Patent Application
20170266541
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This disclosure relates generally to methods of administering wagering games for casinos and other gaming establishments, and related systems and apparatuses, and more particularly to wagering games where wagers are risked on roulette ball spins and the final positions of the roulette balls on the roulette wheel.
Roulette is a popular wagering game played in casinos and other gaming establishments. Avid players are generally open to, and sometimes specifically seek out, new and more interesting ways to play roulette, particularly when the reward for a winning outcome at the end of a round of play, or the odds of achieving a winning outcome, may be enhanced. In addition, casino operators are always seeking new, eye-catching roulette systems and improvements that can leverage their existing facilities to better advantage.
Generally, the popularity of gaming machines and systems that present roulette games to players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine or table and the intrinsic entertainment value of the system relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing systems and the expectation of winning at each gaming system is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting systems. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting games, features, and enhancements available because such offerings attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a roulette ball launching system includes a mounting structure fixed to a top rim of a roulette wheel bowl. The mounting structure releasably clamps the top rim between an outer jaw and an inner jaw. The launching system further includes an automatic roulette ball launcher connected to the mounting structure that is configured to launch a roulette ball into a ball path of the roulette wheel bowl from underneath the top rim.
According to another embodiment of the invention, a roulette ball launching system is mounted to a roulette table that includes a roulette wheel in a concave bowl with a circular ball path around an upper circumference of the concave bowl below a top rim. The launching system includes a mounting structure fixed to the top rim via the top rim being clamped between an outer jaw and an inner jaw. The launching system further includes a roulette ball launcher connected to the mounting structure. The ball launcher positions a roulette ball within the circular ball track prior to releasing the roulette ball into the circular ball track.
According to still another embodiment of the invention, a roulette ball launching system is mounted to a roulette table that includes a roulette wheel in a concave bowl with a top rim. The roulette table further includes a circular ball track around an upper circumference of the bowl below the tip rim. The launching system includes a mounting structure including an outer jaw and an inner jaw. The outer jaw and the inner jaw extend downwards from the mounting structure and the mounting structure is configured to be fixed to the top rim of the bowl via the top rim being clamped between the outer and inner jaws. The launching system further includes a roulette ball launcher connected to the mounting structure having a launch position and a retracted position. In the launch position, at least a part of the ball launcher extends into the bowl below the top rim. In the retracted position, the at least a part of the ball launcher is withdrawn out of the bowl. The ball launcher in the launch position is configured to release the roulette ball within the circular ball track underneath the rim.
Additional embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.
The drawings described below have been timely submitted with this specification and are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The illustrations presented in this disclosure are not meant to be actual views of any particular act and/or element in a method, apparatus, system, or component thereof, but are merely idealized representations employed to describe illustrative embodiments. Thus, the drawings are not necessarily to scale. Additionally, elements common between figures may retain the same or similar numerical designation. Elements with the same number, but including a different alphabet character as a suffix should be considered as multiple instantiations of substantially similar elements and may be referred to generically without an alphabet character suffix.
The terms “gaming,” “gambling,” or the like, refer to activities, games, sessions, rounds, hands, rolls, operations, and other events related to wagering games, the outcome of which is at least partially based on one or more random events (“chance” or “chances”), and on which wagers may be placed by a player. In addition, the words “wager,” “bet,” “bid,” or the like, refer to any type of wager, bet, or gaming venture that is placed on random events, whether of monetary or non-monetary value. Points, credits, and other items of value may be purchased, earned, or otherwise issued prior to beginning the wagering game. In some embodiments, purchased points, credits, or other items of value may have an exchange rate that is not one-to-one to the currency used by the user. For example, a wager may include money, points, credits, symbols, or other items that may have some value related to a wagering game. Wagers may be placed in wagering games that involve the risk of real-world monetary value for the potential of payouts with real-world monetary value (e.g., the “play-for-pay,” such as “house-banked” and “player-banked,” configurations , each of which is described in more detail below) or in wagering games that involve no real-world monetary risks for the player (e.g., the “play-for-fun” and “social play-for-fun” configurations described in more detail below).
As used herein, the term “wager” includes any form of wagering value, including money, casino chips, other physical means for payment, and online or remote electronic authorization of a wager in any acceptable form to the casino or online or virtual game host. Also included are physical representations of money (e.g., casino chips) at a local game, as well as virtual representations of money in the form of electronic authorizations of a transfer of money and digital representations of money (e.g., digital representations of bills or coins, digital representations of chips, numerical quantities of money, numerical quantities of points, or numerical quantities of credits) at a local or remote electronic gaming device. As used herein, the term “wagering element” means and includes objects and symbols used to signify the acceptance of a wager. For example, physical wagering elements include physical money (e.g., bills and coins) and physical wagering tokens (e.g., casino chips), which may or may not be redeemable for monetary value and may or may not include electronic identifiers (e.g., RFID chips) embedded within the tokens, enabling electronic sensing and tracking of wagering. Virtual wagering elements include, for example, images (e.g., images of money or poker chips) and text (e.g., a string of numbers), which may or may not be redeemable for monetary value. In the “play-for-fun” and “social play-for-fun” configurations, a “wager” may not have a cash value (i.e., a real-world monetary value).
For the purposes of this description, it will be understood that when an action related to accepting wagers, generating roulette outcomes, making payouts, accepting selection of roulette outcomes, or other actions associated with a player or a croupier is described herein, and such description includes a player or a croupier taking the action, some results of the action may be computer generated and may be displayed on a live or virtual table or electronic display, and, if applicable, the reception or detection of such an action in an electronic form where player and croupier choices, selections, or other actions are received at an electronic interface. Also included is the representation of the invention and corresponding physical roulette wheel on a display or displays, and, if applicable to the action described, an electronic reception of an indication that the roulette outcome has been received, selected, or otherwise interacted with at a location associated with a player, or, associated with a virtual player. A wagering game may also be implemented with a virtual or computer-generated dealer, croupier, or table manager.
Various platforms are contemplated that are suitable for implementation of embodiments of wagering games according to this disclosure. For example, embodiments of wagering games may be implemented as live table games with an in-person croupier, partially or fully automated table games, and partially or fully automated, network-administered games (e.g., Internet games) wherein game results may be produced utilizing a live video feed of a croupier administering a game from a remote studio.
For example, in one embodiment, the players may be remotely located from a live croupier, and a live croupier and a roulette table may be displayed to players on their monitors via a video feed. The players' video feeds may be transmitted to the croupier and may also be shared among the players at the table. In a sample embodiment, a central station may include a plurality of betting-type game devices and an electronic camera for each game device. A plurality of player stations, remotely located with respect to the central station, may each include a monitor for displaying a selected game device at the central station, and input means for selecting a game device and for placing a bet by a player at the player's station relating to an action involving an element of chance to occur at the selected game device. Further details on gambling systems and methods for remotely-located players are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,741 B1, issued Jun. 29, 3004, titled “GAMBLING GAME SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTELY-LOCATED PLAYERS,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
In some embodiments, the playing surface 102 may include an electronic bet sensor to electronically recognize the placement of a specific type of chip (e.g., bonus wager or conventional roulette wager) of a fixed denomination. In some embodiments, the electronic bet sensor may also be configured to determine the denomination of the chip. In still other embodiments, the electronic bet sensor may be able to detect one or more denominations of a plurality of stacked chips included in the wager. In some embodiments, the wager can be any size within house limits.
The table 100 may include features for at least partially automating administration of a wagering game using the table 100. For example, the table 100 may include a croupier interface 118, which may enable an in-person administrator (e.g., a croupier) to initiate automated administration of certain actions and to personally perform other actions associated with administering a wagering game. The croupier interface 118 may include, for example, a croupier chip tray 120, which may be configured to support house chips, to which lost wagers may be added, and from which payouts may be paid. The croupier interface 118 may include a player authenticator 174 (e.g., a magnetic strip reader for cards carrying player information encoded on a magnetic strip), which may be configured to verify the identity of a player and grant access to a player account for the purpose of paying payouts, granting complimentary items and services (i.e., “comps”) to players, redeeming chips for monetary value and vice versa, or performing other actions requiring a player's verified identity. The croupier interface 118 may include game initiation and control devices, such as, for example, buttons 176 and touchscreens 178, which may be configured to initiate random game events, verify authorization for large payout awards, enter wagering or outcome information for the purpose of game tracking, activating and deactivating automated portions of game administration (e.g., turning the table 100 and associated components on and off), and performing other actions to initiate and control the automatic administration of the wagering game.
The table 100 may include at least one processor, for example, a processor 180A-C, which may be associated, for example, with the video display 130 (e.g., processor 180A), the table 100 itself (e.g., processor 180B), or the touchscreen 178 (e.g., processor 180C) of the croupier interface 118. The one or more processors 180A-C may access game rules and game assets (e.g., videos, images, and text) stored in at least one nontransitory memory, such as a memory 190-A-C, which may similarly be associated, for example, with the video display 130 (e.g., memory 190A), the table 100 itself (e.g., memory 190B), or the touchscreen 178 (e.g., memory 190C) of the croupier interface 118. For example, the one or more processors 180A-C may interpret a random game outcome, declare winning wager conditions, and control display of information on the video display 130.
At least some of the actions performed in connection with administering a wagering game using the table 100 may be accomplished by an in-person croupier. For example, wagers may be accepted by a croupier permitting a player to place a chip in a designated area on the playing surface 102, and payouts may be paid by the croupier giving chips from a croupier chip tray 120 to a player, for example, by placing them on the playing surface 102 proximate the player. Other actions performed in connection with administering a wagering game using the table 100 may be accomplished automatically by one or more processors 180A-C, which may occur in response to croupier input or may occur automatically in response to other game events. For example, one or more processors 180A-C may automatically interpret a random game outcome (e.g., using sensors in the physical roulette wheel 104 or using imaging sensors configured to capture information from the physical roulette wheel 104), and may apply game rules and display all winning game conditions associated with the random game outcomes on the video display 130.
The playing surface 102 may further include a wagering area 117, in which conventional roulette wagers, and any other wagers may be accepted. The wagering area 117 may be the same as or similar to wagering areas described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/631,598, filed Sep. 28, 2012, for “SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES FOR DISPLAYING HISTORICAL ROULETTE INFORMATION.” Briefly, the wagering area 117 may be configured for acceptance of bonus, odds, evens, red, black, split, box, specific number and color, and other roulette bets, wherein the receipt of a wagering element within a specific area, on a border between areas, or at an intersection among areas may reflect receipt of a predicted roulette outcome or a predicted characteristic of a roulette outcome. In some embodiments, the playing surface 102 may include an area for electronically showing the outcome of randomly generated roulette outcomes or a roulette wheel into which a ball may be introduced to randomly generate a roulette outcome.
In some embodiments, the gaming table 300 may include a display 310 separate from the gaming surface 302. The display 310 may be configured to face players, prospective players, and spectators and may display, for example, rules, paytables, real-time game status, such as wagers accepted and cards dealt, historical game information, such as amounts won, amounts wagered, percentage of hands won, and notable hands achieved, and other instructions and information related to the wagering game. The display 310 may be a physically fixed display, such as a poster, in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the display 310 may change automatically in response to a stimulus (e.g., may be an electronic video monitor).
The gaming table 300 may include particular machines and apparatuses configured to facilitate the administration of the wagering game. For example, the gaming table 300 may include one or more physical roulette wheels 304. More specifically, the gaming table 300 may include three separate roulette wheels 304, which may generate independently randomized roulette outcomes. The roulette wheels 304 may include, for example, a spinning, recessed surface (e.g., a wheelhead) with a series of numbered and colored pockets into which an outcome identifier (e.g., a ball) may come to rest. The outcome identifiers may be manually introduced into the roulette wheels 304 by a croupier or may be automatically introduced into the roulette wheels 304 by identifier introduction mechanisms. The roulette wheels 304 may simply be supported on the gaming surface 302 in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the roulette wheels 304 may be mounted into the gaming surface 302 such that the roulette wheels 304 are not manually removable from the gaming surface 302 without the use of tools.
The gaming table 300 may include one or more chip racks 308 configured to facilitate accepting wagers, transferring lost wagers to the house, and exchanging monetary value for wagering elements 312 (e.g., chips). For example, the chip rack 308 may include a series of token support rows, each of which may support tokens of a different type (e.g., color and denomination). In some embodiments, the chip rack 308 may be configured to automatically present a selected number of chips using a chip-cutting-and-delivery mechanism. Additional details of an illustrative chip rack 308 and chip-cutting-and-delivery mechanism are found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,980, issued May 3, 2011, to Blaha et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference. In some embodiments, the gaming table 300 may include a drop box 314 for money that is accepted in exchange for wagering elements 312. The drop box 314 may be, for example, a secure container (e.g., a safe or lockbox) having a one-way opening into which money may be inserted and a secure, lockable opening from which money may be retrieved. Such drop boxes 314 are known in the art, and may be incorporated directly into the gaming table 300 and may, in some embodiments, have a removable container for the retrieval of money in a separate, secure location.
When administering a wagering game in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure, a croupier may receive money (e.g., cash) from a player in exchange for wagering elements 312. The croupier may deposit the money in the drop box 314 and transfer physical wagering elements 312 to the player. The croupier may accept one or more initial wagers (e.g., antes and other wagers) from the player, which may be reflected by the croupier permitting the player to place one or more wagering elements 312 or other wagering tokens (e.g., cash) within designated areas on the gaming surface 302 associated with the various wagers of the wagering game. Once all wagers have been accepted, outcome identifiers may be introduced into the roulette wheels 304 and permitted to come to rest on three individually randomized roulette outcomes.
Finally, the croupier may resolve the wagers, award payouts to the players, which may be accomplished by giving wagering elements 312 from the chip rack 308 to the players, resetting progressive wagers, which may be accomplished by transferring wagering elements designated for placing the progressive wagers to players or transferring them to the chip rack 308, and transferring losing, nonprogressive wagers to the house, which may be accomplished by moving wagering elements 312 from the gaming surface 302 to the chip rack 308.
In some embodiments, wagering games in accordance with this disclosure may be administered using a gaming system employing a client-server architecture (e.g., over the Internet, a local area network, etc.).
The wagering games supported by the gaming system 400 may be operated with real currency or with virtual credits or other virtual (e.g., electronic) value indicia. For example, the real currency option may be used with traditional casino and lottery-type wagering games in which money or other items of value are wagered and may be cashed out at the end of a game session. The virtual credits option may be used with wagering games in which credits (or other symbols) may be issued to a player to be used for the wagers. A player may be credited with credits in any way allowed, including, but not limited to, a player purchasing credits; being awarded credits as part of a contest or a win event in this or another game (including non-wagering games); being awarded credits as a reward for use of a product, casino, or other enterprise, time played in one session, or games played; or may be as simple as being awarded virtual credits upon logging in at a particular time or with a particular frequency, etc. Although credits may be won or lost, the ability of the player to cash out credits may be controlled or prevented. In one example, credits acquired (e.g., purchased or awarded)for use in a play-for-fun game may be limited to non-monetary redemption items, awards, or credits usable in the future or for another game or gaming session. The same credit redemption restrictions may be applied to some or all of credits won in a wagering game as well.
An additional variation includes web-based sites having both play-for-fun and wagering games, including issuance of free (non-monetary) credits usable to play the play-for-fun games. This feature may attract players to the site and to the games before they engage in wagering. In some embodiments, a limited number of free or promotional credits may be issued to entice players to play the games. Another method of issuing credits includes issuing free credits in exchange for identifying friends who may want to play. In another embodiment, additional credits may be issued after a period of time has elapsed to encourage the player to resume playing the game. The gaming system 400 may enable players to buy additional game credits to allow the player to resume play. Objects of value may be awarded to play-for-fun players, which may or may not be in a direct exchange for credits. For example, a prize may be awarded or won for a highest scoring play-for-fun player during a defined time interval. All variations of credit redemption are contemplated, as desired by game designers and game hosts (the person or entity controlling the hosting systems).
The gaming system 400 may include a gaming platform to establish a portal for an end user to access a wagering game hosted by one or more gaming servers 410 over a network 430. In some embodiments, games are accessed through a user interaction server 412. The gaming system 400 enables players to interact with a user device 420 through a user input device 424 and a display 422 and to communicate with one or more gaming servers 410 using a network 430 (e.g., the Internet). Typically, the user device is remote from the gaming server 410 and the network is the word-wide web (i.e., the Internet).
In some embodiments, the gaming servers 410 may be configured as a single server to administer wagering games in combination with the user device 420. In other embodiments, the gaming servers 410 may be configured as separate servers for performing separate, dedicated functions associated with administering wagering games. Accordingly, the following description also discusses “services” with the understanding that the various services may be performed by different servers or combinations of servers in different embodiments. As shown in
The user device 420 may communicate with the user interaction server 412 through the network 430. The user interaction server 412 may communicate with the game server 416 and provide game information to the user device 420. In some embodiments, the game server 416 may also include a game engine. The game engine may, for example, access, interpret, and apply game rules. In some embodiments, a single user device 420 communicates with a game provided by the game server 416, while other embodiments may include a plurality of user devices 420 configured to communicate and provide end users with access to the same game provided by the game server 416. In addition, a plurality of end users may be permitted to access a single user interaction server 412, or a plurality of user interaction services 412, to access the game server 416.The user interaction server 412 may enable a user to create and access a user account and interact with game server 416. The user interaction server 412 may enable users to initiate new games, join existing games, and interface with games being played by the user.
The user interaction server 412 may also provide a client for execution on the user device 420 for accessing the gaming servers 410. The client provided by the gaming servers 410 for execution on the user device 420 may be any of a variety of implementations depending on the user device 420 and method of communication with the gaming servers 410. In one embodiment, the user device 420 may connect to the gaming servers 410 using a web browser, and the client may execute within a browser window or frame of the web browser. In another embodiment, the client may be a stand-alone executable on the user device 420.
For example, the client may comprise a relatively small amount of script (e.g., JAVASCRIPT®), also referred to as a “script driver,” including scripting language that controls an interface of the client. The script driver may include simple function calls requesting information from the gaming servers 410. In other words, the script driver stored in the client may merely include calls to functions that are externally defined by, and executed by, the gaming servers 410. As a result, the client may be characterized as a “thin client.” The client may simply send requests to the gaming servers 410 rather than performing logic itself. The client may receive player inputs, and the player inputs may be passed to the gaming servers 410 for processing and executing the wagering game. In some embodiments, this may involve providing specific graphical display information for the display 422 as well as game outcomes.
As another example, the client may comprise an executable file rather than a script. The client may do more local processing than does a script driver, such as calculating where to show what game symbols upon receiving a game outcome from the game server 416 through user interaction server 412. In some embodiments, portions of an asset server 414 may be loaded onto the client and may be used by the client in processing and updating graphical displays. Some form of data protection, such as end-to-end encryption, may be used when data is transported over the network 430. The network 430 may be any network, such as, for example, the Internet or a local area network.
The gaming servers 410 may include an asset server 414, which may host various media assets (e.g., text, audio, video, and image files) to send to the user device 420 for presenting the various wagering games to the end user. In other words, the assets presented to the end user may be stored separately from the user device 420. For example, the user device 420 requests the assets appropriate for the game played by the user; as another example, especially relating to thin clients, just those assets that are needed for a particular display event will be sent by the gaming servers 410, including as few as one asset. The user device 420 may call a function defined at the user interaction server 412 or asset server 414, which may determine which assets are to be delivered to the user device 420 as well as how the assets are to be presented by the user device 420 to the end user. Different assets may correspond to the various user devices 420 and their clients that may have access to the game server 416 and to different variations of wagering games.
The gaming servers 410 may include the game server 416, which may be programmed to administer wagering games and determine game play outcomes to provide to the user interaction server 412 for transmission to the user device 420. For example, the game server 416 may include game rules for one or more wagering games, such that the game server 416 controls some or all of the game flow for a selected wagering game as well as the determined game outcomes. The game server 416 may include pay tables and other game logic. The game server 416 may perform random number generation for determining random game elements of the wagering game. In one embodiment, the game server 416 may be separated from the user interaction server 412 by a firewall or other method of preventing unauthorized access to the game server 412 by the general members of the network 430.
The user device 420 may present a gaming interface to the player and communicate the user interaction from the user input device 424 to the gaming servers 410. The user device 420 may be any electronic system capable of displaying gaming information, receiving user input, and communicating the user input to the gaming servers 410. For example, the user device 420 may be a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet computer, a set-top box, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone), a kiosk, a terminal, or another computing device. As a specific, nonlimiting example, the user device 420 operating the client may be an interactive electronic gaming system. The client may be a specialized application or may be executed within a generalized application capable of interpreting instructions from an interactive gaming system, such as a web browser.
The client may interface with an end user through a web page or an application that runs on a device including, but not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet, or a general computer, or the client may be any other computer program configurable to access the gaming servers 410. The client may be illustrated within a casino webpage (or other interface) indicating that the client is embedded into a webpage, which is supported by a web browser executing on the user device 420.
In some embodiments, components of the gaming system 400 may be operated by different entities. For example, the user device 420 may be operated by a third party, such as a casino or an individual, that links to the gaming servers 410, which may be operated, for example, by a wagering game service provider. Therefore, in some embodiments, the user device 420 and client may be operated by a different administrator than the operator of the game server 416. In other words, the user device 420 may be part of a third-party system that does not administer or otherwise control the gaming servers 410. In other embodiments, the user interaction server 412 and asset server 414 may be operated by a third-party system. For example, a gaming entity (e.g., a casino) may operate the user interaction server 412, user device 420, or combination thereof to provide its customers access to game content managed by a different entity that may control the game server 416, amongst other functionality. In still other embodiments, all functions may be operated by the same administrator. For example, a gaming entity (e.g., a casino) may elect to perform each of these functions in-house, such as providing access to the user device 420, delivering the actual game content, and administering the gaming system 400.
The gaming servers 410 may communicate with one or more external account servers 432 (also referred to herein as an account service 432), optionally through another firewall. For example, the gaming servers 410 may not directly accept wagers or issue payouts. That is, the gaming servers 410 may facilitate online casino gaming but may not be part of a self-contained online casino itself. Another entity (e.g., a casino or any account holder or financial system of record) may operate and maintain its external account service 432 to accept bets and make payout distributions. The gaming servers 410 may communicate with the account service 432 to verify the existence of funds for wagering and to instruct the account service 432 to execute debits and credits. As another example, the gaming servers 410 may directly accept bets and make payout distributions, such as in the case where an administrator of the gaming servers 410 operates as a casino.
Additional features may be supported by the gaming servers 410, such as hacking and cheating detection, data storage and archival, metrics generation, messages generation, output formatting for different end user devices, as well as other features and operations. For example, the gaming servers 410 may include additional features and configurations as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/353,194, filed Jan. 18, 2012, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/609,031, filed Sep. 10, 2012, both applications titled “NETWORK GAMING ARCHITECTURE, GAMING SYSTEMS, AND RELATED METHODS,” the disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
The table 582 includes a camera 570 and optionally a microphone 572 to capture video and audio feeds relating to the table 582. The camera 570 may be trained on the croupier 580, play area 587, and roulette wheel or wheels 584. As the game is administered by the croupier 580, the video feed captured by the camera 570 may be shown to the player using the user device 420, and any audio captured by the microphone 572 may be played to the player using the user device 420. In some embodiments, the user device 420 may also include a camera, microphone, or both, which may also capture feeds to be shared with the croupier 580 and other players. In some embodiments, the camera 570 may be trained to capture images of the roulette outcomes, chips, and chip stacks on the surface of the gaming table. Known image extraction techniques may be used to obtain roulette outcome from the images of the roulette wheel or wheels 584. An example of suitable image extraction software is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,901,285, issued Mar. 8, 2011, to Tran et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated in this disclosure in its entirety by this reference.
Roulette outcome data in some embodiments may be used by the table manager 586 to determine game outcome. The data extracted from the camera 570 may be used to confirm roulette outcome data obtained from the roulette wheel or wheels 584 (e.g., using sensors) and for general security monitoring purposes, such as detecting player or croupier outcome or wager manipulation, for example. Examples of roulette outcome data include, for example, number and color information of a roulette outcome and number and color information of each roulette outcome in a set of roulette outcomes (e.g., three roulette outcomes from the same round of play).
The live video feed permits the croupier to use one or more physical roulette wheels and play the game as though the player were at a live casino. In addition, the croupier can prompt a user by announcing a player's election is to be performed. In embodiments where a microphone 572 is included, the croupier 580 can verbally announce action or request an election by a player. In some embodiments, the user device 420 also includes a camera or microphone, which also captures feeds to be shared with the croupier 580 and other players.
Player elections may be transmitted to the table manager 586, which may display player elections to the croupier 580 using a croupier display 588 and player action indicator 590 on the table 582. For example, the croupier display 588 may display information regarding when to close betting, when to introduce an outcome identifier into a physical, spinning roulette wheel 584, or which player position is responsible for the next action.
In some embodiments, the table manager 586 may receive roulette outcome information from each roulette wheel 584. For example, the roulette wheel or wheels 584 may include sensors to detect specific spaces on the roulette wheel and which space an outcome identifier is positioned on. In some embodiments, the table manager 586 may generate roulette outcome information (e.g., alone or in addition to the information received from one or more roulette wheels 584).
The table manager 586 may apply game rules to the roulette outcome information, along with the accepted player decisions, to determine gameplay events and wager results. Alternatively, the wager results may be determined by the croupier 580 and input to the table manager 586, which may be used to confirm automatically determined results by the gaming system.
Roulette outcome data in some embodiments may be used by the table manager 586 to determine game outcome. The data extracted from the camera 570 may be used to confirm the data obtained from the roulette wheel or wheels 584 and for general security monitoring purposes, such as detecting player or croupier outcome or wager manipulation, for example.
The live video feed permits the croupier to physically generate one or more randomized roulette outcomes and play the game as though the player were at a live casino. In addition, the croupier can prompt a user by announcing a player's election is to be performed. In embodiments where a microphone 572 is included, the croupier 580 can verbally announce action or request an election by a player. In some embodiments, the user device 420 also includes a camera or microphone, which also captures feeds to be shared with the croupier 580 and other players.
A conventional roulette wheel such as the roulette wheel 604 may comprise several components including a concave bowl 644 in which a wheelhead 641 spins. The wheelhead may be the platter within the bowl that has the numbered slots into which the roulette ball eventually lands. Extending upward from the center of the wheelhead 641 is a turret 648. The concave bowl is capped by a circumferential top rim 642. At the top of the concave bowl 644 and underneath the top rim 642 is a circular ball track 646. In typical play, a roulette ball is introduced into the ball track 646 and spun around the ball track. After several rotations around the ball track, the roulette ball begins to slow down and gravity causes it to drop out of the ball track 646 into the lower parts of the concave bowl 644. Eventually, the roulette ball falls into the wheelhead 641 (which is typically spinning in the opposite direction as the roulette ball) and then settles into one of the numbered slots indicating the winning outcome of the basic roulette game.
The embodiment of the invention shown in
The perspective view shown in
The exemplary inner and outer jaw bars 628, 626 each respectively support two of the inner jaws 624 and the outer jaws 622, however, ball-launching systems with different numbers of inner and outer jaws are envisioned by the invention, as well as systems having jaws that mount directly without a jaw bar. Inner and outer jaws may be constructed of various materials. It may be preferable to utilize resilient and/or non-marring materials for the jaws, such as plastic, rubber, and other synthetic and natural materials, composites, and combinations thereof.
The novel rim-mounted configuration of embodiments of the invention enable a casino or other wagering-game establishment to include ball-launching systems with existing roulette wheels without requiring expensive and/or irreversible modifications to their roulette wheels. By clamping to the top rim of the roulette bowl, the ball-launching system 610 is both easily installed and easily removed from the roulette wheel. Once removed, the roulette wheel is restored to its previous condition due, in part, to the non-invasive attachment facilitated by the inner/outer jaw clamping attachment method.
Various embodiments of the invention may utilize the detector 623 or one or more additional detectors to implement additional features. For example, detectors may be employed by the ball-launching system to detect the direction in which the wheelhead is spinning and the direction that the ball launcher aims to launch the roulette ball. If the respective directions are not compatible (e.g., the ball and the wheel typically spin in opposite directions), the ball-launching system may provide an alert to inform the dealer or croupier of an impending error. The alert may be an audio alert via a speaker or other audio device, and may be a video alert displayed on a display device such as the video display 130 (see
An embodiment of the invention may include the capability of detecting the final positions of multiple roulette balls launched in a single spin of the roulette wheel. For example, a detector may be employed to capture a dynamic video image of the roulette wheel as multiple balls are launched into the ball track. One or more detectors may be cameras, such as the camera 570 (see
In an embodiment, one or more detectors may monitor changes in light levels as a roulette ball rotates in the ball track. Two detectors in succession can determine ball direction and speed by noting sequence and elapsed time between respective detections. In a similar fashion, a detector may identify differences in reflected light from an empty slot and a slot containing a roulette ball. A detector may locate a reference point (e.g., a zero or double zero slot) and count subsequent slots as the wheel spins. In this manner, an embodiment may determine which particular slot (i.e., number and color) into which the roulette ball falls. Of course, various means and methods may be utilized to track ball and slot characteristics on the roulette wheel. Multi-colored balls may be used to facilitate tracking multiple balls in a single launch. A camera, such as the camera 570, may image the roulette wheel during spins and image-processing software may dynamically track multiple balls as they spin in the bowl and land in slots on the wheelhead. These and other similar means and methods for ball and wheel tracking are considered to be within the scope and spirit of the invention.
In
In
In an embodiment, the ball launcher withdraws linearly out of the bowl (as opposed to pivoting or rotating). Linear withdrawal may include linear movement in more than one direction, for example, an upwards movement combined with a lateral movement. Alternatively, the ball launcher may withdraw out of the bowl via a combination of linear and rotational movements, or via a combination of rotational movements in different directions. For example, the ball launcher may first pivot upwards as shown in
The various embodiments and examples described herein are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the claimed invention, nor the scope of the various embodiments and examples. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize various modifications and changes that may be made to the claimed invention without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims. In addition, various embodiments may be combined. Therefore, reference to an embodiment, one embodiment, in some embodiments, in other embodiments, and the like does not preclude one or more methods, functions, steps, features, results, hardware implementations, or software implementations of different embodiments from being combined. Further, reference to an embodiment, one embodiment, in some embodiments, in other embodiments, examples, and the like provides various aspects that may or may not be combined with those of one or more different embodiments and/or examples.
While the example embodiments have been described with relation to a gaming environment, it will be appreciated that the above concepts can also be used in various nongaming environments. Accordingly, the disclosure should not be limited strictly to gaming casinos, arcades, portal based game sites, cellular phone devices, personal digital assistant devices, laptops, personal computers, home game consoles, bar top gaming devices, table gaming devices, surface computing devices, table gaming biometric touch screen, television gaming, or in-room gaming devices.
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, uses specific nomenclature and formula to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It should be apparent to those of skill in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the disclosed embodiments. 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.
