head-to-head
tournaments, as this type of fraud is not possible in high score
tournaments.
[0101] A software development kit or other software tools are
available to enable mobile games for skill-based tournament play.
The software development kit includes a client-server compliance
module 900 that forces the integration of the interfaces and
methods of the tournament system, but does not actually connect to
the tournament server 200 platform. In this manner, developers may
design their mobile game interface 901 to the tournament play
without impacting the server and more importantly without complete
knowledge of the workings of the tournament server 200. In
deployment the client-server compliance module 900 is replaced by a
production carrier module that actually connects the tournament
functionality to the mobile phone 110. FIG. 9 of the drawings
depicts this one approach to software development tools.
[0102] In particular, the developer integrates the client-server
compliance module 900, a tournament-to-client event handler 910, a
client-to-tournament event handler 920 into the code for the
preexisting mobile game interface 901. Using the event structure
associated with the tournament-to-client event structure 910, the
developer encodes a tournament menu into the prexisting mobile game
interface 901. The pre-existing mobile game initiates the
client-server compliance module 900, upon which the
tournament-to-client event handler 910 dynamically feeds the
tournament menu configurations into the existing preexisting mobile
game interface menu structure. In this manner, the look and feel of
the Preexisting Mobile Game interface 901 is retained. Also, by
using the user inteface of the mobile phone the additional coding
requires less space.
[0103] Each resulting menu option is further configured to send a
designated command signal to the client-to-tournament event handler
920. Some designated command signals are sent with constants, other
designated command signals are sent with the current value of a
variable and still other designated command signals are sent with
constants and variables. In addition, the preexisting mobile game
interface 901 generates major game events that should be
transmitted to the tournament server 200 for processing. One
example, would be the transmission of end of game message, the
user's final score and other statistics from that game that needs
to be transmitted to the tournament via the client-to-tournament
event handler 920. Other commands that the client may want to
notify the tournament server include: start game, pause, resume,
cancel game, client process destroyed.
[0104] The developer must also designate modules that should be
listening for commands and data from the tournament-to-client event
handler 910. For instance, when tournament server 200 send the seed
to the client to ensure appropriate tournament play, the seed is
handheld by tournament-to-client event handler 910 and destined for
the main engine of the the preexisting mobile game interface 901.
Similarly, when the tournament server sends winnings or rankings
information that information routed by the tournament-to-client
event handler 910 to the mobile phone display module.
[0105] Once the client coding is finished, the client-server
compliance module 900 works with the additional code to provide
proof-of-function. Essentially, client-server compliance module 900
takes over control from the preexisting mobile game interface 901
on the menu level, and receives and sends state changes between the
game and the tournament portion of the game. If the client-side
works with the client-server compliance module 900 it is very
highly likely that the client will work with the tournament server
once the client-server compliance module 900 is replaced with a
production carrier module (not shown).
[0106] Methods or processes in accordance with the various
embodiments of the invention may be implemented by computer
readable instructions stored in any media that is readable and
executable by a computer system. A machine-readable medium having
stored thereon instructions, which when executed by a set of
processors, may cause the set of processors to perform the methods
of the invention. A machine-readable medium may include any
mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). A machine-readable medium
may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM);
magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory
devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of
propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital
signals, etc.).
[0107] The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and
illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto.
While the specification in this invention is described in relation
to certain implementation or embodiments, many details are set
forth for the purpose of illustration. Thus, the foregoing merely
illustrates the principles of the invention. For example, the
invention may have other specific forms without departing from its
spirit or essential characteristic. The described arrangements are
illustrative and not restrictive. To those skilled in the art, the
invention is susceptible to additional implementations or
embodiments and certain of these details described in this
application may be varied considerably without departing from the
basic principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that
those skilled in the art will be able to devise various
arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown
herein, embody the principles of the invention and, thus, within
its scope and spirit.
* * * * *