Mobile lottery, gaming and wagering system and method

• US 20050181875A1
• Filed: 02/18/2004
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: COIN Mechanisms Incorporated
• Original Assignee: COIN Mechanisms Incorporated
• Inventors: Hoehne, George, Currie, Richard, Peek, Martin
• Application Number:
  US10/781,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20050181875A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/41
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3218 wherein at least part of the system is portable
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

An apparatus or method to allow the secure downloading of an operating system, file management system and or state machine to a Miniature Smart Card (MSC) such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), Removable User Identity Module (RUIM) or Universal Integrated Chip Card (UICC) in a mobile appliance (MA), such as but not limited to a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), pager or a proprietary device. This would in turn allow an E-purse applet as well as Lottery, Wagering and Gaming applets to be downloaded to the same Miniature Smart Card (MSC) and further allow the downloading of e-cash to be used to remotely play the Lottery, Wagering or Gaming applets as well as make retail purchases.

Claims

1. A method for purchasing an opportunity in a game of chance, comprising:

giving, by a subscriber, an amount of money to a retailer who is an authorized agent for the game of chance;

receiving, by a retail charging terminal, the money in either hard currency or electronic form;

transferring electronically the amount of money from the retail charging terminal to a mobile appliance of the subscriber; and

using the mobile appliance by the subscriber to purchase the opportunity in the game of chance.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

initiating the transfer of money from the retail charging terminal to the mobile appliance by the retail charging terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

waking the mobile appliance from a sleep state to a waking state by the initiating of the retail charging terminal

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a subscriber identity module on the mobile appliance; and

transferring the electronic money onto the subscriber identity module.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

downloading memory structures into the subscriber identity module if they do not already exist.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transferring of the money comprises utilizing short-range communications mechanisms and protocols.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the short-range communications mechanisms and protocols are selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth,®

WiFi®

, a variant of 802.11, infrared, and USB.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

downloading games from a game server over a long-range communications network.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein all method elements except using the electronic cash for purchase take place in a contemporaneous manner.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein all method elements except using the electronic cash for purchase take place in a geographically proximate manner.

11. A mobile appliance used for purchasing an opportunity in a game of chance, comprising:

a long-range wireless communication system;

a short-range communication system;

a cash transaction storage device that is loaded with e-cash using the short-range communication system; and

software used to play the game of chance that utilizes the long-range wireless communication system.

12. The mobile appliance according to claim 11, further comprising:

a display for outputting information regarding the game of chance to a subscriber; and

an input device for inputting information from a subscriber regarding the game of chance.

13. The mobile appliance according to claim 11, wherein:

the long-range wireless communication system comprises at least one of a GSM, GPRS, 2.5G, 3G and 4G interface scheme or technology; and

the short-range communication system comprises an interface selected from the group consisting of a Bluetooth®

interface, a WiFi®

interface, a variant of 802.11 interface, an infrared interface, and a USB interface.

14. The mobile appliance according to claim 11, wherein the long-range wireless communication system is configured to give and receive payments of e-cash from and to the cash transaction storage device during play of the game of chance.

15. A mobile appliance used for purchasing a product or service, comprising:

a long-range wireless communication system;

a short-range communication system;

a cash transaction storage device that is loaded with e-cash using the short-range communication system; and

an access mechanism configured to purchase the product or service.

16. The mobile appliance according to claim 15, wherein the access mechanism comprises application software that interacts with a system of a retailer providing the product or service.

17. The mobile appliance according to claim 15, wherein the cash transaction storage device comprises:

multiple purses for storing e-cash from different retailers; and

hardware and software used to manage the multiple purses and prevent co-mingling of e-cash.

18. A retail charging terminal for transferring e-cash to a mobile appliance, comprising:

a first interface configured to get a cash value at a game of chance retail establishment from an authorized agent;

a second interface configured to transfer cash value to a mobile appliance of a subscriber over a short-range communications channel; and

hardware and software coupling the first interface and the second interface.

19. The retail charging terminal according to claim 18, wherein the second interface comprises at least one of a Bluetooth®

interface, a WiFi®

interface, a variant of 802.11 interface, an infrared interface, and a USB interface.

20. The retail charging terminal according to claim 18, wherein the hardware comprises:

a display configured for providing information about status of an e-cash transfer;

an input device configured for entering information related to an e-cash transfer;

a communications port configured for short-range communications to a mobile appliance;

a microcontroller configured for managing the e-cash transfer and communications over the communications port; and

a memory used to hold information related to an e-cash transfer.

21. A system for obtaining e-cash for playing games of chance or making retail purchases, comprising:

a mobile appliance comprising a mechanism for playing games of chance or making retail purchases over a long-range wireless communications network and for obtaining e-cash over a short-range communications network, the mobile appliance comprising a subscriber information module configured to hold and transfer the e-cash; and

a retail charging terminal configured to be loaded with cash value by a retailer who is an authorized agent of a service, the retail charging terminal comprising a short-range communications network configured to communicate with the short-range communications network of the mobile appliance and transfer the e-cash to the mobile appliance over the short-range communications.