U.S. patent application number 13/970584 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-19 for compensation model for network services.
This patent application is currently assigned to Beneficial Innovations, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Beneficial Innovations, Inc.. Invention is credited to Dennis J. Dupray, Sheldon F. Goldberg.
Application Number | 20130339146 13/970584 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40642994 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130339146 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Goldberg; Sheldon F. ; et
al. |
December 19, 2013 |
COMPENSATION MODEL FOR NETWORK SERVICES
Abstract
A compensation model is disclosed for compensating a network
service provider. A networked system is also disclosed for
presenting advertising during on-line interactions between a user
and a service of a network (e.g., the Internet, interactive cable,
and/or a LAN). Advertisements (ads) are presented to a networked
user unrequestedly during user interactions with the service. The
user can activate the ads (via hyperlinks) for receiving additional
advertising. The system gathers user data and/or develops user
profiles for selectively presenting ads, promotionals, discounts,
etc. targeted to receptive users. In exchange for viewing such
selective presentations, on-line access to the service is provided,
the service including, e.g., (a) playing on-line interactive games
(e.g., blackjack and poker), (b) providing access to the network
itself (e.g., an Internet service provider), and/or (c) providing
access to substantially any interactive service accessible via (b).
The system can provide free/reduced cost network services to the
user for viewing unrequested advertising. The system can be
provided for a casino.
Inventors: |
Goldberg; Sheldon F.; (Las
Vegas, NV) ; Dupray; Dennis J.; (Golden, CO) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Beneficial Innovations, Inc. |
Las Vegas |
NV |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Beneficial Innovations,
Inc.
Las Vegas
NV
|
Family ID: |
40642994 |
Appl. No.: |
13/970584 |
Filed: |
August 19, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13707561 |
Dec 6, 2012 |
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13970584 |
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13310572 |
Dec 2, 2011 |
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13707561 |
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12357623 |
Jan 22, 2009 |
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13310572 |
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12167244 |
Jul 2, 2008 |
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12357623 |
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09502285 |
Feb 11, 2000 |
7496943 |
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12357623 |
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08759895 |
Dec 3, 1996 |
5823879 |
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09502285 |
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60947598 |
Jul 2, 2007 |
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60010361 |
Jan 19, 1996 |
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60010703 |
Jan 26, 1996 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.53 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20130101;
G06Q 30/0255 20130101; G06Q 99/00 20130101; G06Q 30/0212 20130101;
G06Q 30/0273 20130101; G06F 16/24539 20190101; G06F 16/9574
20190101; G06F 16/24575 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.53 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A method of advertising on the Internet, wherein: for each of
one or more users accessing the Internet in a corresponding
Internet connection for the user, the following occur during said
corresponding Internet connection: a request, from the user, is
transmitted on the Internet, via a user node, for contacting a
service providing presence of the Internet, said service providing
presence provides access to information for an interactive service
via an activation of the service, wherein at least a portion of
each display at the user node for the interactive service is
controlled by a predetermined computational machine; wherein said
request has associated therewith an Internet address that
identifies the service providing presence, and wherein said
interactive service is interactive on the Internet with the user;
the user node receives, via the service providing presence, said
information for said interactive service; wherein two or more
display presentations from the information are presented on at
least a portion of a display of the user node, wherein at least two
of said display presentations are successively displayed, and there
is a user input to one of said at least two display presentations,
P1 wherein for the user input, there is a transmission on the
Internet to which a latter one of said at least two display
presentations, P2 is a response; concurrently displayed with a
display of said one of the display presentations, P1 at the user
node is a display of a first one or more advertising presentations
for providing information related to one or more of a product and a
service, wherein said first one or more advertising presentations
are received, via the Internet, in response to Internet
transmissions by the service providing presence, and displayed on
at least a portion of said display during the presentation of the
two or more display presentations at the user node; one or more
additional advertising presentations are presented at the user node
following the first one or more advertising presentations, each
said additional advertising presentation for providing information
related to one of a product and a service, wherein at least one of
said additional advertising presentations is: (a) received at the
user node, via the Internet, in response to Internet transmissions
by the service providing presence during the presentation of the
two or more display presentations, (b) displayed on at least a
portion of said display without the user providing an input: (i)
for which a consequence includes the presenting of said additional
advertising presentations, and (ii) for which said first
advertising presentations are not a consequence, and (c) provides
Internet addressing information for obtaining additional
information about one or more purchasable products or purchasable
services, comprising: transmitting, via the Internet, data related
to communications between: (a) the interactive service, and (b) the
user; wherein the transmitting step results in first information
being stored on the user node so that after the first information
is stored, and during one or more different activations of the
interactive service, the user node outputs a responsive Internet
transmission indicative of the first information being present on
the user node; activating one or more programmatic elements, at the
service providing presence, for combining: (1) the information for
the interactive service, and (2) advertising related information
for use in presenting one of: (i) the first advertising
presentations, and (ii) the additional advertising presentations;
and transmitting a resulting combination of (1) and (2) on the
Internet to the user.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/707,561 filed Dec. 6, 2012, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/310,572 filed
Dec. 2, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 12/357,623 filed Jan. 22, 2009, which is a
continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/167,244
filed Jul. 2, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application Ser. No. 60/947,598 filed Jul. 2, 2007; U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 12/357,623 is also a
continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/502,285
filed on Feb. 11, 2000, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,496,943,
which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/105,401 filed Jun. 26, 1998, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.
6,183,366, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 08/759,895 filed Dec. 3, 1996, now issued U.S. Pat. No.
5,823,879, which claims the benefit of both U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 60/010,361 filed Jan. 19, 1996, and U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/010,703 filed Jan. 26,
1996; the entire disclosure of each of the above-identified
applications is hereby fully incorporated by reference as part of
the present application.
RELATED FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to method and system for
providing compensation to a network service provider via
advertising and user fees for services.
BACKGROUND
[0003] There are various techniques and strategies for providing
services/products to users via a network such as the Internet,
wherein the network nodes (e.g., websites) providing such
services/products receive compensation by a combination of revenue
streams, including: [0004] (a) advertising, and offering
free/reduced cost services/products as enticement for visiting the
network node (i.e., and wherein such offerings are, e.g.,
subsidized by third parties such as advertisers), and/or [0005] (b)
the sale of services/products for a profit by the entity operating
the network node. However, in many cases, it is difficult to
consistently entice network users to repeatedly visit the network
node and spend sufficient time at the node so that the volume of
user traffic at the network node, and the demographics of the users
trafficking the network node are sufficient to attract a
substantial number of advertisers to advertise on the network node.
Accordingly, the revenue streams from (a) above may contribute only
marginally to the profitability of the entity operating the network
node.
[0006] The primary techniques or business models for enticing a
large number of repeated user visitations to a network node (e.g.,
website) is to provide an interactive informational service that
large numbers of users find repeatedly desirable and/or necessary.
Examples of such successful business models are Internet search
engine sites such as Google, social networking websites (e.g.,
www.facebook.com and www.myspace.com), various game websites, video
website (e.g., www.youtube.com), and music websites. However, due
to the competitiveness of network nodes for enticing users
virtually all entities operating commercial network nodes need all
the advantages and/or user enticements that are commercially
feasible to maintain profitable revenue streams. Thus, in addition
to providing free Internet searches, Google (as well as many other
Internet sites) provide other free services/products such as
browser toolbars, desktop search engines, notepads, pictures for
computer monitor background screens, free games, instructional
presentations (e.g., www.digg.com) and news reports. However, it
would be advantageous to provide users with additional incentives
for repeatedly visiting and expending additional time at a
particular network node, such as an Internet website, by providing
the capability to win cash prizes, free products or services,
and/or access to products or services that are restricted from use
by other users.
[0007] For at least some entities operating network (Internet)
nodes, their business models also may include receiving
compensation from users, wherein such compensation can be viewed
as: (i) an activation fee, (ii) a license or subscription fee to
use a service for, e.g., a predetermined amount of time, (iii) a
membership fee, and/or (iv) a predetermined payment from which
funds are withdrawn as the service is used such as in certain
Internet wagering games. Such entities and/or the nodes they
operate will be referred to hereinbelow as "user funded" nodes,
sites, websites, services, entities, etc. User funded sites
typically do not provide unrequested advertising to the users
funding the website, or will present advertisements that are deemed
very beneficial to a likely large number of the users funding the
site. Accordingly, advertising revenues from such sites can be
somewhat diminished. Some network site operators have developed a
hybrid business model wherein some of the services at their network
site are free to users, and the users are presented various types
of advertising which may or may not be demographically targeted to
the users, whereas other portions of the network site that are user
funded and have little if any advertising. Thus, advertising
revenue is derived from only the free services portion of the
network site. However, it would be advantageous for a network site
operator to be able to present more advertising and/or addition
user enticements such as coupons, or reduced cost services/products
to users funding the site to thereby generate, e.g., greater
advertising revenue.
[0008] In some contexts, user compensation, where the users fund
the site, may be considered illegal under the U.S. Federal Wire Act
and/or other U.S. Federal Acts such as the "Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006," ("UIGEA"). In particular, if the
service provided by the network site includes betting, wagering, or
other activity wherein there is a staking or risking of something
of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event,
or a game subject to chance, upon an agreement or understanding
that the person or another person will receive something of value
in the event of a certain output occurring, then such U.S. laws may
prohibit such services and/or user compensation therefor. Although
such U.S. laws do not appear to be currently strictly enforced, the
potential threat of enforcement is problematic. Basically, in the
U.S. any service offered may be considered illegal to offer on a
network such as the Internet if a user: [0009] (1) provides
consideration (e.g., funding, a bet or wager) for the service,
[0010] (2) the service can be considered to involve risk to the
consideration provided by the user, and in particular, more risk
than user skill, and [0011] (3) something of benefit can be
obtained such as a prize (cash or otherwise). Note that for such
services to which UIGEA may be problematic (e.g., games of chance
such as poker, blackjack, bingo, lotteries, roulette, etc.), a
distinguishing characteristic that is different from games such as
chess and checkers is that in games of chance there are events in
an instance of the game wherein: (a) such events include risk for
the player winning or losing something of value (e.g., a bet or
wager) with another, and (b) the outcome of the event is not
dependent solely on objective information common to all players.
For example, a wager by a player in an online Internet chess game
may not be considered a game of chance since all events in a game
of chess are dependent solely on the objective common configuration
of the chess board at any point in the game. On the other hand, for
games such as poker, there is in any given game instance a
substantial amount of information that is not common to all players
(e.g., the unplayed cards in the card deck, and the cards in other
players' hands) which substantially impact events during the game
instance, and thereby substantially impact whether a player wins or
loses something of value. However, many so called games of chance
also include skill, and many individuals would assert a good deal
of skill. For example, there are champion poker and blackjack
players who will consistently win substantially more credits more
times than other players, and more than mere random chance would
indicate. Thus, such champions are prime anecdotal evidence that
pure chance does not dictate outcomes of such games. In particular,
it is believed that poker and blackjack (e.g., tournament blackjack
which requires a careful analysis of each contestant's bet as well
as an analysis of the cards each contestant is most likely to
receive) require substantial skill. Alternatively, games such as
purchasing lottery tickets and bingo are believed to require
virtually no skill, and are indeed dominated by random chance
outcomes.
[0012] To avoid violating the UIGEA, network sites offering games
of chance have been forced to: (a) locate outside of the U.S., (b)
wager points or tokens that have no intrinsic value, (c) play such
games without the possibility of winning a prize of monetary value,
and/or (d) play such games without the ability to wager at all.
However, each of these options are undesirable, and in the case of
(a) needlessly cause U.S. funds to be diverted to other countries.
Moreover, none of these appropriately address the fact that many
games of chance are substantially games of skill and should be
treated as such.
[0013] Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to provide
services (e.g., games), wherein a user skill aspect of the service
is capable of being measured separately from random chance events
related to the service. More particularly, when the service
includes playing games of chance that include, e.g., generally
recognized aspects of skill, it is desirable to play such games
legally in the U.S., wherein prizes of monetary value can be won.
For example, it is desirable for the skill portion of such games to
be separately measured and used to award prizes to players having
demonstrated a predetermined skill level.
[0014] Although Internet gaming in the U.S. is substantially done
by Internet sites that are located in foreign countries (since such
sites are then less subject to U.S. Federal laws), other games and
services may also be subject to such U.S. laws such as UIGEA. For
example, many "pay for play" games may be illegal under U.S.
Federal law if there is an enticement to win a prize, wherein,
e.g., a player pays a fixed amount upfront to play a game and
wherein there is the possibility for the player to win a prize,
e.g., a prize that is worth substantially more than the player's
pay for play entry fee. It is believed that such U.S. laws may be
enforced against any service having: (a) paying users and where
there is some degree of risk (as may be determined by a U.S. court)
is involved, and (b) where there is a prize that can be won wherein
the prize is worth more than the user paid upfront. Accordingly, it
would be advantageous to provide enticements to network (Internet)
users when playing games having upfront payments and that involve
prizes without violating such U.S. laws.
[0015] Referring particularly to Internet sites having free games
wherein game tournaments are provided, there can be a significant
problem with a user/player entering the same tournament multiple
times by entering under a multitude of different user names and
thereby significantly increasing his/her chances of winning the
tournament (and any corresponding prize). For example, even if
distinct email addresses are required for each tournament player,
it is relatively easy for a single user to obtain a plurality of
email accounts. Accordingly, since a person's email address is the
method usually used by a network site to determine whether an
entrant has previously registered, multiple entries by the same
person can significantly increase his/her odds of winning the
tournament. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to inhibit
tournament players of, e.g., free tournaments, from easily entering
such tournaments under multiple user names, and thereby inherently
reducing the attractiveness of the tournament to other users.
Moreover, since the revenue that the network site operator obtains
from the tournament is likely to be from offering advertising
and/or advertiser services/products that are based upon the number
of "distinct" users, it is problematic for the operator to assert
with any certainty to his/her advertisers that the advertisers' ads
are being presented to a sufficient number of distinct users. That
is, the ability of a game site operator to assure that the number
of players it represents to its advertisers is accurate and that
few, if any, entrants are duplicates has been problematic.
[0016] If and when there is a change in the law that allows on-line
gambling in the U.S., there remains the need to provide unique
methods of recruiting users to both free as well as pay for play
type games. Since a "free" game is one of the ways to attract
users, a combination of free and pay for play style games is
believed to be attractive to users and commercially viable for
network site operators. Thus, the problems addressed in this
disclosure will remain issues to be resolved, whatever the state of
the law.
[0017] The cost effective automation of playing certain games, like
blackjack, has been difficult due to the fact that these games
typically require a dealer and only a relatively small number of
players may play the game with a single dealer. However, with the
popularity of local and wide-area data communication networks, it
is desirable to have an automated gaming system for games such as
blackjack wherein large numbers of players may cost-effectively and
efficiently play such games.
[0018] Furthermore, it has been difficult to cost-effectively
provide a network gaming system on such networks as the Internet in
that gaming restrictions prohibit wagering and ante fees in most
contexts except such situations as local area networks within a
casino. However, since many players have an interest in playing
casino-type games, it would also be desirable to have a way to
benefit from interests in such games. Accordingly, it would be
desirable to have a system that utilized a gaming context as a
vehicle for delivering product and/or service information to users
of a network such as the Internet. In particular, it would be
desirable to have a data processing system that provided a large
number of players with the ability to substantially asynchronously
play casino-style games on the Internet for prizes at a reduced
risk or at substantially no risk, wherein the data processing
system coordinated the presentation of products and/or services
from sponsors of the games so that there is a coordinated,
interactive exchange of information between players and sponsors
regarding advertisements, samples, prizes and questionnaires
related to sponsor products and/or services.
[0019] Accordingly, since the present invention, as described in
the sections hereinbelow, addresses the above-discussed problems
within the context of playing blackjack, an overview of this
particular game is provided so that the novelty and various related
aspects of the present invention may be more fully appreciated.
[0020] Description of Blackjack:
[0021] The card game of blackjack is a game of chance played
between a designated player known as a "dealer" and one or more
other players. Basically, each player plays against the dealer in
the sense that each player attempts to achieve a collection or hand
of cards having a total score for the hand closer to the value 21
than the score of the hand of the dealer. However, if a player's
card hand goes over 21, the player may lose any wagers bet on the
hand regardless of the value of the card hand of the dealer.
[0022] In further detail, blackjack is typically played with one or
more standard playing card decks wherein each card has a value. In
particular, each of the face cards has the value of 10, and
non-face card has a value identical to the numerical value as
indicated on the card, except for aces. That is, for aces a value
may be assigned of either 1 or 11, depending on which value a
player deems most beneficial to his/her hand.
[0023] In one conventional method for playing blackjack, at the
commencement of a blackjack hand, each player initially is provided
with two cards and the dealer also receives two cards. Typically,
one of the dealer's cards is dealt with the value of the card
showing whereas the other card is dealt with the value of the card
hidden. However, variations on when the dealer receives his/her
cards may depend on the blackjack gaming rules where blackjack is
being played but, in any case, one of the dealer's cards must be
face-up before the players exercise various wagering options beyond
an initial ante.
[0024] After a player has reviewed his/her cards, the player may
request one or more additional cards in an attempt to get: (a) a
value for a card hand that will be greater than the hand the dealer
will have, and (b) a value for the card hand that is less than or
equal to 21. Further, a player may under certain circumstances, as
will be described below, simultaneously play more than one hand of
cards against the dealer's cards. However, in requesting such
additional cards, a player runs the risk of "busting" each hand
played wherein the player loses his/her wager(s) on a card hand by
adding cards to the hand until a value exceeding 21 occurs. Further
note that such busting of a hand occurs regardless of whether or
not the dealer has a card hand value of less than or equal to
21.
[0025] Note that after each player has ceased to request further
cards (i.e., each player "stands" on his cards), the dealer either
takes one or more further cards (i.e., "hits") according to
predetermined blackjack rules as established, for example, by the
gaming establishment where the blackjack game is being conducted.
In general, the dealer must take additional cards if his/her
current card count total is less than 17 and the dealer must
decline further cards if the dealer's hand has a value of 17 or
more. However, there are various rules regarding whether a dealer
may stand or hit when the card count total is a "soft 17." That is,
one of the dealer's cards is an ace (and therefore may have a value
of 1 or 11) and one of the values for the dealer's hand is 17. For
example, the dealer may be required to take a hit on a soft 17.
[0026] Since a hit(s) taken by the dealer is performed after all
players have exercised their wagering options, the final numerical
value of the dealer's hand is then compared to the final numerical
value of each of the player's hand(s) to determine the winning and
losing wagers. Note that if the dealer's hand exceeds the value of
21, then any player that has not busted wins the wagers for their
hand(s) regardless of the hand's total value. Alternatively, if the
dealer's card hand is less or equal to 21, then it is compared with
each of the player's card hand(s) and in each comparison the card
hand with the closest total value to 21 without exceeding 21 wins.
Of course, ties are possible. In such cases (called a "push"), the
player's wager(s) on his/her card hand are returned.
[0027] It is typical in blackjack to have at least three additional
player options depending on the circumstances of play. A first such
option is known as "doubling down" wherein if the player's first
two cards have a value within a predetermined range (e.g., 10 or
11), then the player may double his or her wager and once dealt a
single additional card, the total of the three card hand becomes
the value for the player's hand. Alternatively, another option is
that of "splitting pairs" wherein if the player's first two cards
are identical with the exception of suit (i.e., a pair), then the
pair may be split so that two card hands are created with one card
of the pair in each hand. Thus, the player must wager on each of
the hands at least the initial wagering or ante amount.
Subsequently, a second card and any subsequent successive cards are
dealt to each of the separate hands as the player requests and the
results of both hands are compared to the dealer's hand, assuming
neither the dealer nor either of the player's two hands busts.
[0028] In a third option, played immediately after each player has
been dealt their first two cards and the dealer has been dealt at
least a first card, a player may request "insurance" under the
circumstances where the dealer's single face-up card is an ace. In
this circumstance, the player is betting that the dealer has
blackjack (i.e., a card value total of 21). If the dealer does not
have blackjack, then the insurance bet is forfeited and the player
plays his/her blackjack hand as if the insurance bet were never
made. Note that the player can typically wager an insurance bet of
one-half of the amount of his/her initial blackjack wager or ante
and if the dealer has blackjack, then the dealer (or the gaming
establishment) pays the player double or triple his/her insurance
bet.
[0029] Further note that options for splitting pairs and doubling
down may interact with one another according to certain
pre-established gaming establishment rules wherein, for example, a
player may double down on one or more of his/her split hands.
[0030] Additionally, there are blackjack tournaments having
tournament entrants that compete against each other for tournament
prizes. In such tournaments each entrant has a fixed initial number
of points that can be wagered in a pre-established number of
tournament blackjack games to be played. Accordingly, the player
having the highest number of points at the end of the tournament
wins the tournament. Note that in such tournaments, there may be
specific guidelines established at the beginning of the tournament
for varying the blackjack gaming rules between tournament games.
For example, rules may vary on when a player may split pairs
repeatedly during the same blackjack game. Also, double down rules
may vary so that, for example, after a splitting of pairs, a player
may be allowed to double down on any two cards or, alternatively,
an additional wager of less than the initial wager may be
acceptable when a player requests to double down.
[0031] However, in all known variations of blackjack, players are
only allowed to enter a blackjack game at the completion of a
previous game and, further, there is a relatively small number of
players that can play blackjack at a dealer's station
simultaneously. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system
for playing blackjack wherein potentially a very larger number of
players can play blackjack simultaneously from a single dealer
station and wherein players can commence playing blackjack at their
own discretion without waiting for a previous blackjack game to
complete.
[0032] The advantages identified hereinabove are provided by the
disclosure hereinbelow.
SUMMARY
[0033] The present disclosure is directed to a novel collection of
business techniques or business models (also referred to as a
"compensation model" herein) for addressing the problems, and
attaining the advantages, outlined in the Background section
hereinabove. In particular, the present disclosure describes a
method and system for receiving compensation for network (e.g.,
Internet) services, wherein such services may require users to pay
or fund a first service (e.g., a "user funded" service as described
in Background section hereinabove), and regardless of what elements
of risk (if any) are involved in performing or participating in the
user-funded service, such users may become eligible to legally win
a prize of, e.g., monetary value associated with an instance of a
service (this service referred to herein as a "prize-winning
service") once one or more proficiency criteria in the user-funded
service is demonstrated. Moreover, the present disclosure directed
to utilizing the user-funded service whether or not the
prize-winning service is available. In particular, the user-funded
service may be configured so that a user's funds are only retained
(or charged to the user) by the user-funded service when the user
fails to satisfy a predetermined criteria related to the service.
For example, if the service includes the playing of games, then the
user-funded service may only retain/charge the user when the user
does not play a minimum number of games, a minimum amount of time,
demonstrate a minimum indication of game proficiency (e.g.,
accumulate a minimum number of game points, beat one or more other
players--possibly robot players, place sufficiently high in a game
tournament, etc.). However, it is within the scope of the present
disclosure that other services, instead of games, may be provided
for the user-funded service and/or a related prize-winning service.
For example, such a service may be an Internet search engine, or an
instructional video site wherein a user is only charged for using
the service if, e.g., the user does not access the service
sufficiently frequently during a particular time period, or does
not interact with the service in a particular by the end of a
particular time period (e.g., the user does not contribute to an
appropriate product evaluation, does not contribute an appropriate
instructional video, does not contribute appropriate assistance to
other users, and/or does not contribute appropriate music
recommendations, etc.), then the user is charged a fee for
accessing the service, and/or a previously paid user fee is
refunded.
[0034] Regarding, the prize-winning service, such a service may be
operated by the same service as the user-funded service, or each
such service may be operated by separate operators, wherein user
participation in an instance of the prize-winning service may be
free to the user having established a proficiency/eligibility in
the user-funded service. Additionally, since the users competing
for prizes (in instances of the prize-winning service) are known,
e.g., via credit/debit card network transactions when paying for
the user-funded service, the present compensation model introduces
a greater measure of integrity or fairness into user competition in
that restrictions on a user participating, e.g., under aliases, to
thereby favorably skew odds in his/her favor of winning can be
enforced.
[0035] In a first collection of embodiments of the present
compensation model for receiving an opportunity to win prizes, each
of a plurality of users are required to provide an initial
activation fee or deposit to access a service (a user-funded
service herein, and which may be, e.g., a game or contest).
Subsequently, each of the users can obtain a refund of his/her
activation fee or deposit if and when the user, e.g., achieves a
certain or predetermined level of proficiency (i.e., skill) related
to the user-funded service. That is, after reaching such a level of
proficiency, the user's activation fee or deposit is returned to
the user. In one embodiment, exactly the user's activation fee or
deposit is returned, no more and no less. Note that if more than
the user's activation fee or deposit were returned, then the excess
amount might be legally considered as a prize in certain
circumstances, and thus problematic in the context of, e.g., U.S.
gaming laws. Moreover, the repaying of an amount that is less than
the user activation fee or deposit may also be problematic in that
the ability for the user to activate additional services (e.g., a
"prize-winning service"), wherein prizes of monetary value can be
won, may be considered as a service that the user has also paid for
as well.
[0036] In this first collection of embodiments, once the user has
attained a certain level of proficiency or skill in a particular
user-funded service, and the user's fee or deposit has been
returned, the user may be then eligible to win one or more prizes
of monetary value related to subsequent instance of the
prize-winning service without paying any further fees or deposits.
Accordingly, claims that there has been compensation
(consideration) paid to the network site operator for winning a
prize of monetary are believed (at least in some instances) to be
avoided. Thus, the initial activation fee or deposit may be
properly considered as a fee or deposit for the user gaining
expertise with the user-funded service (or, e.g., similar
services), and such consideration from the user to the site
operator is not at risk for winning a prize since such
consideration was used for a service for which no prizes of a
monetary value were offered, and user's fee or deposit is entirely
refunded when the user reaches an appropriate level of proficiency
or skill.
[0037] In another embodiment of the present compensation model,
users provide nothing of value initially to participate in the
user-funded service. Instead, a user(s) enters into an agreement
with the operator of the user-funded service, wherein the user(s)
agrees that, e.g., after a given amount of time (such as a week,
six weeks, or six months), if the user does not satisfy certain
service related criteria (e.g., one or more proficiency criteria),
then (and only then) will the user be charged for using the
service. Accordingly, the user may be required to provide credit
card information when registering to access the user-funded
service. However, no expense is incurred by the user unless the
agreed to one or more service related criteria are not satisfied.
Note that such service related criteria may be that the user
agrees, e.g., to access the service at a given frequency (e.g.,
once a day), to access the service for a given number of hours per
week, to sponsor at least one new service user per month, etc.
[0038] In some embodiments of the compensation model (including
some of the first collection described above), users having reached
a predetermined proficiency level (or satisfies certain service
related criteria) may pick and choose which from among a plurality
of instances of a prize-winning service (which may be an instance
of the user-funded service or another service) that are provided at
different times, or at different geographical (or network)
locations. Alternatively/additionally, such users may be able to
select from among additional instances of the prize-winning
services, wherein such instances are offered at substantially the
same time. Thus, a user having reached a particular proficiency
level (or satisfied certain service related criteria) in a
user-funded service may enter an instance of a free prize-winning
service for winning prizes immediately after demonstrating his/her
proficiency (or satisfying certain service related criteria), or
the user may elect to participate in such a prize-winning service
for winning prizes at a later date.
[0039] In some embodiments of the compensation model (including
some of the first collection described above), users may activate
or use the user-funded service as much as they desire (e.g., play
as many games as they desire), and/or take as long as they desire
(e.g., within a reasonable amount of time, e.g., six months or a
year) to demonstrate that they have reached an appropriate skill or
proficiency level for qualifying to participate in a corresponding
instance of a prize-winning service wherein there is an opportunity
to win prizes without the users risking anything of value (e.g.,
money). In some embodiments, users may be required to demonstrate
their proficiency (or satisfying certain service related criteria)
within, e.g., a predetermined time, and at the end of the
predetermined time all users will have their activation fees or
deposits refunded. However, only those users satisfying the
predetermined proficiency levels will be eligible to enter the
additional instances of the prize-winning service(s) for winning
prizes.
[0040] In some embodiments of the compensation model (including
some of the first collection described above), a user may
circumvent activating the user-funded service for demonstrating
his/her proficiency or skill by providing alternative evidence that
the user has the desired proficiency or skill to participate in the
free prize-winning service(s) that can result in the user winning a
prize(s) of monetary value. In particular, a user may show his/her
proficiency or skill by presenting evidence of such proficiency in
ways other than providing the activation fee or deposit and
participating in the user-funded service. In particular, in a
gaming context (e.g., game of chance also having an element of
skill), a user may provide evidence that he/she is proficient by
identifying, e.g., a casino or other establishment (or network
site) along with date that the user demonstrated an appropriate
level of proficiency in the user-funded service. For example, if
the user-funded service is the game of scrabble, and a user is able
to verify that he/she has won a well known scrabble contest, and/or
has a National Scrabble Association rating above a particular
value, then the user may be considered sufficiently proficient for
participating in a corresponding free prize-winning service such as
a scrabble contest or, e.g., another word related competition. In
one embodiment, such a user may be required to provide a deposit
for participating in the prize-winning service, and if the user
wins a prize then the user may have to provide his/her evidence of
proficiency before receiving the prize. Accordingly, if the
evidence cannot be verified, then his/her deposit is forfeited. In
one embodiment, when the user-funded service is a game of chance, a
user may assert that he/she has won, e.g., certain amount of money,
a tournament for the game of chance, or won a certain number of
games at a particular casino or during a particular time period as
a way of demonstrating his/her proficiency at the user-funded
service. Moreover, the network site operator may contract with one
or more casinos (online or otherwise) so that both the casino and
the operator's site each advertise one another's gaming services so
that players considered proficient at such a casino may be
automatically considered proficient on the operator's network site.
In addition, when the user-funded service is (or includes) a game,
a user may attain the predetermined level of proficiency by playing
against a software program (e.g., a robot) that is programmed to
play at at least a desired predetermined proficiency level.
[0041] In a second collection of embodiments, the present
compensation model requests users to provide an activation fee or
deposit for using a user-funded service, and once all users have
used the user-funded service as intended (e.g., played the required
number of games within a predetermined time period), all users have
their activation fees or deposits returned them, and additionally
those users demonstrating the most skill (e.g., by winning the most
games) are also provided with prizes in addition to receiving their
refunds. Note that a fundamental difference between the first and
second collections of embodiments is that in the first collection
of embodiments, the site operator has the opportunity to at least
recover some of his/her expenses for enhancing the skills or
proficiency of the users since it is likely that not all user's
will reach the predetermined proficiency level. However, in either
the first or second collection of embodiments, the upfront funding
(and/or providing credit card information for potentially charging)
for accessing the user-funded service is likely to deter a user
from duplicatively registering a large number of times and thereby
skewing the odds in the user's favor of winning a prize. In
particular, since each such registration may be by credit/debit
card, duplicate registrations in a user-funded service (for
eventually participating in an instance of a prize-winning service)
may be inhibited to a great extent by preventing registration (and
payment of the activation fee or deposit) from each user whose name
is identical (or substantially so) to another registered user at,
e.g., a same geographical (or network) address as provided by the
credit card information.
[0042] In one embodiment, the user-funded service and/or the
prize-winning service referred to hereinabove may be an online
Internet game service wherein the game(s) may be poker, chess,
checkers, monopoly, hearts, spades, euchre, canasta, blackjack,
scrabble, video games (e.g., war games), racing games (e.g., auto
racing games), trivia games, Internet search games and/or
investment games (e.g., stock market investment competitions). More
generally, such Internet games and/or contests may be single player
games (e.g., where a user plays against a network site or house),
multi-player games (e.g., multi-player Internet video/simulation
games, or games based on geographical locations of players), games
that include an element of chance (e.g., casino card games), board
games, and/or mystery solving games.
[0043] In one embodiment, the level of proficiency may be one or
more of: obtaining a predetermined number of points (e.g., chips in
one or more poker games), winning a certain number of game
instances (e.g., winning a predetermined number of scrabble games),
winning more games than another user (e.g., winning the most hearts
games in a hearts tournament), obtaining a predetermined number of
points from winning games against other players of a particular
skill level (e.g., winning chess games against chess players having
an Elo rating system above a particular rating), and/or beating a
predetermined number of players having a particular proficiency or
skill level.
[0044] In another embodiment, the user-funded service and/or the
prize-winning service referred to hereinabove may allow users to
compete in the creation of designs such as: landscape designs, auto
designs, house designs, etc. In another embodiment, the user-funded
service and/or the prize-winning service may allow users to compete
in the creation of musical compositions, user produced videos,
etc., wherein the level of proficiency is determined by, e.g., a
predetermined group of judges for judging user entries. In one
embodiment, the predetermined group of judges may be the users
themselves who have paid the activation fee or deposit. For
example, if the user-funded service includes a design or art
competition, then each user may register by agreeing to provide
credit card information which may be charged in the event that the
user's design/art is eliminated from the competition, and not
charged in the event that the user's design/art is not eliminated.
Moreover, user's whose design/art is not eliminated may then be
eligible to enter a free contest (design, art, or otherwise)
wherein one or more contestants may win prizes of substantial
value.
[0045] In one embodiment, the user-funded service may be provided
by a third party network site. For example, if a third party
website provides a service for which a proficiency level can be
determined, then once the users pay a fee (or agree to potentially
paying a fee) to the operator of the site providing the present
compensation model (for determining, monitoring and/or verifying
that users performed the service to a particular proficiency level
on the third party network site), the users reaching the particular
proficiency level (on the third party network site) then would be
allowed to win prizes in free instances of a prize-winning service.
Moreover, the prize-winning service may also be provided by a third
party site or a site owned or controlled by the operator of the
site providing the present compensation model. Thus, an operator
for a network site providing an embodiment of the compensation
model need not actually provide the user-funded service or the
prize-winning service. Accordingly, the operator of the
compensation model provides a brokering service for the user-funded
services and the prize-winning services.
[0046] In one embodiment, the activation fee referred to
hereinabove may be considered as a deposit, wherein such a user's
deposit is forfeited if the user does not reach the predetermined
level of proficiency (or satisfies certain service related
criteria), e.g., within a predetermined time limit, within a
predetermined amount of service activation (e.g., a number of games
played, or a number musical compositions submitted), or the
like.
[0047] In one embodiment, the determination of proficiency (or
satisfaction of certain service related criteria) for the
user-funded service may be assessed by the amount of time a user
has spent interacting with the user-funded service. For example,
regardless of whether a user has met a proficiency level (or
satisfaction of certain service related criteria) according to any
other measurement, the user may be assumed to have a sufficient
proficiency if the user has interacted with the user-funded
service, e.g., a predetermined amount of time, a predetermined
number service sessions, and/or a predetermined number instances of
the service (e.g., games played). Where the user-funded service
includes a game, a user may be deemed to have reached the
predetermined proficiency level if the user has won a predetermined
number of instances of the game, or placed above a certain portion
of the users in a ranking of the users, or won a predetermined
percentage of the games played once at least a certain number of
game instances have been played, or played a predetermined (likely
much larger) number of games, or played a predetermined amount of
time. Moreover, for each different level of proficiency
demonstrated (assuming, e.g., there are multiple levels of
proficiency monitored), the user may be allowed to activate a
prize-winning service for winning prizes associated with the level
of proficiency demonstrated.
[0048] In one embodiment, there may be more than one proficiency
level for users to attain. Thus, when a first proficiency level is
obtained, a user may opt to receive his/her activation fee or
deposit, and then participate in a corresponding instance of a
prize-winning service. Alternatively, the user may instead opt to
proceed to a second level of proficiency, and upon reaching such a
second level, opt for receiving his/her activation fee or deposit
(or at least the equivalent in products or services), and then
participate in a corresponding instance of a prize-winning service
for winning a more substantial prize. In one embodiment, a first
portion of a user's activation fee or deposit may be refunded at a
first proficiency level, and an additional portion may be refunded
at an additional proficiency level. Thus, users may be paid to
enhance their skills (or satisfy certain service related
criteria).
[0049] In one embodiment, the present compensation model may be
used in providing a network service (user-funded service and/or the
prize-winning service), wherein the users registering for the
service may become voting members for determining the proficiency
level for other registered users. For example, the user-funded
service (or instance thereof) may be a graphic design contest,
wherein each registered user can enter up to three designs, and
each member is allowed to vote once for no more than 10 designs not
submitted by the member. Accordingly, the members whose graphic
designs are voted to have obtained the predetermined proficiency
level, would have their activation fee or deposit returned, and
then be eligible to participate in, e.g., a free contest for
winning a prize (the free contest may be another graphic design
contest). Note that the proficiency level for the present
embodiment may be, e.g., receiving a predetermined percentage of
the votes (e.g., 5%), or receiving at least a predetermined number
of votes, or receiving enough votes to be one of a predetermined
number of top vote obtainers (e.g., the designs gathering the 100
highest numbers of votes).
[0050] Moreover, as discussed further hereinbelow, an important
aspect of at least some embodiments of the compensation model is
the fairness of a contest associated with the user-funded service
and/or the prize-winning service. For example, assuming names and
addresses of users paying the activation fee or deposit is checked
against other users that previously paid the activation fee or
deposit for duplicates, such a procedure can be used to prevent a
user from registering a large number of times and thereby distort
the user's chances of attaining a particular proficiency level
and/or subsequently winning a prize. In particular, requiring an
activation fee or deposit can substantially reduce a user receiving
an unfair advantage since when each user pays for each
registration, and the mechanism for such payment via a network
(Internet) transaction requires the user to identify him/herself
via, e.g., a credit card or a debit card. Additional/alternative,
identification may be by a cell phone or other phone number that is
acquired by the network site, wherein such additional information
may used to verify a user's identity.
[0051] In another embodiment, the user's activation fee or deposit
may be designated as a gift to a charity. Thus, the site operator
may not receive any compensation from the user-funded service.
[0052] In at least some embodiments of the compensation model,
network site operators may receive compensation for either or both
of the user-funded service and/or the prize-winning service from
advertisers whose advertisements are presented to users during
their participation in an instance(s) of the user-funded service
and/or the prize-winning service. In one embodiment, advertisers
for the user funded and/or prize-winning service instances may
sponsor one or more users to participate in the user funded and/or
prize-winning service. For example, a well known poker player, or
an especially proficient poker player, may be sponsored by an
advertiser to play in a free poker tournament for winning prizes,
and each poker hand won by a user from the well known poker player
(wherein, e.g., the well known player does not fold) may contribute
to the user winning a prize that is above and beyond merely winning
the poker hand. Additionally/alternatively, an advertiser may
sponsor a user, e.g., based on proficiency information of the
users, wherein the user's potential charges in the user-funded
service are paid (if necessary) by an advertiser selected by the
user. In one embodiment, instead of (or in addition to) paying an
activation fee or deposit, a user may select one or more
advertisers from which to receive advertising and/or from which not
to receive advertising. In the case where a user does not pay the
activation fee or deposit, e.g., when it is paid by an advertiser
or sponsor, the user may win prizes in the so called user-funded
service, and there need not be a separate prize-winning service
instance. For example, a beverage company might sponsor a prize of
free beverages for a year in an instance of a prize-winning
service, and the beverage company may provide the majority of the
ads presented during one or both of the user-funded service and/or
the prize-winning service instances. However, note that it may
still be advantageous for users to pay an activation fee or deposit
(or at least providing card/debit card information) in order to
reduce the possibility of a user receiving unfair advantage in
winning prizes as discussed hereinabove. Advertisers may provide
prizes throughout the game as well as provide a prize to the
ultimate winner(s).
[0053] In one embodiment, a game of skill is combined with a game
of risk so that the combination creates a new game requiring an
entrant to use skill to be recognized as a winner.
[0054] In one embodiment the users may choose the advertiser(s) or
the advertising area of interest that they desire to view. The
ability of a player to recall information in the advertising
presented during the contest may be used to determine the
winner.
[0055] In one embodiment, there may be a combination of a
charitable contribution and a deposit or payment that is for a
predetermined purpose e.g., paying for an item of information or
the ability to cast a vote.
[0056] In one embodiment, an organization for which the user is a
member may provide a deposit for a user-funded service to assist
the user in attaining a higher proficiency level, e.g., a dating
service organization may provide its members with the opportunity
to learn and exhibit their proficiency in email etiquette via an
instance of a user-funded service.
[0057] In one embodiment, the present compensation model can be
used for providing more integrity to Internet chat rooms since
users would be required to pay an activation fee or deposit which
may be returned to the user after, e.g., there are fewer than a
predetermined number of complaints about the user.
[0058] The present disclosure further includes a computerized
interactive advertising system (i.e., method and apparatus) for
exchanging information regarding goods and/or services between a
first population of users (hereinafter also known as "players" or
"users") and a second population of users (hereinafter also known
as "sponsors" or "advertisers"). In particular, the sponsors or
advertisers may present information related to goods and/or
services to the players using the present invention and the players
may view this information while, for example, interacting with the
present invention for playing a game such as blackjack, craps,
roulette, poker, pai gow or the like. Moreover, a player may also
interact with the present invention so that the player has the
capability for responding to sponsor or advertiser presented
questionnaires, as well as for purchasing or viewing sponsor goods
and/or services. Thus, the present invention provides an
information exchange service within a gaming context for enticing
players to view and/or interact with sponsor presentations such as
interactive advertisements.
[0059] It is also an aspect of the present disclosure that each
player or user is presented with advertisements for products and/or
services, wherein it is believed the player will be receptive to
the advertisement. That is, the present interactive advertising
system selectively presents advertisements to each player,
according to stored characteristics and preferences of the player
that the present interactive advertising system has determined
from, for example, player supplied personal information, player
responses to questions, and/or analysis of player interactions such
as player requests for additional information related an
advertisement. Thus, such a selective presentation of
advertisements allows a sponsor or advertiser to provide
information related to relatively extensive or expensive
promotionals (e.g., demonstrations, samples, discounts, trial
subscriptions, prizes, bonuses) to players most likely to
subsequently purchase the advertised product or service.
Consequently, such selectivity can greatly increase the cost
effectiveness of advertising, wherein the term, advertising (or
advertising presentation), as used herein is understood to include
not only product or service presentations that are merely
informational, but also more interactive advertising presentations
such as promotionals wherein discounts, free samples or a trial
usage may be offered.
[0060] Moreover, it is an aspect of the present interactive
advertising system that each player may interact with and play a
game at a time and pace (i.e., tempo) substantially of the player's
choosing. In particular, the player is not bound by a required
order or sequence of play involving other players, even though the
player may be in competition with other players. In fact, a player
may cease play for an extended time while in the midst of a game
and subsequently continue the game at the point where the player
ceased to play. Thus, if the present interactive advertising system
is easily accessible, then players may interact with the present
interactive advertising system at their leisure.
[0061] Accordingly, in a related aspect of the present disclosure,
it is intended that players (more generally, users) are able to
interact with the present invention remotely, as for example, via
the Internet and/or an interactive cable television network. Thus,
using an Internet embodiment as an exemplary embodiment of the
present invention, a gaming web site may be provided wherein
players may access the interactive gaming capabilities of the
present invention and substantially simultaneously also be
presented with sponsor or advertiser provided information related
to goods and/or services of the sponsor or advertiser (those two
terms being used substantially interchangeably to denote e.g.,
those who provide advertising to users and/or subsidize game
playing, product promotionals or network access). Moreover, the
sponsor provided information may include, for example, hypertext
links (also denoted hyperlinks) that allow players to activate, for
example, network transfers for obtaining additional information
regarding a sponsor's goods and/or services regardless of the
status of any game in which a player may be currently involved at
the gaming web site.
[0062] It is a further aspect in one embodiment of the present
invention that a player is able to commence play of a game at
substantially any time the player accesses the present invention.
That is, it is not necessary for any previous game being played by
other players to be completed for the player to commence play. In
other words, games provided by the present invention may be
continuously and asynchronously commenced or entered by
players.
[0063] It is a further aspect of the present invention to require
each player to use a distinct identification provided when the
player "registers" with the present invention before playing any
games so that a network site for the invention may be able to
identify each player. Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present
invention during registration, that each player provides personal
information about him/herself both for gaming identification and
for use as selection criteria by sponsors or advertisers for
presenting particular presentations. For example, in the case of an
Internet embodiment of the present invention, such registering can
be performed via the Internet prior to play of any games at a
gaming/advertising web site. Thus, players may be required to
provide the present invention with information about themselves
such as name, address, E-mail address, age, sex, and/or other
player characteristics deemed pertinent to one or more sponsors or
advertisers. Accordingly, the present invention provides a sponsor
or advertiser with the capability to target its presentations
substantially only to players or users having selected
characteristics as, for example, determined from player information
provided when registering with a network site for the present
invention.
[0064] It is a further aspect of the present invention to have
players compete against one another for prizes in one or more
gaming tournaments. Using the Internet embodiment of the present
invention as illustrative, a gaming/advertising web site for the
present invention may partition the population of players into
competitive groups wherein each group includes the players for a
distinct tournament. Moreover, the present invention may determine
a competitive group according to criteria such as: (a) the game(s)
to be played in the tournament; (b) a skill level for the players
(e.g., as determined by play in a previous tournament(s)); (c)
particular player characteristics such as age, area of residence,
home ownership, etc.; (d) particular player lifestyle traits such
as traits exhibited by exercise enthusiasts or cruise ship
enthusiasts; and (e) particular player preferences such as
preferences related to jewelry, personal care products or
particular sports.
[0065] It is a further aspect of the present invention to allow
players to play games offered by the present invention without
incurring financial risk or charges beyond those that are typical
for the network being used in accessing the present invention.
[0066] It is a particular aspect of the present invention to
provide blackjack and other casino-style games such as craps,
roulette, poker, pai gow, or variations thereof, wherein such games
may be played by a plurality of players continuously and
asynchronously, and wherein each game is likely to be unique from
all other games being played concurrently. Furthermore, in a
related aspect of the present invention, such games may be
automated so as to not require a manual dealer. Also, the present
invention may be played, in one embodiment, in a gaming
establishment (e.g., casino) using low cost gaming stations at
which players may play such games entirely electronically.
Alternatively, in another embodiment, the present invention may be
used to play such casino style games as blackjack on the Internet.
In this later embodiment, a blackjack game controller for the
present invention communicates with blackjack players at Internet
client nodes via a web site from which the blackjack game
controller is accessed. Thus, blackjack players may play blackjack
in the privacy of their own homes and at their leisure since the
present invention does not require that a particular tempo of a
blackjack game be maintained.
[0067] Additionally, the present invention utilizes novel varieties
in such games, as blackjack, that make the games more enjoyable for
users. For example, using variations of blackjack as illustrative,
in one novel embodiment wherein the dealer functions are automated
by a dealer module, this module can play blackjack with a plurality
of players concurrently such that each player appears to be playing
exclusively with the dealer module (e.g., "head-to-head").
Moreover, in one blackjack embodiment, each blackjack game is
played asynchronously from other concurrent blackjack games with
the dealer module. Furthermore, the dealer module may play a
different dealer card hand with each player. In particular, the
initial one (or two) cards (or card representations) dealt to the
dealer for each game are unlikely to be the same for any two
blackjack games being player with the dealer module; i.e., the
probability of any two concurrently played blackjack games being
identical is substantially equal to chance. Accordingly, this
variation is particularly worthwhile when players are playing
remotely through a network such as the Internet. Alternatively, in
a different blackjack variation, the dealer module and each player
concurrently playing blackjack with the dealer module may be
provided with cards (or card representations) from the beginning of
an identical sequence of card representations. Thus, each
concurrently playing player receives an identical initial card hand
and the dealer is also dealt an identical initial card hand.
Subsequently, the card hands within each concurrent game will vary
only if players request further cards differently. Accordingly,
this variation of blackjack is particularly useful in tournament
blackjack played within the confines of a casino, wherein the play
of each player in the tournament is synchronized to start and stop
within a predetermined interval. Note that this variation of
blackjack is enjoyed by tournament players in that the tournament
players may consider it a better or fairer way for demonstrating
blackjack playing skill.
[0068] Additional features and benefits of the present disclosure
are provided hereinbelow. The present SUMMARY section is not
intended to provide a comprehensive description of the novel
aspects provided herein. The claims provided hereinbelow are
intended to define the novel features for patent protection.
Moreover, to the extent that one of ordinary skill in the art can
modify and/or combine various aspects of the present disclosure,
such modifications and/or combinations are within the scope of the
present disclosure from which patent protection can be sought.
Accordingly, any operable novel combination of the embodiments of
the user-funded service (and its operation), the prize-winning
service (and its operation), and the compensation model (and its
operation) disclosed herein may be recited in the claims
hereinbelow.
[0069] Other features and benefits of the present invention will
become apparent from the detailed description with the accompanying
figures contained hereinafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0070] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present
invention wherein this embodiment may be used within a blackjack
gaming establishment such as a casino;
[0071] FIG. 2 provides a representation of the gaming stations 18
of FIG. 1 wherein these gaming stations are used in gaming
establishments for playing blackjack;
[0072] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of
the present invention wherein the present invention is used to play
blackjack on the Internet;
[0073] FIGS. 4A-4E represent a flowchart for the processing
performed by the blackjack game controller 14 when processing
blackjack requests from players in either of the embodiments of
FIG. 1 or FIG. 3;
[0074] FIG. 5 provides a simple example of the operation of the
present invention for playing a novel variation of blackjack
wherein four blackjack games are shown being played asynchronously
with the blackjack game controller;
[0075] FIGS. 6A and 6B are a block diagram of an Internet
embodiment of the present invention;
[0076] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating how a user navigates
through web pages of the World Wide Web for accessing the
game/advertisement web site 308 (FIG. 6) functionality; and
[0077] FIGS. 8A and 8B are an alternative embodiment of the
game/advertisement web site 308. In particular, FIGS. 8A and 8B is
a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of the present
invention wherein an advertisement sending daemon (i.e., TCP/IP
daemon ad sender on the host computer 308) and an advertisement
receiving daemon 806 (on the client end user machine 318)
communicate for periodically displaying advertisements and other
announcements to a user on the end user machine 318; and
[0078] FIG. 9 shows a high level diagram of one embodiment of the
compensation model which is accessible to users of the
Internet.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0079] In FIG. 1, a block diagram is presented of a first
embodiment of an electronic system 10 for the present invention for
playing blackjack, wherein data flows are represented by solid
arrows and control flows are represented by dashed arrows. In
particular, the embodiment of FIG. 1 presents an architecture for
the present invention for use on, for example, a local network
within a casino, wherein low cost gaming stations may be utilized.
Accordingly, the blackjack gaming system 10 includes a blackjack
game controller 14 electronically connected to one or more
potentially remote gaming stations 18 so that for each gaming
station a player may play blackjack. In the blackjack gaming system
10, the blackjack game controller 14 functions substantially as a
dealer would in a manually operated blackjack game and each gaming
station 18 provides a blackjack player with an electronic
representation of a blackjack game wherein it may appear that the
player (i.e., user) at the gaming station 18 is the only player
playing against the dealer (i.e., "head-to-head" against the
blackjack game controller 14). Accordingly, each gaming station 18,
as will be discussed with reference to FIG. 2 below, includes a
display for displaying both the dealer's cards and the player's
cards. Each gaming station 18 also includes player interaction
capabilities for requesting additional cards, activating various
blackjack player options at appropriate times, and potentially
increasing various wagers at predetermined phases of a blackjack
game. Further note that each gaming station 18, when in operation,
may request a security code be provided by a player for identifying
himself/herself or, alternatively, the gaming station may request
the player to insert an electronic card (not shown) into the gaming
station 18 so that information electronically encoded upon the card
is read at the gaming station and transferred to the blackjack
controller 14.
[0080] Referring now to the internal structure of the blackjack
game controller 14, a gaming station interface 22 is provided for
interfacing with each of the gaming stations 18. In particular, the
gaming station interface 22 buffers data signals between the other
components included within the blackjack game controller 14 and the
gaming stations 18. For example, the gaming station interface 22
may have speed matching buffers in order to adjust for differences
in speed between the blackjack game controller 14 and the gaming
stations 18. A blackjack driver 26 exchanges data with the gaming
station interface 22. The blackjack driver 26 substantially
coordinates the operation of the blackjack game controller 14. In
particular, the following capabilities are substantially provided
by the blackjack driver 26: [0081] (1.1) identifies each player
requesting to play blackjack at one of the gaming stations 18;
[0082] (1.2) creates internal data structures for communication
with other modules of the blackjack game controller 14 regarding
each blackjack game being played; in particular, blackjack gaming
data objects or records are (re)instantiated with each player
request, such data objects providing sufficient information for the
blackjack game controller 14 to properly respond to each received
player request; [0083] (1.3) determines the output of the blackjack
game controller 14 to each of the active gaming stations 18; [0084]
(1.4) distributes blackjack gaming data between other modules of
the blackjack game controller 14; and [0085] (1.5) provides card
representations to gaming stations 18.
[0086] In performing the above tasks, the blackjack driver 26
communicates with a blackjack player registration and playing
status database 28. The database system 28 maintains in persistent
storage information regarding each blackjack player. In particular,
the database system 28 maintains: [0087] (2.1) information
identifying each player; e.g., a unique player identification code;
[0088] (2.2) information regarding, for example, each blackjack
player's financial status; in particular, a credit limit and a
current amount of funds (either to be paid or received from the
player); [0089] (2.3) for each person registered to play blackjack,
information regarding the status or context of any game the player
is presently playing; that is, sufficient information is stored so
that the blackjack game controller 14 can retrieve this information
and continue a blackjack game in response to receiving a player's
request; [0090] (2.4) for each person registered to play blackjack,
information regarding any blackjack tournament that the player is
playing; in particular, since such a tournament typically requires
a tournament player to complete a specified number of blackjack
games in a predetermined amount of time and/or to complete a
specified number of blackjack games out of a total number of
blackjack games, the following types of information may be stored:
(a) information relating to the number of blackjack games completed
by the player; (b) information related to the time and/or the
number of games remaining in the tournament; and (c) information
related to the amount of funds or points in the player's account
for the tournament.
[0091] The blackjack driver 26 communicates with a wager accounting
module 30 wherein the wager accounting module provides the
following capabilities: [0092] (3.1) determines various wagering
limit parameters for the next one or more blackjack games to be
played (e.g., the wagering limit per game and the total wagering
limit per player); and [0093] (3.2) performs wagering accounting
for each player's wins and losses. Thus, the wager accounting
module 30 is instrumental in initializing a new blackjack game in
that this module receives and maintains financial information
related to each currently active player at a gaming station 18.
Thus, the wager accounting module 30 has a communication data
channel with the blackjack player registration and playing status
database 28 so that the wager accounting module 30 may retrieve
information for determining whether the player has, for example,
sufficient financial resources to cover potential wagering losses.
Of course, to provide waging evaluation information to other
controller 14 modules, the wager accounting module 30 receives
identifying information from each such module requesting an
evaluation.
[0094] The blackjack driver 26 also communicates with a blackjack
player evaluator 34. The blackjack player evaluator 34 receives,
from each player (via instantiations of blackjack gaming data
objects from the blackjack driver 26), all blackjack player
requests except the data from each player indicating an amount to
be wagered. Thus, the blackjack player evaluator 34: [0095] (4.1)
determines each player's options during blackjack games; and [0096]
(4.2) responds to player requests for hits or to, for example,
split pairs. Thus, the blackjack player evaluator 34 enforces the
gaming establishment rules related to player options during a
blackjack game. Note, however, that in responding to certain player
requests, the blackjack player evaluator 34 communicates with the
wager accounting module 30 to confirm that a proper wager
accompanies the requested option and that the wager is acceptable
to the wager accounting module 30.
[0097] The blackjack player evaluator 34 is supplied with data
corresponding to blackjack card representations from a card
generator module 38. The card generator module 38 generates for
example, an ordered collection or sequence of substantially random
card representations and each such card representation is provided
to the blackjack player evaluator 34, wherein the blackjack player
evaluator responds to each player's valid hit request by outputting
the most recent card representation received from the card
generator module 38. That is, each player at a gaming station 18
receives a card representation according to when the player's
request is received by the blackjack player evaluator 34.
[0098] Further, note that the card generator module 38 also
supplies the same card representations as supplied to the blackjack
player evaluator 34 to a house blackjack playing module 42, wherein
this latter module plays the dealer's hand in each blackjack game.
Thus, the house blackjack playing module 42 enforces the blackjack
gaming rules on behalf of the gaming establishment. In particular,
this module determines when and how insurance bets can be made
related to the dealer's cards. Note, as with the blackjack player
evaluator 34, the house blackjack playing module 42 outputs, when
required to provide the dealer's hand with another card
representation at a gaming station 18, the most recent card
representation received from the card generator module 38. Further
note that the house blackjack playing module 42 provides control
information to the blackjack driver 26, particularly regarding
activation of the blackjack insurance option. This information, in
turn, is conveyed to the blackjack player evaluator 34 so that this
latter evaluator may activate the insurance option for each player
at an active gaming station 18.
[0099] A blackjack hand evaluator 46 is also in communication with
the blackjack driver 26. The blackjack hand evaluator 46 evaluates
each player's hand(s) in comparison to the dealer's blackjack hand
for determining the win/loss/tie for each player's hand. Thus, the
dealer's hand and the one or more hands played by each player at a
gaming station 18 is supplied to the blackjack hand evaluator 46.
Subsequently, this evaluator outputs win/loss/tie results to the
gaming stations 18 via the blackjack driver 26 and the gaming
station interface 22. Further, the blackjack hand evaluator 46 also
outputs win/loss/tie results along with the identity of the player
playing each hand to the wager accounting module 30 so that wager
credits and debits for each player's account may be updated
according to the last or most recent blackjack game results.
[0100] In FIG. 2, an embodiment of a gaming station 18 is
illustrated. The gaming station 18 includes a player input area 204
wherein a player may press touch-sensitive portions of a thin film
laminated with blackjack player operations and requests.
Immediately above the player input area is a player output display
area 208 for displaying blackjack gaming information related to the
player. Optionally, each gaming station 18 may include a player
identification card reader 216 so that a blackjack player may
identify him/herself at a gaming station 18 by swiping a magnetic
identification portion of a player identification card (not shown)
through the card slot 220 thereby allowing the card reader 216 to
transmit the player's encoded identification upon his/her card to
the blackjack game controller 14. However, it should be noted that
other configurations of the gaming station 18 are also contemplated
by the present invention. In particular, gaming station 18 may not
have a card reader 216. Instead, a blackjack player may be required
to register either manually or automatically at a site remote from
the gaming station 18, or, alternatively personal identification
numbers may be provided to players for identifying themselves via
the player input area 204 wherein, for example, a numeric digit
provided in the lower bottom portion of some of the touch-sensitive
areas may be used by the player to input a personal identification
number. Further, the arrangement of the touch-sensitive portions of
the player input area 204 and the format of the display area 208
(both being discussed in detail below) may have other arrangements
and still be within the scope of the present invention.
[0101] Describing in detail now the touch-sensitive portions of the
player input area 204, an activate/enter next game button 220 is
provided. This button is used to initially activate the gaming
station 18 so that a "request to play" signal is transmitted to the
blackjack driver 26. That is, assuming a player activates this
button at a gaming station 18, the blackjack driver 26 responds by
requesting that the player input his/her identification via, for
example, placing an identification card in the card reader 216
and/or a personal identification number via the player input area
204. Additionally, note that the button 220 may be pressed at the
end of a blackjack game for indicating that the player wishes to
play another blackjack game. Note that in one embodiment of the
present invention when consecutive games are played by a player,
the player need only press the button 220 to commence a new game.
That is, the player's identification need not be entered for each
consecutive game played (assuming the button 220 is activated
within a predetermined time after the last game has
terminated).
[0102] The player input area 204 also includes a quit button 224
that a player may press to explicitly indicate the player's desire
to terminate any further gaming at the gaming station 18.
[0103] Additionally, buttons 228 through 248 provide the player
with the capabilities to request the following blackjack gaming
requests: [0104] (5.1) The "HIT" button 228 allows the player to
request another card to be dealt to him/her. [0105] (5.2) The
"STND" button 232 allows the player to stand on a current blackjack
hand. [0106] (5.3) The "DBL" button 236 allows the player to double
down under appropriate circumstances as determined by the blackjack
player evaluator 34. [0107] (5.4) The "SPLIT" button 240 allows the
player to split the player's first two cards into two separate
blackjack hands when these first two cards are identical. [0108]
(5.5) The "INS" button 244 allows the player to request insurance
under the circumstances where the dealer's single face-up card is
an ace. [0109] (5.6) The "BET" button 248 allows the player to
request that a bet or wager be entered during a blackjack game.
[0110] Note that subsequent to requesting a bet via the "BET"
button 248, the buttons 252 through 264 are activated so that the
player may input various betting amounts. In particular, buttons
252 through 264 provide the player with the option to bet $5.00
(button 252), $25.00 (button 256), $100.00 (button 260) and $500.00
(button 264). Moreover, a sequence of the buttons 252 through 264
may be pressed for obtaining a bet not provided by a single button.
For example, to bet $130.00, the player presses consecutively each
of the buttons 252, 256 and 260 (in any order) exactly once.
[0111] The player input area 204 also includes various confirm and
cancel buttons 268 through 276. The accept button 268 allows the
user to accept a last input. For example, it is an aspect in the
present embodiment of the invention that after each user input, the
input is accepted either by the player explicitly pressing the
accept button 268 or by allowing a predetermined amount of time to
expire after the last player input. The "CANCEL BET" button 272
allows the user to cancel an immediately preceding bet that was
input. However, note that if a time limit is exceeded for placing a
bet due to, for example, the player pressing the "CANCEL" button
272, then any minimum bet required will be automatically wagered on
the player's behalf by the wager accounting module 30. Further, the
"CANCEL LAST" button 276 may be used by the player to cancel the
immediately preceding wager of one of the dollar amount buttons 252
through 264. Thus, if a player intended to bet $125.00 by pressing
first the button 260 followed by the button 256 but instead pressed
the button sequence 260 and 264, then the player may press the
button 276 for cancelling the $500.00 bet associated with button
264 and subsequently the player presses the button 256 to obtain
the desired bet of $125.00. Note further that pressing the "CANCEL
LAST" button twice in succession also cancels the entire bet.
[0112] A "SPEED OF PLAY" button 280 may be optionally provided on
the player input area 204. This button allows the player to specify
to the blackjack driver 26, for example, the predetermined amount
of time after a player input to wait before each subsequent input
is automatically accepted. In one embodiment of the present
invention, the "SPEED OF PLAY" button 280 includes active areas at
each end of the button, wherein if the user presses the "slower"
end of the button 280, then the predetermined time(s) for
automatically accepting a player input is lengthened.
Alternatively, if the player presses the "faster" end of the button
280, then the predetermined default acceptance time(s) becomes
shorter. However, it is important to note that the tempo of the
blackjack game is, using the present invention, no longer as
important as in typical blackjack gaming situations. That is, since
each blackjack player using the present invention is not playing in
sequence with other players, there is less concern about speedily
playing so as not to delay other players.
[0113] Lastly, the player input area 204 includes a "HELP" button
284 for allowing the player to request assistance from, for
example, the personnel of the gaming establishment providing the
gaming station 18.
[0114] Referring now to display area 208, the screen display
provided here is but one of a number of contemplated screen layouts
for the present invention. In particular, the screen layout
illustrated in display area 208 is a representative layout for use
in playing tournament blackjack. Thus, when other modes of
blackjack are played other than tournament blackjack, then it is
within the scope of the present invention to modify the fields
represented in the display area 208 according to the player needs
for the type of blackjack being played. Further, it is important to
note that in one embodiment, the display 208 is in color so that,
for example, diamonds and hearts are in red and spades and clubs
are in black, and various fields of the display area 208 may be
highlighted for focusing a player's attention on the portion of the
display providing information most relevant to the player's
currently permissible options.
[0115] Describing now the fields currently presented in display
208, at the top of the display is the house hand area 288: (a) for
providing a representation of the cards that have been dealt to the
house; (b) for providing a status of the house hand (i.e. one of:
"STND" for standing, "BUSTED", when the value of the house hand
exceeds 21, and "CONTINUING" when the house may take additional
hits. That is, this field provides an annotation "house hand:"
followed by a representation for at least one card that has been
dealt to the house; i.e., an ace of hearts. In the player's hand
area 292 of the display area 208, there are five columns providing
information related to each blackjack hand the player is currently
playing in the blackjack game. The columns provide the following
information: [0116] (6.1) The "PLAYER HAND(S)" column provides, in
each row of this column, a different blackjack hand that is being
played simultaneously by the player in the current blackjack game.
Thus, two blackjack hands are presently represented as being played
simultaneously by the player on the display area 208. That is, an
upper or first hand having a three of spades, king of hearts, and a
five of spades, and, a lower or second blackjack hand having a
three of clubs and an eight of diamonds. (Note, when a player
chooses to double down, card representations in common between two
blackjack hands may be displayed in a row between the remaining
card representations for both hands. Alternatively, card
representations in common between blackjack hands may be duplicated
in the blackjack hands to which the common cards representations
apply.) [0117] (6.2) A "STATUS" column for indicating the current
status of each blackjack hand the player is playing. That is, for
the first or upper hand that the player currently is playing the
status is "STND" thereby indicating that the player has elected to
stand on this hand. Alternatively, for the second or lower hand a
status of "PICK OPTION" is provided thereby indicating that it is
the player's turn to pick a blackjack playing option for this hand.
Note that there are at least three possible values for the status
field of each blackjack hand being played. That is, in addition to
the two represented in FIG. 2, a "BUSTED" status value is output
for indicating that the value of the related blackjack hand has
exceeded 21. [0118] (6.3) The "OPTIONS" column provides, for each
blackjack hand being played, an indication of the permissible
blackjack plays that the player currently may select from for the
related blackjack hand in the same row. Thus, for the first hand
illustrated in area 292, there are no options remaining for the
player to play related to this hand. However, on the second hand,
four permissible player inputs are displayed as options to the
player. That is, the player may stand on the related hand (STND) by
pressing button 232, the player may request a hit (HIT) by pressing
button 228, the player may double down (DBL) by pressing button 236
and the player may bet an additional wager by pressing button 248
and subsequently putting a bet amount using buttons 252 through
264. [0119] (6.4) The "LAST BET" column displays to the player
his/her last bet for each blackjack hand the player is currently
playing. In particular, for both the upper and lower hands shown in
area 292, the player's last bet was $50.00. [0120] (6.5) The "TOTAL
BET" column displays to the player the total bet the player has
wagered on the blackjack hand to which it relates. For example, in
FIG. 2, in both the upper and lower player's blackjack hands
displayed, the player has bet al. total of $200.00.
[0121] Below the player hand area 292 is the player information
area 296 wherein additional blackjack gaming information relating
to the player is displayed. In particular, labeled line 300
displays the most recent bet amount that the player has requested
along with a tag indicating the status (e.g., "ACCEPT/CANCEL") of
the most recent bet. Note that the status may be: (a) "ACCEPTED"
for explicitly or implicitly indicating the acceptance of a
displayed wager (via the player pressing the accept button 268 or
by default due to a time limit expiring); (b) "CANCELLED" for
explicitly indicating the cancellation of the last entered wager
(via the player pressing either of the cancel buttons 272 or 276);
(c) "REJECTED", this status being displayed due to the wager
accounting module 30 rejecting the player's most recent bet; and
(d) "ACCEPT/CANCEL" for indicating that the present invention is
waiting a predetermined amount of time for the player to explicitly
accept or cancel the most recent bet. Thus, in the example of line
300 in FIG. 2, the player has indicated a most recent bet of $30.00
and the blackjack driver 26 has output a status of "ACCEPT/CANCEL"
as in (d) above. Further note that the blackjack hand(s) to which
this most recent bet applies may be designated in any of a number
of ways such as, for example, highlighting the row(s) in the player
hand area 292 of the blackjack hand(s) to which the most recent bet
of line 300 applies. Alternately, an indicator such as arrows 302
may be used as in FIG. 2 to indicate to the player that the most
recent bet is to be applied to both the upper and lower blackjack
hand(s).
[0122] Additionally, note that line 304 displays the annotation
"INSURANCE BET:" together with any insurance amount that has been
bet by the player. Accordingly, the dollar amount on line 304 and
the notation at the right end of the line pertain, respectively, to
the amount that has been bet as insurance, and the status of this
bet (i.e., one of "ACCEPTED", "CANCELLED", "REJECTED" or
"ACCEPT/CANCEL" as in line 300).
[0123] In line 312 of the player information area 296, the total
amount of funds available by the player for betting is displayed.
For example, line 312 of FIG. 2 indicates that the player has a
total amount for betting of $1,000.00. Note that the wager
accounting module 30 maintains this total amount available for
betting and updates it after each blackjack game.
[0124] The lower three lines 320, 324 and 328 of the player
information area 296 provide blackjack player information that is
particularly useful when playing in a blackjack tournament. Thus,
the information in these three lines may not be displayed when the
present invention is used by players not in a tournament. In line
320, two fields are provided for displaying playing time
information. The leftmost field, annotated by the label "ELAPSED
PLAYING TIME:", displays the total amount of time the player has
played blackjack (which in this case is 45 minutes). Alternatively,
the rightmost field, annotated by the label "REMAINING PLAYING
TIME:", displays the time remaining in the tournament.
[0125] In line 324 an identifier for any tournament associated with
the present blackjack game is displayed.
[0126] In line 328, up to two additional fields are provided that
are useful in tournament blackjack. The leftmost field having an
annotation of "GAMES PLAYED:" displays to the player the number of
blackjack games he/she has completed within a tournament. Note that
in some blackjack tournaments each player is required to complete a
certain predetermined number of games within a predetermined
allotted time period. For example, a blackjack tournament may
require each player to play 50 games within a predetermined
interval (such as four days). Relatedly, but optionally, in
blackjack gaming contexts where the total number of blackjack games
in the tournament is meaningful, the rightmost field of line 328,
having the annotation "GAME NUMBER:", displays to the player the
total number of tournament games that have been completed thus far
in the tournament. Accordingly, using at least the leftmost
annotated field in line 328 and "REMAINING PLAYING TIME:" annotated
field of line 320, the player is able to determine the number of
remaining games in the tournament that he/she must play.
[0127] Further note that other blackjack game values are
contemplated by the present invention. For example, a field
providing the number of games remaining that a player must play in
the tournament may be added (or substituted for) in addition to the
current values in the player information area 296.
[0128] In a next display 208 lower area, denoted the rules area
336, blackjack house rules are displayed. In particular, the house
rules displayed in area 336 allow variations upon the typical
blackjack rules that a player is likely to assume if not presented
with information to the contrary. Note that by providing these
additional rules on the display of gaming stations 18, successive
blackjack games may be provided with different house blackjack
rules thereby creating an increased interest in each game by the
players and requiring additional blackjack playing skills from the
players. Note that three house rules are provided in the present
display area 336. That is, (a) insurance for the present blackjack
game pays 3 to 1 odds (instead of the typical 2 to 1 odds); (b) the
player may double down after splitting only once; and (c) the
minimum bet is $25.00 for the current game.
[0129] Lastly, the display 208 includes a player identification
area 342 for identifying the player currently playing blackjack at
the gaming station 18. The present player area 342, includes a
field having the current player's name (e.g., I. R. SMITH).
However, other fields identifying the player are also contemplated
by the present invention including, for example, a player
identification number such as the number that may be encoded upon a
player identification card used in conjunction with the card reader
216 for identifying the player.
[0130] FIG. 3 presents a second embodiment of the blackjack gaming
system of the present invention. In this embodiment, the blackjack
game controller 14 is substantially the same as described
hereinabove. However, this controller 14 is now accessible through
an Internet web site 308 so that blackjack players at Internet
client nodes 318 can play blackjack on the blackjack game
controller 14 via the Internet 324 (or more particularly, via the
World Wide Web).
[0131] Accordingly, describing the web site 308 in more detail, it
includes an Internet interface 332 for receiving and supplying
communications between the Internet 324 and the remainder of the
web site 308. The Internet interface 332, in turn, communicates
with World Wide Web server 340: (a) for validating and/or
initiating registration of web site users (e.g., blackjack players)
at web site 308; and (b) for interpreting Internet requests for
routing and/or activating web site 308 modules that can fulfill
such requests. Thus, the World Wide Web server 340 may access the
database system 28 for determining the registration identity of,
for example, a blackjack player. Additionally, upon receiving user
registration confirmation regarding an Internet (e.g., World Wide
Web) request, the World Wide Web server 340 activates
instantiations of modules known as common gateway interface (CGI)
scripts, each CGI script 348 instantiation (or, for simplicity,
each such instantiation also being referred to as a CGI script 348)
being: (a) for interpreting and processing Internet requests
according to the semantics of a web site 308 application associated
with the CGI script; and (b) for constructing Internet responses
from output from the associated application. Thus, there are one or
more common gateway interface modules provided wherein each CGI
script 348 (instantiation) invokes the blackjack game controller 14
to process a single Internet blackjack request from an Internet
client node 318 where a player is playing blackjack, and
subsequently the CGI script 348 constructs an appropriate Internet
response from the output received from the blackjack game
controller 14.
[0132] Since the embodiment of the blackjack game controller 14 of
FIG. 3 is substantially identical to that of FIG. 1, a description
of its internal structure is not repeated here. However, it is
worthwhile to note that the embodiment of FIG. 3 is particularly
appropriate when the blackjack game controller 14 executes on a
different or remote processor from that of, for instance, the
processor performing the CGI script(s) 348. Further, note that if
the blackjack game controller 14 executes on the same processor as
the other web site 308 modules of FIG. 3, then the communication
interface 22 may be unnecessary, and additionally, much of the
functionality of the other components of the blackjack game
controller 14 may be incorporated into one or more CGI scripts 348.
Thus, for example, the blackjack player evaluator 34 functionality
may be incorporated into one CGI script 348 while house blackjack
playing module 42 functionality may be incorporated into another
CGI script.
[0133] There are also noteworthy distinctions between the gaming
stations 18 of FIGS. 1 and 2 and the Internet client nodes 318 of
FIG. 3 as well as distinctions in blackjack play interactions. For
example, the following distinctions may be provided: [0134] (7.1)
Due to the potentially lengthy delays that occur on the Internet,
the embodiment of FIG. 3 does not provide for automatic acceptance
of a blackjack play (e.g., acceptance of an input bet or a default
to a minimum ante) due to a time period expiring. Thus, the speed
of play is determined by the responsiveness of each player and the
responsiveness of the Internet. [0135] (7.2) Players may play
blackjack in tournaments against one another on the Internet
wherein, for each tournament entered by a player, he/she receives,
without cost, a predetermined number of points to use for playing
in the tournament. Note that prizes may be awarded to tournament
winners as incentive to play in such blackjack tournaments. Further
note that the time period to complete a tournament may be
substantially more lengthy than the time periods for typical
blackjack tournament play. For example, a tournament may extend for
90 days since players can play at their leisure. [0136] (7.3) The
input keys of gaming station 18 of FIG. 1 may be also presented on
the display screens of Internet client nodes 318 wherein the input
buttons of gaming station 18 now become active buttons on a
blackjack web page generated by the web site 308 and presented to a
player at an Internet client node 318. However, note that at least
the speed of play key 280 is not necessary, as mentioned in
reference to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 since the speed of
play is of diminished importance. [0137] (7.4) There may be other
types of information output to an Internet client node 318 in
addition to the information displayed in FIG. 3. In particular,
advertising information may be provided with each web site 308
response to a player regarding, for example, blackjack tournament
sponsors and prizes.
[0138] In FIGS. 4A-4E, a flowchart is presented of the high level
steps performed by the blackjack game controller 14 when processing
player requests in either of the embodiments of FIG. 1 or 3 for
playing a novel blackjack variation wherein new eligible card
representations are generated periodically regardless of whether
they are dealt in a blackjack game or not and wherein the blackjack
players may play the game asynchronously from one another. In step
408, the blackjack game controller 14 is initialized so that it may
process blackjack player requests and output appropriate responses
to each player's request. Subsequently, in step 416, the card
generator module 38 commences to output at regular intervals (e.g.,
less than two seconds such as every 0.5 seconds) random card
representations to both the blackjack player evaluator 34 and the
house blackjack playing module 42. Thus, for as long as the
blackjack game controller 14 is properly responding to blackjack
player requests, the card generator module 38 continuously and
regularly outputs card representations. Concomitantly with the
actions in step 416, the remaining steps of FIGS. 4A-4E are
performed. Thus, in step 424, the controller 14 waits for a (next)
blackjack player input, such inputs being, for example, requests to
enter a new blackjack tournament, requests to commence a new
blackjack game within a tournament, requests to process a blackjack
game play request, a request for information regarding the players
account, and a request for help information (such as how to play
blackjack).
[0139] Upon receiving a blackjack player request, in step 430 the
communication interface 22 queues the request and subsequently
transmits the request to the blackjack driver 26. In step 436, a
determination is made as to whether the players request is related
to a current blackjack game and/or current blackjack tournament. If
not, then step 448 is encountered wherein an additional
determination is made as to whether the player's request is to
enter a new blackjack tournament. If so, then in step 454 the
blackjack driver 26 determines a blackjack tournament and enters
the player into the tournament. Note that in providing this
function, the blackjack player 26 communicates with the wager
accounting module 30 to confirm that the player is eligible to
enter a new tournament. Thus, the blackjack driver 26 supplies the
wager accounting module 30 with at least the player's
identification and a specification of the tournament in which the
player may be entered. Note that the tournament selection may be
provided by the player in some embodiments of the present
invention. Alternatively, the blackjack driver 26 may select a
tournament for the player using tournament information stored in
the database system 28. Assuming that the wager accounting module
30 responds with a confirmation that the player may be entered into
the selected tournament, in step 458, the blackjack driver 26
creates a confirmation record identifying the blackjack tournament
in which the player is entered. Subsequently, in step 462 the
blackjack driver 26 outputs information in the confirmation record
to the player at his/her Internet client node 318 (gaming station
18). Thus, in the embodiment of FIG. 3 of the present invention,
the output of step 462 (and all subsequent such outputs to a
blackjack player) are output from the blackjack driver 26 to the
communication interface 22 for queuing until the output can be
transmitted to the CGI script 348 that initiated the player request
to which this output is a response. Subsequently, the output is
transmitted to the World Wide Web server 340 and to the Internet
interface 332 for transmitting on the Internet 324 and thereby
being routed to the Internet client node 318 where the player is
playing blackjack.
[0140] Following step 462, in step 466, the blackjack driver 26
enters, into the database system 28, information indicating the
blackjack tournament in which the player has been entered. Note
that the information entered here into the database system 28 is
subsequently accessible both by the blackjack driver 26 and the
wager accounting module 30 for determining the tournament(s) in
which the player has been entered. Following this step, since the
player's request has been processed, the flow of control loops back
to step 424 to wait for the next player input from a player at an
Internet client node 318 or alternatively a gaming station 18.
[0141] Returning now to step 448, if the player has not requested
to enter a blackjack tournament then step 470 is encountered to
process any miscellaneous blackjack player requests not related to
a current blackjack game and/or blackjack tournament. For example,
a player may request accounting information related to his/her
blackjack gaming account. Assuming such requests are processed and
responded to in this step, the flow of control again returns to
step 424 to wait for a next player input.
[0142] Returning now to step 436, if the player request is related
to a current blackjack and/or blackjack tournament, then step 476
is encountered wherein the blackjack driver 426 uses the player's
identification (ID) provided with the request for retrieving any
status information from the database system 28 regarding any
current blackjack game and/or blackjack tournament in which the
player may be currently involved. Subsequently, in step 480, a
determination is made as to whether the player request is to
commence a new blackjack game in a current tournament. If so, then
in step 484 the blackjack driver 26 requests confirmation from the
wager accounting module 30 that the player can commence with a new
blackjack game in the current tournament. That is, the wager
accounting module 30 determines whether the player has sufficient
tournament credits to continue in the tournament. Following this,
in step 488, the blackjack driver 26 determines whether a
confirmation has been received from the wager accounting module 30.
If no such confirmation is provided, then in step 492, the
blackjack driver 26 outputs a message to the player at his/her
Internet client node 318 (gaming station 18) indicating that no
further blackjack games in the current tournament may be played by
the player.
[0143] Alternatively, if in step 488 the blackjack driver 26
receives confirmation from the wager accounting module 30, then in
step 494 the blackjack driver 26 creates a blackjack game record
for fulfilling the player's request. Note that in creating the new
blackjack game data record, the blackjack driver 26 communicates
with the wager accounting module 30 to both debit the player's
account for any initial ante corresponding to commencing the new
blackjack game and also to output to the blackjack driver 26 data
of this transaction for subsequently outputting to the player.
Following this step, in step 496, the blackjack driver 26 requests
the blackjack player evaluator 34 to provide an initial blackjack
game configuration for the new blackjack game. Subsequently, in
step 500, the blackjack player evaluator 34 responds with an
initial blackjack game configuration, wherein this configuration
includes the initial card representation for the player's hand (as
shown, for example, in area 292 of FIG. 2). Note that this initial
card representation is the most recent card representation provided
to the blackjack player evaluator 34 by the card generator module
38. Thus, note that if two player requests to commence a new
blackjack game were transmitted to the blackjack driver 26 in rapid
succession, then step 500 may be performed for each of the requests
before the dealer module 38 outputs a new random card
representation to the blackjack player evaluator 34. Consequently,
in such a case both players will be presented with an identical
initial card representation for the player's hand. Subsequently, in
step 504, the blackjack driver 26 stores information regarding the
identity and initial configuration of the new blackjack game for
the player in the database system 28. In particular, a blackjack
game identifier for the new game is stored and associated with the
identity of the blackjack player and the tournament to which the
game is associated. Following step 500, in step 504, the blackjack
driver 26 stores information regarding the new blackjack game for
the player in the database system 28. In particular, the following
information is stored regarding the initial configuration of the
new blackjack game: the player's identity, the identity of the
tournament for which the new game corresponds, and identifier
identifying the new game, and an initial configuration for the new
blackjack game including card representations and any initial
required bets. Further, note that throughout the course of each
blackjack game played by a player, the blackjack driver 26 and the
wager accounting module 30 update information in the database
system 28 as the game configuration changes due to interactions
between the player and the blackjack game controller 14. Thus, for
a blackjack game underway, each request from a player for
continuing the game with a next play, need not provide the entire
game configuration to the blackjack game controller 14. Instead,
only sufficient information is required in the request for the
blackjack driver 26 and/or the wager accounting module 30 to
retrieve information related to the blackjack game configuration
corresponding to the player's request. Following step 504, in step
508, the blackjack driver 26 outputs an initial blackjack game
configuration for the new game to the player at his/her Internet
client node 318 (gaming station 18). Subsequently, the flow of
control once again returns to step 424 to await a next player input
to the controller 14.
[0144] Returning now to step 480, if it is determined here that the
player request is not to commence a new blackjack game in a current
tournament, then step 520 is encountered wherein a determination is
made as to whether the player request is related to a play in a
currently active blackjack game. If not, then in step 524 the
blackjack game controller 14 processes miscellaneous requests such
as, for example, a request for special blackjack rules relating to
a current game and/or tournament, the number of players remaining
in the current tournament, the player's ranking in the current
tournament, and the prizes for winners of the current tournament.
Subsequently, assuming such miscellaneous requests are responded
to, in step 524, the flow of control for the present flowchart
returns to 424 to await a next player input.
[0145] Alternatively, if in step 520 the player request is related
to a play in a currently active blackjack game, then in step 528 a
further determination is made as to whether the player request is
for a new card representation. If so, then in step 532, a
determination is made as to whether the card request is for the
house or for the player. If the card request is from the house,
then in step 536 the blackjack driver 26 communicates with the
house blackjack playing module 42 for obtaining a new blackjack
game configuration for the current blackjack game, wherein the new
game configuration includes the most recently output card
representation from the card generator module 38 as the next card
representation in the house hand for the blackjack game from which
the current player's request came. Subsequently, in step 542 the
house blackjack playing module 42 outputs blackjack game
configuration information indicating the new house hand card
representation and any player response(s) that the player may
exercise in responding to the new blackjack game configuration.
[0146] Upon receiving the house blackjack playing module 42 output,
in step 546, the blackjack driver 26 determines whether there is a
further player response in the present game by invoking one or both
of the blackjack player evaluator 34 and the blackjack hand
evaluator 46. If there are additional possible player responses,
then in step 550 the blackjack driver 26 outputs a blackjack game
configuration to the player at his/her Internet client node 318
(gaming station 18) so that the player may exercise one of his/her
available game options. Subsequently, having processed the player's
request the flow of control again loops back to step 424 to await a
next player input. Alternatively, if in step 546 the blackjack
driver 26 determines that there are no further possible player
responses, then the current blackjack game is complete and the
blackjack driver 26 in step 556 activates the blackjack hand
evaluator 46 for evaluating the blackjack game hands so that the
blackjack hand evaluator can activate the wager accounting module
30 to update the player's account (according to the results of the
blackjack game) in the database system 28. Following this step, in
step 560 the wager accounting module 30 outputs to the blackjack
driver 26 updated accounting information to be provided to the
player. In step 564, the blackjack driver 26 outputs the results of
the blackjack game and the players updated account information to
the player. Also, note that the blackjack driver 26 updates the
database system 28 regarding the completion of the present
blackjack game as well as any further status information related to
the player and the tournament to which the present blackjack game
is associated. Subsequently, having processed the player's request,
the flow of control again loops back to step 424 to await a next
player input.
[0147] Alternatively, if in step 532 it is determined that the
player's request is for a new card representation for the player,
then in step 568 the blackjack driver 26 activates the blackjack
player evaluator 34 for obtaining a new blackjack game
configuration for the current blackjack game, wherein the new game
configuration includes the most recently output card representation
from the card generator module 38 as the next card representation
for the player's hand(s). Subsequently, in step 572 the blackjack
player evaluator 34 determines the next blackjack play options the
player may exercise for the present game and then outputs the new
blackjack configuration with these options to the blackjack driver
26. Following this, the steps 546 and subsequent steps are
performed as described above.
[0148] Returning now to step 528, if the player request is not for
a new card representation then step 576 is encountered wherein the
blackjack game controller 14 processes other blackjack player game
requests such as requests for additional bets, cancellations of
bets, a request to stand on a particular player hand, a request to
split a pair of card representations, or a request for insurance.
Assuming, that such requests as described above are processed, in
step 580 the blackjack driver 26 subsequently outputs a new
blackjack game configuration to the player according to the
processing performed in step 576. Also, note that the blackjack
driver 26 updates the database system 28 with information relating
to the new blackjack game configuration so that it may be retrieved
upon a subsequent player request relating to the present game.
Following this step, the flow of control for the present flowchart
loops back to step 424 to again wait for another player input.
[0149] FIG. 5 presents a simple example of the operation of the
present invention for playing blackjack wherein four blackjack
games are shown being played asynchronously with the blackjack game
controller 14. To describe FIG. 5 in detail, note first that the
row of numbers 604 across the top of the figure represents a
sequence of values of successive card representations output by the
card generator module 38. That is, in a first time interval a card
representation having a value of three is output, in a second time
interval a card representation having a value of five is output, in
a third time interval a card representation having a value of seven
is output and so on across the row. Below row 604 are blackjack
game rows 606, wherein each blackjack game row 606 represents a
series of events that occur in each blackjack game 610 through 626
over the course of time corresponding to the series of card values
604. In particular, the numerical entries within each blackjack
game row 606 correspond to the values of the player and house card
hands as additional cards are added to the player and house hands
of each blackjack game. For example, referring to blackjack game
row 610, assuming this blackjack game commences with the player's
hand obtaining the card representation for the leftmost card value
of the sequence 604 (i.e. the value three), the player's hand has a
corresponding value of three. Subsequently, if the house blackjack
playing module 42 is activated for this game to output (i.e. deal)
an initial card representation to the house during the second time
interval (i.e. the card generator module 38 has output a card
representation of five), then the house hand initially has a value
of five. Subsequently, if in the third interval the player for
blackjack game 610 provides a request for another card, then the
card representation corresponding to the value of seven in sequence
604 is provided to the player and therefore the player's hand has a
total value of ten. Following the incorporation of the seven into
the player's hand, this blackjack game is delayed so that the next
time interval corresponding to the value of two in sequence 604 is
not dealt to either the player or the house in blackjack game 610.
Note that it is an important aspect of the present invention that
card representations generated by the card generator module 38 are
only incorporated into a particular blackjack game when a request
for such a card representation is made during the time the card
representation is the most recent output from the card generator
module 38. Thus, one or more card representations output by the
card generator module 38 during a blackjack game may not be used in
the game. More precisely, it is typical (although not shown in the
example of FIG. 5) that substantially any length or subsequence of
consecutive card representations output by the card generator
module 38 may be ignored within a given blackjack game due to time
delays occurring in the game. Thus, in some circumstances such
delays could be as long as a number of days if the player, for
example, did not request another hit during such a time
interval.
[0150] Continuing now with the remaining plays of blackjack game
610, note that in the fifth time interval the player requests a hit
thereby obtaining a card representation having a value of nine and
thus obtaining a player's hand value of nineteen. Subsequently, the
house takes hits for the next two consecutive card representations
having values eight and ten respectively. Thus, the house hand
busted when the value of twenty-three was obtained for the house
hand.
[0151] Blackjack game rows 606 for blackjack games 614 through 626
may be interpreted similarly to the description above for blackjack
game 610. Note however that each of these games commence at a
different time interval in that each game commences with a
different card representation taken as the first hit for the
player's hand. That is, the first card representation dealt in each
of the blackjack games 610 through 626 is different and further
each of the card representations requested corresponding to values
of the sequence 604 is different for each blackjack game.
Therefore, substantially every blackjack game, even if played
concurrently with other blackjack games, will have unique player
hands and house hands. Thus, not only can a large number of
asynchronous blackjack games be played simultaneously head-to-head
with the house, but also there may be a greater degree of
confidence by the blackjack players that the house is not
manipulating card representations in that blackjack players may
substantially determine the timing for substantially all hits in a
blackjack game (for both the player hand and the house hand) and
thereby reduce any suspicions that the card representations are
being manipulated. Moreover, in one embodiment, the players may
request the sequence of card representations that were generated
during the course of a game.
[0152] Note that the present invention also may include other
blackjack variations as well. In particular, referring to step 416
(FIG. 4A) again, instead of generating card representations at
regular intervals, this step may simply activate the card generator
module 38 so that it generates a substantially random card
representation on demand whenever a request for a new card
representation is made (e.g., steps 536 and 568).
[0153] Additionally, in another blackjack variation, particularly
suited for tournament blackjack where each player can be monitored,
the players play each play for a blackjack game synchronously as
blackjack is typically played with a human dealer in casinos.
However, in the present variation, each player is provided with the
identical card representations for their initial cards.
Subsequently, each player hand and the house (i.e., dealer) hand
varies between players only when players play their blackjack hands
differently. That is, for each synchronously played blackjack game
among a plurality of players, the same sequence of card
representations is available to each player and the house blackjack
playing module 42 so that, for example, the dealt card
representations in each game between one of the players and the
house blackjack playing module are identical for players playing
the same sequence of plays throughout the game. Accordingly, as one
skilled in the art will appreciate, for each blackjack game, it may
be necessary for the card generator module 38 to maintain a
predetermined sequence (or ordered collection) of card
representations throughout the game so that layers playing
differently may be dealt an appropriately sequenced card
representation. Moreover, it may also be necessary for the house
blackjack dealer playing module 42 to provide sufficient control
information to the card generator module 38 so that the card
generator module can respond with the appropriate card
representation from the predetermined sequence.
[0154] Another embodiment of the present invention is presented in
FIGS. 6A and 6B, wherein this embodiment is enhanced for presenting
sponsor or advertiser product and/or service advertising to
qualified players that adequately match a predetermined player
profile such as a demographic profile of a particular group of
players. Accordingly, in FIGS. 6A and 6B, there is a
game/advertisement controller 604 for providing substantially the
same functionality as the blackjack game controller 14 (FIG. 3)
except that games other than blackjack may also be played (such as
poker, craps, pai gow and roulette). Additionally, the
game/advertisement controller 604 also performs functions related
to matching particular advertising with the users (i.e., players)
playing the various games provided by the game/advertisement web
site 308, wherein each user communicates with the web site 308 on a
corresponding Internet client node 318 (alternatively interactive
cable television node). That is, the present FIGS. 6A and 6B
present the high level modules for matching players having desired
user characteristics (e.g., profiles) with advertising from
sponsors or advertisers requesting players with such user
characteristics. In particular, only the players with such desired
profiles qualify for receiving a particular advertisement and/or
promotional (i.e., advertising) from a particular sponsor or
advertiser. Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention
that various criteria may be used to make such a determination as
to which players (or, more generally, users) receive which
advertising. For example, one or more of the following attributes
may be used in matching users with advertising presentations:
[0155] (8.1) age, [0156] (8.2) sex, [0157] (8.3) financial status,
[0158] (8.4) location or residence, [0159] (8.5) education, [0160]
(8.6) marital status, [0161] (8.7) amount of recreational time,
[0162] (8.8) personal tastes and/or habits (e.g.,
smoker/non-smoker, preferences for sports, movies, liquor, foods,
clothes, vacations, cars, etc.), [0163] (8.9) size of household,
[0164] (8.10) number of children, and [0165] (8.11) categorizations
of users according to network interactions such as the type of web
sites accessed, the type of advertising for which the user seeks
additional information, the risk tolerance in playing games such as
blackjack.
[0166] To provide (or, match) particular users with particular
advertising, data (or user information items) on each user is
maintained in the form of a user profile in the user (player)
database 28 which is an enhanced version of the blackjack player
registration and playing status database 28 of FIG. 3. The user
profiles are populated with such user related information as in
(8.1) through (8.11). This information is obtained when users
register at the web site 308 when users respond to explicit
questions subsequently asked of them, or by monitoring the network
activities of users. Note that user profiles may vary in length,
depending on the amount of information obtained on each user.
Moreover, different types of information may be obtained for
different types of users. For example, for users having assets of
more than one million dollars, these users may be requested to
enter their favorite vacation destination location since this may
be important for certain advertisers. However, for users whose
assets are less than forty thousand dollars, no such information
may be obtained since the information would be likely irrelevant to
any advertiser. Thus, in one embodiment of the user profiles, each
user profile has a variable length section for storing user
information items not uniform across all users. Moreover, in such
an embodiment, each user information item stored in the variable
length section may be considered as a pair, wherein the first
component of each pair indicates or references a question, user
attribute, or user classification to which the second component
provides an answer or value related to the first component. Thus,
for example, for a particular user, an information item may provide
the pair: (4, "Madrid"), wherein "4" identifies the attribute:
"favorite vacation destination location," and "Madrid" is the value
for this attribute, as one skilled in the art will understand.
[0167] Alternatively, data related to the advertisers or sponsors
may reside in a different database, the advertiser database 612.
Accordingly, this database stores demographic profiles which, in
one embodiment, have a data structure substantially identical to
the user profile data structure. Such demographic profiles may have
a variable length section for specifying requested values for user
information items that may be provided in (potentially only a
relatively small number of) user profiles. In some embodiments, a
demographic profile includes a reference to the advertiser's or
sponsor's identity, a reference to the advertising to be presented
and a variable length section of demographic item pairs, wherein
the first component of each pair has the same interpretation as the
first component of a user information item pair and the second
component of the pair specifies a desired value or range of values
that the advertiser or sponsor prefers. Further, note that, in some
embodiments, each demographic item pair may have additional
information associated with it such as a perceived importance of
the demographic item pair to the advertiser or sponsor. Thus, such
additional information may be in the form of a normalized scalar
value wherein a value of one indicates that the demographic item
pair is of highest importance whereas a value of zero indicates
that the demographic item is substantially irrelevant to the
advertiser or sponsor. Accordingly, regardless of the particular
embodiment of the demographic profiles, the users' demographic
profiles are used to match (i.e., select) one or more corresponding
advertising presentations with a particular target group of users
that, presumably, are likely to purchase the product and/or service
portrayed in such advertising presentations. Thus, since such
advertising presentations may be provided to only users who are
likely to be subsequent customers, advertisers and/or sponsors may
provide to these users specifically targeted advertising having
relatively expensive promotionals such as product or service
discounts, free samples, or a trial usage.
[0168] Accordingly, to perform the selecting or matching of users
with such demographic profiles, for each user, the user profiles
stored in the user database 28 are compared with the demographic
profiles by the advertising selection engine 618. Note that there
are numerous techniques for performing such a comparison for
selecting a group of users. In particular, a precise match may be
required between each demographic item pair and a corresponding
user information item pair so that the second component of the user
information item pair is (within) a desired range as specified in
the corresponding demographic item pair. Alternatively, various
weighting statistical techniques may be used for determining a
"similarity" measurement when not all demographic pairs are
required to precisely match a demographic profile. In one
embodiment, the similarity measurement may be provided by a
statistical analysis module that determines the users that most
closely match the corresponding demographic profile for an
advertising presentation. Thus, in order for a user to be selected,
the similarity measurement between the user's profile and a
corresponding demographic profile may be required to be above a
predetermined threshold. Additionally, note that the advertising
selection engine 618 may perform the matching of users with
advertising presentations as a background or non-real time process
so that, for example, for each user profile in the user database
28, there is a related table identifying the advertising
presentations that are candidates for presentation to the
corresponding user when, for instance, this user communicates with
the game/advertisement web site 308.
[0169] Moreover, it is important to note that at least in one
embodiment of the present invention, the advertising selection
engine 618 may, for a particular demographic profile, periodically
re-evaluate user profiles in the user database 28 for reselecting
the group of users to which an advertising presentation is to be
presented. Thus, users previously selected may be requalified or
disqualified and users previously disqualified may be now qualified
for selection due to, for example, an enhanced user profile.
[0170] Accordingly, the present invention may commence or cease
transmitting a category of advertising to a user whose user profile
is enhanced with additional information. For example, if a user
indicates that he/she is currently considering the purchase of a
new car, then advertising for purchasing a car may be transmitted
to the user. Alternatively, once the present invention is notified
that, for example, a car has been purchased or that no further car
advertising is are desired, then a further enhancement of the
user's profile may be performed so that no further advertising from
the category of car advertising is transmitted to the user.
[0171] Note that the present invention provides for flexibly
creating, deleting and modifying categories of advertisements by
providing techniques for linking demographic item pairs that are
similarly related to a category record or object. Thus, at least
the following advertising categories may be provided by the present
invention: sports categories (e.g., baseball, soccer, hockey,
etc.), food related categories (e.g., restaurants, grocery stores,
food items), exercise related advertising (e.g., bicycles, in-line
skates, skiing), insurance related advertising (e.g., auto
insurance, life insurance), political related advertising (e.g.,
for or against a particular political candidate), and geographical
related advertising (e.g., for users living in a particular area
such as the Denver metropolitan area). Thus, the advertising
selection engine 618 supplies the selected advertising
presentations to the HTML display engine 622 for translating this
data so that it may subsequently be included in an HTML output to
the user by the common gateway interface 348.
[0172] More precisely, the selected advertisement data is joined in
the HTML display engine 622 (at least in one operation of the
present invention) with a token 628 representing, for example, a
gaming card (for a current user game) that has been issued by the
token generator (module) 38, this generator being an enhanced
version of the card generator module 38 of FIG. 3. The generated
token is supplied initially to the game play engine 632 for
processing user gaming requests according to the rules of the game
being played. That is, the game play engine 632 determines, for
each available game: (a) how each token may be "played"; (b) who
receives the token, for example, the user or the house playing
module 42; and (c) the result of playing the token. Note that in
one embodiment, the token generator 38 generates tokens on request
by, for example, the house playing module 42 and/or the player
options evaluators 34, wherein the tokens generated are appropriate
to the game being played. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the
token generator 38 may generate random tokens and the game play
engine 632 transforms the tokens into appropriate randomized values
for the games offered, as one skilled in the art will appreciate.
Furthermore, other embodiments for supplying randomized tokens to a
plurality of different games are within the scope of the present
invention. Additionally, the game play engine 632 contacts the
player database 28 to maintain the status of the user in relation
to the particular game being played as well as the user's
relationship to all of the other users (if, for example, the user
is involved in a tournament offered at the game/advertisement web
site 308). Note that, as one skilled in the art will appreciate, in
one embodiment of the game play engine 632, its internal modules
provide a similar architecture and functionality to the
correspondingly labeled modules of FIG. 3, albeit additionally, for
games other than blackjack (e.g., "head-to-head" poker, craps,
roulette, and pai gow).
[0173] The common gateway interface or CGI scripts 348 transfer
data between the HTML display engine 622 and the World Wide Web
server 340 which, as one skilled in the art will understand, may be
a plurality of high level executable programs as discussed in the
description of CGI scripts 348 for FIG. 3. The World Wide Web
server 340, in turn, transfers the data to the Internet TCP/IP
stack 332 that interfaces with the Internet 324 for transferring
the data to an intended Internet client node 318 having an
appropriate World Wide Web browser 640.
[0174] The present embodiment maintains information on the status
of games being played and user responses to advertising in the user
database 28. Moreover, additional advertiser specific information
(e.g., desired demographic profiles, advertisements, promotionals,
and information related to user responses) is provided in the
advertiser database 612. Accordingly, as discussed above, the
demographic profiles in the advertiser database 612 may include
schemes or templates having fields for designating one or more of
the attributes (8.1) through (8.11). Moreover, the databases 28 and
612 may maintain records of various types of pertinent statistics
such as: (a) the advertising presentations presented to each user;
(b) the time, date and number of presentations of a particular
advertising presentation; and (c) the detected user responses to
the advertising. Thus, this information may provide advertisers or
sponsors with enhanced feedback as to the efficacy of their
products, services and presentations thereof. Thus, by maintaining
data regarding information on: (i) each game played, (ii) the users
and (iii) the advertisers, the host computer 10 may maintain
accurate records of every type of pertinent statistics such as: all
advertisements seen by all users so that the time, date and number
of views are available to the advertiser to confirm and verify
e.g., (9.1) through (9.3) following, and additionally, an
advertiser may be able to query the user and advertiser databases
28 and 612 to obtain such feedback as: [0175] (9.1) who has seen a
particular advertisement; [0176] (9.2) when it was seen; [0177]
(9.3) the number of times the advertisement was accessed: [0178]
(a) by any particular user; [0179] (b) by all users; and [0180]
(9.4) the number of favorable and/or unfavorable responses.
[0181] Referring now to FIG. 7, a diagram is presented providing
one embodiment of the access routes or paths users navigate in
accessing the features of the game/advertisement web site 308. In
particular, upon initiating Internet contact with the
game/advertisement web site 308, a user is first presented with the
opening page 700 identifying the web site 308. Subsequently, the
user can access the benefits and registration pages 704 for viewing
general information related to web site 308 and also for
registering at the web site (as is discussed in further detail
below). Alternatively, the user may access one or more "Lobby"
pages 708 to view the gaming and information exchange capabilities
as, for example, provided by advertisers. Assuming the user is
registered at the game/advertisement web site 308, the user may
proceed from the LOBBY 708 to the game page 710, wherein a game 726
or game rules 730 can be selected for playing, via the introduction
to game pages 728. Alternatively, the user may instead access one
or more index pages 714 having, for example, listings of
organizations to which the user may be allowed to access depending
on the affiliations of the user (e.g., a member of a particular
membership discount store chain). Additionally, from the index
page(s) 714 substantially any user may access an advertisement or
promotional provided by an advertiser on an advertiser page(s) 722.
However, it is an aspect of the present invention that information
related to certain promotionals provided by advertisers or sponsors
are restricted. That is, such promotionals may be only presented to
users having a demographic profile that has been determined by the
present invention to be sufficiently compatible with a desired user
profile for the advertiser or sponsor to warrant providing such a
promotional. Thus, the present invention provides access to certain
advertiser promotionals only to "qualified" users who are, for
example, considered likely subsequent purchasers of the
advertiser's products and/or services. Additionally, such
promotionals may also be presented to users who express an interest
in a particular product or service advertised. For example, users
who (a) request additional or supplemental information related to
an advertised item, or (b) provide a favorable response to such
advertising (by, for instance, indicating a preference for an
advertised item), or (c) respond to a questionnaire related to
personal information or marketing survey information may also be
provided with information regarding promotionals. Thus, advertisers
or sponsors may offer relatively substantial or expensive
promotionals via the present invention to such users as well.
Moreover, the present invention may also utilize such demographic
profiles to prohibit a user not sufficiently matching such a
demographic profile from gaining access to a corresponding
promotional. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present
invention, when the user accesses an advertiser page 722, the
user's profile (in the user database 28) is compared with the
demographic profiles in the advertiser data base 612 for
determining any promotionals that can be presented to the user.
[0182] Moreover, from the index page 714 the user may be provided
with the ability to link into various web sites or web site pages.
That is, the user may be provided with the ability to link into
another web site or web page at any time a link is made available
(typically a hypertext link). Additionally, note that similar links
may be accessible by users while playing a game 726. However, these
links may generally hyperlink the user to an advertiser page 722
within the game/advertisement web site 308 so that the user may be
exposed to further information and/or presented with promotional
options for an advertised item. For instance, certain advertising
hyperlinks may be integrated into the presentation of plays of a
game 726. Accordingly, since an aspect of the present invention is
to repeatedly integrate different advertising presentations (and
any related hyperlinks) into the play of a game 726, a user may
repeatedly be enticed to seek out additional information about
different products or services by activating the related
hyperlinks. Moreover, it is also an aspect of the present invention
that when such hyperlinks provide the user with access to a
different web site, that at least a portion of the display of the
user's Internet client node 318 maintains a graphical format
associated with the game/advertisement web site 308, and that the
user may leave and return to the web site 308 without the user
being aware of accessing another web site. Moreover, by monitoring
user input related to an advertising presentation, the present
invention is able to provide feedback to an advertiser as to, for
example, the number of times the advertising presentation is
accessed by users for such additional information about products or
services.
[0183] Also note that some advertisements (presented via advertiser
pages 722 or as part of a game play presentation) may be
interactive with the user wherein the user may perform a
transaction such as making a reservation (e.g., an airline or hotel
reservation). Further, a user may be given the opportunity to
provide positive and negative opinions or responses on, for
example, various advertisements, promotionals and other related
matters by expressing such responses upon accessing advertisement
related information. Thus, it is an aspect of the present invention
to be able to conduct "test marketing" in that statistically
representative groups of users may be selected for determining:
[0184] (10.1) the efficacy or appeal of one advertisement in
comparison to another advertisement for a particular advertised
item; [0185] (10.2) the profile of the users that are responsive to
a particular advertising presentation; and/or [0186] (10.3) whether
a particular group of users, for example, having similar user
profiles favorably respond to a particular advertising
presentation. For example, the present invention may determine such
a response: (a) by detecting an activation of a hyperlink, (b) by
detecting a response to questions presented, and/or (c) by
determining the length of time the advertising presentation is
displayed or visible.
[0187] Accordingly, input response data may be transmitted to the
game/advertisement web site 308 and retained for subsequent
statistical evaluation. Thus, resulting aggregate statistics can be
made available to, for example, advertisers or sponsors, thereby
preserving the privacy of the users. In particular, statistics may
be made available for: [0188] (11.1) providing information about,
for example, the efficacy of certain advertising presentations
(e.g., the number of positive responses to such presentations
and/or the number of advertised items sold directly through the
advertisements at the game/advertisement web site 308); [0189]
(11.2) providing information related to the number and profile of
users accessing certain advertising presentations; [0190] (11.3)
determining measurements related to the number of different (groups
of) users to which an advertising presentation has been presented;
[0191] (11.4) determining the total number of presentations of a
particular advertisement; [0192] (11.5) determining the cost of
advertising presentations to the advertisers and billing the
advertisers for such costs according to, for example, at least one
of: (a) the number of users to which an advertisement is presented,
(b) the number of promotionals requested or (c) the number of
network user communications (i.e., hits) with the web site 308;
[0193] (11.6) determining if an advertising presentation should be
discontinued because the advertiser's cost limits have been
reached, such limits being, for example, related to a total number
of presentations of an advertising presentation. Note that, in one
embodiment, it is an aspect of the present invention to charge an
advertiser for each presentation to a user; or [0194] (11.7)
determining which of an advertising presentation and a different
second advertising presentation (from the same advertiser) is most
effective when both are provided to various selected (groups of)
users, so that the advertiser or sponsor may then have a basis for
choosing the most appropriate of the two advertising presentations
in future advertising.
[0195] Additionally, it is an aspect of the present invention that
it may also maintain statistics (and/or related information) for:
[0196] (12.1) providing "real time" game rankings of users
(players) involved in a gaming tournament provided by the
game/advertisement web site 308. Note that such rankings may be
provided to a user so that he/she may know his/her standing and the
number of players remaining in the tournament; and [0197] (12.2)
providing a "style of personality" of the game playing users so
that, for example, a risk tolerance of such users may be estimated
and used to determine if a particular user might be interested in a
particular product or service. Thus, such "style of personality"
statistics for a user may be stored in the user's profile. For
example, the information captured here may include: average size of
wager, average size of wager in comparison to the total amount that
could be wagered, length of time playing in a single session, the
ratio of the number of wagers on high risk plays presented, and the
skill of the player.
[0198] Accordingly, the following aspects of the present invention
are noteworthy: [0199] (13.1) the user may be provided with free
access or reduced cost access to other areas of the Internet 324
upon viewing the presentations of certain organizations and/or
advertisers. Note that the ability to reduce the cost of accessing
the Internet may act as a vehicle for attracting various users;
[0200] (13.2) the index page 714 gives a user the opportunity to
access a particular organization (e.g., organizations 718) that the
user may belong to or any particular advertiser (e.g., advertisers
722) without going through any games although the user may be
required to go through the "LOBBY" page(s) 708 and thereby be
exposed to advertising and/or the opportunity to join a game;
[0201] (13.3) a user may also be able to go from an initial
organization page 718 to an introductory game page 728 (e.g., for a
game 726) but, unless authorized, may not be provided with further
access to the organization's web pages or the game; [0202] (13.4)
while playing a game 726, the user has the ability to access
further information related to an advertisement or promotional
being presented; [0203] (13.5) during the playing of a game 726
(e.g., blackjack), the user may be allowed to review and/or
stepwise replay a previous portion of a game 726 during a current
gaming session; [0204] (13.6) when in a particular organization
page 718, the user may be required to return to the index page 714
before linking into an advertiser 722 unless a direct link has been
provided for some reason on the particular organization web page.
Moreover, the user may access the game page 710 from the index page
714 and vice versa; [0205] (13.7) a user may either go directly
into playing a particular game 726 (as authorized) or to a rules
section 730 for reviewing the rules for the corresponding game 726.
Note that a user may always access the rules section 730 during the
corresponding game 726; [0206] (13.8) there is a help feature for
providing information such as: a) how to do some particular action
or the reason for some action or the reason an action is blocked.
For example, the reason for an inability to access a certain web
page, the reason for an inability to make a particular game play,
such as a bet, stand or hit in the game of blackjack and/or the
reason for a particular result of a certain bet, hit, stand or
other user play in a game such as blackjack; b) for contacting a
gaming referee for resolving gaming conflicts.
[0207] Such a referee will be available to resolve any dispute.
Note that the user can notify the management operating the present
invention of a problem via, for example, notification forms
displayed when a notification button is activated.
[0208] Referring now to an alternative embodiment of the present
invention presented in FIG. 8, wherein the game/advertisement web
site 308 coordinates with a third party Internet access service
provider 810 (or interactive cable television provider) for
providing Internet 324 (cable television) access to users on a
reduced cost or free basis once a user has registered with the web
server 340 (cable television provider). That is, the
game/advertisement web site 308 contacts the user's Internet
service provider 810 and arranges to subsidize the user's Internet
service charges in return for the gaming advertisement web site 308
being able to repeatedly download to the user's Internet client
node 318 (or alternatively, interactive cable television node),
unrequested information such as advertising for presentation to the
user.
[0209] Accordingly, a prospective user of the present invention can
sign up or register with the game/advertisement web site 308 for
reduced Internet service fees by dialing into an Internet service
provider 810 with normal serial dialing and after gaining Internet
access, subsequently log on to the web site 308 as a user
identified by the generic user identifier "NEW." Each user
identified by "NEW" is forced into a connection with an enrollment
or registration program so he/she can provide information requested
by the present invention that can subsequently be used in
determining which advertising to present to this user according to,
for example, advertiser preferences. Thus, when registration is
completed, the present embodiment of the invention downloads, for
example, an ad viewer program 812 and a communications daemon
(e.g., ad receiver daemon 806) to the user's Internet client node
318, wherein this daemon allows the game/advertisement web site 308
to download to the user's Internet client node 318 unrequested
information such as advertising repeatedly. Accordingly, assuming
the daemon 806 is installed, the user may access not only the
gaming and advertisement services of the web site 308, but also
access substantially the entire Internet through the web site 308
at a reduced cost. Thus, whenever the end user processor 318
connects with the Internet service provider 810, the
game/advertisement web site 308 is alerted by the Internet service
provider 810 and the DISPLAY ENGINE 622 starts up the downloaded
daemon 806 via Internet communications with the user's Internet
client node 318. Subsequently, the DISPLAY ENGINE 622 periodically
sends selected advertising to the daemon 806. Accordingly, the
daemon 806 utilizes the ad viewer program 812 to coordinate the
display of the advertising presentation.
[0210] Note that various alternative embodiments related to the
architecture and functionality of FIG. 8 are also within the scope
of the present invention. For example, instead of communicating
with a plurality of third-party Internet service providers 806 for
determining when users registered with the present invention are
accessing the Internet via subsidized Internet connections, the
game/advertisement web site 308 may include or be related to a
dedicated Internet service provider 806 so that when a user
registers with the present invention, the user is provided with a
new Internet access code for the dedicated Internet service
provider 806 and the user's Internet access fees may be
subsidized.
[0211] However, regardless of how the present invention subsidizes
Internet access, the game/advertisement controller 604 is notified
whenever each subsidized user connects to the Internet or
disconnects from the Internet. Additionally, certain reliability
features are included in the daemon 806 and ad view program 812 for
assuring that advertising is indeed presented to the user. For
example, there may be periodic transmissions from each subsidized
user's Internet client node 318 to the web site 308 verifying that
both the daemon 806 and the ad view program 812 are active. Note
that whenever any advertising is received at the user's Internet
client node 318, the daemon 806 transfers the advertising to the ad
viewer program 812 which, in turn, converts the transmitted
information to a displayable format and forces the display of the
user's Internet client node 318 to present the advertising
unobscured to the user.
[0212] Additionally, note that in certain contexts the DISPLAY
ENGINE 622 may transmit a message to an Internet Service Provider
806 indicating that no further Internet access will be subsidized
due to a predetermined number of advertising presentation display
failures.
[0213] An additional and/or alternative description of the
embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B is as
follows: users may use the present invention to access the INTERNET
324 on a reduced cost or free basis, by using whatever TCP/IP
SLIP/PPP package they desire and registering with the web server
308. That is, a user can sign up or register by dialing into a
terminal server with normal serial dialing and log on as a user
identified by the identifier "NEW." User "NEW" is then forced into
a connection to an enrollment or registration program so he/she can
provide information requested by the present invention. When
enrollment is completed, the present invention allows the user to
download a communications daemon (e.g., ad receiver daemon 806) to
the user's Internet client node 318. The user may then install the
daemon on their machine (Internet client node 318) and dial-up with
their favorite TCP/IP package.
[0214] However, upon accessing the host 308, the user accesses
basic functionality of the DISPLAY ENGINE 622 that starts up the
downloaded daemon 806. The network host 308 periodically queries
each active port on the terminal servers (e.g., Internet client
node 318) to get the IP addresses and then send a short message to
the daemon 806 which is listening in on a specific port. The
DISPLAY ENGINE 622 may also disable access by an end user machine
318 after a certain number of failures.
[0215] Note that the host 308 periodically sends an item to the
downloaded daemon 806 to display. The daemon then displays the
message (advertisement) in a window (of the WWW browser 640) on the
user's screen.
[0216] Referring to FIG. 9, a compensation model network site 920
is provided for coordinating and/or controlling both the associated
user-funded service(s) 924, and the associated prize-winning
services 928. Note that the user-funded service(s) 924 and the
prize-winning service(s) 928 may be incorporated into (more
generally, accessible via) the compensation model site 920, or
alternatively/additionally, such service(s) 924 and/or 928 may be
substantially independent of the compensation model site 920. In
particular, the service(s) 924 and/or 928 may be operated or
controlled by a different entity than the one that operates or
controls the compensation model site 920.
[0217] The compensation model site 920 further includes (or
provides access to) a registration module 932 for registering users
936 for accessing both the user-funded service(s) 924 and the
prize-winning service(s) 928. The registration module 932 is
interactive with each user (via the corresponding user's network
station 938) to be registered via network 940 communications with
the network interface 944. The registration module 932 interacts
with each user 936 for obtaining, e.g., user identification
information, including name, address, email address, date of birth,
and credit/debit card information. Additionally, the registration
module 932 may request additional user information such as the
types of network services in which a user 936 is interested in
participating, e.g., games of skill, games of chance, judged
contests, development of user expertise in some area, etc. The
registration module 932 may use the obtained registration
information obtained from a potential user 936 to access the user
database 948 for determining if there is a user already registered
that may identify the potential user 936. Note, that data may be
provided in the user information stored in the user database 948
indicating whether there is the possibility that the user has
registered more than once with the compensation model site 920.
However, generally, such user information may be only used to
prevent the dispensing of a prize or winnings if it is determined
that a user 936 entered the same instance of a prize-winning
service under multiple user registrations.
[0218] The compensation model site 920 further includes (or
provides access to) a service related criteria satisfaction module
952 which collects information on how each user 936 is progressing
toward satisfying constraints related to the one or more
user-funded services which the user 936 has committed to
fulfilling. Such service related criteria may be specific to the
one or more user-funded services 924 for which a user 936 has
contracted. Such user data regarding satisfaction of service
related criteria may be provided to the module 952 from a
user-funded service 924 that the user 936 is able to access.
However, if such user-funded services 924 are incorporated into (or
operated by the operator of the compensation model site 920), then
at least some of the generic service related criteria (e.g., time
interacting with a user-funded service 924) may be tabulated
directly by the module 952.
[0219] The compensation model site 920 also includes (or provides
access to) an advertising selection engine 956 for providing
advertising to be displayed at network stations 938 when
user-funded services and/or prize-winning services are being
accessed by the users 936 of the network stations 938. For
user-funded services 924 and/or prize-winning services 928
incorporated into (or operated by the operator of the compensation
model site 920), such advertising may be directly joined with
service presentations prior to transmission from the compensation
model site 920 to a user network station 938. However, for
user-funded services 924 and/or prize-winning services 928
incorporated into (or operated by the operator of the compensation
model site 920), such advertising may be transmitted in a manner
similar third party Internet advertising agencies such as
DoubleClick.RTM., wherein a service transmission received at a user
network station 938 may include information for generating an
additional request for advertising information from, e.g., the
compensation model site 920. Note that the advertising selection
engine 956 may select advertising from the advertising database 960
for presenting to users 936, and such advertising typically
includes one or more hyperlinks that allow a user 936 viewing the
advertising to activate the hyperlink and thereby receive
additional advertising information from typically a corresponding
advertiser's network site (e.g., Internet or website) as one
skilled in the art will understand. However, such additional
advertising information can also include alternative user interface
techniques for presenting at least portions of the additional
advertising information to the users 936. For example, such
additional advertising may be transmitted (e.g., joined with
service related information) so that when (if) a user 936 merely
positions his/her pointing device ("mouses over" with e.g., a mouse
or trackball) on or over a display of an advertisement, then
additional information is presented, and such additional
information may be particularly targeted to the user; e.g., a sale
of merchandise in which the user's profile indicates the user is
interested. In one embodiment, there may be a designated portion of
the user's network station display in which such additional
advertising information is presented when the user mouses over a
displayed advertisement. Such a designated portion may be similar
to a news stream across, e.g., top or bottom portion of the network
station display. In one embodiment, the advertising selection
engine 956 attempts to match advertisements in the advertising
database 960 with user profiles stored in the user database 948. A
description of such a matching operation is disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,712,702 fully incorporated herein by reference. Thus,
advertising may be targeted to selected users 936 according to
their interests, needs, life styles, etc.
[0220] The compensation model site 920 also includes a manager 964
for controlling and/or coordinating the exchange of information
between the users 936 and the modules 924, 928, 932, 952, and 956
of the compensation model site 920. Moreover, the manager 964 may
join advertising to service presentations prior to transmission to
a user(s) 936. Thus, since each of the user-funded services 924 and
the prize-winning services 928 are likely to be interact with each
of the users 936 (via their corresponding network stations 938),
the manager 964 may use display frame data for determining how to
join selected advertising for display at a user's network station
938.
[0221] Regarding the user-funded service(s) 924 in more detail,
this module/network site may include a service related criteria
satisfaction module 968 for determining and monitoring the progress
of a user 936 toward satisfying the agreed to one or more criteria
in order to use the user-funded service for free (e.g., have the
user's service deposit refunded, or prevent the charging of a
credit/debit card of the user's). Thus, such a module 968 may
monitor a user's interactions with the user-funded service for,
e.g., an increase in proficiency of the user, an amount of time the
user interacts with the service, a frequency with which the user
interacts with the service, a number of submissions to the service
(such as art, music or informational submissions, etc.).
Accordingly, the module 968 may periodically provide the service
related criteria satisfaction module 952 with information on users'
individual progress. In particular, each module 968 provides the
service related criteria satisfaction module 952 with information
for identifying a user 936 that satisfied his/her service related
criteria, and information identifying a user 936 that did not
satisfy his/her service related criteria (and for which the user
should have to pay for accessing the user-funded service).
Accordingly, the user-funded service 924 provides service related
criteria satisfaction/dissatisfaction information to the manager
964 for storing in the user's data of the user database 948.
[0222] Regarding the prize-winning service(s) 928 in more detail,
each such service 928 provides one or more contests that qualified
users 936 may enter. Each such service 928 has at least one
associated user-funded service 924 from which users 936 that
satisfy the service related criteria for this associated service
may elect to participate in a contest offered by the prize-winning
service 928. Each contest preferably provides prizes to winners of
the contest, and such prizes are of a sufficient value to motivate
users 936 to both satisfy the service related criteria, and then
win the contest. Each prize-winning service(s) 928 obtains its
eligible users 936 from the service related criteria satisfaction
module 952 (via the manager 964). Moreover, the results of each
contest (at least identifications of the winners, but in some
embodiments, also those that did not win) are also communicated to
the module 952 via the manager.
[0223] Regarding the service related criteria satisfaction module
952, this module may determine whether a winner of a prize-winning
contest is eligible to collect his/her prize. In particular, the
module 952 may determine whether a winning user 936 has entered the
contest more than a legitimate number of times.
[0224] Regarding the user database 948, the database may include
the following fields for each user 936: [0225] (a) User 936
identification, including user legal name, a display name, user
address, email address, date of birth, credit/debit card
information. [0226] (b) Identification of each user-funded service
agreement to which the user is obligated to satisfy certain
criteria or pay for accessing the corresponding user-funded service
928, such identification including the amount that may be required
to be paid for the service, and the amount (if any) already paid.
[0227] (c) For each user-funded service agreement to which the user
is obligated, the amount (if any) paid/pledged by a sponsor (e.g.,
an advertiser) to allow the user 936 to access the user-funded
service. [0228] (d) For each user-funded service which the user is
accessing, an indication of his/her progress toward satisfying the
corresponding service related criteria. [0229] (e) Information
identifying the prizes that have been won by the user 936.
[0230] Regarding the services database 972, this database is
accessed by the prize-winning service(s) 928 (via the manager 964)
for adding information on prize-winning contests when they become
available for participation by users 936, and for deleting
information on prize-winning contests when such contests are no
longer available to be entered by users 936. Moreover, this
database may include information on the prizes of contests, e.g.,
how/who provided a prize for a contest, the value of the prize, the
number of users 936 in the contest, the minimum and/or maximum
number of users 936 for the contest etc.
[0231] Regarding the advertising database 960, this database may
include advertiser information as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No.
6,712,702 fully incorporated herein by reference for a
corresponding advertiser database.
[0232] The following pseudo-code may be performed by an embodiment
of the compensation model 920 (together with one or more
corresponding user-funded service(s) 924 and/or one or more
corresponding prize-winning service(s) 928):
TABLE-US-00001 Receive user registration information via a network
(e.g., the Internet or an intranet) site for obtaining access to
one or more services, wherein (i) each user agrees to be bound to
the rules for the service(s) offered; (ii) the user provides
identification information to certify his/her identity; (iii) the
user provides financial information for compensating the operator
of the site in the event that the user does not appropriately
satisfy certain predetermined service related criteria. If one or
more advertisers contract to sponsor users by paying any potential
fees, allow advertisers to select the users for which they can
assume the obligation for paying any potential user fees. If a user
is selected by an advertiser for sponsoring, then present to the
user the advertiser's willingness to sponsor the user, and let the
user select from among one or more advertisers for being sponsored,
wherein advertising by the selected advertiser sponsor(s) is also
to be presented to the user when one of the one or more services is
accessed by the user. When the user accesses (interacts with) one
of the services, Determine advertising to present to the user,
wherein such advertising is determined based on: (i) whether the
user was sponsored by an advertiser(s), (ii) other advertisers who
have contracted to have advertising presented to users (e.g., via a
third party advertising entity such as Doubleclick or Google).
Note, user profiling can be performed for determining
advertisements to be presented. In particular, the following user
information may used for determining advertisements: (a) Since the
user is accessing a particular service(s) and has gone to the
trouble registering for the service(s), the user is likely
interested in advertisements related to the service(s) that he/she
can access via such registration; (b) The general geographical
location of the user is available in many contexts, and in
particular, for the Internet, wherein such geographical location
information can locate the user to a resolution of approximately
corresponding to zip code. One such service providing such location
enabling information is available from Quova at www.quova.com, and
the following U.S. Pat. Nos 7,072,963 and 6,684,250 are fully
incorporated herein by reference; (c) If authorized/permitted,
e.g., by the user, read the user's Internet cookie file for
identifying other network sites visited by the user, and in
particular, comparing various versions of the user's cookie file
for determining subject matter that may be frequently accessed by
the user, and thus using a correspondence between subject matter of
advertisements and the network sites visited by the user; (d)
Providing the user with, e.g., browser plug-in software providing a
capability to: (i) manually terminate a currently presented
advertisement, e.g., the user may provided with a graphical button
that may be clicked on so that the user can activate the plug-in to
terminate a particular advertisement from being presented (and/or
re-presented), or (ii) "select an alternative" advertising
category, wherein the user is allowed to select advertising
categories from which advertising is to be received. Thus, if the
user receives a beverage advertisement, the user may select
alternative advertisement related to automobiles; (e) Monitoring
how the user interacts with the service(s) for which he/she
registered. Monitor the user's progress toward satisfying the
agreed to service related criteria; and If the user satisfies the
service related criteria then { Inform the user of such
satisfaction; Identify the user as being eligible for entering one
or more (if any) instances of prize-winning services; Store data
identifying that the user has satisfied the service related
criteria; If the user has paid upfront for any portion of the
service then { Determine how to refund/reimburse the user for his
payment (e.g., credit card refund, providing the payment for a
different service, etc.); Refund/reimburse the user; } Else { /*
The user has not paid for any portion of the service */ If a
sponsor(s) paid for (is obligated to pay for) at least a portion of
the user's service fee then { Inform each sponsoring advertiser of
such satisfaction of the service related criteria; Store data
indicating that the sponsor does not have to pay for the service; }
If the user is obligated to pay for the service then Store data
indicating that the user does not have to pay for the service; } If
the current service being accessed can be continued to be accessed
by the user then { If there is a next more advanced level of the
service then { Ask the user if he/she wishes to advance to the next
level of the service; Advance the user if requested to do so,
otherwise do not; } } Else /* the user has not satisfied the
service related criteria */ Periodically (e.g., every week) inform
the user of his/her unsatisfied service related criteria; Monitor
any time constraints within which the service related criteria must
be satisfied; e.g., If a time constraint has expired, then { Inform
the user of such expiration, and that he/she has not satisfied all
the service related constraints; If the user has not satisfied the
service related criteria then { Identify the user as being
ineligible for entering one or more (if any) instances of
prize-winning services corresponding to the user-funded service for
which the service related criteria are applicable; Store data
indicating that the user has not satisfied the service related
criteria; If the user has paid upfront for any portion of the
service then Release the payment for use by the operator of the
site; Else { /* The user has not paid for any portion of the
service */ If a sponsor(s) paid for (is obligated to pay for) at
least a portion of the user's service fee then { Inform each
sponsoring advertiser of such non- satisfaction of the service
related criteria; Store data indicating that the sponsor must pay
for the user's access to the user- funded service; } If the user is
obligated to pay for the service then Charge the user's credit card
for any remaining portion of the service fee still remaining
unpaid; } } For each prize-winning service instance available DO {
Determine users that are eligible to access the prize-winning
service instance, this step including: For each user whose
eligibility is known, e.g., due the user satisfying the related
criteria for an associated user-funded service instance DO Notify
the user that he/she can enter the prize-winning instance; For each
request from user's requesting entry into the prize-winning
instance DO { If the user is known to have satisfied the service
related criteria for an associated instance of a user-funded
service instance then Enter the user into the prize-winning service
instance; Else { If other users can enter then Determine and store
the user's qualification information for entering the prize-winning
instance; } } Conduct the prize-winning service instance. }
[0233] Email notification may be used to notify a user of where the
user stands in satisfying service related criteria for an instance
of a user-funded service (e.g., a game), and/or for an instance of
a prize-winning service instance. Moreover, such notification may
be transmitted to the user's phone or cell phone. Additionally, an
Internet feed and/or instant message may be used to also allow a
user to access the user-funded and/or prize-winning service (e.g.,
blackjack, poker, and/or chess). For example, a user might play a
game while in a motor vehicle, and might even receive prizes or
some type of "comps" for playing. Voice recognition may also be
used to allow the playing of games in an efficient manner, e.g., in
a motor vehicle or other environment where the user's communication
device available for receiving speech/voice commands (e.g., a
mobile phone). For instance, if a user is playing blackjack while
in a motor vehicle, words and/or phrases such as "hit me" or "fire"
may be used, since it is well within the state of voice recognition
technology to readily recognize such simple phrases.
[0234] For a service (e.g., a game) being offered on a network,
such as the Internet, wherein the interactions are essentially
verbal by the user, the network site providing the service, in one
embodiment, may user speech recognition processing and may also use
text analysis processing. Text analysis processing is for
recognizing a textual conversion of spoken dialogue for determining
the actions requesting to be performed by a user. The text analysis
functionality of the network site preferably includes identifying
words and/or phrases and/or sentences that instruct the network
site (e.g., a website) that then takes predetermined actions, and
in performing such actions, the network site provides feedback to
the user verifying the action(s) performed, either prior to or
immediately after the action(s) is to be performed. For a user to
play a game substantially verbally, game plays may be made by the
user via spoken text or speech and such speech is translated into a
stream of text transmitted to the network site, the network site
then performs text analysis for determining a next game
configuration requested by the user. Upon determining the likely
user request, the network site then preferably acknowledges to the
user the action(s) to be performed, and requests confirmation from
the user to perform the action (e.g., the game play).
[0235] In one embodiment the network site may instruct the user
regarding the words, phrases and or sentences which the network
site recognizes for performing actions such as game plays (or other
actions for other services). Alternatively/additionally, the user
may be able to use conventional speech without the network site
providing predetermined speech patterns that the user must provide
for the network site to perform particular actions. Accordingly,
the network site processes user input and attempts to determine
standard actions that are typically spoken to perform the service.
For example, in blackjack when playing a game substantially
verbally, the user may use the following phrases without being
taught or without these phrases being specified by a blackjack
playing website: "hit, stand, stay, double down, split, surrender"
whereas in poker, the words "raise, ante, fold, see you" may be
standard.
[0236] The present method and system for receiving compensation for
network services provides numerous benefits over prior art business
models for receiving compensation, including the following
benefits. [0237] (a) The present compensation model provides
incentives for users to increase their skills at the service (e.g.,
playing a game, designing a landscape, teaching the user to fly an
airplane, teaching the user how to invest in the stock market,
etc.). [0238] (b) It is believed that even small fees will cause
users to disproportionately increase their interest in using the
service since users have a invested interest in the service, and
can be get their investment back if they enhance their skills.
Accordingly, the present compensation model pays users to become
more skilled, and it is believed that users will recognize the
benefits of the present compensation model for them, and thus
develop greater loyalty to the network site using the present
compensation model. [0239] (c) It is believed that users will
tolerate advertising being presented even though they have paid for
the service since there is the expectation that the service is
ultimately free when they satisfy certain service related criteria
(e.g., reach a particular proficiency level) for them to not be
charged and/or their activation fee or deposit to be refunded.
Thus, the operator of the network site can obtain advertising
revenue and user revenues for the same service. [0240] (d) By
requiring users to be responsible for paying an activation fee or
deposit (which may be as low as, e.g., $1 or less), users must
identify themselves, e.g., via a credit or debit card or some other
financial transaction instrument. Accordingly, for a service such
as a game tournament with the subsequent opportunity to win
substantial prizes, duplicate entries by a user may be detected.
That is, in using a credit or debit card, a user is required to
input his/her name, address, and credit card number. Accordingly, a
user having the same last name, and the same address as another
user, may be asked for additional information for distinguishing
the two users such as whether the user is male or female, and/or
date of birth. Moreover, all users may be requested to declare that
they have only entered such a tournament once, and when a user wins
a prize, the present compensation model may perform additional
checks for further assuring that the user has not entered multiple
times. Accordingly, the use of such financial transaction
information for providing greater integrity and fairness to the
service (particularly, competitive services such as games or
contests) is believed to be an important benefit of the present
compensation model. Moreover, perceptions of integrity can be
extremely important for network sites and the services they provide
since the inherent lack of personal contact between communicating
parties is not particularly conducive to assuming a service is
impartially or fairly operated. [0241] In an alternative
embodiment, some services may not require rigidly monitoring or
assuring a single entry per user to a particular service (or
instance thereof). Accordingly, in such circumstances, the
activation fee or deposit may be increased to a level that
generally inhibits a user from activating the service under
multiple identifications or aliases since both a separate
activation fee or deposit would be required for such user
identification or alias. [0242] (e) The use of proficiency levels
can add integrity or fairness when users are in competition with
one another. For example, before a user enters such a service
multiple times for substantially increases his/her odds of winning
(free) prizes, the user would have to demonstrate a particular
proficiency level under each of the user's aliases. Thus, the
demonstration of proficiency levels may be, by itself, a deterrent
to a user entering such a service multiple times. [0243] (f) The
present compensation model can provide additional revenue to the
operator of a network site since at least some users, if not most
of the users, may not satisfy certain service related criteria
(e.g., reach the predetermined proficiency level), and accordingly,
the operator retains the users' activation fees or deposits. [0244]
(g) The service related criteria (e.g., proficiency level) can be
adjusted and/or tailored to the needs of the operator of the
network site. For example, an operator of a network site that
derives (or intends to derive) its revenues from advertising may
set the service related criteria (e.g., proficiency level) for the
service, e.g., a game (or games), at a sufficiently high level so
that users activating the service are exposed to a large number of
ads while attempting to satisfy the service related criteria (e.g.,
reach the proficiency level). Moreover, if the service related
criteria includes, e.g., a length of time the service must be
activated/utilized, and/or a predetermined number of service
instances activated (e.g., a number of game instances played), then
the operator has greater assurance that the advertisement
expectations of the operators advertisers will be satisfied.
Furthermore, if the service related criteria is sufficiently high
such that many of the users do not satisfy the service related
criteria, then the site operator retains the users' activation fee
or deposit. [0245] Alternatively, if the operator wishes to derive
revenue from offering coupons of advertisers, and/or inexpensive
items of advertisers, then the service related criteria may be made
low enough so that most users satisfy the service related criteria,
and subsequently the users may be given the option of selecting one
or more coupons and/or sponsor items in addition to, or in lieu of
all or a portion of their activation fee or deposit. Moreover,
since users satisfying the service related criteria will be
provided with the opportunity to win additional, e.g., more
substantial, prizes for free, users are likely to tolerate
subsequent advertising during instances of the service for which
such additional prizes may be won. Additionally, user selection of
particular coupons and/or items as part of their refund (and/or in
addition to their refund) provides additional information about the
users, and such information can be associated with the users'
identities for presenting to such users additional advertising,
coupons, and/or sponsor products/services that is likely to be of
interest to the user.
[0246] If a fee is to be returned or refunded, instead of the fee
being returned immediately, such fee may also be transferred by
either the player or the site to another game, website, or another
entity as agreed or as set forth in a predetermined agreement an
operator of a network site providing (at least a portion) of the
services for the compensation model.
[0247] In one embodiment, the user activation fee or deposit may be
reduced if the user is identified by one or more other users as a
user that motivated them to register for a user-funded service.
[0248] The advertising necessary to inform potential users of a
network site that utilizes the present compensation model may be
spread by word of mouth, and/or various social networking sites.
However, to facilitate awareness of such network sites, ads for
such network sites may be placed upon disposable mats. In
particular, such mats may provided in dressing rooms and other
locations where people are concerned about their feet touching a
floor due to concerns for cleanliness or the fear of contracting a
foot disease/infection. Such mats may have a water repelling
surface on at least one of the sides and a germicide provided on
the surface on the side that the user is to place his or her feet.
Advertising may be placed upon at least one of the mat sides. The
mats may be precut to a size large enough for a person's feet to
avoid touching a floor's surface or the mat may be dispensed by
using an "endless" roll--or a roll from which many mats may be
dispensed with the aid of perforations at various locations in the
roll so that advertising mats may be used in said dressing rooms.
Alternatively, such foot mats may be available in a plurality of
sizes (e.g., similar to shoe sizes). Moreover, such foot mats may
be secured to a person's foot via straps that adhesively adhere to
one another or to the mat. The mats may be provided at little or no
cost. Embodiments of such mats may be also used for "place mats"
upon which food may be placed. The advertising mats may also be
made of a material and size that allows them to adhere to shirts or
other material such as bed sheets. Additionally, such advertising
may be provided in the form of stencils for placement upon bedding
or wearing apparel, wherein such bedding or apparel may be provided
at little or no cost to the public and/or a third party.
[0249] The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented
for purposes of illustration and description. Further, the
description is not intended to limit the invention to the form
disclosed herein. Consequently, variation and modification
commiserate with the above teachings, within the skill and
knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present
invention. The embodiment described hereinabove is further intended
to explain the best mode presently known of practicing the
invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the
invention as such, or in other embodiments, and with the various
modifications required by their particular application or uses of
the invention.
* * * * *
References