Internet Based Pictorial Game System & Method

• US 20090325661A1
• Filed: 06/29/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Human Differential Intelligence, LLC
• Original Assignee: John Nicholas and Kristin Gross Trust U/A/D April 13 2010
• Inventors: GROSS, JOHN NICHOLAS
• Granted Patent: US 9,186,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/9
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• 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 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/424 involving acoustic input signals, e.g. by using the results of pitch or rhythm extraction or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/44 involving timing of operations, e.g. performing an action within a time slot
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/847 Cooperative playing, e.g. requiring coordinated actions from several players to achieve a common goal
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/0661 Making a drawing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/638 according to the timing of operation or a time limit
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8094 Unusual game types, e.g. virtual cooking
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 : Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 : Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00

Abstract

An Internet based pictorial game allows participants to both contribute and decode pictorial content. The participants'"'"' performance, as well as that of artists and their artwork, can be tabulated and presented for community entertainment. Supplemental features can be added according to a desired rule set. Speech recognition can be used in some applications of the invention as well. Advertising can be integrated into game play as part of the picture decoding process.

Claims

1. A method of operating an internet based pictorial game with a computing system comprising:

a. providing a database of game images related to associated topics, said game images being generated by human composers;

b. associating said electronic image with one or more concepts;

c. providing a rule set for a user to use to give a prediction of an identity of said one or more concepts;

d. presenting said game image with the computing system in a visual sequence that substantially tracks a rendering of such image as performed by such human composer;

e. automatically processing responses from the user in compliance with said rule set with the computing system to determine if said user has accurately determined an identity of said one or more concepts associated with said image;

wherein said electronic image is presented to the user substantially without explicit textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said game image is presented within a web page loaded in an Internet browser.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said web page is part of a game website.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said web page is part of a personal profile page on a social networking site.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a group of users can participate as a team or in competition against each other in providing said predictions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said user is given a score based on a time required to give an accurate prediction for said image.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein additional visual clues semantically related to said respective concepts are presented simultaneously to the user with said game images.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said additional visual cues include additional images.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said user can play said Internet based pictorial game in a solitaire mode.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said user can upload additional content to as suggestions to be used as game images.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said user can upload additional concepts as suggestions to be rendered into game images.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said user can provide said prediction in spoken form which is then decoded by a speech recognition system during step (e).

13. The method of claim 1 wherein game images from specific artists can be identified and played.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein a benchmark set of game images can be reviewed by the user to secure a reference rating.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein advertisements can be presented within a webpage presenting said game image, said advertisements including text and/or visual clues related to said one or more concepts.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said advertisements are matched to said game images based on a plurality of bids provided in an auction by multiple advertisers.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein said advertisements are matched to artists based on a plurality of bids provided in an auction by multiple advertisers for artists composing said game images.

18. The method of claim 5 wherein participants of a first team can influence a presentation of game images to participants on a second team.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said presentation of game images can be influenced by selecting one of a plurality of images to be presented on a designated topic.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said presentation of game images can be influenced by altering an appearance of said images and/or removing content from said images.

21. A method of operating an Internet based pictorial game with a computing system comprising:

a. providing a database of game images related to associated topics;

b. associating said game image with one or more concepts;

c. providing a rule set for a user to use to give a prediction of an identity of said one or more concepts;

d. presenting said game image with the computing system in a visual sequence that varies so that content is gradually revealed for said image over a first time period;

e. automatically processing responses from the user in compliance with said rule set with the computing system to determine if said user has accurately determined an identity of said one or more concepts associated with said image;

wherein said electronic image is presented to the user during at least a portion of said first time period substantially without explicit textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said game image is revealed in a spatially random sequence.

23. A method of operating an Internet based pictorial game on a social networking site with a computing system comprising:

a. providing a database of game images related to associated topics;

b. associating said electronic image with one or more concepts;

wherein said game images are contributed by members of the social networking site;

c. presenting said game image with the computing system within a social networking site page in a visual sequence that varies so that content is gradually revealed for said image over a first time period;

wherein said electronic image is presented to the user during at least a portion of said first time period substantially without explicit textual information describing said one or more respective concepts;

d. automatically processing responses from the user with the computing system to determine if said user has accurately determined an identity of said one or more concepts associated with said image;

e. selectively publishing results of the user'"'"'s performance on the social networking site.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein multiple members of the social networking site can play said game in a collaborative mode.

25. The method of claim 23, further including a step:

providing a speech recognition engine for processing audible inputs from the user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said speech recognition engine can identify and discriminate speech originating from multiple individual users in a group.

27. An Internet based pictorial game system comprising:

a. a database of game images related to associated topics, said game images being generated by human composers, wherein said electronic image is associated with one or more concepts;

b. a rule set controlling how a user can predict an identity of said one or more concepts based on viewing said game images;

c. an image presentation engine coupled to said database and adapted to display said game image in a visual sequence that substantially tracks a rendering of such image as performed by such human composer;

d. a user response software module for processing responses from the user in compliance with said rule set to determine if said user has accurately determined an identity of said one or more concepts associated with said image;

wherein said electronic image is presented to the user substantially without explicit textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.