Pictorial Game System & Method

• US 20090325696A1
• 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 9,266,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/31
• 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

A 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. Different modes can be used for presenting the images in different platforms, including on standalone platforms, gaming sites, social networking profiles, etc. 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 conducting a pictorial based electronic game comprising the:

steps;

a. presenting an electronic image authored by a human composer within a graphical interface;

wherein said electronic image is presented in a visual sequence that substantially tracks a rendering of such image as performed by such human composer;

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

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

d. 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 during at least a portion of said visual sequence substantially without explicit textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic image is presented on a user'"'"'s television system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic image is presented on a user'"'"'s cell phone.

4. The method of claim 1 including a step:

creating said electronic image with an online graphical composition tool.

5. The method of claim 1 including a step:

tabulating said responses from the user to compute a performance of said user, said electronic image, and an artist associated with said electronic image.

6. The method of claim 1 including a step:

providing one or more audiovisual cues and/or clues to said user to assist in decoding said electronic image.

7. The method of claim 6 further including a step:

providing an electronic advertisement as part of said one more audiovisual cues and/or clues.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said one more audiovisual cues and/or clues are derived from images associated with a second set of concepts semantically related to said one or more concepts.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said electronic image is presented at different time intervals with differing levels of resolution, noise and/or pixelation.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said responses are provided as speech utterances and recognized by a speech recognition engine.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said speech recognition engine listens to multiple users simultaneously to determine a winner.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said user can select said electronic images by topic.

13. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

providing a graphical tool for permitting the user to create a second electronic image to be decoded by a second user.

14. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

providing a file uploading tool for permitting the user to upload a photographic file image to be decoded by a second user.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said user is scored for said responses as a member of a first team competing against a second team.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said first team members can be located at different physical locations.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein said first team and said second team can influence an identity and/or a composition of said electronic image during a competition.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein steps (a) through (d) are repeated for a plurality of second electronic images constituting a benchmark set and said user'"'"'s responses are measured against other users to determine a performance rating relative to said benchmark set.

19. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

recommending at least one of an artist or a second electronic image to said user based on said responses.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic image is derived automatically and presented within an Internet web page based on a content of said page.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein a series of different electronic images are presented in response to a change in orientation of a portable device which is presenting said images.

22. A method of conducting a pictorial based electronic game comprising the steps:

a. presenting an electronic image within a graphical interface, said electronic image being derived from a scene captured by a machine and embodied in a digital and/or photographic form;

wherein said electronic image is presented in a visual sequence that varies so that content is gradually revealed for said image over a first time period;

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

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

d. 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 during at least a portion of said first time period substantially without textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.

23. The method of claim 22 further including a step:

combining said digital and/or photographic form with other metadata for the scene into said electronic image.

24. The method of claim 22 further including a step:

causing a computing system to automatically find digital and/or photographic form images in one or more Internet accessible image repositories.

25. The method of claim 22 further including a step:

generating and storing scene component and scene timing information for said scene as part of said electronic image.

26. The method of claim 22 further including a step:

generating and storing advertising information for said scene as part of said electronic image.

27. A method of conducting a pictorial based electronic game comprising the steps:

a. presenting an electronic image within a graphical interface, said electronic image being derived from a scene captured by a machine and embodied in a digital and/or photographic form;

wherein said electronic image is presented in a visual sequence that varies so that content is gradually revealed for said image over a first time period;

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

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

d. 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 during at least a portion of said first time period substantially without textual information describing said one or more respective concepts.

28. A pictorial based electronic game comprising:

one or more software modules implemented in a computer readable medium and adapted;

a. to cause a computing device to store game images;

wherein said game images are associated with one or more respective concepts and are authored by human composers;

b. to cause a computing device to present at least one game image to a participant;

wherein said game image is presented substantially without information describing said one or more respective concepts and in a visual sequence that substantially tracks a rendering of such image as performed by such human composer;

c. to cause a computing device to enforce a rule set for said participant to use in predicting an identity of said one or more concepts;

d. to cause a computing device to process 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 at least one game image.