Patent Application
20230405449
The following disclosure requires a basic knowledge of the mathematical theory known as graph theory, including the concepts of directed graph, nodes or vertices, edges or arcs, connectedness, graph traversal (such as paths, walks, and trails); in-degree, out-degree, and subgraph.
Disclosed herein are a system and methods for generating a word game puzzle called Wordwalk. The wordwalk puzzle consists of a directed graph generated from a single word (of any language) called the root word and some of its subwords; a subword may be any word in the same language whose set of letters is a subset of the letters of the original root word. Each letter of the root word and subwords is assigned to one and only one node of the graph. Arrows in the graph indicate the relationship of one letter following another in either the root word or in the given subwords. The set of letters needed to spell out the root word and its subwords may be provided in random order for the player to choose from and assign the letters to the nodes of the graph. A Wordwalk game is played by challenging the player to correctly guess the root word from an incomplete graph and the subwords. This may be done by correctly assigning letters from the subwords to the various blank nodes of the graph in such a way that the arrows of the graph point from each letter to the next one as it appears in the word(s). Spelling out a word that is neither the root word nor one of the subwords may not be allowed in certain embodiments. In some embodiments, the subwords are given in a separate list while the root word has to be guessed. All of the arrows needed for the complete graph are given initially, but all the nodes are initially blank, except that in some embodiments, one or more of the root word's letters may be shown.
In a representative embodiment a puzzle is disclosed. The puzzle may include a plurality of letter indicia coupled with a plurality of arrow indicia. The arrow indicia may be disposed to associate at least a first letter of the letter indicia with a second letter, thus associating the first letter and the second letter to form a portion of, or a complete word spelled with the first and second letter.
Further disclosed is a method to make a puzzle including identifying a first word in a language, said word including a plurality of letters; identifying one or more subwords of the first word; associating the letters of the first word and subwords, said associating including the ordering of letters in the first word and subwords, and presenting an image of the puzzle, with a placeholder for each letter in the first word and a connecting links representative of the order of letters in the first word.
The image may have at least one placeholder with a letter included. And the image may display placeholders and connecting indicia for subwords as well.
In some embodiments a system to generate the wordwalk puzzle may consist of hardware and software components. The methods of this system are incorporated in algorithms of the software used for generating the wordwalk puzzles; these algorithms are described in detail herein. The generated puzzles may be printed out and solved offline with pencil and paper or solved via a graphical user interface.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
This application should be read in the most general possible form. This includes, without limitation, the following:
References to specific techniques include alternative and more general techniques, especially when discussing aspects of the invention, or how the invention might be made or used.
References to “preferred” techniques generally mean that the inventor contemplates using those techniques, and thinks they are best for the intended application. This does not exclude other techniques and does not mean that those techniques are necessarily essential or would be preferred in all circumstances.
References to contemplated causes and effects for some implementations do not preclude other causes or effects that might occur in other implementations.
References to reasons for using particular techniques do not preclude other reasons or techniques, even if completely contrary, where circumstances would indicate that the stated reasons or techniques are not as applicable.
Furthermore, the invention is in no way limited to the specifics of any particular embodiments and examples disclosed herein. Many other variations are possible which remain within the content, scope and spirit of the invention, and these variations would become clear to those skilled in the art after perusal of this application.
The term “declarative language” generally refers to a programming language that allows programming by defining the boundary conditions and constraints and letting the computer determine a solution that meets these requirements. Many languages applying this style attempt to minimize or eliminate side effects by describing what the program should accomplish, rather than describing how to go about accomplishing it. This is in contrast with imperative programming, which requires an explicitly provided algorithm. Prototype versions of the invention described herein have been built in both a declarative language (Prolog) and an imperative language (Python).
The terms “effect”, “with the effect of” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicate any consequence, whether assured, probable, or merely possible, of a stated arrangement, cause, method, or technique, without any implication that an effect or a connection between cause and effect are intentional or purposive.
The term “relatively” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicates any relationship in which a comparison is possible, including without limitation “relatively less”, “relatively more”, and the like. In the context of the invention, where a measure or value is indicated to have a relationship “relatively”, that relationship need not be precise, need not be well-defined, need not be by comparison with any particular or specific other measure or value. For example and without limitation, in cases in which a measure or value is “relatively increased” or “relatively more”, that comparison need not be with respect to any known measure or value, but might be with respect to a measure or value held by that measurement or value at another place or time.
The term “substantially” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicates any case or circumstance in which a determination, measure, value, or otherwise, is equal, equivalent, nearly equal, nearly equivalent, or approximately, what the measure or value is recited. The terms “substantially all” and “substantially none” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicate any case or circumstance in which all but a relatively minor amount or number (for “substantially all”) or none but a relatively minor amount or number (for “substantially none”) have the stated property. The terms “substantial effect” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicate any case or circumstance in which an effect might be detected or determined.
The terms “this application”, “this description” (and similar terms and phrases) generally indicate any material shown or suggested by any portions of this application, individually or collectively, and include all reasonable conclusions that might be drawn by those skilled in the art when this application is reviewed, even if those conclusions would not have been apparent at the time this application is originally filed.
The word “stack” or “logical stack” generally refers to a set of software subsystems or components needed to deliver a fully functional solution, e.g. a product or service. Often a stack may include an operating system, a server, a data management system and a scripting or other form of programming language. Stacks may be configured in a variety of ways depending on the desired function of the system. Stacks may be collections of elements, or they may be represented by pointers (or links) to the elements themselves.
The term “virtual machine” or “VM” generally refers to a self-contained operating environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer even though is is part of a separate computer or may be virtualized using resources form multiple computers.
The acronym “XML” generally refers to the Extensible Markup Language. It is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to help information systems share structured data, particularly via the Internet, and it is used both to encode documents and to serialize data.
Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
One or more of the objectives of the current disclosure may be recognized as:
The methods and techniques described herein may be performed on a processor-based device. The processor-based device will generally comprise a processor attached to one or more memory devices or other tools for persisting data. These memory devices will be operable to provide machine-readable instructions to the processors and to store data. Certain embodiments may include data acquired from remote servers. The processor may also be coupled to various input/output (I/O) devices for receiving input from a user or another system and for providing an output to a user or another system. These I/O devices may include human interaction devices such as keyboards, touch screens, displays and terminals as well as remote connected computer systems, modems, radio transmitters and handheld personal communication devices such as cellular phones, “smart phones”, digital assistants and the like.
The processing system may also include mass storage devices such as disk drives and flash memory modules as well as connections through I/O devices to servers or remote processors containing additional storage devices and peripherals.
Certain embodiments may employ multiple servers and data storage devices thus allowing for operation in a cloud or for operations drawing from multiple data sources. The inventor contemplates that the methods disclosed herein will also operate over a network such as the Internet, and may be effectuated using combinations of several processing devices, memories, and I/O. Moreover, any device or system that operates to effectuate techniques according to the current disclosure may be considered a server for the purposes of this disclosure if the device or system operates to communicate all or a portion of the operations to another device.
The processing system may be a wireless device such as a smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop, notebook and tablet computing devices operating through wireless networks. These wireless devices may include a processor, memory coupled to the processor, displays, keypads, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and other I/O functionality. Alternatively, the entire processing system may be self-contained on a single device. Moreover, processor instructions may be encoded on one or more non-transitory memory devices.
A client server system may be employed for some embodiments according to the current disclosure. the server may be coupled to one or more databases and to a network. The network may include routers, hubs and other equipment to effectuate communications between all associated devices. A user accesses the server by a computer communicably coupled to the network. The computer may include a sound capture device such as a microphone. Alternatively, the user may access the server through the network by using a smart device such as a telephone or PDA. The smart device may connect to the server through an access point coupled to the network. The mobile device includes a sound capture device such as a microphone.
Conventionally, client server processing operates by dividing the processing between two devices such as a server and a smart device such as a cell phone or other computing device. The workload is divided between the servers and the clients according to a predetermined specification. For example, in a “light client” application, the server does most of the data processing and the client does a minimal amount of processing, often merely displaying the result of processing performed on a server.
According to the current disclosure, client-server applications are structured so that the server provides machine-readable instructions to the client device and the client device executes those instructions. The interaction between the server and client indicates which instructions are transmitted and executed. In addition, the client may, at times, provide for machine readable instructions to the server, which in turn executes them. Several forms of machine-readable instructions are conventionally known including applets and are written in a variety of languages including Java and JavaScript.
Client-server applications also provide for software as a service (SaaS) application where the server provides software to the client on an as needed basis.
In addition to the transmission of instructions, client-server applications also include transmission of data between the client and server. Often this entails data stored on the client to be transmitted to the server for processing. The resulting data is then transmitted back to the client for display or further processing.
One having skill in the art will recognize that client devices may be communicably coupled to a variety of other devices and systems such that the client receives data directly and operates on that data before transmitting it to other devices or servers. Thus, data to the client device may come from input data from a user, from a memory on the device, from an external memory device coupled to the device, from a radio receiver coupled to the device or from a transducer coupled to the device. The radio may be part of a wireless communications system such as a “WiFi” or Bluetooth receiver. Transducers may be any of a number of devices or instruments such as thermometers, pedometers, health measuring devices and the like.
A client-server system may rely on “engines” which include processor-readable instructions (or code) to effectuate different elements of a design. Each engine may be responsible for differing operations and may reside in whole or in part on a client, server or other device. As disclosed herein a display engine, a data engine, an execution engine, a user interface (UI) engine and the like may be employed. These engines may seek and gather information about events from remote data sources.
References in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to effectuate such feature, structure or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. Parts of the description are presented using terminology commonly employed by those of ordinary skill in the art to convey the substance of their work to others of ordinary skill in the art.
Wordwalk puzzles may be constructed by a computer program by first reading in a text file containing a list of words in the chosen language. The user of the software (the puzzle designer) may specify a root word either directly from the list or may allow the software to select one or more at random that conform to the puzzle designer's specification such as in terms of the number of letters in the root word, the number of subwords to be included, and the visibility of each subword. The puzzle generation software then finds words in the list that are subwords of the root word. From this list, the subword list, the user of the puzzle generation software may specify the minimum number of letters allowed for each subword and may also specify the total number of required subwords that will be revealed to the person who will attempt to solve the puzzle. The greater the number of required root words and subwords included the greater the complexity of the generated graph. The complexity of a graph is a function of its order (the number of nodes, as determined by all the root words) and its size (the number of its edge arrows, as determined jointly by the root words and the subwords). This complexity metric allows the puzzle designer to control the level of difficulty in solving the puzzle (i.e., in determining the root word(s)).
To make the puzzle easier, the user of the puzzle generation software may reveal some of the letters contained in the root word. A sample puzzle, as generated by this software component, is shown in
In
In
Details of alternative embodiments may be included in the provisional application's attached appendix which is included by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The above illustration provides many different embodiments or embodiments for implementing different features of the invention. Specific embodiments of components and processes are described to help clarify the invention. These are, of course, merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and, in a manner, consistent with the scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. provisional patent application 63/345,601 filed May 25, 2022, by the same inventor which is include herein in its entirety, together with its appendix, as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63345601 | May 2022 | US |
