NL1033796C2 - Interactive game implementing method for TV studio i.e. living room environment, involves providing game code for conducting action based on play area indicated by game code coordinates - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves receiving electronic signals e.g. short messaging service (SMS) message, from a telecommunication network (31) for processing resources (34) i.e. game server, via a playback unit e.g. TV, for playing a show for a set of participants (6) in a playing field (7) comprising a set of play areas, where each play area is identifiable with a unique code coordinate. A game code is provided for conducting an action based on the play area indicated by game code coordinates. A return signal including instructions for identification of a solution of the game is sent to the participant. An independent claim is also included for a system for implementing an interactive game in a TV studio i.e. living room environment.

Description

Short description: Method and system for implementing an interactive game.

The present invention relates to a method for implementing an interactive game, wherein processing means represent a playing field via display means for the benefit of a plurality of participants. The invention further relates to a system for implementing such an interactive game.

With the advent of commercial television a few decades ago, 10 much thought has been given to making maximum use of the available broadcasting time, especially at those times when the viewing potential for a television channel is relatively low, such as in the middle of the day or at night . It is nowadays extremely popular to supplement the regular programming of television channels with so-called ring games. A ringing game is a live television program in which a game item is shown to the viewer at home on the screen, and in which the viewer is invited to make his solution known live in the broadcast, usually via a telephone number at a special rate. Such ring games enable a television channel to make good commercial use of the less favorable transmission times.

A problem that has arisen when transmitting ring games is that the handling of incoming solutions for the displayed task is not transparent to the participant. As a result, the ring game appears to be unreliable. Recently, ringing games were discredited because the handling thereof allowed the provider of the ringing game to make the ringing game run unfairly in such a way that the turnover generated by the ringing game could be increased by the provider. In the current standard method of handling a call, a participant calls a telephone number, and the provider of the call plays a participant who will be connected to the presenter of the call in the studio. The 30 participant can then give his solution and is told whether or not he has won a prize. This way of handling incoming solutions can, for example, be easily manipulated by making the selection procedure so slow that in the meantime many additional solutions arrive via the telephone number with special rate 1 0 33 796 2. This maximizes the turnover of the ring game. However, the participant may get the impression that he is being kept "on the line", which results in an extremely undesirable situation for all parties involved.

Moreover, the problem described above is further exacerbated by the fact that the ringing game also has the purpose of filling up the transmission time. The ringing game should therefore preferably take some time to arouse the interest of the viewer and to provide some entertainment value.

In view of the above problems, the object of the invention is to provide a system and method for implementing an interactive game in such a way that it can be reliably assumed for participants.

To this end, the invention provides a method for implementing an interactive game, wherein processing means display a playing field via display means for a plurality of participants, wherein the playing field comprises a plurality of playing areas, each playing area being identifiable with a coordinate code unique to each playing area, and wherein the processing means receive one or more electronic signals comprising electronic signal content from a telecommunications network, and wherein a processing coordinate code is determined by the processing means on the basis of the electronic signal content for performing a game action relating to an action playing area which is defined by the game coordinate code indicated.

Because a processing coordinate code is determined by the processing means on the basis of the electronic signal content for performing a game action, the course of the game is automatically controlled by the participants in the interactive game, without the intervention of selection procedures that can be experienced as unfair. The participating sender of the electronic signal can see directly via the display means, for example his television screen, that his signal has been received and has led to the intended game action.

The content of the electronic signal may, as in the preferred embodiment, comprise a game coordinate code that is simply read out and processed by the processing means. It is also possible to determine a play coordinate code indirectly based on the content of the electronic signal. For example, it is possible for a plurality of electronic signals to be received by the processing means (for example within a set period of time) and for a game coordinate code to be determined by the processing means, being for example the game coordinate code 5 which has occurred most frequently. Another option is that the signal comprises a command, for example "left", "right", "above" or "below", and on the basis thereof a playing coordinate code is determined by the processing means for moving, for example, a cursor through the playing field .

The game action associated with the game coordinate code can be, for example, the visualization of a part of an image below the game field, or can be, for example, a movement of a game unit (such as a pawn or cursor) in the direction of a selected game coordinate code. Of course, other game actions are also possible, and it is only important that the game action relates in any way to the particular game coordinate code.

In response to receiving an electronic signal, a return message or return signal can be sent by the processing means to the participating sender of the electronic signal. This return message may, for example, comprise instructions for making a solution of the interactive game known by the participating sender. The return message may, for example, provide a new SMS number, an e-mail address or a telephone number with which the participating sender can come into contact for passing on the solution. The return message or return signal may also include data for displaying the playing field. The return message can be, for example, an MMS message comprising an image of the playing field.

The invention can be applied to facilitate ring games on television, but is also applicable in a broader sense to facilitating games via an electronic billboard, for example in a stadium, at concerts or competitions, or on the street, facilitating games via a internet website, where participants see the playing field via the website, or via other well-known multicast 30 display systems. The electronic signals that can be sent to the processing means can for instance be selected from a group comprising electronic messages, such as short messaging system (SMS) messages, multimedia messaging system (MMS) messages, e-mail messages, electronic signals or voice response messages systems, Dual Tone Multi 4

Frequency (DTMF) signals, or electronic signals or messages from automatic speech recognition systems (Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)).

According to a second aspect, the invention provides a system for implementing an interactive game, comprising processing means 5 adapted for displaying a playing field via display means, wherein the playing field comprises a plurality of playing areas and wherein each playing area is identifiable with a coordinate code unique to each playing area , wherein the processing means are adapted to receive one or more electronic signals comprising electronic signal content from a telecommunications network, and to determine a game coordinate code on the basis of the electronic signal content, and to perform a game action relating to an action game area indicated by the game coordinate code.

The present invention will be elucidated with reference to non-limiting embodiments thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an embodiment of the system according to the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates a method according to the invention; Figure 3 illustrates an alternative method according to the invention; and

Figures 4A-4C illustrate a possible game play of an interactive game implemented in accordance with the invention.

Figure 1 shows a system according to the invention, and in particular shows a television studio (schematically indicated within the dotted circle) 1, and for example a living room environment (schematically indicated within the dotted circle) 2. In the television studio 1, a presenter 6 presents a ring game based on a playing field which is schematically indicated by 7. The television program presented by the presenter 6 is recorded with a television camera 5. The course of the game is actually monitored by processing means 34, and the playing field maintained by processing means 34 is recorded in the television program recorded by camera 5 processed with studio mixing systems known to those skilled in the art, schematically indicated by reference numeral 9. To this end, the studio system receives both the image signal from camera 5 and graphic data from the playing field 7 of processing means 34. Processing means 34 may consist of rtoe suitable server.

The television program 5 composed by studio mixing system is then broadcast, and can be received in a conventional manner via a plurality of television screens, for example in the living rooms of potential participants of the game. This is schematically indicated with transmitting unit 10, however, the skilled person will understand that nowadays media such as cable television, internet television and other forms of multicast systems can / will be used for this purpose.

The interactive game is received, for example, on television set 13 in the living room of participant 14. Participant 14, completely under the spell of the ring game, decides by means of his telephone to send a coordinate code for effecting a game action corresponding to the coordinate code 15. The coordinate code (schematically indicated by 16) is transmitted by means of an SMS 25 via its mobile telephone 17 to a base station 24 connected to a telecommunications network 31. The telecommunications network 31, consisting of telecommunication codes 32, transmits the electronic SMS message to processing means / game server 34, where the coordinate code sent in by participant 14 is read out and used as game coordinate code for effecting the game action envisaged by participant 14 (further explained below). If possible, the coordinate code sent in by participant 14, and / or the telephone number of participant 14 are stored in memory 35 of game server 34. The game action is accomplished by refreshing / updating the playing field in which the changes made by the game action the playing field. This may, for example, consist of performing a movement of a cursor in the playing field in the direction of the game coordinate, or by making visible a part of an image located below the playing field (after which the participants 30, for example, have to guess what the subject of the image is). With the help of mobile telephones 18, 19 and 20, a plurality of participants send SMS messages 26, 27 and 28 to game server 34 and the playing field is updated each time, until one of the participants thinks they know what the solution of the displayed be a statement and take appropriate action.

6

In the case of an image that is located below the playing field slowly becoming visible, one of the participants, say participant 14, will after a while know what is visible on the image. According to an embodiment of the invention, each participant 5 who sends an SMS with a coordinate code is sent an electronic return message (for example, again an SMS) with instructions that enable the participant to make his solution known. Participant 14 may, for example, after sending his coordinate code with SMS 25, have received a return message in which a telephone number is stated. When participant 14 calls this telephone number 10, and the line is not occupied by other participants, he is immediately forwarded to the studio 1 and can make his solution known to the presenter 6.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the game principle disclosed herein can be implemented in many ways. Possible game forms that lend themselves to be played via a method and system according to the invention are, for example (the above described) guessing the subject of an image ('picture guess'), memory, sea battle, strategy, etc .. Also For example, the aforementioned 'picture guess' variant can be used to introduce a new product.

Figure 2 shows schematically how the handling of electronic messages in the game server 34 could take place, for example. An electronic message is received in step 38. The game server 34 determines a coordinate code from the received electronic message based on the electronic message content (step 39). Also, in step 39, the telephone number of the sending participant is determined, and is for instance stored in memory 35 of the game server. In step 40, a game action is performed on the basis of the determined game coordinate code from the electronic message, and the game field is refreshed. Since the most used version of the playing field is constantly displayed on the display means used, the sending participant can directly observe the intended game action on his television screen.

In step 42, a return message is compiled and memory 35 is consulted in order to retrieve the telephone number of the participating sender. In step 42, the return message with instructions for announcing the solution of the game is sent to the sending participant 7.

Figure 3 shows an alternative method for handling messages according to the invention. In step 45, a timer is started with a specific end time. One or more messages are received in step 46, and are read out in step 47, in the same way as it does in step 39 in Figure 2. The transmitted coordinate codes and the telephone numbers of the sending participants of all received messages are stored in memory 35 In step 50, it is determined whether the end time set in the timer has already been reached. If this is not the case (51), the game server 34 will continue to receive incoming messages. When the end time is reached (52), the received coordinate codes 54 are retrieved from memory 35 (step 53), and for example the most transmitted coordinate code is used as game coordinate code. In step 56, a game action is performed on the playing field which relates to the selected playing coordinate code. Subsequently, in step 57, a plurality of return messages 15 are sent to the participating senders whose telephone numbers 59 are located in the memory 35 of game server 34. This can be done in various ways. For example, it is possible to provide all participants who have sent a message with the instructions for submitting the solution via the return message. It is also possible to send the return message only to those participants who have sent the selected game coordinate code. Those skilled in the art will understand that of course other implementations of this step are also possible without prejudice to the invention. In step 58, the return message is sent to the participating senders.

Figures 4A-4C show a possible game progress of an interactive game implemented using the present invention. In Figure 4A a playing field 61 is shown that is divided into sections, and where each section can be identified with a corresponding coordinate code: A1, A2, ..., C2, C3. The playing field can take any possible shape and size, and the invention is of course not limited to application to a square playing field of 3 x 3 compartments. Other shapes such as triangles, stars, rectangles, circles or ovals, but also random shapes, symmetrical or asymmetrical, whimsical shapes with many bulges or uniform shapes, playing fields whose contours resemble contours of objects, objects or characters (such as playing fields in the in the form of, for example, a letter), 8 may also be used. The playing areas in the playing field can be adjacent playing areas, but can also be randomly distributed playing areas spread over the playing field, which are not necessarily adjacent to each other. The method of assigning coordinates to the various subjects can also take place in many different ways. It is important that each of the playing areas can be indicated with a coordinate code.

In Figure 4A, a participant sends with his mobile phone 60 coordinate code B1 to the game server, which is translated by "opening" play area or box B1. The portion of an image 10 located under box B1 is now displayed on the display means (e.g. in the television program, or on the internet website). During the game, a plurality of coordinate codes with an electronic message are sent to the game server, as, for example, is schematically indicated in Figure 4B. In Figure 4B, mobile telecommunications units 62 and 63 send coordinates A2 and B2 to the game server 15, and the corresponding boxes on game field 61 are opened so that the underlying image becomes partially visible. It may be decided to "sell" certain, for example, popular boxes or boxes that provide a relatively large amount of information, such as box B2, at a special rate. For example, the rate of an SMS with coordinate B2 will then be higher than the rate of an SMS with coordinate B1. For example, box B2 can be twice as expensive as box B1. The more expensive playing areas can for instance be indicated in the playing field with the aid of a color coding. Text messages for box B2 (with a different color) should then, for example, be sent to another text message number at an adjusted rate.

If, as shown in Figure 4C, a participant sends the coordinates of a playing area that has already been opened, resending the same coordinate code can be 'punished', for example, by closing the corresponding box in playing field 61 again. Mobile phone For example, 64 sends coordinate code B2, and the game action that is initiated such is closing box B2 in playing field 61.

The image underlying playing field 61 is an image of a tree (as was perhaps already clear from Figure 4B). When one of the participants realizes that the image represents a tree, he can use the instructions received in a return message after sending an SMS with a coordinate code, the solution to, for example, the presenter of the ring game Express. Making the solution known can also be done by sending the solution via an electronic message (for example SMS). The processing means thereby recognize the message content that differs from coordinate codes.

The invention described above can be implemented in many different ways, and used in combination with many different game variants. Those skilled in the art will understand that the specifically described embodiments are not intended to limit the invention, and that the scope of the invention is limited only by the following claims.

1033796

Claims (17)

Method for implementing an interactive game, wherein processing means display a playing field via display means for a plurality of participants, wherein the playing field comprises a plurality of playing areas, wherein each playing area is identifiable with a coordinate code unique to each playing area, and wherein the processing means receive one or more electronic signals comprising electronic signal content from a telecommunications network, and wherein a processing coordinate code is determined by the processing means 10 on the basis of the electronic signal content for performing a game action relating to an action game area indicated by the game coordinate code. 2. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic signal content comprises the game coordinate code, which is read out by the processing means. 3. Method as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein in response to the receipt of an electronic signal from the one or more electronic signals a return signal is sent to a participating sender of the electronic signal of the one or more electronic signals, wherein the return signal includes instructions for making a solution of the interactive game known by the participating shipper. 4. Method as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the processing means receives a plurality of electronic signals, wherein the processing means determine a plurality of transmitted coordinate codes on the basis of the electronic signal content of the plurality of electronic signals, and wherein the processing means selects the game coordinate code from the plurality of sent coordinate codes. 5. Method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the processing means in response to the receipt of the plurality of electronic signals sends a return signal 30 to a participating sender of each electronic signal of the electronic signals whose coordinate code sent corresponds to the chosen play coordinate code, the return signal includes instructions for making a solution of the interactive game known by the participating shipper. 1033796 A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the playing field is processed in a television program which is broadcast via a multicast system, and wherein the display means comprise a plurality of screens on which the television program can be seen for the plurality of participants. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the display means are selected from a group comprising publicly accessible screens, such as an electronic billboard, an internet website, or multicast display systems. 8. Method as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the electronic signal is selected from a group comprising electronic messages, such as short messaging system (SMS) messages, multimedia messaging system (MMS) messages, e-mail messages, electronic signals or messages from voice -response systems, Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signals, or electronic signals or messages from automatic speech recognition systems (ASR). A method according to any one of the preceding claims, insofar as dependent on claim 3, wherein the return signal comprises data for displaying the playing field. 10. System for implementing an interactive game, comprising processing means arranged for displaying a playing field via display means, wherein the playing field comprises a plurality of playing areas and wherein each playing area is identifiable with a coordinate code unique to each playing area, the processing means being arranged for receiving one or more electronic signals comprising electronic signal content from a telecommunications network, and for determining a game coordinate code on the basis of the electronic signal content, and for performing a game action relating to an action play area indicated by the game coordinate code . 11. System as claimed in claim 10, wherein the processing system is adapted for reading the game coordinate code from the electronic signal content. 12. System as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the processing device is further adapted to send a return signal to a participating sender of the at least one electronic signal in response to the receipt of at least one electronic signal of the electronic signals, the return signal comprising instructions for making known a solution of the interactive game. The system of claim 12, wherein the return signal comprises data for displaying the playing field. 14. System as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the processing means are adapted for, after receiving a plurality of electronic signals, determining a plurality of sent coordinate codes from the electronic signal content of the plurality of electronic signals, and selecting the game coordinate code from the plurality of sent coordinate codes . A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the display means are selected from a group comprising publicly accessible displays such as an electronic billboard, an internet website, or multicast display systems such as a system for broadcasting and displaying a television program on a plurality of displays. 16. System as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the processing means are adapted to receive electronic signals selected from a group comprising electronic messages, such as short messaging system (SMS) messages, multimedia messaging system (MMS) messages, e-mail messages, electronic signals or messages from voice response systems, 20 Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signals, or electronic signals or messages from automatic speech recognition systems (ASR). 1θ33796