Interactive wagering system with controllable graphic displays

• US 6,674,448 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2000
• Issued: 01/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ODS Properties Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ODS Properties Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Garahi, Masood, Marshall, Connie T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao (Kevin)
• Application Number:
  US09/632,049
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 345/719, 463/25, 463/42, 705/16, 705/18
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/34 Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 the inserted signal being digital

Abstract

A system is provided in which locally-generated graphics may be displayed on a user'"'"'s equipment. The user'"'"'s equipment may be based on a set-top box and television or other user television equipment, a personal computer or handheld computing device or other user computer equipment, or a cellular telephone with a display or other user telephone equipment. The locally-generated graphics may be displayed as an overlay on top of video or as wrap-around graphics on the same screen as a reduced-size video window. The video and the graphics may be related to wagering and in particular may be related to horse racing. The user may interactively wager on horse races with the user equipment.

Claims

1. A method for presenting video and locally-generated graphics to a user at user equipment having a display, comprising:

providing the user with an option to select which locally-generated graphics are to be displayed;

displaying a screen containing wagering-related video on the display of the user equipment; and

displaying the locally-generated graphics in the screen, wherein the locally-generated graphics are generated at the user equipment and include wagering-related information, and wherein the locally generated graphics are displayed not in response to a user input.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further is comprising providing race results in the graphics.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on a horse race.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on horse races and wherein the video is related to horse races.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein:

the video contains embedded graphics; and

the locally-generated graphics are displayed in place of at least part of the embedded graphics.

6. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the video in a reduced-size window in the screen when the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

7. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying the video as a full-screen video before the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the user with an option to select which graphics are to be displayed based on the originator of the graphics.

9. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the user with an option to prevent display of the locally-generated graphics.

10. The method defined in claim 1, wherein the graphics includes information on horse owners, horse jockeys, race conditions, and past performances.

11. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the user with an opportunity to use the user equipment to select which types of graphics to display as the locally-generated graphics.

12. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowing the user to select which type of content are to be included in the locally-generated graphics.

13. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics; and

displaying additional information when the user interacts with the locally-generated graphics.

14. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics.

15. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics using a remote control.

16. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain additional racing-related information.

17. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying information in the locally-generated graphics on a given horse jockey and allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain information on another horse jockey.

18. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics as an overlay on top of the video.

19. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying an option in the locally-generated graphics that allows the user to hide the locally-generated graphics.

20. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display.

21. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display using a remote control.

22. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying a setup options screen on the display that includes an option for setting up graphics options.

23. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying a graphics horse racing statistics in the locally-generated graphics with which the user may interact using up and down remote control arrow keys.

24. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising displaying content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics.

25. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics; and

allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to cause the user equipment to display locally-generated graphics containing user-specified racing information as part-of the locally-generated graphics.

26. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising sending control commands to the user equipment over an analog television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

27. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising sending control commands to the user equipment over a digital data stream associated with a digital television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

28. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics according to a predetermined schedule.

29. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics according to a schedule based on a local clock at the user equipment.

30. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system.

31. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system, wherein the video production system provides the wagering-related video to the user equipment.

32. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel.

33. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results.

34. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, and wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video.

35. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, and wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment.

36. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment from a video production facility, and wherein the control commands are transmitted in a data stream associated with a digital television channel in which the wagering-related video is provided.

37. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the user equipment includes a set-top box, the method further comprising using the set-top box to display the locally-generated graphics.

38. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the user equipment includes a cellular telephone, the method further comprising using the cellular telephone to display the locally-generated graphics.

39. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the user equipment includes a handheld computer, the method further comprising using the handheld computer to display the locally-generated graphics.

40. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the user equipment includes a personal computer, the method further comprising using the personal computer to display the locally-generated-graphics.

41. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the user equipment includes user television equipment, the method further comprising using the user television equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

42. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the user with an opportunity to place an electronic wager using the user equipment.

43. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising sending an electronic wager to a transaction processing and subscription management system over a communications path connected to the user equipment.

44. An interactive wagering system comprising user equipment having a display, wherein the user equipment in configured to:

provide a user with an option to select which locally-generated graphics are to be displayed;

display a screen containing wagering-related video on the display of the user equipment; and

display the locally-generated graphics in the screen, wherein the locally-generated graphics are generated at the user equipment and include wagering-related information, and wherein the locally-generated graphics are displayed not in response to a user input.

45. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to provide race results in the graphics.

46. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on a horse race.

47. The system defined in claim 45 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on horse races and wherein the video is related to horse races.

48. The system defined in claim 44 wherein:

the video contains embedded graphics; and

the locally-generated graphics are displayed in place of at least part of the embedded graphics.

49. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the video in a reduced-size window in the screen when the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

50. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the video as a full-screen video before the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

51. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to provide the user with an option to select which graphics are to be displayed based on the originator of the graphics.

52. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to provide the user with an option to prevent display of the locally-generated graphics.

53. The system defined in claim 44, wherein the graphics includes information on horse owners, horse jockeys, race conditions, and past performances.

54. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to provide the user with an opportunity to use the user equipment to select which types of graphics to display as the locally-generated graphics.

55. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to allow the user to select which type of content are to be included in the locally-generated graphics.

56. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics; and

display additional information when the user interacts with the locally-generated graphics.

57. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics.

58. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics using a remote control.

59. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain additional racing-related information.

60. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

display information in the locally-generated graphics on a given horse jockey; and

allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain information on another horse jockey.

61. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the locally-generated graphics as an overlay on top of the video.

62. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display an option in the locally-generated graphics that allows the user to hide the locally-generated graphics.

63. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display.

64. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display using a remote control.

65. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display a setup options screen on the display that includes an option for setting up graphics options.

66. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display a graphics horse racing statistics in the locally-generated graphics with which the user may interact using up and down remote control arrow keys.

67. The system defined in claim 44, wherein the user equipment is further configured to display content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics.

68. The system defined in claim 44, wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

display content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics; and

allow the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to cause the user equipment to display locally-generated graphics containing user-specified racing information as part of the locally-generated graphics.

69. The system defined in claim 44, further comprising a facility that is configured to send control commands to the user equipment over an analog television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

70. The system defined in claim 44, further comprising a facility that is configured to send control commands to the user equipment over a digital data stream associated with a digital television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

71. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the locally-generated graphics according to a predetermined schedule.

72. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the locally-generated graphics according to a schedule based on a local clock at the user equipment.

73. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system.

74. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system, wherein the video production system provides the wagering-related video to the user equipment.

75. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a video production system that is configured to provide the wagering-related video to the user equipment using a digital television channel.

76. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a video production system that is configured to provide the wagering-related video to the user equipment using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results.

77. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a video production system that is configured to provide the wagering-related video to the user equipment using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, and wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video.

78. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a video production system that is configured to provide the wagering-related video to the user equipment using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, and wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment.

79. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a video production system that is configured to provide the wagering-related video to the user equipment using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment from a video production facility, and wherein the control commands are transmitted in a data stream associated with a digital television channel in which the wagering-related video is provided.

80. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment includes a set-top box and wherein the set-top box is used to display the locally-generated graphics.

81. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment includes a cellular telephone and wherein the cellular telephone is used to display the locally-generated graphics.

82. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment includes a handheld computer and wherein the handheld computer is used to display the locally-generated graphics.

83. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment includes a personal computer and wherein the personal computer is used to display the locally-generated graphics.

84. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment includes user television equipment and wherein the user television equipment is used to display the locally-generated graphics.

85. The system defined in claim 44 wherein the user equipment is further configured to provide the user with an opportunity to place an electronic wager.

86. The system defined in claim 44 further comprising a transaction processing and subscription management system, wherein the user equipment is further configured to send an electronic wager to the transaction processing and subscription management system over a communications path connected to the user equipment.

87. A computer readable medium encoded with machine-readable instructions for use in presenting video and locally-generated graphics to a user at user equipment having a display, the machine-readable instructions comprising:

providing the user with an option to select which locally-generated graphics are to be displayed;

displaying a screen containing wagering-related video on the display of the user equipment; and

displaying the locally-generated graphics in the screen, wherein the locally-generated graphics are generated at the user equipment and include wagering-related information, and wherein the locally-generated graphics are displayed not in response to a user input.

88. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing race results in the graphics.

89. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on a horse race.

90. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein the wagering-related information includes information on horse races and wherein the video is related to horse races.

91. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein:

the video contains embedded graphics; and

the locally-generated graphics are displayed in place of at least part of the embedded graphics.

92. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising:

displaying the video in a reduced-size window in the screen when the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

93. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying the video as a full-screen video before the locally-generated graphics are displayed.

94. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the user with an option to select which graphics are to be displayed based on the originator of the graphics.

95. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the user with an option to prevent display of the locally-generated graphics.

96. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, wherein the graphics includes information on horse owners, horse jockeys, race conditions, and past performances.

97. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the user with an opportunity to use the user equipment to select which types of graphics to display as the locally-generated graphics.

98. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising allowing the user to select which type of content are to be included in the locally-generated graphics.

99. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising:

allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics; and

displaying additional information when the user interacts with the locally-generated graphics.

100. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics.

101. The computer readable medium defined in claim 89, the machine-readable instructions further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics using a remote control.

102. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain additional racing-related information.

103. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying information in the locally-generated graphics on a given horse jockey and allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to obtain information on another horse jockey.

104. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics as an overlay on top of the video.

105. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying an option in the locally-generated graphics that allows the user to hide the locally-generated graphics.

106. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display.

107. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying an option in the screen that allows the user to clear the locally-generated graphics from the display using a remote control.

108. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying a setup options screen on the display that includes an option for setting up graphics options.

109. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying a graphics horse racing statistics in the locally-generated graphics with which the user may interact using up and down remote control arrow keys.

110. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics.

111. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising:

displaying content created by a television producer associated with a video production system as part of the locally-generated graphics; and

allowing the user to interact with the locally-generated graphics to cause the user equipment to display locally-generated graphics containing user-specified racing information as part of the locally-generated graphics.

112. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising sending control commands to the user equipment over an analog television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

113. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising sending control commands to the user equipment over a digital data stream associated with a digital television channel that direct the user equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

114. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics according to a predetermined schedule.

115. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying the locally-generated graphics according to a schedule based on a local clock at the user equipment.

116. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system.

117. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising displaying race results in the locally-generated graphics according to control commands received from a video production system, wherein the video production system provides the wagering-related video to the user equipment.

118. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel.

119. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results.

120. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, and wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video.

121. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, and wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment.

122. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the wagering-related video to the user equipment from a video production system using a digital television channel, wherein the locally-generated graphics includes race results, wherein the race results are related to content in the wagering-related video, wherein the locally-generated video is displayed when control commands are received by the user equipment from a video production facility, and wherein the control commands are transmitted in a data stream associated with a digital television channel in which the wagering-related video is provided.

123. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein the user equipment includes a set-top box, the machine-readable instructions further comprising using the set-top box to display the locally-generated graphics.

124. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein the user equipment includes a cellular telephone, the machine-readable instructions further comprising using the cellular telephone to display the locally-generated graphics.

125. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87 wherein the user equipment includes a handheld computer, the machine-readable instructions further comprising using the handheld computer to display the locally-generated graphics.

126. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, wherein the user equipment includes a personal computer, the machine-readable instructions further comprising using the personal computer to display the locally-generated graphics.

127. The computer readable medium defined in claim 89 wherein the user equipment includes user television equipment, the machine-readable instructions further comprising using the user television equipment to display the locally-generated graphics.

128. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising providing the user with an opportunity to place an electronic wager using the user equipment.

129. The computer readable medium defined in claim 87, the machine-readable instructions further comprising sending an electronic wager to a transaction processing and subscription management system over a communications path connected to the user equipment.