Systems and methods for providing gaming activities

Abstract

A system and method for determining the location of a location tracking device, employs a satellite based location determining infrastructure and a wireless data communications network. A location tracking device which cannot easily obtain valid ephemeris data from the satellite based location, determining infrastructure, requests the necessary data from a data set stored at a tracking device hub via the wireless communications network. The tracking device hub determines and transmits an estimated position of the location tracking device to the location tracking device, along with the appropriate required valid ephemeris data, to allow the location tracking device to determine its location. If the location tracking device is still unable to make a location determination from the satellite based location determining infrastructure, then the estimated location can be provided. The base station topography is self-determined by a process executing in the system and can include base stations from different networks.

1 . A processor-implemented method for providing a gaming activity, the method including the steps of:
 receiving, subject to a transaction between a consumer and a supplier, data indicative of an account identifier and associated data indicative of a transaction amount, the transaction amount being a value of funds in exchange for which goods and/or services are purchased by the consumer from the supplier;   querying a consumer account database to identify a consumer account corresponding to the account identifier, wherein the consumer account database includes a plurality of accounts, and each account includes:
 data indicative of a level of available funds; and 
 data indicative of an allocated none or more entries in relation to a risk free gaming activity; 
   updating the data indicative of the level of available funds in the identified consumer account, thereby to reflect a decrease in that level of available funds based on the transaction amount;   based on the transaction amount or the decreased level of available funds in the identified consumer account, operating one or more processors thereby to update the data indicative of the allocated none or more entries such that the allocation of entries decreases corresponding to the updated level available funds.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card corresponds to funds in an account with a financial institution. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1  including:
 receiving further data indicative of a further account identifier and associated data indicative of a credit amount, the credit amount being a value of funds for credit to a further consumer account corresponding to the further account identifier; 
 updating the data indicative of the level of available funds in the further consumer account, thereby to reflect an increase in that level of available funds based on the credit amount; 
 based on the transaction amount or the decreased level of available funds in the identified consumer account, operating one or more processors thereby to update the data indicative of the allocated none or more entries such that the allocation of entries increases corresponding to the updated level available funds. 
 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 4  wherein increasing the allocation of entries includes wholly or partially allocating one or more entries to the consumer account. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein decreasing the allocation of entries includes wholly or partially de-allocating one or more entries from the consumer account. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1  including the steps of:
 identifying one or more winning entries; 
 identifying a prize amount associated with each winning entry; 
 identifying one or more consumer accounts for which the data indicative of none or more entries is indicative of one or more of the winning entries; 
 distributing prizes associated with the winning entries between the identified consumer accounts. 
 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein the data indicative of none or more entries is indicative of a non-zero allocation proportion for at least one winning entry, and wherein a portion of a prize amount associated with that winning entry is distributed to that consumer account based on the non-zero allocation proportion. 
     
     
         9 . A processor-implemented method for providing a gaming activity, the method including the steps of:
 receiving, subject to a transaction between a consumer and a supplier, data indicative of a transaction amount, the transaction amount being a value of funds in exchange for which goods and/or services are purchased by the consumer from the supplier;   providing a first signal thereby to cause an update in data indicative of the level of available funds in a transaction account associated with the consumer, thereby to reflect a decrease in a level of available funds in that account based on the transaction amount; and   providing a second signal thereby to cause an update in data indicative of an allocated none or more entries in relation to a risk free gaming activity, thereby to update in data indicative of the allocated none or more entries associated with the consumer, such that the allocation of entries decreases corresponding to the updated level available funds.   
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 9  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 9  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card corresponds to funds in an account with a financial institution. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 9  wherein updating the data indicative of the allocated none or more entries associated with the consumer includes wholly or partially de-allocating one or more entries to the consumer account. 
     
     
         13 . A device including one or more processors, the device being configured to perform a method including:
 receiving, subject to a transaction between a consumer and a supplier, data indicative of a transaction amount, the transaction amount being a value of funds in exchange for which goods and/or services are purchased by the consumer from the supplier;   providing a first signal thereby to cause an update in data indicative of the level of available funds in a transaction account associated with the consumer, thereby to reflect a decrease in a level of available funds in that account based on the transaction amount; and   providing a second signal thereby to cause an update in data indicative of an allocated none or more entries in relation to a risk free gaming activity, thereby to update in data indicative of the allocated none or more entries associated with the consumer, such that the allocation of entries decreases corresponding to the updated level available funds.   
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card. 
     
     
         15 . A device according to  claim 13  wherein the data indicative of a level of available funds corresponds to funds linked to a stored value card corresponds to funds in an account with a financial institution. 
     
     
         16 . A device according to  claim 13  wherein updating the data indicative of the allocated none or more entries associated with the consumer includes wholly or partially de-allocating one or more entries to the consumer account.