Conversion/transfer of in-game credits to entity independent or negotiable funds
First Claim
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.
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Accused Products
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.
1276 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program product comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification