Point of play registration on a gaming machine

• US 20030054878A1
• Filed: 09/20/2001
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: International Game Technology
• Inventors: Nguyen, Binh T., Paulsen, Craig A., Benoy, Greg A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,896,618 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• 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 17/3239 Tracking of individual players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3255 Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements

Abstract

A disclosed gaming machine is used to provide a method of registering a player to a loyalty program such as a player tracking program at the gaming machine. At the gaming machine, the player or a casino service representative may enter identification information such as a name, an address and biometric information using an input mechanism located on the gaming machine or on a hand-held wireless device. The loyalty program information may be combined with information such as serial number or a bar-code read from a loyalty program instrument in a loyalty program registration request message sent to a loyalty program server such as a player tracking server. The loyalty program instrument may include a magnetic striped card, a smart card, a printed ticket, a room key, a cell-phone or a portable computing device. When the registration request is confirmed by the loyalty program server, the player may begin a loyalty program session on a gaming machine and earn loyalty points.

Claims

1. A gaming machine comprising:

a master gaming controller designed or configured to control one or more games played on the gaming machine;

a first input mechanism for inputting loyalty program information;

a second input mechanism for reading loyalty program instrument information from a loyalty program instrument; and

a communication interface for communicating with a loyalty program server;

wherein the loyalty program information and the loyalty program instrument information are used to register a player in a loyalty program.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the first input mechanism is a touch screen display.

3. The gaming machine of claim 2, wherein the touch screen display is a main display on the gaming machine.

4. The gaming machine of claim 2, wherein the touch screen display is a secondary display on the gaming machine.

5. The gaming machine of claim 2, wherein the touch screen display is a display located on a player tracking unit mounted to the gaming machine.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program server is a player tracking server.

7. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

gaming logic for generating a registration request message to register the player in the loyalty program.

8. The gaming machine of claim 7, further comprising:

gaming logic for sending the registration request message to the loyalty program server.

9. The gaming machine of claim 7, wherein the registration request message includes loyalty program information and loyalty program instrument information.

10. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

gaming logic for receiving a registration reply message from the loyalty program server.

11. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program information is selected from the group consisting of a name, an address, a phone number, an age, a birth date, an e-mail address, biometric information, a signature, preference information and combinations thereof.

12. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a biometric input device.

13. The gaming machine of claim 12, wherein the biometric input device is selected from the group consisting of a camera, a finger-print reader, a retinal scanner and a microphone.

14. The gaming machine of claim 1, the second input mechanism is selected from the group consisting of a card reader, a bill validator, a ticket reader, a bar-code scanner, a wireless interface and combinations thereof.

15. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program is a player tracking program.

16. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program instrument is selected from the group consisting of a cell phone, a magnetic-striped card, a smart card, a ticket, a room key and a hand-held computing device.

17. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is at least one of a bar-code and a serial number stored on the loyalty program instrument.

18. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the one or more games is selected from the group consisting of video slot games, mechanical slot games, video black jack games, video poker games, video keno games, video pachinko games, video card games, video games of chance and combinations thereof.

19. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the first input mechanism is a hand-held wireless device.

20. The gaming machine of claim 19, wherein the hand-held wireless device is at least one of a hand-held computing device and a cell phone.

21. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the first input mechanism is a bill validator.

22. The gaming machine of claim 21, wherein the bill validator is designed to scan loyalty program information from a sheet inserted into said bill validator.

23. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is a phone number stored on the loyalty program instrument.

24. A loyalty program registration system comprising:

a loyalty program server;

a plurality of gaming machines;

one or more hand-held wireless devices;

a network designed or configured to allow at least communication between

a) the plurality of gaming machines and the loyalty program server;

b) the one or more hand-held wireless devices and the loyalty program server;

gaming logic for generating a registration request message and sending the registration request message to the loyalty program server from at least one of the gaming machines and the one or more hand-held wireless devices;

wherein the registration request message is used to register a player in a loyalty program.

25. The loyalty program registration system of claim 24, wherein the loyalty program server is a player tracking server.

26. The loyalty program registration system of claim 24, wherein the loyalty program is a player tracking program.

27. The loyalty program registration system of claim 24, further comprising:

one or more casino kiosks;

a network designed or configured to allow communication between the one or more casino kiosks and the loyalty program server; and

gaming logic for generating the registration request message and sending the registration request message to the loyalty program server from the one or more casino kiosks.

28. The loyalty program registration system of claim 24, wherein the one or more hand-held wireless devices is a personal digital assistant.

29. The loyalty program registration system of claim 24, further comprising:

one or more cell phones;

a network designed or configured to allow communication between the one or more cell phones and the loyalty program server; and

gaming logic for generating the registration request message and sending the registration request message to the loyalty program server from the one or more cell phones.

30. A method of registering a player to a loyalty program at a gaming machine used to play one or more games of chance:

detecting a request to register a player to a loyalty program at the gaming machine;

receiving loyalty program information;

receiving loyalty program instrument information stored on a loyalty program instrument at the gaming machine;

sending a registration request message with the loyalty program information from the gaming machine to a loyalty program server;

wherein the loyalty program information and the loyalty program instrument information are used to register the player in the loyalty program.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

encrypting the registration request message.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving a registration reply message.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

decrypting the registration reply message.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

when the registration reply contains information confirming the registration request,

initiating a loyalty program session on the gaming machine using the loyalty program instrument.

35. The method of claim 30, farther comprising:

displaying a registration interface to a touch screen display and

receiving loyalty program information using a touch screen mounted over the touch screen display.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the touch screen display is a main display on the gaming machine.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the touch screen display is a secondary display on the gaming machine.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the touch screen display is located on a player tracking unit.

39. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

generating a receipt.

40. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

displaying a message confirming the registration request.

41. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

displaying a message denying the registration request.

42. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program information is selected from the group consisting of a name, an address, a phone number, an age, a birth date, an e-mail address, biometric information, preference information and combinations thereof.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the biometric information is selected from the group consisting of a finger print, a retina image, a voice print, a picture and a signature.

44. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving a wager for a game of chance and presenting the game of chance on the gaming machine.

45. The method of claim 30, wherein the game of chance is selected from the group consisting of video slot games, mechanical slot games, video black jack games, video poker games, video keno games, video bingo games, video pachinko games, video card games, a video games of chance and combinations thereof.

46. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program is a player tracking program.

47. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program server is a player tracking server.

48. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is at least one of a bar code and a serial number.

49. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program instrument is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic-striped card, a cell phone, a smart card, a ticket, a room key and a hand-held computing device.

50. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

generating a registration request message.

51. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program information is input into the gaming machine using a bill validator.

52. The method of claim 30, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is input into the gaming machine using a bill validator.

53. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

printing a loyalty program instrument.

54. A method of registering a player to a loyalty program using a gaming device:

receiving loyalty program information on the gaming device;

receiving loyalty program instrument information stored on a loyalty program instrument on the gaming device;

sending a registration request message with the loyalty program information and the loyalty program instrument information from the gaming device to a loyalty program server;

wherein the loyalty program information and the loyalty program instrument information is used to register the player in the loyalty program.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the gaming device is at least one of a casino kiosk, a player tracking unit and a hand-held computing device.

56. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

displaying a registration interface to a touch screen display on the gaming device and

receiving loyalty program information using a touch screen mounted over the touch screen display.

57. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

encrypting the registration request message.

58. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

receiving a registration reply message.

59. The method of claim 58, further comprising:

decrypting the registration reply message.

60. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

generating a registration request message.

61. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

generating a receipt.

62. The method of claim 54, wherein the loyalty program information is selected from the group consisting of a name, an address, an age, a birth date, a phone number, an e-mail address, biometric information, preference information and combinations thereof.

63. The method of claim 54, wherein the loyalty program is a player tracking program.

64. The method of claim 54, wherein the loyalty program server is a player tracking server.

65. The method of claim 54, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is at least one of a bar code and a serial number.

66. The method of claim 54, wherein the loyalty program instrument is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic-striped card, a smart card, a cell phone, a ticket, a room key and a hand-held computing device.

67. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

initiating a loyalty program session on a gaming machine using the loyalty program instrument.

68. The method of claim 54, wherein the registration request message is sent from the gaming device to the loyalty program server using a communication interface on a gaming machine.

69. A method of registering a player to a loyalty program in a loyalty program server, the method comprising:

receiving a registration request message containing loyalty program information and loyalty program instrument information from a gaming machine;

generating a new loyalty program account using the loyalty program information and the loyalty program instrument information; and

sending a registration reply message to the gaming machine.

70. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

assigning a personal identification number to the player.

71. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

storing the player identification information and the loyalty program instrument information in a loyalty program account database.

72. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

generating the registration reply message.

73. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

encrypting the registration reply message.

74. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

decrypting the registration request message.

75. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

receiving loyalty program information from a gaming machine for the new loyalty program account;

determining loyalty points using the loyalty program information; and

storing the loyalty points to the new loyalty program account.

76. The method of claim 69, wherein the loyalty program is a player tracking program.

77. The method of claim 69, wherein the loyalty program server is a player tracking server.

78. The method of claim 69, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is at least one of a bar code and a serial number.

79. The method of claim 69, wherein the loyalty program instrument is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic-striped card, a smart card, a ticket, a room key and a hand-held computing device.

80. The method of claim 69, wherein the loyalty program information is selected from the group consisting of a name, an address, biometric information, preference information and combinations thereof.

81. A loyalty program server comprising:

a processor for executing gaming logic;

a network interface for communication with a plurality of gaming devices;

a database containing a plurality of loyalty program accounts;

gaming logic for receiving a loyalty program registration request message from the plurality of gaming machine and the plurality of gaming devices; and

gaming logic for generating a new loyalty program account on the database using loyalty program information and loyalty program instrument information received in the loyalty program request message.

82. The loyalty program server of claim 81, wherein the gaming device is selected from the group consisting of a gaming machine, a player tracking unit, a casino kiosk and a hand-held computing device.

83. The loyalty program server of claim 81, wherein the network interface is at least one of a wireless network interface, a wire network interface or combinations thereof.

84. The loyalty program server of claim 81, wherein the loyalty program instrument information is from a loyalty program instrument selected from the group consisting of a magnetic-striped card, a cell phone, a smart card, a ticket, a room key and a portable wireless device.