Pictorial game

Which car goes into which road? Hint: More than 6. By clicking "Sign up" you indicate that you have read and agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Picture Brain Teasers.

The Latest and exclusive collection of Picture Brain Teasers to tease your brain. Picture Brain Teasers helps exercising the brain and develop it to think logical and solve real world problems differenlty.

Picture Brain Teasers 1 - Find the wrong in Picture. Submit Solution. Picture Brain Teasers 2 - Spot the wrong in Image. View Solution. Picture Brain Teasers 3 - Who is the thief on a snowy day picture puzzle? Similar effects can be achieved using filters such as crystallize, mezzotint, mosaic and several image noise and threshold options all of which can be experimented with using routine skill to devise samples which are recognizable by humans but preferably not machines.

For example FIG. It can be seen that at some thresholds a human would have a difficult time perceiving the object in the image, but there are clearly levels at which the image is decipherable.

At step the selected epict is presented on the game website or member widget in accordance with a set of game rules applicable to such site. User ratings and responses are collected in a similar fashion at step as noted before for the team embodiment.

In this manner the presentation engine can accommodate and incorporate content contributed by participants across a wide variety of input platforms and game environments. All of the aforementioned steps in FIG. This module is generally responsible for compiling data and scoring for the epicts, participants, teams, etc. As seen in seen FIG. For each game, a set of epict IDs and participant IDs are maintained. A routine also calculates epict and participant scores.

The scoring can be based on any number of criteria, such as in the case of an epict, the fact that it was recognized, the amount of time required, what rating was given to it, and the mode of presentation used static or dynamic replay. The participants can be scored in a similar fashion, such whether they successfully recognized an epict by identifying one or more correct concepts , the amount of time required by the participant to make the guess, what rating was given by the participant and the mode of presentation used static or dynamic replay.

These are but examples of course, and other types of data could be collected as needed. This scoring can be based on the same parameters described above, so that, for example, artists are rewarded based on positive ratings given by participants.

The results from the pictorial games whether they be home based, or based on team games, or derived from Internet sites, widgets, etc. The results may include other aggregate calculations, including image difficulty rankings, image ratings, group image ratings, author ratings, participant ratings, team scores, game scores and similar data. Again the results can be made available to any of the platforms from which the game originates, including an online gaming site or social network profile, home based console system, etc.

The format of the data records maintained in the databases is shown generally in FIG. For example for an image database , an epict record may include the following fields:. Note that the above is an example of an aggregate record. Other fields could be maintained in such case within database or an associated database, for example the actual time may be recorded for each epict evaluation.

The types of data collected could include other parameters as well. Some of the above fields where applicable may be compiled on an individual basis, with each epict rated given a unique record by score, actual review time, etc.

Some of the above fields where applicable may be compiled on an individual artist basis, with each artist having a unique record by epict rated, so that an actual epict score, review time, artist score etc. The data for such teams can be published as desired as well to appropriate authorized entities. Again it should be noted that these data fields may be varied from application to application.

It may be desirable to compile averages rather than means in some cases, and so on. The particular parameters will vary depending on the desired functionality. All of the above data can be published in appropriate form by routine in any number of different locations, formats, etc. As seen in this figure, based on a game ID a determination is made whether the game is to be run in an automatic or manual mode. In either event the game participants have the option at step to elect a supplemental presentation.

This feature, as noted above in connection with FIG. In a manual mode this information can be hidden from the participants and shown only to the artist to assist the latter in formulating appropriate images. In the event a manual mode is used at for the game the artist can nonetheless invoke a suggestion option for the concept at If the user selects such feature the game play routes through the same steps above, except that in addition to the supplemental option features the designated artist is given specific suggestions on images that could be drawn to communicate the concept in question.

If the option is not chosen the image is simply presented in a normal picture mode at Next, FIG. While this module is depicted in the context of a pictorial game it will be apparent to skilled artisans that it can be used in connection with any number of online games. As noted above in FIG. Another option however is the use of speech data from the participants. This feature has the advantage of most duplicating the prior art game experiences and frees the participants from the task of being distracted while analyzing the image data.

Other benefits are apparent as well, including the fact that the participant voice prints collected by the module can be used for authentication and access verification as well. The recognition module executed two basic procedures: a set up mode and a game mode In the first mode, a routine solicits participant voice inputs at step Furthermore depending on the processing resources available to the participant they may elect to have the bulk of the speech recognition performed by a remote server associated with the pictorial game system.

Other options will be apparent to those skilled in the art. An optional step can be used to confirm that the system is accurately discriminating between individual participants. Each participant would be permitted to speak a test phrase, for example, and the system would indicate which person it believes gave the utterance. In the event the system needs further training the procedure could be repeated. During a game mode , the speech recognition module receives metadata for one or more epicts at step This metadata includes a number of content tags describing the object of the epict, and may include a number of different semantically related words.

At this point therefore the speech recognizer need not be capable of recognizing substantial numbers of words. In fact it need only focus on a handful of words, and thus it can be substantially reduced in computationally complexity because it can ignore all other inputs that do not match one of the appropriate answers.

During step the SR module listens for answers input by the various game participants. In the case of team members distributed across multiple locations the data input to the SR is thus received from multiple sources. In such instances it may be desirable to allocate a dedicated SR resource to each channel to improve performance.

The SR module then recognizes and time-stamps each accurate recognition at step to give appropriate attribution to the first participant accurately guessing the epict concept. By using a similarly configured console or game platform with appropriately located microphones a SR module could distinguish between multiple human speakers articulating their responses at the same time.

Other known tracking techniques for identifying the correct speaker can also be employed, such as by using video and other input. Upon receiving a correct response the routine would identify a winner at step This feature allows the participants to express their answers rapidly and in free form without the need for slower, more cumbersome data entries.

It is expected that this form of input would be far more preferable in embodiments of the invention where individual players desired to play the game over a portable device, such as an Iphone or similar device that includes speech capability built in.

This process basically can be an adaptation of a conventional keyword auction based algorithm such as the type used by such entities as Google, Yahoo! In this instance, therefore advertisers are permitted to bid on a keyword or topic basis at step Thus the advertising stock is preferably served on an epict by epict basis at step In this fashion a content based matching system can be implemented between advertising stock and the content of the epicts.

This would avoid the problem of players being given hints as to the identity of the epict. Other techniques could be used. At step the ad is served based on the advertiser's stock It should be noted that in some cases it may nonetheless be desirable to incorporate advertising while the epict is being drawn as a mechanism for assisting the recognition process.

In this embodiment, the ad is in fact assisting the player to solve an aspect of the game, a feature unlike other advertising modules used in the art.

This concept could be further enhanced by integrating other user contributed content directly into the ads. For example one mode of the game, as noted above, involves a suggestion component intended to assist players determine epict concepts.

An ad which directly incorporates an epict determined to be related to or suggestive of the epict in question could be used to present the suggestion explicitly on the participant's screen while they are playing the game. In this respect, therefore, the epicts effectively act as web assets akin to a web page in an Adsense campaign that advertisers can bid to be associated with. By allowing advertisers to bid on specific assets instead of queries, or web page content the invention provides another angle for monetization of such assets and opportunities for advertisers.

They may also contribute their own list of concepts, topics, etc. Combined with the dynamic serving of ads related to an epict the invention allows for advertising to be used as an integral and dynamic component of an interactive game. Specifically, this figure shows a an example of a main web page that would be seen by Internet users accessing a game site. It should be noted that many conventional aspects of such types of pages have been omitted to make the description of the invention clearer.

In particular, the game site offers users a chance to set up and initiate a pictorial game with all the features and functions described above in connection with FIGS. To wit, different portions of such page as presented within a client GUI interface include selectable URLs which invoke routines to permit the user to:.

Again not all of these options are necessary, and other options could be presented and offered as well, and the particular implementation will vary according to game specifications and requirements. Some embodiments of the pictorial game can include a rating module as seen in FIG. The purpose of this module is to allow teams and individuals to access and play with a set of benchmark epicts S 1 , S 2 ,. Sn and evaluate their performance relative to such standard for competitive purposes.

In the former case, a human editor may select a number X of epicts from database based on a ratings list of X different topics. In the latter case the identity of the individual epicts within the sets is determined by reference to some threshold rating for score, difficulty, etc.

In either scenario the epicts are preferably selected to expose participants to a cross section of the available inventory. The participants then work through one or more of the epict sets e. Their scores, and the ratings if provided for the epicts are then compiled by a routine that, again can be similar to that already discussed above.

This aspect of the invention therefore allows members and teams to evaluate themselves relative to some test benchmarks for competitive recognition. The results can be published, as noted earlier, for the entertainment of the overall community, to individual profiles, the main game webpage, or other social networking sites. Basically this figure describes a format that can be employed in some variants of the game to make it more interesting for some participants in team play applications.

This may be done randomly, by topic, or by another rule choice opted by the members. At , and without letting the member of team A see such word, the members of team B are allowed to visualize various epict alternatives selected by the system for presenting such concept.

The latter may be used, for example, to provide a reasonable cross section of challenges ranging from easy to difficult. The members of team B can then optionally vote to eliminate or select one or more of the alternatives to be used by the system for team A at step During step the final epict is then selected for team A based on the selection made by team B. In some cases it may be desirable to incorporate a randomizer at to select in situations where the selection is not specifically defined.

At the module further allows an option that gives team B yet another opportunity to impair or handicap team A's chances of success in decoding the epict. Thus team B is again presented with degraded variants of the epict to be shown to A, and they then make a final selection which is presented at step The module can then further request the participant's estimate of the rating given by the community to the epict. The participants can then see how close or far off their predictions are for the epict in question.

This aspect of the invention therefore further allows participants to glean insights into the collective thinking of their fellow gamers. These rule variants are not necessary of course, but provide an additional element of play that may be attractive to some participants.

Other examples of such variants will be apparent to skilled artisans from the present teachings. This screen may be part of an interface that is presented within a conventional browser or similar Internet browsing utility for a handheld device or game console to interact with game websites.

This same interface may be used as well, as noted above, in connection with user profile pages and the like maintained at social networking sites. Within the interface the participant is shown an electronic canvass in which the epict is presented visually. Again, the epict may be shown all at once, or it may be staggered as noted earlier. The canvass is preferably scaled in size so as to allow participants to visualize the image without noticeable compression, artifacts, etc.

Other forms of input could be used as well touch for example. For example the game may consist of a set number of epicts that must be completed to satisfy a game objective, and a time factor may be introduced as well. The participants' score is also displayed at A time remaining for guessing the epict is shown at in any convenient visual form digital, analog, hourglass, etc. In fact, preferably all elements of the interface can be scaled, arranged and formatted in accordance with a desired aesthetic of the user and to give a sense of customization.

The category selected by the user is identified at region of the interface. At portion of the interface the game may display the answer if the user has selected it correctly a semantic equivalent may be acceptable. This acts as a further clue for the participant that the prefix must be different. Other variants will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The stock of epicts presented within interface can come from multiple sources, including artist submissions , and user submissions These are differentiated primarily on the basis of how the origin of the image, rather than any significant technical basis, since both can be accessed from a database FIG.

Nonetheless the process by which epicts come into existence can be used to augment the accompanying metadata and presentation mode for the participant. In a first case, artist submissions preferably consist of images created by original artists using one of the drawing tools mentioned above. In such cases the original artwork is selected, and then processed by a routine in the manner noted above for FIGS. Thus the image is preferably presented all at once—in a static mode—or using some form of timing, as in a replay mode based on using an actual artist rendering time.

The latter could be accelerated or slowed depending on other game parameters. In other embodiments the epict could be presented in a degraded form as noted above that gradually improves with time, based on a variable number of iterations, time, etc.

For example the image could be given incremental improvements every 10 seconds until a final image is reached. The participant's score could be weighted according to how quickly they decoded the image i. In similar fashion user submissions , which may be basic JPEG images, can also be selected at as a form of epict. This type of content is perhaps easier to contribute since many users have electronic cameras, tools for uploading images, online picture accounts Shutterfly, Flickr, etc.

The images are preferably pre-treated see discussion for FIGS. Alternatively, in some embodiments it may be possible to impart this type of visual appearance on the fly within the interface, since sufficient time may be given between iterations to permit this degree of processing.

Nonetheless it is possible that an artistic rendering could be mimicked in some cases using additional image processing software.

For some applications it may be desirable to simply divide the image file into physical regions, and present different sets of pixels within regions on a random basis.

As an example, a set of N different iterations could be used. This would give the image the appearance of randomly filling in with time. Other variants are of course possible and useable with the present invention. As with the other embodiments above, the participant can also opt to use musical hints during the presentation of the epict. In addition a hint board may also be displayed within the interface to give further clues to the participant.

Because the participants' focus may shift within the interface to pick up and detect such clue, the chances of an ad being perceived and thus selected eventually by the user increase dramatically.

While the time is running for the epict the hint board images could also be changed if desired. In this respect the stock could be rotated randomly, or based on some programmed logic. In an embodiment where the epict deciphering is timed, the user's selection of an ad within the hint board can be used as a control signal to stop the game clock so that the participant is not penalized for viewing and interacting with an advertisement.

For applications where timing is not used this would not be necessary of course. The advertisers can then also be given options for bidding on what times their ads are presented within the hint board during game play. An end-of-epict time option can also be offered, to allow an advertiser to occupy the interface for a longer period at the end of the game.

Other options can also be offered, such as the right to opt in or out of an epict in which the participant was successful or not. All of these factors can be used to adjust an appropriate auction and compensation scheme. The hint board ads could also be tailored based on a performance level achieved by the participant, and thus a predicted mood of the user. The user's mood could also be determined with reference to prosodic elements in a speech embodiment.

The invention can monitor the progress and performance of the user to increase or decrease the level of visual assistance through the hint board as needed to maintain an entertainment level for the participant. Most players will not want to play a game that is too easy or too hard, and this balance can be struck in part by adjusting the types of supplemental hints given within the interface. The advertisers may also opt to sponsor or present the musical hints and cues associated with the epict.

Since it is more likely a participant will have a positive association with a hint that helps them solve the visual puzzle, this factor can be used to adjust an appropriate compensation scheme. While some conventional online ads are presented in the form of a game e. The epict database of artist and author contributions can be made available to news aggregators, search engines, etc.

As shown in FIG. Similarly, in a search engine page , a person looking for the Tower of London may be shown an epict for such as part of the search results page. As with the above embodiments, the epict preferably compressed to thumbnail size may be combined with an ad to form a new ad , so that the attractiveness of ad stock can be increased for a general searcher using a search engine, and the chances of a click-through increased by virtue of the additional visual aesthetic.

This mechanism further allows artists to tap into and benefit from advertising dollars as they can be rewarded for their success in creating incremental benefits over conventional text only ads. The performance of individual epicts in clicks and conversions can be tracked as with any other keyword.

This again would allow for a more efficient marketplace to acknowledge and recognize successful advertising copy contributed by artists. Then check out our expert guides on spelling games , alphabet games , and toddler learning games. Want to lighten the mood? We've compiled over of the best jokes. We bet you can't read them all without laughing! Interested in science experiments for kids? We have 37 fun science activities that are easy to do at home.

She has taught English and biology in several countries. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process.

Ask questions; get answers. How to Get a Perfect , by a Perfect Scorer. Score on SAT Math. Score on SAT Reading.

Score on SAT Writing. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? How to Get a Perfect 4. How to Write an Amazing College Essay. A Comprehensive Guide. Choose Your Test. Play until one team reaches a set number of points 10 is common. They are the winners! Rule Variations Let everyone not just the drawer's team guess the pictionary phrases being drawn. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Christine Sarikas. About the Author.

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