U.S. Pat. No. 8,753,184

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1illustrates a main screen10presented to a player at a client computer console. The main screen10includes a welcome graphic100or other message. It may also include a short or detailed recitation of the rules of the game110. An advertising message such as a pop-up or banner advertisement130may also be presented to the user. The advertising message130may be correlated with one or more attributes of the player, for example his or her gender, age, existing user profile, or other information. A button120can be activated by the user to initiate a new game session.

FIG. 2illustrates a game session screen20. The game session presents the user with a word cloud200that includes various words captured from a database of song lyrics and shuffled and presented in a graphical form to the player. The organization or appearance of the words from the lyric database may correspond to the importance or the frequency of the appearance of each word in the lyric database for the song. For example, a word202that appears often in the lyrics of the song may be presented in a larger font than a word204that appears less frequently in the lyrics of the song. The screen20then presents to the player a list of possible answers from which the player can select the correct answer. For example, the player may be asked at210“who sings this song?” and the player may be presented with several candidate artists who sing the song for which the lyrics are provided in portion200of the screen.

The screen20may also include a status bar220. Status bar220may include a level of skill at which the player is playing222, a number of lives left for the player in this game224, the points accumulated in the course of playing this game226, and a help icon such as a question mark228.

FIG. 3illustrates a screen that may be presented to a player if the player correctly selects the answer to the question asked inFIG. 2. For example, correct answer screen30may include the word “correct!”300. It may also include an indication of the percent of other players that also got the correct answer to this question. A summary of the correct answer may be presented at320, for example, restating which band sang the song from which the lyrics were chosen for that segment of the game.

In some aspects the game may provide an icon330which when depressed or activated will give a preview of the song that is the subject of the segment of the game being player by the player. In addition, a link340may be provided to the player allowing the player to activate or click the link to be redirected to a place where the player can purchase the song online if the player wants to purchase the song.

In other aspects, some interesting trivia relating to the song or the artist in question at a given segment of the game may be presented to the user at350. A button or other user interface element360is also provided to the player is that he or she may proceed to the next segment of the game and play it again or be challenged by another question.

An incorrect answer screen40is displayed if the player selects an incorrect answer to a question being asked inFIG. 2. The incorrect answer screen may present a phrase such as “Sorry, that is incorrect”400. The incorrect answer screen40may also present the percentage of other players of the game who got the same question wrong410. The incorrect answer screen may provide the correct answer to the question asked inFIG. 2, for example listing the artist and the name of the song420from which the lyrics inFIG. 2were derived.

As stated before, an icon430may be provided for playing a sample of the song in question, and a link440may be provided to allow the user to purchase the song from some source such as an online music store. A button450is provided to allow the user to click the button450to play another round of the game.

Once the player has exhausted his or her remaining lives or once another criterion has been attained indicating the end of a game session, a conclusion screen50is presented to the player. Game conclusion screen50shows the player their title500, for example amateur, intermediate, expert, wizard, or other entertaining title achieved by the player in playing the game. The player may also be provided his or her score510. A comment520can give useful information to the player or induce the player to sign onto some service or cause the player to take some other action. Once again, an advertising link or advertisement banner525may be displayed on the screen.

In addition, the player may be presented with social media icons or links530on the game conclusion screen allowing the player to post their game score to one or more social media sites to share with friends or a community of players.

The player may select or click on a button540that will cause a list of top scores to be displayed so that the player can see how they compare to other players of the game. As before, a play again button550is resented to the player to encourage him or her to play another session of the game.

If the player presses or selects the top scores button540, the player would be presented with a top scores screen60as shown inFIG. 6.

The top scores screen60includes an advertising banner605, a ranking column630, the names of players610corresponding to the ranks630. The actual top scores620of each player610are also presented in the top score screen60. As before, a play again button640is presented to allow the player to play another session of the game. An about button650may be provided which will present the player with information about the game or other information from the game provider.

The present gaming application system and method may be implemented on a computer or processor-based machine such as a server or other network-capable device. Communication may be carried out using conventional packet-based or standards-based messaging. A Web front end including a Web server may be employed to provide interactivity with users of client machines interacting with the Web server. A database of information relating to the game data (bands, songs, lyrics, music files, user profiles, etc.) may be provided and coupled to the Web server or other backend application server coupled to the Web server. An application programming interface (API) may further be provided to supply information used in game play over HTTP or other means. Some logic can further be installed on and executing on the players' client computers.

The embodiments and description and drawings provided herein are illustrative and allow those skilled in the art to understand the inventions and to incorporate the inventions into systems and methods comprehended by the present disclosure and claims. The present embodiments should therefore not be considered exhaustive or limiting, but other derivative and similar techniques and devices relating hereto should be considered covered by the present scope of invention as well.