Patents Examined by Tramar Harper
  • Patent number: 9987541
    Abstract: An athletic training system includes one or more panels that present a rigid front surface covered by a translucent material behind which is an illumination or light source and a pressure sensor that can detect and measure the pressure caused by impact of a ball (i.e. a soccer ball). A control device communicates with and controls the panels according to a selected exercise regimen that is designed to develop particular skills for an athletic or sporting endeavor by commanding the panel or panels to illuminate (i.e. turn on its light source). While illuminated, the panel actively monitors its pressure sensor for an indication of an impact, and upon detecting an impact, reports the detection of the impact to the control device, and turns off its illumination. The process of turning panels on and off and detecting impact can be used to construct various regimens for training and developing skills.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Inventor: Gudmundur Orn Traustason
  • Patent number: 9984587
    Abstract: The golf course has a hybrid configuration with a virtual golf simulator tee off for the fairway which transitions to a live play environment once the user approaches the green. The virtual golf simulator can have a booth like configuration with a lounge behind the simulator. The user hits a ball in the simulator and the simulator senses the position and motion of the shot to calculate a starting location on the live play environment. The user then enters the live play environment and finishes the course in live play. A variety of different simulators can be used with the live play environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Inventor: David Shultz
  • Patent number: 9975038
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a neuromorphic robot includes a curved outer housing, and multiple touch sensors provided on the outer housing, wherein the robot is configured to interpret a touch of a user sensed with the touch sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Liam David Bucci, Ting-Shuo Chou, Jeffrey Lawrence Krichmar
  • Patent number: 9975026
    Abstract: A basketball training apparatus includes a shot completion sensor, a condition sensor, and a computer. The shot completion sensor determines whether a shot goes through a basketball hoop. The condition sensor senses a physical condition of a basketball shooter. The computer is in communication with the shot completion sensor and the condition sensor, and has a processor for calculating shot completion percentage as a function of the physical condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Airborne Athletics, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas Brad Campbell, Jeffrey Jon Campbell
  • Patent number: 9972162
    Abstract: There is disclosed an electronic gaming system (100) comprising one or more player interfaces (6, 7, 17), and a main video display screen (1). The system enables players to simultaneously play a plurality of reel-type games and to place bets on lines of the games. The system displays a plurality of display windows on the main display screen, each window being associated with a respective one of the simultaneously played games and displaying the reels of that game, each reel displaying reel indicia. The system is configured for any one of the games to enter a feature phase when a feature-triggering event occurs. At the start of the feature phase, all the display windows on the main screen, except the particular display window associated with the feature phase, reduce in size or disappear, while the size of the feature game's display window increases, and the other games are also suspended, until the feature phase is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: IGT
    Inventor: David Little
  • Patent number: 9968862
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses an interactive doll, and an interactive doll control method, wherein, the method includes the following operations: monitoring a control mode selected by a user for controlling the interactive doll; if the selected control mode being a voice control mode, obtaining a voice control instruction, wherein the voice control instruction contains one or more keyword voice segment as input control command to control the interactive doll; obtaining voice control information corresponding to the keyword voice segment, and executing an operation corresponding to the voice control information. The controlling method and the interactive doll may provide more responsiveness and improved user's experience in virtual reality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited
    Inventor: Yanni Feng
  • Patent number: 9962602
    Abstract: A card shooter apparatus with a card housing and an opening; a card reading unit with a card guide unit which guides cards along a card guide surface pulled out one by one from the opening onto a game table along a card dealing direction; a control unit having a processing function to determine a result of a card game based on information about the cards, including the rank; one or more card detecting sensors configured to detect the cards and to output one or more signals, and a display unit which indicates the result determined by the control unit. The card reading unit reads a rank of the cards pulled out from the card shooter, and the control unit further determines whether a card has moved in a direction opposite of the card dealing direction based on a signal output from the one or more card detecting sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yasushi Shigeta
  • Patent number: 9962605
    Abstract: An online game is provided to users via client computing devices. Gameplay metrics are determined for users of the online game based on actions taken by the users in the online game. Secondary games are provided, where the potential awards provided by the secondary games are determined based on the gameplay metrics of the users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Kabam, Inc.
    Inventors: Albert Wei, Kevin Lee, Jay Jodway, David McNeill, Devin Nambiar
  • Patent number: 9959711
    Abstract: A method for integrating game products with sale and dissemination of digital media to players includes providing for players to purchase digital media for download at a purchase price that enters the player into a game wherein the player's downloaded digital media determines whether or not the player has won in the game. The purchased downloads are downloaded from a library, wherein a number of the digital media are stored in the library in their original format, and a defined number of the digital media stored in the library are modified from their original format to include an auditory or visual indication of a winning lottery play. The players download and listen to or view their downloaded digital media to determine if they have purchased a winning digital media in the lottery game. Players losing in the lottery game may be provided a downloaded digital media in its original format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Scientific Games International, Inc.
    Inventor: James C. Kennedy
  • Patent number: 9959710
    Abstract: The present invention provides for a game-operating computer system, including: at least one server and game-operating software stored on a non-transient computer readable medium accessible by the server, where the at least one server, executing game-operating software, is at least configured to: generate an instance of a proximity game, where the instance of the proximity game is played based on the following rules: a) selecting a plurality of winning values from a pool of values, b) electronically receiving a first plurality of player-selected values from the pool of values, c) electronically receiving a second plurality of player-selected values from the pool of values, d) comparing the player-selected values with the winning values, where at least one player-selected value is not equal to at least one winning values; and e) determining at least one winning player from the at least one first player and the at least one second player.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Intralot S.A.—Integrated Lottery Systems and Services
    Inventor: Nikolaos Diamantis
  • Patent number: 9950271
    Abstract: A system includes a drivable surface that includes location encoding markings. A mobile agent is provided that includes a drive motor, an imaging system for taking images of the markings, a vehicle wireless transceiver, and a microcontroller operatively coupled to the motor, the imaging system, and the vehicle wireless transceiver. A basestation is provided that includes a controller operatively coupled to a basestation wireless transceiver. Via wireless communication between the wireless transceivers of the mobile agent and the basestation, an action to be implemented by the mobile agent can be determined by the basestation and communicated to the mobile agent, whereupon the microcontroller of the mobile agent controls detailed movement of the mobile agent on the drivable surface based on images taken of the markings of the drivable surface by the imaging system to cause the mobile agent to implement the action on the drivable surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Anki, Inc.
    Inventors: Boris Sofman, Hanns W. Tappeiner, Mark Palatucci
  • Patent number: 9943744
    Abstract: A location-aware device includes a position determination sensor that determines a position of the location-aware device. A receiver receives, from a tag coupled to a golf club, data corresponding to an output of a sensor included in the tag. A processor associates the data received from the tag with the determined position, and processes the data received from the tag to determine whether to register a golf shot as having occurred at the determined position. A memory stores a golf shot determined to be registered by the processor along with the determined position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: SkyHawke Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: James W. Meadows, Richard L. Root
  • Patent number: 9919213
    Abstract: Zoom controls for virtual environment user interfaces are provided herein. In one embodiment a computing system includes a processor and memory configured to provide a virtual gaming environment. The virtual game environment when executed includes a graphical user interface that has a radial zoom controller. The radial zoom controller is configured to allow a user to selectively control a zoom view and the radial zoom controller has an arcuate slider that is placed into concentric relationship with an activation button that allows the user to control an action within the virtual game environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Hothead Games Inc.
    Inventor: Gregan Dunn
  • Patent number: 9914035
    Abstract: A basketball training apparatus includes a shot completion sensor, a condition sensor, and a computer. The shot completion sensor determines whether a shot goes through a basketball hoop. The condition sensor senses a physical condition of a basketball shooter. The computer is in communication with the shot completion sensor and the condition sensor, and has a processor for calculating shot completion percentage as a function of the physical condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Airborne Athletics, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas Brad Campbell, Jeffrey Jon Campbell
  • Patent number: 9916731
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a gaming system and method providing a card game with an extra award for each winning hand including one or more extra hands of cards or a modifier for an extra award. In various embodiments, if the first hand includes any winning card combination from a first set of designated winning card combinations, the gaming system provides one or more extra hands of cards, wherein each extra hand initially includes one or more cards from the first hand and then provides one or more extra draws of cards to complete that extra hand. In various embodiments, when the first hand includes any winning card combination from a second set of designated winning card combinations, the gaming system provides a multiplier value which the gaming system applies to the award for the winning card combination from the first hand of cards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: IGT
    Inventors: Thomas W. Allen, II, Benjamin R. Holsclaw, James A. Sipaila
  • Patent number: 9916729
    Abstract: A method for integrating game products with sale and dissemination of digital media to players includes providing for players to purchase digital media for download at a purchase price that enters the player into a game wherein the player's downloaded digital media determines whether or not the player has won in the game. The purchased downloads are downloaded from a library, wherein a number of the digital media are stored in the library in their original format, and a defined number of the digital media stored in the library are modified from their original format to include an auditory or visual indication of a winning lottery play. The players download and listen to or view their downloaded digital media to determine if they have purchased a winning digital media in the lottery game. Players losing in the lottery game may be provided a downloaded digital media in its original format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Scientific Games International, Inc.
    Inventor: James C. Kennedy
  • Patent number: 9911272
    Abstract: A computer implemented game has a game code module. The game code module generates a group game mode for user engagement at a user interface, the group game mode providing user selectable game objects on an initial game board on the display. The game code module is configured to receive from a server remote user game data generated by other user devices of users engaged in the group game mode. The display displays a progress indicator which indicates cumulative progress of the user and other users, using the game data generated by the user device and the remote user game data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: KING.COM LTD.
    Inventor: Sebastian Knutsson
  • Patent number: 9901776
    Abstract: A system for a racket comprises an inertial sensor for coupling to the racket, a processor connected to the inertial sensor, and a memory device connected to the processor. The inertial sensor includes an accelerometer array with three degrees of freedom in acceleration and a gyro array with three degrees of freedom in rotation. The processor is configured to generate stroke profiles describing acceleration and rotation of the racket based on signals from the accelerometer and the gyro arrays, and the memory device is configured to store the stroke profiles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: ICUEMOTION LLC
    Inventor: Bérénice Mettler
  • Patent number: 9901838
    Abstract: An inductively powered vehicle and an inductive charging segment. The vehicle may include a secondary coil, a drive motor, an electrical power storage device connected between said secondary coil and said drive motor, and a wireless communications unit. The charging segment may include a primary coil, a sense circuit operable to detect the presence of the vehicle based on a change in the detected impedance of the primary coil, and a power control unit operable to provide a time-varying current to the primary coil when the vehicle traverses the charging segment. The primary coil is positioned adjacent a track upper surface. The vehicle drive motor may be operable at first and second speed settings, and a remote control device can provide operating instructions to the vehicle wireless communications unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Inventors: David W. Baarman, Richard B. Bylsma, Hai D. Nguyen, Joshua B. Taylor, William T. Stoner, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9878234
    Abstract: A method and system that involves articulating a set of methods for incorporating objective assessments of fantasy-team-owners' physical activity into Fantasy Sport platforms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Inventor: Arlen Moller