COLLECTIBLE CARD WITH CORRELATED VIRTUAL COLLECTION AND AUTHENTICATION

Abstract

Generally, the present disclosure provides a system and method for distributing subjective images on paper or other material containing symbols, serial alphanumeric strings and cryptograms indelibly connecting the card object and content to computer systems. and real objects marked with the same code or serial ASCII character string. Further areas of applicability of the present teachings will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present teachings.

Description

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This application relates generally to collectible cards. More particularly, this application relates to collectible cards with correlated virtual collection and authentication systems. More particularly still, collection cards may be utilized on connection with online and/or offline gaming interaction, ownership, economic, and/or trading aspects.

2. Background

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

Current collectible trading cards are sold and traded with a variety of images depicting subject matter across the world. Collectors trade and sell cards online and through conferences, clubs and other events making the acquisition of new and old collectable trading cards an exciting and competitive activity. Due to the advent of computers and online/offline gaming systems a new system and enumeration technique is required to extend the scope of collectible trading cards, their subject matter and usage in reality as well as virtual reality.

SUMMARY

Generally, the present disclosure provides a system and method for extending the usage of subject matter printed, embossed, or otherwise placed onto collectible trading cards to computer games and virtual card collections and tenderable currency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To further clarify the aspects of embodiments of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a trading card according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the example trading card of FIG. 1, with a general description of optional aspects of the trading card;

FIG. 3A depicts an example process of optional steps included within aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 3B includes a continuation of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a trading card authentication and validation system as described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The following description supplies specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding. Nevertheless, the skilled artisan would understand that the apparatus, assembly, system and/or associated method can be implemented and used without employing theses specific details. For example, while the description herein focuses on collectible cards having gun related subject matter thereon, virtually any type of subject matter may be used.

Generally, the present disclosure provides a system and method for extending the usage of subject matter printed, embossed, or otherwise placed onto collectible trading cards to computer games and virtual card collections.

By extending the usage of collectible trading card subject matter to computer systems and gaming, new and unexploited value is attached to each individual collectible trading card rendering the collectible trading card into a virtual and real currency or tenderable entity. Mundane or extremely sensitive subject matter can be printed or embossed onto collectible trading cards offering a new format of advertising whereas the customer to be advertised to may purchase the advertising instrument for themselves as a collectible, tenderable object.

As disclosed, a collectible trading card of this kind is printed or embossed with a computer readable code for authentication and for the purpose of further establishing the identity of each individual collectible trading card. As disclosed, a collectible trading card of this kind may also be printed or embossed with an alphanumeric serial string for usage as a user name and or password to be entered into a computer terminal thereby identifying an individual collectible trading card and its printed or embossed subjective imagery. Further, the printed or embossed computer readable code or alphanumeric serial string may relate to a real object e.g. a tea kettle or weapon that is marked with the exact same code or string or a portion thereof, indelibly tying the real object to the individual collectible trading card and its subjective imagery virtual or real. Although the alphanumeric serial string on the collectible trading card may relate to a real object marked with the exact same code, this is not necessary. For instance, the trading card may be provided independent and separate from the actual object depicted thereon and/or may have a random alphanumeric serial string unrelated to a serial number of the depicted subject matter.

Very sensitive subject matter can be depicted on the described individual collectible trading card. Examples of such subject matter or imagery are pictograms of weapons, vehicles designed for war, images depicting the active usage of such objects, nude or clothed human forms, food products, machinery, ammunition, space exploration vehicles, underwater apparatus, real individual people, famous individual people brandishing weapons or food, ad infinitum, and in any combination. Historically some products have become unfashionable or politically incorrect to mention or depict in advertising. A new vehicle for advertising products has become necessary to ensure that the public at large has access to detailed information about these types of products. Advertising is typically paid for by the manufacturers of products or the business entities that distribute or re-brand generic products as their own. With this new format for advertising tabooed products or ideas, the cost of advertising can be shared by the manufacturer, the distributor and more importantly the customer on a direct basis. Through the process of creating identity and value for a particular individual collectible trading card, a viral type of advertising becomes possible from the birth of the card and its virtual twins.

An Example of Usage:

A customer visits a local variety store. The customer has enjoyed using guns for target practice and hunting since childhood. The customer, while checking out, notices another childhood interest available on a rack next to the checkout stand. The customer selects a pack of collectible trading cards wrapped in a shiny foil package. The customer buys the collectible trading card pack because the pack of collectible trading cards depict firearms of several kinds. When the customer arrives at home, the collectible trading cards depicting firearms get unwrapped and the customer holds in their hand several individually serialized collectible trading cards depicting firearms. As noted previously, the serial numbers may be random or other serial numbers specific to the card, rather than to a weapon, although cards may also be received with a weapon, thereby tying the card to a specific weapon.

The customer follows the simple instructions on the back of the collectible trading card, on the package, or on a separate card inside the package, and navigates their personal computer to a website using a web browser. The customer creates a new account on the website. The customer navigates through the website to the section where firearms can be registered virtually to ensure that the ownership of the collectible trading card is absolutely tied to the customer until officially and intentionally transferred. A wide variety of multimedia content related to the image on each collectible trading card now becomes available to the customer.

Some of the virtual content is supplied by manufacturers of the products depicted on the individual collectible trading card, some is provided by other owners of the same series of card, some by third party vendors (expert or not) that have submitted live footage or commentary about the firearms depicted on each card. A price tag may appear on a page that relates to the specific registered collectible trading card and the image depicted on the card. The price tag may, for instance, reflect a price of the collectible trading card. That price may be related to the item depicted and/or production and availability criteria. For instance, the price may be relative to the number of cards registered that are similar to the card owned by the customer, prices paid by others, a number of times similar cards have been traded to other collectible trading card owners, the number of similar cards produced, and the like. This virtual price tag reflects a real value for the acquired and registered card and may be substantially more than what was paid originally by the owner.

The customer begins to regularly collect the same collectible trading cards depicting firearms from the variety store that carried the collectible trading cards before any other retailer in the region to the customer's knowledge. Messages from respected associations have been relayed several times to the customer through content on the collectible trading cards they have purchased. The customer begins trading cards at conferences and local events, slowly building their collection to point where great value both virtual as well as real is attributed to their collection.

The customer may also begin trading cards via the registration site or another site linked thereto. For instance, a virtual gun safe may include a listing of all weapons on the cards registered by the customer. This virtual gun safe may even include duplicate items where the user has similar cards of the same firearm, but with different random serial numbers. Through a trading or an exchange engine, the customer may list all his cards, and others may browse his collection, or the customer may list only cards available for exchange with others. As the cards have been entered through the verification process and the image cross-linked with the serial number, customers trading through the exchange engine can be assured that the cards are authentic, verified, and non-counterfeit.

The customer has enjoyed playing computer games since the 1980's. A new version of one of the customer's favorite computer games is released just in time for Christmas. The customer receives a copy of the computer game and discovers that all of the firearms depicted on their collectible trading cards can be cross registered with the new version of the computer game and used directly in the game. Such cross registration can be done through the registration site, the game manufacturer's site, or another linked site. The customer enjoys using his virtual firearms in the computer game. The firearms depicted on the collectible trading cards and which are virtually usable in the computer game have been designed with the cooperation of the manufacturer and are true to real physics and ballistics. The trading card optionally includes information about the gun, including such information as the country of origin, the year(s) produced, the quantities produced, caliber available, retail/wholesale cost, type of action, size/type of magazine, length, barrel length, weight, production materials, sights, muzzle velocity, and the like. This information may also be cross-lined into the computer game. For instance, if the customer's virtual gun collection includes a Mauser Model 1887, the video game is optionally dynamically adjusted show scenes depicting the country of manufacturer (i.e., Germany) and/or scenes depicting the country of use (i.e., Turkey). Moreover, the scenery is optionally adjusted to be time sensitive, so that the gun may be used in virtual scenes relevant to the Ottomans at the time the Mauser Turkish Model 1887 was actually used.

The customer may decide to purchase a real version of one of the firearms exactly as depicted on the collectible trading card the customer purchased from the retailer originally. The customer returns to the original variety store they purchased the collectible trading card depicting the firearm they have grown to love in the computer game. The customer purchases the exact firearm they have used in the computer game from the variety store and receives a fresh collectible trading card depicting the exact same model firearm they have just purchased that is serialized with the exact same alphanumeric string engraved on the real gun. The customer then trades or sells the original collectible trading card depicting the new firearm they just purchased for possibly more value than the real firearm costs. The customer continues to enjoy using their virtual firearm in the computer game as well as shooting the real firearm at the range for target practice and hunting in the wild and now possesses a collectible trading card with the exact same image and alphanumeric serial string as their real weapon.

The discussion herein refers to a number of methods and method steps and acts that may be performed. It should be noted, that although the method steps and acts may be discussed in a certain order or illustrated in a flow chart as occurring in a particular order, no particular ordering is necessarily required unless specifically stated, or required because an act is dependent on another act being completed prior to the act being performed.

Embodiments of the present invention may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussed in greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer system. Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions are physical storage media. Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions are transmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, embodiments of the invention can comprise at least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media, including at least computer storage media and transmission media.

Examples of computer storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modules, engines, and/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmission medium. Transmissions media can include a network and/or data links which can be used to carry or desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to computer storage media (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventually transferred to computer system RAM and/or to less volatile computer storage media at a computer system. Thus, it should be understood that computer storage media can be included in computer system components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or even source code. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the described features or acts described above, nor performance of the described acts or steps by the components described above. Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, pagers, routers, switches, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computer systems, which are linked (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a network, both perform tasks. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may be practiced in special-purpose or other computing devices integrated within or coupled to authentication engines, trading card point of sale machines, and the like.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example, for purposes of clarity and understanding, certain changes and modifications will be obvious to those with skill in the art in view of the disclosure herein. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the trading card described herein has only a single side illustrated; however, information may also be included on the reverse side of the trading card. The trading card subject matter may also be other than firearms and the like. Thus, all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims

1. A method for authenticating trading cards, comprising:

a verification mechanism, receiving authentication indicia from a user, wherein the authentication indicia is included on a trading card;

determining that the authentication indicia is valid; and

after determining that the authentication indicia is valid, registering the trading card for the first and only time as authentic.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

after registering the trading card, adding subject matter depicted on the trading card to a virtual collection for the user.

3. A system for manufacturing and distributing cryptographically individualized image bearing collector trading cards comprising:

a serialized image bearing trading card, the serialized image bearing trading card including one or more of the following indicia: i. a digitally encrypted message and individualized statistics and pertinent details rendered to a two-dimensional datamatrix symbol, pdf-417, maxicode or other computer readable portable database symbol; ii. a datamatrix code and/or image embedded within the printed image on the trading card; or iii. a randomly or pseudo-randomly, non-sequential serial number, the serial number being linked to the serialized image bearing trading card and/or subject matter thereon;

a remotely stored private/public key pair used for encrypting/decrypting and digitally signing messages contained within distributed indicia imprinted upon trading cards; and

a generating mechanism for digitally signing and/or encrypting messages, rendering datamatrix symbols from the signed/encrypted messages, generating random or pseudo-random serial numbers, and/or embedding symbols or other indicia into images or other portions imprinted on collector trading cards.

4. A computer system for authenticating a user and allowing the registration of an individualized collector trading card, the system comprising:

a registration engine configured to register an individualized trading card;

an authentication and validation engine; and

a decoding engine.

5. A computer system as recited in claim 4, wherein the registration engine is further configured to render a digital twin card that is an exact digital match to the real or physical trading card.

6. A computer system as recited in claim 4, wherein the authentication and validation engine is configured to validate ownership to a single owner of the trading card.

7. A computer system as recited in claim 6, wherein the system further comprises:

an exchange engine, the exchange engine being adapted to facilitate trading, appraisal or enhanced game play with the trading card, a virtual representation of the trading card, or the subject matter on the trading card.

8. A computer system as recited in claim 4, wherein the decoding engine is configured to decode and authenticate two dimensional matrix symbols scanned using a clandestine flatbed computer based document scanner or a handheld computing device.

9. A computer system as recited in claim 8, wherein the scanner or handheld computing device is or includes a PDA, smart phone, or other visual spectrum camera bearing device with Internet connectivity.