WO2001084310A1

WO2001084310A1 - Performance production simulation system and method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2001084310A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/000707
Authority: WO
Inventors: Byung-Han Lee
Original assignee: Dream And Technology Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-05-03
Filing date: 2001-04-27
Publication date: 2001-11-08
Also published as: AU2001256803A1; KR20010100527A

Abstract

Disclosed is a performance production simulation system which comprises an electronic money management server for providing cyber money to participants and managing the cyber money; a scenario database; a director database; an actor database; a casting server for searching scenarios, directors and actors according to search conditions provided by the participants and outputting searching results; a variable database for storing variables generated while producing a movie; a variable solving server for providing the variables to the participants, enabling the participants to handle the variables with the cyber money and computing performance degrees; and a simulation server for receiving results from the electronic money management server, the casting server and the variable solving server and displaying corresponding results via a terminal.

Description

Performance Production Simulation System and Method thereof

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a simulation game on a network.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a performance production

simulation system and a method thereof that enable participants to play a

simulation game concerned to performance production on a network.

(b) Description of the Related Art

Simulation provides a virtual space similar to a real one in a cyber

space and enables the user to experience a possible situation in a virtual

space, so that the user can predict the future situation or deal effectively with

the real situation. Thus simulation games allow participants to undergo

realistic situations in a cyber space and present double joy to the participants.

Since normal performance production has many variables according

to different conditions as well as scenario, actor and director, it is very

difficult to predict the future reaction of audiences to the performance after

the completion of actual performance production. It is also impossible to

provide objective data directly and broadly showing the reaction of audiences

prior to the actual performance production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and to provide a performance production simulation system and a method

thereof for implementing the procedures of performance production with a

simulation system on a network such as Internet and enabling ordinary users

to participate in the provided simulation so as to predict the actual reaction of

audiences to a movie produced in a virtual space.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a simulation

game for enabling ordinary users to experience performance production in

realistic situations.

To achieve the above object of the present invention, there is

provided a performance production simulation system and a method thereof

for causing the user to select every conditions necessary to performance

production including scenario, script, director and actor with electronic money

provided in a virtual space, virtually producing a movie based on various

elements that may be generated in real situations, and predicting the box-

office power of the virtually produced movie through voting of all participants.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a

performance production simulation system includes an electronic money

management server, a scenario database, a director database, an actor

database, a casting server, a variable database, a variable solving server, a

voting server, a box-office power computing server, a user information

database, and a simulation server in a system for providing a service to the

participant connected to a network via a terminal.

The electronic money management server provides electronic money necessary to performance production simulation to the participant

and manages the electronic money provided to the participants;

The scenario database stores scenario data that can be chosen by

the participant. The director database stores director data for searching a

director most suitable to direct the selected scenario. The actor database

stores actor data for searching an actor capable of giving a good

performance suitable to the selected scenario and director.

The casting server searches the scenario, director and actor data

based on searching conditions provided by the participant and outputs

searching results.

The variable database stores variables generated while producing a

movie based on base elements such as the selected scenario, director and

actors.

The variable solving server provides the variables to the participants,

enabling the participants to handle the variables with the virtual money, and

adds the base elements and the handling cost for the variables together to

compute box-office powers.

The simulation server receives results from the electronic money

management server, the casting server and the variable solving server, and

displays corresponding results via a terminal.

When the participant demands more virtual money than he/she

possesses, the electronic money management server provides the

demanded virtual money to the participant and causes the participant to refund the money at a predetermined interest within a predefined term.

When the participant enters scenario data including genre, synopsis

and characters on a web page of a defined form provided by the simulation

server, the casting server stores the scenario data in the scenario database

and causes the electronic money management server to provide virtual

money to that participant.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the

casting server provides a virtual agency which holds its own actors among

ones registered in the actor database, controls the performance fee of the

assigned actors and shares part of the performance fee of the actors.

In accordance with further another aspect of the present invention,

the variable database stores variables generated due to the individual base

elements, those caused by the relationship among the base elements, those

generated due to other factors than the base elements, and those actually

generated in off line.

In accordance with further another aspect of the present invention,

the performance production simulation system further includes a voting

server for providing the base elements to the other participants and causing

the participants to vote on the box-office power of the performance.

The performance production simulation system also includes a box-

office power computing server for receiving results from the variable solving

server and the voting server, and computing the final box-office power using

the two results. In accordance with still further another aspect of the present

invention, a performance production simulation method using a performance

production simulation system for providing a service to a participant

connected to a network via a terminal includes: (a) the performance

production simulation system providing scenario, director and actor data to

the participant and causing the participant to select base elements including

scenario, director and actor; (b) the performance production simulation

system providing variables generated during a performance production using

the selected base elements to the participant and enabling the participant to

handle the variables; and (c) the performance production simulation system

computing a box-office power based on the participant's variable-handling

degree.

The performance production simulation method further includes: (d)

the performance production simulation system determining whether to

authenticate the participant.

The performance production simulation method further includes: (e)

the performance production simulation system providing the selected base

elements to the other participants and totalizing votes on the base elements

provided by those participants.

The performance production simulation method further includes: (f)

the performance production simulation system computing the final box-office

powder using the box-office power and the totalized voting result. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and

constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the

invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles

of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a performance production simulation

system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays

scenario data in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays

director data in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays

actor data in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are exemplary illustrations of a search web page

sent to the participant's terminal for searching scenarios, directors and

actors in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1 1 is an exemplary illustration of a web page that visually shows

various situations attendant on each variable in accordance with an

embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary illustration of a web page for voting on a

selected base element in accordance with an embodiment of the present

invention; and FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a performance production simulation

method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, only the preferred embodiment

of the invention has been shown and described, simply by way of illustration

of the best mode contemplated by the inventor(s) of carrying out the

invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in

various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention.

Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in

nature, and not restrictive.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a performance production simulation

system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As

shown in FIG. 1 , the performance production simulation system in

accordance with an embodiment of the present invention comprises an

electronic money management server 1 10, a scenario database 120, a

director database 130, an actor database 140, a casting server 150, a

variable database 160, a variable solving server 170, a voting server 180, a

box-office power computing server 190, a user information database 200,

and a simulation server 210.

The electronic money management server 1 10 provides electronic

money as virtual money necessary for performance production simulation to

participants and manages the electronic money provided to the participants. When a participant demands more virtual money than he/she possesses, the

electronic money management server 1 10 provides the demanded virtual

money to the participant and allows the participant to refund the money at a

predetermined interest within a predefined term

The scenario database 120 stores scenario data to be selected by

the participant, the scenario data including scenario list and scenario content

such as title, synopsis, scenarist, genre, price and characters. FIGS. 2 and 3

are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays scenario data sent to

the participant's terminal 100 via the simulation server 210 in accordance

with an embodiment of the present invention. The price of a scenario is the

size of electronic money used by the participant to pay for the scenario.

The director database 130 stores director list and director information

for searching a director most suitable for directing the selected scenario, the

director information including masterpieces, performance fee and awards.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays

director data sent to the participant's terminal 100 via the simulation server

210 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The

performance fee of a director is the size of electronic money used by the

participant to pay for employing the director.

The actor database 140 stores actor list and actor data for searching

actors most suitable to give a good performance according to the selected

scenario and director, the actor data including masterpieces, profile,

performance fee and awards. FIGS. 6 and 7 are exemplary illustrations of a web page that displays actor data sent to the participant's terminal 100 via

the simulation server 210 in accordance with an embodiment of the present

invention. The performance fee of an actor is the size of electronic money

used by the participant to pay for employing the leading or supporting actor.

The casting server 150 searches scenario, director and actor data

based on searching conditions provided by the participant, and sends the

results to the simulation server 210. FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are exemplary

illustrations of a web page sent to the participant's terminal 100 for searching

scenarios, directors and actors in accordance with an embodiment of the

present invention. Also, FIGS. 2 to 7 represent web pages for providing

results from the casting server 150 to the simulation server 210.

When the participant enters scenario data including genre, synopsis

and characters on a web page of a defined form provided by the simulation

server 210, the casting server 150 stores the scenario data in the scenario

database 120, and causes the electronic money management server 110 to

provide virtual money to the participant.

The casting server 150 provides a virtual agency, which holds its

own ten or less actors among registered ones in the actor database 140,

adjusts the performance fee of the assigned actors and shares part of the

performance fee of the actors.

The variable database 160 stores variables generated due to the

three base elements while producing a movie, such as scenario, director and

actor, and those caused by the relationship among the three base elements. Also, the variable database 160 stores variables generated due to other

factors than the three base elements, and those actually generated in off line.

The variables of the three base elements include actable age, genre-

specific producing or acting ability, and genre-specific preference, and those

concerning the relationship among the three base elements include data

indicating how the scenario, director and actors are harmonious.

Other variables caused by factors other than the three base

elements include genre-specific special base elements, rating of the movie,

publicity and theater liaison. For example, the genre-specific special base

elements include special effect used in SF movies, costume in historical

movies, and the number of extras in the individual movies. The rating of a

movie is previously determined according to the scenario stored in the

scenario database 120.

Finally, variables actually generated in off line include scandals of

directors and actors, genre-specific preference of audiences, recess of

directors and actors, and recent awards.

The variable solving server 170 stores the actually generated

variables in the variable database 160, computes variables generated due to

the base elements, those concerning the relationship among the three base

elements, those actually generated due to base elements in off line, and

those caused by other factors than the base elements, which variables are

stored in the variable database 160, based on the actors, the director and

the scenario selected by the participant. The variable solving server 170 also provides the degree of handling the variables to the participant, and predicts

the degree of solving the variables based on the degree of handling the

variables, thus computing a first box-office power.

The degree of the participant's handling the variables is expressed

by the size of electronic money. If the special effect is much required, for

example, the participant has to heavily invest in the special effect with

electronic money. FIG. 11 visualizes situations attendant on the individual

variables according to an embodiment of the present invention. The variable

solving server 170 displays variables concerning actor, director, scenario,

special effect, costume and extra in meter bar, and provides how to handle

the variables with electronic money to the participant when the participant

clicks on "Edit".

The voting server 180 provides the base elements selected by the

participant to the others and causes the other participants to vote on the box-

office power. FIG. 12 is an exemplary illustration of a web page for voting on

a selected base element in accordance with an embodiment of the present

invention.

The box-office power computing server 190 computes a second box-

office power as the final box-office power based on two factors, i.e., the first

box-office power received from the variable solving server 170 and voting

result from the voting server 180. The second box-office power is computed

in such a manner that a weighted value for each factor used in computation

of the first box-office power is added to the basic number of audiences assigned to the scenario, and then to the voting result. Accordingly, this

embodiment of the present invention computes the first box-office power

based on the variables related to the base elements including scenario,

director and actor, and the final box-office power based on the voting of the

participants, thereby providing more accurate prediction of the actual box-

office power to the participant.

The user information database 200 stores the individual participant's

authentication information, registration information and the amount of

electronic money.

The simulation server 210 is a web server for authenticating the

participant with the authentication information provided by the participant and

displaying the corresponding web pages to the participant's terminal 100

based on results from the electronic money management server 1 10, the

casting server 150, the variable solving server 1 70, the box-office power

computing server 190 and the voting server 180. The simulation server 210

also registers a participant, who applied for a reporter on the authentication

web server, as a reporter in the user information database 200, and causes

the electronic money management server 100 to provide electronic money to

the participant when the participant wrote a report on the bulletin board.

Now, a detailed description will be given as to an operation of the

present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a performance production simulation

method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 13, the performance production simulation method according

to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a participant

authentication step 200, an electronic money providing step 210, a scenario

purchasing step 220, a director casting step 230, an actor casting step 240,

a variable providing step 250, a variable solving step 260, a voting step 270,

and a box-office power computing step 280.

Upon receiving the authentication information of a participant via the

terminal 100 connected to the network, the simulation server 210 compares

the received authentication information to that stored in the user information

database 200 and authenticates the participant when the received

information matches the stored one, in step 200.

Once the participant was authenticated, the electronic money

management server 1 10 determines whether the participant is connected to

the simulation system for the first time. If so, the electronic money

management server 1 10 provides electronic money necessary to the

performance production simulation to the participant; otherwise, if not, the

flow of the procedure goes to the next step, in step 210. The electronic

money management server 110 then manages the electronic money

assigned to or used by the participant in each step and stores results to the

user information database 200.

Subsequently, the casting server 150 provides scenario data stored

in the scenario database 120 to the participant provided with the electronic

money, via a web page supplied by the simulation server 210. If the participant selects a desired scenario, the electronic money management

server 1 10 subtracts the price of the selected scenario from the electronic

money owned by the participant, in step 220.

Once the participant paid for the selected scenario with the electronic

money, the casting server 150 provides director data stored in the director

database 130 to the participant via a web page supplied by the simulation

server 210. If the participant selects a desired director, the electronic money

management server 1 10 subtracts the performance fee of the selected

director from the electronic money owned by the participant, in step 230.

When the participant paid for the selected director with the electronic

money, the casting server 150 provides actor data stored in the actor

database 140 to the participant via a web page supplied by the simulation

server 210. If the participant selects a desired actor, the electronic money

management server 110 subtracts the performance fee of the selected actor

from the electronic money owned by the participant, in step 240.

Upon receiving the base elements, such as scenario, director and

actor chosen by the participant, the variable solving server 170 sends

variables generated due to these base elements, those other than the base

elements, and those caused by other factors than the base elements from

the variable database 160 to the simulation server 210 so that the simulation

server 210 displays the corresponding web page to the participant and

enables the participant to handle the individual variables with electronic

money. The variables are the same as described in connection with the variable database 160 and the variable solving server 170, and will not be

further described, in step 250.

When the participant inputs a signal that causes the simulation

server 210 to handle each variable with electronic money, the simulation

server 210 transmits the signal to the electronic money management server

110, which then subtracts the required electronic money from the electronic

money owned by the participant and sends the result to the variable solving

server 170. The variable solving server 170 computes a first box-office power

based on the basic elements and the handling of the variables and sends the

result to the box-office power computing server 190, in step 260.

Upon receiving the base elements chosen by the participant from the

casting server 150, the simulation server 210 provides the base elements to

the other participants who are urged to vote on the base elements, and

sends the voting result to the voting server 180. The voting server 180 then

totalizes the votes from the participants and sends the result to the box-office

power computing server 190, in step 270.

The box-office power computing server 190 computes the final box-

office power using the first box-office power and the totalized voting result

received from the variable solving server 170 and the voting server 180,

respectively, and provides the final box-office power to the participant via the

simulation server 210. The computation of the final box-office power is the

same as described above and will not be further described, in step 280.

This procedure provides a database for the box-office power of performances and hence more objective data concerning the box-office

power to the actual performance producer.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is

presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is

to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed

embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications

and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the

appended claims.

For example, the servers of the simulation system of the present

invention can be implemented in software or hardware. Furthermore, the

simulation system of the present invention is not specifically limited to movies

and may be applied to other performances comprising director, actor and

scenario or play script, such as drama.

The performance production simulation system and the method

thereof according to the present invention produce a movie in a virtual space

to predict the box-office power, arouse the participants' interest in the

simulation game, provide a database of the box-office power for actual movie

producers, plan makers and promotion companies, and predict the popularity

of a scenario, director or actor. The present invention also encourages the

participants as future audiences prior to the actual movie production, thereby

attaining the promotion effect for the movie.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. In a system for providing a service to the participant connected to

a network via a terminal, a performance production simulation system

comprising:

an electronic money management server for providing electronic

money necessary to performance production simulation to the participant

and managing the electronic money provided to the participants;

a scenario database for storing scenario data that can be chosen by

the participant;

a director database for storing director data for searching a director

most suitable to direct the selected scenario;

an actor database for storing actor data for searching an actor

capable of giving a good performance suitable to the selected scenario and

director;

a casting server for searching the scenario, director and actor data

based on searching conditions provided by the participant and outputting

searching results;

a variable database for storing variables generated while producing a

movie based on base elements such as the selected scenario, director and

actors;

a variable solving server for providing the variables to the

participants, enabling the participants to handle the variables with the virtual

money, and adding the base elements and the handling cost for the variables together to compute box-office powers; and

a simulation server for receiving results from the electronic money

management server, the casting server and the variable solving server, and

displaying corresponding results via a terminal.

2. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , wherein when the participant demands more virtual money than he/she

possesses, the electronic money management server provides the

demanded virtual money to the participant and causes the participant to

refund the money at a predetermined interest within a predefined term.

3. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , wherein when the participant enters scenario data including genre,

synopsis and characters on a web page of a defined form provided by the

simulation server, the casting server stores the scenario data in the scenario

database and causes the electronic money management server to provide

virtual money to that participant.

4. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , wherein the casting server provides a virtual agency which holds its own

actors among ones registered in the actor database, controls the

performance fee of the assigned actors and shares part of the performance

fee of the actors.

5. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , wherein the variable database stores variables generated due to the

individual base elements, variables caused by the relationship among the

base elements, variables generated due to other factors than the base

elements, and variables actually generated in off line.

6. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , further comprising a voting server for providing the base elements to the

other participants and causing the participants to vote on the box-office

power of the performance.

7. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 or 6, further comprising a box-office power computing server for receiving

results from the variable solving server and the voting server, and computing

the final box-office power using the two results.

8. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim

1 , further comprising a user information database for storing the participant's

authentication information, registration information and the amount of

electronic money.

9. The performance production simulation system as claimed in claim 1 or 8, wherein the simulation server registers a participant, who applied for a

reporter on an authentication web page, in the user information database,

and the electronic money management server provides virtual money to the

participant who submitted a report.

10. In a performance production simulation system for providing a

service to a participant connected to a network via a terminal, a performance

production simulation method comprising:

(a) the performance production simulation system providing scenario,

director and actor data to the participant and causing the participant to select

base elements including scenario, director and actor;

(b) the performance production simulation system providing variables

generated during a performance production using the selected base

elements to the participant and enabling the participant to handle the

variables; and

(c) the performance production simulation system computing a box-

office power based on the participant's variable-handling degree.

11. The performance production simulation method as claimed in

claim 10, further comprising (d) the performance production simulation

system determining whether to authenticate the participant.

12. The performance production simulation method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the variables include those generated due to the base

elements, those caused by the relationship among the base elements, those

generated due to other factors than the base elements, and those actually

generated in off line.

13. The performance production simulation method as claimed in

claim 10, wherein the participant handles the variables with virtual money

provided by the performance production simulation system.

14. The performance production simulation method as claimed in

claim 10, further comprising (e) the performance production simulation

system providing the selected base elements to the other participants and

totalizing votes on the base elements provided by those participants.

15. The performance production simulation method as claimed in

claim 10 or 14, further comprising (f) the performance production simulation

system computing the final box-office powder using the box-office power and

the totalized voting result.