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Methods and apparatus for lottery game play aggregationRelated Patent Categories: Amusement Devices: Games, Including Means For Processing Electronic Data (e.g., Computer/video Game, Etc.), In A Chance ApplicationMethods and apparatus for lottery game play aggregation description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060223612, Methods and apparatus for lottery game play aggregation. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present Application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/938,977, entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOTTERY GAME PLAY AGGREGATION," filed Aug. 24, 2001; which claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 60/228,144 entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOTTERY GAME PLAY AGGREGATION," filed Aug. 25, 2000. Each of the above applications is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into the present Application. [0002] The present Application is related to the following commonly-owned Applications, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety: [0003] (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/716,918, entitled "ELECTRONIC AMUSEMENT DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED SLOT MACHINE PLAY," filed Nov. 20, 2000; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/164,473 entitled "ELECTRONIC AMUSEMENT DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED SLOT MACHINE PLAY," filed Oct. 1, 1998, in the name of Jay S. Walker et al., and issued Mar. 20, 2001, as U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,430 B1; [0004] (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/526,834 entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING A GAMING SYSTEM EVENT PARAMETER BASED ON A PLAYER-ESTABLISHED EVENT PARAMETER," filed Mar. 16, 2000 in the name of Stephen C. Tulley et al., and issued Apr. 13, 2004, as U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,631 B1; and [0005] (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/752,068 entitled "ELECTRONIC AMUSEMENT DEVICE OFFERING SECONDARY GAME OF CHANCE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING SAME," filed Jan. 6, 2004; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/029,143 filed Dec. 27, 2001, and issued Feb. 17, 2004, as U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,353 B2; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/108,646 filed Jul. 1, 1998 in the name of Jay S. Walker et al. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0006] The present invention relates generally to lottery games, and more particularly to electronic instant lottery games. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0007] Instant, or "scratch-off", lottery games are well known and widely practiced. Such instant lottery games are games that allow a player to purchase a chance to win one of a set of prizes. For example, for $1 a player may purchase a chance to win $10,000, $1,000, $100, or two (2) extra chances to win a prize. Such games typically involve the sale to a player of a paper or cardboard game ticket. A typical instant lottery game ticket includes a background section and a play section. The background section typically includes the name of the game, instructions for playing the game, information describing the game, and information describing how to win an award. The play section of such a ticket typically includes one or more play areas which contain an outcome. The outcome comprises a combination of symbols (e.g. alphanumeric characters or icons) that are initially hidden from the player. The outcome is typically hidden by an opaque covering material, such as a layer of latex. The player reveals the outcome by scratching off (such as with a coin) the covering layer over the symbols. [0008] Certain outcomes or combinations of symbols in instant lottery games correspond to respective prizes. Which combinations of symbols correspond to which prizes is typically displayed to the player on the background area of the ticket. Thus, a player that purchases such an instant lottery ticket knows whether or not he has won a prize as soon as the covering layer is scratched off. If the outcome revealed by the player matches a combination of symbols that corresponds to a prize, the player may exchange the ticket with the winning outcome for the prize corresponding to the combination of symbols revealed on the ticket. For example, if the player purchased the instant lottery ticket from a convenience store and the corresponding prize is $25, the player may return to the convenience store and exchange tie winning ticket for the $25. The convenience store may then turn in the exchanged ticket to the authority administering the lottery to recoup the $25 provided to the player. For larger prizes the player may need to turn in the ticket directly to the authority administering the lottery game. [0009] Recently electronic instant lottery games have been gaining popularity. An example of such an electronic instant lottery game is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,398. U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,398 discloses an off-line remote lottery system which enables a player to purchase instant-type lottery game outcomes from a central computer. The player views the outcomes on a remotely located gaming computer, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). In such electronic versions of an instant lottery game each outcome is essentially a `ticket` which the player purchases. [0010] Both the traditional and the electronic instant lottery games offer opportunities for improvement. For example, the instant lottery game is played in a very short amount of time (i.e. the amount of time it takes a player to scratch off the latex covering and reveal the outcome). Once the player reveals the outcome the game is over. If the outcome does not correspond to a prize this feels very discouraging to the player, who may feel that the money that was spent on the purchase of the ticket vanished in an instant without providing a sufficiently entertaining experience. Such a feeling may discourage a player from purchasing another ticket. Also, the loyalty of a player who purchases tickets frequently or purchases a plurality of tickets is not recognized or rewarded in the prior art instant lottery systems, which may discourage a player from continuing to purchase tickets. At the very least the player is not encouraged to continue to purchase tickets for a particular instant lottery game or from a particular instant lottery game authority. Improvements to the prior art systems of instant lottery games are needed to overcome such disadvantages. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram overview of a lottery gaming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0012] FIG. 2 is a block schematic diagram of a player device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0013] FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of a lottery server according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0014] FIG. 4 is a table representative of an embodiment of the game symbols database of FIG. 2. [0015] FIG. 5 is a table representative of an embodiment of a record of the game awards database of FIG. 2. [0016] FIG. 6 is a table representative of an embodiment of the player outcome database of FIG. 2. [0017] FIG. 7 is a table representative of an embodiment of a record of n the symbol occurrences database of FIG. 2. [0018] FIG. 8 is a table representative of the bonus symbol occurrence meter(s) of FIG. 2. [0019] FIG. 9 is a table representative of an embodiment of the outcome database of FIG. 3. [0020] FIG. 10A is a table representative of an embodiment of the bonus database of FIG. 3. Continue reading about Methods and apparatus for lottery game play aggregation... 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