Computer implemented puzzle

Abstract

A computer implemented puzzle constructed using a source image. The puzzle includes a scrambled image creator that creates a scrambled image having a number of regions. The scramble image is created by subdividing the source image into the number of regions having an initial arrangement, rearranging the source regions into a scrambled arrangement, and displaying a portion of the source image within each of the source regions in the regions of the scrambled image according to the scrambled arrangement. The puzzle includes a scrambled image editor configured to allow the user to select a pair of regions of the scrambled image and swap their locations within the scrambled arrangement. The puzzle includes a scrambled image monitor configured to detect when the puzzle is solved which occurs when the scrambled arrangement is identical the initial arrangement. The puzzle displays a reward after the puzzle is solved.

1 . A computer implemented puzzle utilizing a source image, the puzzle comprising: 
 a scrambled image creator configured to use the source image to create a scrambled image having a number of regions and display the scrambled image to the user, wherein the scrambled image creator comprises: 
 a source image sub-divider configured to create a plurality of source regions having an initial arrangement by subdividing the source image into the number of regions,  
 a source region scrambler configured to create a scrambled arrangement of the source regions, and  
 a scrambled image writer configured to display a portion of the source image within each of the source regions in the regions of the scrambled image according to the scrambled arrangement;  
   a scrambled image editor configured to allow the user to select a pair of regions of the scrambled image and to swap the locations of the selected pair within the scrambled arrangement;    a scrambled image monitor configured to detect when the puzzle is solved; and    a reward generator configured to display an animated display after the scrambled image monitor detects the puzzle is solved.    
   
   
       2 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the scrambled image monitor detects when the puzzle is solved by determining when the scrambled arrangement is substantially identical to the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       3 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , further comprising a hint provider configured to identify for the user a first region of the scrambled image and a second region of the scrambled image, wherein one of the first region and the second region is located in the location of the other in the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       4 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the scrambled image editor is configured to disallow selection of a region within the scrambled image having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       5 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the scrambled image editor is configured to provide a visual identification of a region having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       6 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the scrambled image editor is configured to display each of the regions of the pair of selected regions traveling to the other selected region across a portion of the scrambled image.  
   
   
       7 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the scrambled image editor is configured to display each of the regions of the pair of selected regions traveling to the other selected region across a portion of the scrambled image and while each of the regions is traveling, the scrambled image editor displays in a location in the scrambled image vacated by the traveling region a portion of the source image in a region corresponding to that location in the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       8 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein the animated display associated with the source image.  
   
   
       9 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 1 , wherein both the animated display and source image comprise an advertisement for the same product, service, or event.  
   
   
       10 . A method of implementing a puzzle using a source image, the method comprising: 
 scrambling the source image to create a scrambled image by subdividing the source image into a number of regions, each region of the source image comprising a portion of the source image, and assigning each portion of the source image to at least one region of the scrambled image other than the region the portion of the source image occupied in the source image;    displaying the scrambled image to a user;    receiving from the user an identification of a pair of regions and swapping the portion of the source image assigned to one of the regions of the identified pair of regions with the portion of the source image assigned to the other of the regions of the identified pair of regions; and    determining if the scrambled image with the swapped portions of the source image is identical to the source image.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein each portion of the source image is assigned randomly to a region of the scrambled image other than the region the portion of the source image occupied in the source image.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising, when the scrambled image is determined to be identical to the source image, displaying an animated display to the user.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein both the animated display and source image each comprise an advertisement for a product, service, or event.  
   
   
       14 . A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for implementing a puzzle, the instructions comprising: 
 a image subdividing module configured to subdivide a source image into a plurality of source regions having an initial arrangement, each source region corresponding to a portion of the source image;    a region scrambling module configured to create a scrambled arrangement of the source regions;    a scrambled image display module configured to display the portion of the source image within each of the source regions according to the scrambled arrangement;    a puzzle updating module configured to allow the user to select a pair of source regions within the scrambled arrangement and swap each for the other within the scrambled arrangement;    a reward module configured to display an animated display to the user; and    a puzzle monitoring module configured to determine when the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement, and instruct the reward module to display the animated display to the user.    
   
   
       15 . The instructions of the computer readable medium of  claim 14  further comprising a hint module configured to identify for the user a first source region and a second source region, wherein one of the first region and the second region is located in the location of the other in the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       16 . The instructions of the computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the puzzle updating module is configured to disallow selection of a source region having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the source region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       17 . The instructions of the computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the puzzle updating module is configured to identify to the user a source region having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the source region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       18 . The instructions of the computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein both the animated display and source image comprise an advertisement for the same product or service.  
   
   
       19 . A computer implemented puzzle comprising: 
 a source image;    means for creating a scrambled image having a number of regions, wherein the means for creating the scrambled image comprises: 
 means for sub-dividing the source image into the number of regions to create a plurality of source regions having an initial arrangement,  
 means for creating a scrambled arrangement of the source regions, and  
 means for displaying a portion of the source image within each of the source regions in the regions of the scrambled image according to the scrambled arrangement;  
   means for allowing the user to select a pair of regions of the scrambled image and means for swapping the locations of the selected pair within the scrambled arrangement;    means for detecting when the puzzle is solved; and    means for displaying a reward after the means for detecting when the puzzle is solved detects the puzzle is solved.    
   
   
       20 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the reward comprises an animated display and the means for displaying the reward comprises means for displaying the animated display.  
   
   
       21 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the means for detecting when the puzzle is solved detects when the puzzle is solved by determining when the scrambled arrangement is substantially identical to the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       22 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , further comprising means for providing a hint by identifying to the user a first region of the scrambled image and a second region of the scrambled image, wherein one of the first region and the second region is located in the location of the other in the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       23 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , further comprising means for disallowing the selection of a region within the scrambled image having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       24 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , further comprising means for providing a visual identification of a region having a location within the scrambled arrangement that is identical to the location of the region within the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       25 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the means for swapping the locations of the selected pair within the scrambled arrangement comprises means for displaying each of the regions of the pair of selected regions traveling to the other selected region across a portion of the scrambled image.  
   
   
       26 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the means for swapping the locations of the selected pair within the scrambled arrangement comprises means for displaying each of the regions of the pair of selected regions traveling to the other selected region across a portion of the scrambled image and means for displaying in each location vacated by the traveling regions, until the other of the traveling regions arrives at the vacated location, a portion of the source image in a region corresponding to the vacated location in the initial arrangement.  
   
   
       27 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the reward is an animated display associated with the source image.  
   
   
       28 . The computer implemented puzzle of  claim 19 , wherein the reward is an animated display and both the animated display and source image comprise an advertisement for the same product, service, or event.  
   
   
       29 . A method of providing an advertisement to a user, the method comprising: 
 subdividing a source image comprising an advertisement into a plurality of source regions having an initial arrangement, each of the source regions comprising a portion of the source image;    rearranging the source regions into a scrambled arrangement thereby scrambling the advertisement;    displaying the portion of the source image of each of the source regions according to the scrambled arrangement;    allowing the user to rearrange the source regions within the scrambled arrangement until the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement thereby unscrambling the advertisement; and    displaying an animated advertisement related to the advertisement of the source image when the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement.    
   
   
       30 . A method of providing an advertisement to a user of a computing device having a computing display and an input device, the method comprising: 
 generating the puzzle by subdividing a source image comprising an advertisement into a plurality of source regions having an initial arrangement, each of the source regions comprising a portion of the source image, and rearranging the source regions into a scrambled arrangement;    displaying to the user on the computing display the portion of the source image of each of the source regions according to the scrambled arrangement;    until the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement, receiving an identification of a pair of regions selected by the user from the input device and displaying to the user on the computing display a swapping of the locations of the pair of regions within the scrambled arrangement; and    displaying to the user on the computing display a reward comprising an animated advertisement.    
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the computing device is coupled to a puzzle server by a network and the puzzle server generates the puzzle, the method further comprising, using the puzzle server to transmit the puzzle via the network to the computing device.  
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising: 
 using the computing device to send a request to the puzzle server via the network requesting the generation of the puzzle; and    in response to the request, the puzzle server generates the puzzle and transmits the puzzle to the computing device.    
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the computing device is coupled to a puzzle server by a network, the method further comprising, using the computing device to send a request to the puzzle server via the network requesting the reward, and using the puzzle server to respond to the request by transmitting the reward to the computing device over the network.  
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the computing device detects when the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement, and after the computing device detects the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement, the computing device sends the request to the puzzle server over the network requesting the reward.  
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the reward is displayed to the user on the computing display when the scrambled arrangement is identical to the initial arrangement.