Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Word – sentence – or equation forming
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-11
2002-05-14
O'Neill, Michael (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Word, sentence, or equation forming
C273S292000, C273S299000, C273S15300J, C463S009000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06386543
ABSTRACT:
A listing of one preferred embodiment of the computer code is submitted herewith as
FIGS. 13-24
.
A portion of the disclosure of this application contains material subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights in and to the material of this disclosure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to computer programs involving double crostic techniques. More specifically, the invention relates to a computer program for creating, storing, printing, organizing, solving, and publishing double crostic puzzles.
2. State of the Art
Word games and vocabulary puzzles are popular forms of entertainment. Perhaps the best known of such games is the crossword puzzle. Crossword puzzles can be found in daily newspapers, weekly magazines, monthly periodicals, and in puzzle books dedicated solely to the task of solving crossword puzzles. Over the past decade a number of computer programs capable of aiding in the creation of crossword puzzles have been written. Such programs allow the user of the program to create word sets, clues sets, and solution sets to facilitate the creation of a computer generated crossword puzzle. A representative example of such a program is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,438 issued to Peter H. Rehm.
Similar in some respects to crossword puzzles, double crostic puzzles are becoming more popular as word games. Double crostic puzzles are also sometimes called acrostic puzzles, but for the purposes of this disclosure the term double crostic puzzle will be used to consistently refer to both double crostic puzzles and acrostic puzzles. An example of an unsolved hard copy double crostic puzzle is illustrated in FIG.
1
. The corresponding solution set to the double crostic puzzle illustrated in
FIG. 1
is illustrated in FIG.
2
.
A typical double crostic puzzle involves two encrypted messages. Often times, the encrypted messages are related. For example, the first encrypted message may be the name of a person and the second encrypted message may be a quote from the person identified by the first encrypted message. A solution to the double crostic puzzle in the example would reveal the quotation and the name of the individual who coined the quotation. A solution is achieved by deciphering a set of solution words. Each letter of the solution words corresponds with a letter in the encrypted messages. As the solution words are deciphered, the encrypted messages are revealed. Much like a crossword puzzle, each solution word has a corresponding clue which enables deciphering of the solution word. For example, the clue “Roses are red, Violets are_” would prompt the solution word “blue.”
One of the unique features of a double crostic puzzle is that the set of solution words is partially determined from the first encrypted message. Each letter of the first encrypted message corresponds to the first letter in exactly one solution word. As the solution words are deciphered, a solution to the first encrypted message is produced. Likewise, the letters of the solution words correspond to exactly one letter in the second encrypted message such that, as the solution words are deciphered, a solution to the second encrypted message is revealed. Therefore, the letter “b” of the solution word “blue” in the example above would correspond to one letter in the first encrypted message, and each of the letters “b” “l” “u” and “e” would correspond to letters in the second encrypted message.
To best illustrate the workings of a double crostic puzzle, a double crostic puzzle in both an unsolved and solved state is examined. An example of an unsolved double crostic puzzle is illustrated in FIG.
1
. Two encrypted messages are displayed: a first encrypted message
500
and a second encrypted message
510
. A set of undeciphered solution words
520
and their corresponding clues
530
are also depicted. The position of the letters making up the encrypted messages
500
and
510
are represented by letter lines wherein in each letter line represents one letter in the solution of the encrypted message. Beneath each letter line is an index number and a solution word identifier.
The numbers beneath the letter lines in the second encrypted message
510
are consecutively numbered beginning with the number “
1
” and ending with the number “
141
.” The consecutive numbering scheme provides an index number for each letter. As illustrated, each undeciphered solution word in the set of solution words
520
is also represented by a letter line and an index number. The index numbers appearing below the letter lines of the set of solution words
520
correspond with the index numbers of the second encrypted message
510
. Each of the index numbers in the second encrypted message
510
appears only once within the letter lines of the set of solution words
520
. The solution of the double crostic puzzle may therefore be produced by deciphering the solution words. As the solution words are deciphered, the letter lines of the solution words may be filled in and the letter corresponding to the index number of a letter line in the solution word may be transcribed into the second encrypted message
510
on the letter line having the corresponding index number. As additional solution words are deciphered, a greater portion of the second encrypted message
510
is revealed. In addition, the first encrypted message
500
is represented by a set of letter lines having index numbers corresponding to the first letter line in each of the solution words in the set of solution words
520
. As the solution words are deciphered, the letter appearing in the first letter line position of the solution word may be transcribed onto the letter line of the first encrypted message
500
corresponding to the index number of the solution word letter line. The index numbers thereby provide a means with which to associate the letters contained in the set of solution words
520
with the letter lines of the encrypted messages
500
and
510
so that, as the solution words are deciphered, the encrypted messages
500
and
510
are revealed.
It is also possible to work backwards by solving portions of one of the encrypted messages and transcribing the letters in the solved letter lines onto the corresponding letter lines in the set of solution words
520
such that the solution words may be deciphered. In addition to index number identification, each of the letter lines of the encrypted messages
500
and
510
are identified by solution word identifiers to provide a cross reference to the set of solution words
520
. The solution word identifiers in
FIG. 1
are the letters “A” through “Y” which appear next to the index numbers. Each solution word in the set of solution words
520
is represented by a solution word identifier. The letter lines in the solution word correspond to the solution word identifier. For example, the solution word identifier “I” corresponds to the solution word clue “Walk noiselessly or carefully.” Each letter line in the solution word therefore corresponds to the solution word identifier “I.” This identification allows an individual attempting to solve the double crostic puzzle to view the encrypted messages
500
and
510
and associate all of the letter lines identified by the solution word identifier “I” with the solution word represented by the solution word identifier “I.” If a letter line in one of the encrypted messages
500
and
510
is solved without the aid of the solution word and corresponding index number, the solution word identifier in the encrypted message provides a simple cross-reference to the solution word by using the solved letter lines of the encrypted message to decipher the corresponding solution words.
FIG. 2
further clarifies the concept behind a double crostic puzzle. The solution to the unsolved double crostic puzzle of
FIG. 1
is dep
Jones Scott E.
O'Neill Michael
TraskBritt P.C.
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