Patent Application
20150348374
Modern casinos are increasingly moving toward electronic and computerized implementations for their gaming machines. For example, slot machines historically were mechanical devices whose physical reels could be spun by pulling a lever on the side of the machine. Each symbol on each reel occupied a physical stop having the same probability of occurrence as all other stops on the reel, and the machine would pay out based on the combination of symbols appearing in a line across the reels (the “payline”) when all of the reels stopped spinning. Today, however, mechanical reels in slot machines are typically controlled electronically, such that different payline probabilities can be assigned to different symbols on the reels. The reels can be spun by pushing a button that activates the electronic control, although some machines may retain the traditional lever for entertainment value. In newer video slot machines, the physical reels are replaced by virtual reels whose symbols are displayed on a video screen, controlled by one or more computer processors. Some video slot machines have physical buttons for the player to press, while others are operated via touchscreen.
An electronic gaming machine is typically programmed, via software or firmware, to pay out as winnings, in the long run, a particular percentage of the money that is paid in by players as wagers. This is typically done by setting the probabilities for individual payouts in the machine's control system. For example, if a machine gives a payout of 10 times the player's wager with a probability of 5%, and a payout of 20 times the player's wager with a probability of 2%, then the machine has a theoretical payout percentage of 90%. The remaining 10% of the wagers are kept by the “house” (i.e., the slot machine operator—typically the casino) as profits. The payouts that result from various combinations of symbols appearing on a payline when the reels stop spinning are typically listed in a pay table that may be displayed somewhere on the machine. The probability of each payout can thus be controlled by setting the probabilities of the individual symbols that must co-occur on the payline to produce that payout.
One embodiment is directed to a method of manipulating a display of reels in a reel-spinning wagering game, the method comprising: accessing, in one or more data structures stored in one or more processor-readable storage media, data representing a plurality of reels of symbols in a starting set of reels, and one or more replacement reels of symbols; displaying on a display screen a depiction of at least a portion of each of the plurality of reels in the starting set; receiving, via a machine-user interface, user input indicating a wager; and executing stored instructions via at least one processor to execute a first reel spin by modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray the plurality of reels in the starting set spinning, computing a first stopping position for each of the plurality of reels in the starting set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the plurality of reels in the starting set stopped at its respective first stopping position; replace the depiction on the display screen of at least one of the plurality of reels in the starting set with a depiction of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more replacement reels to form a modified set of reels depicted on the display screen, the modified set of reels comprising at least one reel from the starting set and at least one replacement reel; execute a second reel spin by modifying the depiction of the modified set of reels on the display screen to portray the reels in the modified set spinning, computing a second stopping position for each of the reels in the modified set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the reels in the modified set stopped at its respective second stopping position; and determine a payout based on the second stopping positions of the reels in the modified set.
Another embodiment is directed to apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one processor-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising: accessing, in one or more data structures, data representing a plurality of reels of symbols in a starting set of reels, and one or more replacement reels of symbols; displaying on a display screen a depiction of at least a portion of each of the plurality of reels in the starting set; receiving, via a machine-user interface, user input indicating a wager; executing a first reel spin by modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray the plurality of reels in the starting set spinning, computing a first stopping position for each of the plurality of reels in the starting set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the plurality of reels in the starting set stopped at its respective first stopping position; replacing the depiction on the display screen of at least one of the plurality of reels in the starting set with a depiction of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more replacement reels to form a modified set of reels depicted on the display screen, the modified set of reels comprising at least one reel from the starting set and at least one replacement reel; executing a second reel spin by modifying the depiction of the modified set of reels on the display screen to portray the reels in the modified set spinning, computing a second stopping position for each of the reels in the modified set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the reels in the modified set stopped at its respective second stopping position; and determining a payout based on the second stopping positions of the reels in the modified set.
Another embodiment is directed to at least one processor-readable storage medium encoded with processor-executable instructions that, when executed, perform acts comprising: accessing, in one or more data structures, data representing a plurality of reels of symbols in a starting set of reels, and one or more replacement reels of symbols; displaying on a display screen a depiction of at least a portion of each of the plurality of reels in the starting set; receiving, via a machine-user interface, user input indicating a wager; executing a first reel spin by modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray the plurality of reels in the starting set spinning, computing a first stopping position for each of the plurality of reels in the starting set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the plurality of reels in the starting set stopped at its respective first stopping position; replacing the depiction on the display screen of at least one of the plurality of reels in the starting set with a depiction of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more replacement reels to form a modified set of reels depicted on the display screen, the modified set of reels comprising at least one reel from the starting set and at least one replacement reel; executing a second reel spin by modifying the depiction of the modified set of reels on the display screen to portray the reels in the modified set spinning, computing a second stopping position for each of the reels in the modified set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the reels in the modified set stopped at its respective second stopping position; and determining a payout based on the second stopping positions of the reels in the modified set.
Another embodiment is directed to a method, performed by a casino game server, of manipulating a display of reels in a reel-spinning wagering game, the method comprising: accessing, in one or more data structures stored in one or more processor-readable storage media, data representing a plurality of reels of symbols in a starting set of reels, and one or more replacement reels of symbols; transmitting to a video terminal machine data for creating a depiction of at least a portion of each of the plurality of reels in the starting set for display on the display screen of the video terminal machine; receiving, from the video terminal machine, user input indicating a wager inputted via a machine-user interface of the video terminal machine; and executing stored instructions via at least one processor to instruct the video terminal machine to execute a first reel spin by modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray the plurality of reels in the starting set spinning, compute a first stopping position for each of the plurality of reels in the starting set, and then instruct the video terminal machine to modify the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the plurality of reels in the starting set stopped at its respective first stopping position; instruct the video terminal machine to replace the depiction on the display screen of at least one of the plurality of reels in the starting set with a depiction of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more replacement reels to form a modified set of reels depicted on the display screen, the modified set of reels comprising at least one reel from the starting set and at least one replacement reel; instruct the video terminal machine to execute a second reel spin by modifying the depiction of the modified set of reels on the display screen to portray the reels in the modified set spinning, compute a second stopping position for each of the reels in the modified set, and then instruct the video terminal machine to modify the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the reels in the modified set stopped at its respective second stopping position; determine a payout based on the second stopping positions of the reels in the modified set; and instruct the video terminal machine to indicate the payout to the user.
The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:
The inventor has appreciated that casino gambling is a risky and potentially discouraging activity for players, particularly if they realize that the odds in casino wagering games are typically set in favor of the house so that the casino can turn a profit. To overcome the natural tendency of many people to avoid risk, the inventor has recognized that it may be advantageous to design a casino game machine, such as an electronic gaming machine for a reel-spinning game (e.g., a slot machine), to include novel features that can add layers of excitement and anticipation to a player's gaming experience, thereby retaining and enhancing the player's interest in the game.
Accordingly, some embodiments described herein relate to techniques for manipulating a display of reels in a reel-spinning wagering game, in ways that may serve to build a player's interest in continuing to play the wagering game, such as by providing unique mechanisms for the player's expected winnings to increase at particular points in the gameplay. However, embodiments are not limited to any of these benefits, and it should be appreciated that some embodiments may not provide all or any of the above-discussed benefits.
In some embodiments, a memory (one or more processor-readable storage media) storing data and/or instructions used to present a reel-spinning game may include one or more data structures representing reels of symbols to be spun in the reel-spinning game. In some embodiments, the data may include symbols and probabilities for a starting set of reels that may be spun when a round of gameplay first commences. In some embodiments, the data may also include symbols and probabilities for one or more replacement reels, which can be used during gameplay to replace one or more of the reels currently in play. For example, in some embodiments, in response to the occurrence of a suitable trigger event during gameplay with the starting set of reels, one or more of the reels in the starting set may be removed from the game display and replaced with one or more of the replacement reels. In some embodiments, the symbols and probabilities in the replacement reels may be such that the modified set of reels formed by replacing one or more of the starting reels with one or more of the replacement reels has a higher expected payout than the starting set of reels did. Thus, in some embodiments, the player's interest in continuing to play the reel-spinning wagering game may be heightened by “trading up” one or more lower-paying reels for one or more higher-paying reels, thus increasing the player's winnings expectations. Additionally, in some embodiments, before a replacement reel is triggered to replace a reel currently in play, a preview depiction of the replacement reel may be displayed as an inactive reel. The inventor has appreciated that this may give the player an exciting sense of anticipation of an upcoming opportunity to increase the player's expected winnings, which may serve to motivate the player to continue playing the wagering game.
It should be appreciated that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and embodiments are not limited to providing any or all of the above-described functionality, although some embodiments may provide some or all of the functionality described herein.
The embodiments described herein can be implemented in any of numerous ways, and are not limited to any particular implementation techniques. Thus, while examples of specific implementation techniques are described below, it should be appreciated that the examples are provided merely for purposes of illustration, and that other implementations are possible.
One illustrative application for the techniques described herein is for use in a system for controlling a casino game machine. However, techniques described herein may be applied to any type of gaming device, including but not limited to a casino game machine (e.g., a slot machine), a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, glasses with augmented reality technology, etc.
An exemplary cabinet 10 housing a casino game machine is illustrated in perspective view in
Display 12 and/or display 14 may have a touch screen lamination that includes a transparent grid of conductors. A player touching the screen may change the capacitance between the conductors, and thereby the X-Y location of the touch on the screen may be determined. A processor within cabinet 10 may associate this X-Y location with a function to be performed. There may be an upper and lower multi-touch screen in accordance with some embodiments.
A coin slot 22 may accept coins or tokens in one or more denominations to generate credits within the casino game machine for playing games. An input slot 24 for an optical reader and printer may receive machine readable printed tickets and may output printed tickets for use in cashless gaming.
A coin tray 32 may receive coins or tokens from a hopper (not shown) upon a win or upon the player cashing out. However, in some embodiments, the casino game machine may not pay in cash, but may only issue a printed ticket for cashing in elsewhere. Alternatively, a stored value card may be loaded with credits based on a win, or may enable the assignment of credits to an account associated with a computer system, which may be a computer network-connected computer.
A card reader slot 34 may accept any of various types of cards, such as smart cards, magnetic strip cards, and/or other types of cards conveying machine readable information. The card reader may read the inserted card for player and/or credit information for cashless gaming. The card reader may read a magnetic code on a conventional player tracking card, where the code uniquely identifies the player to the host system. The code may be cross-referenced by the host system to any data related to the player, and such data may affect the games offered to the player by the casino game machine. The card reader may also include an optical reader and printer for reading and printing coded barcodes and other information on a paper ticket. A card may also include credentials that enable the host system to access one or more accounts associated with a user. The account may be debited based on wagers by a user and credited based on a win.
A keypad 36 may accept player input, such as a personal identification number (PIN) and/or any other player information. A display 38 above keypad 36 may display a menu for instructions and/or other information, and/or may provide visual feedback of the keys pressed. The keypad 36 may be an input device such as a touchscreen, or dynamic digital button panel, in accordance with some embodiments.
Player control buttons 39 may include any buttons and/or other controllers usable for the play of the particular game or games offered by the casino game machine, including, for example, a bet button, a repeat bet button, a spin reels (or play) button, a maximum bet button, a cash-out button, a display pay lines button, a display payout tables button, select icon buttons, and/or any other suitable button(s). In some embodiments, buttons 39 may be replaced by a touch screen with virtual buttons. In some embodiments, touchless control gesture functionality may replace or coexist with buttons 39.
Game controller board 44 may contain memory and one or more processors for carrying out programs stored in the memory and for providing the information requested by the network. Game controller board 44 may execute programs stored in the memory and/or instructions received from host system 41 to carry out game routines.
Peripheral devices/boards may communicate with game controller board 44 via a bus 46 using, for example, an RS-232 interface. Such peripherals may include a bill validator 47, a coin detector 48, a smart card reader and/or other type of credit card reader 49, and/or player control inputs 50 (such as buttons 39 and/or a touch screen).
Game controller board 44 may also control one or more devices that produce the game output including audio and video output associated with a particular game that is presented to the user. For example, audio board 51 may convert coded signals into analog signals for driving speakers. Display controller 52 may convert coded signals into pixel signals for one or more displays 53 (e.g., display 12 and/or display 14). Display controller 52 and audio board 51 may be directly connected to parallel ports on game controller board 44. In some embodiments, the electronics on the various boards may be combined in any suitable way, such as onto a single board.
In some embodiments, control system 310 may include one or more tangible, non-transitory processor-readable storage devices storing processor-executable instructions, and one or more processors that execute the processor-executable instructions to perform the functions described herein. The storage devices may be implemented as computer-readable storage media (i.e., tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media) encoded with the processor-executable instructions; examples of suitable computer-readable storage media are discussed below. An example of a suitable storage medium is memory 316 depicted in
Exemplary control system 310 also includes a user interface component 318 configured to allow a user (player) 330 to interact with the casino game machine. User interface 318 may be implemented in any suitable form, as embodiments are not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, user interface 318 may configured to receive input from player 330 in any suitable form, such as by button, touchscreen, touchless control gesture, speech commands, etc., and may be configured to provide output to player 330 in any suitable form, such as audio output and/or visual output on a 2D or 3D display. In one exemplary embodiment, user interface 318 may include one or more components of casino game machine 100 housed in cabinet 10, such as player control inputs 50, audio board 51, display controller 52, and/or displays 53.
In some embodiments, one or more processors of a casino game machine and/or a central control system providing functionality to the casino game machine may execute stored instructions to present a reel-spinning game to a player via user interface components of the casino game machine. The form of play of the reel-spinning game may be to virtually spin a set of virtual reels having various symbols located at regularly spaced intervals (“stops”) on the reels. Portions of the virtual reels may be depicted on a display screen of the casino game machine as if the physical reels were placed side-by-side behind a window that leaves only a limited number of symbols on each reel visible through the window at any time. The player may place a wager on one or more paylines, each forming a pattern of symbol locations within the window on the reels. When the reels are spun, the symbols that appear in the window on the display when the reels stop spinning may be checked along each of the paylines on which a wager was placed, to determine whether any winning symbol combinations occur on those paylines to result in a payout to the player.
Typically in a reel-spinning game, the amount of winnings that a player receives as a payout resulting from a given reel spin depends on which paylines the player has placed wagers on, which symbols occur on those paylines when the reels stop spinning, and how much that particular combination or pattern of symbols pays. In some embodiments, the set of available paylines and the mappings from particular symbol combinations to particular payouts may be stored in memory in any suitable form of data structure, and the system may access these data at the conclusion of a reel spin to determine whether any winning combinations have occurred on paylines on which the player has wagered, and to compute the amount of any applicable payout to award to the player. The possible winning symbol combinations and the amounts of their corresponding payouts may also be provided to the player in the form of a pay table, to inform the player as to what symbol combinations and payouts the player could hope to achieve by continued play of the reel-spinning game. For instance, in one example the combination of three bell symbols occurring in a row could be defined in the pay table as a winning combination. Assuming the example configuration in
In some embodiments, when a display of a reel-spinning game normally depicts a window over a certain number of reels (say, five reels), the game system may have access to data representing not only those five reels, but also additional reels not originally displayed in the game window. In some embodiments, the stored data may represent a starting set of reels as well as one or more replacement reels, and opportunities may be provided during gameplay for one or more of the starting reels to be replaced by one or more of the replacement reels, e.g., to change the possible winning symbol combinations that could occur, or to change the probabilities of some winning symbol combinations occurring. In some embodiments, the reel replacement capability may only be provided during one or more bonus rounds of the game, in which case the starting set of reels for the bonus round may be the same or different reels from the main game reels in the main portion of the game. For example, in some embodiments, the stored data structure(s) representing the reels for the reel-spinning game may include data representing a main game set of reels, a different starting set of reels for the bonus (e.g., reels having different symbols and/or different symbol probabilities than the main game set of reels), and one or more replacement reels for the bonus. In other embodiments in which reel replacement only occurs during the bonus, the starting set of reels for the bonus may be the same as the main game reels, although in some embodiments certain symbols on the main game reels that trigger the bonus from the main game may be replaced by symbols that trigger reel replacement within the bonus round.
Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments an extra reel may be depicted in preview position 410, and in some embodiments the extra reel may be spun when the active reels are spun, to create anticipation in the player for what sorts of winning symbols might occur after the bonus round is triggered. Any suitable extra reel may be used in preview position 410 during the main portion of the game, such as one of the starting reels for the bonus, or one of the replacement reels, or an additional reel used only for the preview. In some embodiments, the preview depiction of the extra reel may include any suitable visual indicator(s) that the extra reel is currently inactive and not part of any paylines that could currently produce winnings; in the example of
In some embodiments, the bonus round of the reel-spinning game may be triggered by any suitable bonus-triggering event from the main portion of the game, such as the occurrence of a particular symbol or combination of symbols. Bonus triggers are not necessarily limited to symbol occurrences, however; other examples of suitable bonus-triggering events may include reaching a particular amount of total winnings in the reel-spinning game, completing a particular number of reel spins in the main game, applying a bonus credit received from another game or a promotion in the casino, etc. In the example reel-spinning game illustrated in
In some embodiments, a replacement reel may be configured to create a higher payout expectation once it replaces one of the active reels in the game. This may be achieved in any suitable way. For instance, in the example depicted in
In some embodiments, the player may be required to wager on one or more paylines in order to spin the reels in the bonus round. However, this is not required. In other embodiments, one or more free spins may be provided in the bonus round, and any payouts resulting from those free spins may be provided to the player without the player having wagered on those spins. In the example depicted in
In some embodiments, as the bonus round is played, one or more active reels may be replaced by one or more replacement reels in response to any suitable reel replacement trigger event. As with the bonus trigger, any suitable form of reel replacement trigger event may be used to cause a reel replacement. In some embodiments, reels in the bonus round (including the starting set of reels and the replacement reels) may include a reel replacement symbol having any suitable probability of occurrence, which probability may be the same or different across reels in the starting set and different replacement reels. In some embodiments, upon execution of a reel spin in the bonus round, a reel replacement may be triggered by the occurrence of the reel replacement symbol in any position in the game window, or by co-occurrence of a threshold number of reel replacement symbols within the game window, or by any suitable pattern of reel replacement symbols (e.g., on a payline), etc. An example of such a reel replacement trigger event is illustrated in
In some embodiments, in response to a reel replacement trigger event, such as occurrence of a reel replacement symbol upon a reel spin of the active set of reels in the bonus, the one or more processors may execute stored instructions to modify the game display by replacing the depiction of one or more of the reels in the starting set with one or more of the replacement reels, forming a modified set of active reels. In some embodiments, the number of reels replaced may be determined by the number of reel replacement symbols that occur at the conclusion of the reel spin. The reel replacement may be done in any suitable way, e.g., using any suitable animations to perform the reel replacement in an entertaining manner for the player. For instance, in some embodiments, the depiction of a reel in the starting set may be removed from its location on the display screen, and replaced at that location by the depiction of the replacement reel. In one example, a replacement reel may be animated as dropping down from above the reel being replaced (or from any other suitable direction), knocking the reel being replaced down off the bottom of the display (or in any other suitable direction) and taking its place. In other embodiments, the depiction of the entire starting set of reels may be shifted toward a particular edge of the display screen, resulting in the removal of the reel closest to that particular edge, and a depiction of the replacement reel may be inserted at the opposite side, farthest from that particular edge.
In the example shown in
In some embodiments, reel spins may continue to be executed within the bonus round as long as there are available free spins remaining, and subsequent reel replacements (such as reel shifts) may be executed in response to any reel replacement trigger events that occur in connection with those reel spins. In some embodiments, at the conclusion of each reel spin, the stopping positions of the active reels may determine whether any payout is rewarded, based on whether any winning combination of symbols occurs on an active payline at the conclusion of the reel spin. For example,
Additionally, in the example of
It should be appreciated from the foregoing that one embodiment is directed to a method 500 for manipulating a display of reels in a reel-spinning wagering game, as illustrated in
It should be further appreciated from the foregoing that another embodiment is directed to a method 600 for operating a reel-spinning wagering game and manipulating a display of reels in the reel-spinning wagering game. Method 600 may be performed, for example, by one or more processors of a control system such as control system 310 or control system 300, although other implementations are possible, as method 600 is not limited in this respect. Method 600 begins at act 610, at which data representing a plurality of reels of symbols in a starting set of reels, and data representing one or more replacement reels, may be accessed in one or more data structures stored in one or more processor-readable storage media. In the exemplary embodiment of method 600, the same starting set of reels is used for both a main portion and a bonus portion of the reel-spinning game. However, as discussed above, embodiments are not limited to using the same starting set of reels in both portions of the game, and some embodiments may use a different starting set of reels for the bonus than for the main game portion.
At act 620 of exemplary method 600, a depiction of at least a portion of each of the plurality of reels in the starting set may be displayed on a display screen in the active position on the game display. At act 625, optionally, the next replacement reel(s) (at this point, the first replacement reel, and optionally any portion of one or more subsequent replacement reels) may be displayed in a preview position on the display. At act 630, the system may wait until user input indicating a wager is received via a machine-user interface. Until such a wager input is received, method 600 may loop back through acts 620 and 625, maintaining the static display of the reels. User input indicating a wager may be made in any suitable form, as embodiments are not limited in this respect, and may not always require the user to input a “new” wager. For example, in some embodiments, it may be assumed that the user's wager from the previous spin is to be repeated on the next spin unless the user indicates that it is to be changed, and the wager-indicating user input for the next spin may simply be a press of a “play” or “spin” button to indicate the same wager as for the previous spin. At act 640, in response to receiving the wager-indicating user input, a reel spin of the active reels may be executed by modifying the display screen to portray the plurality of reels in the starting set spinning, computing a stopping symbol position for each of the plurality of reels in the starting set, and then modifying the depiction on the display screen to portray each of the plurality of reels in the starting set stopped at its respective stopping symbol position. Any applicable payout may also be computed based on the stopping symbol positions of the active reels.
At act 650, a determination may be made as to whether a bonus-triggering event is detected in connection with the reel spin of act 640. Examples of suitable bonus-triggering events are given above. If a bonus-triggering event is not detected, method 600 may loop back to act 630 to await a wager-indicating user input before executing the next reel spin in the main portion of the game. If a bonus-triggering event is detected at act 650, then one or more bonus spins (e.g., free spins) may be allocated, and the first bonus spin may be executed at act 660. The reel spin may include executing stored instructions via at least one processor to modify the depiction on the display screen to portray the active reels spinning, compute a stopping symbol position for each of the active reels, and then modify the depiction on the display screen to portray the active reels stopped at their respective stopping symbol positions. Any applicable payout may also be determined based on the stopping symbol positions of the active reels.
At act 670, a determination may be made as to whether a reel replacement triggering event is detected in connection with the reel spin of act 660. Examples of suitable reel replacement triggering events are given above. If a reel replacement triggering event is not detected, method 600 may continue to act 680, where a determination may be made as to whether there are more bonus spins remaining. If yes, then method 600 may loop bock to act 660, at which the next bonus spin may be executed. If not, then method 600 may exit the bonus portion of the reel-spinning game and loop back to act 620, at which the active reels for the main portion of the reel-spinning game may be displayed, and wager-indicating user input may be awaited.
If a reel replacement triggering event is detected at act 670, then method 600 may proceed to act 690, at which the depiction on the display screen of at least one of the currently active reels may be replaced with a depiction of at least a portion of at least one of the one or more replacement reels (e.g., the next replacement reel(s) from the preview position) to form a modified set of reels depicted on the display screen as the active reels. At act 695, optionally, one or more subsequent replacement reels may then be displayed in the preview position. Method 600 may then loop back to act 660, at which the next bonus reel spin may be executed using the modified set of reels.
The embodiments are operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the described techniques include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The computing environment may execute computer-executable instructions, such as program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
With reference to
Computer 710 typically includes a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 710 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by computer 710. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.
The system memory 730 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 731 and random access memory (RAM) 732. A basic input/output system 733 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 710, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 731. RAM 732 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 720. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 710 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in
The computer 710 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 780. The remote computer 780 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 710, although only a memory storage device 781 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 710 is connected to the LAN 771 through a network interface or adapter 770. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 710 typically includes a modem 772 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 773, such as the Internet. The modem 772, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 721 via the user input interface 760, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 710, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiple computers. It should be appreciated that any component or collection of components that perform the functions described above can be generically considered as one or more controllers that control the above-discussed functions. The one or more controllers can be implemented in numerous ways, such as with dedicated hardware, or with general purpose hardware (e.g., one or more processors) that is programmed using microcode or software to perform the functions recited above.
In this respect, it should be appreciated that one implementation comprises at least one processor-readable storage medium (i.e., at least one tangible, non-transitory processor-readable medium, e.g., a computer memory (e.g., hard drive, flash memory, processor working memory, etc.), a floppy disk, an optical disc, a magnetic tape, or other tangible, non-transitory processor-readable medium) encoded with a computer program (i.e., a plurality of instructions), which, when executed on one or more processors, performs at least the above-discussed functions. The processor-readable storage medium can be transportable such that the program stored thereon can be loaded onto any computer resource to implement functionality discussed herein. In addition, it should be appreciated that the reference to a computer program which, when executed, performs above-discussed functions, is not limited to an application program running on a host computer. Rather, the term “computer program” is used herein in a generic sense to reference any type of computer code (e.g., software or microcode) that can be employed to program one or more processors to implement above-discussed functionality.
The phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and additional items. Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Ordinal terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term), to distinguish the claim elements.
Having described several embodiments of the invention, various modifications and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such modifications and improvements are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended as limiting. The invention is limited only as defined by the following claims and the equivalents thereto.
