Patent Application
20130080238
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The invention relates to systems and methods for operating a customer or player loyalty and electronic payment system such as a loyalty system for one or a family of affiliated gaming venues, e.g. casinos. More particularly it relates to operating such systems and methods where the customer or player possesses a portable device with a degree of computing capability and memory such as a key fob or smartcard, perhaps issued to users by a business, or a device such as a personal data assistant (PDA), cellular telephone, or portable computing device in possession of the user.
It is generally known to provide customers with rewards, discounts, prizes and gifts as part of a loyalty program. For example, in the gaming industry, casino properties offer to players the ability to join a players club also known as a loyalty club. At registration into the club the enrollee provides information such as name, address and other personal information. The enrollee may also provide biometric information such as a facial scan, fingerprint, retina or other biometric characteristic to identify the enrollee. In addition to such information the enrollee is required to select a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the enrollee's account. This information is recorded into a player account disposed in a data structure accessible by a player club host computer. The player is issued a loyalty card which typically appears like a plastic credit card having pre-printed front and back sides for example with the club or casino name and club related graphics. A card writing device at the registration area prints/embosses the player's name on the card, a numeric player account number and encodes a magnetic, machine readable, stripe on the card with information such as a property indicator, the player's account number or tag or other desired information to draw an association through the system between the card and the player's account at the data structure.
In association with the loyalty club, loyalty card readers are installed on all of the gaming machines and are provided in association with table games, promotional kiosks and at points of sale. The card readers are configured to receive an inserted or swiped loyalty card and to read the magnetic stripe. Through a communication network at the property or across several properties, the card readers communicate with the host computer to access the player accounts and to draw an association with account assigned to the player identified by the loyalty card. As a player engages in commercial activity such a purchases and gaming he/she accumulates “player points” (typically related to the “spend” by the player) which entitle the player to several benefits. One benefit is that the player can be rated into one of a plurality of player ratings groups or tiers. The casino may, for example, have a silver group for low valued players, a gold group for higher valued players and a platinum group for the highest valued players. Ranking can be based upon several criteria selected by the casino such as time at play, player spend, player wagers, and the like. These and other factors are used to access the worth or value of the player to the casino. The higher the player is rated the more valuable the promotions the player is entitled to. Highly rated players may be entitled to free stays at the casino property, gifts, show tickets and the like. The ratings can also be used to configure marketing promotions issued to players either by mail or through the Internet.
Examples of loyalty systems in a gaming environment are described in Bryant, et al US Published Application 2008/0274800 and Boushy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,647 the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. It has been suggested that a smartcard be used for such loyalty card applications. See Bryant, et al US Published Application 2008/0274800 and Kelly, et al US Published Application 2009/0176565 the disclosures of which is incorporated by reference.
Loyalty systems such as type describe above have been used by commercial retailers as well such major grocery store chains, airlines and the like.
In regards to smart cards, it has been known, for example in the public transportation, vending and other industries, to use smartcards as well as devices such as cellular telephones to upload/download data such as payment funds with a terminal using near-field communication (NFC) or other short range communication technologies. NFC is a short range communication technology implemented using electromagnetic radiation. For example, in Loh, et al US Published Application 20090143104 titled “Wireless Smart Card and Integrated Personal Area Network, Near Field Communication and Contactless Payment System”, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, there is disclosed a smart card which can be used for communication or for use with a portable device such as a PDA or cellular telephone and a system.
In the casino industry it is also known to have gaming machine with ticket-in, ticket-out (TITO) functionality. In an industry step to eliminate the need for coin hoppers in gaming machines and handling associated with gaming machines operating with coins (e.g. coin counters, handlers and change personnel), devices and systems were developed which enabled gaming machines to print a ticket/voucher which represents the value of credits on a gaming machine. The player prompts the gaming machine to print a ticket which can then be redeemed for cash at a kiosk or casino cage or uses the ticket to establish gaming credits at another gaming machine. Burns et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,958 titled “Gaming System With Ticket-In/Ticket-Out Capability” and Baltz et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,704,143 titled “Apparatus and Method for a Cashless Actuated Gaming System”, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference, disclose TITO systems. Today TITO is used throughout the casino industry.
A drawback with TITO is that coin handling has now been replaced with ticket handling. Gaming machines must be equipped with ticket printers and readers (typically combined with currency readers) and the casino must handle and store the tickets for accounting, regulatory and tax purposes. Ticket handling includes replenishment of tickets at ticket printers including staff time, maintenance of ticket printers and supporting communication network as well as storing the perhaps thousands of tickets printed per day at the casino. There is a need to minimize or eliminate the drawbacks of TITO.
In the gaming field it has been known to provide a “saved state” functionality. Basically such functionality enables a player to achieve a “state”, condition or entitlement during play of a gaming machine and to save that state for later play on the same or similar gaming machine. Examples of this functionality is described, for example, in Luciano, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,757 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Maintaining Game State”, Luciano, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,486 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Enhancing Game Play Through Savable Game Play State”, and Luciano, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,721 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Maintaining Game State” the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,757 an arrangement is described where the game state is saved via a media such as a ticket or smart card or other information storage medium. There is a need in connection with a saved state functionality to provide the player with a reference by which the user can recall the state saved for one or several games. For example, the user may play several different types of games and have different saved states or features for each. There is a need for the player to be able to save the state and to determine, apart from the games, the player's saved state condition.
Saved state can also be applied to providers other than in the gaming industry such as the state the user has achieved in relation to an ongoing promotion.
It is submitted that the use of smart cards and portable devices such as PDAs and cellular telephones has not been fully explored or utilized in connection with rewards, payment and promotions in the gaming and other industries. There is a need to provide a smart card/portable device, method and system which provides for rewards, promotions, payments and other functions to enhance the loyalty and functional aspects of a loyalty and debit/credit system.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention/s, there is set forth a system and method for operating a loyalty system for an environment including a plurality of user terminals, a system host computer, a data structure, a communication network between the host computer and the terminals and a portable device in possession of each user. Each portable device includes a controller to control a visual display which includes or has a separate visually configurable panel. The portable device may be a smart card or key fob configured according to the one or more aspects of the present invention, a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computer or other portable device or a combination of such devices. The method includes the steps of storing at said data structure data corresponding to one or more of user account data and promotional data and enabling the portable device controller to be placed into communication with the network such as by interfacing with a user terminal using near field communication (NFC) technology. One or more of the controller and host controls the display to display a message and the panel to display a visual state corresponding to one or more of said account data and said promotional data. The visual state may be a color or a pattern, icon, logo, graphic or a combination thereof.
The system and method according to one embodiment stores at a data structure data corresponding to a ranking assigned to each user and controlling one or more of the device display and panel to assume a visual state corresponding to said ranking. The visual state may be a color, pattern, symbol, animation, graphic, video presentation or other visual presentation
Where the device is a smart card, for example, the panel may be a surface of the card such as all or a portion of one side of the card defined by an e-ink panel.
The system and method may include providing for the storage of data corresponding to a value at one or more of a data structure associated with said device and said system data structure and enabling the transfer of at least a portion of said value between said device data structure to one or more of said terminal or network.
The system and method may include displaying an active poster at a terminal representing an event including one or more of a promotion, service, game or information. For example the terminal may include an electronic display to display an active poster. In response to a user registering their portable device into the NFC network associated with the poster or touching the poster to activate the NFC, one of the device display and panel are controlled to display a visual indication of communication of event data between said terminal and said device. The indication may be a message with a color background, logo, icon or other graphic to indicate that the device has interacted with the near field communication network associated with the poster. As but an example, the panel may be controlled to a visual state indicating that a promotion has been accepted for later redemption.
As but another embodiment the system and method may include a user input at one or more of the device and terminal by which the user can control the visual aspects of the panel. For example, where the panel represents a surface of a smart card the user may control the panel to a pattern, color, or graphic as desired or as selected from an offered menu.
In a specific embodiment the system and method are directed to a casino player system. The players are provided with portable devices and/or their own devices are configured to provide for near field communication with gaming machines or devices, including portable gaming devices. The portable device may include a data structure storing player loyalty points and a value amount at least a portion of which is available or accessible to the player for wagering. Each device includes a display such as an e-ink, OLED, cholesteric LCD or other display. A portion of the display and/or a separate visually configurable panel are controllable to display a visual indication such as a color, pattern, graphics, visual presentation or a combination to which the player can refer to identify an attribute reflecting a condition of the player's relationship to system defined criteria. For example the panel may display one or more of a color reflecting the player's loyalty club level or tier, saved state(s) for a gaming machine, available or accepted promotions, value amounts available for gaming, and self-exclusion condition(s) or the like. In an embodiment the portable device can be configured to enable the user to select options. The selection of the options may result in the panel changing its visual presentation. For example the player may make selections to identify different games whereupon the panel changes its visual presentation to indicate a saved state condition for each game. The method and system may also control the panel to change its visual presentation based upon the environment. For example, where the player is at Casino A, interfacing their portable device with a terminal, may control the panel to assume a color condition indicating the player is a silver tier player at that casino. If the player goes to neighboring but affiliated Casino B and places their card in a terminal NFC, the panel may be controlled to a display a color of gold indicating that the player is a first tier player at Casino B.
To secure the device the system and method may require the player to provide personal data or biometric information to activate, change or update the device and system. In an embodiment the player has a personal identification number (PIN) and one or more of the device and terminal includes an input device to enable the player to input the PIN to “unlock” the communication link between the device and the terminal and network.
Other features and numerous advantages of the various embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description when viewed in conjunction with the corresponding drawings.
These and other features and advantages will become better understood with reference to the specification claims and drawings wherein;
A. Embodiment of a Gaming Terminal
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers denote like or corresponding elements throughout the drawings, and more particularly referring to
In one or more embodiments, the housing 102 houses a processor, circuitry, and software (not shown) for receiving signals from the game input device 108, operating the games, and transmitting signals to the respective displays and speakers. Any shaped cabinet may be implemented with any embodiment of gaming terminal 100 so long as it provides access to a player for playing a game. For example, the cabinet 102 may comprise a slant-top, bar-top, or table-top style cabinet, including a Bally Cinevision™ or CineReels™ cabinet. The operation of gaming terminal 100 is described more fully below.
The plurality of player-activated buttons of the game input device 108 may be used for various functions such as, but not limited to, selecting a wager denomination, selecting a game to be played, selecting a wager amount per game, initiating a game, or cashing out money from gaming terminal 100. Buttons may be operable as input mechanisms and may include mechanical buttons, electromechanical buttons or touch screen buttons. Optionally, a handle 116 may be rotated by a player to initiate a game.
In one or more embodiments, the buttons if the game input device 108 may be replaced with various other input mechanisms known in the art such as, but not limited to, a touch screen system, touch pad, track ball, mouse, switches, toggle switches, or other input means used to accept player input. For example, one input means is a universal button module as disclosed in U.S. Pub. 2006/0247047, entitled “Universal Button Module,” filed on Apr. 14, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Generally, the universal button module provides a dynamic button system adaptable for use with various games and capable of adjusting to gaming systems having frequent game changes. More particularly, the universal button module may be used in connection with playing a game on a gaming machine and may be used for such functions as selecting the number of credits to bet per hand.
Housing 102 may optionally include the top box 106 which contains “top glass” 118 comprising advertising or payout information related to the game or games available on gaming terminal 100. The player tracking module 511 includes system interface configured to include a card reader 555 of the type for reading the magnetic stripe on a player loyalty card and communicating with the gaming system. As hereinafter described in accordance with the several embodiments of the present invention the system interface may include a near field communication (NFC) device for contactless communication with portable device such as a smart cart. A player tracking module display 559 is provided on the player tracking module 511 to display messages such as system generated messages to the players and to casino personnel. A voucher printer 525 may be integrated into the player tracking module 511 or installed elsewhere on the housing 102 or top box 106. Artwork 126 may complete the top box 106.
The glass 118 in the top box 106 may instead be a secondary electronic display to display game information, bonus games or the like.
The primary game display 104 typically presents a game of chance wherein a player receives one or more outcomes from a set of potential outcomes. For example, one such game of chance is a video slot machine game. In other aspects of the invention, gaming terminal 100 may present a video or mechanical reel slot machine, a video keno game, a lottery game, a bingo game, a Class II bingo game, a roulette game, a craps game, a blackjack game, a mechanical or video representation of a wheel game or the like.
Mechanical or video/mechanical embodiments may include terminal displays such as mechanical reels, wheels, or dice as required to present the game to the player. In video/mechanical or pure video embodiments, the primary game display 104 is, typically, a CRT or a flat-panel display in the form of, but not limited to, liquid crystal, plasma, electroluminescent, OLED, vacuum fluorescent, field emission, or any other type of panel display known or developed in the art. The primary game display 104 may be mounted in either a “portrait” or “landscape” orientation and be of standard or “widescreen” dimensions (i.e., a ratio of one dimension to another of at least 16:9). For example, a widescreen display may be 32 inches wide by 18 inches tall. A widescreen display in a “portrait” orientation may be 32 inches tall by 18 inches wide. Additionally, primary game display 104 preferably includes a touch screen or touch glass system (not shown) and presents player interfaces such as, but not limited to, credit meter (not shown), win meter (not shown) and touch screen buttons (not shown). An example of a touch glass system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,571 entitled “Gaming Device with Direction and Speed Control of Mechanical Reels Using Touch Screen,” which is hereby incorporated by reference. Where the primary game display 104 is oriented in a portrait mode it may define both the primary game display 108 as well as the glass 118 where it creates a secondary game display.
The primary game display 108 may also present information such as, but not limited to, player information, advertisements and casino promotions, graphic displays, news and sports updates, or even offer an alternate game. This information may be generated through a host computer networked with gaming terminal 100 on its own initiative or it may be obtained by request of the player using an input device for example embodied as either one or more of the plurality of player-activated touch screen buttons at the primary game display 104 or buttons/icons located on the player tracking module 511 (shown in
While the primary embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to gaming terminals and a player tracking loyalty and banking system, it should be understood that many aspects could be used in other environments such as customer loyalty programs for retailers, airline frequent flyer programs, banking, Internet commerce or the like. In instances other than gaming the terminals would be kiosks, check-out terminals or portable devices.
The gaming terminal 100 (shown as one or more gaming terminals 832) is typically included in a gaming system 830 as will hereinafter be described with reference to
Referring to
Peripherals 551 connect through bus 553 to EGM Processor Board 503. The peripherals 551 include, but are not limited to the following and may include individual processing capability: bill/voucher acceptor 112 to validate and accept currency and ticket vouchers, communication component 120, the player interfaces such a buttons 108, displays 104 and any secondary or tertiary displays (with/without) touch screen functionality, monitors and lights. For example, the bill/voucher acceptor 112 is typically connected to the game input-output board of the EGM processing board 503 (which is, in turn, connected to a conventional central processing unit (“CPU”) board), such as an Intel Pentium® microprocessor mounted on a gaming motherboard. The I/O board may be connected to CPU processor board by a serial connection such as RS-232 or USB or may be attached to the processor by a bus such as, but not limited to, an ISA bus. The gaming motherboard may be mounted with other conventional components, such as are found on conventional personal computer motherboards, and loaded with a game program which may include a gaming machine operating system (OS), such as a Bally Alpha OS. EGM processor board 503 executes a game program that causes the gaming terminal 100 to display and play a game. The various components and included devices may be installed with conventionally and/or commercially available components, devices, and circuitry into a conventional and/or commercially available gaming terminal housing 102.
When a player has inserted a form of currency such as, for example and without limitation, paper currency, coins or tokens, cashless tickets or vouchers, electronic funds transfers or the like into the currency acceptor, a signal is sent by way of bus 553 to the I/O board and to EGM processor board 503 which, in turn, assigns an appropriate number of credits for play in accordance with the game program. The player may further control the operation of the gaming machine by way of other peripherals 551, for example, to select the amount to wager via the player input device 108. The game starts in response to the player operating a start mechanism such as the handle 116, button such as a SPIN/RESET button or a touch screen icon. The game program includes a random number generator to provide a display of randomly selected indicia on one or more displays such as the primary game display 104 as shown in
Predetermined payout amounts for certain outcomes, including feature game outcomes, are stored as part of the game program. Such payout amounts are, in response to instructions from processor board 503, provided to the player in the form of coins, credits or currency via I/O board and a pay mechanism, which may be one or more of a credit meter, a coin hopper, a voucher printer, an electronic funds transfer protocol or any other payout means known or developed in the art.
In various embodiments, the game program is stored in a memory device (not shown) connected to or mounted on the gaming motherboard. By way of example, but not by limitation, such memory devices include external memory devices, hard drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and flash memory cards. In an alternative embodiment, the game programs are stored in a remote storage device. In an embodiment, the remote storage device is housed in a remote server such as a downloadable gaming server. The gaming machine may access the remote storage device via a network connection, including but not limited to, a local area network connection, a TCP/IP connection, a wireless connection, or any other means for operatively networking components together. Optionally, other data including graphics, sound files and other media data for use with the gaming terminal are stored in the same or a separate memory device (not shown). Some or all of the game program and its associated data may be loaded from one memory device into another, for example, from flash memory to random access memory (RAM).
In one or more embodiments, peripherals may be connected to the system over Ethernet connections directly to the appropriate server or tied to the system controller inside the gaming terminal using USB, serial or Ethernet connections. Each of the respective devices may have upgrades to their firmware utilizing these connections.
GMU 507 includes an integrated circuit board and GMU processor and memory including coding for network communications, such as the G2S (game-to-system) protocol from the Gaming Standards Association, Las Vegas, Nev., used for system communications over the network. As shown, GMU 507 may connect to a card reader 555 (shown as 120 in
PID 509 includes an integrated circuit board, PID processor, and memory which includes an operating system, such as Windows CE, a player interface program which may be executable by the PID processor together with various input/output (I/O) drivers for respective devices which connect to PID 509, such as player tracking module 511, and which may further include various games or game components playable on PID 509 or playable on a connected network server and PID 509 is operable as the player interface. PID 509 connects to card reader 555 through bus 523, player tracking display 559 through video decoder 561 and bus 521, such as an LVDS or VGA bus.
As part of its programming, the PID processor executes coding to drive player tracking display 559 and provide messages and information to a player. Touch screen circuitry 563 interactively connects display 559 and video decoder 561 to PID 509 such that a player may input information and cause the information to be transmitted to PID 509 either on the player's initiative or responsive to a query by PID 509. Additionally soft keys 565 connect through bus 517 to PID 509 and operate together with the player tracking display 559 to provide information or queries to a player and receive responses or queries from the player. PID 509, in turn, communicates over the CMS/SMS network through Ethernet switch 531 and busses 535, 539 and with respective servers, such as a player tracking server.
Player tracking devices 511 are linked into the virtual private network of the system components in gaming terminal 100. The system components include the player tacking module 511 (e.g. Bally iVIEW® device) (‘iView” is a registered trademark of Bally Gaming, Inc.) processing board 503 and game monitoring unit (GMU) processing board 507. These system components may connect over a network to the slot management system (such as a commercially available Bally SDS/SMS) and/or casino management system (such as a commercially available Bally CMP/CMS).
The GMU 507 system component has a connection to the base game through a serial SAS connection and is connected to various servers using, for example, HTTPs over Ethernet. Through this connection, firmware, media, operating system software, gaming machine configurations can be downloaded to the system components from the servers. This data is authenticated prior to install on the system components.
The system components include the PTM 511 processing board and game monitoring unit (GMU) processing board 507. The GMU 507 and PTM 511 can be combined into one like the commercially available Bally GTM iVIEW device. This device may have a video mixing technology to mix the EGM processor's video signals with the iVIEW display onto the top box monitor or any monitor on the gaming device.
In accordance with one or more embodiments,
As shown in the example, there are three layers: a hardware layer 605; an operating system layer 610, such as, but not limited to, Linux; and a game kernel layer 600 having game manager 603 therein. In one or more embodiments, the use of an operating system layer 610, such a UNIX-based or Windows-based operating system, allows game developers interfacing to the gaming kernel to use any of a number of standard development tools and environments available for the operating systems. This is in contrast to the use of proprietary, low level interfaces which may require significant time and engineering investments for each game upgrade, hardware upgrade, or feature upgrade. The game kernel layer 600 executes at the user level of the operating system layer 610, and itself contains a major component called the I/O board server 615. To properly set the bounds of game application software (making integrity checking easier), all game applications interact with gaming kernel 600 using a single API 602 in game manager 603. This enables game applications to make use of a well-defined, consistent interface, as well as making access points to gaming kernel 600 controlled, where overall access is controlled using separate processes.
For example, game manager 603 parses an incoming command stream and, when a command dealing with I/O comes in (arrow 604), the command is sent to an applicable library routine 612. Library routine 612 decides what it needs from a device, and sends commands to I/O board server 615 (see arrow 608). A few specific drivers remain in operating system layer 610's kernel, shown as those below line 606. These are built-in, primitive, or privileged drivers that are (i) general (ii) kept to a minimum and (iii) are easier to leave than extract. In such cases, the low-level communications is handled within operating system layer 610 and the contents passed to library routines 612.
Thus, in a few cases library routines may interact with drivers inside operating system layer 610, which is why arrow 608 is shown as having three directions (between library routines 612 and I/O board server 615, or between library routines 612 and certain drivers in operating system layer 610). No matter which path is taken, the logic needed to work with each device is coded into modules in the user layer of the diagram. Operating system layer 610 is kept as simple, stripped down, and common across as many hardware platforms as possible. The library utilities and user-level drivers change as dictated by the game cabinet or game machine in which it will run. Thus, each game cabinet or game machine may have an industry standard EGM processing board 503 connected to a unique, relatively dumb, and as inexpensive as possible I/O adapter board 540, plus a gaming kernel 600 which will have the game-machine-unique library routines and I/O board server 615 components needed to enable game applications to interact with the gaming machine cabinet. Note that these differences are invisible to the game application software with the exception of certain functional differences (i.e., if a gaming cabinet has stereo sound, the game application will be able make use of API 602 to use the capability over that of a cabinet having traditional monaural sound).
Game manager 603 provides an interface into game kernel 600, providing consistent, predictable, and backwards compatible calling methods, syntax, and capabilities by way of game application API 602. This enables the game developer to be free of dealing directly with the hardware, including the freedom to not have to deal with low-level drivers as well as the freedom to not have to program lower level managers 630, although lower level managers 630 may be accessible through game manager 603's interface 602 if a programmer has the need. In addition to the freedom derived from not having to deal with the hardware level drivers and the freedom of having consistent, callable, object-oriented interfaces to software managers of those components (drivers), game manager 603 provides access to a set of upper level managers 620 also having the advantages of consistent callable, object-oriented interfaces, and further providing the types and kinds of base functionality required in casino-type games. Game manager 603, providing all the advantages of its consistent and richly functional game application API 602 as supported by the rest of game kernel 600, thus provides a game developer with a multitude of advantages.
Game manager 603 may have several objects within itself, including an initialization object (not shown). The initialization object performs the initialization of the entire game machine, including other objects, after game manager 603 has started its internal objects and servers in appropriate order. In order to carry out this function, the kernel's configuration manager 621 is among the first objects to be started; configuration manager 621 has data needed to initialize and correctly configure other objects or servers.
The high level managers 620 of game kernel 600 may include game event log manager 622 which provides, at the least, a logging or logger base class, enabling other logging objects to be derived from this base object. The logger object is a generic logger; that is, it is not aware of the contents of logged messages and events. The game event log manager's 622 job is to log events in non-volatile event log space. The size of the space may be fixed, although the size of the logged event is typically not. When the event space or log space fills up, one embodiment will delete the oldest logged event (each logged event will have a time/date stamp, as well as other needed information such as length), providing space to record the new event. In this embodiment, the most recent events will thus be found in the log space, regardless of their relative importance. Further provided is the capability to read the stored logs for event review.
In accordance with one embodiment, meter manager 623 manages the various meters embodied in the game kernel 600. This includes the accounting information for the game machine and game play. There are hard meters (counters) and soft meters; the soft meters may be stored in non-volatile storage such as non-volatile battery-backed RAM to prevent loss. Further, a backup copy of the soft meters may be stored in a separate non-volatile storage such as EEPROM. In one embodiment, meter manager 623 receives its initialization data for the meters, during start-up, from configuration manager 621. While running, the cash in manager 624 and cash out manager 625 call the meter manager's 623 update functions to update the meters. Meter manager 623 will, on occasion, create backup copies of the soft meters by storing the soft meters' readings in EEPROM. This is accomplished by calling and using EEPROM manager 631.
In accordance with still other embodiments, progressive manager 626 manages progressive games playable from the game machine. Event manager 627 is generic, like game event log manager 622, and is used to manage various gaming machine events. Focus manager 628 correlates which process has control of various focus items. Tilt manager 632 is an object that receives a list of errors (if any) from configuration manager 621 at initialization, and during game play from processes, managers, drivers, etc. that may generate errors. Random number generator manager 629 is provided to allow easy programming access to a random number generator (RNG), as a RNG is required in virtually all casino-style (gambling) games. Random number generator manager 629 includes the capability of using multiple seeds.
In accordance with one or more embodiments, a credit manager object (not shown) manages the current state of credits (cash value or cash equivalent) in the game machine, including any available winnings, and further provides denomination conversion services. Cash out manager 625 has the responsibility of configuring and managing monetary output devices. During initialization, cash out manager 625, using data from configuration manager 621, sets the cash out devices correctly and selects any selectable cash out denominations. During play, a game application may post a cash out event through the event manager 627 (the same way all events are handled), and using a call back posted by cash out manager 625, cash out manager 625 is informed of the event. Cash out manager 625 updates the credit object, updates its state in non-volatile memory, and sends an appropriate control message to the device manager that corresponds to the dispensing device. As the device dispenses dispensable media, there will typically be event messages being sent back and forth between the device and cash out manager 625 until the dispensing finishes, after which cash out manager 625, having updated the credit manager and any other game state (such as some associated with meter manager 623) that needs to be updated for this set of actions, sends a cash out completion event to event manager 627 and to the game application thereby. Cash in manager 624 functions similarly to cash out manager 625, only controlling, interfacing with, and taking care of actions associated with cashing in events, cash in devices, and associated meters and crediting.
In a further example, in accordance with one or more embodiments, I/O board server 615 may write data to the gaming machine EEPROM memory, which is located in the gaming machine cabinet and holds meter storage that must be kept even in the event of power failure. Game manager 603 calls the I/O library functions to write data to the EEPROM. The I/O board server 615 receives the request and starts a low priority EEPROM thread 616 within I/O board server 615 to write the data. This thread uses a sequence of 8 bit command and data writes to the EEPROM device to write the appropriate data in the proper location within the device. Any errors detected will be sent as IPC messages to game manager 603. All of this processing is asynchronous.
In accordance with one embodiment, button module 617 within I/O board server 615, polls (or is sent) the state of buttons every 2 ms. These inputs are debounced by keeping a history of input samples. Certain sequences of samples are required to detect a button was pressed, in which case the I/O board server 615 sends an inter-process communication event to game manager 603 that a button was pressed or released. In some embodiments, the gaming machine may have intelligent distributed I/O which debounces the buttons, in which case button module 617 may be able to communicate with the remote intelligent button processor to get the button events and simply relay them to game manager 603 via IPC messages. In still another embodiment, the I/O library may be used for pay out requests from the game application. For example, hopper module 618 must start the hopper motor, constantly monitor the coin sensing lines of the hopper, debounce them, and send an IPC message to the game manager 603 when each coin is paid.
Further details, including disclosure of lower level fault handling and/or processing, are included in U.S. Pat. No. 7,351,151 entitled “Gaming Board Set and Gaming Kernel for Game Cabinets” and provisional U.S. patent application No. 60/313,743, entitled “Form Fitting Upgrade Board Set For Existing Game Cabinets,” filed Aug. 20, 2001; said patent and provisional are both fully incorporated herein by explicit reference.
B. System
Referring to
The gaming terminals 803 include various peripheral components that may be connected with USB, serial, parallel, RS-485 or Ethernet devices/architectures to the system components within the respective gaming machine. The GMU 507 has a connection to the base game through a serial SAS connection. The system components in the gaming cabinet may be connected to the servers using HTTPs or G2S over Ethernet. Using CMS 807 and/or SMS 805 servers and devices, firmware, media, operating systems, and configurations may be downloaded to the system components of respective gaming devices for upgrading or managing floor content and offerings in accordance with operator selections or automatically depending upon CMS 807 and SMS 805 master programming. The data and programming updates to gaming devices 803 are authenticated using conventional techniques prior to install on the system components.
In various embodiments, any of the gaming terminals 803 may be a mechanical reel spinning slot machine, video slot machine, video poker machine, video bingo machine, keno machine, or a gaming device offering one or more of the above described games including an interactive wheel feature. Alternately, gaming terminals 803 may provide a game with an accumulation-style feature game as one of a set of multiple primary games selected for play by a random number generator, as described above. A gaming system 801 of the type described above also allows a plurality of games in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention to be linked under the control of a group game server (not shown) for cooperative or competitive play in a particular area, carousel, casino or between casinos located in geographically separate areas. For example, one or more examples of group games under control of a group game server are disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/938,079, entitled “Networked System and Method for Group Gaming,” filed on Nov. 9, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
The gaming system 801, among other functionalities such as slot accounting (i.e. monitoring the amount wagered (“drop”), awards paid) and other casino services, includes the player tracking CMS/CMP server 837 and/or data warehouse 835 storing player account data. This data includes personal data for players enrolled in the casino players club sometimes referred to as a loyalty club. An example of the personal data is the player's name, address, SSN, birth date, spouse's name and perhaps personal preferences such as types of games, preferences regarding promotions and the like. As is known in the industry and according to the prior art, at enrollment the player is assigned a created account in the player tracking CMS/CMP server 837 and is issued a player tracking card having a machine readable magnetic stripe. At enrollment the player may also be assigned to a “tier” level. For example, the casino or casino network may have a 3-tier player reward system labeling the tiers as, for example, a Silver Tier (Tier 1), a Gold Tier (Tier 2) and a Platinum Tier (Tier 3). These tier discriminators reflect a relative value of the player to the casino and are used to determine the type, nature and quantity of marketing and rewards offered to players. For example, at initial enrollment a player may be assigned into the Silver Tier and be entitled, based upon their commercial activity (wagering, purchases of goods/services) to certain rewards such as 2-for-1 show tickets, 2-for-1 buffet and the like. Through their commercial activity and over time the player may be viewed as a more valuable player and be “upgraded” to the Gold Tier where they receive more valuable rewards. The Platinum Tier is for the casino's most highly valued players. Rewards for the Platinum Tier would be more valuable. These promotions, according to the present invention, as well as player funds and other data are stored at, for example, the system server 853. The venue can update the promotions manually or via promotions configured and launched according to predetermined criteria. As but an example, the casino may configure a promotion to provide $25 in bonus play to Silver tier players, $30 to Gold tier players and $50 to Platinum tier players to become effective each Wednesday of the month between 1 pm and 8 pm to attract play during normally slow periods.
When a player plays a gaming terminal 100, he/she inserts their player tracking card into the card reader 555 (
The system 801 may also include electronic transfer of funds functionality. For example, a player having accumulated $100 at a gaming terminal 100 may decide to “cash out” to play another gaming terminal. The player, for example using the player tracking module 511 to initiate communication with the system 801 for example server 837 to upload the value from the gaming terminal 100 into an electronic account associated with the player's account. The player may choose to upload all or a portion of the funds. The system would prompt the player to enter their PIN (or obtain biometrical confirmation as to the player's identity) and upload the chosen amount to their account. When the player moves to another gaming terminal 100 he/she inserts their player loyalty card into the card reader 555 to access their account. A prompt provides for the player to request funds from their account. Entering their PIN (or biometric identifier) the player can input the desired amount which is downloaded to their gaming terminal 100 for play.
While the above description has focused upon a system for the casino industry, it should be understood that systems for other industries such as airline frequent flyer programs and retail loyal programs operate functionally more or less as described.
C. Smart Card (Prior Art)
Turning now to
Inasmuch as such cards 400 are intended to retain secure information, unless activated the display 406 is blank and the card 400 is in a passive state, i.e. is not engaged in commercial intercourse with a near field based network/system. To prevent tampering for example while the card is in the postal system in an envelope or in a person's wallet or purse, NFC can only be established if the user activates the card 400 for example by pressing an “ON” button in an NFC environment field. A user pulling the card 400 from their wallet would have no alterable visual indication concerning an aspect of the card 400 or its intended network. Where such cards are applied into a gaming environment it would be advantageous to provide addition visual cues to the player with/without activation of the card or interaction with the gaming system. In environments other than gaming, such cues would also be useful to user. These cues may relate to available promotions, the user's status, accepted and remaining available discounts or promotions, instant prizes or the like.
The same holds true for other portable devices such as cellular telephones and PDAs to name a few. While it is known to display data and to use a cellular telephone and like devices in a manner of a smart card, it would be advantageous to display one or more visual cues to users in a near field commercial, communication environment.
D. Apparatus, Systems and Methods of Present Invention
With reference to the various embodiments of the present invention there is shown at
The user of the system and method is provided or is in possession of a portable device such as a smart card 700 (or cellular telephone 702, PDA or other electronic device). While the invention as hereinafter described assumes that the user has a smart card 700, other portable electronic devices could be used. In a preferred embodiment each gaming terminal 100 is provided with a near field communication transceiver of the type configured to communicate with the smart card 700 and/or cellular telephone 702 using near field communication protocols and techniques. In an embodiment the near field transceiver may be disposed in the PTM 511 or included elsewhere within the gaming terminal housing 102 such as the card reader 555. To accommodate legacy cellular telephones which may not include near field capability the smart card 700 may be configured to interact both with the cellular telephone and with the near field communication (NFC) transceiver. For example the smart card 700 may be configured to have a personal area network transceiver such as a Bluetooth transceiver to interact with the cellular telephone's Bluetooth transceiver and a near field communication (NFC) transceiver as disclosed in Loh, et al US Pub. 2009/0143104 titled “Wireless Smart Card and Integrated Personal Area Network, Near Field Communication and Contactless Payment System” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. The near field transceiver is preferably configured to RFID tag specifications such as ISO/IEC 14443. Accordingly when the smart card 700 is brought to within a distance of 0 (contact)-20 cm a current is induced in the smart card antenna to activate and enable the card to establish communication with the system and network. The contact/contactless NFC may be according to the VISA PAYWAVE® (a registered Trademark of Visa International Service Assn.) system. To avoid “snooping” of the smart cards 700 by unauthorized people seeking private information or to steal electronic funds accessible via the smart cards 700, the player must take active steps such as entering a PIN or the like to activate the card or initiate a communication or action. For example, in one embodiment, the player is required to “unlock” the smart card 700 and enter a PIN initially and periodically to establish and maintain communication with the NFC transceiver.
To facilitate interaction between the player and the system the PTM 511 may include a NFC interface device 900 as shown in
The smart card 700 includes an on-board CPU/memory 1100 configured to include an operating system and programming to operate the functions and components as hereinafter described. A battery 1102 provides an on-board power to maintain certain functions such as, where required, the panel 1004 in a displaying condition. An inductive power circuit 1104 with an antenna 1106 is configured to generate power when the smart card 700 is brought into an NFC field. When power is generated by the inductive power circuit 1104 the smart card 700 is powered up by the battery 1102. To render the smart card 700 functional the user may have to unlock the smart card 700 such as, for example, periodically depressing the lock button 1008 on the smart card 700 (
At 1200 (
At 1206 the system, via the NFC communications link, transfers to the smart card 700 NFC Comm Module 1108 and CPU/Memory 1100 the latest and most current data regarding the player's account such as current offers, current tier standing, loyalty points, electronic funds available and any other data as configured by the administrator. This transfer may be a transfer of data to overwrite exiting data or it may sync the system data with the data stored at the CPU/memory 1100, i.e. write or overwrite only the changed data. The channel for such communication is, preferably, encrypted such as by the use of an asymmetric key exchange. The promotions would be configured, for example, to be of a global nature (for all players), property specific, data specific, game specific, and tier specific and player specific promotions. These specific promotions may be related to a particular game, game title, player or the like. As but an example, the system would first retrieve and download to the card, applicable global offers such as those shown in Table 1 below.
An example of game specific offers may be as listed in Table 2 below.
Specific offers may be related to a particular location (where the smart card 700 is operational across several locations such as across a family of related casinos) or at certain locations within a casino such as a sports bar or the like. The promotions may be to encourage certain types of wagering such as sports wagering or table games. Promotions may be configured to provide promotions based upon the tier level of the players as well. Based upon the system and smart card 700 timer 1110, certain promotions may have expired and would be culled from the list(s) of offerings or otherwise be made un-executable. The available offers would be downloaded or synched to the smart card 700 CPU/memory 1100.
Additionally the CPU/memory 1100 would be synched with the system accounts of the funds available for the player to download to a gaming terminal 100 for play (if such functionality is provided). The funds the player has residing in his/her electronic account would be represented by data stored at one or both of the system level and on the smart card 700. For example the smart card 700 CPU/memory 1100 may actually store data representing a value which is also stored at the system level. Alternatively the smart card 700 CPU/memory may store data representing a pointer to the data stored at the system level. In either case the data representing value is stored at the system level so that in the event the user's smart card 700 is lost or damaged, those funds remain accessible. If an error is found between the value data stored on the smart card 700 and at the system level, a suitable notification would be sent to the player to go to the casino cage to remedy the error. The error may be based upon a memory error, attempted “hacking” of the smart card 700 or other error. The system record would be the prevailing record.
The system also stores a record of the player's loyalty points. At 1208 the system retrieves any “aborted” gaming session by the player. It is a feature of the present invention that a player is not required to “log out” from a session of play at a gaming terminal 100 (or table game). For example, a player may exhaust their gaming credits at a gaming terminal 100 and simply leave. If the player institutes another session at the same or another gaming terminal 100 at 1208 the system recognizes the aborted session and at 1210 retrieves the aborted session data (win/loss history, time at the gaming terminal 100, accrued loyalty points) and at 1212 re-initiates the gaming session. If at 1208 no aborted session is determined at 1214 it is determined whether the player has initiated an active session at the gaming terminal 100. The system also determines at 1216 whether the player is also playing an adjacent gaming terminal 100. In either case at 1212 the gaming session is initiated. At 1218 the system, based upon the communication with the smart card 700 and the gaming terminals 100 player and their adjacency, determines whether the player is playing multiple gaming terminals 100. For example, some players enjoy playing two, adjacent, gaming terminals at the same time. At 1218 the system determines this situation and at 1220 transfers the active session of the adjacent gaming terminal 100 to the initiated gaming session at 1212 so the player gets credit for the play of the gaming terminals 100.
It is a feature of an embodiment of the present invention that the smart card 700 facilitates cashless and ticketless gaming. Accordingly, at enrollment according to this embodiment, the user has an account (sometimes referred to as an e-account, virtual wallet or the like) established at one or more system servers. This account retains data regarding (1) the current balance of available funds and (2) historical data of transactions regarding the account, e.g. deposits and withdrawals. The smart card 700 is capable for storing data corresponding to an amount of money available to the player for gaming or purchasing goods or services. This value may be loaded onto the smart card 700 in several different ways. One way is for the player to insert cash into a gaming terminal 100 to initially establish credits and later to cash out by uploading the cash value of the remaining credits to the smart card 700 and system. Another way is to load cash is through a provided kiosk where the player may load funds through cash, credit card, debit card transaction or the like. Funds may also be loaded into the account through an established casino credit line and transferring funds from that credit line to the player's account at a kiosk, gaming terminal 100 or through a transaction at the casino cage. Value may also be added by the casino as a promotion. The player may add funds to and draw funds from the account at the gaming terminal 100, a provided transaction kiosk, at the casino cage or at a point of sale location for the purchasing of goods or services. The current value of the player's account may be replicated into the CPU/memory 1100 of the smart card 700 and/or the CPU/memory 1100 includes data to point to the account for access thereto.
Continuing with
Turning to
In regards to the foregoing the player can also configure the smart card panel 1004 to one or a number of selected patterns or colors. For example, when the smart card 700 is brought into the NFC field and recognized, the PTM 511 may afford the player with an option to select, for example, a default color, pattern or graphic for the panel 1004. Where the panel encompasses a large area of a surface of the smart card 700, the player may choose a blue color for the panel 1004. This would therefore be the default color assumed by the panel. Depending on the information to be imparted to the player this color may change to reflect the player's tier, promotion availability, saved game state, account status or the like. In a non-limiting example, the player may select a pattern of squares which assumes a blue color to reflect the player's tier. When the player desire's to determine their saved state status with a game, using the buttons 1002 on the smart card 700 the player can call up the menu on the display 1000 for the game whereupon a portion of the panel assumes a yellow color and the number “2” indicting that the player has achieved a saved state of “2” for that game.
At 1710 the player takes their smart card 700 to affiliated Casino 2 and starts a gaming session. The player would, for example, download value stored in the smart card 700 to a gaming machine at Casino 2 for wagering. The downloading of value at 1712 would be reflected and stored at 1714 in a transaction ledger maintained at Casino 2 as a credit. The smart card 700 stored value would be reduced by the amount of the credit transferred to the gaming terminal 100. A server at the affiliated Casino 2 would save the transaction at the server level as well to provide a record. At 1716 Casino 2 sends their ledger data (debits and credits) in a batch process to the clearing house server for reconciliation. At 1718 all records at the Casino 1 and Casino 2 are reconciled so that the data regarding the player's account for both properties is consistent and up to date.
Various promotions and features may also be selected by displaying an active electronic poster, for example, at the display 104 for the gaming terminal 100 or the display 559 for the PTM 511. Using their smart card 700 the player may touch the poster whereupon the promotion is downloaded to the smart card 700 and copied to the player's system account. In a related embodiment the player may call up a listing of active promotions to be displayed at the gaming terminal 100 display 104 or PTM 511 display 559 and select promotions by touching their smart card 700 to a displayed icon or listing of the selected promotion or by entering a prompt at the smart card buttons 1002 or buttons associated with the displayed menu such as buttons 902 (
The smart card 700 CPU and memory 1100 may be configured to control the panel 1004 (
While the above description of various embodiments of the present invention have been directed to a smart card, it should be understood that other electronic devices configured for near field communication could be used alone or in conjunction with a smart card. For example, a user may have a cellular telephone having NFC, processing and display functionalities described above. The user would establish their system account and configure their cellular telephone for NFC with the terminals and to operate as described above. Similarly a tablet computer, laptop computer or PDA could likewise be configured. Where the displays of such devices permit there may be multiple panels such as the singular panel 1004 of smart card 700 (or smart card 700 may be configured to have multiple display panels 700) so that visual states of various conditions may be displayed simultaneously. For example, one panel may display the user's tier, and others the saved states of various games and the state of promotions. Regarding promotions, the color of the panel(s) 1004 may change as an active promotion approaches expiration. Preferably for all embodiments at least the panel(s) 1004 remains in a display condition even though the smart card 700 is locked and not in communication with a system. That is, a user may view the smart card 700 (or other device as described above) at any time and the panel(s) 1004 would reflect the desired or selected visual state. The panel(s) 1004 persists under the power of the battery 1102, if required.
As stated above the methods and system of the present invention are compatible with other loyalty programs as well such as airline frequent flier programs and retailer loyalty programs. Kiosks or terminals would be provided with NFC capability to download and upload information between the smart card (and/or other device) as described above. The user's loyalty points or credits would be displayed. For example where the smart card 700 is part of an airline frequent flier program, the panel 1004 may assume a color based upon the customer's account status entitling the user to priority boarding, free bag check-in, seat upgrades and the like.
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, uses specific nomenclature and formula to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It should be apparent to those of skill in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. The embodiments have been chosen and described to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others of skill in the art to utilize the invention, and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Thus, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and those of skill in the art recognize that many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.
