METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SIMULATING GAME ACCESSORIES
A method and apparatus are disclosed for simultaneously indicating, on each of a plurality of communication terminals, instructions transmitted by each terminal and the identity of the respective terminals that transmitted the instructions. Such a feature can be used to indicate the moves of parties playing a game over a telephone line. Once a communications link is established between two or more parties, their terminals are placed in a game mode which activates inband signal detection and player identification circuitry located within the terminals. Multi-colored indicators and player identification displays at each terminal are activated, their color being dependent upon the source of received instructions. In one embodiment, player identification indicators may be incorporated into a touch tone keypad located on the terminals. The keypad's touch tone keys are modified such that each key has two or more color coded indicators incorporated within, each color representing a particular player's move.
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This application is a continuation of and claims priority benefit of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/249,056, filed Oct. 12, 2005, which is a continuation of and claims priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/823,877, filed on 29 Mar. 2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,619, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, including all figures, tables, and claims.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to the field of telecommunications as it relates to remote apparatus for enabling game players present at remote locations to play a game over a communications link.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTThere are numerous known remote game systems in which players, present at various remote locations, can play a game by communicating coded information relating to the state of the game through a common communication network, such as a telephone line.
By way of a first example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,558 entitled “Remote Gaming Apparatus” and issued to Shimamoto et al. on Feb. 8, 1983, each player has a dedicated game apparatus for detecting and displaying the position of game pieces (i.e., chess pieces). Each dedicated gaming apparatus has communications hardware for transmitting and receiving over the phone system coded information relating to the position of the game pieces. In this manner, each dedicated gaming apparatus displays the current position of the game pieces as effected by both players.
The apparatus disclosed by '558 patent does not identify the players or enable the players to communicate with each other while playing the game. Further, not only must each player input their game moves, but they must also manually move game pieces on a game board.
By way of a second example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,471 entitled “Interactive Telephone Gaming System” and issued to Vancraeynest on Feb. 16, 1993, discloses a gaming apparatus for use with a telephone network which supports standard dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals. One or more players use a modified telephone station to play a game with a network gaming apparatus by receiving a sequence of DTMF tones and replicating the same sequence DTMF tones by pressing tone keys that correspond to the received sequence of DTMF tones. Each tone key has a corresponding light emitting diode (LED) which illuminates in response to receiving a corresponding DTMF signal from the network gaming apparatus. The illumination of the LEDs provide visible cues to the player at the modified telephone station to assist the player in matching the auditory pattern of DTMF tones generated by the network gaming apparatus.
The apparatus disclosed by the '471 patent does not identify players, nor does it enable play or communications between two or more players.
By way of a third example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,288 entitled “Communication Terminal Used As A Game Machine” and issued to Teshima et al. on Dec. 28, 1993, discloses a communication terminal for playing a game with an opponent through a telephone line. The communication terminal comprises a push button type telephone connected parallel to the communication terminal so that a voice signal of the push button type telephone is simultaneously transmitted to the opponent with a PB signal and a position signal. Accordingly, it is possible to talk with an opponent during game play.
By way of a fourth example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,064 entitled “Device For Playing Games Via A Communications Network, And A Game System Using A Communications Network” and issued to Pieterse et al. on Jun. 27, 2000, discloses apparatus using a pointing device such as a joystick or the keys of a telephone set to generate DTMF pointing signals. Pieterse also discloses using the keys of a telephone set to transmit game instructions, such as “Fire”, “Start”, “Stop” and “Hold”.
The apparatus disclosed by the '288 and '064 patents do not clearly identify and differentiate between players and their respective game moves, nor do they enable the display and identification of each player's moves on a modified keypad located at each of a plurality of communication terminals participating in game play.
Although known remote gaming systems succeed in providing entertainment to remotely located game players, they pose a problem in that they often require specialized apparatus, in addition to a telephone that shares a telephone line with the apparatus. Further, it is difficult to identify who made which move and whose turn it is, especially for a game played by a plurality of players.
Computer games, played via a server located in a telephone network or over the Internet, normally require the user to subscribe to a service and/or pay to play a game. For such games, it is difficult to set up a game with a known opponent. Often, game players are playing alone or against a computer. In other cases, players participating in game play do not know who their opponents are, and thus the personal interaction with friends and family members is lost. Further, such games do not allow parties having a conversation to spontaneously play a game by placing their communication devices in a game mode.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to incorporate a compact gaming system into a communication terminal, such that parties having a conversation can initiate game play without interfering with an ongoing conversation or having to connect additional equipment to their telephone lines.
It is a further object of the present invention to display at each terminal participating in a game, the identities of each player and to identify each player's game moves in a clear and compact manner.
SUMMARYIn accordance with the principles of the present invention, the above and other objectives are realized in an apparatus and method for simultaneously indicating on each of a plurality of communication terminals, instructions transmitted by each terminal and the identity of the respective terminals that transmitted the instructions. Such a feature can be used to indicate the moves of parties playing a game over a telephone line. Once a party indicates a game move, the party is prohibited from making any additional moves until after the other party makes a move. The present invention can also be incorporated into wireless telephones (e.g., cellphones), walkie talkies, wireless toys and other types of transceivers.
More particularly, once a communications link (e.g., wired, wireless, etc.) is established between two or more parties, their terminals are placed in a game mode which activates inband signal detection circuitry located within the terminals. Multi-colored indicators (e.g., LEDs and/or LCDs) at each terminal are activated, their color being dependent upon the source of received instructions.
In a first embodiment of the invention to be described hereinafter, the telephone number of each player is displayed on a corresponding LCD. Additionally, one of a plurality of LEDs next to each LCD is illuminated in a color representing the player associated with the displayed telephone number. An LED blinking next to a particular player's displayed telephone number indicates that it is that player's turn to go.
In a second embodiment of the invention to be described hereinafter, player identification indicators may be incorporated into a touch tone keypad located on the terminals. The keypad's touch tone keys are modified such that each has two or more color coded LEDs incorporated within, each color representing a particular player's move. Thus, besides providing a means for dialing telephone numbers and transmitting DTMF tones, the touch tone keys can represent a game board and/or game accessory when the terminal is placed in a game mode. For example, a 3 by 3 matrix formed by touch tone keys numbered 1 through 9 on a touch-tone pad of a communication terminal may be modified to contain two different colored indicators which light up in accordance with a particular party's move. The 3 by 3 matrix can be used to play tic-tac-toe over a telephone line. The activation of three LEDs of the same color in a row, column or diagonal will cause those LEDs to blink on each terminal, signifying the end of the game. Of course, the game tic-tac-toe is an elementary game, and the invention could be used for numerous other games (e.g., battleship, checkers, chess, etc.) by expanding the functionality of the touch-tone pad. Also, the invention could be expanded to incorporate games played by more than two players.
In a third embodiment of the invention to be described hereinafter, the indicators are installed on a gaming board which is extended (e.g., a spring loaded gaming board) from the base of the terminal, or inserted into an auxiliary card slot on the terminal. The color of the indicators clearly identify which instructions were sent by each party.
In a fourth embodiment of the invention to be described hereinafter, the indicators may be incorporated into a keypad consisting of one or more liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or a touch panel which normally displays the symbols of a touch tone telephone and, when a game mode is activated, the symbols change to game status indicators (e.g., game pieces).
The present invention is an apparatus and method for simultaneously indicating on each of a plurality of communication terminals, game move selections transmitted by each terminal and the identity of the respective terminals and/or players that transmitted the game move selections. Further, the present invention tracks and indicates whose turn it is to input a game move selection. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that these specific details need not be used to practice the present invention. In other instances, well known structures, interfaces, and processes have not been shown in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
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It should be noted that the method and apparatus described herein has been illustrated as supporting communications and game play between only two game players. However, it is understood that the invention can be dimensioned to concurrently support more than two players.
An apparatus and method for simultaneously indicating on each of a plurality of communication terminals, instructions transmitted by each terminal and the identity of the respective terminals that transmitted the instructions is described herein. These specific arrangements and methods described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications in form and detail may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Although this invention has been shown in relation to a particular embodiment, it should not be considered so limited. Rather, the present invention is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method comprising:
- activating, by a communication device, a game mode to play a game with a remote terminal over a communication link established between the communication device and the remote terminal;
- determining, by the communication device, player identifiers for the communication device and the remote terminal in response to activating the game mode; and
- annunciating, by the communication device, moves with the player identifiers for the communication device and the remote terminal.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- receiving, by the communication device, instructions corresponding to the moves in the game from the remote terminal over the communication link; and
- annunciating, by the communication device, the moves with the player identifiers for the communication device and the remote terminal in response to receiving the instructions corresponding to the moves in the game.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- receiving, by the communication device, instructions corresponding to the moves in the game through a user interface of the communication device; and
- annunciating, by the communication device, the moves with the player identifiers for the communication device and the remote terminal in response to receiving the instructions corresponding to the moves in the game.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- determining, by the communication device, which of the communication device or the remote terminal is authorized to send instructions corresponding to a next move in the game; and
- displaying, by the communication device, an indicator of the communication device or the remote terminal that is authorized to send instructions corresponding to the next move in the game.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:
- receiving, by the communication device, instructions corresponding to the next move in the game; and
- annunciating, by the communication device, the next move in the game when the instructions are received from the communication device or the remote terminal that is authorized to send instructions corresponding to the next move in the game.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing, by the communication device, the communications link with the remote terminal.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the player identifiers for the communication device and the remote terminal correspond to colored lights.
8. A device comprising:
- a network interface configured to communicate with a remote terminal through a communication link established between the device and the remote terminal;
- a processing device configured to activate a game mode to play a game with the remote terminal over the communication link and to determine player identifiers for the device and the remote terminal; and
- a user interface configured to annunciate moves in the game with the player identifiers for the device and the remote terminal.
9. The device of claim 8, wherein the network interface is configured to receive instructions corresponding to the moves in the game from the remote terminal over the communication link, wherein the user interface is configured to annunciate at least one of the moves in the game in response to the received instructions.
10. The device of claim 8, wherein the user interface is configured to receive instructions corresponding to the moves in the game and to annunciate at least one of the moves in the game in response to the received instructions.
11. The device of claim 8, wherein the user interface is configured to receive a phone number of the remote terminal, and wherein the processing device is configured to initiate establishment of the communication link with remote device through the network interface in response to the reception of the phone number of the remote terminal.
12. The device of claim 8, wherein the processing device is configured to determine an authorized player to provide instructions for a first move in the game based on whether the processing device or the remote terminal initiated establishment of the communication link.
13. The device of claim 12, wherein the user interface is configured to display an indicator of the authorized player to provide instructions corresponding to the first move in the game, to receive instructions corresponding to the first move in the game, and to annunciate the first move in the game in response to the instructions corresponding to the first move.
14. An apparatus comprising a computer readable memory device storing instructions configured to cause a processing device to perform operations comprising:
- activating a game mode to play a game with a remote terminal over a communication link established between the processing device and the remote terminal;
- determining player identifiers to differentiate the processing device and the remote terminal; and
- prompting presentation of moves in the game with the player identifiers for the processing device and the remote terminal.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processing device to perform operations further comprising:
- receiving, from the remote terminal over the communication link, move instructions corresponding to the moves in the game; and
- prompting presentation of the moves in the game with the player identifiers for the processing device and the remote terminal in response to the move instructions.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processing device to perform operations further comprising:
- receiving move instructions corresponding to the moves in the game from a user interface; and
- prompting presentation of the moves in the game with the player identifiers for the processing device and the remote terminal in response to the move instructions.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processing device to perform operations further comprising:
- determining whether the processing device or the remote terminal is authorized to send move instructions corresponding to a next move in the game; and
- prompting presentation of an indicator of the processing device or the remote terminal that is authorized to send move instructions corresponding to the next move in the game.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processing device to perform operations further comprising:
- prompting presentation of the next move in the game when move instructions are received from the processing device or the remote terminal that is authorized to send move instructions corresponding to the next move in the game.
19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processing device to perform operations further comprising establishing the communication link with the remote terminal.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the player identifiers for the processing device and the remote terminal correspond to colored lights.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 22, 2011
Publication Date: Nov 17, 2011
Applicant: NEW ILLUMINATIONS LLC (Wilmington, DE)
Inventor: Scott Wolinsky (North Wales, PA)
Application Number: 13/189,423
International Classification: G06F 17/00 (20060101);