Specialized slot machine for conducting a wagering tournament game using real time or live action event content

• US 10,460,568 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2017
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philip Paul Givant
• Original Assignee: Philip Paul Givant
• Inventors: Givant, Philip Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Jason T
• Application Number:
  US15/437,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20170161999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 981 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3209 Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3213 Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3237 about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking

Abstract

A specialized slot machine for conducting a wagering tournament game using real time or live action event content includes: prompting a plurality of users at a plurality of geographically distributed user platforms to each submit a wager for entry as players into a real time live action wagering tournament game; dividing a plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game into player groups, the player groups each having a pre-determined quantity of players, the players in each player group competing with other players of a same player group to advance through a pre-determined number of rounds to a main tournament, the players in each player group only playing against other members of the same player group during a given round; and obtaining real-time or live event content via the data network while the plurality of players are playing the real time live action wagering tournament game.

Claims

1. A specialized slot machine comprising:

a data processor;

a network interface, in data communication with the data processor, for communication on a data network; and

a gaming system, executable by the data processor, to;

prompt a plurality of users at a plurality of geographically distributed user platforms to each submit a wager for entry as players into a real time live action wagering tournament game;

divide the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game into player groups, the player groups each having a pre-determined quantity of players, the players in each player group competing with other players of a same player group to advance through a pre-determined number of rounds to a main tournament, the players in each player group only playing against other members of the same player group during a given round;

obtain a set of real time or live event content via the data network while the plurality of players are playing the real time live action wagering tournament game, the gaming system using the network interface to establish a data connection with a network resource located at a remote venue at which a live event is occurring, the real time or live event content being generated at the remote venue by the network resource based on activity at the live event;

partition the set of real time or live event content into a plurality of content categories;

generate a raw score for each of the content categories based on real time information obtained via the data network;

receive from the players in each player group a bid corresponding to at least one of the content categories;

receive from the players in each player group credits corresponding to the bid via a value input mechanism of a handheld device, the value input mechanism including a reader or a touch key interface to enable a player to authorize access to a central account of the player and authorize transfer of credits of the player from the central account to the specialized slot machine, the value input mechanism including a ticket reader, a barcode scanner, or a QR code scanner for reading information stored on a credit ticket, a card, or other tangible portable credit storage device;

score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids;

rank each of the players in each player group based on their score; and

enable a pre-determined quantity of highest ranked players from each player group to advance to a next round.

2. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein each player group has at least three players, wherein no player group includes all of the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game.

3. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the set of real time or live event content is of a type from the group consisting of:

fantasy sports event content, live sporting event content, current event content, debate event content, and trending on social media content.

4. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the specialized slot machine is in data communication with other geographically distributed specialized slot machines.

5. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming system being further configured to score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids, each player'"'"'s score being increased by an amount corresponding to a multiplier bonus.

6. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming system being further configured to enable the pre-determined quantity of highest ranked players from each player group to remain for the next round and automatically increasing their bid.

7. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming system being further configured to enable the players in each player group to bid on a plurality of the content categories in a bloc.

8. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming system being further configured to display an indication of a bidding status of each of the players in the player group.

9. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming system being further configured to score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids, each player'"'"'s score being reduced by an amount corresponding to their percentage bid.

10. The specialized slot machine of claim 1 wherein the set of real time or live event content includes tracked statistics gathered over a period of weeks, months, or years.

11. A method comprising:

providing a gaming system executable by a data processor, the gaming system including a network interface, in data communication with the data processor, for communication on a data network;

prompting, by use of the gaming system, a plurality of users at a plurality of geographically distributed user platforms to each submit a wager for entry as players into a real time live action wagering tournament game;

dividing the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game into player groups, the player groups each having a pre-determined quantity of players, the players in each player group competing with other players of a same player group to advance through a pre-determined number of rounds to a main tournament, the players in each player group only playing against other members of the same player group during a given round;

obtaining a set of real time or live event content via the data network while the plurality of players are playing the real time live action wagering tournament game, using the gaming system and the network interface to establish a data connection with a network resource located at a remote venue at which a live event is occurring, the real time or live event content being generated at the remote venue by the network resource based on activity at the live event;

partitioning the set of real time or live event content into a plurality of content categories;

generating a raw score for each of the content categories based on real time information obtained via the data network;

receiving from the players in each player group a bid corresponding to at least one of the content categories;

receiving from the players in each player group credits corresponding to the bid via a value input mechanism of a handheld device, the value input mechanism including a reader or a touch key interface to enable a player to authorize access to a central account of the player and authorize transfer of credits of the player from the central account to the specialized slot machine, the value input mechanism including a ticket reader, a barcode scanner, or a QR code scanner for reading information stored on a credit ticket, a card, or other tangible portable credit storage device;

scoring each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids;

ranking each of the players in each player group based on their score; and

enabling a pre-determined quantity of highest ranked players from each player group to advance to a next round.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein each player group has at least three players, wherein no player group includes all of the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the set of real time or live event content is of a type from the group consisting of:

fantasy sports event content, live sporting event content, current event content, debate event content, and trending on social media content.

14. The method of claim 11 including establishing data communication with other geographically distributed specialized slot machines.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the gaming system being further configured to score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids, each player'"'"'s score being increased by an amount corresponding to a multiplier bonus.

16. The method of claim 11 including enabling the pre-determined quantity of highest ranked players from each player group to remain for the next round and automatically increasing their bid.

17. The method of claim 11 including enabling the players in each player group to bid on a plurality of the content categories in a bloc.

18. The method of claim 11 including displaying an indication of a bidding status of each of the players in the player group.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the gaming system being further configured to score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids, each player'"'"'s score being reduced by an amount corresponding to their percentage bid.

20. A non-transitory machine-useable storage medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a data processor of a gaming system, the gaming system including a network interface in data communication with the data processor for communication on a data network, cause the data processor to:

prompt, by use of the gaming system, a plurality of users at a plurality of geographically distributed user platforms to each submit a wager for entry as players into a real time live action wagering tournament game;

divide the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game into player groups, the player groups each having a pre-determined quantity of players, the players in each player group competing with other players of a same player group to advance through a pre-determined number of rounds to a main tournament, the players in each player group only playing against other members of the same player group during a given round;

obtain a set of real time or live event content via the data network while the plurality of players are playing the real time live action wagering tournament game, the gaming system using the network interface to establish a data connection with a network resource located at a remote venue at which a live event is occurring, the real time or live event content being generated at the remote venue by the network resource based on activity at the live event;

partition the set of real time or live event content into a plurality of content categories;

generate a raw score for each of the content categories based on real time information obtained via the data network;

receive from the players in each player group a bid corresponding to at least one of the content categories;

receive from the players in each player group credits corresponding to the bid via a value input mechanism of a handheld device, the value input mechanism including a reader or a touch key interface to enable a player to authorize access to a central account of the player and authorize transfer of credits of the player from the central account to the specialized slot machine, the value input mechanism including a ticket reader, a barcode scanner, or a QR code scanner for reading information stored on a credit ticket, a card, or other tangible portable credit storage device;

score each of the players in each player group based on their bids and the raw score of the content category corresponding to their bids;

rank each of the players in each player group based on their score; and

enable a pre-determined quantity of highest ranked players from each player group to advance to a next round.

21. The machine-useable storage medium of claim 20 wherein each player group has at least three players, wherein no player group includes all of the plurality of players of the real time live action wagering tournament game.