Patent Grant
9764225
The embodiments of the present invention relate to a fortune telling device and system configured to interact with a user via celebrity personalities.
Fortune telling is a well-known and well-liked entertainment endeavor. While most people understand that fortune telling is not real, most people still enjoy fortune telling as an entertainment premise. Live fortune telling is available but tends to be more than most people want from the experience. Heretofore, electronic, automated fortune telling devices have been lacking.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to develop an electronic, automated fortune telling devices and systems which are exciting and attractive to users.
The embodiments of the present invention are directed to an electronic, automated fortune telling device utilizing celebrity personalities to entertain users. In one embodiment, a portable standalone unit including a cabinet housing a video display, bill validator, debit/credit card reader, user interface, processor, printer, memory and speakers. The memory maintains one or more databases of celebrity video and audio clips which are used to present the fortune telling routines to the user via the video display. In one embodiment, a user is able to select a celebrity to present the fortune telling routine. In another embodiment, the celebrity presenting the fortune telling routine is randomly selected by the processor.
In another embodiment, the fortune telling device includes a printer for printing out fortunes or other information. For example, one embodiment of the device, a displayed celebrity conducts a mock wedding after which the fortune telling device prints a wedding certificate. In such an embodiment, the fortune telling device may include a storage compartment and dispenser for dispensing a pair of wedding bands for the users being fictitiously wed.
In another embodiment, the fortune telling routine is triggered when a sensor determines that a user is staring into the eyes of the celebrity personality. The sensor may be positioned proximate the video display to capture movements of a potential user such that pre-recorded attraction video and audio files may be played. In one embodiment, the sensor, along with video recognition software, can identify certain attributes of the user and quasi-customize the fortune telling routine by selecting specific fortune telling routines from a database of fortune telling routines.
Other variations, embodiments and features of the present invention will become evident from the following detailed description, drawings and claims.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive feature illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would normally occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention claimed.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied thereon, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF and the like, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like or conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language, AJAX, PHP, HTML, XHTML, Ruby, CSS or similar programming languages. The programming code may be configured in an application, an operating system, as part of a system firmware, or any suitable combination thereof. The programming code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on a remote computer or server as in a client/server relationship sometimes known as cloud computing. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. As used herein, a “terminal” should be understood to be any one of a general purpose computer, as for example a personal computer or a laptop computer, a client computer configured for interaction with a server, a special purpose computer such as a server, or a smart phone, soft phone, tablet computer, personal digital assistant or any other machine adapted for executing programmable instructions in accordance with the description thereof set forth above.
As configured, the processor 150 is programmed with executable instructions to communicate with and/or manage and/or control the video display 110, bill validator 120, debit/credit card reader 130, user interface 140, speakers 170 and sensor 190 contained in housing 195.
Upon receiving payment, at 310, the video display 110 presents a celebrity fortune telling genre selection as shown in screen shot 405-2 of
In one specific example, the user picks Harry Houdini to read his or her fortune followed by a three stage fortune telling routine comprising: (i) an opening stage comprising an announcement by Harry Houdini; (ii) a fortune telling stage comprising the reading (e.g., you will be successful, have a great life, you will be successful in some new venture, but cautions you to watch out for strangers, etc.); and (iii) a closing stage comprising standard closing remarks and a promo for other celebrities and/or features (e.g., mock weddings) associated with the fortune telling device.
For living celebrities, the fortune telling routines may be pre-scripted and acted out by the subject celebrities. For celebrities having passed away, the fortune telling routines may be created using existing video footage and audio recording or celebrity impersonators may be used alone or in combination with the existing video footage and audio recordings. Celebrity impersonators may also be used in place of, or in combination with, living celebrities. Computer-generated imagery may also be used to create the celebrity personalities. In lieu of video footage, static images may be used as is with audio files played in the background or technology may be used to provide the static images with moving lips in sync with audio. For example, Martin Luther King's famous words “We shall overcome” can be used as a part of his fortune telling routine such that an audio file associated with a celebrity impersonator, computer-generated imagery or static image of MLK may play the following statement via speakers 180: “You shall overcome all of the obstacles in life to succeed.”
In another embodiment, a fortune telling device 101 is used as a mock wedding chapel. In this embodiment, besides performing fortune telling functions, the fortune telling device 101 is configured to utilize a celebrity to perform a fictitious wedding of a couple.
Upon receiving payment, at 410, the video display 111 presents a user with a celebrity fortune telling or mock wedding option. If the user selects the celebrity fortune telling option, flowchart 300 is followed. If the user selects mock wedding option, at 415, a celebrity wedding officiant genre selection is presented as shown in screen shot 505-2 of
In one embodiment, as shown in
In one embodiment, the fortune telling device 101 includes a camera 123 which is configured to take a photo of the wedding couple which can be wirelessly transmitted to a mobile device of the user. Taking the photo may be triggered by a photo icon 127 as shown in
Like above relative to fortune telling routines, the celebrity wedding routines may be created using living celebrities, celebrity personalities, computer-generated imagery and/or static images.
While the fortune telling devices 100, 101 are described above with video and audio files stored locally, in another embodiment, as shown in
Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to several embodiments, additional variations and modifications exist within the scope and spirit of the invention as described and defined in the following claims.
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