Identifying a specially designated object to facilitate dynamic promotions related to use of the object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11315388-B2
Application number	US-202016867543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2020
Priority date	Jul 31, 2015
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

In accordance with some embodiments, a physical game element such as a wagering chip or a playing card may be utilized to implement a promotion scheme on an electronic card table (e.g., using RFID or optical imaging technology). During a game it may be determined whether the element is associated with special functionality (e.g., entitles the player to a payout multiplier, special payout table, bonus prize or other benefit). The special functionality may have been previously associated with the element or associated with the element during the game (e.g., dynamically and/or randomly). In accordance with some embodiments a player is not able to readily discern the special functionality by a physical inspection of the physical game element and is only notified of the special functionality once the physical game element is used in a qualifying action (e.g., during a wager at an electronic card table).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for a processor of a computing device, which instructions when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method for facilitating special functionality of game elements during a card game, the method comprising:
receiving data defining at least one physical game element detected as being in use for a card game, the least one physical game element being one of a plurality of such physical game elements usable by players for play of the card game, each physical game element of the plurality of physical game elements having a primary functionality associated therewith;
determining, based on the data and during the card game, that special functionality is associated with the physical game element, the special functionality being distinct from the primary functionality associated with the at least one physical game element and entitling a player associated with the physical game element to a benefit the player would not otherwise be entitled to during the card game, the special functionality having been associated with a subset but not all of the plurality of physical game elements at a time prior to determining that the special functionality is associated with the physical game element, such that the association of the special functionality with the physical game element is concealed from a user of the physical game element until the physical game element has been utilized in a qualifying action;
outputting, upon determining that the physical game element has been utilized in a qualifying action during the card game, an indication of the special functionality to the user of the physical game element;
applying the special functionality to an event associated with the card game; and
updating, in an electronic memory, a status of the physical game element, wherein the status is indicative of whether the special functionality continues to be associated with the physical game element after the applying.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the physical game element is one of a playing card and a wagering chip.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the physical game element comprises an RFID-enabled game element and wherein the step of receiving data comprises:
receiving the data using an RFID interrogator of a card table on which the RFID-enabled game element is being used.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the physical game element comprises a game element having an optically readable code located on a surface thereof and wherein the step of receiving data comprises:
receiving the data based on a reading of the optically readable code by an optical image reader of a card table on which the physical game element is being used.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises a unique identifier that uniquely identifies the physical game element.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises information comprising at least one characteristic of the physical game element.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the data, that special functionality is associated with the physical game element comprises:
looking up in a table, based on the data, whether the physical game element is associated with the special functionality, wherein the physical game element had been selected for association with the special functionality prior to a current card game being initiated if the table indicates that the physical game element is associated with the special functionality.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining which special functionality out of a plurality of special functionalities is to be applied to the event.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the electronic memory comprises an electronic memory of at least one of the physical game element, an electronic table and a server device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining that utilizing the physical game element in a qualifying action is a pre-condition to applying the special functionality; and
verifying, prior to the applying, that the pre-condition has been satisfied.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, from a server device, data defining a plurality of physical game elements that have been selected by the server device for association with the special functionality; and
wherein the step of determining comprises determining that the detected physical game element is included in the data defining the plurality of physical game elements.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein applying comprises:
applying a multiplier to a payout won as a result of use of the physical game element.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein applying the special functionality comprises modifying at least one of a card value, a wager value, a wagering chip value and a card game rule, as any of the foregoing may be used to determine a game result for the player.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the card game is a current card game and further wherein the event to which the special functionality is applied is an event during a subsequent card game played by the player after the current game.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the event to which the special functionality is applied is an event external to the game.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for a processor of a computing device, which instructions when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method for facilitating special functionality of game elements during a card game, the method comprising:
receiving data defining at least one physical game element detected as being in use for a card game, the least one physical game element being one of a plurality of such physical game elements usable by players for play of the card game, each physical game element of the plurality of physical game elements having a primary functionality associated therewith;
determining, based on the data, that special functionality is associated with the physical game element, the special functionality being distinct from the primary functionality associated with the at least one physical game element and entitling a player associated with the physical game element to a benefit the player would not otherwise be entitled to during the card game, the special functionality having been associated with a subset but not all of the plurality of physical game elements and wherein the association of the special functionality with the physical game element is concealed from a user of the physical game element until the physical game element has been utilized in a qualifying action,
wherein the special functionality is determined by:
(i) applying an algorithm to the physical game element during the card game to determine an outcome; and
(ii) determining based on the outcome that the physical game element is to have special functionality associated with it;

outputting, upon determining that the physical game element has been utilized in a qualifying action during the card game, an indication of the special func

Assignees

• Walker Digital Table Systems Llc

Inventors

• Moore Stephen
• Russell Michael
• Hettinger Mark

Classifications

• G07F17/3225

  Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users · CPC title

• G07F17/3293

  Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack · CPC title

• G06K7/10297

  arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 (cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00) · CPC title

• G07F17/3248 Primary

  involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value · CPC title

• G06Q50/34

  Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting · CPC title