Modular entertainment and gaming system configured for network boot, network application load and selective network computation farming

• US 20030100370A1
• Filed: 04/10/2002
• Published: 05/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mudalla Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cyberview Technology, Inc. (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet De Courssou, Thierry, Beney, Pierre-Jean
• Granted Patent: US 6,908,391 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3206 Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3232 wherein the operator is informed

Abstract

A secure and modular architecture for monitoring and controlling clusters of pay entertainment and gaming devices. The architecture allows flexible and secure use of state-of-the-art multimedia and Internet technologies to attract the younger player generation used to flashy and networked games. Cash or cash-less entertainment and gaming devices are supported.

Claims

1. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine;

at least one central server, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one central server, wherein the at least one gaming machine is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one central server via the communication network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

3. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine;

at least one storage area network, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one storage area network, wherein the at least one gaming machine is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one storage area network via the communication network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

5. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one payment verification unit;

at least one central server, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one central server, wherein the at least one payment verification unit is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one central server via the communication network.

6. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one payment verification unit;

at least one storage area network, and

a communication network linking the at least one payment verification unit and the at least one storage area network, wherein the at least one payment verification unit is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one storage area network via the communication network.

7. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine;

at least one payment verification unit, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one payment verification unit, wherein the at least one gaming machine is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one payment verification unit via the communication network.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

9. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine including at least one specialized device;

at least one central server, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one central server and the at least one specialized device, wherein the at least one specialized device is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one central server via the communication network.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

11. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine including at least one specialized device;

at least one payment verification unit, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one payment verification unit and the at least one specialized device, wherein the at least one specialized device is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one payment verification unit via the communication network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

13. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine including at least one specialized device;

at least one storage area network, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the at least one storage area network and the at least one specialized device, wherein the at least one specialized device is configured to boot its operating system and/or load its application software from the at least one storage area network unit via the communication network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

15. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine;

at least one central server system including a farm of computer servers, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the central server system, wherein each of the at least one gaming machine is configured to selectively offload computations to the farm of computer servers over the communication network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

17. A gaming system according to claim 15, wherein the at least one gaming machine is configured to selectively offload computations to the farm of computer servers over the communication network, in a manner selected from one of:

a one-to-one manner wherein a single computer server is entirely allocated to a single gaming machine;

in a one-to-many manner wherein more than one computer servers are allocated to a single gaming machine;

in a many-to-one manner, wherein a single computer server is allocated to more than one gaming machine.

18. A system for controlling gaming machines, including:

at least one gaming machine;

at least one central server system including a farm of computer servers, and

a communication network linking the at least one gaming machine and the central server system, wherein each of the computer servers in the farm is configured to selectively control or assume a computation load of the at least one gaming machine over the communication network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one gaming machine includes at least one of a cashless gaming machine, a cash gaming machine and an entertainment machine.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein each of the computer servers in the farm is configured to selectively control or assume a computation load of the at least one gaming machine over the communication network in a manner selected from one of:

a one-to-one manner wherein a single computer server is entirely allocated to a single gaming machine;

in a one-to-many manner wherein more than one computer servers are allocated to a single gaming machine;

in a many-to-one manner, wherein a single computer server is allocated to more than one gaming machine.