Multi-player, multi-screens, electronic gaming platform and system

• US 8,226,476 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Quado Media, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quado Media, Inc.
• Inventors: Haltovsky, Avi, Assa, Shmuel, Haltovsky, Moshe
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US12/612,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20100113148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 463/30, 463/31, 463/33
• US Class Current: 463/30
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/285 Generating tactile feedback signals via the game input device, e.g. force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/31 Communication aspects specific to video games, e.g. between several handheld game devices at close range
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/34 using peer-to-peer connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/57 Simulating properties, behaviour or motion of objects in the game world, e.g. computing tyre load in a car race game A63F13/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/843 involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2433 Voice-actuated
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2489 by radio transmitters, e.g. using RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1037 being specially adapted for converting control signals received from the game device into a haptic signal, e.g. using force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/402 Communication between platforms, i.e. physical link to protocol
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/408 : Peer to peer connection
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5533 : using program state or machine event data, e.g. server keeps track of the state of multiple players on in a multiple player game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 : for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8088 : involving concurrently several players in a non-networked game, e.g. on the same game console
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00643 : Electric board games; Electric features of board games electric word or number games A63F3/0421; computer chess G06F; electric raffle games A63F3/081
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 : with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 : Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 : using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A multi-player, multi-screens, electronic gaming platform and system is disclosed, having a game board having a main display screen for displaying a portion of the game layout that is shared by the plurality of players, and a plurality of personal game terminals, each personal game terminal assigned to a respective player and having an auxiliary display screen for displaying a portion of the game layout that is associated with the respective player. Communication between the main display and the terminals, and among terminals directly is enabled. Also enabled is seamless transfer of objects between the display screens as triggered by a game step or interactive inputs. Coded rules associated with the transferred objects can indicate where on the screen the digitized game object should appear, at what size should it be displayed, special animation or audio that should accompany the transfer of the digitized game object, etc.

Claims

1. An electronic gaming system comprising:

a main console comprising;

a monitor interface;

a user interface

a processor;

a native operating system (OS) executing on the processor and providing operating system services;

an augmentation layer executing on top of the native OS and providing gaming services;

a game application executing on the processor and receiving services from the native OS and the augmentation layer; and

,

a communication interface enabling communication between the processor and at least one of a mobile terminal and another main console;

wherein said augmentation layer is programmed to cause the main console to transfer digital gaming objects by sending to the monitor interface a digital gaming object to be displayed according to an object transfer signal received at the communication interface; and

,

wherein said digital gaming object comprises a digital dice, and wherein the object transfer signal comprises an indication corresponding to magnitude and direction of force applied to the digital dice.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a secondary board interface and wherein said augmentation layer is programmed to cause the main console to transfer digital gaming objects via the secondary board interface.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a touch-screen display positioned on a top surface of the main console and coupled to the monitor interface and the user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal comprising:

a terminal monitor interface;

a terminal user interface

a terminal processor;

a terminal native operating system (OS) executing on the processor and providing operating system services;

a terminal augmentation layer executing on top of the native OS and providing gaming services;

a terminal game application executing on the processor and receiving services from the native OS and the augmentation layer; and

,

a terminal communication interface enabling communication between the mobile terminal and the main console.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said augmentation layer is programmed to cause the terminal to receive a transmission of a digital game object from the main console via the terminal communication interface and to send the digital game object to the terminal monitor interface display.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said augmentation layer is further programmed to cause the terminal to modify the digital game object prior to sending the digital game object to the terminal monitor.

7. An electronic gaming system, comprising:

a main console comprising;

a monitor interface;

a user interface

a processor;

a native operating system (OS) executing on the processor and providing operating system services;

an augmentation layer executing on top of the native OS and providing gaming services;

a game application executing on the processor and receiving services from the native OS and the augmentation layer; and

,

a communication interface enabling communication between the processor and at least one of a mobile terminal and another main console; and

,

further comprising a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal comprising;

a terminal monitor interface;

a terminal user interface;

a terminal processor;

a terminal native operating system (OS) executing on the processor and providing operating system services;

a terminal augmentation layer executing on top of the native OS and providing gaming services;

a terminal game application executing on the processor and receiving services from the native OS and the augmentation layer; and

,

a terminal communication interface enabling communication between the mobile terminal and the main console; and

,

wherein the augmentation layer is programmed to cause the main console to transmit a digital game object and associated transfer rules to the terminal, and wherein the terminal augmentation layer is programmed to cause the terminal to receive the digital game object and transform the digital object according to the associated transfer rules, to thereby seamlessly transfer the digital game object from the main console to the terminal.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile terminal further comprises a touch-screen display.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to generate a signal broadcasting its existence and wherein the terminal processor is configured to transmit to the main console a request for joining a game.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console is configured to display shared parts of a social game, while the terminal is configured to display private parts of the social game.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a physical gadget having a wireless transmitter, and wherein the main console further comprises a wireless receiver configured for receiving transmission from the wireless transmitter.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the gadget comprises one of a dice, timer, avatar, and game piece.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console further comprises a system administration module and players management module.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console is further configured for discovering and establishing communication with other main consoles.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console comprises a display and is configured to display a board game on the display, and further to establish communication with a secondary console and selectively display on the secondary console one of:

duplicate of the board game, partial duplicate of the board game, or different part of the board game.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console comprises a display and is configured to display a player'"'"'s position on the display, and wherein the terminal is configured to enable a user to change the location of the player'"'"'s position on the display.

17. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console comprises a touch screen and is configured to display a player'"'"'s position on the touch screen, and wherein the main console is configured to enable a user to change the location of the player'"'"'s position by hand gesture on the touch screen.

18. The system of claim 7, wherein the terminal is further operable in a controller mode, and wherein when the terminal is in the controller mode the terminal processor receives user input from the terminal user interface and transmits to the main console signals to modify the main console'"'"'s display according to the user input.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein the main console comprises a main enclosure having a plurality of bays for housing a plurality of terminals.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the enclosure further comprises a plurality of charging ports.

21. A method for operating a digital board game having a main console running an operating system (OS) and at least one mobile terminal running mobile OS, comprising:

providing an augmentation layer onto the main console and causing the augmentation layer to run on the OS and provide gaming services;

providing a gaming application and causing the gaming to execute on the OS and obtain services from the OS and the augmentation layer;

providing a mobile augmentation layer onto the mobile terminal and causing the mobile augmentation layer to run on the mobile OS and provide gaming services;

operating the main console to display public section of a social game on a display coupled to the main console;

operating the mobile terminal to display private section of the social game on a mobile display coupled to the mobile terminal; and

,

operating the augmentation layer to delete a digital game piece from the public section and to transmit a signal corresponding to the digital game piece to the mobile terminal;

operating the mobile augmentation layer to receive the signal and display the digital game piece on the mobile display, to thereby seamlessly transfer the digital game piece from the main console to the mobile terminal.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

operating the augmentation layer to transmit transformation rules together with the signal, and operating the mobile augmentation layer to transform the digital game piece according to the transformation rule prior to displaying the digital game piece on the mobile display.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the main console further comprises a wireless receiver, the method further comprising receiving a transmission from a physical gadget at the wireless receiver.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising selectively displaying on a secondary display one of:

duplicate of the social game, partial duplicate of the social game, or different section of the social game.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising displaying a player'"'"'s position on the display of the main console, and wherein the terminal is configured to enable a user to change the location of the player'"'"'s position on the display.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising operating the terminal in a controller mode, wherein when the terminal is in the controller mode the terminal processor receives user input from the terminal user interface and transmits to the main console signals to modify the main console'"'"'s display according to the user input.