Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Method for gaming and gaming system
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a method for gaming and for a gaming system.
More particularly the present invention relates to mobile or networked gaming
with
a terminal, such as a mobile terminal.
Background of the invention
As the use of network and particularly wireless network technology has become
everyday habit, the gaming and gambling has also been implemented to that envi-
ronment. Several types of network or mobile phone based gaming methods are gen-
erally known. One interesting field of network or mobile gambling is real time
type
of gambling, wherein the player will know immediately if he wins. Usually the
player has to register first to the game service provider in order to play.
IE20020907 describes a method of playing a game, such as a lottery game, based
on
a mobile phone network, wherein a player dials up a game service provider
using a
mobile phone. If playing for the first time, the player registers with the
game service
provider and receives a personal identification number (PIN) from the
provider. The
game service provider downloads a portal module to the subscriber
identification
module (SIM) card of the player's mobile phone. The player then plays the
game,
and arranges for payment to the provider, before hanging up. Generally in
order to
be programmable in such way, the SIM card must be specially designed for that
purpose, and for example provided by that specific service provider.
Also, the charging for the gaming or the payment of the win is usually
arranged in a
relatively complicated way. WO01/48712 Al discloses a method and system for
providing real time scratch-off lottery like games over a wireless network.
Substan-
tially concurrently, security, including win/loss determination is maintained
by a
betting service provider on a system apart from the wireless station of the
user. A
user authentication routine is executed by the betting service. Once the user
is au-
thenticated, a choice of electronic lottery ticket-like games is presented and
the user
selects one or more "tickets". Once a selection is made, the betting service
randomly
selects game tickets and transmits them to the user. Once received by the
user, the
CONFIRMATION COPY
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game ticket can be played on a wireless station. In a preferred embodiment,
the ga-
me is presented as an electronic representation of a scratch-off-type lottery
ticket. A
determination of winning or losing is made as the user plays the game. If the
user
has lost, the user may play another ticket, select another game or quit
playing and
log-off the betting service. If the user wins the lottery game, the designated
prize,
can be credited to the betting service account of the user. The credit to the
user can
also be made in the form of the issue of new lottery game tickets (with or
without
additional credit to the users account). The user may then play another
selected
ticket, select another ticket, or log-off the betting service. In this method
the system
creates and tracks user accounts and the win prizes are credited to the
betting ser-
vice account of the user.
The idea of the present invention is to provide a simple automated system for
use in
network or mobile gaming. Any suitable terminal, such as mobile terminal,
should
be usable as the gaming terminal as such. No installation of additional
applications
to the terminal should be needed nor should any modifications be made to
terminal,
SIM card, software or like. Furthermore, no registration to the service or
specific
SIM card provided by the gaming operator should be needed and the gaming
service
should be accessible generally everywhere. The payment of prizes and the
transfer
of the prize money should be independent of the terminal. As there is poor
support
in the mobile terminals for the mobile payment systems, such as wallet
applications,
the use of such systems should be avoided.
Summary of the invention
The present invention provides a method and system for playing a networked or
mobile game by messages between a user using a terminal and gaming system
within a single gaming session. In said single gaming session said user sends
a first
message to said gaming system, wherein said user is identified by an existing
user
identifier without a specific registration to said gaming system, and said
gaming
system calculates a win/loss value for said user to defme if there is a win or
loss in
the game, and said gaming system responses with a second message to said user
to
report the result of said game.
In the case of win said user may respond with a third message to said gaming
sys-
tem to provide payment system account information for the prize payment, such
as
bank account number. Then the gaming system responses to said user with a mes-
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sage containing a verification of the payment, such as an verification code,
and said
user sends back said verification code to said gaming system in order to
accept a
prize payment. The gaming system may pay the prize according to given payment
system account information, if other conditions for the payment are fulfilled,
such
as age of majority of the player or other possible conditions set by local
legislation.
The win prize may also be added to player's gaming account.
Generally the user payment for the gaming is associated with said first
message, but
also other ways of payment are possible, for example the payment may be associ-
ated to a gaming event already happened, such as a gaming event from the day
be-
fore or like.
An advantage of the present invention is that any mobile, wireless or other
suitable
terminal can be used as such without any modifications or application
downloads.
Another advantage of the present invention is that no separate registration to
gam-
ing system is needed for playing.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that gaming is possible
virtually
everywhere.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that the payment of prizes
is sim-
ple and independent of the type of terminal used.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that the gaming is
independent of
the telephone number.
One aspect of the present invention refers to a method described above to play
a
electronic mobile or networked game.
Another aspect of the present invention refers to a gaming system for playing
the
mobile game as described in the method above.
Still another aspect of the present invention refers to a server or device
arrangement
for providing the mobile game as described in the method above.
Next the present invention will be described in details. References will be
made to
the following figures.
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Brief description of the drawings
Figure 1 shows a schematic drawing of a system according to present invention
Figure 2 shows an example of gaming events on a display of a mobile phone
Figure 3 shows a flow chart of the start of the gaming process
Figure 4 shows a flow chart of the gaming process
Figure 5 shows a flow chart of a weekly lottery
Figure 6 shows a flow chart of the payment of a win prize
Detailed description of the invention
Generally the system of the present invention should include at least the end
user of
the service, the network or mobile phone operator, the gaming service provider
and
the payment systems.
The "end user" of the service refers to a user, or the player, who plays the
game ac-
cording to the invention. The end user, or user or player as referred herein,
generally
uses a terminal for playing. In one embodiment said terminal is any known
mobile
terminal, such as a mobile phone or any other mobile device, e.g.
"communicator"
or personal digital assistance type of device. Such terminal is capable of
communi-
cating on suitable network, such as on a wireless network, internet or like,
for ex-
ample on a cellular phone network. The user messages according to the
invention
are generally sent by the user with said terminal to the service provider.
The "network or mobile phone operator" refers to service provider, who
provides
the wireless or wired network services, such as mobile phone services or
internet
services to enable the network or mobile phone communication between its
clients.
Said operator may also debit the costs of games and/or win prizes or
intermediate
such payments.
The "gaming service provider" refers to the gaming operator, who provides the
gaming service. Generally said gaming service provider utilises the services
of the
network, internet or mobile phone operator. The gaming service provider may
also
be a network, internet, cable TV, terrestrial or satellite operator for analog
or digital
television networks, digital radio, mobile phone operator or any other
suitable op-
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erator network or like. The "gaming system" refers to the system or systems of
the
gaming service provider needed to enable the playing of the game according to
the
invention. The gaming system may contain one or more servers, networks, data
bases and other suitable device and software arrangements. Generally such
gaming
5 system works substantially automatically without any user intervention by
the gam-
ing operator.
The "payment systems" refers to any suitable payment system to be used in the
method of the present invention. Such payment systems include the systems of a
bank or other monetary institution or like. Payment can also be made in
advance by
purchasing or otherwise paying for credits that can be used to pay for gaming
events
(prepaid systems, payment systems for digital television etc.)
An example of such system setup according to the invention is shown on Figure
1.
There are shown the end user (1) and the gaming service provider's system (3),
who
are connected with mobile phone network and Internet. The network or mobile
phone operator (2) enables the communication between the end user (1) and the
gaming service provider (3). The end user (1) uses any kind of suitable
terminal,
such as mobile phone. The gaming service provider (3) may have different kind
of
servers to enable the gaming and payments, such as a gaming server, a data
base
server or a payment server. There is also a payment system (4), which may
contain
specific networks and servers of a bank or several banks, such as the bank of
the
end user (the player) and the bank of the gaming service provider. The end
user may
send a service request via the operator (2) to the gaming service provider (3)
to
play. To pay the win prize the gaming service provider (3) may send payment re-
quests to the payment system (4) to make a credit transfer to the player's
bank ac-
count.
Suitable games to be played with the method of the present invention include
gener-
ally any money game or like, which can be played with suitable terminal, which
may be mobile, stationary, wireless, wired, external device connected to an
existing
device (for example digital television set top box) or of any other suitable
type. Any
games wherein the player (user) sets bets or pays gaming payments to get a
prize or
prizes from the game are suitable games to be used in the system of the
invention. A
general example of such game is a simple lottery, wherein the gaming system
makes a draw and the player is informed whether or not there was a win. Such
lot-
tery may be carried out with an aid of a computerized system, such as by
random
number generation to calculate a win or loss value for every game. The prize
may
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be announced substantially immediately or later, e.g. in the case of a timed
lottery,
such as weekly or monthly lottery, or like.
In the system of the invention the player contacts the gaming system directly
or in-
directly, generally by using telematic means, such as mobile or network connec-
tions, or other suitable means. Examples of devices and terminals to be used
are
mobile phones and like, computers, gaming terminals, digital TVs, digital
video
cameras with internet connectivity, digital set top box for analog television,
car
computers and other consumer electronics devices capable of network, cellular
net-
work or peer-to-peer communication. The gaming terminals include public gaming
terminals and gaming terminals used at home, such as XBOX, Playstation,
Gamecube or like. The devices and terminals to be used may contain the user
identi-
fication or they may be associated with means to read said identification from
an-
other source. The identification may also be entered manually by the end user.
The prize (or prizes), such as money or other goods, of the game may or may
riot be
predetermined or the prize may be associated with the profit, revenues, number
of
players, number of gaming events or other measurable or non-measurable
quantities
of the service.
The prize may be delivered to the winner directly during the gaming event,
such as
gaming session, or it can be delivered indirectly to an institution, such as a
bank or
other monetary institution) assigned by the player by any suitable means.
Examples
of such means are bank transfer, giro transfer, cheque or any other generally
known
mean or method for transferring money or other goods.
The prize may be transferred automatically or by the user of the service or
represen-
tative thereof, immediately or delayed in respect of the gaming event.
The payment of the prize may be secured in any suitable way known in the art.
One
example of such secure system is to provide a verification code, which must be
sent
back to the sender in order to accept the event associated with the
verification. For
example one embodiment of the present invention provides a system wherein the
user sends a message to gaming system to give the user's bank account
information
for the prize payment. The gaming system will reply with a message containing
a
complex verification code. Then the user will send back this code to the
gaming
system to accept the payment, and the gaming system will pay the prize to the
bank
account given. The user may send back the whole message containing the
verifica-
tion code or only a part of it, such as only said verification code.
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The "gaming session" refers to one single gaming event starting from the event
wherein the user contacts the gaming system for the first time for that
particular
game until the end of that gaming event, such as the reporting of the result
or the
acceptance of the prize payment. If the user starts again another similar
gaming
event by contacting the gaming system again in the same manner as before, it
should be considered as another gaming session, even though the user
identification
information could be already recognized by the gaming system.
In the method of the present invention the user has an existing identifier
which is
not originally related to the game, such as phone number, social security
number,
bank security code, biometric ID, national or international digital id,
trusted device
identification, credit card number, imei-code, sim-code, other trusted account
identi-
fication, digital television terminal id code, any other suitable code, number
or other
means of identifying, determining or otherwise separating and uniquely
identifying
players from each others, which identifier already exists before starting the
gaming
session. This existing identifier does not have to be provided by the gaming
service
provider and this is why the user does not have to actively register to the
gaming
service but the service will recognize said existing identifier and uses that
to iden-
tify the user. The gaming service provider may register said existing user
identifier
on a database or like, but in the present invention this is not considered as
registra-
tion for the game by the user, since the identifier is given without any
separate ac-
tive action by the user. In a case where the gaming service provider is also a
tele-
phone operator or like, the existing identifier may be provided by the same
service
provider, but substantially for other purposes than playing. A general example
of
such identifier is a phone number, which is originally given for operating a
tele-
phone, not for gaming purposes.
Said existing user identification may be provided to the gaming system by any
suit-
able means. In one embodiment the identification is provided as a phone number
within a text message. In another embodiment the identification is provided by
us-
ing a specific reader associated with the terminal used for playing, which
reader
may read information from the identification means. Such reader may be remote
or
wireless type of reader or a reader in contact with the identification means.
Exam-
ples of such readers are a card reader, such as bank or credit card or
identification
card reader, a smart card reader, a Bluetooth or wireless USB connection to
contact
the identification means, such as a mobile phone or like which contains the
user
identification, or an optical reader, such as bar code reader.
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The messages used in the method of the present invention may be any suitable
mes-
sages, such as SMS messages, multimedia messages, SMS-like messages, email
messages or secured email message. The messages may be words of any natural
language or anything else, such as codes or messages produced automatically,
for
example in a case of digital television system. The messages send directly or
indi-
rectly by the end user or terminal used to play the game by end user are meant
to
indicate the will of the end user to accomplish different kinds of events,
generally
related to the game currently being played. Non-limiting examples of such mes-
sages are plain text messages "PLAY" or "PAY" sent by any mobile phone.
The message reporting the result of the game, generally sent by the gaming
system,
may be a simple message containing only text, such as a text message of a
mobile
phone, or it may contain also other elements, such as images and sound, e.g.
multi-
media message, image or like. The message may be any other suitable message
type
used by suitable carrier network including, but not limited to, all
terrestrial or satel-
lite networks. It may also be a disposable multimedia application. In all
cases the
purpose of this reporting message is to provide information about the result
of the
game, which result is already determined. A more complicated form of such mes-
sage may improve the playability of the game or make it more exciting. Example
of
such message is a multimedia animation, which shows a scratch-off type lottery
ticket animation. Even though the actual lottery has already been carried out
by the
gaming system and the result is already determined, the player is given the
excite-
ment of the game by providing said result piece by piece with said animation,
which
may be interactive or non-interactive.
As this message may be an application, it should be noted that applications
relating
to actual playing of the game, for example applications which carry out the
actual
lottery act or other acts to solve or affect to the result of the game, are
not included
in the scope of the present invention.
Also other messages may be sent during the game, such as for informing the
user
about the terms of playing, or for ensuring certain acts or choices the user
has made.
These optional messages may generally facilitate the gaming process, but they
are
not essential for the present invention.
Now the present invention will be described with examples relating to gaming
with
a mobile terminal, such as mobile phone. These examples are provided only to
enlighten the idea of the present invention and they should not be considered
as lim-
iting the scope of the invention. A person skilled in the art can figure out
several
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other embodiments which can be applied on different environments, terminals,
games and like within the scope of the attached claims.
Examples
Example 1. The course of a game
A. Opening a game account
The player sends a text message "PLAY" to the gaming service (Figure 2.1.1).
The
service will reply by announcing that player is about to start playing (Figure
2.1.2).
The gaming service may also announce the terms of playing. If after this the
player
will send a message indicating the gaming to the service, it will be
interpreted as
accepting the terms.
B. Playing, winning
The player sends a text message "PLAY" or the name of the game or like to the
ser-
vice (Figure 2.2.1). The service calculates a win/loose value for the player
and the
value indicates that there is a win. The service will reply by announcing
"Congratu-
lations, you have just won!" (Figure 2.2.2) The service may give instructions
how to
cash the prize by sending a message back to the service with bank account
number
and name. The player may still also take part to weekly lottery (Figure
2.2.3).
C. Playing, no win
The player sends a text message "PLAY" or the name of the game or like to the
ser-
vice (Figure 2.3.1). The service calculates a win/loose value for the player
and the
value indicates that there is no win. The service will reply by announcing
"Unfortu-
nately you did not win an instant prize" (Figure 2.3.2). The player may still
also
take part to weekly lottery (Figure 2.3.3).
D. Cashing the prize
To be able to cash the prize the player must confirm the bank account or
personal
identification information. For example player under 18 may not be able to
cash the
prize (as may be indicated in the terms of playing). The player sends a
message with
bank account number, name and an indication to pay the prize (Figure 2.4.1).
The
service will reply by confirming the information (Figures 2.4.2, 2.4.3). The
service
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will send a message containing a disposable verification code (Figure 2.4.4)
which
the player must send back to the service in order to accept the bank transfer
and get
the prize.
Example 2. The server process
5 The processes of the game progress on the server of the gaming system are de-
scribed here. The gaming event example described here is a similar to the one
de-
scribed above wherein a mobile phone is used as the terminal for playing. Also
other suitable types of terminals and messages may be used. Not all of the
essential
steps of the processes are shown in the flow charts of the following examples,
but
10 rather some exemplary steps to show some of the processes carried out at
different
phases. The terminal as referred herein represents the end user.
1. The first gaming session (Figure 3)
The terminal sends a message "play" to the server. The server checks if the
service
has been used before from that particular phone number. If not, the system
will send
the terminal a message which tells the tenns of playing. The messages and
possibly
other information are saved into data base. In the terminal the player is
shown the
terms of playing. It is also told, that sending a message which indicates
playing is
interpreted as accepting the terms. The server will check if the use from that
particu-
lar phone is allowed. If yes, the events are considered as normal gaming
events. If
not, the player will reply to the terminal and inform the player that the use
of the
service from that number is forbidden. The data base will save the
information. The
information herein refers to any information related to the gaming, player,
terminal
or like, such as the messages, gaming events, phone numbers or other user
identifi-
cation and like.
2. Playing (Figure 4)
The terminal sends a message "play" to the server. The server checks from the
data-
base if the service has been used before from that particular phone number. If
this is
the first time, see 1(The first gaming session). If the player is already
known and
the phone number is in to data base, the server will check if the playing from
that
particular terminal is allowed. If not, the player will reply to the terminal
and inform
the player that the use of the service from that number is forbidden. The
events are
saved into data base. If the playing is allowed, the server will draw lots
i.e. the win
or loss is calculated and the game result will be available. A message telling
the re-
sult of the game is sent and shown at the terminal. The user message is added
to an-
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other lottery that will be drawn later ("weekly lottery") and the jackpot is
increased.
The events are saved into data base.
3. Paying the prize (Figure 5)
The terminal sends a message "pay" to the server. The server checks if the
bank ac-
count information for that specific phone number is saved. If not, the server
will re-
ply by giving the instructions in a message. Is yes, the server will reply by
message
showing the bank account information already saved into database. The events
are
saved into data base. The terminal will accept the bank transfer. The server
will
contact a bank and transfer the money. The server will update the win tracking
da-
tabases. The server will check if the event was successful. If yes, the
transfer event
if verified. The events are saved into data base. If now, the user is informed
about
the error. The events are saved into data base.
4. Weekly lottery (Figure 6)
The server will start the timed weekly game. The gaming process is carried out
and
the jackpot and smaller wins are determined. The events are saved into data
base.
The server will inform all the participants and the winners about the results.
WWW-
pages concerning the game situation are updated. The user terminals show the
play-
ers a message whether or not the player has won. The events are saved into
data
base. The server will update the win tracking databases. The events are saved
into
data base.
