MEDIA/TAG-BASED WORD GAMES

• US 20090298594A1
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zwol, Roelof Van, Murdock, Vanessa, Sigurbjornsson, Borkur, Pueyo, Lluis Garcia, Overell, Simon E.
• Application Number:
  US12/128,278
• Publication Number:
  US 20090298594A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/513 server hierarchy, e.g. local, regional, national or dedicated for different tasks, e.g. authenticating, billing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5506 using advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8064 Quiz
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/0423 Word games, e.g. scrabble electric A63F3/0421; two-dimensional puzzles with rotating rings or discs A63F9/0811, A63F9/0819

Abstract

A method of creating a word game comprising receiving a seed value from a browser, obtaining from a media database a plurality of words associated with the seed value, creating a word game from at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words, integrating the word game into a browser interpretable document, and, returning the browser interpretable document to the browser. Some embodiments further comprise incorporating into the browser interpretable document an advertisement associated with the seed value and/or at least one of the obtained plurality of words. Also disclosed is a system comprising a gaming server which receives a game request; a media server and media tag database; the gaming server requesting from the media server a set of media tags associated with a game seed value, building a word game using at least a subset of the media tags, and transmitting the word game.

Claims

1. A method of creating a word game, comprising:

receiving a seed value from a browser running on a user computer;

obtaining from a media database a plurality of words associated with the seed value;

creating a word game from at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words;

integrating the word game into a browser interpretable document; and

,

returning the browser interpretable document to the browser.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining an advertisement from an advertising server; and

,

integrating the advertisement into the browser interpretable document.

3. The method of claim 2, the advertisement being associated with the seed value.

4. The method of claim 2, the advertisement being associated with at least one of the obtained plurality of words.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a media file for each of the at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words used in the word game; and

,

integrating the obtained media files into the word game as a clue.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a specific number of words from the obtained plurality of words;

arranging the selected words within a matrix;

filling in the matrix with random letters; and

,

storing the filled matrix for display via the browser.

7. The method of claim 6, the selected words being arranged such that they do not overlap.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a specific number of words from the obtained plurality of words;

arranging the selected words within a matrix;

hiding any unfilled portions of the matrix;

storing the arrangement of the filled portions of the matrix for display via the browser.

9. The method of claim 1, the seed value comprising a seed word.

10. The method of claim 1, the seed value comprising a username.

11. Computer program process code, tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, the computer program process code comprising instructions interpretable by a processor, the instructions comprising:

receiving a seed value from a browser running on a user computer;

obtaining from a media database a plurality of words associated with the seed word;

creating a word came from at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words;

integrating the word game into a browser interpretable document; and

,

returning the browser interpretable document to the browser.

12. The computer program process code of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

obtaining an advertisement from an advertising server; and

,

integrating the advertisement into the browser interpretable document.

13. The computer program process code of claim 12, the instructions causing the selection of an advertisement associated with the seed word.

14. The computer program process code of claim 12, the instructions causing the selection of an advertisement associated with at least one of the obtained plurality of words.

15. The computer program process code of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

obtaining a media file for each of the at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words used in the word game; and

,

integrating the obtained media files into the word game as a clue.

16. The computer program process code of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

selecting a specific number of words from the obtained plurality of words;

arranging the selected words within a matrix;

filling in the matrix with random letters; and

,

storing the filled matrix for display via the browser.

17. The computer program process code of claim 16, the instructions causing the selected words to be arranged such that they do not overlap.

18. The computer program process code of claim 11, the instructions further comprising:

selecting a specific number of words from the obtained plurality of words;

arranging the selected words within a matrix;

hiding any unfilled portions of the matrix;

storing the arrangement of the filled portions of the matrix for display via the browser.

19. The computer program process code of claim 11, the seed value comprising a seed word.

20. The computer program process code of claim 11, the seed value comprising a username.

21. A system comprising:

a gaming server, the gaming server receiving a request for a game from a browser running on a user computing device, the request comprising a seed value;

a media server, the media server comprising a media tag database, the media tag database having stored therein a plurality of media tags;

the gaming server requesting a set of media tags associated with the seed value and building a word game using at least a subset of the media tags and transmitting the word game to the browser as a browser interpretable document.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

an advertisement server comprising an advertisement database, the advertisement server providing an advertisement to the gaming server;

the gaming server integrating the advertisement into the browser interpretable document.

23. The system of claim 22, the advertisement being selected by the advertisement server because it is associated with the seed value.

24. The system of claim 22, the advertisement being selected by the advertisement server because it is associated with at least one of the obtained plurality of words.

25. The system of claim 21, the media server further providing a media file for each of the at least a subset of the obtained plurality of words used in the word game;

and

the gaming server integrating the obtained media files into the word game as a clue.

26. The system of claim 21, the word game being a hidden word game.

27. The system of claim 26, the hidden words being arranged such that they do not overlap.

28. The system of claim 21, the word game being a crossword puzzle.

29. The system of claim 21, the seed value comprising a seed word.

30. The system of claim 21, the seed value comprising a username.