Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – Player-actuated control structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-24
2003-03-04
Harrison, Jessica (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
Player-actuated control structure
C463S040000, C463S041000, C463S042000, C455S412100, C455S456500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06527641
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to wireless games, particularly, customizing interactive games with one or more players according to past mobile station activity.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electronic games have become a major part of the entertainment industry in today's modem world. The playing of electronic games on stand-alone terminals has long been popular. However, in recent years these games have migrated into a network environment.
As the complexity of electronic games, powered by increasingly sophisticated hardware and software, improves game-players often find themselves playing games which are not necessarily suited to their particular temperaments, habits, and reactions. Clearly, designers and manufacturers of electronic games must cater to the broadest possible commercial market. However in so doing there are many game players who are less than satisfied with the final result.
The restrictive user interfaces presented by mobile stations present a particular challenge when considering game-playing across a mobile network. In particular, when considering network games of the “interactive fiction” or “adventure” style, a game-player typically suffers from a limited perceptual consciousness of the potential context of the game, being constrained by the limited user interface presented by the typical mobile station. The richness of environmental variables which can potentially be brought into the context of an adventure game are not easily incorporated into such games in current mobile station systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The disclosed embodiments of the present application provide a system and a method for providing an interface to and customizing an interactive game for one or more players. The interactive game of the presently preferred embodiment is played in a wireless environment using a mobile station as a user interface. The game is tracked and controlled using a game center and a game server. The game server is typically at a location remote from the mobile station. Moreover, communication between the game server and the mobile station is typically performed using a base station connected to a telecommunications network. The game server executes a software application which runs a game center. Individual games are managed within the context of this application.
In the presently preferred embodiment, the games are text based. A command set is provided for each state within the game. The choice of a command from the command set changes the game state. Individual games are designed to be customizable. That is, attributes of the mobile station interface can be used to adjust game parameters. The game parameters can be adjusted based on, for example, current location of the mobile station, call usage on the mobile station, or wireless services utilized by the mobile station.
The disclosed embodiments provide numerous advantages. For example, use of a mobile station as an interface provides a ready source of attributes from which a game can be customized. A mobile station offers a number of unique facilities that can be integrated into a game play environment, any one or combination of which can provide a highly optimized gaming experience. For example, contacts and calendar listings in a mobile station can be modified by the game server or sound recording capabilities in a mobile station can be used to advance game play. Another advantage is that the use of a mobile station as an interface provides for the possibility of interactivity with other users and/or a server which are remote from the mobile station. For another example, use of a mobile station as an interface provides a shifting location from which new games can be customized or games can be presented which are customized to location which a user plans on visiting. For another example, use of a predictive command set allows for the reduced keypad of a mobile station to be used as an interface to the gaming application.
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Larsen Kenneth Bo
Schulz Paul David
Sinclair Matthew Frazer
Cherubin Yveste
Harrison Jessica
Lineberry Allen Scott
Nokia Corporation
Shaw Steven A.
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