Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Social Media Games may be played between users over an online social network with a mobile phone or smart mobile device. These games may be played by multiple users competitively against one another or these games may be played individually, at large, against the online community or portions of it. Additionally, these games may be played collaboratively. These games may consist of puzzles that users may solve to unlock additional messages, levels, prizes, or for the thrill of the game. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0002]    According to an exemplary embodiment, an interactive social media game may be played on an electronic social media network with any number of unique users, players, or devices. A first device may create a disassembled photographic media puzzle through manipulation on a display screen, in a first memory location and transmit a request to share a disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver. A second device may receive the disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver and store it in a second memory location. The second device may re-assemble the disassembled photographic media puzzle through manipulation on a display screen into a re-assembled photographic media puzzle. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis. 
         [0003]    According to another exemplary embodiment, an interactive social media game may consist of at least one device and a computer database. The computer database may transmit a disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver. The at least one device may receive the disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver. The at least one device may store the disassembled photographic media puzzle in a memory location. The at least one device may re-assemble, through manipulation on a display screen, the disassembled photographic media puzzle into a re-assembled photographic media puzzle. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis. 
         [0004]    According to another exemplary embodiment, a computing system may execute a set of instructions for an interactive social media game. The computing system may take an electronic photograph by an electronic photography device and lens and store the electronic photograph in a first memory location. A device may manipulate a disassembled photographic media puzzle on a display interface. The device may create a disassembled photographic media puzzle through manipulation on a first display interface and store it in a first memory location. The device may transmit the disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver. A second device may receive the disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver and store the disassembled photographic media puzzle in a second memory location. The second device may re-assemble the disassembled photographic media puzzle into a re-assembled photographic media puzzle through manipulation on a second display interface. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0005]    Advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments. The following detailed description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying figures in which: 
           [0006]    Exemplary  FIG. 1  may show an exemplary flow chart of an electronic social media network or game; 
           [0007]    Exemplary  FIG. 2  may show an exemplary flow chart of an electronic social media network or game; 
           [0008]    Exemplary  FIG. 3  may show a flow chart of the steps a non-transitory computer readable medium of an electronic social media network or game may implement; 
           [0009]    Exemplary  FIG. 4  may show a depiction of a disassembled photographic media puzzle; 
           [0010]    Exemplary  FIG. 5  may show an alternate depiction of a disassembled photographic media puzzle; 
           [0011]    Exemplary  FIG. 6  may show an alternate depiction of a disassembled photographic media puzzle; 
           [0012]    Exemplary  FIG. 7  may show the steps of a message system of an electronic social media network or game; and 
           [0013]    Exemplary  FIG. 8  may show the steps of a time recordation system of an electronic social media network or game. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    Aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following description and related drawings directed to specific embodiments of the invention. Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention. Further, to facilitate an understanding of the description discussion of several terms used herein follows. 
         [0015]    As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” The embodiments described herein are not limiting, but rather are exemplary only. It should be understood that the described embodiments are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Moreover, the terms “embodiments of the invention”, “embodiments” or “invention” do not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation. 
         [0016]    Further, many of the embodiments described herein may be described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It should be recognized by those skilled in the art that the various sequence of actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) and/or by program instructions executed by at least one processor. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein can be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable storage medium such that execution of the sequence of actions enables the processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the present invention may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, the corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as, for example, “a computer configured to” perform the described action. 
         [0017]    Referring to  FIG. 1  generally, a photographic media puzzle game played on an electronic social media network may be disclosed. The electronic social media network or game may consist of multiple devices using non-transitory computer readable mediums, such as a smart phone, tablet, or other similarly situated device to play a photographic media puzzle game. The photographic media puzzle game may consist of a first device  102 , a second device,  104  and an electronic social media network  100 . The first device  102  may operate a first non-transitory computer readable medium. The second device  104  may operate a second non transitory computer readable medium. A first device  102  may select  106  an image. The image may be a photograph taken by an electronic smart phone, tablet, or other similarly situated device that can take a photograph. The image may also be a stock image that the device may have downloaded to an electronic smart phone, tablet, or other similarly situated device. Next, the first device  102  may edit  108  the image. The step of editing  108  the image may be any type of image editing options common to electronic smart phones, tablets, and other similarly situated devices known in the art such as applying a filter. Next, the device may create  110  a disassembled photographic media puzzle. The device may create  110  the disassembled photographic media puzzle through manipulation on a display interface such as a touch screen. For example, the device may partition the image into unique puzzle pieces by finger swiping across a display interface. Alternatively, the device may partition the image into unique puzzle pieces automatically. Alternatively, the device may allow a user to manually manipulate the location, size, and type of puzzle piece. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be stored in a first memory location. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be an edited  108  image or it may be the original selected  106  image. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be a matrix of any number of uniform pieces. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be a plurality of any number of non-uniform pieces. The device may transmit  112  the disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver to a second device. The transceiver may be a local area network, cell phone signal, wireless signal, or any other hardware element capable of transmitting data elements from a first memory location to a second memory location. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be transmitted  112  across the electronic social media network to a second device  104 . The second device  104  may be a native contact of the first device  102  that may store the second devices  104  information in the contacts menu of an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The second device  104  may receive  114  the disassembled photographic media puzzle that a first device  102  transmit  112 . Next, the second device  104  may store  116  the disassembled photographic media puzzle in a second memory location. Next, the second device may re-assemble  118  the disassembled photographic media puzzle into a re-assembled photographic media puzzle. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be verified  120  automatically on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis for correctness against a solution. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be verified  120  by displaying the re-assembled photographic media puzzle on the first device thereby allowing the first device to verify  120  the re-assembled photographic media puzzle manually. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified  120  for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis. The electronic social media network may verify the puzzle against a database of solutions. The solution may be established by the first device  102 . The solution may originate on the electronic social media network or the solution may be established by the first device  102 . 
         [0018]    Referring to  FIG. 2  generally, a photographic media puzzle game on an electronic social media network may be disclosed. An at least one device  204  may be in communication with an electronic social media network  200 . The electronic social media network  200  may be in communication with an at least one non-transitory computer database  202 . The at least one non-transitory computer database  202  may physically store data elements of the electronic social media network. The at least one non-transitory computer database  202  may transmit  207  a disassembled photographic media puzzle by a transceiver. Any number of optional additional devices  206  and optional computer databases  205  may be in communication with an electronic social media network  200 . The at least one device  204  may be in communication with an electronic social media network  200  such that the at least one device  204  may receive  208  a puzzle by a transceiver. The at least one device  204  may chose a disassembled photographic media puzzle based on a category, sub-category, or group of interest. Additionally, the at least one device  204  may choose the difficulty of the puzzle. The difficulty may correspond to the number of unique pieces that make up the disassembled photographic media puzzle. The puzzle may have been previously disassembled by the electronic social media network or an optional additional device  206  or an optional database  205 . Alternatively the disassembled photographic media puzzle may have originated from any unique location such that it may be reducible to a stored location on the electronic social media network. The at least one device  204  may re-assemble  212  the puzzle. The at least one device  204  may move pieces of the puzzle into a location by manually dragging the pieces of the puzzle into the desired virtual location on a display interface such as a touch screen. The at least one device  204  may move pieces of the puzzle through any desired form of manipulation commonly known in the art of computer, tablet, and electronic smart phone interaction. The re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be verified  214  automatically on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis for correctness against a solution. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified  214  for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis. The electronic social media network may verify the puzzle against a database of solutions that may be stored on the computer database. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , a set of instructions to play a photographic media puzzle game may be disclosed. The set of instructions may be stored and carried out by a first non-transitory computer readable medium and a second non transitory computer readable medium or any number of additional non transitory computer readable mediums. The non-transitory computer readable mediums may be a smart mobile device, smart phone, tablet, or other similarly situated device known in the art. Additionally, the set of instructions may begin or resume at any unique step. The set of instructions may be limited to a single actor or multiple actors. The set of instructions may begin with starting  300 . A first device may take a photograph  302  with a camera lens. The first device may store  304  a photograph in a first memory location. The first device may manipulate  306  the electronic photograph on a first display interface. The first device may apply any filter or perform any photo manipulation or editing that may commonly be known within the art of electronic photography. Next, the first device may create  308  a disassembled photographic media puzzle on a first device. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be created from a photograph, image, or other manipulated image or photograph. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be a matrix of any number of uniform pieces. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be a plurality of any number of non-uniform pieces. Next, the first device may transmit  310  the disassembled photographic media puzzle to a second non-transitory computer readable medium by a transceiver. The second device may receive  312  the disassembled photographic media puzzle. The second device may store  314  the disassembled photographic media puzzle. The second device may re-assemble  316  the disassembled photographic media puzzle. Finally, the disassembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified  318  for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis, where each of the puzzle pieces of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle is compared to the corresponding position of a solution for correctness. The electronic social media network may verify the puzzle against a database of solutions. 
         [0020]    Referring generally to  FIG. 4 , an exemplary embodiment of a disassembled photographic media puzzle may be disclosed. A device  401  may be an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The device  401  may have a display screen  402 , an electronic camera  444 , and an electronic flash system  446 . The device may take a photograph with the electronic camera  444 . The electronic flash system  446  may or may not be used. The photograph may be used as the basis for creating a disassembled photographic media puzzle. Optionally, the image used to create the disassembled photographic media puzzle may be downloaded from a database or a stock photo stored on the device. A solution may be created by storing the initial presentation of the puzzle pieces. The solution may later be used as the basis for comparison and verification of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle. Groups of rectangular cells  403  through  408  may be displayed by the display screen  402 . The groups of rectangular cells  403  through  408  may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first row of three cells  403 , a second row of three cells  405 , and a third row of three cells  407 . The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first column of three cells  404 , a second column of three cells  406 , and a third column of three cells  408 . The three rows of three cells  403 ,  405  and  407  respectively in combination with the three columns of three cells  404 ,  406 , and  408  respectively may be arranged such that a total of nine cells may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. 
         [0021]    Referring generally to  FIG. 5 , an exemplary embodiment of a disassembled photographic media puzzle may be disclosed. A device  501  may be an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The device  501  may have a display screen  502 , an electronic camera  555 , and an electronic flash system  556 . The device  501  may take a photograph with the electronic camera  555 . Additionally the electronic flash system  556  may or may not be used. The photograph may be used as the basis for creating a disassembled photographic media puzzle. Optionally, the image used to create the disassembled photographic media puzzle may be downloaded from a database or a stock photo stored on the device. A solution may be created by storing the initial presentation of the puzzle pieces. The solution may later be used as the basis for comparison and verification of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle. Groups of rectangular cells  503  through  510  may be displayed by the display screen  502 . The groups of rectangular cells  503  through  510  may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first row of four cells  503 , a second row of four cells  505 , a third row of four cells  507 , and a fourth row of four cells  509 . The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first column of four cells  504 , a second column of four cells  506 , a third column of four cells  508 , and a fourth column of four cells  510 . The four rows of four cells  503 ,  505 ,  507 , and  509  respectively and in combination with the four columns of four cells  504 ,  506 ,  508 , and  510  respectively may be arranged such that a total of sixteen cells may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. 
         [0022]    Referring generally to  FIG. 6 , an exemplary embodiment of a disassembled photographic media puzzle may be disclosed. A device  601  may be an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The device  601  may have a display screen  602 , an electronic camera  666 , and an electronic flash system  667 . The device  601  may take a photograph with the electronic camera  666 . Additionally, the electronic flash system  667  may or may not be used. The photograph may be used as the basis for creating a disassembled photographic media puzzle. Optionally, the image used to create the disassembled photographic media puzzle may be downloaded from a database or a stock photo stored on the device. A solution may be created by storing the initial presentation of the puzzle pieces. The solution may later be used as the basis for comparison and verification of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle. Groups of rectangular cells  603  through  612  may be displayed by the display screen  602 . The groups of rectangular cells  603  through  612  may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first row of five cells  603 , a second row of five cells  605 , a third row of five cells  607 , a fourth row of five cells  609  and a fifth row of five cells  611 . The disassembled photographic media puzzle may consist of a first column of five cells  604 , a second column of five cells  606 , a third column of five cells  608 , a fourth column of five cells  610 , and a fifth column of five cells  612 . The five rows of five cells  603 ,  605 ,  607 ,  609  and  611  respectively and in combination with the five columns of five cells  604 ,  606 ,  608 ,  610 , and  612  respectively may be arranged such that a total of twenty five cells may represent a disassembled photographic media puzzle. 
         [0023]    Referring generally to  FIG. 7 , an exemplary embodiment of a photographic media puzzle and a corresponding messaging method of an electronic social media network may be disclosed. A first device  700  may input a first message  704  and transmit the message  710  to a second device  702  by a transceiver. The second device  702  may store  714  the first message  704 . The second device  702  may display the message  712 . The second device  702  may display the message on the display screen of any device such as an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The first message  704  may display prior to the second devices  702  attempt to re-assemble the puzzle  716 . Alternatively, the first message may be intended as an invitation to join the electronic social media network. A first device  700  may input a second message  706  and a third message  708 . The first device  700  may transmit  710  the messages to a second device  702 . The second device  702  may be a native contact of the first device  700  who may store the second devices  702  information in the contacts menu of an electronic smart phone, tablet, or any other similarly situated device known in the art. The second device  702  may store  714  the second message  706  and the third message  708 . The second device  702  may re-assemble the puzzle  716 . The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified  718  for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis, each of the puzzle pieces of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be compared to the corresponding position of a solution for correctness. The electronic social media network may verify the puzzle against a database of solutions. Correct conditional operator  720  may be a yes/no conditional operation. The yes/no correct conditional operator  720  may be an additional step that may be dependent upon the verify puzzle  718  step. If the puzzle is verified as correct against a pre-determined solution a second message  724  may be displayed. If the message is not verified as correct a third message  726  may be displayed. The first  704 , second  706 , and third  708  messages may be multimedia messages that may contain data elements that may be used to play sound and movies. The first  704 , second  706 , and third  708  messages may be multimedia messages that may contain the solution to a disassembled photographic media puzzle. The first  704 , second  706 , and third  708  messages may be hyperlinks to e-commerce websites that may reward a user for playing the social media game. The first  704 , second  706 , and third  708  messages may be hyperlinks to send an SMS message to an original device or a new device. The first  704 , second  706 , and third  708  messages may be hyperlinks to any type of external computer implemented program, website, blog, or digital platform. 
         [0024]    Referring generally to  FIG. 8 , an exemplary embodiment of a photographic media puzzle and a corresponding time recordation system may be disclosed. A device  800  may re-assemble  802  a disassembled photographic media puzzle, which may initiate a first time recordation  804 . After re-assembling the disassembled photographic media puzzle a verify  808  step may be performed. The disassembled photographic media puzzle may be automatically verified  808  for correctness against a solution on a puzzle piece by puzzle piece basis, each of the puzzle pieces of the re-assembled photographic media puzzle may be compared to the corresponding position of a solution for correctness. The electronic social media network may verify the puzzle against a database of solutions. Correct conditional operator  810  may be a yes/no conditional operation. The correct conditional operator  810  may be an additional step that may be dependent upon the verify puzzle  808  step. If the puzzle is verified as correct against a pre-determined solution a second time recordation  805  may occur. Additionally, if the puzzle is verified as correct against a pre-determined solution a calculate total time  811  step may be performed. The calculate total time  811  step may calculate the total time by determining the difference between the first time recordation  804  and the second time recordation  805 . The time may be recorded in any time display format commonly known in the art. Additionally, the time may be recorded  812  and displayed  814  on a social media network database  801 . The method of display may be a leaderboard or other method to display player statistics. The leaderboard may be organized by puzzle, category, or sub category. If the correct conditional operator  810  is not correct than the system may not calculate the total time  811  and may not record the total time  812 . Optionally, throughout the duration of playing the photographic media puzzle a timer conditional operator  820  may keep track of the total time a device has been re-assembling the disassembled photographic media puzzle. Timer conditional operator  820  may be a yes/no conditional operator. The timer conditional operator  820  may be an additional step that may be dependent upon a pre-determined device input. The timer conditional operator  820  may be configured for any range of time. The timer conditional operator  820  may be configured by a first device or by the social media network database. If the timer conditional operator  820  is not exceeded than the timer will do nothing. If the timer conditional operator  820  is exceeded than the game may end. 
         [0025]    The foregoing description and accompanying figures illustrate the principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. Additional variations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
         [0026]    Therefore, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that variations to those embodiments can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Technology Category: 1