Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – With communication link
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-04
2001-11-06
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
With communication link
C463S042000, C463S001000, C463S043000, C725S039000, C725S040000, C725S043000, C725S045000, C725S051000, C725S053000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312336
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to gaming systems generally and more particularly to gaming guide systems which enable a user to make selections from the gaming guide systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electronic program guides which provide television program schedule information are known in the art.
Such electronic program guides are described, for example, in the following U.S. patents assigned to Starsight Telecast Incorporated of Fremont Calif. : U.S. 5,532,754; 5,479,266, 5,479,268, 4,706,121 and 5,353,121. Some program guide systems also allow VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) scheduling such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,977,455 and 5,151,789 which are also assigned to Starsight Telecast Incorporated of Fremont Calif.
U.S. Pat. 5,684,525 to Klosterman et al., which is also assigned to Starsight Telecast Incorporated, describes a scheme for merging television schedule information received from multiple sources. A microprocessor mixes and sorts the television schedule information received from the multiple sources, and the schedule information is then displayed in a television schedule guide. A user can select a program by pointing to that program in the displayed schedule information. The system then carries out an automatic switching/tuning such that the required source device is input to the destination device, and a tuner is then tuned to the selected program's channel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,539,450 and 5,592,212 to Handelman describe a pay television gaming system including a pay television network having a multiplicity of subscriber units each including a television, receiving apparatus for receiving gaming inputs from the multiplicity of subscriber units, transmitting apparatus for transmitting to the multiplicity of subscriber units information relating to gaming results and accounting apparatus for settling gaming debts and winnings via the pay television network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,412 to Handelman et al. describes a CATV system including a CATV network and apparatus for transmitting over the CATV network information to a multiplicity of subscriber units, each including a CATV decoder and an IC card reader and writer coupled to the CATV decoder, the IC card reader and writer includes two separate IC card receptacles, such that IC cards inserted into the two separate IC card receptacles are separately accessed by the IC card reader and writer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,838 to Lawler et al. describes a program time guide for an interactive viewing system which allows a user to control the time and channels for which program information is displayed.
Electronic program guides are also described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,264,924; 4,264925; 4,602,279; 5,051,822; 5,181,107; 5,393,057; 5,459,522; 5,465,113; 5,473,609; 5,515,106; 5,541,738; 5,559,548.
The disclosures of all references mentioned above and throughout the present specification are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide communication systems having electronic gaming guides which provide gaming schedule information and access to different types of games.
In the present invention, gaming guides which are available from or provided by disparate information sources may be viewed simultaneously on a display at a user unit, preferably, at separate locations on the display. The disparate information sources may include a headend of a satellite network, an Internet Service Provider, a memory attached to the user unit and other appropriate sources.
At the user unit, information from the disparate sources is linked according to dynamic or pre-determined criteria typically comprising at least one of keywords, logical connections, and rules. Thus, gaming guide information from one of the disparate sources which is viewed at a first location on the display may effect display of related gaming guide information from the other disparate sources at other locations on the display.
The gaming guides from the disparate sources may be combined by a processor at the user unit. When the user performs an operation, such as sorting, the operation is typically performed on all the gaming guides. Thus, access to and operations on the gaming guides are typically unified and enabled via combined menus.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a gaming guide method including:
providing first gaming guide information from a television network and second gaming guide information from a computer based communication network; and
displaying simultaneously at least a portion of the first gaming guide information and at least a portion of the second gaming guide information.
Additionally, the displaying step also includes:
displaying the at least a portion of the first gaming guide information and the at least a portion of the second gaming guide information in separate regions on a display.
Preferably, computer based communication network includes at least one of the following: the Internet; a local area network (LAN); a wide area network (WAN); and a commercial interactive communication network.
Preferably, the method also includes the step of combining the at least a portion of the first gaming guide information and the at least a portion of the second gaming guide information to form combined gaming guide information prior to the displaying step, and wherein
the displaying step includes displaying the combined gaming guide information.
The method also preferably includes the step of retrieving third gaming guide information from a storage device, and wherein the displaying step includes the step of:
displaying on a display the at least a portion of the first gaming guide information, the at least a portion of the second gaming guide information and at least a portion of the third gaming guide information simultaneously.
Preferably, the method also includes:
performing a selection from the at least a portion of the first gaming guide information and from the at least a portion of the second gaming guide information.
Alternatively or additionally, the method includes:
performing a selection from the at least a portion of the first gaming guide information, from the at least a portion of the second gaming guide information, and from the at least a portion of the third gaming guide information.
Preferably, the first gaming guide information includes a first list of available games, the second guide information includes a second list of available games and the third guide information includes a third list of available games, and
the displaying step includes the step of displaying the first list of available games, the second list of available games and the third list of available games in a single menu.
Additionally, the method includes the step of marking at least one favorite game from at least one of the first list, the second list, and the third list.
There is also provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a gaming guide method including:
providing data base management software;
providing first gaming guide information from a television network and second gaming guide information from a computer based communication network, the first gaming guide information and the second gaming guide information each being provided in a format acceptable as input by the data base management software; and
employing the data base management software to combine the first gaming guide information and the second gaming guide information into a combined gaming guide data base, and to handle interactions between a user and the combined gaming guide data base.
Preferably, the interactions include at least one of the following: information retrieval; information input; and information display.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a gaming control method for controlling participation of a user in a game, the method including:
employing separate environment codes which are associated with separate playing environments, each envi
Handelman Doron
Zviel David
Cheng Joe H.
Kasick Julie
Ladas & Parry
NDS Limited
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