Conversion/transfer of in-game credits to entity independent or negotiable funds

• US 8,789,752 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2013
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JBSHBM, LLC
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit, Sean I. Mcghie
• Inventors: McGhie, Sean I., Buchheit, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze, Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US14/024,936
• Time in Patent Office: 320 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/375, 235/379, 235/487, 235/486, 705/14.1, 705 1411- 1414, 705/14, 705/14.31, 705/39, 463/25
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0228 On-line clearing houses
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes

Abstract

In one embodiment, an account is established for in-game credits provided by an entity to one or more users. The entity owns or controls a computer game. One or more users play the computer game to earn at least a portion of the in-game credits. Game play occurrences are detected that earn a quantity of in-game credits, which are added to an account maintained by the entity. A quantity of the in-game credits are subtracted from the account, as a result of a conversion operation. The conversion operation converts the in-game credits to a quantity of negotiable or entity independent funds in accordance with agreement terms established between a commerce partner and the entity. The commerce partner is compensated for granting the negotiable or entity independent funds for the in-game credits.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at least one of one or more computers establishing an account for in-game credits provided by an entity to one or more users, wherein the entity owns or controls a computer game, wherein one or more users play the computer game to earn at least a portion of the in-game credits, wherein the in-game credits are non-negotiable credits;

at least one of one or more computers detecting game play occurrences in the computer game earning a quantity of in-game credits, wherein the quantity of in-game credits from the interactions are added to the account, wherein in absence of a conversion operation that converts the in-game credits to negotiable or entity-independent funds, a commerce partner does not accept the in-game credits for out-of-game purchases or out-of-game discounts with the commerce partner, wherein the commerce partner is not the entity; and

at least one of one or more computers subtracting a quantity of the in-game credits from the account, the subtracted quantity of in-game credits corresponding to a quantity of negotiable or entity independent funds resulting from the conversion operation that converts the in-game credits to a quantity of the negotiable or entity independent funds in accordance with agreement terms established between the commerce partner and the entity, wherein the commerce partner is compensated for granting the negotiable or entity independent funds for the in-game credits.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the in-game credits correspond to one or more of:

a) a virtual good of the computer game being exchanged for a quantity of in-game credits,

b) in-game gold or in-game currency,

c) experience points for a player character in the computer game, or

d) any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity compensates the commerce partner in negotiable funds for redeeming the subtracted quantity of in-game credits by converting the quantity of in-game credits into the negotiable or entity independent funds.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein after the conversion operation, the negotiable or entity independent funds are not able to be converted into the in-game credits.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion operation converts the quantity of in-game credits to the quantity of negotiable or entity independent funds in accordance with a conversion ratio of credits-to-funds.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiable or entity independent funds are reward program points of a reward program of the commerce partner.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the commerce partner is compensated for granting the negotiable or entity independent funds through advertising benefits from a cross marketing alliance between the commerce partner and the entity.

8. A method comprising:

at least one of one or more computers receiving a converted quantity of entity-independent funds resulting from a conversion of a set of in-game credits into the converted quantity of entity independent funds, wherein the received converted quantity of entity independent funds are stored in an account maintained by a commerce partner for the one or more users, wherein the entity independent funds are non-negotiable funds able to be used for acquiring goods or services via a commerce channel of the commerce partner, wherein an entity owns or controls a computer game, wherein one or more users play the computer game to earn at least a portion of the in-game credits, wherein the in-game credits are not able to be directly used for acquiring goods or services through the commerce channel and must first be converted into the entity independent funds to be used for the commerce channel; and

at least one of the one or more computers adding the converted quantity of entity-independent funds to the account, which increases a quantity of entity independent funds available to one or more users associated with the account.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

at least one of the one or more computers recording an amount in negotiable funds owed to the entity by the commerce partner for redeeming the set of in-game credits for the converted quantity of entity independent funds.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the in-game credits are expended during the conversion of in-game credits to entity independent funds.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

at least one of the one or more computers subtracting a sub quantity of the entity impendent funds from the account responsive to a purchase via the commerce channel by the one or more users.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the in-game credits result from one or more of:

a) a player character in the computer game acquiring experience points,

b) a player character in the computer game earning a quantity of gold or other in-game currency,

c) a player character in the computer game exchanging a virtual good from the computer game in exchange for the in-game credits,

d) a player character in the game completing one or more in-game tasks, or

e) any combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the entity independent funds are marketplace funds able to be spend in a marketplace of the commerce partner, wherein the commerce partner is a platform owner of a platform upon which the computer game executes.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of in-game credits are converted to the quantity of entity independent funds in accordance with a conversion ratio of credits-to-funds.

15. A computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable, storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to be executed by one or more processors causing a graphical user interface to be presented upon a visual display device, said graphical user interface showing a quantity of in-game credits earned at least in part by one or more users playing a computer game of an entity, the graphical user interface comprising a conversion option to convert at least a subset of the shown in-game credits into negotiable or entity independent funds, wherein negotiable or entity independent funds are accepted by a commerce partner as a mechanism for reducing a cost for one or more out-of-game purchases, wherein in absence of converting the in-game credits into negotiable or entity independent funds the commerce partner does not accept the in-game credits for the one or more out-of-game purchases, wherein the commerce partner is not said entity; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to responsive to the conversion option being processed after a user selection of the conversion option, the graphical user interface is changed to show a quantity of available negotiable or entity independent funds for use as a mechanism for reducing a cost for one or more out-of-game purchases, said quantity of available negotiable or entity independent funds resulting from a conversion or transfer of the subset of in-game credits.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the quantity of available negotiable or entity independent funds are able to be used for purchases of goods or services from the commerce partner, wherein the commerce partner does not directly accept the in-game credits for purchases of the goods or services.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the negotiable or entity independent funds comprise reward program points of a reward program of the commerce partner.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to responsive to the received selection being processed, present within the graphical user interface a second quantity of in-game credits, wherein said second quantity represents an amount of in-game credits available after converting the subset of in-game credits into negotiable or entity independent funds.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the graphical user interface is a user interface of the computer game.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the graphical user interface is a user interface renderable in a Web browser provided by the commerce partner.