Abstract:
A device, system, and method for acquiring, displaying, managing through an electronic binder and trading of random electronic trading cards assigned through entry of a unique code.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/057,161 filed May 29, 2008. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to an online system for acquiring, managing and trading of electronic trading cards. More specifically, a virtual sports-themed world contains electronic trading cards that exist only within the virtual environment, may be obtained by entry of unique codes, and can be collected, displayed, traded and used in game play. The electronic trading cards do not have a counterpart in the physical world, and may have statistics that are updated on a regular basis. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Sports and entertainment trading cards have been around for many years. Trading cards typically contain a picture of a popular sports figure, entertainment figure or famous place or event, along with a collection of personal information, statistics and/or interesting facts. Premium trading cards have been developed that include high quality lithography, printing on glossy cardboard stock with crisp color photographs on the front and/or back, various matted finishes and other combinations. Trading cards can be produced and collected for almost any type of interest, including, for example, sports such as baseball, football, hockey and soccer, as well as for television and movie actors or characters, games, science fiction and fantasy genres. Some trading cards become very valuable based on various factors including the authenticity and scarcity of the particular trading card. As a result, some trading cards include some form of holographic mark, certificate of authenticity, a serial number or the like to prevent counterfeiting. 
         [0004]    Many of the trading cards are designed to be part of a collectible group. For instance, a set of trading cards can consist of all of the characters of Star Wars or all of the players on a baseball team during a particular year. This creates an incentive to collect all of the cards within a set and adds to the enjoyment of collecting trading cards. 
         [0005]    Recently, there has been greater interest in electronic trading cards. The current electronic trading cards are based on actual physical trading cards that are produced by a manufacturer of trading cards. There is a one to one correspondence between the physical trading card and the electronic trading card. Electronic trading cards may be traded among collectors. One of the main problems with electronic trading cards is maintaining authenticity since the electronic trading card in many instances can be copied in the same manner as other software. This problem has been overcome in various manners though electronic “water marks” and various security procedures. 
         [0006]    Trading cards can be bought directly from the manufacturer through an on-line website, such as etopps.com. The purchaser is given the option of having the manufacturer hold onto the physical trading card or have the physical trading card delivered to the purchaser. The user is provided with an on-line image of the trading card, and has the option of tracking the value of the trading cards in their portfolio, sell or trade the cards. However, while this system provides a forum for trading cards on-line, it is not for an electronic trading card that does not have a corresponding physical trading card. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    The present invention is specifically disclosed in the detailed description set forth herein with respect to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a system diagram of a network within which the invention can be implemented. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  shows the structure of a network device that may be used in the system for implementing the invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a one embodiment of a registration page for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is one embodiment of a user&#39;s home page for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is one embodiment of a user&#39;s binder turned to the today&#39;s lineup section for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is one embodiment of a user&#39;s binder displaying all of the user&#39;s current collection of trading cards for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  is the front of an electronic trading card for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  is the back of an electronic trading card for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  is one embodiment of a user&#39;s binder turned to the favorites section for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0017]      FIG. 10  is one embodiment of a user&#39;s binder turned to the friends section for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0018]      FIG. 11  is one embodiment of the trading section for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0019]      FIG. 12  is one embodiment of the trading section, with two cards selected, for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0020]      FIG. 13  is the games section for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0021]      FIG. 14  is one possible game that uses the electronic trading cards for the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
           [0022]      FIG. 15  is one embodiment of a webpage for use in purchasing items in the system and method of managing electronic trading cards. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    Certain embodiments of the invention are described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings. The invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described herein. Rather, the embodiments may take different forms, such as entirely implemented through hardware, through hardware combined with software or entirely through software. Throughout this description, the various embodiments are not intended to be limiting unless so specified. References to one embodiment or another embodiment are intended to be interchangeable such that aspects of different embodiments may be combined in various ways to implement the disclosed invention. 
       Environment for Implementing the Invention 
       [0024]    Network  100  is shown in  FIG. 1 . Not all of the components are required for any given implementation of the invention, and variations in the arrangement and types of components may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , client devices  102 ,  104  can consist of personal computers, laptop computers and any other device capable of establishing a communication link with Internet/Local Area Network/Wide Area Network  108  through a wired communications medium. Client devices  102 ,  104  may be linked to other Wide Area Networks and/or Local Area Networks. Client devices may also consist of wireless client devices  106  such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, hand held computers and similar devices. Wireless client devices  106  are connected to Internet/Local Area Network/Wide Area Network  108  through wireless network  110 . The client devices are capable of identifying their location to other devices within the various networks. For example, cellular phones can identify themselves through Mobile Identification Numbers, Electronic Serial Numbers or mobile phone numbers. Computer devices can identify themselves through network addresses or other device identifiers. The identifier information may be included in messages or information sent to other devices within the various networks so that communications can take place through the network between the devices. Such communication can take place through known communication methods such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Instant Messaging (IM), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Jabber or the like. Any suitable protocol or method of communication can be used to implement the current invention. 
         [0025]    The client devices may include application programs that send and receive web-pages, web-based messages, data, packets having content for updating graphics on a client device and the like. The application programs may be browsers and associated programs that send, receive and display graphics, text, sound and multimedia. The client devices may have operating systems that enable the application programs, and use various protocols/languages to enable the web-based application programs such as Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), JavaScript, eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and the like. 
         [0026]    The various networks may also include network devices that provide content to users such as content management server  112 . These devices are capable of sending and receiving text, photographs, web pages, multimedia information, and the like. These network devices provide substance of interest to users of Internet/Local Area Network/Wide Area Network  108 . 
         [0027]    Internet/local area server/wide area server  108  can couple ToppsTown Server  114  to other computing devices including client devices  102 ,  104 , wireless client devices  106  and Content Management Server  112 . ToppsTown Server  114  can be configured to provide web pages with sufficient detail to create a virtual world to users of client devices  102 ,  104  and  106 . ToppsTown Server  114  can draw content from Content Management Server  112  in implementing this invention. Internet/local area server/wide area server  108  can use any form of computer readable media for communicating with the various electronic devices. The connections between the electronic devices can be through twisted pair, coax, fiber optics, satellite, carrier waves or any other commonly known medium. The communications can take place through routers and other networking equipment in a conventional manner. Further, the communications can have dynamic architectures and use any of a number of known protocols for communication. 
         [0028]    ToppsTown Server  114  may include any type of computing device capable of networking with Internet/Local Area Network/Wide Area Network  108  and enabled to manage a web site (a collection of web pages) and communication with and between users of the web site. In one embodiment, ToppsTown Server is connected with ToppsTown Database which stores data used by or received from users of the ToppsTown Server. In another embodiment, the data storage takes place within ToppsTown Server  114 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 2  shows one embodiment of a network device that can be used as ToppsTown Server  114 . The network device includes central processing unit  202 , input/output interface  208 , ROM  204 , RAM  212  and mass storage device  206 . The various components are interconnected by bus  210 . ROM  204  may include a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) for controlling the low level operation of the network device. Ram  212  can contain various operating programs such as applications  214 , Instant Message server  216 , network server application  218  and operating system  220 . Applications  214  can include the programs for implementing the current invention. For example, the applications in conjunction with network server  218  can receive the requests to trade the electronic trading cards sent by the user, can determine whether a trade is accepted by both parties, exchange the electronic trading cards between the users and update the user&#39;s trading card binder. The applications may also interface with other network devices to provide real-time or near real-time updates of the statistics for the players associated with the electronic trading cards and provide those statistics to the users. 
         [0030]    The network device of  FIG. 2  may also contain mass storage  206  which can be hard drives, optical drives, memory chips or similar devices for storing large quantities of data in non-volatile memory. Mass storage  206  may also store other program code and data. One or more applications  214  may be stored in mass storage  206  and then run within the environment of operating system  220 . 
         [0031]    The network device communicates through Input/Output device  208 . Input/Output device  208  can constitute a number of separate devices. For instance, it may contain a network interface card, graphics card, peripheral controllers and the like. The server may also have a monitor and keyboard. The network device can communicate with a network, such as Internet/Local Area Network/Wide Area Network  108 , through a network interface card using various communication protocols including TCP/IP protocol. 
         [0032]    The invention can be implemented in several different ways. For example, the invention can be implemented through a traditional client server arrangement or a peer to peer network architecture. The application program can be implemented in client devices, network-devices or any combination of various devices. 
       General Operation 
       [0033]    The general operation of one embodiment of the invention will be described with respect to  FIGS. 3 through 15 . This description is not intended to be limiting but only exemplary. 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows one example of a registration web page for the invention. A user selects log in or register now button  302 , which would provide an opportunity for the user to either register with the system by providing log-in information such as, for example, a user name, password and e-mail address, or to provide previously existing log-in information. By simply registering, a user may get a code that can be used to obtain electronic trading cards as shown by offer  304 . 
         [0035]    After the user is registered with the system, the user is presented with a personalized webpage or clubhouse page  402  as shown in  FIG. 4 . The user can return to clubhouse page  402  by clicking on clubhouse button  404 . Likewise, the user can access additional web pages by clicking on game zone button  406 , trading zone button  408 , pro shop button  410  and your account button  412 . The user can personalize clubhouse page  402  by including different items such as poster  416  or furniture  418 . 
         [0036]    The user is provided with avatar  424  which can be personalized. The avatar is provided with rank  422  that may depend on various factors such as, for example, the amount of time registered, the number of electronic trading cards that the user has, the number of points acquired, the number of trades made or the like. The user may also collect Topps points  420  for engaging in various activities such as game playing, trading or the like. 
         [0037]    The user can obtain electronic trading cards by entering a unique code into the prompt  426 . The unique code may be a number, alphanumeric code or the like. The unique code may be provided to users within a pack of physical trading cards by placing the code on one of the trading cards, on several trading cards, on a blank trading card specifically made for such purpose or on an insert card that would not be considered a trading card but may nevertheless by included in a package of trading cards. The unique code may also be provided by including the number within confectionary products, through promotional efforts such as, for example by the act of simply registering with the system or even placing a code on one of the electronic trading cards. 
         [0038]    Once the unique code is entered, a user is provided with a set of electronic trading cards, which may range from a single electronic trading card to any number of electronic trading cards. The user may also be presented with various other electronic items, such as items for their clubhouse, ToppsTown points or the like as described herein. Typically, a user would be provided with eight electronic trading cards with each unique code. The electronic trading cards will be placed within an electronic binder, which can be accessed by clicking on launch binder button  428 . 
         [0039]    Electronic binder  502  may appear as an electronic rendition of a real binder as shown in  FIG. 5 . The binder may have tab sections for accessing different portions of electronic binder  502 , as shown by all cards tab  506 , favorites tab  508 , friends tab  510  and today&#39;s lineup  504 . In  FIG. 5 , the binder is shown turned to the today&#39;s lineup section in which daily events may be highlighted as indicated by daily sports jackpot  512  and may have additional specials, such as card of the week  514 . 
         [0040]    The user can view the cards within their collection by clicking on all cards tab  506 . This will bring the user to all cards section  602  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The cards that are in the user&#39;s collection are shown by the images, such as Alex Rodriguez electronic trading card  604 . The cards that are not in the user&#39;s collection, but that exist within the system, are shown as grayed-out or faded images, such as shown by grayed-out image  606 . The user may “flip” the pages of the binder by selecting from the page from page number bar  610 , and may sort their electronic trading cards by different criteria, such as, for example, by team, last name or position. These can be accessed by clicking on sorting criteria button  608 . The trading cards may also be manually sorted by the user in various manner, for example, by dragging and dropping the trading card within the binder “slots.” For electronic trading cards in which there is more than one, there is an indication of the number of such trading cards in the electronic binder by the number in the lower right corner of each electronic trading card. 
         [0041]    In one embodiment, the electronic trading cards may exist only within the system. That is, the electronic trading cards reside within, for example, ToppsTown server  114  and cannot be downloaded to a user&#39;s computer where it can be copied or modified. This assures the authenticity of the electronic trading card. The electronic trading card may exist as a full data file or may consist of links to other data files or data resources. 
         [0042]    A user may view the trading card by clicking on the trading card itself. As an example, if the user clicks on Alex Rodriguez trading card  604 , a larger image of the electronic trading card will be provided to the user as shown in  FIG. 7 . The electronic trading card may contain a picture of the player, as shown by picture  702 . This picture may be a single picture or rendition of the player taken or created on a particular day. In an alternative embodiment, the picture or rendition may be updated on a regular basis, such as yearly, monthly, weekly or even daily. In one embodiment, the user may have the option of freezing or even selecting the picture for the electronic trading card. In another embodiment, the picture or rendition on the electronic trading card may consist of moving pictures or clips. The electronic trading card will also have typical indicia of trading cards such as, for example, player name  704 . The electronic trading card may or may not replicate a pre-existing physical trading card. The electronic trading card may also have statistics for use in game play. Game play statistics  706  may have statistics such as “arm”, “bat”, “spd” or “pwr” having values that may be used in games within the system as described herein. The statistics can have any number of values. The user may also have various actions that they can take with the electronic trading card such as adding the electronic trading card to their favorites, adding the picture to the clubhouse poster or “flipping” the electronic trading card to its other by selecting one of the options  708 . 
         [0043]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , when the option to flip the card is selected, the “back” of the electronic trading card is shown. The back of the electronic trading card may contain statistics  806  for the player. These statistics may be for the player for a particular period of time or year, or the statistics may be updated yearly, monthly or after every game or even on a real-time or near real-time basis. The statistics may be obtained from content management servers  112  ( FIG. 1 ) or may be compiled by ToppsTown server  114 . These statistics may also be linked to game play statistics  706 . As one example, as the players batting average increases, the game play statistics associated with batting may increase. As another example, a combination of the player&#39;s real time statistics may either increase or decrease the various game play statistics. 
         [0044]    The user may place electronic trading cards into the favorites section  902  as shown in  FIG. 9 . In this example, electronic trading cards  904  and  906  are in the favorites section. Electronic binder may also have friends section  1002 . The friends of the user may be represented by including pictures of their avatars as shown by picture  1004 . Other users can be found by clicking on find a friend button  1006 . 
         [0045]    A user may trade the electronic trading cards through trading zone  1102  as shown in  FIG. 11 . The trading zone may be accessed, for example, through trading zone button  408  from club house page  402 . In trading zone  1102 , the user has their current cards listed and may make an offer for a trade by selecting one or more electronic trading cards that the wish to trade. The user then selects the players that they want, as for example by selecting from drop down list  1106 . The offer for a trade may be 1 player for 1 player, 1 player for two players or the like.  FIG. 12  shows selection  1202  of two players for trading. Once there is agreement on a trade, the system completes the trade by swapping the electronic trading cards between the users. There may be any number of alternative methods of promoting the trading of electronic trading cards between users. As another example, a user may be provided with a list of electronic trading cards that other users are willing to trade, and the user will select the electronic trading card that they wish to obtain and select the cards that they are willing to trade for it. Alternatively, a user can conduct a search for the particular player they are seeking, and the system may only present those users willing to trade that particular player who are seeking electronic trading cards that the user has in his possession. As yet another example, the electronic trading cards may be exchanged for ToppsTown points, avatar items, club house items or for other items collected or acquired within the system. 
         [0046]    The user may also engage in various activities through the system, such as games as shown in  FIG. 13 . The playing of these games may cause them to accumulate ToppsTown points. These games may all be thematically related to the electronic trading cards. One example would be to include a fantasy league in which the players on the electronic trading cards within the user&#39;s binder may be chosen to form the team. The team may then participate in a fantasy league, within the ToppsTown system, based on either the statistics for the trading cards (whether or not the statistics are real time) or the game play statistics. Another example is shown in  FIG. 14 . In  FIG. 14 , extreme batting practice  1402  is launched. In this game, the user has the option of selecting an electronic trading card to use in the game. If the electronic trading card is used, then the game play statistics are used in the game. In this example, the user controls the direction that the ball will travel and the power applied to the bat in hitting the ball. If the game play statistics for the selected electronic trading card has a high “pwr” value, then the game will be played wherein the power applied to the bat in hitting the ball will be greater. The game player statistics may be used in any combination of ways to enhance the game play of the user. 
         [0047]    The user may also have access to pro shop page  1502 , as shown in  FIG. 15 . On this page, the user may purchase or trade clubhouse items, avatar items or other items within the ToppsTown system. 
         [0048]    The method and system provides an additional dimension to the experience of collecting of trading cards by creating a virtual world within which collecting and trading of electronic cards can take place. 
         [0049]    The present invention may be applied to any number of different sports and may also extend to trading cards for entertainment and role playing games.