Patent Grant
8568224
The present invention relates to gaming devices in general and, more specifically, to portable gaming devices suitable for use in gaming establishments such as casinos and bingo halls.
In recent years, radio-controlled hand-held or portable electronic bingo devices, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,025 and 4,624,462 both to Itkis and in bingo industry publications, including an article “Bingo Playing Enhanced With New Innovations”, Bingo Manager, July, 2001, gained substantial popularity in casinos However, electronic bingo devices have been used as player “aids” rather than actual gaming devices such as slot machines. The main reason traditional gaming devices have not made their way into a wireless casino network has been concern for security and verification. As in all sensitive communication, there are always three concerns: (1) Authentication, (2) Integrity and (3) Nonrepudiation. Schneider, Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code n C, 1995 Wiley, John & Sons at 2. In the bingo context, portable units have been used only to automatically or semi-automatically daub called numbers on a multiplicity of electronic facsimilies of bingo cards from a closed universe of bingo card permutations. Security of radio transmission of called numbers is of little concern since these data are public. On the other hand, a portable, wireless slot machine would require absolute authentication, assurance of integrity of signals and no credible way for a player to repudiate that she placed a losing bet.
Portable remote gaming devices have been proposed for playing “classic” casino games such as poker, slots and keno. In particular, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,012,983 and 6,001,016 both issued to Walker, et al., propose to utilize pager-like devices for remote monitoring of the progress of a slot game executed automatically on a player's behalf on an actual slot machine available at a “casino warehouse.” However, Walker limits play to passive observation of the game and, therefore, diminishes a player's interest in the game. Walker's approach requires a costly investment in real slot machines located remotely at a “casino warehouse.” A commercial implementation of remote playing on a “warehoused” slot machine by GameCast Live as disclosed in “Expanding Casino Borders”, International Gaming and Wagering Business, September 2001, suffers from the same deficiencies as Walker's disclosures. Moreover, although GameCast Live offers players convincing video and audio data streams originating at video cameras aimed at actual slot machines, such implementation is labor intensive and requires costly hardware. In addition, such an approach cannot provide a casino with an adequate number (e.g., several hundred) of remote wagering devices since the overall radio frequency (RF) bandwidth available for a casino is severely limited.
On the other hand, a cellular telephone-based approach to remote gaming being promoted by companies, such as Motorola, Inc., TRIMON Systems, Inc. and NuvoStudios, Inc., as disclosed, for example, in “NuvoStudios, Inc., Corporate Profile”, NuvoStudios, Inc., October 2001 and “Mobile Casino Solution”, TRIMON Systems, Inc., October 2001, does alleviate the issue of available radio frequency bandwidth. Yet, remote gaming on cellular telephones is functionally indistinguishable from gaming on the Internet. Although casinos are tempted by the lucrative prospects of Internet gaming, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,268 to Molnick, 5,999,808 to La Due and 5,779,545 to Berg et al., the disclosed Internet wagering techniques cannot be directly transplanted into casino environment because of the vast differences between the security and integrity requirements of “brick-and-mortar” casinos and “click-and-mortar” casinos.
In a casino environment, the casino must be certain that wireless commands received are authentic, and attributable to the player sending the signal. The casino must further be confident that interference, accidental or deliberate, cannot cause an error, and can be documented. The casino must also be confident that a player cannot maintain an argument that she did not place a losing bet. The player of a wireless wagering device in a casino must be certain that no third party could gamble with her money, that wireless signals she sends to the casino are accurately interpreted and executed, and that the casino cannot falsely deny that a winning bet was placed.
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a casino player with an opportunity to securely play casino games, such as poker, slots, keno and bingo “on the go” without the need for a stationary video and/or reel slot machine.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a casino player with a secure and verifiable method of playing a mobile casino game on a small device convenient for carrying on the person.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a secure, verifiable system and method, free from the threat of false repudiation, to communicate data with and between portable electronic devices in a casino.
These and further objectives will become apparent from the attached drawings and the following description of the preferred embodiment.
The above objectives are achieved through the present invention by providing a casino player with a wireless wagering device akin to a wireless PDA or an Internet-enabled cellular telephone. The preferred embodiment of a mobile wagering device, programmed to play typical casino games, including poker, slots, keno and bingo, incorporates a radio frequency transceiver, an infrared downloading port and a rechargeable battery. A player rents such a mobile player unit from the casino at a self-service dispensing kiosk or from a point of sale (POS) terminal. When dispensed from a kiosk, a player inserts a “player club card” into the kiosk's magnetic card reader and deposits money into the kiosk's bill validator The kiosk houses a number of mobile player units in its storage and recharging cells. Each of the kiosk's cells are networked over a local area network with a central PC-compatible computer controlling the kiosk. When rented from a POS terminal, a cashier handles the dispensing of the unit. The use of an automated, self-service kiosk as described in co-pending application Ser. Nos. 10/011,648 and 10/777,588 owned by the assignee of the present application is considered the best mode due to labor savings to the casino.
While the present invention is ideally suited for wireless wagering in a wide variety of casino-type games, we will describe the use of the present invention when playing the well-known game of bingo. When a player buys a pack of electronic bingo cards or gaming credits, the central computer downloads the purchased bingo cards or downloads credits from the portable unit's gaming account in the player unit which is securely plugged into the internal local area network, either when located inside the kiosk, or at a download port at the POS terminal. The central computer preferably maintains a strict transaction history of every transaction. In the best mode, the central computer maintains a SQL type transaction database on at least two mirrored drives, with one located at a secure remote location. Additionally, in the preferred embodiment, the player unit receives a plurality of indexed authentication keys in a database for use during subsequent radio transmission. For example, the mobile player unit might receive 10,000 authentication keys which are stored in the MPU's RAM. Alternatively, a database of authentication keys may reside in nonvolatile (ROM) memory of the player unit, and a key selection sequence or criteria is securely downloaded to the MPU's RAM when the player unit is plugged into the kiosk. Another alternative is for the player to input a key which causes the selection criteria algorithm to be generated on the player unit. The player input can be manual or by use of a hardware device such as a USB dongle, smart card, magnetic stripe card, memory chip, bar code, or any of a multitude of such devices. Optionally, signals from the player unit may be encrypted with encryption keys downloaded in the same way. The encryption keys may serve the dual function of being both encryption and authentication keys. It should be pointed out that authentication keys and encryption keys may be the same keys, or different sets of keys. Moreover, keys may be constructed from a multiplicity of other keys to form complex keys for authentication and/or encryption. See e.g., Schneider, supra at 47-74. Once the keys and/or selection criteria are securely downloaded to the player unit, a player can then take the downloaded unit out of the kiosk to any location on the casino floor for a round of play. Over a radio channel, the unit receives bingo data, such as bingo patterns and pseudo-random bingo numbers from the kiosk's central computer, and plays downloaded bingo cards automatically. The central computer automatically verifies all bingo cards downloaded into all rented mobile player units, detects winning bingo cards, computes the prizes due to the winning players and stores the outcomes of the games in an internal database. When a player re-inserts the player unit into a kiosk, ending a round of play, the kiosk automatically dispenses any winnings due the player through a bill dispenser and/or coin hopper. Alternatively, the player may return the unit to a POS terminal, reconnect to the secure download port and be paid by the cashier. The player unit is then ready to receive keys and/or key selection criteria for the next round of play. The central computer also maintains a database of the rented units and may award bonus points to players returning the rented units to the kiosk.
A player having a sufficient account balance can also purchase, by means of radio communications, bingo cards, keno cards or other gaming cards with the help of the mobile player unit located on the casino floor. In order to prevent fraud (such as false repudiation) and make radio communication with the unit secure, each transaction transmitted by the player unit is associated with a unique encryption key previously downloaded when plugged into the kiosk. The central computer authenticates each transaction received from each unit by looking up or computing the proper key for each transaction Even though a radio communication can be intercepted, such an internal downloading of the encryption key database and/or key selection criteria or criteria assures security of the subsequent communications between the central computer and the rented unit over the public radio channel, and the casino can be confident that a customer cannot succeed in a false charge that someone else played with her credits. As a result, a player can confidently place an order for purchasing bingo cards right from the casino floor in real time. For example, the central computer may download to MPU number 1 a list of 10,000 keys beginning with “A123, X456, BSD7 and BD50.” In this highly simplified example, the first time the player presses a button to transmit data to the central unit, the signal is accompanied by the MPU serial number “985”, transaction ID “1” and the authentication key “A123” The central computer receives the MPU serial number “985”, transaction ID “1”, the command “Buy 10 Cards” and the authentication key A123. The central computer looks up the proper key for transaction 1 and matches it successfully to its own matching database, responding by transmitting an acknowledgment to the mobile player unit plus 10 cards, decrementing the player account the cost of the cards and recording the serial numbers of the cards sold to MPU number 985. The second time the player with MPU number 985 presses a button to issue the command “Buy 5 Cards”, the signal is accompanied by MPU serial number “985”, transaction ID “2”, the key “X456”. When the central computer receives the command, unit serial number and transaction ID “2”, accompanied by the key “X456”, the master central computer looks up the authentication code and determines it is authentic, decrementing the player's account for the cost of 5 bingo cards, recording the serial numbers of the cards, and transmitting the cards to the player unit. If a hacker transmits a signal from a rogue machine designed to impersonate MPU number 985, the hacker does not have access to the database of keys that were downloaded to MPU number 985 before the round of play, so it transmits a request for 20 cards and accompanies the transmission with an transaction number “15” and (forged) authentication key “W45Y.” The central computer looks up the authentication key that should accompany transaction ID 15 from MPU serial number 985, and determines that it does not properly match the appropriate key in the privately-uploaded database. The central computer does not execute the command, but notifies the casino's operator (and possibly the player) of a false signal constituting a possible attempted hack. If a proper key transmission is garbled by radio interference, the central computer may interpret it as a possible attempted hack. The operator may thus intervene and reestablish proper communication between the unit and the central computer, re-synchronizing the key database, or downloading a fresh database and/or selection criteria. In general, the system uses “guaranteed delivery communication,” never incrementing to the next key, or allowing completion of a transaction unless and until a properly authenticated acknowledgment is received by the MPU from the central computer. The acknowledgment may be authenticated using the same database of keys, or a separate private key or sequence of keys.
It should be noted that a key may be used more than once, so long as it is in a randomized order. This allows smaller databases of keys to be downloaded to MPUs, saving download time and required memory capacity. It is preferred to use each authentication key only once, however. Less preferable is to reuse a key a low number of times. Additionally, it is also feasible for all, or a portion of the database of keys and/or the selection criteria to be generated by the MPU rather than the central computer, and then be uploaded to the central computer. The central computer will then store the uploaded data for further use in the process of authenticating communication with the MPU over a wireless channel. Among other things, this gives the user the opportunity to participate in the generation of the key database, such as allowing the user to enter a private password or phrase used to generate a key or selection criteria algorithm. It also potentially allows players to bring their own devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers and telephones loaded with compatible software and use their own authentication key database or key selection criteria.
Secure, verifiable gaming over a public radio channel authenticated by encryption keys downloaded at a dispensing kiosk opens an opportunity for playing “classic” casino games, such as poker and slots, on the same mobile player unit. In this case, the player unit transmits authenticated encoded game requests, such as “deal a poker hand”, “spin reels” and “draw keno balls”, to the central computer. In response, the central computer broadcasts authenticated outcomes of the games determined by a software random number generator running on the central computer. The response received by the player unit determines the outcome of the game including winnings, if any, and a new credit balance. Each such request and each response thereto is authenticated by different and unique digital signatures based upon secure authentication keys either downloaded into the player unit from the central computer while the player unit remains inside the dispensing kiosk, or selected from a resident database of keys according to a random order which is specified by a selection key criteria which is downloaded. It should be noted that certain data transmitted to the player units are best not encrypted. These data include such information as whether the server is active, whether a game has started and the like. The disadvantage to encrypting such data is a hacker intercepting such transmission could gain clues as to the encryption scheme or keys from reading the contents and structure of a message with known meaning. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment, wireless transmissions during a game will include both encrypted data and unencrypted data.
The invention is illustrated by the following drawings:
As illustrated in
Being a combination kiosk-type dispenser of MPUs 1 with a central game controller, UDK 2 includes an assortment of conventional point-of-sale and automatic-teller-machine components, including a touchscreen video monitor 9, a receipt printer (PRT) 10, a magnetic card reader (MCR) 11, a bill validator/barcode-reader (BV) 12 a bill dispenser (BD) 13 and a coin dispenser CD 14. In addition, UDK 2 incorporates a RF antenna 15 being a part of an embedded RF transceiver 16 shown explicitly in
The internal design of an MPU 1 is illustrated in
The internal design of UDK 2 is detailed in
Via LAN 22, PC 21 periodically polls all cells 17 of UDK 2 to determine whether they are occupied and, if so, by which MPU 1. Note that each MPU 1 is characterized by its unique manufacturer's identification number 33 stored in its non-volatile memory and further etched on the top surface 34 of MPU 1 as shown in
Players rent MPUs 1 from UDK 2 and return MPUs 1 to UDK 2 once they complete playing. In order to rent an MPU 1 from UDK 2, a player is preferably required to first insert into MCR 11 a player tracking card 39 as illustrated in
While the present invention is adapted to playing any casino game, in order to facilitate the description of the operation of the system, a simple case of a player renting an MPU 1 to play a prepackaged set of electronic bingo cards (“pack”) is considered. For example, it is assumed that a casino offers players only one type of bingo packs and allows players to buy only one pack. A specific bingo pack sold to a player 41 is identified on a rental receipt 44 issued by PRT 10 as illustrated in
The operations being performed by PC 21 of UDK 2 in this simplified case are illustrated in the flowchart of
Once player 41 removes MPU 1 from UDK 2, PC 21 transfers the identification number 33 of the removed MPU 1 from the first 30 rows 36 of table 35 to the group of records 70 that lists “homeless” MPUs 1 (i.e., units not housed in any specific cell 17 and, presumably, located somewhere on the casino floor). As illustrated in
Once removed from UDK 2 (or issued by a cashier), a player can carry a rented MPU 1 anywhere through a casino and, as long as MPU 1 receives bingo data over RF channel 31, it will play bingo automatically as illustrated in the flowchart of
The data broadcast by UDK 2 over antenna 15 originates at PC 21. PC 21 stores a schedule of bingo games or patterns to be played in its memory in a conventional way. PC 21 also utilizes a standard random number generation utility to generate randomly called bingo numbers. As an alternative, a conventional ball hopper or bingo rack may be used to generate random bingo numbers. PC 21 also automatically verifies all sold bingo cards (i.e., bingo cards downloaded in each rented MPUs 1), with each new called bingo number in order to detect a winning card as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,396 to Tawil and is further disclosed in applicants' copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/241,982 entitled “Fully Automated Bingo Session.” Once a winning card is detected, PC 21 algorithmically computes the identification number 100 of bingo pack 43 that the winning bingo card was downloaded to. Knowing the winning pack number 43, PC 21 finds the winning player corresponding to the manufacturers identification number 33 by searching status table 35. Once the winning player is found, PC 21 updates the player's balance 57 to reflect the winning prize.
Meanwhile, the winning MPU 1 independently detects a winner as described above and starts blinking the winning card 66 on display 3 and optionally plays a winning tune through speaker 20. At this point, a winning player may approach UDK 2 and claim a prize by inserting the winning MPU 1 back into UDK 2. A player may insert MPU 1 into any empty cell 17. PC 21 detects the insertion of MPU 1 through cell 17 polling procedure described above. Upon learning the physical identification number 33 of the inserted MPU 1, PC 21 searches status table 35 and fetches the identification number 41 of the player who rented the unit and also fetches the player's account balance 57 from table 35. The account balance 57 includes the player's winnings as described above. Now PC 21 causes BD 13 and CD 14 to dispense the player's balance due. Specifically, BD 13 dispenses the dollar amount of the player's balance 57 and CD 14 dispenses the remaining amount, if any, of cents in coins. Once dispensing of the balance 57 is complete, PC 21 clears balance 57 in player's 41 record in table 35 and also clears MPU 1 manufacturer's identification field 33. The operation of clearing field 33 releases player 41 from any responsibility for the returned MPU 1. As a courtesy to the player, PC 21 also causes PRT 10 to issue a return receipt 67 illustrated in
Optionally, a player may also be required to insert the barcoded receipt 44 into BV 12 and/or insert the player card 39 into magnetic card reader 11. If such an option is selected, then BV 12 reads barcoded identification 59 of receipt 44 and/or magnetic card reader 11 reads-in player identification number 41 from card 39, and PC 21 compares read-in identifications 59 and/or 42 of receipt 44 and/or card 39 with the values stored in table 35. Assuming they match with the read-in identification 33 of MPU 1 stored in the player's 41 record in table 35, the validity of the winning claim is well-established. Some casinos may even elect to rely exclusively on the validation of receipt 44 and/or card 39 for purposes of paying winners without the requirement of returning the winning MPU 1 into UDK 2. However, the preferred requirement of returning the winning MPU 1 decreases the casino's labor costs since casino employees will not have to retrieve and return MPUs left all over the casino. Also, it insures that MPUs 1 are readily available for new players to rent. Moreover, it prevents a player from taking a MPU 1 home as a “souvenir” or the like. For all such reasons, it makes sense for a casino to require all players to return all rented MPUs 1 to UDK 2 once a player is finished. A casino is in a position to enforce the return of the MPUs 1 because status table 35 contains detailed records of MPUs 1 rented by players. However, instead of enforcing the return of MPU 1, a casino may encourage a voluntary return by, for example, awarding a player's account bonus points 68 upon the return of the rented MPU 1. A player may use the bonus points 68 as discounts for buffets, souvenirs, etc. Also, a casino may impose a deposit fee for renting MPU 1 and refund the deposit to the player through dispensers 13 and/or 14, once a player returns the MPU 1.
The primary reason the above-described MPU 1 is equipped with RF-channel 31 is to facilitate automatic playing of bingo on the casino floor. However, some players and some casinos prefer manual entry of all necessary bingo data into the MPUs 1 as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,940 to Gluz et al., and the article “Bingo Playing Enhanced With New Innovations”, Bingo Manager, July, 2001. If manual entry is required, the MPU 1 does not have to be equipped with transceiver 19 and antenna 4 resulting in a less expensive MPU 1. However, even in such a simplified case, the UDK 2 is still very useful since it completely automates the process of selling electronic bingo cards and yields substantial labor costs savings for casinos and bingo halls.
The aforementioned simple example of the system illustrated in
To this point, it was assumed that bingo packs 43 are to be purchased by the player at the UDK 2 when the player rents MPU 1. This is acceptable in the case of bingo games organized in sessions of one hour or more. However, in the case of so-called continuous bingo wherein players buy bingo cards for each game separately and may, for example, play some games while skipping other games, it is inconvenient for a player to buy bingo cards at UDK 2 separately for each game. It is therefore desirable to allow a player to purchase bingo packs on the casino floor, through MPU 1 that has an inherent capability of two-way radio communication via transceiver 19. For example, touchscreen 3 of MPU 1 can display the same menu 71 illustrated in
However, there is a serious concern with the direct two-way RF communication between MPU 1 and UDK 2. Specifically, such a communication over open RF channel 31 can be easily intercepted. The lack of security can be resolved by encrypting such communications with the help of private encryption keys that are generated by UDK 2 and downloaded into MPU 1 via a secure route formed by connectors 7 and 23. Specifically, in addition to, and/or instead of bingo cards, PC 21 can download MPU 1 with at least one random digital security key to secure the two-way radio communications between MPU 1 and UDK 2. Such a digital security key is typically known in the industry under a variety of names (e.g., a digital encryption key, DES key, an authentication key, a private key, a digital signature key, a hashing algorithm, etc.). As will be more fully explained, it is advantageous to download a multiplicity of authentication and/or encryption keys in an indexed database so that each transaction may be authenticated with a unique key. Importantly, MPU 1 is downloaded with new encryption keys each time MPU 1 is rented (for each “round” of play) and, therefore, even if the same player 41 accidentally rents the same MPU 1 having the same identification number 33, the downloaded encryption keys are different every time.
In the preferred embodiment, a multiplicity of random authentication and/or encryption keys 82 generated by PC 21 with the help of random number generation software utility in a conventional way. The details of the generation and utilization of each key 82 are omitted herein since techniques of data authentication and encryption are well known in the industry and are disclosed in numerous publications including, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,670,857 to Rackman, 5,643,086 to Alcorn et al., 6,071,190 to Weiss et al., and 6,149,522 to Alcorn et al. See also See e.g., Schneider supra. Instead, it is re-emphasized that PC 21 downloads MPU 1 with a database of security keys 82 over a secure communication channel formed by cable 24 and connectors 7 and 23 and that the contents of the security key database changes with every downloading. Note, the structure of the database itself is not illustrated as it can take the form of a wide variety of database structures well known in the art. The database simply and typically would contain the multiplicity of authentication keys and an index. Being downloaded with a multiplicity of data security keys 82 in a security key database, MPU 1 can send different authenticated data blocks to UDK 2 over the public radio frequency channel 31 for each transaction. Specifically, each such data block is authenticated with the help of a digital signature based on a security key 82 as illustrated in
In an alternative embodiment, a pre-defined database of keys may be resident in the player unit. However, the order and/or combination in which the keys are used is changed with each round of play. The key selection criteria are downloaded to the player unit over a secure connection when it is connected to the central computer (via a kiosk or POS computer), at the same time as other sensitive information is downloaded. While this is not as secure as downloading a complete new database of keys for one-time use for each round of play, the download time is greatly reduced, and the level of security is still quite high because, again, there is no way to predict the next key to be used without a copy of the selection criteria.
Specifically,
Each response block 87 transmitted by UDK 2 to MPU 1 is also protected by an embedded authentication field 88 as shown in
The above-described technique of secure two-way communication between MPU 1 and UDK 2 over public RF channel 31 with the help of a database of encryption keys 82 downloaded by UDK 2 into MPU 1 over a secure wired channel is useful not only for playing bingo games but is also beneficial for playing “classic” casino games, such as poker, slots and keno. For example, a player can play a slot game on MPU 1 by simply touching touchbutton “SPIN” 92 displayed on touchscreen 3. Once a player touches button 92, MPU 1 causes the image of reels 93 on display 3 to spin and transmits an encoded request 83 having data field 86 structured as “spin request” data block 94 illustrated in FIG. 12 (b). The field 95 of block 94 specifies a number of coins the player wagered and the field “SPIN” 96 specifies a request to generate a random final position for the reels 93 to stop. Since MPU 1 is not a per se secure device, the outcome of the game cannot be determined by MPU 1 itself. Only secure PC 21 of UDK 2 can be trusted to generate random numbers on behalf of MPU 1 and thusly determine the prize, if any, won by MPU 1. Upon receiving request 94, UDK 2 randomly generates a new final position for the “reels” 93 and transmits it in an encoded, authenticated form to MPU 1. The MPU 1 decodes the response received from UDK 2 and gradually slows down the “reels” to a new final position determined by UDK 2. Upon pressing a key to initiate another round, the next encryption key previously downloaded to the UDK 2 is used to authenticate the transaction between the UDK 2 and the MPU 1.
The above general outline of events involved in playing slots on MPU 1 is illustrated by flowcharts presented in
MPU 1 allows playing of a poker game in a similar manner. Specifically, a player touches a toggle touchbutton “DEAL/DRAW” 97 on touchscreen 3 requesting a new “deal.” In response, MPU 1 forms a player's request block 83 with the data field 86 structured in the form 98 of a “deal request” data block illustrated in
In a manner similar to that described above, MPU 1 may be adapted to play virtually any casino game, including black jack, keno, roulette, sports book and horse racing. In fact, MPU 1 can play several games concurrently. For example, slots and bingo can be played concurrently as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,787 to Itkis et al. Moreover, the preferred embodiment illustrated in
Moreover, the extended LAN 22 can be equipped with multiple connectors 23 installed throughout the casino, such as near lounge chairs, for convenient player access as illustrated in
Although connectors 7 and 23 are described as the primary LAN 22 channel for downloading to MPU 1 by UDK 2, their communication function can also be carried out by infrared communication ports built into MPU 1 and UDK 2 as is illustrated in
Similarly, an off-the-shelf programmable telephone equipped with a graphics display and menu-navigation keys 6 may serve as a MPU 1. A broad variety of downloadable “third generation” telephones is available on the market. In case of a telephone-based implementation, a player may use his or her own telephone for playing casino games in the above-described manner, provided of course, that the player's telephone is downloaded with a security key 82 as a precondition for playing casino games. Assuming connector 7 is compatible with the downloading and recharging connector of such a telephone, a player may insert a telephone into any available or reserved slot 17 of UDK 2 and wait a few seconds while PC 21 downloads key 82 into the memory of the player's telephone. In addition to key 82, PC 21 also downloads the above-described casino games into the player's telephone. The downloadable casino games are preferably written in JAVA language since many modern commercial telephones are capable of downloading and executing application programs written in JAVA language.
Infrared port 135 built into MPU 1 also allows for lateral communication between two MPUs 1 as illustrated in
An alternative for inputting authentication or encryption keys 82 into MPU 1 includes a player reading key 82 from receipt 44 and manually entering key 82 into MPU 1 via a touch-pad on touchscreen 3. Although manual entry of key 82 is subject to error, it may be used as a substitute for the downloading of key 82 in an effort to save costs or in the case of a failure of downloading the key 82 via connectors 7 and 23.
The specific implementations disclosed above are by way of example and for enabling persons skilled in the art to implement the invention only. We have made every effort to describe all the embodiments we have foreseen. There may be embodiments that are unforeseeable or which are insubstantially different. We have further made every effort to describe the invention, including the best mode of practicing it. Any omission of any variation of the invention disclosed is not intended to dedicate such variation to the public, and all unforeseen, insubstantial variations are intended to be covered by the claims appended hereto. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except by the appended claims and legal equivalents.
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/011,648 filed Dec. 4, 2001 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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