Tournament data system
First Claim
1. An electronic tournament system comprising:
- (a) a plurality of games of skill including means for generating signals representative of scores resulting from said games,(b) means for displaying said scores locally at said games,(c) means for automatically electronically transmitting said score signals to a central computer from said games of skill, whereat said scores can be compared and a winning score can be computed,(d) means at said games for automatically receiving signals from said computer, at a time controlled by the computer, representative of the winning score resulting from said scores, and/or announcement displays, and(e) means for displaying said winning score, and/or announcement displays, at one or more of said games.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tournament system for electronic games in which scores achieved on the games are transmitted to one or a hierarchy of computers in which a winner is determined. At least one computer stores a player code associated with player credits. The players insert credit cards into the games which read the player codes, send the codes to a computer, obtain verification signals from the computer and are thereby enabled. The computer also stores handicap values associated with players and/or the games, and modifies the scores by the handicap values. The computer can also download advertising, winner or other messages to specific ones or all the games for display, and can cause the games played to be modified or changed.
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Citations
66 Claims
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1. An electronic tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of games of skill including means for generating signals representative of scores resulting from said games, (b) means for displaying said scores locally at said games, (c) means for automatically electronically transmitting said score signals to a central computer from said games of skill, whereat said scores can be compared and a winning score can be computed, (d) means at said games for automatically receiving signals from said computer, at a time controlled by the computer, representative of the winning score resulting from said scores, and/or announcement displays, and (e) means for displaying said winning score, and/or announcement displays, at one or more of said games. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of games, (b) a central computer linked to said games for automatically receiving from said games scores achieved on said games by a player, (c) means for storing handicap values relating to players of said games at said central computer, (d) means at said games for transmitting a player identification signal to said computer, wherby scores achieved on said games can be modified at the central computer by the handicap value associated with the player playing the games to produce a resultant score. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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11. A tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of games of different kinds, (b) a central computer linked to said games for automatically electronically receiving from said games scores achieved on said games, (c) means for storing handicap values relating to the respective kinds of games at either the games or the central computer, whereby scores achieved on said games can be determined modified by the handicap value associated with each of said games. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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14. A tournament system comprising:
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(a) an electronic game, (b) memory means for storing at least score data signals relating to scores achieved on the game, at predetermined memory locations, (c) a data link for communication with a central computer, (d) means for electronic reading the score data stored at the predetermined memory locations, and (e) means for automatically applying the score data to the data link for transmission to the central computer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 39, 49, 50, 51, 64)
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27. An electronic tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of electronic games each including game processor means, a display, a game data bus, a game address bus, and a game memory for storing score data appearing on the data bus at addresses specified by data appearing on the address bus, (b) an interface circuit associated with each game comprising; (i) interface memory means having address and data ports, (ii) an interface address bus connected between the address ports and the game address bus, (iii) an interface data bus connected between the data port and the game data bus, whereby data stored in the game memory can be similarly stored in the interface memory means, (iv) a communication port, (v) means for reading the data stored in the interface memory means to obtain score data and for electronically transmitting the score data to the communication port, (vi) a central processor, (c) a central computer including means for communication with the interface circuits via the communication port, for transmitting polling signals to the interface circuit and thereby initiating said transmission of score data for reception by the central computer. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An electronic tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of central computers, (b) a plurality of games of skill each including means for generating signals representative of scores resulting from said games and for displaying said scores on a display, (c) each game including means for automatically transmitting said score signals to at least one of the central computers, whereby groups of said games are associated with each central computer, said central computers being adapted to determine winning scores from each group of games, (d) means at each of said games for automatically receiving signals from the central computers associated therewith representative of winning score announcements, at times controlled by the central computers for display thereof on local displays. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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40. An electronic tournament system comprising:
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(a) a plurality of games of skill including means for automatically generating signals representative of scores resulting from said games as said games are played, (b) means for automatically transmitting signals representative of final scores resulting from said games to a central computer from said games of skill, whereat said scores can be compared and a winning score can be computed. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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42. A tournament system comprising:
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(a) an electronic game for automatically generating score signals as the game is played, and (b) means for automatically applying the score signals from the electronic game to a data link port for transmission to a central computer. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52, 53, 54, 63, 65)
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55. A method of operating a tournament comprising:
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(a) linking a plurality of games in which scores are automatically generated, to a central computer, (b) automatically electronically transmitting at least the final scores from the games to the central computer, (c) comparing the final scores from said games at said computer, (d) transmitting a display message signal to each of the games for display at said games from the central computer at predetermined instances at times controlled by the central computer. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66)
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58. A method of operating a tournament comprising:
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(a) linking by means of an electronic transmission path a plurality of games in which scores are automatically generated by the games and displayed on respective local game displays, to a central computer, (b) automatically transmitting a display message signal to any or each of the games for display thereby in place of the local display generated by the game at times controlled by the central computer.
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Specification