The inventive subject matter relates generally to the field of gaming, and more particularly to systems and methods for arranging, interconnecting and operating gaming systems.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which the claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any person of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever. Copyright 2006, WMS Gaming, Inc.
Casino gaming machines are subjected to rigorous regulation in a typical gaming jurisdiction. These regulations are designed to eliminate or at the very least reduce fraud or cheating, both of the games and of the public. For example, these regulations may require that the software for a gaming machine is carefully controlled such that there is little or no possibility that it can be tampered with between the time it is burned or copied into the storage medium and the time it is fetched by a gaming machine for use in controlling the operation of the machine. For instance, regulations may require that the gaming software be copied onto the storage medium in a secure environment and brought to and installed in the target gaming machine in a secure fashion. Thus, updated gaming software may have to be written to a tamper proof read only memory device within the confines of a secure facility, and taken under lock and key to a gaming machine to be installed by authorized personnel only. Further, there is typically a mechanism or process by which gaming authorities can test to see that the software installed in a particular gaming machine has been approved by gaming regulators, and is not an unauthorized version. Thus, updating gaming software, for example, to correct a bug or to provide an enhanced, modified or new gaming experience to a user, can be burdensome.
Other problems faced in connection with gaming machine technology is the need to handle failures of software or hardware in a gaming machine. If a player has credits on a machine, and the machine fails during play, the player's credits may be “lost” in that the software registering the credits may crash or the memory storing the credit information may fail. These types of failures are to be avoided as much as possible both because of the inconvenience and losses suffered by the affected player but also due to the potential for fraudulently induced failures that may be used to steal money from a player.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the inventive subject matter can be practiced. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The leading digit(s) of reference numbers appearing in the Figures generally corresponds to the Figure number in which that component is first introduced, such that the same reference number is used throughout to refer to an identical component which appears in multiple Figures. Signals and connections may be referred to by the same reference number or label, and the actual meaning will be clear from its use in the context of the description.
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As shown in
A player may “cash out” by pressing a cash out button 118. When a player cashes out, the wagering game machine 100 dispenses a voucher or currency corresponding to the number of remaining credits. The wagering game machine 100 may employ other payout mechanisms such as credit slips (which are redeemable by a cashier) or electronically recordable cards (which track player credits), or electronic funds transfer.
The wagering game machine may also include a primary display unit 104 and a secondary display unit 110 (also known as a “top box”). The wagering game machine may also include an auxiliary video display 130. In one embodiment, the primary display unit 104 displays a plurality of video reels 120. According to embodiments of the invention, the display units 104 and 110 can include any visual representation or exhibition, including moving physical objects (e.g., mechanical reels and wheels), dynamic lighting, and video images. In one embodiment, each reel 120 includes a plurality of symbols such as bells, hearts, fruits, numbers, letters, bars or other images, which correspond to a theme associated with the wagering game machine 100. Furthermore, as shown in
Referring now to
The gaming server computing system 212 may be in communication with the client computer systems 214, for example using any usable communications protocol, such as an IP protocol, and any suitable media, such as fiber, cable or the air using a wireless connection. In one example embodiment, fiber is used to minimize the chance of wiretapping or hacking. For convenience, however, a wireless connection with multiple levels of data security between the machines may be provided. The communication protocol may include in part high level messaging or consist essentially of high level messaging. Further, the server computing systems 212 may be arranged in a hierarchy 216, for example in three tiers, I, II and III, wherein tier I is higher in the hierarchy than II and III. Server computing systems 212 higher in the hierarchy 216 may have at least some computing capabilities that are superior to the server computing systems lower in the hierarchy, for example greater computational power, greater memory or storage capacity, or a greater number of functions. There may be, without limitation, approximately ten server computing systems 212 at the lowest level of the hierarchy. At least one backup server computing system may be provided for each cluster wherein the backup server computing system may be adapted to communicate with the gaming client computing systems 214 in the cluster to provide gaming server computing system 212 functions for the gaming client computing systems 214.
According to one embodiment, a system 212 higher in the hierarchy may operate as a backup for a system 212 lower in the hierarchy, for example during the time that a system 212 may be shut down for maintenance or for updates. In another embodiment, a server 212 in one level of the hierarchy may be used as a backup for another server 212 in the same level of the hierarchy, for instance in the event that a server 212 fails. In another embodiment, one client server 214 may serve as a backup server 212 for a server 214 at the same level of the hierarchy.
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Each gaming server 212 may also include one or more data storage devices 212e that may be used to store all or portions of the operating system 212b, server software 212c and gaming software/data 212d. The server 212 may optionally include a printer or a monitor or other peripherals. One or more software components of gaming software/data 212d may be stored in the one or more of the data storage devices 212e. The one or more storage devices may be magnetic storage such as a hard drive, or flash memory or any other suitable type of memory or storage. In addition, in one example embodiment, the gaming server computing system 212 is connected to another system 212 in the same tier in a peer-to-peer configuration.
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The client software program 214c may be thick or thin. For example, the client software 214c may comprise a web browser or a custom application that communicates with the server 212. The gaming client computing systems 214 may support one or more peripheral devices 214h such as a reel display device, a coin acceptor, a bill acceptor, and a card acceptor for example as described above with respect to the wagering game machine of
The gaming software/data 214c is used by the client program 214d to provide a gaming experience to a user, such as a spinning reel or video poker gaming experience. Software components of software/data 214d may include, for example, software to drive the display of a video gaming machine animated sequence or control software to operate a reel type machine, or any other software component that may be used in a wagering game machine. According to another embodiment, the same processor 214a may be used to support two or more display devices 214f or printer devices 214g.
Each gaming client computing system 214 may also include a random number generator software or hardware component (not shown) that may be used to generate random numbers for the game of chance provided by the system. One or more software or hardware components 214 may also be provided on the client computing system 214 to encrypt communications to a server computing system. The gaming client computing systems 214 may share storage capacity on the one or more data storage devices on the associated gaming server computing system 212. The gaming client computing systems 214 may, in one example embodiment, not include a hard drive, but for example instead store all data in a dynamic, static, volatile or non-volatile memory.
At least one of the software components in software/data 212d stored in the gaming server computing system 212 may comprise art work elements, audiovisual elements or sound elements that can be processed on the client computing system to create a displayed element on the display device 214f of a client computing system 212. The art work elements, audiovisual elements or sound elements on a client computing system may be stored in a random access memory of the client computing system 212. The gaming server computing system 212 or at least one gaming client computing system 214, or both, may further include one or more software components adapted to cache a group of images likely to be used by a game executing on the client computing system, wherein the images, sound or graphics can be accessed without a latency detrimental to the enjoyment of the game by a player. One or more of the gaming client computing systems 214 may be adapted to present or display images in response to commands from the gaming server computing system 212, and input from a player may be sent to the gaming server computing system 212 to be processed to determine output to be displayed on the client computing system. Images downloaded from a gaming server computing system 212 to a gaming client computing system 214 may be compressed when sent from the system 212 and decompressed at the gaming client computing system 214, to make efficient use of bandwidth. In another embodiment, downloading of gaming software may be accomplished using peer-to-peer communication between client computing systems 214.
Gaming software 212d executing on the gaming client computing systems 214 may track a credit balance for a player, and further the gaming server computing system 212 may include one or more software components to track credit balances for games running on gaming client computing systems 214 served by the server computer 212. At least one gaming client computing system 214 may include at least one software element to recognize a player credit entered into the hosted game and to send a communication to the gaming server computing system 212 indicating the recognized player credit. The gaming server computing system 212 includes one or more software components adapted to acknowledge a communication from a client computing system indicating a player credit has been received. In addition, in one example embodiment, at least one gaming client computing system 214 may include a non-volatile random access memory component, and the gaming client computing system 214 may include at least one software element to record at least one player credit in the memory component. One or more software components on a gaming server computing system 212 may be used to determine a credit balance in the event of the failure of a gaming client computing system 214 or gaming server computing system 212. Still further, the gaming client computing system 214 may include one or more software elements adapted to cause the rejection of a coin or bill if the server computing system does not acknowledge the receipt of a player credit communicated from the gaming client computing system 214.
Further, one or more software components on a gaming server computing system 212 may be adapted to switch support for gaming client computing systems 214 to an alternate or backup gaming server computing system 212 to permit at least one upgrade procedure to be run on the gaming server computing system 212. At least one software component on one or both of the server computing systems 212 and at least one gaming client computing system 214 may be provided to cause a current version of at least one component of software 212d of the client computing system to be installed on the at least one gaming client computing system 214.
Referring now to
The method may further include, in alternate embodiments, storing a math model in one or more of the server software components, arranging the wagering game machine cabinets in one or more banks, arranging about five to twenty client computing systems in a cluster, sharing storage capacity on the one or more data storage devices on the server computing system with the client computing systems, serving art work for a game from a server computing system to a client computing system, using one or more standardized peripheral devices to form a client computer system, or the server computing system authenticating one or more of the client computing systems it serves or is connected to.
Other alternate embodiments of the methods include the games running on the client computing systems tracking a credit balance for a player, and further optionally also tracking the credit balance on one or more server computing systems. Another alternate method provides for establishing a credit balance in the event of the failure of a client computing system or server computing system, for example by restoring the credit balance from a non-volatile memory in a client computing system or a server computing system. A client computing system may recognize a player credit entered into the hosted game and to send a communication to the server computing system indicating the recognized player credit, and the server computing system acknowledging a communication from a client computing system indicating a player credit has been received. Further, a method may include the client computing system rejecting a coin or bill or credit slip if the server computing system does not acknowledge the receipt of a player credit communicated from the client computing system.
According to still another example embodiment, the client computing systems may communicate with a server computing system directly, or may communicate with a server computing system through a peer client computing system. Further, a first server computing system may communicate with a second server computing system in a server computing system hierarchy. In one example embodiment, the second server computing system serves as a backup for the first server computing system, so that the second server computing system can be used to support the client computing systems connected to and primarily supported to the first server computing system. According to one example embodiment, the server computing systems higher in the hierarchy have at least some computing capabilities that are superior to the server computing systems lower in the hierarchy.
In this description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. Note that in this description, references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” mean that the feature being referred to is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Further, separate references to “one embodiment” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment; however, neither are such embodiments mutually exclusive, unless so stated and except as will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the present invention can include any variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein. Each claim, as may be amended, constitutes an embodiment of the invention, incorporated by reference into the detailed description. Moreover, in this description, the phrase “exemplary embodiment” means that the embodiment being referred to serves as an example or illustration.
Further, block diagrams illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention. Also herein, flow diagrams illustrate operations of the exemplary embodiments of the invention. The operations of the flow diagrams are described with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the block diagrams. However, it should be understood that the operations of the flow diagrams could be performed by embodiments of the invention other than those discussed with reference to the block diagrams, and embodiments discussed with references to the block diagrams could perform operations different than those discussed with reference to the flow diagrams. Additionally, some embodiments may not perform all the operations shown in a flow diagram. Moreover, it should be understood that although the flow diagrams depict serial operations, certain embodiments could perform certain of those operations in parallel.
This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/696,679 filed Jul. 5, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2006/026259 | 7/5/2006 | WO | 00 | 12/8/2008 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60696679 | Jul 2005 | US |