Summary:
Smart Phones have allowed people to play games anywhere. U.S. Patent No. 8,282,491 (the '491 Patent) describes a method and system for giving in-game rewards to players for performing an action at a physical location. The game may give a player in-game currency for scanning the receipt for coffee from Starbucks. The '491 Patent relates more to how the game determines the reward for the player, than how the game determines a player's location. Rewards are determined based on the player's demographic information, how often the player visits the location, how often the player buys something from the location.

Abstract:
Systems and methods for providing game-based incentives to users of online games as a reward for performing actions at physical locations are provided.

Illustrative Claim:
1. A method comprising: accessing a game state of one or more computer-implemented games associated with a user; determining, using at least one processor of a machine, an incentive reward for the user based at least in part on the game state of the one or more computer-implemented games, the incentive reward being an in-game asset in the one or more computer-implemented games; determining a location-based action for the user based at least in part on the game state of the one or more computer-implemented games, the location-based action being an action performable by the user at a physical location that is external to the one or more games; and transmitting, to a device associated with the user, a message comprising a description of the location-based action, a description of the incentive reward, and an offer of the incentive reward for performing the location-based action at the physical location.


Researched By: Andrew F. Thomas