Patents by Inventor Brent Wayne Barkley

Brent Wayne Barkley has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Network-based contests having multiple participating sponsors
    Patent number: 8231470
    Abstract: Provided are, among other things, systems, methods and techniques for conducting a contest. One embodiment provides a contest that is played by multiple players across a communications network, in which the players compete to earn points awarded by a central contest administrator and the individual players are ranked based on their total number of points. In addition, individual ones of the players are allowed to select a sponsor from a set of previously identified sponsors, and the players also can earn points, which contribute to their totals for ranking purposes, from the sponsors they have selected. For this purpose, individual ones of the sponsors in the set are allocated points and have flexibility regarding how to award their allocated points to the players that have selected them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Vergence Entertainment LLC
    Inventors: Robert J. Feeney, Jeff E. Haas, Brent Wayne Barkley
  • Network-Based Contests Having Multiple Participating Sponsors
    Publication number: 20100099471
    Abstract: Provided are, among other things, systems, methods and techniques for conducting a contest. One embodiment provides a contest that is played by multiple players across a communications network, in which the players compete to earn points awarded by a central contest administrator and the individual players are ranked based on their total number of points. In addition, individual ones of the players are allowed to select a sponsor from a set of previously identified sponsors, and the players also can earn points, which contribute to their totals for ranking purposes, from the sponsors they have selected. For this purpose, individual ones of the sponsors in the set are allocated points and have flexibility regarding how to award their allocated points to the players that have selected them.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2009
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Inventors: Robert J. Feeney, Jeff E. Haas, Brent Wayne Barkley