HK1019049A - A network gaming system - Google Patents

Description

Network game system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automating the play of games such as blackjack, which may be played substantially continuously and asynchronously by a potentially large number of players, wherein advertising sponsors present during play may exchange information with the players regarding goods or services for sale.

Background

Automation of cost-effective play of certain games such as blackjack has been difficult to achieve because these games typically require a dealer (dealer) and only a relatively small number of players (players) may play the game with a single dealer. However, with the proliferation of local and wide area data communication networks, it is desirable to have a gaming system that automates games such as blackjack, where a large number of players can cost effectively and efficiently play such games.

Furthermore, it has heretofore been difficult to provide network gaming systems cost-effectively over a network such as the Internet, because restrictions on games in most cases prohibit betting (wagging) or betting (ante fees) except for those in local area networks within the nightclub (casino). However, since many players are interested in playing casino-type games, it is also desirable to have a way to benefit from the interest in playing such games. It is therefore desirable to have a system that utilizes a game as a background for the delivery of product and/or service information to network users, such as the internet. It would be particularly desirable to have a data processing system that enables a large number of players to play a casino-type game over the internet substantially asynchronously with low or substantially no risk for winning prizes, wherein the data processing system coordinates product and/or service information provided by game sponsors such that advertising, sample, prize, and questionnaire information relating to sponsor products and/or services is exchanged coordinately and interactively between the players and the sponsor (sponsor).

Since the present invention addresses the above-identified problems in the context of the play of blackjack, as described in the following sections, an overview of this particular game is provided so that the novelty and various related aspects of the present invention are more fully understood. Description of blackjack Game

Blackjack is an opportunistic game played between a designated player, referred to as a "dealer," and one or more other players. Basically, each player plays with the dealer in the sense that each player attempts to achieve a deck (collection) or hand with a hand (hand) having a total score closer to the value 21 than the dealer hand score. However, if a player's hand exceeds blackjack, regardless of the size of the value of the dealer's hand, the player will lose any wager placed on his hand.

In more detail, the basic play of blackjack is to use one or more standard sets of playing cards, each having a value. Specifically, each of the face cards has a value of 10, and the non-face cards have a value equal to the numerical value shown on the card except for the aces (aces). That is, for favorites, a value of 1 or 11 may be assigned depending on the value the player believes is most favorable for his/her hand.

In one conventional method of playing blackjack, at the beginning of a hand of blackjack, each player is initially provided with two cards, which the dealer also receives. Generally, one of the cards dealt to the dealer reveals its value, while the other dealt card reveals no value. However, the timing of when the dealer accepts his/her cards varies with the rules of the game of blackjack being played, however, in any event, one of the dealer's cards must be face up in value before each player chooses to place a different bet on their starting wager. After the player has observed his/her cards, the player may request that one or more additional cards be added in an effort to: (a) obtaining a value for the hand greater than the dealer's hand, and (b) obtaining a value for the hand less than or equal to blackjack. Further, in some cases, as will be described below, the player may play more than one hand of cards at the same time against the dealer's cards. However, in requesting such a deal, the player risks "popping" out of each hand by dealing with his hands until a value in excess of twenty occurs, and thus loses the bet (or bets) placed on his hands. It should also be noted that the appearance of such a hand burst is independent of whether the dealer's hand value is less than or equal to blackjack.

It should be noted that after each player stops requesting a card addition (i.e., each player "keeps" his number of cards "unchanged"), the dealer either takes one more card or takes a number of more cards (i.e., "add (hit)") in accordance with, for example, a predefined blackjack rule established by the gaming establishment playing the blackjack game. In general, if the dealer's hand has a current total value of less than 17, he/she must add cards, and if the total value is equal to or greater than 17, the dealer must not add cards. However, when the total number of card values is "soft 17 o' clock", there are various rules as to whether the dealer can add cards. By "soft 17 o 'clock" is meant that one of the dealer's cards is ace (and thus may have a value of 1 or 11) and one of the dealer's hand values is 17 o' clock. For example, a dealer may be required to re-issue a card when soft 17 points are encountered.

The action of the dealer adding the card(s) is performed after all players have applied the respective bet selections, so the final value of the dealer's hand is then compared to the final value of each player's hand(s) to determine the win or loss of the bet. Note that if the dealer's hand exceeds blackjack, any unpopped player wins a wager on its hand (or hands), regardless of the hand's total value. Conversely, if the dealer's hand is less than or equal to blackjack, it is compared to each player's hand (or hands), and in each comparison, the party with the hand closest to but not exceeding the total value of blackjack wins the hand. Of course, may be tied. In this case (called "push"), the player's wager (or bets) on their hand is returned.

In blackjack, generally, there are at least three additional choices available to the player depending on the game play. A first such option is known as "double betting," in which a player doubles his or her bet if the value of the player's first two cards is within a predetermined range (e.g., 10 or 11), and once a single card is dealt, the total value of the hands is the value of the player's hand. As another option, an option known as "splitting pairs" is available, wherein if the player's first two cards are of the same value except for a different suit (i.e., a pair), the pair may be split to create two hands, each of which is one card in the pair. The player must then place at least an initial wager on each hand. The individual cards of each hand are then dealt a second card at the request of the player and any number of subsequent cards are dealt again, and the results of the latter two hands are then compared to the dealer, assuming that neither of the dealer's hand and the player's hands have cracked.

A third option is that immediately after the dealer has dealt his first two cards and at least his first card, the dealer may request "insurance" in the event that the dealer's single flipped card has a face value of love. In this case, the player is a dealer having blackjack (i.e., a total of blackjack). If the dealer does not receive blackjack, the insurance bet is lost and the player plays his blackjack game cards as if the player had never made an insurance bet. Note that the player's insurance bet is typically half of his/her initial bet, and if the dealer gets blackjack, the dealer (or gaming establishment) pays the player twice or three times his/her insurance bet.

It should also be noted that the two options of split and double betting can interact according to certain rules preset by the gaming establishment, wherein, for example, the player can double bets on one or more hands he/she splits.

In addition, there is a blackjack competition (game), and competitors can compete against each other for a prize for the competition. In such tournaments, each competitor has a fixed initial score that can be wagered in a predetermined number of pending blackjack tournaments. The player who has achieved the highest score at the end of the tournament wins the tournament. It should be noted that in such contests, specific criteria may be established at the beginning of the contest to change the blackjack game rules for each contest. For example, a changeable rule is when a player can repeatedly split his or her pair in the same blackjack game. Likewise, the rules for doubling bets may also change such that, for example, a player is allowed to double bet on any two cards after unpairing, or, alternatively, additional bets smaller than the initial bet may be made acceptable when the player requests a doubling bet.

However, in all known blackjack variants, players are only allowed to enter the blackjack game after the end of the previous round, and furthermore, the number of players who can play blackjack simultaneously at one dealer's station is quite small. It is therefore desirable to provide a blackjack gaming system in which potentially a very large number of players can play the game at the same time at a single dealer station, and in which players can begin playing the blackjack game at will without waiting for the end of the previous blackjack game.

Summary of the invention

The present invention is a computerized interactive advertising system (i.e., method and apparatus) for exchanging information about goods and/or services between a first group of users (hereinafter also referred to as "players" or "users") and a second group of users (hereinafter also referred to as "sponsors" or "advertisers"). In particular, while, for example, interacting with the present invention to play games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, pai-gow, etc., the sponsor or advertiser may provide information relating to goods and/or services to a player using the present invention, and the player may view this information. Further, players may also interact with the present invention, allowing players the ability to answer questionnaires provided by sponsors or advertisers, as well as purchase or view sponsor goods and/or services. The present invention thus provides information exchange services in a gaming context to attract players to view and/or interact with sponsor presentations such as interactive advertisements.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide each player or user with an advertisement for a product and/or service that the player is believed to readily accept. That is, the present invention selectively provides advertisements to players in accordance with the characteristics and preferences of the players determined and stored from, for example, player-provided personal information, player answers to survey questions, and/or analysis of player interaction such as player requests to provide additional information regarding advertisements. Such selectively provided advertising thus allows sponsors or advertisers to provide information relating to fairly extensive or expensive promotional items (e.g., demonstrations, samples, discounts, trial purchases, prizes, gifts) to players who are most likely to subsequently purchase the advertised product or service. Such selectivity may therefore greatly increase the cost effectiveness of advertising, where the term advertisement (or advertisement presentation) as used herein is meant to include not only product or service presentations of merely informational nature, but also more interactive advertisement presentations that may offer promotional items such as discounts, free samples, or trials.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is that each player may interact with and play the game at substantially his/her discretionary time and at a discretionary pace (i.e., progress). In particular, even though a player may be competing with other players, the player is not constrained by the order or sequence that must be observed to involve other players in playing the game. In fact, the player may stop playing the game for a period of time in the middle of the game and then continue playing where the player originally stopped. Thus, since the present invention is easily accessible, players can interact with the present invention at leisure.

Accordingly, the intent in a related aspect of the invention is to enable players (and more generally, users) to interact with the invention remotely, such as through the Internet and/or an interactive cable television network. Thus, by using an Internet embodiment as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a website (website) for a game may be provided in which players may access the interactive game features of the present invention while substantially simultaneously receiving a demonstration of information provided by a sponsor or advertiser regarding the goods and/or services of the sponsor or advertiser (the terms sponsor and advertiser may be substantially interchangeable to mean, for example, a person providing advertising to users and/or sponsoring to play games, sponsoring product promotions, or sponsoring access to a network). Further, the information provided by the sponsor may include, for example, hypertext links (also referred to as hyperlinks) to allow the player to activate, for example, web transfers for obtaining additional information related to the sponsor's goods and/or services regardless of the state of any game the player is involved with at the gaming website.

Another aspect in one embodiment of the invention is that the player can begin playing the game at substantially any time he or she accesses the invention. That is, the player can begin without waiting for the end of the previous game play by the other players. That is, players may start or enter the game provided by the present invention continuously and asynchronously.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is to require each player to use individual identification information, i.e., the player "registers" with the present invention before playing any game, so that the web site of the present invention may identify each player. Thus, in registration, one aspect of the present invention is that each player provides personal information about himself/herself for both game identification and for use by sponsors or advertisers as selection criteria for providing special demonstrations. For example, in the case of an Internet embodiment of the present invention, such registration may occur over the Internet prior to any game play at the gaming/advertising site. The player may thus be required to provide the invention with information about himself, such as name, address, email address, age, gender, and/or other characteristics of the player that one or more sponsors or advertisers consider relevant. Thus, the present invention provides the sponsor or advertiser with the ability to target their presentation substantially only to players or users having selected characteristics as determined by the information provided by the player, for example, upon registration with the website of the present invention.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is to have players compete against each other to win one or more game plays. By using the internet embodiment of the present invention as an illustrative embodiment, the gaming/advertising website of the present invention may divide the population of players into a plurality of tournament groups, where each group includes players playing a respective tournament. Further, the present invention may determine a contest group according to the following criteria, for example: (a) preparing to play a game of one (or more) discs in a contest; (b) the skill level of the player (e.g., as determined by the game play in the last (or last) contest); (c) specific player characteristics such as age, living area, property status, etc.; (d) specific player lifestyle characteristics, such as those exhibited by physical exercise enthusiasts or yacht enthusiasts; and (e) specific player preferences, such as preferences relating to jewelry, personal care products, or particular sporting events.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is to allow players to play the games provided by the present invention without financial risk or additional fees, except for the general network fees used to access the present invention.

It is a particular aspect of the present invention to provide blackjack and casino-type games, such as craps, roulette, poker, pai-gow, or variations thereof, wherein such games may be played by multiple players continuously and asynchronously, wherein each game is played uniquely rather than simultaneously with all other games. Further, in a related aspect of the invention, such games may be played automatically so as to eliminate the need for a manual dealer. Also, in one embodiment, the present invention may be played at a low cost gaming station in a gaming establishment (e.g., a nightclub) where players may play such games entirely electronically. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the present invention may be used to play a nightclub game such as blackjack on the Internet. In this latter embodiment, the blackjack game controller of the present invention communicates with blackjack players at internet client nodes through a web address accessed by the controller. Since the present invention does not require the blackjack game to maintain a particular pace, blackjack players can play blackjack at their own home without interference and at their leisure.

Moreover, the present invention utilizes new changes in games such as blackjack to make the game more interesting to the user. For example, using a variation on the exemplary blackjack, in one new embodiment where the card-dealing function is automated by the dealer module, this module may play blackjack with multiple players simultaneously, such that each player appears to be playing exclusively ("head-to-head") with the dealer module. Also, in one blackjack embodiment, each game of blackjack is played with the dealer module asynchronously with other simultaneously played blackjack games. Additionally, the dealer may play a different dealer hand for each player. Specifically, the first (or second) cards (or card presentations) dealt to the dealer per hand of game play are unlikely to be the same for any two hands of blackjack game being played with the dealer module; that is, any two-board blackjack game played simultaneously has substantially the same probability as an opportunity. This variation is therefore particularly desirable when the player is playing remotely over a network such as the internet. Alternatively, in a different blackjack variation, the dealer module and each player playing the blackjack game simultaneously with the dealer module may be provided with cards (or card representations) starting from the identical series of card representations. Thus, each of the simultaneously played players receives an identical initial hand and also deals the dealer with an identical initial hand. Thereafter, the hands in each simultaneous play may change only if the player requires adding cards differently. This variation of blackjack is therefore particularly useful in competitive blackjack played at night clubs where players in each competition are simultaneously started and ended within a predetermined time. Note that the contesting player prefers the blackjack variant because the contesting player may consider this to be a way to show that blackjack playing is more or fair.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention that may be used in the context of a blackjack gaming establishment such as a nightclub;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the gaming stations 18 of FIG. 1, wherein the gaming stations are used to play a blackjack game at a gaming establishment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the present invention is used to play a blackjack game on the Internet;

figures 4A to 4E show a flow chart of the processing by the blackjack game controller 14 when processing requests from blackjack players in the embodiment of figure 1 or figure 3;

FIG. 5 provides a simple example of the operation of the present invention for playing a new variation of blackjack, showing a four-reel blackjack game being played asynchronously with a blackjack game controller;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are block diagrams of an Internet embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the functionality of how a user navigates through a web page of the world Wide Web to access a gaming/advertising website 308 (FIG. 6); and

fig. 8A and 8B are alternative embodiments of a gaming/advertising website 308.

Detailed Description

A block diagram of a first embodiment of the electronic system 10 of the present invention for playing blackjack is shown in fig. 1, wherein the data flow is represented by solid arrows and the control flow is represented by dashed arrows. In particular, the embodiment of FIG. 1 shows the architecture of the present invention for use on a local network, such as in a nightclub, with the feature that low cost gaming stations can be utilized. Thus, the blackjack gaming system 10 includes a blackjack game controller 14 electronically connected to one or more, possibly remote, gaming stations 18, such that each gaming station has a player available to play blackjack. In the blackjack gaming system 10, the blackjack game controller 14 functions substantially like a dealer in a manually operated blackjack game, with each gaming station 18 providing a blackjack player with an electronic image of a blackjack game in which the player (i.e., user) at the gaming station 18 appears to be the only player playing against the dealer (i.e., "one-to-one" with the blackjack game controller 14). Thus, as will be discussed below with reference to FIG. 2, each of the gaming stations 18 includes a display for displaying the dealer's cards and the player's cards. Each gaming station 18 also includes player interaction capabilities for requesting card adds, activating various blackjack player selections at the appropriate times, and possibly increasing various wagers at various predetermined stages of the blackjack game. Further, it should be noted that each gaming station 18 may be operable to request that the player provide a security code to prove his/her identity, or, alternatively, the gaming station may request that the player insert an electronic card (not shown) into the gaming station 18 so that the information electronically encoded on the card is read at the gaming station and transmitted to the twenty-one point controller 14.

Referring now to the internal structure of the blackjack game controller 14, a gaming station interface 22 is provided for interfacing with each gaming station 18. In particular, the gaming station interface 22 buffers data signals between other components included within the twenty-one point controller 14 and the gaming station 18. For example, the gaming station interface 22 may have a speed matching buffer to adjust for speed differences between the blackjack game controller 14 and the gaming station 18. The blackjack driver 26 exchanges data with the game station interface 22. The blackjack driver 26 substantially coordinates the operation of the blackjack game controller 14. Specifically, blackjack driver 26 provides substantially the following capabilities: (1.1) identifying each player requesting blackjack play at one of the gaming stations 18; (1.2) creating a context for each ongoing session for communicating with other modules of the blackjack game controller 14

The internal data structure of blackjack game (v); specifically, at the request of each player

Instantiating (or re-instantiating) blackjack game data objects (data objects)

Or records, such data objects provide the blackjack game controller 14 with sufficient information to be correct

Responding to each received player request; (1.3) determining the output of the blackjack game controller 14 to each of the active gaming stations 18; (1.4) distributing blackjack game data among other modules of the blackjack controller 14; and (1.5) providing the card representations to the various gaming stations 18.

In accomplishing the above task, blackjack driver 26 communicates with blackjack player registration and playing state database 28. The database system 28 persistently maintains stored information about each blackjack player. Specifically, database system 28 maintains: (2.1) information identifying each player, e.g., a player unique identification code; (2.2) information about, for example, financial status of each blackjack player; in particular credit limit (credit)

limit) and the current amount of funds (the amount to be received or paid by the player); (2.3) for each player registered to play blackjack, playing any game with the player

Information about the condition or context; that is, sufficient information is stored to enable blackjack game control

The device 14 can retrieve this information and continue the blackjack game after accepting the player's request; (2.4) for each registered player to play blackjack, play any one of the twenty-one games with the player

Information relating to point games; specifically, since contests generally require players to participate in the contest to be present

Blackjack games with a specified number of games completed within a predetermined time and/or the total number of blackjack games

Since blackjack game for a predetermined number of disks is completed in the number of disks, the following types of credits must be stored

Information: (a) information relating to the number of blackjack game plays completed by the player; (b) remain in competition

Information about remaining time and/or remaining number of games; and (c) settlement of contests with players

The amount of funds or the score.

The blackjack driver 26 communicates with a wager settlement module 30, wherein the wager settlement module provides the following capabilities: (3.1) determining various bet limit parameters (e.g. per game play) for the next or next set of blackjack games to be played

The bet limit for the board game and the total bet limit for each player); and (3.2) making a settlement of the winning and losing bets of each player. Accordingly, the wager settlement module 30 receives and maintains financial information relating to each player currently participating in the game at the gaming station 18, and in this regard, is helpful in initiating a new game of blackjack. Accordingly, the wager settlement module 30 has a communications data channel in communication with the blackjack player registration and playing status database 28 so that the wager settlement module 30 can retrieve information to determine whether the player has, for example, sufficient financial resources to afford paying for possible wager entries. Of course, the bet settlement module 30 accepts identification information from each such rating-requesting module in order to provide bet rating information to the other modules of the controller 14.

The blackjack driver 26 is also in communication with a blackjack player evaluator 34. The blackjack player assessor 34 receives all requests from each player (via instantiation of a blackjack game data object from the blackjack driver 26) for blackjack players, except for data from each player indicating the amount to be wagered. Thus, blackjack player assessor 34: (4.1) determining the selection of each player during the blackjack game; and (4.2) responding to a player's request to add cards or, for example, remove pairs. Thus, the blackjack player assessor 34 validates the rules of the gaming establishment relating to player selection during a blackjack game. It should be noted, however, that in response to certain requests by players, the blackjack player assessor 34 communicates with the wager settlement module 30 to confirm that the appropriate wager is accompanied by the requested selection and that the wager is acceptable to the wager settlement module 30.

The blackjack player assessor 34 is provided with data corresponding to the representation of blackjack cards from the card generation module 38. The card generation module 38 generates, for example, an ordered set or sequence of substantially random card representations, and provides each such card representation to the blackjack player assessor 34, wherein the blackjack player assessor responds to each player's valid card adding request by outputting the most recent card representation received from the card generation module 38. That is, each player at the gaming station 18 receives a representation of a card at the time the blackjack player rater 34 receives the player's request.

It should also be noted that the card generation module 38 also supplies the same card representation provided to the blackjack player assessor 34 to a dealer (house) blackjack module 42, which deals the dealer's hand in each blackjack game. Thus, the dealer blackjack module validates blackjack game rules on behalf of the gaming establishment. Specifically, the module determines when and how an insurance wager can be placed on the dealer's cards. Note that as with the blackjack player assessor 34, the dealer blackjack module 42 outputs the most recent card representation accepted from the card generation module 38 when asked to provide another card representation to the dealer hand at the gaming station 18. It should also be noted that the dealer blackjack module 42 provides control information to the blackjack driver 26, particularly regarding the initiation of a blackjack insurance selection. This information is in turn communicated to the blackjack player assessor 34 so that the latter assessor can initiate insurance selections for each player at the active gaming station 18.

The blackjack hand assessor 46 is also in communication with the blackjack driver 26. The blackjack hand assessor 46 assesses each player's hand (or hands) by comparison to the dealer blackjack hand to determine a win/loss/tie for each player's hand. Accordingly, the dealer's hand and each player's hand or hands at the gaming station 18 are fed to the blackjack hand assessor 46. The assessor then outputs the results of the win/loss/tie to the gaming station 18 via the blackjack driver 26 and the gaming station interface 22. Additionally, the blackjack assessor 46 outputs the results of the win/loss/tie to the bet settlement module 30 along with the identity of the player playing each hand so that the bet credit (credits) and debit (bits) amounts on each player's account may be updated according to the results of the last or most recent blackjack game.

In FIG. 2, an embodiment of the gaming station 18 is shown. The gaming station 18 includes a player input area 204 in which a player may press a touch sensitive portion of the film covering the operations and requests of a blackjack player with the sheet. Immediately above the player input area is a player output display area 208 for displaying blackjack game information relating to the player. Each gaming station 18 may optionally include a player identification card reader 216 such that a blackjack player may indicate his/her own identity at the gaming station 18 by swiping a magnetic identification portion of a player identification card (not shown) through the card slot 220, thereby allowing the card reader 216 to transmit the coded identification indicia of the player on his/her card to the blackjack game controller 14. However, it should be noted that other configurations of the gaming stations 18 are contemplated by the present invention. In particular, the gaming station 18 may not have a card reader 216. Instead, a blackjack player may be required to manually or automatically register at a location remote from the gaming station 18, or, alternatively, a personal identification number identifying the player's identity may be provided to the player via the player input area 204, where the personal identification number may be entered, for example, by the player using numbers provided at lower portions of certain touch sensitive areas. In addition, the arrangement of the touch-sensitive portions of the player input area 204 and the format of the display area 208 (both discussed in detail below) may have other arrangements while remaining within the scope of the present invention.

The touch sensitive portion of player input area 204 will now be described in detail. A button 220 is provided to start/enter the next disc game. This button is used to initially activate the gaming station 18 so that a "request for play" signal is transmitted to the blackjack actuator 26. That is, assuming the player actuates the button at the gaming station 18, the blackjack actuator 26 responds by requesting the player to enter his/her identity by, for example, placing an identification card into the card reader 216 and/or placing a personal identification number through the player input area 204. Further, it should be noted that button 220 may be depressed at the end of a hand of blackjack to indicate that the player wishes to play the next hand of blackjack. Note that in one embodiment of the present invention, as the player continues to play the game, the player need only press button 220 to begin a new disc game. That is, it is not necessary to enter a player's identification for each successive game play (assuming that button 220 is activated within a predetermined time after the end of the last game play).

The player input area 204 also includes an exit button 224 that the player can press to explicitly indicate that the player wishes to end at the gaming station 18 without playing any more games.

Additionally, buttons 228-248 provide the player with the ability to issue blackjack game requests as follows: the (5.1) "add (HIT)" button 228 allows the player to request that he/she be given another card. The (5.2) "stay unchanged (STND)" button 232 allows a blackjack player to keep the current hand unchanged. (5.3) "Double Bet (DBL)" button 236 allows a player to be determined by the blackjack player evaluator 34

Double the bet in appropriate circumstances. (5.4) "SPLIT (SPLIT)" button 240 allows the player to SPLIT the first two cards of the player into two cards for each hand

Eleven playing cards provided that the first two cards are of the same rank. (5.5) "Insurance (INS)" button 244 allows a player to individually flip a single hit card for love

Under circumstances insurance is requested. (5.6) "BET" button 248 allows the player to request a wager to be entered during the blackjack game.

Note that after a bet is requested via the "bet" button 248, the buttons 252 to 264 are activated to enable the player to input various bets. Specifically, buttons 252-264 provide the player with the option to place a $5.00 bet (button 252), $25.00 (button 256), $100.00 (button 260), and $500.00 (button 264). In addition, a sequence of buttons 252-264 may be pressed to obtain a wager not provided by a single button. For example, to place a wager of $130.00, the player presses buttons 252, 256, and 260 each exactly once in succession (in any order).

The player input area 204 also includes various confirmation and cancel buttons 268 through 276. An approval button 268 allows the user to approve the last input. For example, one aspect of this embodiment of the present invention is to approve the input after each user input, either by the player explicitly pressing the approval button 268, or by allowing a predetermined amount of time to expire after the player's last input. A "Cancel BET" (CANCEL BET) button 272 allows the user to CANCEL a previously entered wager. Note, however, that if the time limit for placing a wager has been exceeded, for example, by the user pressing the "cancel wager" button 272, the wager settlement module 30 will automatically place any minimum wager required on behalf of the player. Additionally, the player may use the "cancel last" (CANCEL LAST "button 276 to cancel the bet that was pressed immediately before one of the amount buttons 252-264. thus, if the player's intent is to press button 260 and then button 256 to place a $125.00 bet, but presses the button sequence of 260 and 264, the player may press button 276 to cancel the $500.00 bet associated with button 264, and then the player presses button 256 to obtain the desired $125.00 bet.

A "SPEED OF PLAY" button 280 may be selectively provided at the player input area 204, which button allows the player to specify, for example, a predetermined amount OF time to wait after the player's input until each subsequent input is automatically accepted, hi one embodiment OF the invention, the "SPEED OF PLAY" button 280 includes an active area at each end OF the button, wherein the predetermined time (or times) for automatically accepting the player's input is lengthened if the user depresses the "slower" end OF the button 280, whereas the predetermined default acceptance time (or times) becomes shorter if the user depresses the "faster" end OF the button 280, it is important to note, however, that the SPEED OF the blackjack game is no longer as important as in typical blackjack game scenarios, i.e., each blackjack player using the present invention does not play a game with other players in sequence, so there is less concern about speeding up the game in order not to delay other players.

Finally, player input area 204 includes a "HELP (HELP)" button 284 to allow a player to request assistance from a person, such as a gaming establishment providing gaming station 18.

Referring now to display area 208, the screen display provided herein is but one of several contemplated screen layouts of the present invention. Specifically, the screen layout shown in the display area 208 is a representative layout for playing blackjack competition. Thus, it is within the scope of the present invention to modify the fields represented in the display area 208 as required by the player for the type of blackjack game being played when playing other blackjack styles besides blackjack competitions. Further, it is important to note that in one embodiment, the display 208 is colored such that, for example, squares and hearts are red, while spades and clubs are black, and various fields of the display area 208 may be highlighted (highlight) to focus the player's attention on the portion of the display that provides information most relevant to the player's currently permitted selection.

The various fields currently represented on the display 208 will now be described. At the top of the display is the dealer hand area 288: (a) for providing a representation of cards that have been dealt to the dealer; (b) for providing the status of a dealer hand (i.e., one of "holding," for holding, "BUSTED," when the value of the dealer hand exceeds 21 points, and "CONTINUING," when the dealer may add cards.A field provides a comment named "dealer hand:," followed by a representation of at least one card that has been delivered to the dealer, i.e., a hearts. in a player hand area 292 of display area 208, there are five columns that provide information about each hand that the player is currently playing in a blackjack game.the columns provide information that (6.1) "player hand (or hands) cards" in each line of the column provides information about each hand that the player is currently playing in a blackjack game

Players are playing different hands of blackjack at the same time. Therefore, on the display area 208

The front display shows two hands being played by a blackjack player at the same time. I.e. upper or first

A hand card having spade 3, red heart K, and spade 5; and an underlying or second hand having

There are plum blossom 3 and square 8. (Note that when the player chooses to double the bet, the same point in both hands

The representation of the card(s) may be displayed in a row between the representations of the remaining cards of the two hands. Or, a plurality of

The representation of the cards with the same hit in the hand may be repeated for each hand with the same hit). (6.2) "status" column to indicate the current status of each hand of blackjack being played by the player. That is to say that the first and second electrodes,

for the first or upper hand being played, the status is "hold", thereby indicating to the player that the hand is not playing

Has chosen to keep its hand unchanged. Conversely, for the second or lower hand, a "pick" is provided

Pick "indicating the turn to the player to pick a blackjack selection for the hand.

Note that there are at least three possible status fields for the cards that are playing blackjack per hand

The value is obtained. That is, in addition to the two states shown in FIG. 2, a "burst" state value is output to indicate that

Indicating that the value of the associated hand has exceeded 21 points. (6.3) "select" column provides each hand of blackjack being played with the same row for which the player is currently associated

Hands may optionally be indicative of a game of blackjack that is allowed. Thus, for the region 292 shown

The player has no remaining selections regarding playing the hand. However, for the second

Hands showing four allowable player inputs as player selections. I.e. the player can pass

The button 232 is depressed to keep the associated hand(s) unchanged, and the player can depress the button 228 to hold the associated hand(s) unchanged

To request a bet (add), the player may double bet (double bet) by pressing button 236, the player

Additional bets may be placed by pressing the button 248 and then entering the amount bet using the buttons 252 through 264. (6.4) "last bet" column shows the player that he/she is playing blackjack for which the player is playing

The last bet made on each hand. Specifically, for the upper sum shown in region 292

The following hands, the player's last bet is $ 50.00. (6.5) "Total bet" column shows the blackjack player the total bet that the player placed on the associated hand. Example (b)

As in FIG. 2, the total player's wager is shown in both the player's upper and lower hands

$ 200.00.

Below the player hands area 292 is a player information area 296 in which additional blackjack gaming information relating to the player is displayed. In particular, the row numbered 300 shows the last wager amount that the player has requested and indicia indicating the status of the last wager (e.g., "approve/cancel"). Note that this state may be: (a) "accept" to expressly or implicitly indicate acceptance of the displayed wager (either by the player pressing the accept button 268 or by default because the time limit has expired); (b) "Cancel" to explicitly indicate the cancellation of the last entered wager (by the player pressing the Cancel button 272 or 276); (c) "decline," showing that the status is due to the wager accounting module 30 declining the player's recent wager; and (d) "approve/cancel" indicating that the present invention is waiting for a predetermined period of time for the player to specifically approve or cancel the recent wager. Thus in the example of line 300 of fig. 2, the player has indicated a recent wager of $30.00 and the blackjack driver 26 has output an "accept/cancel" status as above (d). It should also be noted that the hand (or hands) that have recently wagered may be represented in any of several ways. Such as highlighting the row (or rows) in the player hand area 292 to which the recently wagered hand (or hands) of row 300 is added. Alternatively, an indicator such as arrow 302 may be used as in FIG. 2 to indicate to the player the hand (or hands) to which the recent wager has been applied, both above and below.

Further, attention row 304 displays "insurance bet: and any amount of insurance that has been wagered by the player. Thus, the amount on line 304 and the comments to the right of the line relate to the amount of the insurance wager that has been placed as insurance and the status of the wager (i.e., as one of "approve", "cancel", "reject" or "approve/cancel" of line 300), respectively.

The amount of funds available to the player for wagering is displayed on a line 312 in the player information area 296. For example, line 312 of FIG. 2 indicates that the player has a total amount of $1,000.00 for placing the wager. Note that the wager settlement module 30 maintains the total amount available for wagering and updates after each game of blackjack.

Player information area 296 next down three rows 320, 324, and 328 provide blackjack player information that is particularly useful in playing a blackjack tournament. Thus, when the player is not using the present invention for a competition, the information in these three lines may not be displayed. In line 320, two fields are provided that display game time information. By the flag "elapsed game time: the leftmost field of the comment shows the total amount of time that the player has played blackjack (in this case, the total amount of time is 45 minutes). Conversely, the rightmost field annotated by the label "time remaining for play" shows the time remaining for the competition.

An identification number (identifier) for any contest associated with the current blackjack game is displayed on line 324.

On line 328, up to two additional fields are provided that are useful in contest blackjack. With the comment "number of games played: "show the player the number of blackjack games he/she has completed within the tournament. Note that in some blackjack competitions each player is required to complete some predetermined number of games in a predetermined allotted time. For example, a blackjack tournament may require each player to play 50 games for a predetermined period of time (e.g., four days). In connection with, but optionally, in the context of a blackjack game in which the total number of hands in the game play is meaningful, the rightmost field of row 328 with the comment "number of games" shows the player the total number of game plays completed so far in the game play. Thus, by using at least the field for the leftmost annotation on line 328 and using the "remaining game time" of line 320: "the player can determine the number of remaining games he/she must play in the tournament.

It should also be noted that the present invention contemplates other blackjack game values. For example, a field that provides the number of remaining game plays that the player must play in the tournament may be added (or substituted) in addition to the current values of the player information field 296.

The blackjack rules are displayed in the next downward area of display 208, referred to as rules area 336. Specifically, the dealer rule displayed in area 336 allows for several changes over the general blackjack rule that otherwise would likely be employed by the player if the opposite information were not displayed. It should be noted that by providing these supplemental rules on the display of the gaming station 18, each successive blackjack game may be provided with different dealer blackjack rules, thereby creating more interest in the game played by each player, while also requiring additional skill in the player's blackjack play. Note that three dealer rules are provided in the current display area 336. That is, (a) an advantage of a3 to 1 premium paid for current blackjack games (rather than the typical 2 to 1 advantage); (b) the player can only make one-time double bet after the player is disassembled; and (c) a minimum bet on the current game of $ 25.00.

Finally, the display 208 includes a player identification area 342 for identifying players who are playing 21 points at the gaming station 18. The current player area 342 includes a field with a current player name (e.g., i.r. smith). However, the present invention contemplates other fields for identifying a player including, for example, a player identification number, such as a number that may be encoded on a player identification card used in conjunction with the card reader 216 for identifying a player.

Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of the blackjack gaming system of the present invention. In this embodiment, the blackjack game controller 14 is substantially the same as described herein above. However, the present controller 14 is now accessible via an internet web site, such that blackjack players at the internet client nodes 318 may play blackjack games on the blackjack game controller 14 via the internet 324 (and more particularly, via the world wide web).

Thus, if the web site 308 is described in more detail, it includes an Internet interface 332 for accepting and providing communications between the Internet 324 and the remainder of the web site 308. The internet interface 332 in turn communicates with a web server 340: (a) for validating and/or initiating registration of a website user (i.e., blackjack player) at website 308; and (b) a web site 308 module for interpreting requests from the internet to route and/or activate such requests. Thus, web server 340 may access database system 28 to determine the registered identity of, for example, a blackjack player. Further, upon receiving a user registration confirmation regarding an internet (e.g., world wide web) request, the web server 340 activates instantiations of modules referred to as common gateway interface scripts (CGI scripts), each instantiation of a CGI script 348 (or, for simplicity, each such instantiation is also referred to as a CGI script 348) is: (a) to translate and process internet requests according to semantics (semantics) applied to web site 308 associated with the CGI script; and (b) to construct an internet response based on the output of the relevant application. Thus, one or more generic gateway interface modules are provided, wherein each CGI script 348 (instantiated) invokes the blackjack game controller 14 to process a single Internet blackjack request from the Internet client node 318 that the player is playing blackjack, and the CGI script 348 then constructs the appropriate Internet response based on the output received from the blackjack game controller 14.

Since the twenty-one point controller embodiment of fig. 3 is substantially identical to that of fig. 1, a description of its internal structure will not be repeated here. It is noted, however, that the embodiment of fig. 3 is particularly suitable when the blackjack game controller 14 manipulates a processor that is different from or remote from, for example, the processor that implements the CGI script (or scripts) 348. Further, it should be noted that if the blackjack game controller 14 operates the same processor as the other modules of the website 308 of FIG. 3, the communication interface 22 may not be necessary, and additionally, many of the functionality of the other components of the blackjack game controller 14 may be included in one or more CGI scripts 348. Thus, for example, the functionality of blackjack player assessor 34 may be included in one CGI script 348, while the functionality of dealer blackjack module 42 may be included in another CGI script.

There are also some notable differences between the gaming stations 18 of fig. 1 and 2 and the internet client node 318 of fig. 3, as well as differences in blackjack game interaction. For example, the following differences may be provided: (7.1) the embodiment of FIG. 3 is not over-timed due to the long delays that may occur on the Internet

Automatically approve the blackjack game (e.g., approve an entered wager or a default minimum wager). Due to the fact that

The game speed is determined by the responsiveness of each player and the responsiveness of the Internet

(responsive). (7.2) players can play blackjack contests over the Internet where each player enters

Contests where he/she accepts a predetermined number of scores for the contest for a fee. Note that a contest may be given

Winners are awarded as an incentive to participate in such blackjack games. It should also be noted that one race is completed

The time of the game may be much longer than that of a typical blackjack tournament game. For example, competition may

Extending to 90 days because the player can play the game at leisure. (7.3) the input keys of the gaming station 18 of FIG. 1 may also be displayed on the Internet client node 318

On the screen, where the input buttons for the game station 18 now become generated by the web site 308 and are on the Internet

A run button displayed at web client node 318 on the blackjack web page. However, note that

The game speed less key 280 is not necessary and, as explained with reference to the embodiment of figures 1 and 2,

as the importance of game speed is reduced. (7.4) there may be other types of information output to the Internet client node than that shown in FIG. 3

318. In particular, each web site is sponsored by a responding user with respect to blackjack contests and

the examination of the prize can provide advertisement information.

In fig. 4A through 4E, there is shown a flow chart of the high level steps performed by the blackjack game controller 14 when the player request is processed by the blackjack game controller 14 in either of the embodiments of fig. 1 or 3, in a new blackjack variant in which new eligible card representations are always periodically generated regardless of whether a card is dealt in the blackjack game, and in which blackjack players may play games out of sync with each other. At step 408, the blackjack game controller 14 is initialized to process blackjack player requests and output appropriate responses to each player request. Next, at step 416, the card generation module 38 begins outputting random card representations to the blackjack player assessor 34 and the dealer blackjack playing module 42 at regular intervals (e.g., less than 2 seconds, such as every 0.5 seconds). Thus, the card generation module 38 continuously and regularly outputs card representations as long as the blackjack game controller 14 is responding correctly to blackjack player requests. The remaining steps of fig. 4A through 4E are performed, along with the acts of step 416. Thus, at step 424, controller 14 waits for one (or the next) blackjack player input, such as: requesting entry into a new blackjack tournament, requesting initiation of a new blackjack game in the tournament, requesting processing of a card play request for a blackjack game, requesting provision of information regarding a player's account, and requesting provision of help information (e.g., how to play blackjack).

When a blackjack player request is received, communications interface 22 queues the request and then sends the request to blackjack driver 26 at step 430. At step 436, a determination is made as to whether the player request relates to the current blackjack game and/or to the current blackjack tournament. If not, step 448 is encountered in which a supplemental decision is made as to whether the player's request is to enter a new blackjack tournament. If it is true, the blackjack driver 26 determines a blackjack tournament and enters the player into the tournament at step 454. It should be noted that in setting up this function, the blackjack driver 26 communicates with the bet settlement module 30 to confirm that the player is eligible to enter a new contest. Thus, the blackjack driver 26 provides the wager settlement module 30 with at least identification of the player and a description of the contest that the player may enter. Note that in some embodiments of the present invention, the selection of the contest may be set by the player. Alternatively, the blackjack driver 26 may select a tournament for the player using tournament information stored in the database system 28. Assuming that the wager settlement module 30 responds with confirmation that the player may enter the selected tournament, the blackjack driver 26 creates a confirmation record identifying the blackjack tournament that the player has entered at step 458. Next, at step 462, the blackjack driver 26 outputs the information in the validation record to the player at his Internet client node 318 (or gaming station 18). Thus, in the embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 3, the output of step 462 (and all such subsequent outputs to blackjack players) is output by blackjack driver 26 to communication interface 22 for queuing until the output is sent to CGI script 348, which initiated the player request, which output is the answer response. The output is then sent to a web server 340 and an internet interface 332 for transmission over the internet 324, and thus routed to the internet client node 318 where the player is playing blackjack.

In step 466, following step 462, the blackjack driver 26 inputs information into the database system 28 indicating the time the player has entered the blackjack tournament. Note that the information entered into the database system 28 at this point can then be accessed by the blackjack driver 26 and the wager settlement module 30 to determine the set of contests (or sets of contests) that the player has entered. After this step, because the player's request has been processed, the control flow loops back to step 424 again to await the next player input by the player at the Internet node 318 or gaming station 18.

Returning now to step 448, if the player has not requested entry into the blackjack tournament, step 470 is encountered to process any miscellaneous requests by blackjack players unrelated to the current blackjack game and/or the current blackjack tournament. For example, a player may request to review settlement information relating to his/her blackjack gaming account. Assuming such requests are processed and responded to at this step, control flow again returns to step 424 to await the next input by the player.

Returning now to step 436, if the player's request relates to a current blackjack game and/or a current blackjack tournament, step 476 is encountered in which the blackjack driver 426 uses the player Identification (ID) provided to the request to retrieve from the database system 28 any status information relating to any current blackjack game and/or blackjack tournament that the player may currently be involved in. Next, at step 480, a determination is made as to whether the player's request is to begin playing a new blackjack game in the current tournament. If so, the blackjack driver 26 requests confirmation from the wager settlement module 30 that the player can begin playing a new blackjack game in the current tournament at step 484. That is, the wager settlement module 30 determines whether the player has sufficient tournament credit to continue in the tournament. Next, at step 488, the blackjack driver 26 determines whether a confirmation has been received from the wager settlement module 30. If no such confirmation is provided, a message is output by the blackjack driver 26 to the player at the player's Internet client node 318 (or gaming station 18) to indicate that the player cannot play more blackjack in the current tournament, at step 492.

Alternatively, if the blackjack driver 26 receives confirmation from the wager settlement module 30 at step 488, the blackjack driver 26 creates a blackjack game record to fulfill the player's request at step 494. Note that in creating a new data record for a blackjack game, the blackjack driver 26 communicates with the wager settlement module 30 to debit the player account of the initial wager corresponding to the start of the new hand of blackjack game, and to output data for this transaction to the blackjack driver 26 for subsequent output to the player. Following this step, at step 496, the blackjack driver 26 requests the blackjack player assessor 34 to provide a blackjack game initial configuration for the new blackjack game. Thereafter, at step 500, the blackjack player assessor 34 responds with a blackjack initial configuration that includes an initial card representation of the player's hand (e.g., as shown in section 292 of FIG. 2). Note that this initial card representation is the most recent card representation supplied by the card generation module 38 to the blackjack player assessor 34. Thus, it should be noted that if two player requests to begin a new blackjack game are transmitted to the blackjack driver 26 at a very quick succession of times, step 500 may be performed for each of these requests before the dealer module 38 outputs a new random card representation to the blackjack player assessor 34. Thus, in this case, identical initial card representations will be provided for the hands of both players. Next, at step 504, the blackjack driver 26 stores information relating to the identity of the player and the initial configuration of his new blackjack game in the database system 28. Specifically, the blackjack game identifier of the new game is stored and associated with the identity of the blackjack player and the contest to which the disc game belongs. At step 504, which follows step 500, the blackjack driver 26 stores information relating to the player's new blackjack game in the database system 28. Specifically, the following information is stored in relation to the initial configuration of the new blackjack game: the identity of the player, the identity of the contest to which the new game corresponds, an identifier identifying the new game, and an initial configuration of the new blackjack game including the representation of the cards and any initial required wagers. Further, note that the blackjack driver 26 and bet settlement module 30 update the information in the database system 28 throughout the course of a player playing each blackjack game when the game configuration is changed due to the player's interaction with the blackjack game controller 14. Thus, for a disc of blackjack game in progress, a request from a player to continue with the next disc of game need not provide the entire game configuration to the blackjack game controller 14. Rather, sufficient information is required in requesting the blackjack driver 26 and/or the wager settlement module 30 to retrieve information relating to the blackjack game configuration corresponding to the player request. At step 508, following step 504, the blackjack driver 26 outputs the initial blackjack game configuration for the new game to the player at the player's internet client node 318 (or gaming station 18). Control flow then returns again to step 424 to await the next player input to controller 14.

Returning now to step 480, if it is determined at this point that the player's request was not to begin a new hand of blackjack in the current tournament, step 520 is encountered in which a determination is made as to whether the player's request relates to playing cards in the currently running blackjack game. If not, then in step 524 the blackjack game controller 14 processes miscellaneous requests, such as a request for special blackjack rules associated with the current game and/or tournament, a request for the number of players remaining in the current tournament, a request for the rank of the player in the current tournament, and a prize for the winner of the current tournament. Next, assuming that such miscellaneous requests have been answered, at step 524, the control flow of the present flow diagram returns to step 424 to await the next player input.

Conversely, if the player's request relates to a playing card of the currently running blackjack game at step 520, a further determination is made as to whether the player's request is for a new card presentation at step 528. If so, then at step 532, a determination is made whether the card request is to be dealt for the dealer or for the player. If the card request is from the dealer, the blackjack driver 26 communicates with the dealer blackjack playing module 42 at step 536 to obtain a new blackjack game configuration for the current blackjack game, where the new game configuration includes the most recently output card representation from the card generation module 38 as the next card representation in the dealer's hand for the current blackjack game for which the request has come. Next, at step 542 the dealer blackjack module 42 outputs blackjack configuration information indicating a new dealer hand representation and any player response(s) that the player has imposed in response to the new blackjack configuration.

After receiving the output of the dealer blackjack module 42, the blackjack driver 26 determines whether there is further player response in the current game by invoking one or both of the blackjack player assessor 34 and the blackjack hand assessor 46 at step 546. If there are additional possible player responses, the blackjack game configuration is output to the player at the player's Internet client node 318 (or gaming station 18) at step 550 so that the player may apply one of his/her available game selections. Then, after the player request is processed, the control flow loops back again to step 424 to await the next input by the player. Conversely, if the blackjack driver 26 determines that no further possible player responses are available at step 546, the current blackjack game has been completed, and the blackjack driver 26 activates the blackjack hand assessor 46 at step 556 to assess the hands of the blackjack game so that the blackjack hand assessor may activate the wager settlement module 30 to update the player accounts in the database system 28 (based on the results of the blackjack game). Following this step, at step 560, the wager settlement module 30 outputs updated settlement information to be provided to the player to the blackjack driver 26. At step 564, the blackjack driver 26 outputs the results of the blackjack game and the updated player account information to the player. In addition, it is also noted that the blackjack driver 26 updates the database system 28 regarding the completion of the present blackjack game and further related status information of players and contests associated with the present blackjack game. Then, after processing the player's request this time, the control flow loops back to step 424 to await the player's next input.

Conversely, if it is determined at step 532 that the player requests a new card representation for the player, at step 568, the blackjack driver 26 activates the blackjack player assessor 34 to obtain a new blackjack game configuration for the current blackjack game, where the new game configuration includes the most recently output card representation from the card generation module 38 as the next card representation for the player hand (or hands). Next, at step 572, the blackjack player assessor 34 determines the next blackjack playing selections that the player may apply for the board game and then outputs the new blackjack configuration to the blackjack driver 26 along with these selections. After this, step 546 and the following steps are performed as previously described.

Returning now to step 528, if the player's request is not for a new card representation, step 576 is encountered in which the blackjack game controller 14 processes other blackjack player game requests, such as a request to make a supplemental wager, a request to cancel the wager, a request to leave a player-specific hand unchanged, a request to unpair card representations, or a request to secure. Assuming that such a request as described above has been processed, the blackjack driver 26 then outputs the new blackjack game configuration to the player at step 580, in accordance with the processing performed at step 576. Also, note that the blackjack driver 26 updates the database system 28 with information relating to the new blackjack game configuration so that the information can be retrieved once the player then makes a request relating to the current board game. After this step, the control flow of the present flow chart loops back to step 424 to again await another input from the player.

Figure 5 illustrates a simple example of the operation of the present invention to play blackjack, showing four games of blackjack being played asynchronously with the blackjack game controller 14. To illustrate figure 5 in detail, it is first noted that the row of numbers 604 at the top of the figure represents the numerical sequence of successive card representations output by the card generation module 38. That is, a representation of the card having a value of 3 is output for a first period of time, a representation of the card having a value of 5 is output for a second period of time, a representation of the card having a value of 7 is output for a third period of time, and so on along the row. Below row 604 are blackjack game rows 606, where each blackjack game row 606 represents a series of events that occur during each blackjack game 610-626 at times corresponding to the card value 604. Specifically, the numerical items within each blackjack game row 606 correspond to the values of the player and banker hands when supplemental cards are added to the player and banker hands of each blackjack game. For example, referring to the blackjack line 610, assume that the blackjack game begins with a card representation of the left-most card value (i.e., value 3) of the player's hand acquisition sequence 604, the player's hand having a corresponding value of 3. The dealer hand then initially has a value of 5 if the dealer blackjack module 42 is activated for this game to output (i.e., deal) an initial card representation to the dealer for a second period of time (i.e., the card generation module 38 has output a card representation of 5). Next, if a player of blackjack game 610 makes a request to add another card for a third time period, a representation of the card corresponding to the value of 7 in sequence 604 is provided to the player so that the player's hand has a total value of 10. After including 7 in the player's hand, the present blackjack game is delayed such that the next time period corresponding to the value 2 of the sequence 604, no cards are dealt to the player or dealer of the blackjack game 610. It should be noted that important aspects of the invention are: the card representation generated by the card generation module 38 is incorporated into a particular blackjack game only if a request for a card representation is made during the time that the card representation was the most recent output from the card generation module 38. Thus, in a hand of blackjack, the representation of the one or more cards output by the card generation module 38 may not be used. More precisely, the following is typical (although not shown in the example of fig. 5): due to the delays that occur in the game, in a given hand of blackjack, the representation of successive cards of any length or subsequence output by the card generation module 38 may be virtually ignored. Thus, in some cases, this delay may be so long if the player does not request another card, for example, for up to several days.

Continuing now with the remaining playing cards of blackjack game 610, note that during the fifth session the player requests a card addition to obtain a card representation having a value of 9, and thus a player hand value of 19. The dealer then adds two successive card representations having values of 8 and 10, respectively. Thus, when the dealer hand obtains a value of 23 points, the dealer hand pops.

Blackjack game row 606 of blackjack games 614-626 may be interpreted similarly to blackjack game 610. Note, however, that each of these games starts at a different time period, with each game starting with a different representation of the cards taken as the first card dealt to the player's hand. That is, the first card representation dealt in each of the blackjack games 610 through 626 is different, and the re-requested card representation corresponding to the value of the sequence 604 is also different for each of the blackjack games. Thus, even if played simultaneously with other blackjack games, essentially each blackjack game will have its unique player and banker hands. Thus, not only can a large number of unsynchronized blackjack games be played simultaneously one-to-one with the dealer, but a blackjack player can have a greater degree of confidence that the dealer is not manipulating the card representations because the blackjack player can essentially determine substantially all of the timing of adding cards in a hand of blackjack games (for both the player hand and the dealer hand), thereby reducing the doubt that the card representations are being manipulated. Also, in one embodiment, the player may request to review a sequence of representations of cards once generated in a game.

Note that the present invention may also include other blackjack variations. Specifically, referring again to step 416 (fig. 4A), instead of generating card representations at regular intervals, the card generation module 38 may simply be activated to generate a substantially random card representation whenever a request for a new card representation is made (e.g., steps 536 and 568).

Further, in another variation of blackjack, which is particularly suited for a tournament that may monitor each player, players may play each game in synchronization as in a typical game at a manned night club. However, in this variation, each player is provided with the same representation of the cards as their initial cards. Then, each player's hand and the dealer's (i.e., dealer) hand differ from player to player only when each blackjack player plays their hand differently. That is, for each of the simultaneously played blackjack games played between multiple players, each player and the dealer blackjack module 42 may have the same sequence of card representations, such that, for example, the card representations dealt for each game between one of the players and the dealer blackjack module are identical for players playing the same sequence of cards throughout the game. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, for each blackjack game, it may be desirable to maintain a predetermined sequence (or ordered set) of card representations throughout the game so that players playing in different ways may be dealt appropriately ordered card representations. Additionally, it may also be desirable for the dealer blackjack playing module 42 to provide sufficient control information to the card generation module 38 so that the card generation module may respond with the appropriate card representation from the predetermined sequence.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig. 6A and 6B, where the present embodiment has been enhanced for providing advertising of sponsor or advertiser products and/or services to eligible players that suitably conform to a predetermined player profile such as a specific player group demographic profile. Thus, in fig. 6A and 6B, a game/advertisement controller 604 is provided for providing substantially the same functionality as the blackjack game controller 14 (fig. 3), and in addition, games other than blackjack (such as poker, craps, roulette, and roulette) may be played. Moreover, the game/ad controller 604 also performs the function of matching particular ads to users (i.e., players) playing the various games provided by the game/ad site 308, wherein each user communicates with the site 308 over a corresponding Internet client node 318 (or interactive cable television node). That is, the present figures 6A and 6B show various high-level modules for matching players with desired user characteristics (i.e., profiles) with advertisements from sponsors or advertisers requesting players with such user characteristics to view. In particular, only players with such desired profiles may be eligible to receive particular advertisements and/or promotional items (i.e., advertised items) from particular sponsors or advertisers. It is therefore an aspect of the present invention that various criteria may be used to make decisions as to which players (or, more generally, users) accept which advertisements. For example, one or more of the following attributes may be used to match a user with an ad presentation: (8.1) age, (8.2) gender, (8.3) financial status, (8.4) location or residence, (8.5) educational level, (8.6) marital status, (8.7) amount of entertainment time, (8.8) personal preferences and/or habits (e.g., smoker/non-smoker, hobby sport, movie, wine, food, clothing, vacation, car, etc.), (8.9) number of family population, (8.10) number of children, and (8.11) classification of users by network interaction (e.g., type of website visited), type of advertisement for which users seek additional information, risk tolerance in playing games such as blackjack.

To provide (or serve) a particular advertisement to a particular user, data (or items of user information) about each user is maintained in the form of a user profile in a user (player) database 28, which is an enhanced version of blackjack player registration and playing state database 28 of figure 3. The user profile is filled with information about the user, such as (8.1) to (8.11). This information is obtained when the user registers at the web site 308, when the user answers questions that are specifically presented to them in turn, or by monitoring the user's network activity. Note that the size of the user profile may vary depending on the amount of information available from each user. Furthermore, different types of information are available to different types of users. For example, for users with over a million dollar assets, they may be requested to enter their favorite vacation destination point, as this may be important for some advertisers. However, for users with assets less than forty thousand dollars, the above such information is not available because the information may not be important to any advertiser. Thus, in one embodiment of the user profiles, each user profile has a variable length section for storing items of user information that are not thousands of times uniform across all users. Also, in such embodiments, each item of user information stored in the variable length portion may be considered a pair, with the first component of each pair representing or referring to a question, user attribute or user category and the second component providing an answer or value relating to said first component. Thus, for example, for a particular user, an information item may provide such a pair: (4, Madrid), where "4" represents the attribute: "favorite vacation destination point" and "madrid" are the values of the attribute, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Alternatively, the data relating to the advertiser or sponsor may reside in a different database, advertiser database 612. Thus, the database stores demographic profiles (demographics profiles), which in one embodiment have a data structure substantially identical to the user profile data structure. Such demographic profiles may have variable length sections for specifying the value of the requested answer for user information items that may be provided in (possibly only a relatively small number of) the user profiles. In some embodiments, the demographic profile includes a reference to the identity of the advertiser or sponsor (reference), a reference to be served, and variable length portions of pairs of demographic terms (pairs), wherein a first component of each pair has the same interpretation as a first component of a pair of user information items, and a second component of the pair specifies a desired value or range of values preferred by the advertiser or sponsor. It should also be noted that in some embodiments, each demographic-based item pair may be accompanied by supplemental information, such as the perceived importance of the demographic-based item pair to the advertiser or sponsor. Thus, such supplemental information may be in the form of a normalized scalar value, where a value of 1 indicates that the demographic-based item pair has the highest importance, and a value of 0 indicates that the demographic-based item is substantially independent of the advertiser or sponsor. Thus, regardless of the particular embodiment of the demographic profile, the user's demographic profile is used to match (i.e., select) one or more corresponding advertising presentations to a particular targeted group of users who presumably may purchase products and/or services that are performed in such advertising presentations. Such advertising presentations are therefore only provided to users who may be later customers, so advertisers and/or sponsors may provide these users with specifically targeted advertising with fairly expensive promotions, such as product or service discounts, free samples, or trials.

Thus, to make a selection or match of a user to a demographic profile, for each user, the advertisement selection engine 618 is used to compare the user profile stored in the user database 28 to the demographic profile. Note that there are many techniques for performing the comparison to select groups of users. In particular, an exact match between each pair of demographic items and the corresponding pair of user information items may be required so that the second component of the pair of user information items is (is) within a desired range defined by the corresponding pair of demographic items. Alternatively, when not all demographic pairs are required to exactly match the user profile, various weighted statistical techniques may be used to determine the "similarity" measure. In one embodiment, the similarity measure may be provided by a statistical analysis module that determines the users that most closely match the corresponding demographic profile of the advertising presentation. Thus, for a user to be selected, it may be required that the similarity measure between the user profile and the corresponding demographic profile should be above a predetermined threshold. Further, it is noted that the ad selection engine 618 may perform the matching of users to ad presentations as a background or non-real time process, such that, for example, for each user profile in the user database 28, there is an associated table identifying ad presentations that are candidates for presentation to a respective user when, for example, the respective user is in communication with the game/ad website 308.

Moreover, it is important to note that, at least in one embodiment of the present invention, for a particular demographic profile, the advertisement selection engine 618 may periodically re-rate the user profiles in the user database 28 to re-select the group of users that provide the advertisement presentation. Thus, a previously selected user may re-qualify or disqualify viewing an advertising presentation, and a previously disqualified user may now be qualified for selection due to, for example, an enhanced user profile.

Thus, when a user profile is enhanced by supplemental information, the present invention can start or stop sending a certain type of advertisement to the user. For example, if a user indicates that he/she is currently considering purchasing a new car, an advertisement for purchasing a car may be sent to the user. Conversely, once the present invention is informed that, for example, a car has been purchased or no longer wishes to see car advertisements, the user profile may be further enhanced so that advertisements from the car advertisement category are no longer delivered to the user.

Note that the present invention provides for flexible creation, deletion, and modification of advertisement categories by linking pairs of demographic items similarly related to records or objects of the categories. The invention can thus provide at least the following categories of advertising: sports categories (e.g., softball, soccer, hockey, etc.), food-related categories (e.g., restaurants, grocery stores, food items), exercise-body-related advertisements (e.g., bicycles, in-line skatees, skiing), insurance-related advertisements (e.g., car insurance, life insurance), political-related advertisements (e.g., support or opposition to a particular political candidate), and geographic-related advertisements (e.g., advertisements for users who live in a particular area such as the Denver metropolitan area). Thus, the ad selection engine 618 provides the selected ad presentation to an HTML (HyperText markup language) display engine 622 that converts the data, such that the data is then included in the HTML for output to the user via the universal gateway interface 348.

More specifically, the selected advertising data is added (at least in one operation of the invention) to the HTML display engine 622 along with a token 628 that represents, for example, a playing card (current user game) that has been issued by a token generator (module) 38, which is an enhanced version of the card generation module 38 of fig. 3. The generated token is initially supplied to a game play engine 632 that is used to process the user's game request according to the rules of the game being played. That is, game play engine 632 determines for each available game: (a) how each token can be "played"; (b) who accepts the token, e.g., whether the user or the banker card module 42; and (c) the result of playing the token. Note that in one embodiment, the token generator 38 generates tokens upon request by, for example, the dealer playing module 42 and/or the player option assessor 34, where the generated tokens are appropriate for the game being played. Alternatively, in another embodiment, token generator 38 may generate random tokens that game play engine 632 replaces with the appropriate randomized values for the provided game, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. In addition, other embodiments for supplying randomized tokens to multiple different games are within the scope of the invention. In addition, the game play engine 632 contacts the player database 28 to maintain the status of the user with respect to the particular game being played, as well as to maintain the user's relationship with all other users (if, for example, the user is participating in a contest provided at the game/advertising site 308). It should be noted that in one embodiment of the game play engine 632, its internal modules provide similar architecture and functionality as the correspondingly numbered modules of fig. 3, although incidental, for games other than blackjack (e.g., "one-to-one" poker, craps, roulette, and pai-gow), as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Common gateway interface or CGI scripts (scripts)348, which are a number of high-level executable programs, as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art and discussed in FIG. 13 when describing CGI script 348, transfer data between HTML display engine 622 and Web server 340. The web server 340, in turn, communicates the data to a TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) stack 332 that interfaces with the internet 324 to communicate the data to the intended internet client node 318 having an appropriate web browser 640.

The present embodiment maintains information about the state of the game being played and the user's response to the advertisements in the user database 28. In addition, additional advertiser-specific information (e.g., desired demographic profiles, advertisements, promotions, and information related to user responses) is provided in the advertiser database 612. Thus, as discussed above, the demographic profile 612 in the advertiser database 612 may include a schema or template with fields for representing one or several of the attributes (8.1) through (8.11). In addition, databases 28 and 612 may maintain records of appropriate statistics of different types, such as: (a) an advertisement presentation provided to each user; (b) the presentation time, date, and number of times a particular advertisement is presented; and (c) a detected response of the user to the advertisement. Thus, this information may provide advertisers or sponsors with enhanced feedback on the performance of their products, services and presentations. For example, an advertiser may query the user and advertiser databases 28 and 612 for feedback as follows: (9.1) who sees a particular advertisement; (9.2) when it is looking; (9.3) has been prepared from: (a) any particular user

(b) All users

Number of times the ad was accessed; and (9.4) the number of favorable and/or unfavorable responses.

Referring now to FIG. 7, one embodiment of an access route or path that a user navigates when accessing the features of a game/advertising website 308 is shown and provided. Specifically, once Internet contact with the gaming/advertising site 308 is initiated, the user is first provided with a start page 700 identifying the site 308. The user may then access various benefit and registration pages 704 for viewing general information related to the web site 308 and for registering at the web site (which is discussed in more detail below). Alternatively, the user may access one or more "reception room (Lobby)" pages 708 to view, for example, games and information exchange capabilities provided by advertisers. Assuming the user has registered with the game/ad website 308, the user may proceed from the reception room (LOBBY)708 to the game page 710 where the game 726 or game rules 730 may be selected for use as a game by presenting to the game introduction page 728. Alternatively, the user may have access to a page or pages index 714 with a list of institutions that the user may be allowed to access, for example, depending on the status of their participation (e.g., a particular member of a sales chain that is a member of the discount chain). Further, according to the index page(s) 714, virtually any user can access the advertisements or promotional items provided by the advertisers on the ad page(s) 722. However, one aspect of the present invention is that the information provided by advertisers or sponsors regarding certain promotions is limited. That is, such promotional items are only offered to users who have demographic profiles that have been determined by the present invention to be sufficiently compatible with the desired user profile for the advertiser or sponsor to warrant offering such promotional items. The present invention thus provides access to certain advertiser promotions only to "qualified" users, for example, who believe that subsequent purchases of the advertiser's products and/or services are possible. In addition, such promotional items may also be provided to users who are indicated to be interested in the particular product or service being advertised. For example, users who: (a) requesting additional or supplemental information related to an advertised item, or (b) providing an answer to such an advertisement that is beneficial (by, for example, indicating a preference for an advertised item), or (c) answering a questionnaire or market survey information related to personal information, may also be provided with information about the promotional item. Thus, by the present invention, advertisers or sponsors may also provide such users with a considerable or expensive promotional item. Moreover, the present invention may also utilize such demographic profiles to prohibit users who do not match the demographic profile from obtaining the corresponding promotional items. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, when a user accesses advertiser page 722, the user profile (in user database 28) is compared to the demographic profiles in advertiser database 612 to determine any promotional items that may be offered to the user.

Further, from the index page 714, the user may be provided with the ability to link into various web sites or web pages (web sites). That is, the user may be provided with the ability to link into another web address or page whenever a link (typically a hypertext link) is available. Further, note that each user may access similar links when playing 726. However, these links may generally hyperlink the user to an advertising page 722 within the present game/advertising site 308 so that the user may be exposed to other information and/or promotional item selections that provide the user with certain advertising items. For example, certain advertising hyperlinks may be integrated into the game play presentation of game 726. Thus, because one aspect of the present invention is to continuously integrate different advertising presentations (and any associated hyperlinks) into the game play display of the game 726, the user is continually attracted to additional information for different products or services by activating the associated hyperlinks. Further, another aspect of the present invention is: such hyperlinks provide access to different web sites to the user, with at least a portion of the display of the user's Internet client node 318 remaining in a graphical format associated with the gaming/advertising web site 308, and the user can leave and return to the web site 308 without being aware of another web site being accessed. Moreover, by monitoring user input related to the advertisement presentation, the present invention can provide feedback to the advertiser as to, for example, the number of times the user accesses the advertisement display for such additional information about the product or service.

It should also be noted that certain advertisements (provided via advertisement page 722 or as part of the game situation display) may interact with the user, where the user may make a transaction, such as a reservation (e.g., a flight reservation or hotel reservation). Further, by accessing information related to advertisements to express responses related to other related things such as various advertisements, promotional items, etc., the user may be provided with an opportunity to express positive or negative opinions or to express such responses. Thus, one aspect of the present invention is the ability to perform "test sales," where a statistically representative group of users may be selected to determine: (10.1) the efficacy or appeal of one advertisement over another for a particular advertising item; (10.2) a profile of the user responding to the particular advertisement presentation; and/or (10.3) whether a particular group of users, e.g., a group of users with similar user profiles, respond favorably to a particular

And (5) displaying the fixed advertisement. For example, the present invention can determine the response by: (a) detection of

Activation of hyperlinks, (b) detection of answers to questions asked, and/or (c) determination of display or viewability

The length of time the advertisement is presented.

Thus, the incoming response data may be transmitted to the game/advertising website 308 and retained for later statistical evaluation. Thus, for example, advertisers or sponsors may be provided with the aggregate statistics obtained to maintain privacy for the user. In particular, statistics can be obtained that have the following uses: (11.1) providing information about the efficacy of, for example, certain advertising presentations (e.g., positive responses to such presentations

And/or advertising items sold directly by advertising at the game/advertising website 308

Mesh number); (11.2) providing information about the number of users accessing certain ad presentations and the user profile; (11.3) determining a measure related to the number of different users (user groups) who have been presented with an advertisement; (11.4) determining a total number of presentations of the particular advertisement; (11.5) determining the cost of the presentation of the advertisement to the advertiser and determining the cost of the presentation of the advertisement according to at least one of the following number of lines, for example

Billing the advertiser for the charge: (a) number of users to whom an advertisement is presented, (b) requesting a promotional item

A number of times, or (c) a number of times a network user of a web site communicates (i.e., hits); (11.6) determining whether the advertising presentation should be disconnected since the advertiser's cost limit has been reached, said limit

For example, the total number of presentations of an advertising presentation. Note that in one embodiment, the invention

One aspect is to bill the advertiser once per presentation to the user; or (11.7) when both advertisements are provided to various selected users (user groups), determined (from the same group)

Of an advertiser) or a different second advertisement presentation is most effective, such that the advertisement is presented

The person or sponsor may then select the most appropriate of the two advertisements in future advertisements

The basis of the advertising.

Furthermore, it is a further aspect of the present invention that it also maintains statistics (and/or related information) for the following uses: (12.1) providing "real world" relating to users (players) in a game tournament provided by the gaming/advertising site 308

Time "game ranking. Note that such a ranking can be provided to the user so that he/she can know that he/she is-

Her condition and the number of players remaining in the tournament; and (12.2) providing "personality styles" of game-playing users, so that, for example, risks of such users can be estimated

The tolerance is used to determine whether a particular user is likely to be interested in a particular product or service. Thus, it is possible to provide

This "personality style" statistic for the user may be stored in the user profile. For example, herein

The information collected may include: average size of bet, average of bet compared to total payable amount

Size, length of time cards are played in a bet, number of bets placed on high risk cards offered

Number scale, and player skill.

Thus, the following aspects of the invention are noteworthy: (13.1) it is possible to provide users with access to the Internet 324 when viewing certain organizations and/or advertisers' presentations

Free or discounted access to other areas. Note that the ability to access the Internet at a reduced price may serve

The role of a carrier to attract various users; (13.2) although the user may be required to go through the "reception room" page(s) 708 in order to view advertisements and/or have access to

Plus the chance of game play, but the index page 714 gives the user the chance to access a particular user-affiliatable

Organization (e.g., organization 718) or access to any particular advertiser (e.g., advertiser 722) without going through

Any game play; (13.3) the user may also go from the initial organization page 718 to a Game introduction page (e.g., of the Game 726)

(introductivity game page)728, but unauthorized, may no longer give him/her access to the same

Web pages of organizations or access games; (13.4) while playing 726, the user has the ability to access the advertising or promotional items being displayed

Further information about; (13.5) during game play 726 (e.g., blackjack), allowing a player to review during a current gaming activity

Or replay previous portions of game 726 step by step; (13.6) when the user is in a particular organizational page 718, it may be necessary to link to an advertiser 722

The user is asked to return to the index page 714 unless for some reason on a particular organization web page

Direct links have been provided. In addition, the user may access the game page 710 from the index page 714 and vice versa

And vice versa; (13.7) the user may directly enter to play (authorized) specific games 726 or enter rules section 730

To observe the rules of the respective game 726. Note that the user is always on during the respective game 726

Can access its rules portion 730; (13.8) there are help features for providing information, such as:

(a) how to do a particular action, reason for doing an action, or hindrance to doing an action

The reason for this is. For example, reason why a certain web page cannot be accessed, in blackjack game, cannot be accessed

Reasons for and/or at the disposal of specific game actions such as placing bets, keeping hands unchanged or adding cards

Occurrence of a certain bet, adding, holding, or other user play in a game such as blackjack

The reason for the particular outcome of the card;

(b) and contacting with game officials to solve the game outburst. Such officials can be present to address any

And (5) disputing. It should be noted that the user may activate the notification button by, for example, the form of the notification being displayed

The problem notification operates the management entity of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an alternative embodiment of the present invention is shown wherein a gaming/advertising site 308 cooperates with a third party Internet access service provider 810 (or interactive cable provider) to provide Internet 324 (cable) access to a user on a reduced or free basis once the user registers with a web server 340 (cable provider). That is, the game/ad site 308 contacts the user's Internet service provider and is arranged to subsidize the user's Internet service fee in return for the game/ad site 308 being able to repeatedly download unsolicited information, such as advertising presentations provided to the user, to the user's Internet client node 318 (or alternatively, an interactive cable TV node).

Thus, future users of the present invention may sign up or register with the gaming/advertising website 308 to reduce Internet service fees by dialing into the Internet service provider 810 using normal serial dialing, and then logging into the website 308 as a user identified with the generic user identifier "NEW" after accessing the Internet. Each user identified with "NEW" is forced into a connection with a registration or registration procedure so that he/she can provide the information requested by the present invention, which can then be used to decide which kind of advertisement to present to the user according to e.g. the advertiser's preferences. Thus, upon completion of registration, embodiments of the present invention download, for example, an advertisement viewer program 812 and a communications daemon (e.g., advertisement receiver daemon 806) to the user's Internet client node 318, wherein the daemon allows the gaming/advertising site 308 to repeatedly download unsolicited information, such as advertisements, to the user's Internet client node 318. Thus, assuming daemon 806 is installed, the user may not only access the gaming and advertising services of website 308, but may also access virtually the entire Internet through website 308 at a reduced cost. Thus, whenever the end-user processor 318 connects to the Internet service provider 810, the Internet service provider 810 places the gaming/advertising website 308 on hold, and the display engine 622 launches the downloaded daemon 806 via communication over the Internet with the user's Internet client node 318. Display engine 622 then periodically sends the selected advertisements to daemon 806. Thus, daemon 806 utilizes advertisement viewer program 812 to coordinate the display of advertisement presentations.

Note that various alternative embodiments relating to the architecture and functionality of fig. 8 are also within the scope of the present invention. For example, rather than communicating with multiple third party internet service providers 806 to determine when a user registered with the present invention is accessing the internet through an internet connection that subsidizes the subsidy, the gaming/advertising website 308 may include or be associated with a dedicated internet service provider 806 such that when the user is registered with the present invention, the user is provided with a new internet access code for the dedicated internet service provider 806 and the user's internet access fee may be subsidized.

However, regardless of how the present invention subsidizes Internet access, the game/ad controller 604 is notified whenever each subsidized user connects to or disconnects from the Internet. In addition, certain reliability features are included in daemon 806 and advertisement viewer program 812 to ensure that advertisements are actually provided to the user. For example, there may be a periodic transmission from each subsidized user's Internet client node 318 to the web site to verify that both daemon 806 and advertisement viewer program 812 are functioning. Note that whenever any advertisement is received at the user's Internet client node 318, the daemon 806 transmits the advertisement to the advertisement viewer program 812, which in turn transforms the transmitted information into a displayable format and forces the display of the user's Internet client node 318 to display an advertisement that is not ambiguous to the user.

Further, note that in some contexts, display engine 622 may send a message to internet service provider 806 indicating that internet access is no longer subsidized due to a predetermined number of failed advertisement presentation displays.

The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Variations and modifications of the above teachings, which are within the skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are therefore within the scope of the present invention. The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain best modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such, or other, embodiments and with the various modifications required by their particular applications or uses of the invention.

Claims (96)

1. A method of playing a game of blackjack, comprising:

generating an ordered set of electronic card representations having a particular order for use in playing blackjack, wherein each of the card representations of the ordered set is eligible to be dealt in a blackjack game in the particular order of the card representations;

first playing a first game of blackjack between a first player and a card dealing module, wherein the card dealing module is dealt a first sequence of representations of cards from the ordered set to play the first game of blackjack;

secondarily playing a second game of blackjack between a second player and the card dealing module, wherein the first and second games of blackjack overlap in time, and wherein the card dealing module is dealt a second sequence of representations of cards from the ordered set to play the second game of blackjack;

wherein the first and second sequences have different card representations at least for the first card representation in their respective sequences.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said card dealing module resides at an internet web site, and said first and second players play blackjack with said card dealing module using different internet nodes that access said web site.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein card representations dealt to the first player in the first hand of blackjack are interspersed with card representations from the first sequence dealt to the card dealing module in the first hand of game in the ordered set.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein card representations dealt to the second player in the second blackjack game are interspersed in the ordered set with card representations from the first sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second player does not play the card representations from the ordered set dealt to the first player.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the probability that the first and second sequences have identical card representations is substantially comparable to an opportunity.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of playing first includes a plurality of requests for dealing representations of cards dealt by said first player prior to said step of playing second.

8. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating step includes outputting different substantially random card representations of said ordered set when a card representation is dealt.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating step includes providing the next card representation of the ordered set after a predetermined period of time as the card representation eligible for play.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined period of time is less than two seconds.

11. A method of electronically playing a blackjack game, comprising:

generating a set of card representations having a particular order for playing blackjack, wherein each of the card representations of the set is eligible to be played in a blackjack game in the particular order of the card representations in the set;

first playing a first hand of blackjack between a first player and a card dealing module, wherein the representations of cards are dealt from the collection in the particular order, and wherein the first player is dealt a first sequence of representations of cards from the collection;

secondarily playing a second blackjack game between a second player and a card dealing module, wherein the first and second blackjack games overlap, and wherein the representations of the cards of the second blackjack game are dealt from the collection in the particular order, and the second player accepts a second sequence of representations of the cards from the collection;

wherein for an initial series of one or more games of the first player using the first sequence, their respective hand representations are congruent for respective congruent games played by the first and second players when the second player also initially plays the initial series of one or more congruent games using the second sequence.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said first and second players play in the same blackjack tournament.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the hands of the card-handing module when played with the first player and the hands of the card-handing module when played with the second player are identical for each game of the initial series of games.

14. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said step of playing first comprises reading an identification card with a card reader to identify the identity of the first player.

15. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein assuming that the second player also initially plays the initial series of cards, for each play of the initial series of one or more identical games, the hands of the card dealing module when played with the first player are identical to the corresponding hands of the card dealing module when played with the second player.

16. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said different hands of said first and second players are different outcomes of play by said first and second players.

17. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of playing cards first occurs at a night club.

18. A method of playing a card game, comprising:

generating an ordered set of card representations having a particular order for playing the poker game, wherein each card representation of the ordered set is eligible to be played in a game of the poker game according to the particular order of card representations in the ordered set;

first playing, by a first player in a first one of the card games, a first sequence of one or more representations of cards selected over time from the ordered set of eligible representations of cards;

next playing, by a second player in a second round of the poker game, a second sequence of one or more card representations selected over time from the ordered set of eligible card representations, wherein the selections of the first and second sequences of card representations overlap in time;

ceasing by the first player to select a card representation for the first game before all card representations of the first sequence have been selected;

continuing to select card representations for the second board game by the second player after the stopping step;

ending said second board game by said second player;

continuing play of the first hand game by the first player while the second player begins a third hand game of the poker game, wherein a third sequence of one or more card representations selected over time from the ordered set of eligible card representations is played by the second player, and wherein selections of the first and third sequence of card representations overlap in time.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the ordered set of card representations is selectable as eligible card representations by one of the following players;

(a) at most one of said first and second players, or

(b) Each player during a predetermined period of time during which the cards are indicated as eligible.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein each of said predetermined times is less than 2 seconds.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein for a first card representation of the first sequence, there is a corresponding identical second card representation in the second sequence, wherein the first card representation and the corresponding second card representation are derived from a same eligible card representation of the ordered collection.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the card game is a blackjack game.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of: while providing the same representation of cards to the first and second players for their respective blackjack hands, accepting a request for the first player to remain unchanged and a request for the second player to add cards.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of: playing a dealer blackjack hand in each of the first and second games, wherein the ordered set of eligible card representations is dealt to a first player in the first game and also to the dealer blackjack hand in the second game.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the particular order is an order of generation of the ordered set of card representations.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: maintaining a state of each of the first and second disc games such that each of the first and second disc games is played as if it were playing the other disc game that is not playing the first and second disc games.

27. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the site at which the collection is generated is located remotely from at least one of the first and second players.

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: electronically communicating poker game information between the module that generated the set and the first player playing the first board game.

29. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating step comprises repeatedly providing the ordered set with substantially random playing cards, wherein each of the substantially random playing cards is eligible to play for a respective predetermined period of time.

30. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: accepting a player identification code for the first player from a player identification input device prior to starting the first game.

31. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: changing a time limit for approval of input from the first player when the first player wishes to change the speed of the first game.

32. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: confirming to the first player a request received from the first player, wherein the request comprises one of: (a) requesting a new representation of cards dealt to the ordered set, (b) requesting wagers, and (c) requesting that information be provided regarding the rank of the first player compared to other players of the card game.

33. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of playing cards first comprises: inputting, by the first player, a request from the ordered set to provide a representation of a playing card, wherein the request is transmitted in a predetermined electronic signal protocol.

34. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of first playing comprises: storing a current configuration of the first game, the current accessible configuration using player identification data provided with the first player's request to deal the representation of cards from the ordered set.

35. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of first playing comprises determining whether a wager placed by said first player is acceptable.

36. The method of claim 18, further comprising repeatedly performing the steps of:

determining opponent playing cards for the first and second players responsive to the player playing cards; and sending a representation of the playing of the opponent to the player.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said opponent playing card is a dealer playing card.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein said opponent playing card is determined without human intervention.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein said step of transmitting comprises: the representation of the opponent's playing cards is combined with an advertising presentation provided to the player.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the combining step comprises: the advertising presentation is provided by comparing the user-provided personal information with a desired demographic profile from the sponsor of the advertising presentation.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the personal information includes one or more of: name, address, email address, age, gender, financial status, place of residence, marital status, education level, amount of entertainment time, personal preferences, and personal habits.

42. The method of claim 39 wherein said combining step includes determining a first advertising presentation for said first player and determining a second, different advertising presentation for said second player when the user profile of said first player is different from said second player.

43. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of: communicating game information relating to the poker game between a station that distributes the game information and the first player;

wherein the step of communicating information is performed using one of internet transmission and cable television transmission.

44. A method of presenting an interactive advertisement while playing a game with each of one or more users over a network, comprising:

performing the following sub-steps (A1) to (A5) for each of the one or more users:

(A1) obtaining a first amount of user information relating to a user who wishes to play a game initiated at a network site on the network;

(A2) matching the user with one or more of a plurality of advertising presentations provided to the user, wherein the first amount of user information is used to match the one or more advertising presentations to the user;

(A3) initiating a first instance of a game played by a player using the network;

(A4) transmitting the one or more matching advertising presentations to the user during play of the first instance of the game, wherein for a majority of consecutive user plays, one of the matching one or more advertising presentations is transmitted to the user intervention;

(A5) transmitting data relating to one or more responses made by the user to at least one of the matched one or more ad presentations to the network site;

storing, for each of one or more users, the data relating to the response, wherein the response is a response by the user to the matched one or more ad presentations;

providing supplemental information to a first advertiser having a first of said plurality of ad presentations, said supplemental information relating to perceived efficacy of said first ad presentation, said determined supplemental information using said stored data relating to said response.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising the step of: providing a supplemental advertisement to a first user of the one or more users if: (a) when the supplemental advertisement is related to the first advertisement presentation, (b) when the first advertisement presentation is sent to the first user, and (c) when the first user responds by sending a favorable response to the first advertisement presentation in the sending step (a 5).

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the supplemental advertisement comprises one of: information relating to a product sample, a discount, a trial order, a purchase of a product demonstrated in the first advertising presentation, a purchase of a service demonstrated in the first advertising presentation, a prize, and a gift.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the favorable response to the first advertisement presentation comprises information relating to one of: (a) a request for the supplemental advertisement by the first user, and (b) an answer to a questionnaire survey by the first user.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the providing step comprises providing information to the first user as the supplemental information relating to compensation given to the first user as a result of the one or more responses being provided by the first user.

49. The method of claim 44 wherein the perceived efficacy of the first advertising presentation comprises one or more of the following measures: (a) measuring a number of users who displayed the first advertisement presentation to view, (b) measuring a number of times the first advertisement presentation was displayed to the users to view, and (c) measuring a number of favorable responses of the users to the first advertisement presentation, wherein the one or more measurements are provided to the first advertiser.

50. The method of claim 44, wherein the network overlaps one of an Internet network and an interactive cable television network.

51. The method of claim 44, wherein said network includes an Internet site as said web site.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein said obtaining step comprises registering at said Internet site.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein said registering step comprises: sending registration information for a first one of the one or more users over a network.

54. The method of claim 44 wherein the first advertisement presentation includes information relating to one of a product and a service presented to the one or more users.

55. The method of claim 44, wherein said providing step comprises: providing feedback information to the first advertiser as the supplemental information, the feedback information obtained using the data relating to the one or more users' responses to the display of the first advertisement.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein said providing step comprises one of: determining a number of times the first advertisement presentation is presented to the one or more users, and determining a number of different users who are viewing the first advertisement presentation.

57. The method of claim 55, wherein said providing step comprises: determining a number of times the first advertisement presentation is accessed by the one or more users to obtain supplemental information related to the first advertisement presentation.

58. The method of claim 55, wherein said providing step comprises one of:

(a) comparing a first measure of said one or more user interests in said first advertising presentation with a measure of said one or more user interests in a second advertising presentation of said advertising presentations to determine the efficacy of said first advertising presentation compared to the efficacy of said second advertising presentation;

(b) determining characterization of users responsive to the first advertisement presentation;

(c) determining a measure of the first advertisement presentation, wherein the measure relates to an amount of time the first advertisement presentation is displayed to the one or more users for viewing.

59. The method of claim 44, wherein the supplying step comprises: repeatedly performing said matching step of matching one or more advertising presentations to a first user of said one or more users using said data relating to said response of said first user.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein said repeating step comprises one of: ceasing to send the first advertisement presentation to the first user, and ceasing to send the first user a particular category of advertisement items of the plurality of advertisement presentations.

61. The method of claim 58, wherein the particular category includes at least one of: sports-related advertisements, food-related advertisements, exercise-body-related advertisements, insurance-related advertisements, political advertisements, geographic advertisements.

62. The method of claim 59, wherein the repeating step comprises: sending a different one of the plurality of advertising presentations to the first user.

63. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more responses of the user include an answer to at least one question in a questionnaire survey.

64. The method of claim 44, wherein said obtaining step comprises: requesting certain items of the following information about the user: name, address, email address, age, financial status, education level, marital status, population at home, number of children, and gender.

65. The method of claim 44, wherein said matching step (A2) comprises: comparing at least said registration information with a demographic profile to determine said match to one or more ad presentations to be sent to said user at said sending step (a 4).

66. The method of claim 44, wherein said initiating step (A3) comprises: providing the user with a selection of one of the following games: blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, and pai gow.

67. The method of claim 44, wherein said initiating step (A3) comprises playing said first instance of said game at substantially the time of user selection.

68. The method of claim 44, further comprising the steps of:

generating an ordered set of card representations having a particular order to play the first instance of game, wherein each of the card representations of the ordered set is eligible to be dealt in the particular order;

when the first instance of the game is played by a first user of the one or more users, a first sequence of one or more representations of playing cards selected over time is first requested by the first user from the ordered set of eligible representations of playing cards, wherein the first sequence is ordered by the particular order.

69. The method of claim 68, further comprising the steps of:

initializing a second instance of the game with a second one of the one or more users for use in playing the second instance of the game;

second requesting, by the second user, a second sequence of one or more representations of playing cards requested over time from the eligible representations of playing cards of the ordered set to play the second instance, wherein the second sequence is ordered by the particular order, and wherein the first and second requesting steps overlap one another;

ceasing, by the first user, to request card representations for the first instance;

continuing to request, by the second user, card representations for the second instance after the stopping step;

ending the second instance by the second user;

continuing play of the first instance by the first user while the second user begins a third instance of the game, wherein a third sequence of one or more card representations requested over time from among the ordered set of eligible card representations is played by the second player, and wherein the requests of the first and third sequences overlap in time.

70. The method of claim 69, further comprising the step of: maintaining a state of each instance of the first and second instances of the game such that an effect of playing each instance of the first and second instances is the same as an effect as if another instance of the first and second instances was not being played.

71. The method of claim 68, wherein said step of sending (A4) includes sending an advertising presentation that is the result of said matching one or more advertising presentations with the card representations from said ordered set.

72. The method of claim 44, wherein the storing step comprises maintaining data relating to one of: whether the first advertisement presentation has been provided to a first user of the one or more users, and when the first advertisement presentation was provided to the first user.

73. The method of claim 44 wherein the first advertising presentation includes a hyperlink to additional information for one of a product and a service related to the first advertising presentation.

74. The method of claim 73, wherein said storing step comprises: information is maintained regarding a total number of times the one or more users accessed the hyperlink.

75. The method of claim 44, wherein said providing step comprises determining at least one of:

(a) a cost of presenting the first advertisement presentation to the one or more users; and

(b) whether the first advertisement presentation should not continue to be provided to one or more users.

76. The method of claim 44, further comprising the step of billing the first advertiser with at least one of: (a) the number of the one or more users that the first advertising presentation provides to view, (b) the number of times a promotional item is requested by the one or more users, and (c) the number of times a network user communicates with the network site.

77. An apparatus for providing an advertisement while playing a game on a network, comprising:

an advertiser container (repositor) for storing one or more demographic profiles, each of said demographic profiles describing one or more future users for providing advertisements corresponding to said demographic profile over said network;

a user data container for storing, for each of one or more users, one or more respective user data items describing the user;

selector means for determining for each of said one or more users one or more advertisements to present to said user at said user's respective network node, wherein said selector means uses said one or more respective user data items of said user, and wherein at least one of said advertisements is a response enabling advertisement (response enabling advertisement) for enabling a response by said user to said response enabling advertisement;

a game play engine to play a respective game with each of the one or more users over the network;

wherein for each user of said one or more users and for a majority of plays of said user in said respective game, there is an intervening network response by said game play engine to said user;

supply means for supplying to said selector means for each of said one or more users a respective supplementary item of user data relating to the user's response to said response-enabled advertisement for determining a subsequent advertisement to supply to said user.

78. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein for each of the one or more users, the respective user data item for the user and the respective supplemental user data item are included in a user profile for the user within the user data container.

79. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein the network uses one of an internet connection and an interactive cable television connection.

80. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the response-enabled advertisement includes one or more questions posed to one of the users.

81. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein for at least a first one of the users, the respective user data item for the first user is determined by one of: (a) detecting a hyperlink initiated by the first user, (b) assessing the first user's response to a question, and (c) determining an amount of time that one of the advertisements is viewable by the first user.

82. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein one of the advertisements provides access to one of a product promotional item and a service promotional item.

83. The apparatus of claim 77, further comprising:

means for combining one of said one or more advertisements with said intervention responses generated by the game play engine to provide a combined response to a first user of said one or more users; and

providing the combined response to the first user's device over the network during play of the respective game with the first user.

84. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein said means for combining comprises means for specifying one of said combined responses in hypertext markup language (hypertext markup language).

85. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the sending means comprises a web server for accessing the network.

86. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein the one or more data items for one of the users includes user information relating to: age, gender, financial status, residence, educational level, marital status, estimated amount of entertainment time, personal hobbies and habits, population at home, number of children, and various user network interaction categories.

87. An apparatus as defined in claim 77, wherein at least one of the demographics comprises at least a first user identifying the one or more users as one or more of: age, gender, financial status, residence, educational level, marital status, estimated amount of entertainment time, personal hobbies and habits, population at home, number of children, and user network interaction category.

88. The apparatus of claim 87, wherein the user-network interaction category comprises one of: a determination of a website visited by the first user, and a risk tolerance of the user.

89. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein one of the respective user data items for one of the users comprises one of the advertisements presented to the user a number of times.

90. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein said selector means includes a statistical analysis module for matching said user profiles with said corresponding user data items of one of said users.

91. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the game play engine comprises a game controller for playing one or more of blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, and nineteen.

92. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein the game play engine comprises a wager settlement module to determine acceptability of a wager requested by the user.

93. The apparatus of claim 92 further comprising advertisement receiving means at the network node of a first one of the users, the advertisement receiving means for receiving unsolicited advertisements not combined with any of the intervention responses.

94. The device of claim 92 wherein the advertisement receiving device comprises a daemon process (daemon) for detecting the unsolicited advertisement.

95. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the advertiser container includes data relating to a measure of the user's preference for one of the advertisements and for the advertisement item.

96. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein one of the advertisements provides for the conduct of a transaction to purchase one of the respective advertisement items.