Patent Application
20070191111
This application is related to United States Patent Application publication number 2004/0166940 entitled “Configuration of Gaming Machines” and published Aug. 26, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which the claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any person of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever. Copyright 2005, 2006, WMS Gaming, Inc.
Gaming machines may be operated as a stand alone unit, or linked in a network of some type to a group of gaming machines. As technology in the gaming industry progresses, more and more gaming services are being provided to gaming machines via communication networks that link groups of gaming machines to a remote central server computer that provides one or more gaming services. As an example, gaming services that may be provided by the remote computer to a gaming machine via a communication network of some type include player tracking, accounting, cashless award ticketing, lottery, progressive games and bonus games. In addition, gaming machines are evolving into gaming platforms where the gaming services and game play options provided on the gaming machines may be dynamically configured. Thus, the number and type of game services and game play options offered on a particular gaming machine may vary with time.
A gaming entity may operate hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of gaming machines. Since gaming is allowed in many locations throughout the world, casinos may have games distributed over a wide geographic area. Within casinos, the gaming machines may be connected via one or more dedicated networks. Servers are usually located in a backroom of the casino away from the casino floor.
Current techniques for initially loading, modifying or replacing game software in gaming machines are generally inconvenient, time-consuming, and expensive. In one technique, the entire gaming machine is disconnected from the central server and replaced with a new machine. This involves the shipment of machines to and from a gaming establishment and requires the services of an appreciable number of skilled and semi-skilled service personnel. The service personnel must identify the machines to be replaced, locate the machines on the gaming establishment floor, and then replace the existing machines with the new machines. In another technique, the media containing the software is replaced with new media containing the new software. Again, the service personnel must identify the machines to receive the new software media, locate the machines on the gaming establishment floor, and then replace the existing media with the new media. In this case, media may be a hard disk, flash, various non-volatile media such as EEPROM, EPROM, etc.
In yet another technique, the new software can be downloaded to the gaming machine from the central server linked to the gaming machine. This downloading technique facilitates modifications to the game software in that it does not require removal of the gaming machine and does not require service personnel to visit the gaming machine site or the gaming machine itself. However, managing gaming machines that can receive downloaded software and data can be a problem. Determining which software and data belongs on which gaming machine can be a daunting task, especially in a gaming establishment with numerous gaming machines, or in environments where numerous gaming machines exist across multiple gaming establishments. The complexity of the problem and the number of potential configurations increases rapidly with the number of gaming machines that can receive downloadable software and data, and the number of downloadable components that may be installed on the gaming machine. The determination can be important, because of the impact an optimal selection of game component can have on the revenue generated by a gaming establishment.
The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed by the present invention, which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
Systems and methods receive and analyze game history data to discover relationships in the data. The relationships may then be used to determine which game components are downloaded to a gaming machine or which actions are performed for a particular player. The game components may include banner content, advertising content, denomination data, pay table, language data, video content, audio content, episodic game data, and wagering game software.
The present invention describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media of varying scope. In addition to the aspects and advantages of the present invention described in this summary, further aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the drawings and by reading the detailed description that follows.
In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
In the Figures, the same reference number is used throughout to refer to an identical component which appears in multiple Figures. Signals and connections may be referred to by the same reference number or label, and the actual meaning will be clear from its use in the context of the description.
The description of the various embodiments is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible instance of the invention. Numerous alternatives could be implemented, using combinations of current or future technologies, which would still fall within the scope of the claims. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
The gaming machine 100 includes a plurality of possible credit receiving mechanisms 114 for receiving credits to be used for placing wagers in the game. The credit receiving mechanisms 114 may, for example, include a coin acceptor, a bill acceptor, a ticket reader, and a card reader. The bill acceptor and the ticket reader may be combined into a single unit. The card reader may, for example, accept magnetic cards and smart (chip) cards coded with money or designating an account containing money.
In some embodiments, the gaming machine 100 includes a user interface comprising a plurality of push-buttons 116, and other possible devices. The plurality of push-buttons 116 may, for example, include one or more “bet” buttons for wagering, a “play” button for commencing play, a “collect” button for cashing out, a help” button for viewing a help screen, a “pay table” button for viewing the pay table(s), and a “call attendant” button for calling an attendant. Additional game specific buttons may be provided to facilitate play of the specific game executed on the machine. A touch screen overlaying video display 112 may define touch keys for implementing many of the same functions as the push-buttons. Additionally, in the case of video poker, the touch screen may implement a card identification function to indicate which cards a player desires to keep for the next round. Other possible user interface devices include a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse or trackball.
In some embodiments, gaming machine 100 includes a top box 140. Top box 140 may contain a video display, a mechanical display, or a diorama display that supplements display 112. For example, the display in top box 140 may be a wheel such as a rotating wheel, mechanical dice, a board for a board game, or other such display.
A processor controls operation of the gaming machine 100. In response to receiving a wager and a command to initiate play, the processor randomly selects a game outcome from a plurality of possible outcomes and causes the display 112 to depict indicia representative of the selected game outcome. In the case of slots for example mechanical or simulated slot reels are rotated and stopped to place symbols on the reels in visual association with one or more pay lines. If the selected outcome is one of the winning outcomes defined by a pay table, the CPU awards the player with a number of credits associated with the winning outcome.
Gaming machine 100 may include a player tracking card reader 124. A player may be enrolled in the gaming establishment's player club and may be awarded certain complimentary offers as that player collects points on his player tracking account. The player inserts the player-tracking card into the reader, allowing the gaming establishment's player tracking server to record the player's wagering activity. The gaming machine 100 may also include a player tracking display 127 to be used with the player-tracking card and card reader 124.
In some embodiments, gaming machine 100 may include signage 120. Signage 120 may be a display device capable of displaying advertising, gaming information (e.g. type of game, denomination of game etc.) or other information to a player or potential player.
It should be noted that in some embodiments, the gaming machine 100 may be a portable or handheld gaming machine. In these embodiments, the portable or handheld gaming machine include some or all of user interface elements as described above, however the user interface elements may be scaled, adapted or formatted to fit within the housing of the portable or handheld gaming machine. Such handheld or portable gaming machines may include portable computers, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), cellular telephones or any other devices capable of processing a computerized method.
System memory 224 stores control software, operational instructions and data associated with the gaming machine. In some embodiments, the system memory 224 comprises a separate read-only memory (ROM) and battery-backed random-access memory (RAM). However, it will be appreciated that the system memory 224 may be implemented on any of several alternative types of memory structures or may be implemented on a single memory structure. For example, memory 224 may comprise multiple banks of memory, including RAM, compact flash, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, DVD-ROM drives and combinations thereof.
A payoff mechanism 226 is operable in response to instructions from the processor 220 to award a payoff to the player. The payoff may, for example, be in the form of a number of credits. The number of credits is determined by one or more math tables stored in the system memory 224. As noted above with respect to
Network interface 228 operates to communicably couple system 200 in gaming machine 100 to a network. The network may be any type of wired or wireless network and the network interface 228 may vary based on the type of network. In some embodiments, the network comprises a gaming establishment network such as a LAN (local area network). In alternative embodiments, the network may be an intranet linking multiple networks, for example, the networks of a gaming enterprise that operates multiple gaming establishments. In further alternative embodiments, the network may comprise the Internet.
Operating system 340 controls the execution of tasks, processes and applications (e.g. wagering game application 302) running on a gaming machine, and provides interfaces between applications and the hardware present on a gaming machine. The operating system may be proprietary to the gaming machine manufacturer or owner, or the operating system may be provided by a third party. Examples of operating systems that may run within the gaming machine environment include the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, variants of the UNIX operating system, Linux, and real-time operating systems such as VRTX and QNX. The embodiments are not limited to any particular operating system.
Device driver 342 provides a software interface to hardware that may be present on a gaming machine and software that desires to utilize such hardware, such as a wagering game application 302. Typically a device driver is a software component that is added to the operating system software, and must be designed to provide interfaces expected by the operating system. A different device driver 342 typically exists for each type of hardware present on a gaming machine. For example, a ticket printer may have a device driver, a credit acceptor may have a different device driver etc.
Device firmware 350 comprises software that may be downloaded onto a persistent memory resident on a device that may be a component of gaming machine 100. For example, a ticket printer may include an embedded processor that executes software or reads data from firmware on a flash memory resident on the ticket printer. Other devices that are part of gaming machine 100 may also have firmware to control the operation and interface to the device.
Wagering game application 302 comprises software that controls the execution of a wagering game on gaming machine 100. For example, the wagering game application may provide a slot machine application (video or mechanical), keno, card based wagering games (e.g. poker), dice based wagering games or other types of wagering games. The embodiments are not limited to a particular wagering game application.
Wagering game 302 may include one or more data or executable components. These components include denomination data 310, pay table 312, language data 314, video content 316, audio content 318, episode data 320, and configuration data 322. Denomination data 310 includes data that determines the denomination or denominations that the gaming machine uses to determine the amount of a wager. For example, a gaming machine may accept payment for credits in units of $.25, $.50, $1.00, $5.00 or other amounts. In addition, denomination data 310 also determines the currency for the wagered amount. For example, the currency may be United States dollars, French francs, Euros or other currency.
Pay table 312 may be used to determine which outcomes are winning outcomes and the amount to be credited or paid out for the various winning outcomes. Pay table 312 may be a single table in some embodiments. In alternative embodiments, multiple pay tables may be present on a gaming machine and vary depending on which game or game version is currently in use.
Language data 314 comprises one or more data sets or files that contain text to be displayed on the gaming machine. The use of language data 314 allows a wagering game application to display text in the language common the location where the gaming machine is used without requiring customization of the wagering game application.
Video content 316 comprises video data that may be displayed by wagering game application during the course of wagering game play or in an attract mode of the gaming machine. For example, video content may comprise video clips that are displayed to the user during game play, during a bonus round, or while the gaming machine is in attract mode.
Audio content 318 comprises audio data that may be played by the wagering game application during the course of wagering game play, bonus round play, or in an attract mode of the gaming machine. In some embodiments, the audio content may be part of an audio program played on multiple gaming machines to produce a surround-sound effect.
In some embodiments, a portion of video content 316 or audio content 318 may be provided by a gaming establishment and played during game play or in attract mode. This allows the gaming establishment to tailor a gaming machine for their environment. For example, the gaming establishment may desire to provide video or audio content having a theme that is consistent with a theme within the gaming establishment as a whole.
Episode data 320 provides configuration data regarding episodes for a game. In some embodiments, the wagering game may be presented to the user in episodes. For example, bonus rounds may vary depending on the episode, or symbols and characters displayed during game play or game play rules may vary with each episode. Additionally, in some embodiments, some or all of video content 316 and audio content 318 may vary depending on the current episode. Episode data 320 may be used to determine which episode is currently presented to the user.
Configuration data 322 represents other types of configuration data related to the operation of a gaming machine or a group of gaming machines. Examples of such data include the uses for buttons present on the gaming machine.
In addition to wagering game application related configuration elements, a gaming machine may have other types of configuration components. In some embodiments, these components include security data 304, banner content 306 and advertising content 308. Security data 304 may be any type of security data related to the operation of a gaming machine or group of gaming machines. In some embodiments, the security data comprises user identification and/or password data. In alternative embodiments, the security data may comprise public key/private key encryption data. In further alternative embodiments, the security data may comprise key ring data for a group of keys. In still further embodiments, the security data may comprise biometric data. Additionally, the security data may comprise authentication and/or authorization data.
Banner content 306 comprises content intended to be displayed on a secondary display or overhead sign for a gaming machine. The banner content may be displayed on a single gaming machine, or it may be content designed to be displayed as part of the content for multiple gaming machines. For example, the content may be displayed in a manner such that the content appears to travel from one machine to the next. Alternatively, the content may be one portion of a message that is displayed across multiple gaming machines.
Advertising content 308 comprises advertising video, audio, or text data that may be played or displayed on a gaming machine.
Various combinations of the above-described configuration elements may be downloaded onto a gaming machine. It should be noted that no embodiment requires that all the above-described configuration elements be downloadable, rather varying embodiments will provide for the download of varying combinations of one or more of the above-described configuration elements.
Further, the above described configuration elements may be downloaded at different times. For example, it may be desirable to download wagering game applications components, operating system components, device driver components and the like when the machine is idle (i.e. not in use). However, other configuration elements such as episode data, banner content and advertising content may be downloaded at any time, including during wagering game play.
Additionally, some or all of the above-described configuration elements may have different versions. For example, the operating system 340, device driver 342, device firmware 350, or wagering game application 302 may exist in differing versions, with each version having differing combinations of features and/or updates to fix problems with previous versions. Typically a version will have a version identifier associated with it to indicate the software version for the configuration element.
In some embodiments, download manager 420 provides downloadable content to gaming machines 100. The downloadable content may comprise any combination of the components described above with reference to
During the course of their operation, gaming machines 100 generate gaming machine history data. In general, the gaming machine history data may comprise various parameters relating the operation of the gaming machine such as games played, credits won/lost, attract mode types and durations, game episodes played, banner content types and durations, and other such operational data. Periodically, the gaming machines 100 send the gaming machine history data to inference engine 402. The gaming machines may push the data to the inference engine, or the inference engine may periodically pull the data from the gaming machines.
In some embodiments, inference engine 402 maintains a database 404 of the operational data received from gaming machines 100, and may also maintain data obtained from other systems such as player tracking system 430. Although shown as one entity for convenience, database 404 may be comprised of multiple databases. Further, database 404 may be a relational database, hierarchical database, object oriented database, XML database or a set of one or more files in a file system and combinations of the above. In some embodiments, database 404 may include gaming machine history data 406, player tracking data 408, demographic data 410, and location data 412.
Gaming machine history data 406 comprises operational data received from gaming machines 100. Further details on the operational data are provided below with reference to
Player tracking data 408 comprises data gathered regarding individual game players based on their insertion of a player tracking card or other player tracking device into a gaming machine's player tracking interface 124. Player tracking data 408 may include identification of the gaming machines the player has used, demographic information regarding the player, and game play preferences for the player. The player tracking data may be obtained from player tracking system 430.
Demographic data 410 may include data generated or aggregated based on player tracking data 408. In addition, demographic data 410 may include data received from game players in response to prompts displayed on a gamine machine 100.
Location data 412 includes data that indicates where gaming particular machines are located. The location data may include a particular casino or gaming establishment, a location on the floor of the establishment, a location in relation to other features of the establishment (e.g. near an outside door, near a bar, near an entertainment facility, or proximity to other gaming establishment features.
In operation, inference engine 402 analyzes the gaming machine history data 406 in order to determine which game components should be downloaded to a gaming machine, and may also determine a time for the download. Inference engine 402 may also use player tracking data 408, demographic data 410 and location data 412 as part of the analysis. In some embodiments, inference engine 402 applies a set of business rules in order to perform the analysis. The business rules may determine how the data is used to reach decisions regarding where and when to download game components to a gaming machine 100. Further details on the types of business rules that may be applied are described below with reference to
In some embodiments, the determinations reached by inference engine 402 regarding where and when to download game components is communicated to download manager 420, which selects the desired game components from game library 422. The selected game components may then be downloaded, or scheduled for download to the selected gaming machines 100.
Next, the system analyzes the database (block 606). Various types and combinations of analysis may be performed. For example, statistical analysis may be performed to discover trends regarding game component activity. For example, certain games, bonus rounds, or episodes may be becoming more popular while other games, bonus rounds or episodes may be becoming less popular. In addition, heuristics and business rules may be applied to discover relationships in the data. Examples of such relationships include:
Next, the system selects a game component to be downloaded to a gaming machine based on the analysis of the database (block 608). For example, if the analysis reveals that male player age 50 and over prefer to be near a restaurant and that male player age 50 and over prefer game “A”, then the system may select game “A” for download to gaming machines near a restaurant. Other examples include downloading a more popular denomination component, downloading a more popular pay table, etc.
Next, the system analyzes the database (block 628). As with block 606, various types and combinations of analysis may be performed but here the analysis may be more focused on a particular player. For example, certain games, bonus rounds, or episodes may be becoming more popular with a particular player while other games, bonus rounds or episodes may be becoming less popular. In addition, heuristics and business rules may be applied to discover relationships in the data with respect to the player.
The system may then perform an action or cause an action to be performed based on the analysis (block 630). Examples of such actions include:
In addition, some of the actions may or may not be performed based on a gaming establishment's perceived player “worth” (e.g. revenue attributable to the player gaming activities). Additionally, certain actions such as reserving downloadable games may or may not be performed depending on the current occupancy of the gaming establishment, the current time of day, day of week or time of year etc.
Systems and methods for performing data mining to determine what game components should be downloaded to particular gaming machines in a network of gaming machines have been described. Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. For example, the data mining download methods described above were provided in the context of updating one or more gaming machines. The systems and method may also be used to update configuration elements on other devices on a gaming network. For example, auxiliary servers such as progressive servers, overhead sign controllers and other devices may be administered in the same manner as described above. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the inventive subject matter.
The terminology used in this application is meant to include all of these environments. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.
The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/701,309 filed Jul. 20, 2005, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60701309 | Jul 2005 | US |
