Patent Publication Number: US-2021174639-A1

Title: Cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The current application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/108,049 filed on Aug. 21, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/002,233 filed on Jan. 20, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional patent Application No. 62/105,998, filed Jan. 21, 2015, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention are generally related to communications within data processing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the communication and processing of wagering data. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The gaming industry has traditionally developed electronic gaming machines (EGMs) that implement simple wagering propositions. The communication and processing needs for these simple wagering propositions are easily met using conventional EGMs. 
     For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,405 to McClintic describes a conventional gaming device provided with a central processor (CPU) operably coupled to input logic circuitry and output logic circuitry. The input logic circuitry is employed to operably couple the CPU to input devices such as, for example, a touch screen segment or physical button, a coin acceptor, a bill acceptor, a user tracking card reader or a credit/debit card reader. The output logic circuitry is employed to operably couple the CPU with output devices such as, for example, a hopper, a video monitor, meter displays, and a printer. The CPU is also operably coupled to controlling software memory, which includes assigned memory locations storing game software and system software. Such controlling software memory dictates when selected graphics or messages are displayed to a user, as well as when play sequences begin and end and management of wager input and award output. The CPU is also operably coupled to a second memory, which is employed to store data indicative of game statistics, number of plays, number of wins, etc. Controlling software memory, a second memory, or other, ancillary memory store data indicative of winning results, such as data representative of one or more symbol combinations, including winning combinations. Second memory may also be used, for example, to store a bit map of the symbol pattern depicted as a matrix display on video monitor. In operation of the gaming device the CPU carries out instructions of the system software to implement an initial display pattern on the video monitor and to enable the input devices. After a wager is received a user activates an initiator interactive element such as a handle, the physical button or the touch screen to initiate a play sequence. At this point, the game software, in conjunction with a random number generator, generates a random symbol configuration at for a random final outcome comprised of a pattern of symbols for depiction on video monitor. System software then animates the video monitor by simulating the movement of visible representations of symbol carriers including symbols thereon so that the user perceives symbol carrier rotational “movement” of each symbol carrier as well as, optionally, rotational movement of the entire group of symbol carriers about a common axis. Once the visible representations of the symbol carriers have stopped, all of the generated, displayed symbols comprising a winning combination or combinations in the matrix display are identified or flagged. The displayed results (pattern of symbols depicted on the video monitor, which may include symbols received from a remote location, is compared with data stored in game software representing winning combinations to determine if any displayed combination on an active pay line is a winning combination. Any identified winning combination or combinations of symbols are then associated with winnings to be distributed to the user according to a paytable of the game software associated with the various possible winning combinations. The various pay line configurations and required combinations of the various indicia for a winning combination within each pay line reside within the game software and are retrieved for comparison to the randomly generated pattern of indicia depicted on the video monitor. 
     Operation of another conventional computer gaming system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,602 issued to Wiltshire et al. A game program is executed on server/host computer. It is then determined whether an image is to be displayed on a screen of a client/terminal computer. If so, an image is sent from the server/host computer to client/terminal computer. The image may include any type of graphical information including a bitmap, a JPEG file, a TIFF file or even an encoded audio/video stream such as a compressed video MPEG stream. The image is generated by game computer program and passed to server/host interface program. In turn, the image is transferred over communication pathways to client/terminal computer via the network services provided by server operating system. The image is received by a client/terminal program executing on the client/terminal computer via the network services provided by client operating system. The client/terminal program then causes the image to be displayed on a screen of the client/terminal computer. It is then determined whether an input command has been entered by the patron using the client/terminal computer. The input command may be a keystroke, movement or clicking of the mouse, a voice activated command or even the clicking of a “virtual button” on a touch screen. The client/terminal program causes the input command to be transmitted back to server/host computer via communication pathways, again using network services provided by the client operating system on one end and server operating system on the other. The command is thus received by the server/host interface program, that, in turn, passes the command back to the game program. The game program processes the input command and updates the state of the game accordingly. 
     However, more complicated wagering processes need communication and processing systems that are better suited for implementing these more complicated wagering processes. Various aspects of embodiments of the present invention meet such a need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention provide a communication and data processing system constructed for a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In an aspect of an embodiment of the invention, a process controller operates as an interface between an interactive processing device and a wager controller. By virtue of this aspect, the wager controller is isolated from the interactive processing device allowing the interactive processing device to operate in an unregulated environment will allowing the wager controller to operate in a regulated environment, thus providing for more efficient management of the operations of such a system. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, a single wager controller may provide services to two or more interactive processing devices and/or two or more process controllers, thus allowing a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system to operate more efficiently over a large range of scaling. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, multiple types of interactive processing devices using different operating systems may be interfaced to a single type of process controller and/or wager controller without requiring customization of the process controller and/or the wager controller, thus improving the efficiency of the process controller and or the wager controller by reducing complexity associated with maintaining separate process controllers and/or wager controllers for each type of interactive processing device. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, an interactive processing device may be provided as a user device under control of a user while maintaining the wager controller in an environment under the control of a regulated operator of wagering equipment, thus providing for a more economical system as the regulated operator need not expend capital to purchase interactive processing devices. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, data communicated between the controllers may be encrypted to increase security of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, a process controller isolates wager logic and application logic as unregulated logic from a regulated wager controller, thus allowing errors in the application logic and/or wager logic to be corrected, new application logic and/or wager logic to be used, or modifications to be made to the application logic and/or wager logic without a need for time-consuming regulatory approval. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, an interactive application may require extensive processing resources from an interactive processing device leaving few processing resources for the functions performed by a process controller and/or a wager controller. By virtue of an architecture of the embodiments of the invention, processing loads may be distributed across multiple devices such that operations of the interactive processing device may be dedicated to the interactive application and the processes of the process controller and/or wager controller are not burdened by the requirements of the interactive application. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system operates with its components being distributed across multiple devices. These devices can be connected by communication channels including, but not limited to, local area networks, wide area networks, local communication buses, and/or the like. The devices may communicate using various types of protocols, including but not limited to, networking protocols, device-to-device communications protocols, and the like. In many such embodiments, one or more components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are distributed in close proximity to each other and communicate using a local area network and/or a communication bus. In several embodiments, an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are in a common location and communicate with an external wager controller. In some embodiments, a process controller and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are in a common location and communicate with an external interactive processing device. In many embodiments, an interactive processing device, a process controller, and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are located in a common location. In some embodiments, a session/management controller is located in a common location with a process controller and/or a wager controller. In various embodiments, these multiple devices can be constructed from or configured using a single device or a plurality of devices such that a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is executed as a system in a virtualized space such as, but not limited to, where a wager controller and a process controller are large scale centralized servers in the cloud operatively connected to widely distributed interactive processing devices via a wide area network such as the Internet or a local area network. In such embodiments, the components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate using a networking protocol or other type of device-to-device communications protocol. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, a centralized wager controller is operatively connected to, and communicates with, one or more process controllers using a communication link. The centralized wager controller can generate wager outcomes for wagers in accordance with one or more wagering propositions. The centralized wager controller can execute a number of simultaneous or pseudo-simultaneous wagers in order to generate wager outcomes for a variety of wagering propositions that one or more distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems can use. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, a centralized process controller is operatively connected to one or more interactive processing devices and one or more wager controllers using a communication link. The centralized process controller can perform the functionality of a process controller across various cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems. 
     In another aspect of another embodiment of the invention, an interactive application server provides a host for managing head-to-head play operating over a network of interactive processing devices connected to the interactive application server using a communication link. The interactive application server provides an environment where users can compete directly with one another and interact with other users. 
     An embodiment includes an interactive processing device constructed to: provide an interactive application display associated with an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device; communicate, to a process controller, session initiation data associated with a session of the interactive application; receive, from the process controller, role assignment data; automatically configure the display based on the role assignment data; communicate, to the process controller, application telemetry data; receive, from the process controller, the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data; responsive to receiving the wagering telemetry data, automatically configure a wagering user interface based on the wagering telemetry data; and automatically incorporate the application resource data into the interactive application; a wager controller constructed to: receive, from the process controller, wager request data; responsive to receiving the wager request data, automatically determine a wager outcome based on the wager request data; and communicate the wager outcome data to the process controller; and the process controller operatively connecting the interactive processing device and the wager controller, the process controller constructed to: receive, from the interactive processing device, the session initiation data; determine a number of users for the interactive application session based on the session initiation data; determine roles available based on the number of users participating in the interactive application session; assign a role from the available roles, to each of the users; associate each of the users with an ability based on the role assignments; communicate, to the interactive processing device, the role assignment data; receive, from the interactive processing device, the application telemetry data; determine whether a wager is triggered based on the application telemetry data; when a wager request is triggered, generate wager request data and command the wager controller by communicating the wager request data to the wager controller; receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome data; responsive to receiving the wager outcome data, scan the wager outcome data; automatically determine the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data based on the wager outcome data; and command the interactive processing device by communicating the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data to the interactive processing device. 
     In a further embodiment, the interactive processing device and the process controller are constructed from the same device, and the process controller is operatively connected to the wager controller using a communication link. 
     In a further embodiment, the wager controller and the process controller are constructed from the same device, and the process controller is operatively connected to the interactive processing device using a communication link. 
     In a further embodiment, the system includes: an enclosure constructed to mount: a user input device operatively connected to the interactive processing device; a user output device operatively connected to the interactive processing device; a credit input device operatively connected to the wager controller; and a credit output device operatively connected to the wager controller. 
     In a further embodiment, the wager controller is further constructed to: communicate with the credit input device to receive a credit input; credit a credit meter with credits based on the incoming credit data; execute a wager based on a communication received from the process controller; update the credit meter based on a wager outcome of the wager; and communicate with the credit output device to generate a credit output based on credits transferred off of the credit meter. 
     In a further embodiment, the process controller receives session initiation data from a plurality of interactive processing devices, the plurality of interactive processing devices including the interactive processing device. 
     In a further embodiment, the available roles increase as the number of users increases. 
     In a further embodiment, the session initiation data comprises one or more identifiers associated with one or more users associated with the interactive processing device. 
     An embodiment includes an interactive processing device constructed to: provide an interactive application display associated with an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device; communicate, to a process controller, session initiation data associated with a session of the interactive application; receive, from the process controller, role assignment data; automatically configure the display based on the role assignment data; communicate, to the process controller, application telemetry data; receive, from the process controller, the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data; responsive to receiving the wagering telemetry data, automatically configure a wagering user interface based on the wagering telemetry data; and automatically incorporate the application resource data into the interactive application; and the process controller operatively connecting the interactive processing device and a wager controller, the process controller constructed to: receive, from the interactive processing device, the session initiation data; determine a number of users for the interactive application session based on the session initiation data; determine roles available based on the number of users participating in the interactive application session; assign a role from the available roles, to each of the users; associate each of the users with an ability based on the role assignments; communicate, to the interactive processing device, the role assignment data; receive, from the interactive processing device, the application telemetry data; determine whether a wager is triggered based on the application telemetry data; when a wager request is triggered, generate wager request data and command the wager controller by communicating the wager request data to the wager controller; receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome data; responsive to receiving the wager outcome data, scan the wager outcome data; automatically determine the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data based on the wager outcome data; and command the interactive processing device by communicating the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data to the interactive processing device. 
     An embodiment includes a wager controller constructed to: receive, from a process controller, wager request data; responsive to receiving the wager request data, automatically determine a wager outcome based on the wager request data; and communicate the wager outcome data to the process controller; and the process controller operatively connecting an interactive processing device and the wager controller, the process controller constructed to: receive, from the interactive processing device, session initiation data associated with a session of an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device; determine a number of users for the interactive application session based on the session initiation data; determine roles available based on the number of users participating in the interactive application session; assign a role from the available roles, to each of the users; associate each of the users with an ability based on the role assignments; communicate, to the interactive processing device, role assignment data, wherein the interactive processing device configures an interactive application display based on the role assignment data; receive, from the interactive processing device, application telemetry data; determine whether a wager is triggered based on the application telemetry data; when a wager request is triggered, generate wager request data and command the wager controller by communicating the wager request data to the wager controller; receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome data; responsive to receiving the wager outcome data, scan the wager outcome data; automatically determine wagering telemetry data and application resource data based on the wager outcome data; and command the interactive processing device by communicating the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data to the interactive processing device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a diagram of a structure of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 1B  is a diagram of an electronic gaming machine configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D  are illustrations of interactive processing devices of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C  are diagrams of distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are diagrams of a structure of an interactive processing device of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  are diagrams of a structure of a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  are diagrams of a structure of a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  are diagrams of a structure of a session/management controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 8A  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 8B  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a collaboration diagram for components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a flowchart of steps that may be performed in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates a flowchart of steps that may be performed in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a flowchart of steps that may be performed in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates a flowchart of steps that may be performed in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 14  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interleaves wagering with non-wagering activities. In some embodiments of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, an interactive application executed by an interactive processing device provides non-wagering interactive components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. The interactive processing device is operatively connected to a process controller that manages and configures the interactive processing device and the interactive application, and determines when wagers should be interleaved with the operations of the interactive application. The process controller is further operatively connected to a wager controller that provides one or more wagering propositions for one or more wagers. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device also provides a wagering user interface that is used to receive commands and display data for a wagering process, including but not limited to a wager outcome of a wager made in accordance with a wagering proposition. The content of the wagering user interface is controlled by the process controller and includes content provided by the wager controller. 
     In various embodiments, an interactive processing device provides a management user interface used to manage a user profile including an electronic wallet for deposit and withdrawals of credits used for wagering. 
     Many different types of interactive applications may be utilized with the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. In some embodiments, the interactive application reacts to the physical activity of a user. In these embodiments, the interactive application senses user interactions with the interactive application through one or more sensors that monitor the user&#39;s physical activities. Such sensors may include, but are not limited to, physiological sensors that monitor the physiology of the user, environmental sensors that monitor the physical environment of the interactive processing device, accelerometers that monitor changes in motion of the interactive processing device, and location sensors that monitor the location of the interactive processing device such as global positioning sensors. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application implements a skill-based game and interacts with the user by sensing skillful interactions with an interactive display generated by the interactive application. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application is a tool used to achieve some useful goal. 
     In operation, the interactive application generates various types of interactive elements in an interactive application environment. In some embodiments, these interactive elements are interactive application resources utilized within the interactive application environment to provide an interactive experience for a user. Wagers of credits or interactive elements are made in accordance with a wagering proposition as automatically triggered by interaction with one or more of the interactive elements of the interactive application. Wager outcomes of wagers of credits or interactive elements made in accordance with the wagering proposition can cause consumption, loss or accrual of credits or interactive elements. 
     In accordance with some embodiments, wager outcomes of wagering events can influence interactive elements in the interactive application environment such as, but not limited to, automatically providing one or more new interactive elements, automatically restoring one or more consumed interactive elements, automatically causing the loss of one or more interactive elements, and automatic restoration or placement of one or more fixed interactive elements. 
     In various embodiments, the wagers may be made using one or more credits (Cr). 
     In some embodiments, Cr can be one or more credits that are purchased using, and redeemed in, a real world currency having a real world value. 
     In many embodiments, Cr can be one or more credits in a virtual currency. Virtual currency is an alternate currency that can be acquired, purchased or transferred by or to a user, but does not necessarily directly correlate to a real world currency. In many such embodiments, Cr in a virtual currency are allowed to be purchased using a real world currency but are prevented from being redeemed in a real world currency having a real world value. 
     In several embodiments, interaction with the interactive elements of the interactive application, application environment credit (AC) can be optionally consumed and/or accrued within the interactive application as a result of interaction with the interactive elements. AC can be in the form of, but is not limited to, application environment credits, experience points, and points generally. 
     In various embodiments, AC is awarded on the basis of skillful interactions with the interactive elements of a skill-based interactive application. The skill-based interactive application can have one or more scoring criteria, embedded within a process controller and/or an interactive processing device that provides the skill-based interactive application, that can be used to determine performance against one or more goals of the skill-based interactive application. 
     In many embodiments, AC can be used to purchase in-application items, including but not limited to, application interactive elements that have particular properties, power ups for existing items, and other item enhancements. 
     In some embodiments, AC may be used to earn entrance into a sweepstakes drawing, to earn entrance in a tournament with prizes, to score in the tournament, and/or to participate and/or score in any other game event. 
     In several embodiments, AC can be stored on a user-tracking card or in a network-based user tracking system where the AC is attributed to a specific user. 
     In many embodiments, a wagering proposition includes a wager of AC for a wager outcome of a randomly generated payout of interactive application AC, interactive elements, and/or interactive application objects in accordance with a wagering proposition. 
     In a number of embodiments, a wager of an amount of Cr results in a wager outcome of a payout of AC, interactive elements, and/or interactive application objects that have a Cr value if cashed out. 
     In some embodiments, such as when an interactive application is a skill-based interactive application, interactive application objects include in-application objects that may be utilized to enhance interactions with the skill-based interactive application. Such objects include, but are not limited to, power-ups, enhanced in-application items, and the like. In some embodiments, the interactive application objects include objects that are detrimental to interactions with the skill-based interactive application such as, but not limited to, obstructions in the skill-based interactive application space, a temporary handicap, an enhanced opponent, and the like. 
     In some embodiments, interactive elements in an interactive application include, but are not limited to, enabling interactive elements (EIE) that are interactive application environment resources utilized during interaction with an interactive application and whose utilization automatically triggers execution of a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. In some embodiments, interactive elements in an interactive application include, but are not limited to, a reserve enabling interactive element (REIE), that is an interactive element that is automatically converted into one or more enabling interactive elements upon occurrence of a release event during an interactive session of an interactive application. In yet another embodiment, interactive elements in an interactive application include, but are not limited to, an actionable interactive element (AIE) that is an interactive element that is acted upon during a session of the interactive application to automatically trigger a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition and may or may not be restorable during normal interaction with the interactive application. In yet another embodiment, interactive elements in an interactive application include a common enabling interactive element (CEIE) that is an interactive element that the interactive application shares between two or more users and causes a wagering event and associated wager to be automatically triggered in accordance with the wagering proposition when interacted with during a session. In some embodiments, a user can utilize interactive elements during interactions with a controlled entity (CE) provided by an interactive application to a user. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, the triggering of the wagering event and/or wager can be dependent upon an interactive application environment variable such as, but not limited to, a required object (RO), a required environmental condition (REC), or a controlled entity characteristic (CEC). A RO is a specific interactive application object in an interactive application acted upon for an AE to be completed. A non-limiting example of an RO is a specific key needed to open a door. An REC is an interactive application state present within an interactive application for an AE to be completed. A non-limiting example of an REC is daylight whose presence enables a character to walk through woods. A CEC is a status of a controlled entity (CE) within an interactive application for an AE to be completed. A non-limiting example of a CEC is requirement that a CE have full health points before entering battle. Although various interactive application resources such as, but not limited to, the types of interactive application interactive elements as discussed herein may be used to automatically trigger a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition, one skilled in the art will recognize that any interactive application resource can be utilized in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system to automatically trigger a wager. 
     In several embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system can utilize a process controller to continuously monitor use of the interactive application executed by an interactive processing device in order to detect a trigger of a wagering event and automatically trigger a wager based on the wagering event. The trigger for the wagering event can be detected by the process controller from the utilization of the interactive application in accordance with at least one wagering event occurrence rule. The trigger of the wagering event can be communicated to a wager controller. In response to notification of the trigger, the wager controller executes a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. In addition, use of an interactive application in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system can be controlled by the process controller based upon the wager outcome. 
     In several embodiments, a wagering event occurrence can be determined from one or more application environment variables within an interactive application environment that are used to trigger a wager and/or associated wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. Application environment variables can include, but are not limited to, passage of a period of time during cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive application use, a result from a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive application session (such as, but not limited to, achieving a goal or a particular score), consumption of an interactive element, or an interaction that achieves a combination of interactive elements to be associated with a user profile. 
     In numerous embodiments, an interactive application instruction is an instruction by a process controller to an interactive processing device and/or an interactive application of the interactive processing device to modify a state of an interactive application or modify one or more interactive application resources or interactive elements. In some embodiments, the interactive application commands may be automatically generated by the process controller using one or more of a wager outcome and/or application environment variables. An interactive application instruction can be used by a process controller control many processes of an interactive application, such as, but not limited to, an causing an addition of a period of time available for a current interactive application session for the interactive application, an addition of a period of time available for a future cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive application session or any other modification to the interactive application interactive elements that can be utilized during an interactive application session. In some embodiments, an interactive application instruction can be used by the process controller to modify a type of interactive element whose consumption triggers a wagering event occurrence. In many embodiments, an interactive application instruction can be used by the process controller to modify a type of interactive element whose consumption is not required in a wagering event occurrence. 
     In several embodiments, a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may provide for a communications interface for asynchronous communications between a wager controller and an interactive application provided by an interactive processing device, by operatively connecting the interactive processing device, and thus the interactive processing device&#39;s interactive application, with the wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, asynchronous communications provided for by a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may reduce an amount of idle waiting time by an interactive processing device of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, thus increasing an amount of processing resources that the interactive processing device may provide to an interactive application or other processes of the interactive processing device. In many embodiments, asynchronous communications provided for by a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system reduces an amount of idle waiting time by a wager controller, thus increasing an amount of processing resources that the wager controller may provide to execution of wagers to determine wager outcomes, and other processes provided by the wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be operatively connected to a plurality of interactive processing devices through one or more process controllers and the asynchronous communications provided for by the one or more process controllers allows the wager controller to operate more efficiently by providing wager outcomes to a larger number of interactive processing devices than would be achievable without the one or more process controllers of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system including a process controller operatively connected to a wager controller and operatively connected to an interactive processing device may provide for simplified communication protocols for communications of the interactive processing device as the interactive processing device may communicate interactions with an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device to the process controller without regard to a nature of a wagering proposition to be interleaved with processes of the interactive application. 
     In various embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system including a process controller operatively connected to a wager controller and operatively connected to an interactive processing device may provide for simplified communication protocols for communications of the wager controller as the wager controller may receive wager requests and communicate wager outcomes without regard to a nature of an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device. 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system including a process controller operatively connecting a wager controller to an interactive processing device may provide for reduced processing requirement for the interactive processing device by offloading the execution of a random number generator from the interactive processing device to the wager controller. In various such embodiments, additional processing resources may be made available to graphics processing or other processing intensive operations by the interactive processing device because of the offloaded random number processing. 
     In various embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system including a process controller operatively connecting a wager controller to an interactive processing device provides for operation of the interactive processing device in an unsecure location or manner, while providing for operation of the wager controller in a secure location or manner. 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system including a process controller operatively connecting a wager controller to an interactive processing device allows the interleaved wagering system to have regulated components coupled to unregulated components in a heterogeneous regulated environment. For example, in several such embodiments, the interactive processing device may be a device that is not regulated by a wagering regulatory agency whereas the wager controller is regulated by the wagering regulatory agency. A process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may provide for isolation of the processing of the interactive processing device from the processing of the wager controller. In such a heterogeneous regulatory environment, the process controller may or may not be itself a regulated by the wagering regulatory authority. In addition, components of an interactive application executed by the interactive processing device may be either regulated or unregulated by the wagering regulatory agency. 
     Cooperative Disease Outbreak Wagering Interleaved Systems 
       FIG. 1A  is a diagram of a structure of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128  includes an interactive processing device  120 , a process controller  112 , and a wager controller  102 . The interactive processing device  120  is operatively connected to, and communicates with, the process controller  112 . The process controller  112  is also operatively connected to, and communicates with, the wager controller  102 . 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system includes a session/management controller  150  operatively connected to one or more other components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In many embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system includes a credit processing system  198  operatively connected to one or more other components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In various embodiments, the wager controller  102  includes one or more interfaces, such as interfaces  168 ,  169  and  190 , that operatively connect the wager controller  102  to one or more session management servers, such as session/management controller  150 , to one or more process controllers, such as process controller  112 , and/or to a credit processing system  198 , by their respective interfaces. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the wager controller interfaces implement a wager controller interprocess communication protocol so that the wager controller  102  and one or more process controllers, one or more credit processing systems and/or one or more session/management controllers may be implemented on the same device. In operation, the wager controller interfaces provide application programming interfaces or the like that are used by the wager controller to communicate outgoing data and receive incoming data by passing parameter data to another process or application running on the same device. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the wager controller interfaces implement a wager controller communication protocol employing an interdevice communication protocol so that the wager controller may be implemented on a device separate from one or more process controllers, one or more credit processing systems and/or one or more session/management controllers. The interdevice protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. 
     In various embodiments, one or more of the wager controller interfaces implement a wager controller communication protocol employing a networking protocol so that the wager controller may be operatively connected to one or more session/management controllers, one or more credit processing systems and/or one or more process controllers by a network. The networking protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In many such embodiments, the networking protocol operates over a computer network and/or a telephone network or the like. During operation, the one or more wager controller interfaces communicate outgoing data to an external device or server by encoding the data into a signal and transmitting the signal to the external device or server. The one or more wager controller interfaces receive incoming data from an external device or server by receiving a signal transmitted by the external device or server and decoding the signal to obtain the incoming data. 
     In several embodiments, the wager controller  102  is a controller for providing one or more wagering propositions provided by the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128  and automatically executes wagers in accordance with the wagering propositions as instructed by the process controller  112 . Types of value of a wager can be one or more of several different types. Types of value of a wager can include, but are not limited to, a wager of an amount of Cr corresponding to a real currency or a virtual currency, a wager of an amount of AC earned through interaction with an interactive application, a wager of an amount of interactive elements of an interactive application, and a wager of an amount of objects used in an interactive application. A wager outcome determined for a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition can increase or decrease an amount of the type of value used in the wager, such as, but not limited to, increasing or decreasing an amount of Cr for a wager of Cr. In various embodiments, a wager outcome determined for a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition can increase or decrease an amount of a type of value that is different than a type of value of the wager, such as, but not limited to, increasing an amount of an object of an interactive application for a wager of Cr. 
     In many embodiments, the wager controller  102  includes one or more random number generators (RNG)  106  for generating random results, one or more paytables  108  for determining a wager outcome from the random results, and one or more credit meters  110  for storing data about amounts of stored, wagered and won credits. 
     In several embodiments, the wager controller  102  is operatively connected to the credit processing system  198  via interface  190 . The wager controller  102  communicates with the credit processing system  198  to receive incoming credit data  194  from the credit processing system  198 . The wager controller  102  uses the incoming credit data  194  to transfer credits into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and onto the one or more credit meters  110 . The wager controller  102  communicates outgoing credit data  192  to the credit processing system  198  to transfer credits off of the one or more credit meters  110  and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In many embodiments, the credit processing system  198  includes one or more credit input devices for generating incoming credit data  192  from a credit input. Credit inputs can include, but are not limited to, credit items used to transfer credits. The incoming credit data  194  are communicated to the wager controller  102 . In various embodiments, the one or more credit input devices and their corresponding credit items include, but are not limited to: card readers for reading cards having magnetic stripes, RFID chips, smart chips, and the like; scanners for reading various types of printed indicia printed on to various types of media such as vouchers, coupons, ticket-in-ticket-out (TITO) tickets, rewritable cards, or the like; and bill and/or coin validators that receive and validate paper and/or coin currency or tokens. 
     In various embodiments, the credit processing system  198  includes one or more credit output devices for generating a credit output based on outgoing credit data  192  communicated from the wager controller. Credit outputs can include, but are not limited to, credit items used to transfer credits. Types of credit output devices and their corresponding credit items may include, but are not limited to: writing devices that are used to write to cards having magnetic stripes, smart chips or the like; printers for printing various types of printed indicia onto vouchers, coupons, TITO tickets, vouchers, rewritable cards or the like; and bill and/or coin hoppers that output paper and/or coin currency or tokens. 
     In some embodiments, the credit processing system  198  are operatively connected to, and communicate with, a TITO controller or the like to determine incoming credit data  194  representing amounts of credits to be transferred into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and to determine outgoing credit data  192  representing amounts of credits to be transferred out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. In operation, the credit processing system  198  communicate with a connected credit input device, such as a bill validator/ticket scanner, used to scan a credit input in the form of a TITO ticket having indicia of credit account data of a credit account of the TITO controller. The credit processing system  198  communicates the credit account data to the TITO controller. The TITO controller uses the credit account data to determine an amount of credits to transfer to the credit processing system  198 , and thus to the wager controller  102  of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . The TITO controller communicates the amount of credits to the credit processing system  198 . The credit processing system  198  communicates the amount of credits as incoming credit data  194  to the wager controller  102  and the wager controller  102  credits one or more credit meters with the amount of credits so that the credits can be used when a user makes wagers using the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . 
     In many embodiments, the credit processing system  198  includes a bill validator/ticket scanner as one of the one or more credit input devices. The credit processing system  198  communicates with the bill validator/ticket scanner to scan currency used as a credit input to determine an amount of credits as incoming credit data  194  to transfer credit to one or more credit meters  110  associated with one or more users. The wager controller  102  credits the one or more credit meters  110  with the amount of credits so that the credits can be used when a user makes wagers using the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . 
     In some embodiments, the credit processing system  198  can use a TITO controller along with a ticket or voucher printer as one of the one or more credit output devices to generate a TITO ticket as a credit output for a user. In operation, the credit processing system  198  communicates, as outgoing credit data  192 , data of an amount of credits to be credited to a credit account on the TITO controller. The TITO controller receives the amount of credits and creates the credit account and credits the credit account with the amount of credits. The TITO controller generates credit account data for the credit account and communicates the credit account data to the credit processing system  198 . The credit processing system  198  uses the ticket or voucher printer to print indicia of the credit account data onto a TITO ticket as a credit output. 
     In various embodiments, the credit processing system  198  provides an interface to an electronic payment management system (not shown) such an electronic wallet or the like. The electronic payment system provides credit account data that is used for generating incoming credit data  194  as a credit input and outgoing credit data  192  as a credit output. 
     In several embodiments, during operation, the wager controller  102  communicates with the credit processing system  198  to receive incoming credit data  194  from the credit processing system  198  and adds credits onto the one or more credit meters  110  at least partially on the basis of the incoming credit data  194 . The one or more random number generators  106  execute processes that generate random results. The wager controller uses the one or more paytables  108  to map the random results to a wager outcome. The wager controller  102  adds credits to, or deducts credits from, the one or more credit meters  110  based in part on the wager outcome. For example, in some embodiments, the wager controller  102  adds an amount of credits to the one or more credit meters  110  when the wager outcome indicates a win and deducts an amount of credits from the one or more credit meters  110  when the wager outcome indicates a loss or a partial win. At an end of a wagering session, the wager controller  102  transfers credits off of the one or more credit meters  110  and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system by communicating outgoing credit data  192  to the credit processing system  198 . 
     In various embodiments, the wager controller  102  includes one or more paytables  108 . The one or more paytables  108  are used to implement one or more wagering propositions in conjunction with one or more random outputs of the one or more random number generators. 
     In many embodiments, the wager controller  102  generates random numbers by continuously generating pseudo random numbers using a pseudo random number generator. A most current pseudo random number is stored in a buffer thus constantly refreshing the buffer. In many embodiments, the buffer is refreshed at a rate exceeding 100 times per second. When the wager controller  102  receives a request for a random outcome, the wager controller  102  retrieves the stored most current pseudo random number from the buffer. As timing between requests for a random outcome is not deterministic, the resulting output from the buffer is a random number. The random number is used along with a paytable that the wager controller selects from the one or more paytables  108 . The selected paytable includes a mapping of values in a range of values of the random number to specified multipliers to be applied to an amount of credits to determine an amount of credits to be added to one or more credit meters associated with the wagering proposition. A multiplier is selected from the paytable based on the random number and the selected multiplier is used along with an amount of credits to determine a wager outcome as an amount of credits. 
     In various embodiments, the wager outcome can include, but is not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, and/or interactive elements or objects won as a function of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system use and a type and amount of Cr, AC and/or interactive application objects wagered. A multiplier taken from the on ore more paytables  108  is applied to the amount of Cr, AC and/or interactive application objects wagered and the resultant outcome is a wager outcome for a wagering proposition. 
     In some embodiments, a range of the value of the random number is mapped to one or more symbols representing one or more random elements of a traditional wagering proposition, and the mapped to one or more symbols are used in conjunction with a paytable selected from the one or more paytables  108 . In one such embodiment, a random number is mapped to a virtual card of a deck of virtual cards. In another such embodiment, the random number is mapped to a virtual face of a virtual die. In yet another such embodiment, the random number is mapped to symbol of a virtual reel strip on a virtual reel slot machine. In yet another such embodiment, the random number is mapped to a pocket of a virtual roulette wheel. In some embodiments, two or more random numbers are mapped to appropriate symbols to represent a completed wagering proposition. In one such embodiment, two or more random numbers are mapped to faces of two or more virtual dice to simulate a random outcome generated by throwing two or more dice. In another such embodiment, multiple random numbers are mapped to virtual cards from a virtual deck of cards without replacement. In yet another such embodiment, two or more random numbers are mapped to two or more virtual reel strips to create stop positions for a virtual multi-reel slot machine. 
     In some embodiments, a wager controller executes a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition by executing wager execution commands that define processes of a wagering proposition where the wager execution commands are formatted in a scripting language. In operation, a decision engine of a process controller generates the wager execution commands in the form of a script written in the scripting language. The script includes the wager execution commands that describe how the wager controller is to execute the wagering proposition. The completed script is encoded as wager execution command data and communicated to the wager controller by the process controller. The wager controller receives the wager execution command data and parses the script encoded in the wager execution command data and executes the commands included in the script to execute the wager. 
     In some embodiments, a wager controller executes a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition by executing wager execution commands that define processes of the wagering user interface. In operation, a decision engine of a process controller generates the wager execution commands and encodes the wager execution commands into wager execution command data that are communicated to the wager controller by the process controller. The wager controller receives the wager execution command data and executes the commands encoded in the wager execution command data to execute the wager. 
     In various embodiments, the interactive processing device  120  executes an interactive application  143  and provides one or more user interface input and output devices  103  so that a user can interact with the interactive application  143 . In various embodiments, user interface input devices include, but are not limited to: buttons or keys; keyboards; keypads; game controllers; joysticks; computer mice; track balls; track buttons; touch pads; touch screens; accelerometers; motion sensors; video input devices; microphones; and the like. In various embodiments, user interface output devices include, but are not limited to: audio output devices such as speakers, headphones, earbuds, and the like; visual output devices such as lights, video displays and the like; and tactile devices such as rumble pads, hepatic touch screens, buttons, keys and the like. The interactive processing device  120  provides for user interactions with the interactive application  143  by executing the interactive application  143  that generates an application interface  105  that utilizes the user interface input devices  103  to detect user interactions with the interactive processing device and generates an interactive user interface that is presented to the user utilizing the user interface output devices. 
     In some embodiments, one or more components an interactive processing device are housed in an enclosure such as a housing, cabinet, casing or the like. The enclosure further includes one or more user accessible openings or surfaces that constructed to mount the user interface input devices and/or the user interface output devices  103 . 
     The interactive processing device  120  is operatively connected to, and communicates with, the process controller  112 . The interactive processing device communicates application telemetry data  124  to the process controller  112  and receives application instruction and resource data  136  from the process controller  112 . Via the communication of application instruction and resource data  136 , the process controller  112  can control the processing of the interactive processing device by communicating interactive application commands and resources including control parameters to the interactive application  143  during the interactive application&#39;s execution by the interactive processing device  120 . 
     In some embodiments, during execution of the interactive application  143  by the interactive processing device  120 , the interactive processing device  120  communicates, as application telemetry data  124 , user interactions with the application user interface  105  of the interactive application to the process controller  112 . The application telemetry data  124  includes, but is not limited to, utilization of the interactive elements in the interactive application  143 . 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application  143  is a skill-based interactive application. In such embodiments, execution of the skill-based interactive application  143  by the interactive processing device  120  is based on a user&#39;s skillful interaction with the skill-based interactive application, such as, but not limited to, the user&#39;s utilization of the interactive elements of the skill-based interactive application  143  during the user&#39;s skillful interaction with the skill-based interactive application  143 . In such an embodiment, the process controller  112  communicates with the interactive processing device  120  in order to allow the coupling of the skill-based interactive application  143  to wagers made in accordance with a wagering proposition of the wager controller  102 . 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  120  includes one or more sensors  138  that sense various aspects of the physical environment of the interactive processing device  120 . Examples of sensors include, but are not limited to: global positioning sensors (GPSs) for sensing communications from a GPS system to determine a position or location of the interactive processing device; temperature sensors; accelerometers; pressure sensors; and the like. Sensor telemetry data  133  is communicated by the interactive processing device to the process controller  112  as part of the application telemetry data  124 . The process controller  112  receives the sensor telemetry data  133  and uses the sensor telemetry data to make wager decisions. 
     In many embodiments, the interactive processing device  120  includes a wagering user interface  148  used to display wagering data, via one or more of the user interface input and output devices  103 , to one or more users. 
     In various embodiments, an application control interface  131  resident in the interactive processing device  120  provides an interface between the interactive processing device  120  and the process controller  112 . 
     In some embodiments, the application control interface  131  implements an interactive processing device to process controller communication protocol employing an interprocess communication protocol so that the interactive processing device and the process controller may be implemented on the same device. In operation, the application control interface  131  provides application programming interfaces that are used by the interactive processing application  143  of the interactive processing device  120  to communicate outgoing data and receive incoming data by passing parameter data to another process or application. 
     In some embodiments, the application control interface  131  implements an interactive processing device to process controller communication protocol employing an interdevice communication protocol so that the interactive processing device and the process controller may be implemented on different devices. The interdevice protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In various embodiments, the application control interface  131  implements an interactive processing device to process controller communication protocol employing a networking protocol so that the interactive processing device and the process controller may be implemented on different devices connected by a network. The networking protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In many such embodiments, the network includes a cellular telephone network or the like and the interactive processing device is a mobile device such as a smartphone or other device capable of using the telephone network. During operation, the application control interface  131  communicates outgoing data to an external device by encoding the data into a signal and transmitting the signal to an external device. The application control interface receives incoming data from an external device by receiving a signal transmitted by the external device and decoding the signal to obtain the incoming data. 
     In various embodiments, the process controller  112  includes one or more interfaces,  162 ,  163  and  164 , that operatively connect the process controller  112  to one or more interactive processing devices, such as interactive processing device  120 , to one or more session management servers, such as session/management controller  150 , and/or to one or more wager controllers, such as wager controller  102 , respectively. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the process controller interfaces implement a process controller to device or server communication protocol employing an interprocess communication protocol so that the process controller and one or more of an interactive processing device, a wager controller, and/or a session/management controller may be implemented on the same device. In operation, the process controller interfaces provide application programming interfaces or the like that are used by the process controller to communicate outgoing data and receive incoming data by passing parameter data to another process or application running on the same device. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the process controller interfaces implement a process controller communication protocol employing an interdevice communication protocol so that the process controller may be implemented on a device separate from the one or more interactive processing devices, the one or more session/management controllers and/or the one or more wager controllers. The interdevice protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In various embodiments, one or more of the process controller interfaces implement a process controller communication protocol employing a networking protocol so that the process controller may be operatively connected to the one or more interactive processing devices, the one or more session/management controllers, and/or the one or more wager controllers by a network. The networking protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In many such embodiments, the network includes a cellular telephone network or the like and the one or more interactive processing devices include a mobile device such as a smartphone or other device capable of using the telephone network. During operation, the one or more process controller interfaces communicate outgoing data to an external device or server by encoding the data into a signal and transmitting the signal to the external device or server. The one or more process controller interfaces receive incoming data from an external device or server by receiving a signal transmitted by the external device or server and decoding the signal to obtain the incoming data. 
     In many embodiments, process controller  112  provides an interface between the interactive application  143  provided by the interactive processing device  120  and a wagering proposition provided by the wager controller  102 . 
     The process controller  112  includes a rule-based decision engine  122  that receives telemetry data, such as application telemetry data  124  and sensor telemetry data  133 , from the interactive processing device  120 . The rule-based decision engine  122  uses the telemetry data, along with wager logic  126  to generate wager execution commands  129  that are used by the process controller  112  to command the wager controller  102  to execute a wager. The wager execution command data is communicated by the process controller  112  to the wager controller  102 . The wager controller  102  receives the wager execution command data  129  and automatically executes a wager in accordance with the wager execution command data  129 . 
     In an embodiment, the application telemetry data  124  used by the decision engine  122  encodes data about the operation of the interactive application  143  executed by the interactive processing device  120 . In some embodiments, the application telemetry data  124  encodes interactions of a user, such as a user&#39;s interaction with an interactive element of the interactive application  143 . In many embodiments, the application telemetry data  124  includes a state of the interactive application  143 , such as values of variables that change as the interactive application  143  is executed. The decision engine  122  includes one or more rules as part of wager logic  126  used by the decision engine  122  to determine when a wager should be automatically triggered. Each rule includes one or more variable values constituting a pattern that is to be matched by the process controller  112  using the decision engine  122  to one or more variable values encoded in the application telemetry data  124 . Each rule also includes one or more actions that are to be taken if the pattern is matched. Actions can include automatically generating wager execution command data  129  and communicating the wager execution command data  129  to the wager controller  102 , thus commanding the wager controller to automatically execute a wager as described herein. During operation, the decision engine  122  receives application telemetry data  124  from the interactive processing device  124  via interface  160 . The decision engine  122  performs a matching process of matching the variable values encoded in the application telemetry data  124  to one or more variable patterns of one or more rules. If a match between the variable values and a pattern of a rule is determined, then the process controller  112  performs the action of the matched rule. 
     In some embodiments, the application telemetry data  124  includes, but is not limited to, application environment variables that indicate a state of the interactive application  143 , interactive processing device data indicating a state of the interactive processing device  120 , and interactions with the interactive application  143  during execution of the interactive application  143  by the interactive processing device  120 . The wager execution command data  129  may include, but are not limited to, an amount and type of the wager, a trigger of the wager, and a selection of a paytable to be used when executing the wager. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  112  receives wager outcome data  130  from the wager controller  102 . The decision engine  122  uses the wager outcome data  130 , in conjunction with the telemetry data  124  and application logic  132 , to automatically generate interactive application instruction and resource data  136  that the process controller  112  communicates to the interactive processing device  120  via interfaces  160  and  131 . 
     In an embodiment, the wager outcome data  130  used by a decision engine encodes data about the execution of a wager executed by the wager controller  102 . In some embodiments, the wager outcome data  130  encodes values of variables including an amount of credits wagered, an amount of credits won and values of credits stored in the one or more meters  110  of the wager controller. In many embodiments, the wager outcome data includes a state of the wager controller  102 , such as values of variables that change as the wager controller  102  executes wagers. The decision engine  122  includes one or more rules as part of application logic  132  used by the decision engine  122  to automatically generate the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  that is then communicated to the interactive processing device  120 . Each rule includes one or more variable values constituting a pattern that is to be matched to one or more variable values encoded in the wager outcome data  130 . Each rule also includes one or more actions that are to be automatically taken by the process controller  112  if the pattern is matched. Actions can include automatically generating interactive application instruction and resource data  136  and using the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  to control the interactive processing device  120  to affect execution of the interactive application  143  as described herein. During operation, the process controller  112  receives the wager outcome data  130  from the wager controller  102  via interface  162 . The process controller  112  uses the decision engine  122  to match the variable values encoded in the wager outcome data to one or more patterns of one or more rules of the application logic  132 . If a match between the variable values and a pattern of a rule is found, then the process controller automatically performs the action of the matched rule. In some embodiments, the process controller  112  uses the application telemetry data  124  received from the interactive processing device  120  in conjunction with the wager outcome data  130  to generate the interactive application instruction and resource data  136 . 
     The interactive processing device receives the interactive application commands and resource data  136  and automatically uses the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  to configure and command the processes of the interactive application  143 . 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application  143  operates utilizing a scripting language. The interactive application  143  parses scripts written in the scripting language and executes commands encoded in the scripts and sets variable values as defined in the scripts. In operation of such embodiments, the process controller  112  automatically generates interactive application instruction and resource data  136  in the form of scripts written in the scripting language that are communicated to the interactive processing device  120  during execution of the interactive application  143 . The interactive processing device  120  receives the scripts and passes them to the interactive application  143 . The interactive application  143  receives the scripts, parses the scripts and automatically executes the commands and sets the variable values as encoded in the scripts. 
     In many embodiments, the interactive application  143  automatically performs processes as instructed by commands communicated from the process controller  112 . The commands command the interactive application  143  to perform specified operations such as executing specified commands and/or setting the values of variables utilized by the interactive application  143 . In operation of such embodiments, the process controller  112  automatically generates commands that are encoded into the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  that are communicated to the interactive processing device  120 . The interactive processing device  120  passes the application instruction and resource data  136  to the interactive application  143 . The interactive application parses the application instruction and resource data and automatically performs operations in accordance with the commands encoded in the interactive application instruction and resource data  136 . 
     In many embodiments, the process controller  112  includes a pseudo random or random result generator used to generate random results that are used by the decision engine  122  to generate portions of the interactive application instruction and resource data  136 . 
     In various embodiments, the process controller  112  uses the rule-based decision engine  122  to automatically determine an amount of AC to award based at least in part on interactions with the interactive application  143  of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as determined by the process controller  112  from the application telemetry data  124 . In some embodiments, the process controller  112  mays also use the wager outcome data  130  to determine the amount of AC that should be awarded. 
     In numerous embodiments, the interactive application  143  is a skill-based interactive application and the AC is awarded for skillful interaction with the interactive application. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  are communicated to a wagering user interface generator  144 . The wagering user interface generator  144  also receives wager outcome data  130 . The process controller uses the wagering user interface generator  144 , the interactive application instruction and resource data  136  and the wager outcome data  130  to automatically generate wager telemetry commands  146  used by the process controller  112  to command the interactive processing device  120  to automatically generate a wagering user interface  148  describing a state of wagering and credit accumulation and loss for the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. In some embodiments, the wager telemetry data  146  may include, but is not limited to, amounts of AC and interactive elements earned, lost or accumulated through interaction with interactive application, and Cr, AC and interactive elements amounts won, lost or accumulated as determined from the wager outcome data  130  and the one or more meters  110 . 
     In some embodiments, the wager outcome data  130  also includes data about one or more game states of a wagering proposition as executed by the wager controller  102 . In various such embodiments, the wagering user interface generator  144  generates a wagering process display and/or wagering state display using the one or more states of the wagering proposition. The wagering process display and/or wagering state display is included in the wager telemetry data  146  that is communicated to the interactive processing device  120 . The wagering process display and/or wagering state display is automatically displayed by the interactive processing device  120  using the wagering user interface  148 . In other such embodiments, the one or more states of the wagering proposition are communicated to the interactive processing device  120  and the interactive processing device  120  is instructed to automatically generate the wagering process display and/or wagering state display of the wagering user interface  148  using the one or more states of the wagering proposition for display. 
     In some embodiments, the wager outcome data  130  includes game state data about execution of the wagering proposition, including but not limited to a final state, intermediate state and/or beginning state of the wagering proposition. For example, in a wagering proposition that is based on slot machine math, the final state of the wagering proposition may be reel positions, in a wagering proposition that is based on roulette wheel math, the final state may be a pocket where a ball may have come to rest, in a wagering proposition that is a based on card math, the beginning, intermediate and final states may represent a sequence of cards being drawn from a deck of cards, etc. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  120  generates a wagering user interface by executing commands that define processes of the wagering user interface where the commands are formatted in a scripting language. In operation, a wagering user interface generator of a process controller generates commands in the form of a script written in the scripting language. The script includes commands that describe how the interactive processing device is to display wager outcome data. The completed script is encoded as wager telemetry data and communicated to the interactive processing device by the process controller. The interactive processing device receives the wager telemetry data and parses the script encoded in the wager telemetry data and executes the commands included in the script to generate the wagering user interface. 
     In many embodiments, an interactive processing device generates a wagering user interface based on a document written in a document markup language that includes commands that define processes of the wagering user interface. In operation, a wagering user interface generator of a process controller generates a document composed in the document markup language. The document includes commands that describe how the interactive processing device is to display wager outcome data. The completed document is encoded as wager telemetry data and communicated to the interactive processing device by the process controller. The interactive processing device receives the wager telemetry data and parses the document encoded in the wager telemetry data and executes the commands encoded into the document to generate the wagering user interface. 
     In some embodiments, an interactive processing device generates a wagering user interface by executing commands that define processes of the wagering user interface. In operation, a wagering user interface generator of a process controller generates the commands and encodes the commands into wager telemetry data that is communicated to the interactive processing device by the process controller. The interactive processing device receives the wager telemetry data and executes the commands encoded in the wager telemetry data to generate the wagering user interface. 
     In various embodiments, an interactive processing device includes a data store of graphic and audio display resources that the interactive processing device uses to generate a wagering user interface as described herein. 
     In many embodiments, a process controller communicates graphic and audio display resources as part of wager telemetry data to an interactive processing device. The interactive processing device uses the graphic and audio display resources to generate a wagering user interface as described herein. 
     When a user interacts with the wagering user interface  148 , wagering user interface telemetry data  149  is generated by the wagering user interface  148  and communicated by the interactive processing device  120  to the process controller  112  using interfaces  131  and  160 . 
     The process controller  112  can further operatively connect to the wager controller  102  to determine an amount of credit or interactive elements available and other wagering metrics of a wagering proposition. Thus, the process controller  112  may affect an amount of Cr in play for participation in the wagering events of a wagering proposition provided by the wager controller  102  in some embodiments. The process controller  112  may additionally include various audit logs and activity meters. In some embodiments, the process controller  112  can also couple to a centralized session and/or management controller  150  for exchanging various data related to the user and the activities of the user during game play of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In many embodiments, one or more users can be engaged in using the interactive application  143  executed by the interactive processing device  120 . In various embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system can include an interactive application  143  that provides a skill-based interactive application that includes head-to-head play between a single user and a computing device, between two or more users against one another, or multiple users playing against a computer device and/or each other. In some embodiments, the interactive application  143  can be a skill-based interactive application where the user is not skillfully playing against the computer or any other user such as skill-based interactive applications where the user is effectively skillfully playing against himself or herself. 
     In some embodiments, the operation of the process controller  112  does not affect the provision of a wagering proposition by the wager controller  102  except for user choice parameters that are allowable in accordance with the wagering proposition. Examples of user choice parameters include, but are not limited to: wager terms such as but not limited to a wager amount; speed of game play (for example, by pressing a button or pulling a handle of a slot machine); and/or agreement to wager into a bonus round. 
     In various embodiments, wager outcome data  130  communicated from the wager controller  102  can also be used to convey a status operation of the wager controller  102 . 
     In a number of embodiments, communication of the wager execution commands  129  between the wager controller  102  and the process controller  112  can further be used to communicate various wagering control factors that the wager controller  102  uses as input. Examples of wagering control factors include, but are not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects consumed per wagering event, and/or the user&#39;s election to enter a jackpot round. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  112  utilizes the wagering user interface  148  to communicate certain interactive application data to the user, including but not limited to, club points, user status, control of the selection of choices, and messages which a user can find useful in order to adjust the interactive application experience or understand the wagering status of the user in accordance with the wagering proposition in the wager controller  102 . 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  112  utilizes the wagering user interface  148  to communicate aspects of a wagering proposition to the user including, but not limited to, odds of certain wager outcomes, amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects in play, and amounts of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects available. 
     In a number of embodiments, the wager controller  102  can accept wager proposition factors from the process controller  112 , including, but not limited to, modifications in the amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects wagered on each individual wagering event, a number of wagering events per minute the wager controller  102  can resolve, entrance into a bonus round, and other factors. An example of a varying wager amount that the user can choose can include, but is not limited to, using a more difficult interactive application level associated with an amount of a wager. These factors can increase or decrease an amount wagered per individual wagering proposition in the same manner that a standard slot machine user can decide to wager more or less credits for each pull of the handle. In several embodiments, the wager controller  102  can communicate a number of factors back and forth to the process controller  112 , via an interface, such that an increase/decrease in a wagered amount can be related to the change in user profile of the user in the interactive application. In this manner, a user can control a wager amount per wagering event in accordance with the wagering proposition with the change mapping to a parameter or component that is applicable to the interactive application experience. 
     In some embodiments, a session/management controller  150  is used to regulate a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session. 
     In various embodiments, the session/management controller  150  includes one or more interfaces,  165 ,  166  and  167  that operatively connect the session/management controller  150  to one or more interactive processing devices, such as interactive processing device  120 , to one or more process controllers, such as process controller  112 , and/or to one or more wager controllers, such as wager controller  102 , through their respective interfaces. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the session/management controller interfaces implement a session/management controller to device or server communication protocol employing an interprocess communication protocol so that the session/management controller and one or more of an interactive processing device, a wager controller, and/or a process controller may be implemented on the same device. In operation, the session/management controller interfaces provide application programming interfaces or the like that are used by the session/management controller to communicate outgoing data and receive incoming data by passing parameter data to another process or application running on the same device. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the session/management controller interfaces implement a session/management controller communication protocol employing an interdevice communication protocol so that the session/management controller may be implemented on a device separate from the one or more interactive processing devices, the one or more process controllers and/or the one or more wager controllers. The interdevice protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In various embodiments, one or more of the session/management controller interfaces implement a session/management controller communication protocol employing a networking protocol so that the process session/management controller may be operatively connected to the one or more interactive processing devices, the one or more process controllers, and/or the one or more wager controllers by a network. The networking protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In many such embodiments, the network includes a cellular telephone network or the like and the one or more interactive processing devices include a mobile device such as a smartphone or other device capable of using the telephone network. During operation, the one or more session/management controller interfaces communicate outgoing data to an external device or server by encoding the data into a signal and transmitting the signal to the external device or server. The one or more session/management controller interfaces receive incoming data from an external device or server by receiving a signal transmitted by the external device or server and decoding the signal to obtain the incoming data. 
     In various embodiments, the process controller  112  communicates outgoing session data  152  to the session/management controller. The session data  152  may include, but is not limited to, user, interactive processing device, process controller and wager controller data from the process controller  112 . The session/management controller  150  uses the user, interactive processing device, process controller and wager controller data to regulate a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session. 
     In some embodiments, the session/management controller  150  may also assert control of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session by communicating session control data  154  to the process controller. Such control may include, but is not limited to, commanding the process controller  112  to end a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session, initiating wagering in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session, ending wagering in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session but not ending a user&#39;s use of the interactive application portion of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, and changing from real credit wagering in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system to virtual credit wagering, or vice versa. 
     In many embodiments, the session/management controller  150  manages user profiles for a plurality of users. The session/management controller  150  stores and manages data about users in order to provide authentication and authorization of users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . In some embodiments, the session/management controller  150  also manages geolocation information to ensure that the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128  is only used by users in jurisdictions were wagering is approved. In various embodiments, the session/management controller  150  stores application credits that are associated with the user&#39;s use of the interactive application of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . 
     In some embodiments, the session/management controller  150  communicates user and session management data  155  to the user using a management user interface  157  of the interactive processing device. The user  140  interacts with the management user interface  157  and the management user interface generates management telemetry data  159  that is communicated to the session/management controller  150 . 
     In some embodiments, the wager controller  102  communicates wager session data  153  to the session/management controller  150 . In various embodiments, the session/management controller communicates wager session control data  151  to the wager controller  102 . 
     In some embodiments, a process controller operates as an interface between an interactive processing device and a wager controller. By virtue of this construction, the wager controller is isolated from the interactive processing device allowing the interactive processing device to operate in an unregulated environment will allowing the wager controller to operate in a regulated environment. 
     In some embodiments, a single wager controller may provide services to two or more interactive processing devices and/or two or more process controllers, thus allowing a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system to operate over a large range of scaling. 
     In various embodiments, multiple types of interactive processing devices using different operating systems may be interfaced to a single type of process controller and/or wager controller without requiring customization of the process controller and/or the wager controller. 
     In many embodiments, an interactive processing device may be provided as a user device under control of a user while maintaining the wager controller in an environment under the control of a regulated operator of wagering equipment. 
     In several embodiments, data communicated between the controllers may be encrypted to increase security of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In some embodiments, a process controller isolates wager logic and application logic as unregulated logic from a regulated wager controller, thus allowing errors in the application logic and/or wager logic to be corrected, new application logic and/or wager logic to be used, or modifications to be made to the application logic and/or wager logic without a need for regulatory approval. 
     In various embodiments, an interactive application may require extensive processing resources from an interactive processing device leaving few processing resources for the functions performed by a process controller and/or a wager controller. By virtue of the architecture described herein, processing loads may be distributed across multiple devices such that operations of the interactive processing device may be dedicated to the interactive application and the processes of the process controller and/or wager controller are not burdened by the requirements of the interactive application. 
     In many embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system operates with its components being distributed across multiple devices. These devices can be connected by communication channels including, but not limited to, local area networks, wide area networks, local communication buses, and/or the like. The devices may communicate using various types of protocols, including but not limited to, networking protocols, device-to-device communications protocols, and the like. 
     In some embodiments, one or more components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are distributed in close proximity to each other and communicate using a local area network and/or a communication bus. In several embodiments, an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are in a common location and communicate with an external wager controller. In some embodiments, a process controller and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are in a common location and communicate with an external interactive processing device. In many embodiments, an interactive processing device, a process controller, and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system are located in a common location. In some embodiments, a session/management controller is located in a common location with a process controller and/or a wager controller. 
     In various embodiments, these multiple devices can be constructed from or configured using a single device or a plurality of devices such that a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is executed as a system in a virtualized space such as, but not limited to, where a wager controller and a process controller are large scale centralized servers in the cloud operatively connected to widely distributed interactive processing devices via a wide area network such as the Internet or a local area network. In such embodiments, the components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate using a networking protocol or other type of device-to-device communications protocol. 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is deployed over a local area network or a wide area network in an interactive configuration. An interactive configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system includes an interactive processing device operatively connected by a network to a process controller and a wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is deployed over a local area network or a wide area network in a mobile configuration. A mobile configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is useful for deployment over wireless communication network, such as a wireless local area network or a wireless telecommunications network. A mobile configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  194  includes an interactive processing device operatively connected by a wireless network to a process controller and a wager controller. 
     In many embodiments, a centralized wager controller is operatively connected to, and communicates with, one or more process controllers using a communication link. The centralized wager controller can generate wager outcomes for wagers in accordance with one or more wagering propositions. The centralized wager controller can execute a number of simultaneous or pseudo-simultaneous wagers in order to generate wager outcomes for a variety of wagering propositions that one or more distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems can use. 
     In several embodiments, a centralized process controller is operatively connected to one or more interactive processing devices and one or more wager controllers using a communication link. The centralized process controller can perform the functionality of a process controller across various cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems. 
     In numerous embodiments, an interactive application server provides a host for managing head-to-head play operating over a network of interactive processing devices connected to the interactive application server using a communication link. The interactive application server provides an environment where users can compete directly with one another and interact with other users. 
       FIG. 1B  is a diagram of an electronic gaming machine configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. Electronic gaming machine configurations of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system include, but are not limited to, electronic gaming machines such as slot machines, table games, video arcade consoles and the like. An electronic gaming machine configuration of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  170  includes an interactive processing device  171 , a process controller  172  and a wager controller  173  contained in an enclosure such as a housing, cabinet, casing or the like. The enclosure may further include one or more user accessible openings or surfaces that may be used to mount one or more user accessible user input devices, one or more user accessible user output devices, and one or more user accessible credit processing systems. The interactive processing device communicates with the user input devices to detect user interactions with the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and commands and controls the user output devices to provide a user interface to one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. The wager controller communicates with the user credit processing systems to transfer credits into and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In many embodiments, the process controller  172  is operatively connected to an external session/management controller (not shown). 
     In various embodiments, the wager controller  173  is operatively connected to a credit processing system  175 . In many embodiments, the credit processing system  175  includes one or more credit input devices  180  for generating incoming credit data from a credit input. Credit inputs can include, but are not limited to, credit items used to transfer credits. The incoming credit data are communicated to the wager controller  173 . In various embodiments, the one or more credit input devices and their corresponding credit items include, but are not limited to: card readers for reading cards having magnetic stripes, RFID chips, smart chips, and the like; scanners for reading various types of printed indicia printed on to various types of media such as vouchers, coupons, vouchers, coupons, TITO tickets, rewritable cards, or the like; and bill and/or coin validators that receive and validate paper currency and/or coin currency or tokens. 
     In various embodiments, the credit processing system  175  includes one or more credit output devices  182  for generating a credit output based on outgoing credit data communicated from the wager controller  173 . Credit outputs can include, but are not limited to, credit items used to transfer credits. Types of credit output devices and their corresponding credit items may include, but are not limited to: writing devices that are used to write to cards having magnetic stripes, smart chips or the like; printers for printing various types of printed indicia onto TITO tickets, vouchers, coupons, rewritable cards or the like; and bill and/or coin hoppers that output paper and/or coin currency or tokens. 
     In some embodiments, the credit processing system  175  is operatively connected to, and communicates with, a TITO controller (not shown) or the like to determine incoming credit data representing amounts of credits to be transferred into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  170  and to determine outgoing credit data representing amounts of credits to be transferred out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  170 . In operation, the credit processing system  175  communicates with one of a the one or more connected credit input devices  180 , such as a bill validator/ticket scanner, used to scan a credit input in the form of a TITO ticket having indicia of credit account data of a credit account of the TITO controller. The credit processing system  175  communicates the credit account data to the TITO controller. The TITO controller uses the credit account data to determine an amount of credits to transfer to the credit processing system  175 , and thus to the wager controller  173  of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  128 . The TITO controller communicates the amount of credits to the credit processing system  175 . The credit processing system  175  communicates the amount of credits as incoming credit data to the wager controller  173  and the wager controller  173  credits one or more credit meters with the amount of credits so that the credits can be used when a user makes wagers using the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  170 . 
     In many embodiments, the credit processing system  175  includes a bill validator/ticket scanner as one of the one or more credit input devices  180 . The credit processing system  175  communicates with the bill validator/ticket scanner to scan currency used as a credit input to determine an amount of credits as incoming credit data to transfer credit to one or more credit meters associated with one or more users. The wager controller  173  credits the one or more credit meters with the amount of credits so that the credits can be used when a user makes wagers using the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system  170 . 
     In some embodiments, the credit processing system  175  can use a TITO controller along with a ticket or voucher printer as one of the one or more credit output devices  182  to generate a TITO ticket as a credit output for a user. In operation, the credit processing system  175  communicates, as outgoing credit data, data of an amount of credits to be credited to a credit account on the TITO controller. The TITO controller receives the amount of credits and creates the credit account and credits the credit account with the amount of credits. The TITO controller generates credit account data for the credit account and communicates the credit account data to the credit processing system  175 . The credit processing system  175  uses the ticket or voucher printer to print indicia of the credit account data onto a TITO ticket as a credit output. 
     In various embodiments, the credit processing system provides an interface to an electronic payment management system (not shown) such an electronic wallet or the like. The electronic payment system provides credit account data that is used for generating incoming credit data as a credit input and outgoing credit data as a credit output. 
     In some embodiments, the wager controller  173  is further operatively connected to a central determination controller (not shown). In operation, when the wager controller  173  needs to determine a wager outcome, the wager controller  173  communicates a request to the central determination controller for the wager outcome. The central determination controller receives the wager outcome request and generates a wager outcome in response to the wager request. The central determination controller communicates data of the wager outcome to the wager controller  173 . The wager controller  173  receives the data of the wager outcome and utilizes the wager outcome as described herein. In some embodiments, the wager outcome is drawn from a pool of pre-determined wager outcomes. In some embodiments, the wager outcome is a random result that is utilized by the wager controller along with paytables to determine a wager outcome as described herein. 
       FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D  are illustrations of interactive processing devices of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. An interactive processing device, such as interactive processing device  120  of  FIG. 1A , may be constructed from or configured using one or more processing devices configured to perform the operations of the interactive processing device. An interactive processing device in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using any processing device having sufficient processing and communication capabilities that may be configured to perform the processes of an interactive processing device in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, the construction or configuration of the interactive processing device may be achieved through the use of an application control interface, such as application control interface  131  of  FIG. 1A , and/or through the use of an interactive application, such as interactive application  143  of  FIG. 1A . 
     In some embodiments, an interactive processing device may be constructed from or configured using an electronic gaming machine  200  as shown in  FIG. 2A . The electronic gaming machine  200  may be physically located in various types of gaming establishments. 
     In many embodiments, an interactive processing device may be constructed from or configured using a portable device  202  as shown in  FIG. 2B . The portable device  202  is a device that may wirelessly connect to a network. Examples of portable devices include, but are not limited to, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, and a smartphone. 
     In some embodiments, an interactive processing device may be constructed from or configured using a gaming console  204  as shown in  FIG. 2C . 
     In various embodiments, an interactive processing device may be constructed from or configured using a personal computer  206  as shown in  FIG. 2D . 
     In some embodiments, a device, such as the devices of  FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C , and  2 D, may be used to construct a complete cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to a session and/or management controller, such as session and/or management controller  150  of  FIG. 1A . 
     Some cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems in accordance with many embodiments of the invention can be distributed across a plurality of devices in various configurations.  FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C  are diagrams of distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. Turning now to  FIG. 3A , one or more interactive processing devices of a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobile or wireless device  300 , a gaming console  302 , a personal computer  304 , and an electronic gaming machine  305 , are operatively connected with a wager controller  306  of a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system using a communication link  308 . Communication link  308  is a communications link that allows processing systems to communicate with each other and to share data. Examples of the communication link  308  can include, but are not limited to: a wired or wireless interdevice communication link, a serial or parallel interdevice communication bus; a wired or wireless network such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the link; or a wired or wireless communication network such as a wireless telecommunications network or plain old telephone system (POTS). In some embodiments, one or more processes of an interactive processing device and a process controller as described herein are executed on the individual interactive processing devices  300 ,  302 ,  304  and  305  while one or more processes of a wager controller as described herein can be executed by the wager controller  306 . 
     In many embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to a session and/or management controller  307 , that performs the processes of a session and/or management controller as described herein. 
     In several embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to credit processing system  306 , that performs the processes of one or more credit processing systems as described herein. 
     A distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in  FIG. 3B . As illustrated, one or more interactive processing devices of a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobile or wireless device  310 , a gaming console  312 , a personal computer  314 , and an electronic gaming machine  315 , are operatively connected with a wager controller  316  and a process controller  318  over a communication link  320 . Communication link  320  is a communication link that allows processing systems to communicate and share data. Examples of the communication link  320  can include, but are not limited to: a wired or wireless interdevice communication link, a serial or parallel interdevice communication bus; a wired or wireless network such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the link; or a wired or wireless communication network such as a wireless telecommunications network or plain old telephone system (POTS). In some embodiments, the processes of an interactive processing device as described herein are executed on the individual interactive processing devices  310 ,  312 ,  314  and  315 . One or more processes of a wager controller as described herein are executed by the wager controller  316 , and one or more processes of a process controller as described herein are executed by the process controller  318 . 
     In many embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to a session and/or management controller  319 , that performs the processes of a session and/or management controller as described herein. 
     In several embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to credit processing system  311 , that performs the processes of one or more credit processing systems as described herein. 
     A distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems in accordance with still another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in  FIG. 3C . As illustrated, one or more interactive processing devices of a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobile device  342 , a gaming console  344 , a personal computer  346 , and an electronic gaming machine  340  are operatively connected with a wager controller  348  and a process controller  350 , and an interactive application server  352  using a communication link  354 . Communication link  354  is a communications link that allows processing systems to communicate and to share data. Examples of the communication link  354  can include, but are not limited to: a wired or wireless interdevice communication link, a serial or parallel interdevice communication bus; a wired or wireless network such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the link; or a wired or wireless communication network such as a wireless telecommunications network or plain old telephone system (POTS). In some embodiments, one or more processes of a display and user interface of an interactive processing device as described herein are executed on the individual interactive processing devices  340 ,  342 ,  344  and  346 . One or more processes of a wager controller as described herein can be executed by the wager controller  348 . One or more processes of a process controller as described herein can be executed by the process controller server  350  and one or more processes of an interactive processing device excluding the display and user interfaces can be executed by the interactive application server  352 . 
     In many embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to a session and/or management controller  353 , that performs the processes of a session and/or management controller as described herein. 
     In several embodiments, a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and may be operatively connected using a communication link to credit processing system  355 , that performs the processes of one or more credit processing systems as described herein. 
     In other embodiments, a number of other peripheral systems, such as a user management system, a gaming establishment management system, a regulatory system, and/or hosting servers are also operatively connected with the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems using a communication link. Also, other servers can reside outside the bounds of a network within a firewall of the operator to provide additional services for network connected cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems. 
     Although various distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems are described herein, cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems can be distributed in any configuration as appropriate to the specification of a specific application in accordance with embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, components of a distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as a process controller, wager controller, interactive processing device, or other servers that perform services for a process controller, wager controller and/or interactive processing device, can be distributed in different configurations for a specific distributed cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system application. 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  are diagrams of a structure of an interactive processing device of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. An interactive processing device may be constructed from or configured using one or more processing devices configured to perform the operations of the interactive processing device. In many embodiments, an interactive processing device can be constructed from or configured using various types of processing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone or the like, a personal digital assistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, a computing device, a controller, or the like. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4A , an interactive processing device  400 , suitable for use as interactive processing device  120  of  FIG. 1A , provides an execution environment for an interactive application  402  of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. In several embodiments, an interactive processing device  400  of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system provides an interactive application  402  that generates an application interface  404  for interaction with by a user. The interactive application  402  generates a user presentation  406  that is presented to the user through the application interface  404 . The user presentation  406  may include audio features, visual features or tactile features, or any combination of these features. In various embodiments, the application interface  404  utilizes one or more user interface input and output devices so that a user can interact with the user presentation. In various embodiments, user interface input devices include, but are not limited to: buttons or keys; keyboards; keypads; game controllers; joysticks; computer mice; track balls; track buttons; touch pads; touch screens; accelerometers; motion sensors; video input devices; microphones; and the like. In various embodiments, user interface output devices include, but are not limited to: audio output devices such as speakers, headphones, earbuds, and the like; visual output devices such as lights, video displays and the like; and tactile devices such as rumble pads, hepatic touch screens, buttons, keys and the like. The user&#39;s interactions  408  are included by the interactive application  402  in application telemetry data  410  that is communicated by interactive processing device  400  to various other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. The interactive application  402  receives application commands and resources  412  communicated from various other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In some embodiments, various components of the interactive application  402  can read data from an application state  414  in order to provide one or more features of the interactive application. In various embodiments, components of the interactive application  402  can include, but are not limited to: a physics engine; a rules engine; an audio engine; a graphics engine and the like. The physics engine is used to simulate physical interactions between virtual objects in the interactive application  402 . The rules engine implements the rules of the interactive application and a random number generator that may be used for influencing or determining certain variables and/or outcomes to provide a randomizing influence on the operations of the interactive application. The graphics engine is used to generate a visual representation of the interactive application state to the user. The audio engine is used to generate an audio representation of the interactive application state to the user. 
     During operation, the interactive application reads and writes application resources  416  stored on a data store of the interactive processing device host. The application resources  416  may include objects having graphics and/or control logic used to provide application environment objects of the interactive application. In various embodiments, the resources may also include, but are not limited to, video files that are used to generate a portion of the user presentation  406 ; audio files used to generate music, sound effects, etc. within the interactive application; configuration files used to configure the features of the interactive application; scripts or other types of control code used to provide various features of the interactive application; and graphics resources such as textures, objects, etc. that are used by a graphics engine to render objects displayed in an interactive application. 
     In operation, components of the interactive application  402  read portions of the application state  414  and generate the user presentation  406  for the user that is presented to the user using the user interface  404 . The user perceives the user presentation and provides user interactions  408  using the user input devices. The corresponding user interactions are received as user actions or inputs by various components of the interactive application  402 . The interactive application  402  translates the user actions into interactions with the virtual objects of the application environment stored in the application state  414 . Components of the interactive application use the user interactions with the virtual objects of the interactive application and the interactive application state  414  to update the application state  414  and update the user presentation  406  presented to the user. The process loops continuously while the user interacts with the interactive application of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     The interactive processing device  400  provides one or more interfaces  418  between the interactive processing device  400  and other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as, but not limited to, a process controller and a session/management controller. The interactive processing device  400  and the other cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system components communicate with each other using the interfaces. The interface may be used to pass various types of data, and to communicate and receive messages, status data, commands and the like. In certain embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  and a process controller communicate application commands and environment resources  412  and application telemetry data  410 . In some embodiments, the communications include requests by the process controller that the interactive processing device  400  update the application state  414  using data provided by the process controller. 
     In many embodiments, a communication by a process controller includes a request that the interactive processing device  400  update one or more resources  416  using data provided by the process controller. In a number of embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  provides all or a portion of the application state to the process controller. In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  may also provide data about one or more of the application resources  416  to the process controller. In some embodiments, the communication includes user interactions that the interactive processing device  400  communicates to the process controller. The user interactions may be low level user interactions with the user interface  404 , such as manipulation of a user input device, or may be high level interactions with game objects as determined by the interactive application. The user interactions may also include resultant actions such as modifications to the application state  414  or game resources  416  resulting from the user&#39;s interactions taken in the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive application. In some embodiments, user interactions include, but are not limited to, actions taken by entities such as non-user characters (NPC) of the interactive application that act on behalf of or under the control of the user. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  includes a wagering user interface  420  used to provide cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system telemetry data  422  to and from the user. The cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system telemetry data  422  from the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system include, but are not limited to, data used by the user to configure Cr, AC and interactive element wagers, and data about the wagering proposition Cr, AC and interactive element wagers such as, but not limited to, Cr, AC and interactive element balances and Cr, AC and interactive element amounts wagered. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  includes an administration interface  430  used to provide cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system administration telemetry data  432  to and from the user. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device includes one or more sensors  424 . Such sensors may include, but are not limited to, physiological sensors that monitor the physiology of the user, environmental sensors that monitor the physical environment of the interactive processing device, accelerometers that monitor changes in motion of the interactive processing device, and location sensors that monitor the location of the interactive processing device such as global positioning sensors (GPSs). The interactive processing device  400  communicates sensor telemetry data  426  to one or more components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4B , interactive processing device  400  includes a bus  502  that provides an interface for one or more processors  504 , random access memory (RAM)  506 , read only memory (ROM)  508 , machine-readable storage medium  510 , one or more user output devices  512 , one or more user input devices  514 , and one or more communication interface devices  516 . 
     The one or more processors  504  may take many forms, such as, but not limited to: a central processing unit (CPU); a multi-processor unit (MPU); an ARM processor; a controller; a programmable logic device; or the like. 
     In the example embodiment, the one or more processors  504  and the random access memory (RAM)  506  form an interactive processing device processing unit  599 . In some embodiments, the interactive processing device processing unit includes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the interactive processing device processing unit receive instructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or more processors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, the interactive processing device processing unit is an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the interactive processing device processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip). 
     Examples of output devices  512  include, but are not limited to, display screens; light panels; and/or lighted displays. In accordance with particular embodiments, the one or more processors  504  are operatively connected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to: speakers; and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments, the one or more processors  504  are operatively connected to tactile output devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators. 
     Examples of user input devices  514  include, but are not limited to: tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, foot pads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the interactive processing device can use to receive inputs from a user when the user interacts with the interactive processing device; physiological sensors that monitor the physiology of the user; environmental sensors that monitor the physical environment of the interactive processing device; accelerometers that monitor changes in motion of the interactive processing device; and location sensors that monitor the location of the interactive processing device such as global positioning sensors. 
     The one or more communication interface devices  516  provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for communicating data and commands between the interactive processing device  400  and other devices that may be included in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. Such wired and wireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS) interface, a cellular or satellite telephone network interface; and the like. 
     The machine-readable storage medium  510  stores machine-executable instructions for various components of the interactive processing device, such as but not limited to: an operating system  518 ; one or more device drivers  522 ; one or more application programs  520  including but not limited to an interactive application; and cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive processing device instructions and data  524  for use by the one or more processors  504  to provide the features of an interactive processing device as described herein. In some embodiments, the machine-executable instructions further include application control interface/application control interface instructions and data  526  for use by the one or more processors  504  to provide the features of an application control interface/application control interface as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium  510  is one of a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, a DVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EIEPROM, and the like. 
     In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory  506  from the machine-readable storage medium  510 , the ROM  508  or any other storage location. The respective machine-executable instructions are accessed by the one or more processors  504  via the bus  502 , and then executed by the one or more processors  504 . Data used by the one or more processors  504  are also stored in memory  506 , and the one or more processors  504  access such data during execution of the machine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executable instructions causes the one or more processors  504  to control the interactive processing device  400  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system interactive processing device as described herein 
     Although the interactive processing device is described herein as being constructed from or configured using one or more processors and instructions stored and executed by hardware components, the interactive processing device can be constructed from or configured using only hardware components in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, although the storage medium  510  is described as being operatively connected to the one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art of interactive processing devices will understand that the storage medium can include removable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. In some embodiments, the storage medium  510  can be accessed by the one or more processors  504  through one of the communication interface devices  516  or using a communication link. Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user output devices can be operatively connected to the one or more processors  504  vione of the communication interface devices  516  or using a communication link. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  can be distributed across a plurality of different devices. In many such embodiments, an interactive processing device of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system includes an interactive application server operatively connected to an interactive client using a communication link. The interactive application server and interactive application client cooperate to provide the features of an interactive processing device as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the interactive processing device  400  may be used to construct other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In some embodiments, components of an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  are diagrams of a structure of a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. A wager controller may be constructed from or configured using one or more processing devices configured to perform the operations of the wager controller. In many embodiments, a wager controller can be constructed from or configured using various types of processing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone or the like, a personal digital assistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, a computing device, a controller, or the like. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5A , in various embodiments, a wager controller  604 , suitable for use as wager controller  102  of  FIG. 1A , includes a random number generator (RNG)  620  to produce random results; one or more paytables  623  which includes a plurality of factors indexed by the random result to be multiplied with an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects committed in a wager; and a wagering control module  622  whose processes may include, but are not limited to, generating random results, looking up factors in the paytables, multiplying the factors by an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects wagered, and administering one or more Cr, AC, interactive element, or object meters  626 . The various wager controller components can interface with each other via an internal bus  625  and/or other appropriate communication mechanism. 
     In some embodiments, an interface  628  allows the wager controller  604  to operatively connect to, and communicate with, an external device, such as one or more process controllers as described herein. The interface  628  provides for communication of wager execution commands  629  from the external device that is used to specify wager parameters and/or trigger execution of a wager by the wager controller  604  as described herein. The interface  628  may also provide for communicating wager outcome data  631  to an external device as described herein. In numerous embodiments, the interface  628  between the wager controller  604  and other systems/devices may be a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods of communication may be used including, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some other method by which two electronic devices could communicate with each other. 
     In various embodiments, an interface  630  allows the wager controller  604  to operatively connect to an external system or device, such as one or more credit processing systems, as described herein. The interface  630  provides for communication of incoming credit data  632  from the external system or device that is used to add credits to the one or more meters  626  as described herein. The interface  630  may also provide for communicating outgoing credit data  634  to an external system or device, such as a credit processing system, as described herein. In numerous embodiments, the interface  630  between the wager controller  604  and other systems/devices may be a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods of communication may be used including, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some other method by which two electronic devices or systems could communicate with each other. 
     In various embodiments, an interface  640  allows the wager controller  604  to operatively connect to an external system or device, such as one or more session/management controllers, as described herein. The interface  640  provides for communication of incoming session data  642  from the external system or device as described herein. The interface  640  may also provide for communicating outgoing session data  644  to an external system or device, such as a session/management controller, as described herein. In numerous embodiments, the interface  640  between the wager controller  604  and other systems/devices may be a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods of communication may be used including, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some other method by which two electronic devices or systems could communicate with each other. 
     In various embodiments, a wager controller  604  may use a random number generator provided by an external system. The external system may be connected to the wager controller  604  by a suitable communication network such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). In some embodiments, the external random number generator is a central determination system that provides random results to one or more connected wager controllers. 
     During operation of the wager controller, the external system communicates wager execution commands  629  to the wager controller  604 . The wager controller  604  receives the wager execution commands and uses the wager execution commands to trigger execution of a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. The wager controller  604  executes the wager and determines a wager outcome for the wager. The wager controller communicates wager outcome data  631  of the wager outcome to the external system. 
     In some embodiments, the wager controller uses the wager execution commands to select a paytable  628  to use and/or an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects to wager. 
     In some embodiments, the wager outcome data may include, but is not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects won in the wager. 
     In various embodiments, the wager outcome data may include, but is not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects in the one or more meters  626 . 
     In some embodiments, the wager outcome data includes state data for the wagering proposition of the executed wager. The state data may correspond to one or more game states of a wagering proposition that is associated with the wagering proposition. Examples of state data include, but are not limited to, reel strips in an operation state or a final state for a reel-based wagering proposition, one or more dice positions for a dice-based wagering proposition, positions of a roulette wheel and roulette ball, position of a wheel of fortune, or the like. 
     In various embodiments, the wagering control module  622  determines an amount of a wager and a paytable to use from the one or more paytables  623 . In such embodiments, in response to the wager execution commands triggering execution of the wager, the wager control module  622  executes the wager by requesting a random number generator result from the random number generator  620 ; retrieving a paytable from the one or more paytables  623 ; adjusting the one or more credit meters  626  for an amount of the wager; applying the random number generator result to the retrieved paytable; multiplying the resultant factor from the paytable by an amount wagered to determine a wager outcome; updating the one or more meters  626  based on the wager outcome; and communicating the wager outcome to the external device. 
     In various embodiments, an external system communicates a request for a random number generator result from the wager controller  604 . In response, the wager controller  604  returns a random number generator result as a function of an internal random number generator or a random number generator external to the external system to which the wager controller  604  is operatively connected. 
     In some embodiments, a communication exchange between the wager controller  604  and an external system relate to the external system support for coupling a random number generator result to a particular paytable contained in the wager controller  604 . In such an exchange, the external system communicates to the wager controller  604  as to which of the one or more paytables  623  to use, and requests a result whereby the random number generator result would be associated with the requested paytable  623 . The result of the coupling is returned to the external system. In such an exchange, no actual Cr, AC, interactive element, or object wager is conducted, but might be useful in coupling certain non-value wagering interactive application behaviors and propositions to the same final resultant wagering return which is understood for the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system to conduct wagering. 
     In some embodiments, the wager controller  604  may also include storage for statuses, wagers, wager outcomes, meters and other historical events in a storage device  616 . 
     In some embodiments, an authorization access module provides a process to permit access and command exchange with the wager controller  604  and access to the one or more credit meters  626  for the amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects being wagered by the user in the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In numerous embodiments, communication occurs between various types of a wager controller and an external system  630 , such as process controller. In some of these embodiments, the purpose of the wager controller is to allocate wagers to pools, detect occurrences of one or more events upon which the wagers were made, and determine the wager outcomes for each individual wager based on the number of winning wagers and the amount paid into the pool. 
     In some embodiments, the wager controller manages accounts for individual users wherein the users make deposits into the accounts, amounts are deducted from the accounts, and amounts are credited to the users&#39; accounts based on the wager outcomes. 
     In some embodiments a wager controller is a pari-mutuel wagering system such as used for wagering on an events such as horse races, greyhound races, sporting events and the like. In a pari-mutuel wagering system, user&#39;s wagers on the outcome of an event are allocated to a pool. When the event occurs, wager outcomes are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning wagers. 
     In various embodiments, a wager controller is a central determination system, such as but not limited to a central determination system for a Class II wagering system or a wagering system in support of a “scratch off” style lottery. In such a wagering system, a user plays against other users and competes for a common prize. In a given set of wager outcomes, there are a certain number of wins and losses. Once a certain wager outcome has been determined, the same wager outcome cannot occur again until a new set of wager outcomes is generated. 
     In numerous embodiments, communication occurs between various components of a wager controller  604  and an external system, such as a process controller. In some of these embodiments, the purpose of the wager controller  604  is to manage wagering on wagering events and to provide random (or pseudo random) results from a random number generator. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5B , wager controller  604  includes a bus  732  that provides an interface for one or more processors  734 , random access memory (RAM)  736 , read only memory (ROM)  738 , machine-readable storage medium  740 , one or more user output devices  742 , one or more user input devices  744 , and one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  746 . 
     The one or more processors  734  may take many forms, such as, but not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a multi-processor unit (MPU), an ARM processor, a controller, a programmable logic device, or the like. 
     In the example embodiment, the one or more processors  734  and the random access memory (RAM)  736  form a wager controller processing unit  799 . In some embodiments, the wager controller processing unit includes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the wager controller processing unit receive instructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or more processors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, the wager controller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the wager controller processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip). 
     Examples of output devices  742  include, but are not limited to, display screens, light panels, and/or lighted displays. In accordance with particular embodiments, the one or more processors  734  are operatively connected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to speakers, and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments, the one or more processors  734  are operatively connected to tactile output devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators. 
     Examples of user input devices  734  include, but are not limited to, tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the wager controller can use to receive inputs from a user when the user interacts with the wager controller  604 . 
     The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  746  provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchanging data and commands between the wager controller  604  and other devices that may be included in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. Such wired and wireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS) interface; a cellular or satellite telephone network interface; and the like. 
     The machine-readable storage medium  740  stores machine-executable instructions for various components of a wager controller, such as but not limited to: an operating system  748 ; one or more application programs  750 ; one or more device drivers  752 ; and cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system wager controller instructions and data  754  for use by the one or more processors  734  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system wager controller as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium  740  is one of a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, a DVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EIEPROM, and the like. 
     In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory  736  from the machine-readable storage medium  740 , the ROM  738  or any other storage location. The respective machine-executable instructions are accessed by the one or more processors  734  via the bus  732 , and then executed by the one or more processors  734 . Data used by the one or more processors  734  are also stored in memory  736 , and the one or more processors  734  access such data during execution of the machine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executable instructions causes the one or more processors  734  to control the wager controller  604  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system wager controller as described herein 
     Although the wager controller  604  is described herein as being constructed from or configured using one or more processors and machine-executable instructions stored and executed by hardware components, the wager controller can be composed of only hardware components in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, although the storage medium  740  is described as being operatively connected to the one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art of processing devices will understand that the storage medium can include removable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. In some embodiments, the storage medium  740  can be accessed by the one or more processors  734  through one of the interfaces or using a communication link. Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user output devices can be operatively connected to the one or more processors  734  vione of the interfaces or using a communication link. 
     In various embodiments, the wager controller  604  may be used to construct other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In some embodiments, components of a wager controller and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of a wager controller and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
     It should be understood that there may be many embodiments of a wager controller  604  which could be possible, including forms where many modules and components of the wager controller are located in various servers and locations, so the foregoing is not meant to be exhaustive or all inclusive, but rather provide data on various embodiments of a wager controller  604 . 
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  are diagrams of a structure of a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. A process controller may be constructed from or configured using one or more processing devices configured to perform the operations of the process controller. In many embodiments, a process controller can be constructed from or configured using various types of processing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, a computing device, a controller, or the like. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6A , in many embodiments, a process controller  860 , suitable for use as process controller  112  of  FIG. 1A , manages operation of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, with a wager controller and an interactive processing device being support units to the process controller  860 . The process controller  860  provides an interface between the interactive application, provided by an interactive processing device, and a wagering proposition, provided by a wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  860  includes an interactive processing device interface  800  to an interactive processing device. The interactive processing device interface  800  provides for communication of data between an interactive processing device and the process controller  860 , including but not limited to wager telemetry data  802 , application instructions and resources  804 , application telemetry data  806 , and sensor telemetry data  810  as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the process controller  860  includes a wager controller interface  812  to a wager controller. The wager controller interface  812  provides for communication of data between the process controller  860  and a wager controller, including but not limited to wager outcomes  814  and wager execution commands  816  as described in. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  860  includes a session/management controller interface  818  to a session/management controller. The session/management controller interface  818  provides for communication of data between the process controller  860  and a session/management controller, including but not limited to session control data  820  and session telemetry data  822  as described herein. 
     The process controller  860  includes a rule-based decision engine  824  that receives telemetry data, such as application telemetry data and sensor telemetry data, from an interactive processing device. The rule-based decision engine  824  uses the telemetry data, along with wager logic  826  to generate wager execution commands used to trigger a wager in a wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, the application telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, application environment variables that indicate the state of an interactive application being used by a user, interactive processing device data indicating a state of an interactive processing device, and user actions and interactions between a user and an interactive application provided by an interactive processing device. The wagering and/or wager execution commands may include, but are not limited to, an amount and type of the wager, a trigger of the wager, and a selection of a paytable to be used when executing the wager. 
     In some embodiments, the rule-based decision engine  824  also receives wager outcome data from a wager controller. The decision engine  824  uses the wager outcome data, in conjunction with telemetry data and application logic  828  to generate application decisions  830  communicated to an application resource generator  832 . The application resource generator  832  receives the application decisions and uses the application decisions to generate application commands and application resources to be communicated to an interactive application. 
     In many embodiments, the process controller  860  includes a pseudo random or random result generator used to generate random results that are communicated to the application resource generator  832 . The application resource generator uses the random results to generate application commands and application resources to be communicated to an interactive processing device for use by an interactive application. 
     In various embodiments, the rule-based decision engine  824  also determines an amount of AC to award to a user based at least in part on the user&#39;s use of an interactive application of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as determined from application telemetry data. In some embodiments, wager outcome data may also be used to determine the amount of AC that should be awarded to the user. 
     In numerous embodiments, an interactive application is a skill-based interactive application and the AC is awarded to the user for the user&#39;s skillful play of the skill-based interactive application. 
     In some embodiments, the application decisions and wager outcome data are communicated to a wagering user interface generator  834 . The wagering user interface generator  834  receives the application decisions and wager outcome data and generates wager telemetry data describing the state of wagering and credit accumulation and loss for the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. In some embodiments, the wager telemetry data  146  may include, but is not limited to, amounts of AC and interactive elements earned, lost or accumulated by the user through use of the interactive application as determined from the application decisions, and Cr amounts won, lost or accumulated as determined from the wager outcome data and the one or more credit meters. 
     In some embodiments, the wager outcome data  814  also includes data about one or more game states of a wagering proposition executed in accordance with a wagering proposition by a wager controller. In various such embodiments, the wagering user interface generator  834  generates a wagering proposition process display and/or wagering proposition state display using the one or more game states of the wagering proposition. The wagering proposition process display and/or wagering proposition state display is included in wager telemetry data that is communicated to an interactive processing device. The wagering proposition process display and/or a wagering proposition state display is displayed by a wagering user interface of the interactive processing device to a user. In other such embodiments, the one or more game states of the wagering proposition are communicated to an interactive processing device and a wagering user interface of the interactive processing device generates a wagering proposition process display and/or wagering proposition state display using the one or more game states of the wagering proposition for display to a user. 
     The process controller  860  can further operatively connect to a wager controller to determine an amount of credit or interactive elements available and other wagering metrics of a wagering proposition. Thus, the process controller  860  may potentially affect an amount of Cr in play for participation in the wagering events of a wagering proposition provided by the wager controller. The process controller  860  may additionally include various audit logs and activity meters. In some embodiments, the process controller  860  can also couple to a centralized server for exchanging various data related to the user and the activities of the user during game play of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In some embodiments, the operation of the process controller  860  does not affect the provision of a wagering proposition by a wager controller except for user choice parameters that are allowable in accordance with the wagering proposition. Examples of user choice parameters include, but are not limited to: wager terms such as but not limited to a wager amount; speed of game play (for example, by pressing a button or pulling a handle of a slot machine); and/or agreement to wager into a bonus round. 
     In a number of embodiments, communication of wager execution commands between a wager controller and the process controller  860  can further be used to communicate various wagering control factors that the wager controller uses as input. Examples of wagering control factors include, but are not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects consumed per wagering event, and/or the user&#39;s election to enter a jackpot round. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  860  utilizes a wagering user interface to communicate certain interactive application data to the user, including but not limited to, club points, user status, control of the selection of user choices, and messages which a user can find useful in order to adjust the interactive application experience or understand the wagering status of the user in accordance with the wagering proposition in the wager controller. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  860  utilizes a wagering user interface to communicate aspects of a wagering proposition to the user including, but not limited to, odds of certain wager outcomes, amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects in play, and amounts of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects available. 
     In a number of embodiments, a wager controller can accept wager proposition factors including, but not limited to, modifications in the amount of Cr, AC, interactive elements, or objects wagered on each individual wagering event, a number of wagering events per minute the wager controller can resolve, entrance into a bonus round, and other factors. In several embodiments, the process controller  860  can communicate a number of factors back and forth to the wager controller, such that an increase/decrease in a wagered amount can be related to the change in user profile of the user in the interactive application. In this manner, a user can control a wager amount per wagering event in accordance with the wagering proposition with the change mapping to a parameter or component that is applicable to the interactive application experience. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6B , process controller  860  includes a bus  861  providing an interface for one or more processors  863 , random access memory (RAM)  864 , read only memory (ROM)  865 , machine-readable storage medium  866 , one or more user output devices  867 , one or more user input devices  868 , and one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  869 . 
     The one or more processors  863  may take many forms, such as, but not limited to: a central processing unit (CPU); a multi-processor unit (MPU); an ARM processor; a programmable logic device; or the like. 
     Examples of output devices  867  include, include, but are not limited to: display screens; light panels; and/or lighted displays. In accordance with particular embodiments, the one or more processors  863  are operatively connected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to: speakers; and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments, the one or more processors  863  are operatively connected to tactile output devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators. 
     In the example embodiment, the one or more processors  863  and the random access memory (RAM)  864  form a process controller processing unit  870 . In some embodiments, the process controller processing unit includes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the process controller processing unit receive instructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or more processors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, the process controller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the process controller processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip). 
     Examples of user input devices  868  include, but are not limited to: tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, foot pads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the process controller can use to receive inputs from a user when the user interacts with the process controller  860 . 
     The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  869  provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchanging data and commands between the process controller  860  and other devices that may be included in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. Such wired and wireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS), cellular, or satellite telephone network interface; and the like. 
     The machine-readable storage medium  866  stores machine-executable instructions for various components of the process controller  860  such as, but not limited to: an operating system  871 ; one or more applications  872 ; one or more device drivers  873 ; and cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system process controller instructions and data  874  for use by the one or more processors  863  to provide the features of a process controller as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium  870  is one of a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, a DVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EIEPROM, and the like. 
     In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory  864  from the machine-readable storage medium  866 , the ROM  865  or any other storage location. The respective machine-executable instructions are accessed by the one or more processors  863  via the bus  861 , and then executed by the one or more processors  863 . Data used by the one or more processors  863  are also stored in memory  864 , and the one or more processors  863  access such data during execution of the machine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executable instructions causes the one or more processors  863  to control the process controller  860  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system process controller as described herein. 
     Although the process controller  860  is described herein as being constructed from or configured using one or more processors and instructions stored and executed by hardware components, the process controller can be composed of only hardware components in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, although the storage medium  866  is described as being operatively connected to the one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art of process controllers will understand that the storage medium can include removable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. Also, in some embodiments, the storage medium  866  may be accessed by processor  863  through one of the interfaces or using a communication link. Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user output devices may be operatively connected to the one or more processors  863  vione of the interfaces or using a communication link. 
     In various embodiments, the process controller  860  may be used to construct other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In some embodiments, components of an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of an interactive processing device and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
       FIGS. 7A and 7B  are diagrams of a structure of a session/management controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. A session/management controller may be constructed from or configured using one or more processing devices configured to perform the operations of the session/management controller. In many embodiments, a wager session can be constructed from or configured using various types of processing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone or the like, a personal digital assistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, a computing device, a controller, a server, or the like. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7A , in various embodiments, a session/management controller  1104 , suitable for use as session/management controller  150  of  FIG. 1A , includes a user management and session control module  1106  whose processes may include, but are not limited to, registering users of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, validating users of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system using user registration data, managing various types of sessions for users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, and the like. 
     The session/management controller  1104  may further include a datastore  1108  storing user data used to manage user registration and validation. The session/management controller  1104  may further include a datastore  1110  storing session data used to manage one or more sessions. 
     The various session/management controller components can interface with each other via an internal bus  1112  and/or other appropriate communication mechanism. 
     An interface  1114  allows the session/management controller  1104  to operatively connect to one or more external devices, such as one or more process controllers, wager controllers and/or interactive processing devices as described herein. The interface provides for receiving session telemetry data  1116  from the one more external devices as described herein. The session telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, amounts of AC earned by one or more users, requests for entering into a session as described herein, and telemetry data regarding the progress of one or more users during a session. The interface  1114  may also provide for communicating secession control data  1118  used to manage a session as described herein. 
     In numerous embodiments, the interface between the session/management controller and other systems/devices may be a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods of communication may be used including, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some other method by which two electronic devices could communicate with each other. 
     During operation of the session/management controller, the external system communicates session telemetry data to the session/management controller. The session/management controller receives the session telemetry data and uses the session telemetry data to generate session control data as described herein. The session/management controller communicates the session control data to the external system. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7B , session/management controller  1104  includes a bus  1132  that provides an interface for one or more processors  1134 , random access memory (RAM)  1136 , read only memory (ROM)  1138 , machine-readable storage medium  1140 , one or more user output devices  1142 , one or more user input devices  1144 , and one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  1146 . 
     The one or more processors  1134  may take many forms, such as, but not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a multi-processor unit (MPU), an ARM processor, a controller, a programmable logic device, or the like. 
     In the example embodiment, the one or more processors  1134  and the random access memory (RAM)  1136  form a session/management controller processing unit  1199 . In some embodiments, the session/management controller processing unit includes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the session/management controller processing unit receive instructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or more processors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, the session/management controller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the session/management controller processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip). 
     Examples of output devices  1142  include, but are not limited to, display screens, light panels, and/or lighted displays. In accordance with particular embodiments, the one or more processors  1134  are operatively connected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to speakers, and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments, the one or more processors  1134  are operatively connected to tactile output devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators. 
     Examples of user input devices  1144  include, but are not limited to, tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the session/management controller can use to receive inputs from a user when the user interacts with the session/management controller  1104 . 
     The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices  1146  provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchanging data and commands between the session/management controller  1104  and other devices that may be included in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. Such wired and wireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS) interface; a cellular or satellite telephone network interface; and the like. 
     The machine-readable storage medium  1140  stores machine-executable instructions for various components of a session/management controller, such as but not limited to: an operating system  1148 ; one or more application programs  1150 ; one or more device drivers  1152 ; and cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session/management controller instructions and data  1154  for use by the one or more processors  1134  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session/management controller as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium  1140  is one of a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, a DVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EIEPROM, and the like. 
     In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory  736  from the machine-readable storage medium  1140 , the ROM  1138  or any other storage location. The respective machine-executable instructions are accessed by the one or more processors  1134  via the bus  1132 , and then executed by the one or more processors  1134 . Data used by the one or more processors  1134  are also stored in memory  1136 , and the one or more processors  1134  access such data during execution of the machine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executable instructions causes the one or more processors  1134  to control the session/management controller  1104  to provide the features of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session/management controller as described herein 
     Although the session/management controller  1104  is described herein as being constructed from or configured using one or more processors and machine-executable instructions stored and executed by hardware components, the session/management controller can be composed of only hardware components in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, although the storage medium  1140  is described as being operatively connected to the one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art of processing devices will understand that the storage medium can include removable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. In some embodiments, the storage medium  1140  can be accessed by the one or more processors  1134  through one of the interfaces or using a communication link. Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user output devices can be operatively connected to the one or more processors  1134  vione of the interfaces or using a communication link. 
     In various embodiments, the session/management controller  1104  may be used to construct other components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system as described herein. 
     In some embodiments, components of a session/management controller and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of a session/management controller and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
     In some embodiments, components of a session/management controller and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of a session/management controller and a process controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
     It should be understood that there may be many embodiments of a session/management controller  1104  which could be possible, including forms where many modules and components of the session/management controller are located in various servers and locations, so the foregoing is not meant to be exhaustive or all inclusive, but rather provide data on various embodiments of a session/management controller  1104 . 
     In numerous embodiments, any of a wager controller, a process controller, an interactive processing device, or a session/management controller as described herein can be constructed from or configured using multiple processing devices, whether dedicated, shared, or distributed in any combination thereof, or can be constructed from or configured using a single processing device. In addition, while certain aspects and features of cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system processes described herein have been attributed to a wager controller, a process controller, an interactive processing device, or a session/management controller, these aspects and features can be provided in a distributed form where any of the features or aspects can be provided by any of a session/management controller, a wager controller, a process controller, and/or an interactive processing device within a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system without deviating from the spirit of the invention. 
     Although various components of cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems are discussed herein, cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering systems can be configured with any component as appropriate to the specification of a specific application in accordance with embodiments of the invention. In certain embodiments, components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, such as a session/management controller, a process controller, a wager controller, and/or an interactive processing device, can be configured in different ways for a specific cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     In some embodiments, components of a session/management controller, an interactive processing device, a process controller, and/or a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be constructed from or configured using a single device using processes that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In many embodiments, the components of a session/management controller, an interactive processing device, a process controller and a wager controller of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may communicate by passing messages, parameters or the like. 
     In addition, while certain aspects and features of cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system processes described herein have been attributed to a session/management controller, a wager controller, a process controller, or an interactive processing device, these aspects and features can be provided in a distributed form where any of the features or aspects can be provided by any of a session/management controller, a wager controller, a process controller, and/or an interactive processing device within a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
     Operation of Cooperative Disease Outbreak Interleaved Wagering Systems 
       FIG. 8A  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system for a wagering session in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system include a wager controller  902 , such as wager controller  102  of  FIG. 1A , a process controller  904 , such as process controller  112  of  FIG. 1A , an interactive processing device  906 , such as interactive processing device  120  of  FIG. 1A , and a credit processing system  903 , such as credit processing system  198  of  FIG. 1A . At a beginning of the wagering session, the process includes a credit input  909  to the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system with wager controller  902  communicating with the credit processing system  903  to receive incoming credit data  905 . The wager controller  902  uses the incoming credit data to transfer  917  credits onto one or more credit meters associated with one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, thus transferring credits into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and on to the one or more credit meters. The interactive processing device  906  detects a user performing a user interaction in an application interface of an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  906 . The interactive processing device  906  communicates application telemetry data  908  to the process controller  904 . The application telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, the user interaction detected by the interactive processing device  906 . 
     The process controller  904  receives the application telemetry data  908 . Upon determination by the process controller  904  that the user interaction indicates a wagering event, the process controller  904  generates wager execution commands including a wager request  912  that the process controller  904  uses to command the wager controller  902  to execute a wager. The request for a wager event may include wager terms associated with a wagering proposition. The process controller  904  communicates the wager execution commands to the wager controller  902 . 
     The wager controller  902  receives the wager execution commands  912  and uses the wager execution commands to execute  913  a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. The wager controller  902  updates  919  the one or more credit meters associated with the one or more users based on a wager outcome of the executed wagers. The wager controller  902  communicates data of the wager outcome  914  of the executed wager to the process controller  904 . 
     The process controller  904  receives the wager outcome and generates  915  interactive application instruction and resource data  916  for the interactive application. The process controller  904  uses the interactive application instruction and resource data  916  to command the interactive processing device. The process controller communicates the interactive application instruction and resource data  916  to the interactive processing device  906 . The process controller also communicates wagering telemetry data  920  including the wager outcome to the interactive processing device  906 . 
     The interactive processing device  906  receives the interactive application instruction and resource data  916  and wagering telemetry data  918 . The interactive processing device  906  incorporates the received interactive application resources and executes the received interactive application commands  918 . The interactive processing device updates  922  an application interface of the interactive application provided by the interactive processing device using the interactive application commands and the resources, and updates  922  a wagering user interface using the wagering telemetry data. 
     Upon determining that the wagering session is completed, such as by receiving a cashout communication from one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, the wager controller  902  transfers  923  credits off of the one or more credit meters, generates outgoing credit data  924  on the basis of the credits transferred off of the one or more credit meters, and communicates the outgoing credit data  924  to the credit processing system  903 . The credit processing system receives the outgoing credit data  924  and generates  924  a credit output as described herein, thus transferring credits off of the one or more credit meters and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
       FIG. 8B  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system for a wagering session in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
     The components of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system include a wager controller  930 , such as wager controller  102  of  FIG. 1A , a process controller  929 , such as process controller  112  of  FIG. 1A , an interactive processing device  928 , such as interactive processing device  120  of  FIG. 1A , and a credit processing system  931 , such as credit processing system  198  of  FIG. 1A . At a beginning of the wagering session, the process includes a credit input  932  to the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system with wager controller  930  communicating with the credit processing system  931  to receive incoming credit data  933 . The process controller  929  receives an application credit input  932  to the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system with process controller  929  communicating with the credit processing system  931  to receive incoming application credit data  936 . 
     The wager controller  930  uses the incoming credit data  933  to transfer  934  credits onto one or more credit meters associated with one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, thus transferring credits into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and on to the one or more credit meters. The process controller  929  uses the incoming application credit data  936  to transfer  937  credits onto one or more application credit meters associated with the one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, thus transferring application credits into the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and on to the one or more application credit meters. 
     The interactive processing device  928  detects  938  a user performing a user interaction in an application interface of an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  928 . The interactive processing device  928  communicates application telemetry data  939  to the process controller  929 . The application telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, data of the user interaction detected by the interactive processing device  928 . 
     The process controller  929  receives the application telemetry data  939 . The process controller  929  determines, based on the application telemetry data  939  whether or not the user interaction indicates a wager event. Upon determination by the process controller  929  that the user interaction indicates a wagering event, the process controller  929  generates wager execution command data  940  including a wager request that the process controller  929  uses to command the wager controller  930  to execute a wager. The request for a wager event may include wager terms associated with a wagering proposition. The process controller  929  communicates the wager execution command data  940  to the wager controller  930 . 
     The wager controller  930  receives the wager execution command data  940  and uses the wager execution commands to execute  941  a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. The wager controller  930  updates  948  the one or more credit meters associated with the one or more users based on a wager outcome of the executed wagers. The wager controller  930  communicates data of the wager outcome  942  of the executed wager to the process controller  929 . 
     The process controller  929  receives the wager outcome data  942  and generates  943  interactive application instruction data, interactive application resource data, and application credit data  944  for the interactive application based in part on the wager outcome data and the application telemetry data. The process controller  929  uses the application credit data to update  950  the one or more application credit meters. The process controller  929  uses the interactive application instruction data and interactive application resource data  944  to command the interactive processing device  928 . The process controller communicates the interactive application instruction data, interactive application resource data, and application credit data to the interactive processing device  928 . The process controller communicates wagering telemetry data  945  including the wager outcome data  942  to the interactive processing device  928 . 
     The interactive processing device  928  receives the interactive application instruction data, interactive application resource data, application credit data  944  and the wagering telemetry data  945 . The interactive processing device  928  incorporates the received interactive application resources and executes the received interactive application commands  918 . The interactive processing device updates  947  a user interface of the interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  928  using the interactive application command data, the interactive application resource data, and the application credit data, and updates a wagering user interface of the interactive processing device  928  using the wagering telemetry data  945 . 
     Upon determining that the wagering session is completed, such as by receiving a cashout communication from one or more users of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, the process controller  929  transfers  951  application credits off of the one or more application credit meters, generates outgoing application credit data  952  on the basis of the application credits transferred off of the one or more application credit meters, and communicates the outgoing application credit data  924  to the credit processing system  931 . The credit processing system receives the outgoing application credit data  931  and generates  953  a credit output for the application credits as described herein, thus transferring application credits off of the one or more application credit meters and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. The wager controller  930  transfers  954  credits off of the one or more credit meters, generates outgoing credit data  955  on the basis of the credits transferred off of the one or more credit meters, and communicates the outgoing credit data  955  to the credit processing system  931 . The credit processing system  931  receives the outgoing credit data  955  and generates  956  a credit output as described herein, thus transferring credits off of the one or more credit meters and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. 
       FIG. 9  is a collaboration diagram that illustrates how resources such as application credits (AC), credits (Cr), interactive elements, and objects are utilized in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. In several embodiments, a user can interact with a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system by using Cr for wagering in accordance with a wagering proposition along with AC and interactive elements in interactions with an interactive application. Wagering can be executed by a wager controller while an interactive application can be executed by an interactive processing device and managed with a process controller. The collaboration diagram  1000  illustrates that Cr  1002 , interactive application resources including interactive elements and objects  1004  and AC  1006  can be utilized by a user  1008  in interactions with a wager controller  1010 , such as wager controller  102  of  FIG. 1A , a process controller  1012 , such as wager controller  112  of  FIG. 1 , and an interactive processing device  1014 , such as interactive processing device  120  of  FIG. 1A , of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. The contribution of interactive elements and objects such as included in resources  1004 , can be linked to a user&#39;s access to credits, such as Cr  1002  and/or AC  1006 . Electronic receipt of these credits can come via a smart card, voucher or other portable media, or as received using a communication link from a server. In some embodiments, these credits can be drawn on demand from a user profile located in a database locally on a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system or in a remote server. 
     A user&#39;s actions and/or decisions can affect an interactive application of interactive processing device  1014  that consume and/or accumulate AC  1004  and/or resources  1004  in an interactive application executed by an interactive processing device  1014 , a wager controller  101  and a process controller  1012 . The process controller  1012  can monitor the activities taking place within an interactive application executed by an interactive processing device  1014  for wagering event occurrences. The process controller  1012  can also communicate the wagering event occurrences to the wager controller  1010  that triggers a wager of Cr  1002  in accordance with a wagering proposition executed by the wager controller  1010 . 
     In several embodiments, the user commences interaction with the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system by contributing credit to a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system such as, but not limited to, Cr  1002  that may be credit in a real currency or may be credit in a virtual currency that is not fungible with a real currency, AC  1006  that may be application environment credits, and specified types of interactive application interactive elements and/or objects  1004 . One or more of these contributions may be provided directly as currency and/or transferred in electronically. Electronic transfer may come via a smart card, voucher or other portable media, or as transferred in using a communication link from a user data server or cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system session/management controller. In many embodiments, contributions may be drawn on demand from user accounts located in servers residing on the network or in the cloud on a real time basis as the credits, interactive elements and/or object are committed or consumed by the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. Generally, Cr is utilized and accounted for by the wager controller  1010 ; and the resources  1004  and AC  1006  are utilized and accounted for by the process controller  1012  and/or the interactive processing device  1014 . 
     The cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system receives (a) credits Cr  1002  from credit processing system  1016 . In some embodiments, the credit processing system  1016  also provides AC  1006  to the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system. The user interacts with an interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  1014  with the interaction representing an action by the user within the context of the interactive application. The interactive processing device  1014  receives the user interaction and communicates (b) the interaction to the process controller  1012 . The process controller  1012  receives the interaction and determines from the interaction whether or not a wager should be triggered. If a wager should be triggered, the process controller  1012  commands (c) the wager controller  1010  to execute a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition associated with the interaction and thereby triggers a wager. The wager controller receives the wager execution commands and executes the wager in accordance with the wagering proposition, and consumes (d) an appropriate amount of Cr  1002  for the wager. The wager controller  1010  adjusts (e) the Cr  1002  based upon a wager outcome of the wager and communicates (f) the wager outcome to the process controller  1012  as to the outcome of the wager triggered by the process controller  1012 . The process controller  1012  receives the wager outcome. The process controller determines what resources  1004  should be provided to the interactive processing device, generates the resources  1004  and application commands and commands (g) the interactive processing device  1014  using the resources  1004  and application commands. The interactive processing device receives the resources  1004  and application commands from the process controller  1012  and integrates them into the execution of the interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  1014 . 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  1012  communicates (h) data about the wager outcome to the interactive processing device. The interactive processing device receives the wager outcome and displays the wager outcome to the user  1008 . 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  1012  determines what resources and commands to provide to the interactive processing device  1014  for use by the interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  1014  partially on the basis of the wager outcome. In some such embodiments, resources are provided in a case that the wager was a winning wager for the user. In other such embodiments, fewer or no resources are provided in a case of a losing wager. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  1012  determines what resources to provide based on internal logic of the process controller  1012 . In some such embodiments, the process controller  1012  employs a random result generator, such as a random number generator, to generate a random result and the random result is used to determine what resources are provided to the interactive processing device  1014 . 
     In several embodiments, the process controller  1012  determines an increment or a decrement of an amount of AC  1006  using the interactions received from the interactive processing device. The increment or decremented amount is communicated (i) to the interactive processing device for display to the user. 
     In some embodiments, the process controller  1012  executes a wager of Cr as a virtual currency, AC, interactive elements or objects. In some such embodiments, the process controller  1012  employs a random result generator, such as a random number generator, to generate a random result and the random result is used to determine a wager outcome in Cr as a virtual currency, AC, interactive elements or objects. 
     The following is description of an embodiment of the described collaboration where an interactive application provided by an interactive processing device of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is a first person shooter game. The process begins by a user selecting a machine gun to use in the game and then fires a burst of bullets at an opponent. The interactive processing device can communicate to the process controller of the user&#39;s choice of weapon, that a burst of bullets was fired, and/or the outcome of the burst. The process controller communicates to the wager controller that 3 credits (Cr) are to be wagered on the outcome of a wagering event to match the three bullets consumed. The wager controller then performs the wagering event and determines the result of the wager and may determine the winnings from a paytable. The wager controller consumes 3 credits of Cr for the wager and executes the specified wager. By way of example, the wager controller may determine that the user hit a jackpot of 6 credits and returns the 6 credits to the Cr and communicates to the process controller that 3 net credits were won by the user. 
     The process controller communicates to the interactive processing device to add 3 bullets to an ammunition clip. The interactive processing device adds 3 bullets back to the ammo clip. The ammunition may be added by directly adding the ammunition to the clip or by allowing the user to find extra ammunition during use. The process controller logs the new user score (AC) in the game (as a function of the successful hit on the opponent) based on the interactive processing device communication, and adds 2 extra points to the user score since a jackpot has been won. The process controller then adds 10 points to the user score (AC) given the success of the hit which in this example is worth 8 points, plus the 2 extra point. Note that this example is only intended to provide an illustration of how credits flow in a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system, but is not intended to be exhaustive and only lists only one of numerous possibilities of how a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system may be configured to manage its fundamental credits. 
     In many embodiments, session/management controller  1020 , such as user account controller  150  of  FIG. 1A , of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system is used to store AC for use of the user. In such an embodiment, AC is generated by the process controller based on the user&#39;s use of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system and an amount of the AC is communicated to the session/management controller  1020 . The session/management controller stores the amount of AC between sessions. In some embodiments, the session/management controller communicates an amount of AC to the process controller at the start of a session for use by the user during a session. 
     When wagering is complete, the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system transfers (k) Cr  1002  off of the one or more credit meters and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system using the credit processing system  1016 . In some embodiments, the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system transfers AC  1006  off of the one or more credit meters and out of the cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system using the credit processing system  1016 . 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a flowchart of steps that may be performed to create a cooperative tactical and logistics system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, the system enables a group of two or more users participating in an interactive application to be assigned specific roles to work cooperatively within the interactive application. In some embodiments, the interactive application is a cooperative disease spreading themed interactive game where the objective of the interactive game is to stop the spread of diseases and cure them before a pandemic occurs. 
     In some embodiments, the user interface includes a plurality of interactive application components associated with various application events. In this system, two or more users cooperate with each other. In order to start the application, the users must commit currency to a wager. The wager controller receives the information about the wager, and instructs the process controller to enable the use of the application. The interactive processing device then becomes available to the users. The interactive processing device determines if the users have interacted with an interactive application component. When the users take actions within the system, this information is communicated from the interactive processing device to the process controller. At the end of the interactive application, the results of that wager are displayed to the users. 
     In an example embodiment, the total application components available for use in the interactive application are 96 colored disease cubes, 5 user pawns, 6 research stations markers, 6 markers (4 cure, 1 outbreak, 1 infection), and 111 Cards (48 infection cards, 59 User cards, 4 role cards). 
     In the example embodiment, the system setup includes a map representing a network between the cities of Earth, two decks of cards (User cards and Infection cards), four colors of cubes (each representing a different disease), six Research Stations, and a pawn for each user. The User cards include cards with each city name (same as on the map), Special Event cards that can be played at specific times to take beneficial actions, and Epidemic cards. Infection cards consist of one card for each city on the map and a color of the disease that will start there. 
     An interactive application session is initiated ( 1202 ). In some embodiments, the interactive application is a cooperative disease outbreak themed interactive game. The map of the interactive game is populated ( 1204 ). One or more users are assigned random roles, as described herein ( 1206 ). The users are provided with user cards, as described herein ( 1208 ). Also as described herein, when it is a user&#39;s turn ( 1210 ), it is determined whether an action is available ( 1212 ). When an action is available, the user may perform an available action  1234  including: a movement ( 1222 ), sharing information ( 1224 ), treating one unit of infection ( 1226 ), constructing a research lab ( 1228 ), finding the cure ( 1230 ), or a role-based action ( 1232 ). 
     When an action is not available, the action segment is ended ( 1214 ). The user is then provided with two cards ( 1216 ) and the user reduces cards held to seven ( 1218 ). The user&#39;s turn is concluded ( 1220 ). 
     In many embodiments, each interaction with an interactive component by a user may trigger a wager event. The wagering event may be illustrated in the system with a slot-machine, roulette-wheel graphic, or thematically appropriate infection chance graphic. The outcome of the wagering event produces results that are determined by the wager controller which then communicates the result to the process controller. The process controller determines which interactive application resources are to be provided to the users on the basis of the successful interactions. 
     In some embodiments, each user wagers separately during their turn. That is, a triggering event during an individual&#39;s turn will cause that individual to make a wager, but will not cause any of the other users to wager. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to individual funds, the users may have a common pool of funds available for wagering which may or may not require equal funding from each user. Wagers using the funds in the common pool may be divided equally among the users or divided according to the percentage contributed to the pool. 
     In other embodiments, a wager triggered by an user during their turn will either enable wagering for all the other users, trigger a wager for the user, or trigger a wager from the common pool of funds. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application resources allocated to the users following a wager may be assigned to the user who triggered the wager. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are allocated to the cooperative group as a whole, with the users determining how to distribute the resources. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are automatically applied by the process controller. 
     The interactive application resources awarded following a wager may include additional cards, special abilities, the opportunity to change assigned roles, extra turns, reduction in cubes on the map, or other changes to the interactive application. 
     During the interactive application, outcomes of wagers are communicated by the wager controller to process controller and a graphical display is shown to the user through the interactive processing device. 
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart of steps that may be performed to create one part of the interactive application in the system. At the start of the interactive application session ( 1302 ), Infection cards are randomly drawn to populate the map with infections ( 1304 ), from 1 to 3 cubes for a number of cities. Users start at the same city, and are given a random role ( 1306 ) and a number of User cards ( 1308 ). On each turn ( 1310 ), a user can take 4 actions which consists of any combination of the following available actions  1342 : 
     Movement  1330 , as per the following four options: (1) Between interconnected cities (car and ferry travel). (2) To a city that the user holds that User card of, discarding the User card (direct flight). (3) To any city if the user is currently in one of the cities they hold the card of, discarding the User card (charter flight). (4) From a city with a research lab to any city with a research lab, without discarding a city card (shuttle flight). 
     Sharing information  1332  with another user by being at the same city as that user and either giving or receiving the User card representing that city. 
     Treating one unit of infection  1334  from a city the user is presently in, removing a cube from that city. 
     Constructing a research lab  1336  in a city that the user holds the city card for (discarding that card afterwards) 
     Finding the cure  1338  by being in a city with a research lab and holding 5 User cards of the same color. Finding a cure does not stop further infection of that disease until all cubes of that color are removed from the board; from then on, drawing an Infection card of a color that is eradicated will result in no change to the board&#39;s state. 
     Certain role cards  1340  may modify one or more of the above action choices. 
     On conclusion of the turn ( 1314 ), the user draws two User cards ( 1316 ), reducing their hand down to seven cards ( 1326 ) by discarding User cards and/or immediately playing Special Event cards. 
     If either draw is an Epidemic card ( 1320 ), the user draws a card from the bottom of the Infection deck and places three cubes on that city ( 1324 ), puts that card into the Infection discard pile, reshuffles the discard pile, and places it back on top of the Infection deck. After the two User cards are drawn (epidemic or no), a number of Infection cards are revealed and one cube of the indicated color is placed on each city drawn. Should a city already have three cubes and a new cube is to be added, an Outbreak occurs and each interconnected city gains one more cube of that color; this can create a chain reaction across many cities if several already have three disease cubes on them. 
     When the card drawn is a special action card but not an epidemic card, the action indicated by the card is performed ( 1322 ) and after the user reduces cards held to seven ( 1326 ), the user&#39;s turn is concluded ( 1328 ). 
       FIG. 12  illustrates a flowchart of interactions performed in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The interactive application session begins  1402  and when the it is the user&#39;s turn  1404 , the application session is ended  1422  if any of the following occur: More than 7 Outbreaks occur  1408 —a loss for the users  1418 ; there are no more cubes of the specific disease color when they are needed during Infection or Epidemic  1410 —a loss for the users  1418 ; there are no more User cards to be drawn  1412 —a loss for the users  1418 , and the users discover the cure for all four diseases  1406 —a victory for the users  1416 . 
     When none of the conditions occur, the user&#39;s turn is concluded  1414  and the interactive application session continues  1420 . 
     In many embodiments, each interaction with an interactive component by a user may trigger a wager event. The wagering event may be illustrated in the system with a slot-machine, roulette-wheel graphic, or thematically appropriate infection chance graphic. The outcome of the wagering event produces results that are determined by the wager controller which then communicates the result to the process controller. The process controller determines which interactive application resources are to be provided to the users on the basis of the successful interactions. 
     In some embodiments, each user wagers separately during their turn. That is, a triggering event during an individual&#39;s turn will cause that individual to make a wager, but will not cause any of the other users to wager. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to individual funds, the users may have a common pool of funds available for wagering which may or may not require equal funding from each user. Wagers using the funds in the common pool may be divided equally among the users or divided according to the percentage contributed to the pool. 
     In other embodiments, a wager triggered by an user during their turn will either enable wagering for all the other users, trigger a wager for the user, or trigger a wager from the common pool of funds. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application resources allocated to the users following a wager may be assigned to the user who triggered the wager. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are allocated to the cooperative group as a whole, with the users determining how to distribute the resources. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are automatically applied by the process controller. 
     The interactive application resources awarded following a wager may include additional cards, special abilities, the opportunity to change assigned roles, extra turns, reduction in cubes on the map, or other changes to the interactive application. 
     During the interactive application, outcomes of wagers are communicated by the wager controller to process controller and a graphical display is shown to the user through the interactive processing device. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates a flowchart of interactions performed in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 13 , to aid in winning the interactive application session, users are assigned roles by the process controller that allow them to alter the above rules. 
     An interactive application session begins ( 1502 ). In some embodiments, the interactive application session is provided by an interactive processing device. The number of users is determined ( 1504 ). In some embodiments, a process controller determines the number of users. The roles available for the users is determined ( 1506 ). In some embodiments, the process controller determines the roles available. The roles are randomly assigned ( 1508 ). In some embodiments, the process controller randomly assigns the roles. Special role abilities are associated with the users ( 1510 ). In some embodiments, the process controller associates the special role abilities with the users. The role assignments are displayed ( 1512 ). In some embodiments, the process controller communicates the role assignments to the interactive processing device and the interactive processing device configures a display to display the role assignments to the users. The interactive application session continues ( 1514 ). 
     In some embodiments, the roles available may be dictated by the difficulty level of the session, the number of users, or other factors. These roles may include the following abilities. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Role Title 
                 Abilities 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Physician 
                 May remove all cubes of a single color when treating a city. 
               
               
                   
                 May administer known cures for free. 
               
               
                 Scientist 
                 May give a User Card from their hand to another user for 1 action 
               
               
                   
                 per card if both users are in the same city. 
               
               
                 Inventor 
                 User needs only 4 cards of the same color to discover a cure. 
               
               
                 Director 
                 May move other Users&#39; pawns as if they were their own. 
               
               
                   
                 May move any pawn to another city containing a pawn for 1 action. 
               
               
                 Construction 
                 May build a Research Station in the current city for 1 action. 
               
               
                 Specialist 
                 Once per turn, at a research station, may spend an action and 
               
               
                   
                 discard any city card to move to any city. 
               
               
                 Quarantine 
                 When user enters a city with 2 or more disease cubes of the same 
               
               
                 expert 
                 color, 1 cube is removed. 
               
               
                 Epidemiologist 
                 User has 5 actions to spend each turn. 
               
               
                 Librarian 
                 User has a hand limit of 8 cards. 
               
               
                   
                 Once per turn user may spend an action to draw current city&#39;s card 
               
               
                   
                 from the User Discard Pile. 
               
               
                 Eradicator 
                 For 4 actions, a user can destroy one cube of the same color in the 
               
               
                   
                 current city and in each of the adjacent cities. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In addition to the above roles, users also have access to Special Event cards as seen in  FIG. 11 , which allow for similar one-time actions akin to the roles, such as the direct removal of a few infection tokens or immediate construction of a research lab. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application requires the users to coordinate their efforts to win, specifically in gathering and sharing the necessary cards to discover cures while moving in coordination around the map and preventing Outbreaks in an efficient manner. 
     Each interaction with an interactive component by a user may trigger a wager event. The wagering event may be illustrated in the system with a slot-machine, roulette-wheel graphic, or thematically appropriate infection chance graphic. The outcome of the wagering event produces results that are determined by the wager controller which then communicates the result to the process controller. The process controller determines which interactive application resources are to be provided to the users on the basis of the successful interactions. 
     In some embodiments, each user wagers separately during their turn. That is, a triggering event during an individual&#39;s turn will cause that individual to make a wager, but will not cause any of the other users to wager. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to individual funds, the users may have a common pool of funds available for wagering which may or may not require equal funding from each user. Wagers using the funds in the common pool may be divided equally among the users or divided according to the percentage contributed to the pool. 
     In other embodiments, a wager triggered by a user during their turn will either enable wagering for all the other users, trigger a wager for the user, or trigger a wager from the common pool of funds. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive application resources allocated to the users following a wager may be assigned to the user who triggered the wager. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are allocated to the cooperative group as a whole, with the users determining how to distribute the resources. In other embodiments, the interactive application resources are automatically applied by the process controller. 
     The interactive application resources awarded following a wager may include additional cards, special abilities, the opportunity to change assigned roles, extra turns, reduction in cubes on the map, or other changes to the interactive application. 
     During the interactive application, outcomes of wagers are communicated by the wager controller to process controller and a graphical display is shown to the user through the interactive processing device. 
       FIG. 14  is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of a cooperative disease outbreak interleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The system includes an interactive processing device  1602 , a process controller  1604 , and a wager controller  1606 , each as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, communication of outgoing data between a controller (or device) and another controller (or device) is achieved by the controller encoding data to be communicated into a signal and transmitting the signal to the another controller. Communication of incoming data is achieved by the controller receiving from the another controller signals encoding the incoming data. The controller decodes the signals to obtain the incoming data. 
     In some such embodiments, two or more controllers implement a controller-to-controller communication protocol as an interdevice communication protocol so that the two or more controllers may be implemented on different processing devices. The interdevice communication protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In yet other such embodiments, the controller-to-controller communication protocol is implemented as a networking protocol so that the two or more controllers may be implemented on different devices operatively connected by a network. The networking protocol may utilize a wired communication bus or wireless connection as a physical layer. In many such embodiments, the network includes a cellular telephone network or the like and one or more of the controllers is a mobile device such as a smartphone or other device capable of using the cellular telephone network. 
     In some embodiments, communication is achieved by two or more of the controllers implementing a controller-to-controller communication protocol as an interprocess communication protocol so that the two or more controllers may be implemented on the same device. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  1602  provides an interactive application. In some embodiments, the interactive application is an interactive game. In some embodiments, the interactive game is a skill-based game. In some embodiments, the interactive game is a chance-based game. In some embodiments, the interactive game is a cooperative disease spreading themed game. 
     In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  1602 , the process controller  1604 , and the wager controller  1606  are separated into different components in order to distribute computing responsibilities to provide improved latency results. In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  1602  dedicates its resources toward providing the interactive application, and may be unable to perform the additional processing performed by the process controller  1604  without sacrificing latency. 
     During operation, in various embodiments, the interactive processing device  1602  is constructed to provide an interactive application display associated with the interactive application provided by the interactive processing device  1602 . The interactive processing device  1602  communicates, to the process controller  1604 , session initiation data ( 1608 ). In some embodiments, the session initiation data includes a user identification. In some embodiments, the session initiation data includes an interactive application identification. 
     The process controller  1604  receives, from the interactive processing device  1602 , the session initiation data ( 1608 ). The process controller  1604  determines a number of users for the interactive application session ( 1610 ). In some embodiments, the determination of the number of users is based on the session initiation data received from the interactive processing device  1602 . In some embodiments, the process controller  1604  receives session initiation data from multiple interactive processing devices including the interactive processing device  1602 . 
     The process controller  1604  determines the roles available ( 1612 ). In some embodiments, the roles available are based on the number of users participating in the interactive application session. The process controller  1604  assigns roles ( 1614 ) and associates users and abilities ( 1616 ) based on the role assignments. 
     The process controller  1604  communicates, to the interactive processing device  1602 , the role assignment data ( 1618 ). 
     The interactive processing device  1602  receives, from the process controller  1604 , the role assignment data ( 1618 ). The interactive processing device  1602  automatically configures the display based on the role assignment data ( 1620 ). 
     The interactive processing device  1602  communicates, to the process controller  1604 , application telemetry data ( 1622 ). In some embodiments, the application telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, interactions and events that occur in the interactive application as executed by the interactive processing device  1602 . In some embodiments, the interactive processing device  1602  is constructed to continuously generate and communicate the application telemetry data associated with the interactive application. 
     In some embodiments, the application telemetry data follows an application telemetry data protocol. In some embodiments, the application telemetry data protocol comprises an account identification. In some embodiments, the application telemetry protocol includes an identification of the interactive application. In some embodiments, the application telemetry data protocol includes an action or event occurring in the interactive application. In some embodiments, the application telemetry data protocol includes application telemetry data encoded as a string. In some embodiments, the application telemetry data protocol includes application telemetry data encoded as an array of the elements making up the application telemetry data. In some embodiments, the application telemetry protocol includes application telemetry data formatted as a concatenation of data of elements making up the application telemetry data. 
     The process controller  1604  receives, from the interactive processing device  1602 , the application telemetry data ( 1622 ). In some embodiments, the process controller  1604  is constructed to continuously monitor the interactive processing device  1602  for the application telemetry data. 
     The process controller  1604  scans the application telemetry data to determine whether to trigger a wager request. In some embodiments, the process controller  1604  determines whether to trigger wager by parsing the application telemetry data into elements; matching each element to a table of elements that trigger a wager request; and when an element of the application telemetry data is present in the table, determine that a wager request should be triggered. 
     When a wager request is triggered, the process controller  1604  generates wager request data and commands the wager controller  1606  by communicating the wager request data to the wager controller  1606  ( 1624 ). In some embodiments, the wager request data follows a wager request protocol. In some embodiments, the wager request protocol includes an account identification. In some embodiments, the wager request protocol includes an identification of the interactive application. In some embodiments, the wager request protocol includes a wager amount. In some embodiments, the wager request protocol includes a paytable and/or wagering mechanic. In some embodiments, data encoded in accordance with the wager request protocol is formatted as a string. In some embodiments, data encoded in accordance with the wager request protocol is formatted as an array of the elements making up the wager request data. In some embodiments, data encoded in accordance with the wager request protocol is formatted as a concatenation of the data of elements making up the wager request data. 
     The wager controller  1606  receives, from the process controller  1604 , the wager request data ( 1624 ). In some embodiments, the wager controller  1606  is constructed to continuously monitor the process controller for communication of the wager request data. 
     The wager controller  1606 , in response to receiving the wager request data, automatically determines a wager outcome based on the wager request data ( 1626 ). The wager controller  1606  communicates the wager outcome data to the process controller  1604  ( 1628 ). The process controller  1604  receives, from the wager controller  1606 , the wager outcome data ( 1628 ). 
     In response to receiving the wager outcome data, the process controller  1604  scans the wager outcome data and automatically determines wagering telemetry data based on the wager outcome data. In response to receiving the data, the process controller  1604  scans the wager outcome data and also automatically determines application resource data based on the wager outcome data ( 1630 ). A particular application resource may be associated with a particular wager outcome. 
     The process controller  1604  commands the interactive processing device  1602  by communicating wagering telemetry data and the application resource data to the interactive processing device  1602  ( 1632 ). The interactive processing device  1602  receives, from the process controller  1604 , the wagering telemetry data and the application resource data ( 1632 ). 
     In response to receiving the wagering telemetry data, the interactive processing device  1602  automatically configures a wagering user interface using the wagering telemetry data, as described herein ( 1634 ). The interactive processing device  1602  also automatically incorporates the application resource data into the interactive application as described herein, thus affecting the interactive application ( 1634 ). 
     While the above description may include many specific embodiments of the invention, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as examples of embodiments thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the present invention can be practiced otherwise than specifically described, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention described herein should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.