# US 10,679,462 B2 · Systems and methods for entering users into a game

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- Number: US 10,679,462 B2
- Document ID: US10679462B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/828,179
- Filed: 2015-08-17
- Published: 2015-12-10
- Granted: 2020-06-09
- Earliest claimed: 2001-07-13
- Assignees: Interactive Games LLC
- Applicants: Interactive Games Limited
- Inventors: Fergus A. Leen; Sam B. Lawrence; David G. McNally; Clive Hetherington; David M. McDowell; Kevin R. O'Neal
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10679462B2

## CPC

- G07F 17/3255: {Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements}
- G07F 17/32: for games, toys, sports, or amusements
- G07F 17/3223: {Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, leader-follower, wireless communication}
- G07F 17/3225: {Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users}
- G07F 17/3227: {Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters}
- G07F 17/323: {wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions}
- G07F 17/3234: {about the performance of a gaming system, e.g. revenue, diagnosis of the gaming system}
- G07F 17/3237: {about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players}
- G07F 17/3239: {Tracking of individual players}
- G07F 17/3244: {Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes}
- G07F 17/3276: {wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament}
- G07F 17/3286: {Type of games}
- G07F 17/3293: {Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack}
- G07F: COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS (coin sorting G07D3/00; coin testing G07D5/00; {handling coins or paper currencies apart from payment activated apparatus G07D; payment architectures, schemes or protocols G06Q20/00})

## Abstract

A system for providing enhanced services to users of a gaming application comprises a server and a platform remotely coupled to the server. The server executes a gaming application. The platform receives a request for enhanced services, and establishes an enhanced services session with a user of the gaming application in response to the request for enhanced services. The enhanced services session corresponds in time at least in part with the execution of the gaming application. The platform further provides enhanced services to the user of the gaming application during the enhanced services session.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus comprising:
at least one server comprising at least one processor; and
at least one memory device electronically coupled to the at least one server, wherein the at least one memory device stores instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, direct the at least one processor of the at least one server to:
register a first of a plurality of users;
receive login information from the first user;
after receiving the login information, receive from each of the plurality of users a respective at least one criterion, in which the act of receiving from each of the plurality of users the respective at least one criterion comprises (1) receiving a respective at least one criterion from the first user via a first computer system and (2) receiving a respective at least one criterion from a second of the plurality of users via a second computer system, wherein the respective at least one criterion from each of the plurality of users comprises a wager limit;
cause to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user;
based at least in part on a selection of a displayed competition by the first user, enter the first user into a competition with the second user, the competition being associated with the execution of a game, wherein the game comprises at least one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network, (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network, (4) an electronic arcade game played via an electronic communications network, and (5) an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network;
initiate the game for at least the first user and the second user;
after initiating the game for the first user and second user and before an end of the game, monitor information input by at least the first user and the second user that affect an outcome of the game;
store the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
identify parameters for generating one or more statistics;
extract from the database information associated with the identified parameters including monitored information;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generate information comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) one or more statistic values associated with the game;
cause the generated information to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device and to the second user via the second computing device;
based at least in part on monitored information, determine a winner of the game, in which the winner comprises one of the first user and the second user; and
responsive to determining the winner of the game, cause value to be transferred to an account of the winner.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the game comprises an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the game comprises an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the game comprises an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the game comprises an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user,
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises:
presenting a plurality of games to the first user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user.

### Claim 8

A method comprising:
registering, by at least one processor of at least one computer, a first of a plurality of users;
receiving, by the at least one processor, login information from the first user;
after receiving the login information, receiving, by the at least one processor, from each of the plurality of users a respective at least one criterion, in which the act of receiving from each of the plurality of users the respective at least one criterion comprises (1) receiving a respective at least one criterion from the first user via a first computer system and (2) receiving a respective at least one criterion from a second of the plurality of users via a second computer system, wherein the respective at least one criterion from each of the plurality of users comprises a wager limit;
causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user;
based at least in part on a selection of a displayed competition by the first user, by the at least one processor, the first user and the second user in a competition associated with the execution of a game, wherein the game comprises at least one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network, (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network, (4) an electronic arcade game played via an electronic communications network, and (5) an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network;
initiating, by the at least one processor, the game for at least the first user and the second user;
after initiating the game for the first user and second user and before an end of the game, monitoring, by the at least one processor, information input by at least the first user and the second user that affect an outcome of the game;
storing, by the at least one processor, the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
identifying, by the at least one processor, parameters for generating one or more statistics;
extracting from the database, by the at least one processor, information associated with the identified parameters including monitored information;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generating, by the at least one processor, information comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) one or more statistic values associated with the game;
causing, by the at least one processor, the generated information to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device and to the second user via the second computing device;
based at least in part on monitored information, determining, by the at least one processor, a winner of the game, in which the winner comprises one of the first user and the second user; and
responsive to determining the winner of the game, causing, by the at least one processor, value to be transferred to an account of the winner.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the game comprises an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the game comprises an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the game comprises an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 12 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8,
in which the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises: presenting a plurality of games to the first user.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user.

### Claim 14

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are configured to, when executed by at least one processor, direct the at least one processor to:
register first of a plurality of users;
receive login information from the first user;
after receiving the login information, receive from each of the plurality of users a respective at least one criterion, in which the act of receiving from each of the plurality of users the respective at least one criterion comprises (1) receiving a respective at least one criterion from the first user via a first computer system and (2) receiving a respective at least one criterion from a second of the plurality of users via a second computer system, wherein the respective at least one criterion from each of the plurality of users comprises a wager limit;
cause to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user based at least in part on a selection of a displayed competition by the first user enter the first user and the second user in a competition associated with the execution of a game, wherein the game comprises at least one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network, (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network, (4) an electronic arcade game played via an electronic communications network, and (5) an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network;
initiate the game for at least the first user and the second user;
after initiating the game for the first user and second user and before an end of the game, monitor information input by at least the first user and the second user that affect an outcome of the game;
store the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
identify parameters for generating one or more statistics;
extract from the database information associated with the identified parameters including monitored information;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generate information comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) one or more statistic values associated with the game;
cause the generated information to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device and to the second user via the second computing device;
based at least in part on monitored information, determine a winner of the game, in which the winner comprises one of the first user and the second user; and
responsive to determining the winner of the game, cause value to be transferred to an account of the winner.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14,
in which the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user,
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises: presenting a plurality of games to the first user, and
in which the game comprises one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network, and (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user.

### Claim 17

An apparatus comprising:
at least one server comprising at least one processor; and
at least one memory device electronically coupled to the at least one server, wherein the at least one memory device stores instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, direct the at least one processor of the at least one server to:
receive at least one criterion from a first user via a first computer system;
cause to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the at least one criterion received from the first user;
based at least in part on a selection of a displayed competition by the first user, enter the first user in a competition with the second user, the competition comprising at least one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) a sports related electronic game that is played via an electronic communications network, (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network, (4) an electronic arcade game played via an electronic communications network, and (5) an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network;
after entering the first user in the competition with the second user and before an end of the competition, monitor information input by at least the first user and the second user that affect an outcome of the competition;
store the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
identify parameters for generating one or more statistics;
extract from the database information associated with the identified parameters including monitored information;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generate information comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) one or more statistic values associated with the game;
cause the generated information to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device and to the second user via the second computing device;
based at least in part on the monitored information, determine a winner of the game, in which the winner comprises one of the first user and the second user; and
responsive to determining the winner of the game, cause value to be transferred to an account of the winner.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the game comprises an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the game comprises an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the game comprises an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 21 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17,
in which the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user,
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises: presenting a plurality of games to the first user, and
in which the at least one criterion received from the first user comprises a wager limit.

### Claim 22 (depends on 17)

The apparatus of claim 17,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user, and
in which the at least one criterion received from the first user comprises at least one of a wager minimum or a wager maximum.

### Claim 23

A method comprising:
register, by at least one processor of at least one server, a first user;
receive, by the at least one processor, login information from a first user via a first computer system;
based at least in part on the login information received from the first user, authenticate, by the at least one processor, the first user and provide the first user access to the gaming system;
receive, by the at least one processor, at least one criterion from the first user via a first computer system;
cause to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the at least one criterion received from the first user, the first computer system comprising a user interface;
based at least in part on a selection of a displayed competition by the first user, enter, by the at least one processor, the first user in a competition with a second user, the competition comprising at least one of (1) an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network, (2) a sports related electronic game that is played via an electronic communications network, (3) an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network, (4) an electronic arcade game played via an electronic communications network, and (5) an electronic dice game played via an electronic communications network;
after entering the first user in the competition with the second user and before an end of the competition, monitor, by the at least one processor, information input by at least the first user and the second user that affect an outcome of the competition;
store, by the at least one processor, the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
identify, by the at least one processor, parameters for generating one or more statistics;
retrieve, by the at least one processor, from the database information associated with the identified parameters including monitored information;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generate, by the at least one processor, information comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) one or more statistic values associated with the game;
cause, by the at least one processor, the generated information to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device;
based at least in part on the monitored information, determine, by the at least one processor, a winner of the game, in which the winner comprises one of the first user and the second user; and
responsive to determining the winner of the game, cause, by the at least one processor, value to be transferred to an account of the winner.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23, wherein the game comprises an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 25 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23, wherein the game comprises an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 26 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23, wherein the game comprises an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 27 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23,
in which the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises: presenting a plurality of games to the first user.

### Claim 28 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user.

### Claim 29

A gaming system comprising:
at least one server comprising at least one processor, the at least one server operable to provide gaming sessions for many users; and
at least one memory device electronically coupled to the at least one server, wherein the at least one memory device stores instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, direct the at least one processor of the at least one server to:
receive login information from a first user via a first computer system;
based at least in part on the login information received from the first user, authenticate the first user and provide the first user access to the gaming system;
receive from the first user via the first computer system at least one criterion;
cause to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the at least one criterion from the first user;
enter the first user into one of the plurality of displayed competitions, wherein the competition into which the first user is entered comprises at least one of (1) a card game based competition, (2) a sports related competition, (3) a casino game based competition, (4) an arcade game based competition, and (5) a dice game based competition, in which the competition is played via an electronic communications network;
receive login information from a second user via a second computer system;
based at least in part on the login information received from the second user, authenticate the second user and provide the second user access to the gaming system;
receive from the second user via the second computer system one or more criteria;
based at least in part on the one or more criteria received from the second user, cause to be displayed to the second user information about the same competition into which the first user is entered;
based at least in part on a selection by the second user of the same competition into which the first user is entered, enter the second user into that competition;
monitor information input by at least the first user and the second user that affects an outcome of the competition into which the first and second users are entered;
store the monitored information in a database electronically coupled to the at least one server;
extract from the database information, including monitored information, for generating one or more statistics;
based at least in part on the monitored information extracted from the database, generate one or more statistic values comprising at least one of (1) rankings of at least the first user and the second user, (2) skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and (3) statistic values associated with the competition entered by the first and second users;
cause the generated one or more statistic values to be displayed to the first user via the first computing device and to the second user via a second computing device; and
based at least in part on monitored information, determine a winner of the competition into which the first and second users were entered, and cause value to be transferred to an account of the determined winner.

### Claim 30 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the competition comprises an electronic card game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 31 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the competition comprises an electronic game that involves a sport and that is played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 32 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the competition comprises an electronic casino game played via an electronic communications network.

### Claim 33 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29,
in which the generated information comprises rankings of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of causing to be displayed to the first user via the first computer system information about a plurality of possible competitions that meet the received at least one criterion from the first user comprises: presenting a plurality of games to the first user.

### Claim 34 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29,
in which the generated information comprises skill levels of at least the first user and the second user, and
in which the act of receiving at least one criterion from the first user occurs after authenticating the first user based on login information received from the first user.

### Claim 35 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the game comprises a dice game based competition.