GAMING THROUGH MOBILE OR OTHER DEVICES

• US 20170069162A1
• Filed: 11/03/2016
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Original Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Inventors: Williams, Paul, Morrissette, Matthew, Minisini, Stephane
• Granted Patent: US 11,017,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• 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 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• 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 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00

Abstract

Various embodiments that may generally relate to mobile gaming, location determination, mobile devices, authentication, and so on are described. Various methods are described. Various apparatus are described. Further embodiments are described.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a location verification module of a gaming service, configured to;

determine that a cellular telephone is accessing a gaming service through a network that is not known to the gaming service as being in an approved location;

in response to determining that the cellular telephone is accessing the gaming service through the network that is not known to the gaming service as being in the approved location,

determine that a confidence level that the cellular telephone is in the approved location based on an internet protocol address of the cellular telephone is below a threshold confidence;

in response to determining that the confidence level is below the threshold confidence, query a remote location determination service for a location of the cellular telephone;

receiving an indication of the location of the cellular telephone from the remote location determination service; and

allowing the cellular telephone to access gaming services of the gaming service based on the indication of the location of the cellular telephone identifying the approved location.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the location verification module is configured to:

in response to querying the remote location determination service, determine which of a plurality of geofences the cellular telephone is located in, wherein a first of the plurality of geofences encompasses at least a second geofence, and wherein one or more gaming activities are available to a user of the cellular telephone when the cellular telephone is located in any of the plurality of geofences;

based on which of the plurality of geofences the cellular telephone is located in, determining, by the computing device, a time at which a location of the cellular telephone is to be re-determined, wherein when the cellular telephone is located within the first geofence but not the second geofence, the time is a first value and wherein when the cellular telephone is located within the first and second geofences, the time is a second value; and

at the determined time, querying the remote location determination service to re-determine the location of the cellular telephone.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second time is greater than the first time.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second time is less than the first time.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second geofence encompasses at least a third geofence.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, in which the location verification module is configured to:

registering an application on the cellular telephone, and wherein the application is at least configured to determine that the cellular telephone has changed location, and/or determine a distance the cellular telephone has moved;

receiving from the application a report wherein the report includes at least one of an indication that the cellular telephone has moved, and an indication of a distance the cellular telephone has moved; and

in response to the report querying the remote location determination service to determine a location of the cellular telephone.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, in which the location verification module is configured to:

in response to querying the remote location determination service, determining whether the cellular telephone is located in a pre-defined location that is defined by a non-circular geofence.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the location verification module is configured to:

register an application on the cellular telephone, wherein the application is at least configured to determine that the cellular telephone has changed location and/or determine a distance the cellular telephone has moved;

receive from the application a report wherein the report includes at least one of an indication that the cellular telephone has moved and an indication of a distance the cellular telephone has moved; and

in response to the report, querying the remote location determination service to determine a location of the cellular telephone.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the location verification module is configured to:

determine which of a plurality of geofences the cellular telephone is located in, wherein a first of the plurality of geofences encompasses at least a second geofence, and wherein one or more of the gaming activities are available to the user when the cellular telephone is located in any of the plurality of geofences; and

based on which of the plurality of geofences the cellular telephone is located in, configuring the application to report location changes, wherein when the cellular telephone is located within the first geofence but not the second geofence, the application is configured to report shorter distance movements of the cellular telephone as compared to when the cellular telephone is located within the first and second geofences.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the location verification module is configured to:

in response to querying the remote location determination service, determining whether the cellular telephone is located in a pre-defined location that is defined by a non-circular geofence.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the location verification module is configured to:

in response to querying the remote location determination service, determining whether the cellular telephone is located in a pre-defined location that is defined by a non-circular geofence.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the non-circular geofence is a polygonal geofence.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the location verification module is configured to:

in response to querying the remote location determination service, determine which of a plurality of non-circular geofences the cellular telephone is located in, wherein a first of the plurality of non-circular geofences includes at least a second non-circular geofence, and wherein one or more gaming activities are available to a user of the cellular telephone when the cellular telephone is located in any of the plurality of non-circular geofences;

based on which of the plurality of non-circular geofences the cellular telephone is located in, determining, by the computing device, a time at which a location of the cellular telephone is to be re-determined, wherein when the cellular telephone is located within the first non-circular geofence but not the second non-circular geofence, the time is a first value and wherein when the cellular telephone is located within the first and second non-circular geofences, the time is a second value; and

at the determined time, query the remote location determination service to re-determine the location of the cellular telephone.