Gaming machine and system for concurrent gaming player interface manipulation based on visual focus

• US 10,482,705 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2015
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Hilbert, Scott T., Lyons, Martin, Baerlocher, Anthony J., Jaffe, Joel, Soong, Kenneth Shawn
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mosser, Robert E
• Application Number:
  US14/823,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20170046906A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3204 Player-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3209 Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters

Abstract

A gaming system includes one or more input devices, audio output devices, visual display devices, and information processors. At least one visual display device visually depicts a plurality of visual presentations and at least one audio output device renders audio selectively mixed from corresponding audio components of the visual presentations. At least one processor receives and processes information from at least one input device to determine a region of focused attention by the player with respect to the visual display devices. Using the region of focused attention, a corresponding primary visual presentation is determined from the plurality of visual presentations. The corresponding audio components of the plurality of presentations are selectively mixed such that the audio component of the primary visual presentation is dominant on at least one audio output device. The plurality of visual presentations may also be rearranged or altered to visually highlight the primary visual presentation.

Claims

1. A gaming system configured to visually present a user interface to a player, the user interface including a plurality of concurrently active gaming displayed visual presentations, the gaming system comprising:

a virtual-reality (VR) headset including one or more integrated visual output devices, the one or more visual output devices providing a virtual environment for displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations;

one or more passive input devices incorporated into the VR headset, the one or more passive input devices configured to generate positional input related to a center of attention of the player, the positional input being directly measured relative to the one or more integrated visual output devices; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive the positional input,

determine the center of attention of the player from the positional input,

designate a primary gaming presentation from the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the primary gaming presentation corresponding to the center of attention,

open and display a context-sensitive menu of wager options related to the primary gaming presentation concurrently with displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the options being selectable and activatable by the positional input.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations are wagering games.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations are sporting events.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more processors is configured to highlight the primary gaming presentation on the one or more integrated visual output devices using one or more visual cues.

5. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the one or more visual cues include visually enlarging the primary gaming presentation among the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations.

6. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the one or more visual cues include dynamically arranging the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations on the one or more integrated visual output devices such that the primary wagering game is close to center.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the one or more passive input devices include a camera, and the positional input is generated by tracking a position and orientation of at least one eye of the player using imagery obtained by the camera.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations includes displaying wager-related meters presenting data accrued from the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, and updating the meters responsive to player inputs.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more processors is configured to generate a three-dimensional audio field to present an audio component corresponding to the primary gaming presentation via one or more audio output devices corresponding to a relative positioning of the primary gaming presentation on the one or more integrated visual output devices.

10. A gaming system configured to visually and audibly present a user interface to a player, the user interface including a plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations in virtual reality (VR), the gaming system comprising:

a VR headset including;

one or more integrated input/output units configured to provide a virtual environment for displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations including displaying wager-related meters presenting data accrued from the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the one or more input/output units further configured to passively generate positional input related to a center of attention of the player, the positional input being directly measured relative to one or more integrated visual output devices; and

one or more audio output units configured to output audio components corresponding to at least one of the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive the positional input,

determine the center of attention of the player from the positional input,

designate a primary gaming presentation from the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the primary gaming presentation corresponding to the center of attention,

open and display a context-sensitive menu of wager options related to the primary gaming presentation concurrently with displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the options being selectable and activatable by the positional input, and

update the wager-related meters responsive to inputs from the player.

11. The gaming system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations includes one or more sporting events or one or more wagering games.

12. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein one or more of the primary gaming presentation, the context-sensitive menu, or the display of the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations are updated to report an effect of player input.

13. The gaming system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations includes at least two simultaneously conducted wagering games.

14. The gaming system of claim 10, wherein the player is actively or passively participating in at least two of the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations simultaneously.

15. A gaming system configured for visually and audibly presenting a user interface to a player, the user interface including a plurality of simultaneously conducted gaming presentations, the gaming system comprising:

a virtual-reality (VR) headset including one or more integrated visual output devices configured to provide a virtual environment in which to display the plurality of simultaneously conducted gaming presentations;

one or more audio output devices;

one or more passive input devices incorporated into the VR headset, the one or more passive input devices configured to generate positional input related to a center of attention of the player, the positional input being directly measured relative to the one or more integrated visual output devices; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive the positional input,

determine the center of attention of the player from the positional input,

designate a primary gaming presentation corresponding to one of the plurality of simultaneously conducted gaming presentations and being at the center of attention,

open and display a context-sensitive menu of wager options related to the primary gaming presentation concurrently with displaying the plurality of concurrently active gaming presentations, the options being selectable and activatable by the positional input; and

generate a three-dimensional audio field configured to present an audio component of the primary game presentation according to placement of the primary game presentation relative to the virtual environment.

16. The gaming system of claim 15, wherein in response to a predetermined event occurring in one of the non-primary ones of the plurality of simultaneously conducted gaming presentations, a primary audio component is modified to include an additional audio asset corresponding to the predetermined event.

17. The gaming system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are configured to display, as part of the user interface on the one or more integrated visual output devices, a contextual wagering menu specific to the primary gaming presentation.

18. The gaming system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the center of attention of the player in response to receiving similar positional input for a duration exceeding a predefined dwell time.