Method and system to replace a betting action in advance of a user turn in virtual card game services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9576433-B2
Application number	US-12424108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2008
Priority date	May 21, 2007
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a method and system for providing card game services. The method includes entering a virtually implemented game room to play a card game provided over the Internet, participating in the card game according to predetermined rules of the card game, setting a betting action depending on a situation of the card game in advance during the card game, and playing the game by automatically entering the set betting action on a relevant turn. The system includes at least one user terminal for playing a card game over an Internet, and a game provision server for implementing a virtual game room, enabling a betting action to be selected during the game through input from the user terminal, and automatically taking the selected betting action on a relevant turn.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to provide of replacing a betting action in advance of a user turn in virtual card game services via a game server, the method comprising:
providing, via the game server, a virtually implemented game room for playing a virtual card game;
providing, via the game server, a user interface configured to receive at least one betting action of a user hand in advance of a turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in the virtual card game, the at least one betting action being associated with a triggering condition with respect to the virtual card game, the triggering condition being associated with a betting action of a higher-priority opponent player in the virtual card game, comprising:
displaying a set of betting actions consisting of available betting actions for a current play situation of the virtual card game to the user hand according to a betting schedule; and
receiving the betting action from the available betting actions selected by the user hand;

instructing a user terminal to store at least part of the received betting action;
receiving, at the game server, the stored betting action over a network;
determining, by the game server according to the betting schedule, whether a situation of the virtual card game meets the triggering condition;
automatically instructing to replace the received betting action with an another betting action received from the user terminal before the turn for the user hand and automatically submitting to the network the another betting action on the turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in response to the game server determining that the situation of the virtual card game does not meet the triggering condition associated with the at least one betting action, comprising:
displaying an another set of betting actions consisting of available betting actions for a current play situation of the virtual card game to the user hand according to a betting schedule; and
receiving the another betting action from the available betting actions selected by the user hand; and

submitting the received betting action on the turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in the virtual card game in response to the game server determining that the situation of the virtual card game meets the triggering condition associated with the at least one betting action.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the betting action is established by setting a number of repetitions of the betting action to be received in the virtual card game.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the displaying the first set of betting actions available for a current play situation of the virtual card game comprises determining an availability of the one or more betting actions for the current play situation based, at least in part, upon the betting action of the higher-priority opponent player in the current play situation of the virtual card game.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the user hand is enabled to select one of one or more betting actions by entering a relevant shortcut key among shortcut keys that have been set for types of betting actions.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the user hand is enabled to select one of one or more betting actions by checking a check box, among check boxes that are provided for types of betting actions, using an input device.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the automatically instructing to replace the received betting action with the another betting action further comprises canceling the received betting action.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the user interface provides a list of play situations of the virtual card game in which the at least one betting action is to be submitted.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the user interface enables the user hand to enter own play situations in which the at least one betting action is to be submitted.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising an executable program, which when executed via a game server, causes replacing a betting action in advance of a user turn comprising the following steps:
providing a virtually implemented game room for playing a virtual card game;
providing a user interface configured to receive at least one betting action of a user hand in advance of a turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in the virtual card game, the at least one betting action being associated with a triggering condition with respect to the virtual card game, and the triggering condition being associated with a betting action of a higher-priority opponent player in the virtual card game, comprising:
displaying a set of betting actions consisting of available betting actions for a current play situation of the virtual card game to the user hand according to a betting schedule; and
receiving the betting action from the available betting actions selected by the user hand;

instructing a user terminal to store at least part of the received betting action;
receiving the stored at least one betting action over a network;
determining, according to the betting schedule, whether a situation of the virtual card game meets the triggering condition;
automatically instructing to replace the received betting action with an another betting action received from the user terminal before the turn for the user hand and automatically submitting the another betting action on the turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in response to determining that the situation of the virtual card game does not meet the triggering condition associated with the at least one betting action, comprising:
displaying an another set of betting actions consisting of available betting actions for a current play situation of the virtual card game to the user hand according to a betting schedule; and
receiving the betting action from the available betting actions selected by the user hand; and

submitting the received betting action on the turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in the virtual card game in response to determining that the situation of the virtual card game meets the triggering condition associated with the at least one betting action.

10. A system to replace a betting action in advance of a user turn in virtual card game services, comprising:
at least one memory configured to store program instructions and databases, the databases comprising at least one virtual game rule;
a communication unit configured to connect a user hand to a virtually implemented game room for playing a virtual card game;
a user interface configured to receive at least one betting action in advance of a turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action, the at least one betting action being associated with a triggering condition with respect to the virtual card game being played, and the triggering condition being associated with a betting action of a higher-priority opponent player in the virtual card game being played; and
a betting schedule module configured to instruct to store at least part of the at least one betting action in a user terminal, configured to automatically replace the stored betting action according to reception of another betting action from the user terminal before the turn for the user hand and automatically submit the another betting action on the turn for the user hand for the at least one betting action in response to a situation of the virtual card game not meeting the triggering condition associated with the at least one betting action, and configured to receive the betting action over a network from the user

Assignees

• Kim Ki Yong
• Lee Tae Jong
• Nhn Entertainment Corp

Inventors

• Kim Ki Yong
• Lee Tae Jong

Classifications

• G07F17/3276 Primary

  wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament · CPC title

• G07F17/3293

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

• G07F17/3244

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• G07F17/32

  for games, toys, sports, or amusements · CPC title

• G07F17/3225

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