Lottery method and system

• US 7,104,887 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2002
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Media Games, Inc. (Brandgamz Marketing, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Media Games, Inc. (Brandgamz Marketing, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hughes, Bryan G.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US10/072,846
• Publication Number:
  US 20030148805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 463 16- 22, 463/25, 463 30- 32, 463/37, 463/40, 463/42
• US Class Current: 463/17
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/065 Tickets or accessories for use therewith A63F3/0625 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes but is not limited to populating a lottery bet slip by use of at least one commercial icon. In another embodiment, a method includes but is not limited to comparing a lottery bet slip, populated with one or more commercial icons, against one or more winning criteria. In one or more various embodiments, related systems include but are not limited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting the foregoing-referenced method embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for playing a lottery game on a computerized graphical user interface, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of commercial icons for presentation to and selection by a user via the graphical user interface, wherein each commercial icon is associated with an indicated commercial entity, and wherein the plurality of commercial icons are associated with at least two different commercial entities;

receiving a number of indications of a first type of action by the user via the graphical user interface, the received indications of the first type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons for inclusion in a user selected combination of commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game;

determining for the lottery game whether the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities; and

providing an award for playing the lottery game if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match the at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a number of indications of a second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons; and

in response to each of the received indications of the second type of action by the user, linking the user to a location on a network corresponding to the respective one commercial icon identified by the received indication.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a number of indications of a second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons; and

in response to each of the received indications of the second type of action by the user, presenting an advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the advertisement is associated with a product provided by the commercial entity associated with the commercial icon.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein receiving a number of indications of a first type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has selected a button proximately associated with the respective commercial icon with a cursor and wherein receiving a number of indications of a second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has selected the respective commercial icon with the cursor.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of the received indications of the first type of action by the user, providing a promotional offer for a product provided by the commercial entity associated with the commercial icon.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a subset of the received indications of the first type of action by the user matches a portion of the at least one winning combination; and

providing an award if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least a portion of the at least one winning combination.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing an image in the commercial icons when a cursor is moved over the commercial icon by the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a plurality of commercial icons associated with at least two different commercial entities for presentation to and selection by a user comprises presenting an image of at least one of a trademark, a service mark, a commercial name, a commercial logo, a commercial corporate slogan, a geographical mark, a book cover, a compact disc cover, a digital video disc cover, a movie poster, a new movie release list, or a new music release list.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the presenting of an image comprises presenting the image on a display screen or presenting the image on at least one piece of printed material.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a plurality of commercial icons associated with at least two different commercial entities for presentation to and selection by a user comprises presenting an audio track of at least one of a trademark, a service mark, a commercial name, a commercial logo, a commercial corporate slogan, or a commercial jingle.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a number of indications of a first type of action by a plurality of additional users identifying respect ones of commercial icons for inclusion in respective user selected combinations of commercial icons before determining whether the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least one winning combination.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the user selected combination of commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game include trademarks associated with the respective commercial entities that distinguish products of the commercial entities from one another.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the number of indications of the first type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has clicked a button on the graphical user interface that is adjacent to the respective presented commercial icon using a selection device, and wherein receiving the number of indications of the second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has clicked on the respective presented commercial icon using the selection device.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the award for playing the lottery game if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match the at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities comprises providing the award for playing the lottery game if the at least one winning combination includes a plurality of commercial icons associated with a same commercial entity and at least one other commercial icon associated with a different commercial entity.

32. The computer-readable media of claim 15 wherein the instructions to cause the computer to provide the award for playing the lottery game if the user defined combination matches the at least a portion of the at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities include instructions to:

provide the award for playing the lottery game if the at least one winning combination includes a plurality of commercial icons associated with a same commercial entity and at least one other commercial icon associated with a different commercial entity.

16. A method for playing a lottery game on a computerized graphical user interface, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of commercial icons for presentation to and selection by a user via the graphical user interface, wherein each commercial icon is associated with a commercial entity, and wherein the plurality of commercial icons are associated with at least two different commercial entities;

receiving a number of indications of a first type of action by the user via the graphical user interface, the received indications of the first type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game;

receiving a number of indications of a second type of action by the user via the graphical user interface identifying respective ones of the commercial icons;

in response to the received indications of the second type of action by the user, presenting an advertisement;

determining for the lottery game whether the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities; and

providing an award for playing the lottery game if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein providing a plurality of commercial icons associated with at least one commercial entity for presentation to and selection by a user comprises providing at least one user selectable commercial icon associated with each of at least two different commercial entities for presentation via the graphical user interface on a cellular telephone.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein presenting an advertisement comprises linking the user to a corresponding page of a Website.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein linking the user to a corresponding page of a Website comprises linking the user to the corresponding page of the Website of the commercial entity with which the respective commercial icon is associated.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein linking the user to a corresponding page of a Website comprises linking the user to the corresponding page of the Website of a party that is different from the commercial entity with which the respective commercial icon is associated.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising, for each of the received indications of the first type of action by the user, providing a promotional offer for a product provided by the commercial entity associated with the respective one commercial icon identified by the received indication.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein at least one of the number of indications of the second type of action by the user is received before at least one of the number of indications of the first type of action by the user.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a number of indications of a first type of action by a plurality of additional users identifying respect ones of commercial icons for inclusion in respective user selected combinations of commercial icons before providing an award if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match at least one winning combination.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the identified combination of commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game include trademarks associated with the respective commercial entities that distinguish products of the commercial entities from one another.

25. The method of claim 16 wherein receiving the number of indications of the first type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has clicked a button on the graphical user interface that is adjacent to the respective presented commercial icon using a selection device, and wherein receiving the number of indications of the second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons comprises receiving an indication that the user has clicked on the respective presented commercial icon using the selection device.

26. The method of claim 16 wherein providing the award for playing the lottery game if the received indications of the first type of action by the user match the at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities comprises providing the award for playing the lottery game if the at least one winning combination includes a plurality of commercial icons associated with a same commercial entity and at least one other commercial icon associated with a different commercial entity.

27. The method of claim 16 wherein receiving the number of indications of the second type of action by the user via the graphical user interface identifying respective ones of the commercial icons includes identifying at least one commercial icon from the at least one winning combination that has been selected by the user, the method further comprising:

in response to user selection of the at least one commercial icon from the at least one winning combination, presenting an advertisement on the graphical user interface, the presented advertisement being associated with a commercial entity associated with the selected at least one commercial icon.

28. A computer-readable media storing instructions for causing a computer to facilitate playing of a lottery game on a computerized graphical user interface and advertising, by:

presenting a plurality of commercial icons via the graphical user interface, wherein each commercial icon is associated with a commercial entity, and wherein the plurality of commercial icons are associated with at least two different commercial entities;

sending first type of indications in response to a first type of action by the user via the graphical user interface that identifies respective ones of the commercial icons to form a user defined combination of commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game;

sending a second type of indication in response to a second type of action by the user identifying respective ones of the commercial icons;

presenting a commercial advertisement on the graphical user interface to the user in response to receipt of the second type of indication;

determining for the lottery game whether the user defined combination formed by the received first type of indications matches at least a portion of at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities; and

providing an award for playing the lottery game if the user defined combination formed by the received first type of indications matches at least a portion of the at least one winning combination of commercial icons associated with respective commercial entities.

29. The computer-readable media of claim 28 wherein the instructions cause the computer to send the first type of indications in response to the user respectively selecting a button proximately associated with the respective commercial icon with a cursor and cause the computer to send the second type of indication in response to the user selecting the respective commercial icon with the cursor.

30. The computer-readable media of claim 28 wherein the user selected combination of commercial icons to be used for playing the lottery game include trademarks associated with the respective commercial entities that distinguish products of the commercial entities from one another.

31. The computer-readable media of claim 28 wherein the instructions cause the computer to send the first type of indications in response to the user respectively clicking on a button on the graphical user interface that is adjacent to the respective presented commercial icon using a selection device, and cause the computer to send the second type of indication in response to the user clicking on the respective presented commercial icon using the selection device.