Server-less cashless gaming systems and methods

• US 20030228907A1
• Filed: 06/05/2002
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: Cyberview Technology, Inc. (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet De Courssou, Thierry
• Granted Patent: US 6,916,244 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 17/3248 involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3251 involving media of variable value, e.g. programmable cards, programmable tokens
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3281 wherein game attributes are transferred between players, e.g. points, weapons, avatars

Abstract

Methods and systems that enable cashless gaming dispense with the need to set up and operate a complex centrally controlled system or dispense with the need to distribute expensive smart cards. The patrons'"'"' gaming session meters (including, for example, a measure of winning and/or available credit) are distributed amongst an estate of peer networked gaming terminals.

Claims

1. A method for metering a cashless game session played by a patron on a network including a plurality of networked gaming terminals, the method comprising the steps of:

a) initializing meters assigned to the game session with a credit amount corresponding to funds received from the patron in a predetermined first gaming terminal of the plurality of networked gaming terminals;

b) if the patron does not initiate the gaming session on the first gaming terminal, transferring the meters assigned to the game session over the network from the meters in the first gaming terminal directly to meters in whichever gaming terminal of the plurality of networked gaming terminals on which the patron initiates a gaming session;

c) metering the game session activity;

d) transferring in a peer-to-peer fashion the meters assigned to the game session over the network directly to meters in whichever gaming terminal of the plurality of networked gaming terminals on which the patron initiates a gaming session, and

repeating steps c) and d) as and if needed until the credit amount associated with the meters assigned to the game session is exhausted or a cash-out is requested by the patron.

2. The method of claim 1, further including a step of issuing a unique ID instrument, the issued ID instrument being associated with the meters assigned to one of the selected one of a player account, an anonymous game session account, a voucher verification account, a time gaming account and a smartcard reconciliation account.

3. The method of claim 2, further including reading and validating the issued ID instrument prior to enabling the patron to initiate a gaming session.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein an entry terminal is connected to the network, and upon receiving a cash-out request by the patron and validating the patron'"'"'s ID instrument, carrying out steps of:

the network entry terminal requesting the meters assigned to the game session from meters of a last gaming terminal on which the patron initiated a gaming session, and

paying the patron an amount corresponding to a remaining credit in the requested meters assigned to the game session.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network connected entry terminal is one of automatic and operated by a cashier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a network broadcasting step is carried out by the network entry terminal to determine the last gaming terminal on which the patron initiated a gaming session.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the meters of the last gaming terminal on which the patron initiated a gaming session are updated to reflect payment to the patron.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the network entry terminal is stateless.

9. The method of claim 2, further including a step of denying payment to the patron if the ID instrument is not validated, if the credit amount associated with the meters assigned to the game session is zero or if the credit amount associated with the meters assigned to the game session has already been paid.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring steps are carried out securely.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring steps are carried out at least partly wirelessly.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring steps are carried out securely and at least partly wirelessly.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a plurality of entry terminals connected to the network, to allow patrons to deposit funds and to be paid.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the entry terminals are one of operated by a cashier and automatic.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the ID instrument is anonymous.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the ID instrument is associated with a personal information of the patron.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein the ID instrument includes at least one of a printed ticket with text and/or an encoded barcode, a printed ticket with text and/or embedded encoded magnetic strip, a magnetic ID card, a smart ID card, biometric recognition, an ID button, an ID key-chain, a personal electronic wallet, a secure handheld Computer, a secure mobile phone, a secure computer wrist watch and a keyboard or keypad and username, password combination.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the ID instrument is associated with a membership of the patron.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a network broadcasting step is carried out prior to step d) to determine which of the plurality of networked gaming terminals currently stores the meters assigned to the game session.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein the ID instrument is configured to store an identifier of the gaming machine on which the patron last initiated a gaming session.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising steps of:

denying a transfer request to transfer meters to another gaming terminal if a credit associated with the ID instrument submitted is exhausted, and

preventing the patron from playing the gaming terminal to which the ID instrument is submitted.

22. A system for metering cashless game sessions for a plurality of networked gaming terminals comprising:

at least one ID instrument;

at least one network connected entry terminal comprising;

means of accepting and/or dispensing the at least one ID instrument;

computer means of interacting with the networked gaming terminals;

at least one of the plurality of gaming terminals comprising;

means of accepting the at least one ID instrument submitted by a patron;

gaming means for the patron to play;

metering means configured to store the context of the game session activity;

meters associated with the at least one ID instrument and stored in the metering means;

computer means to transfer, upon request, the meters to a requesting one of the plurality of networked gaming terminals;

computer means to request and accept the transfer of the meters from another of the plurality of networked gaming terminals;

a cash-out function, and

processing means to authorize or deny payment requested by the at least one cashier network entry terminal.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the ID instrument includes at least one of a printed ticket with text and/or an encoded barcode, a printed ticket with text and/or embedded encoded magnetic strip, a magnetic ID card, a smart ID card, biometric recognition, an ID button, an ID key-chain, a personal electronic wallet, a secure handheld Computer, a secure mobile phone, a secure computer wrist watch and a keyboard or keypad and username, password combination.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the ID instrument is associated to one of the selected one of a player account, an anonymous game session account, a voucher verification account, a time gaming account and a smartcard reconciliation account.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the plurality of gaming terminals are networked and operate in a peer-to-peer fashion.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer means to request transfer are configured to one of:

broadcast the meters over the network, and

request the meters from an identified one of the plurality of networked gaming terminals.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming terminals includes mirroring means to store the meters that are also stored in another one of the plurality of networked gaming terminals.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein the ID instrument is configured to store an identification of a last played gaming terminal of the plurality of gaming terminals.

29. A method for metering cashless game sessions for an estate of networked gaming terminals comprising the steps of:

a) using one of at least one network connected entry terminal to initialize first meters located on a predetermined first gaming terminal within the estate with a credit amount corresponding to funds deposited by a patron, the first meters being associated with an ID instrument;

b) issuing the ID instrument to the patron;

c) denoting the first gaming terminal as a previous gaming terminal and denoting the first meters as previous meters;

d) repeating step e) to j) each time the patron selects a new gaming terminal from the estate, and proceeding to step k) when the patron wishes to redeem the credit amount;

e) the new gaming terminal accepting the ID instrument from the patron;

f) the new gaming terminal requesting the previous gaming terminal to transfer the previous meters;

g) transferring the previous meters into new meters located on the new gaming terminal;

h) the new gaming terminal metering the gaming of the patron using the new meters until a cash-out signal is activated;

i) denoting the new gaming terminal as the previous terminal and denoting the new meters as the previous meters;

j) proceeding to step d);

k) using one of the at least one network connected entry terminal to request the previous gaming terminal to authorize payment of credit associated with the ID instrument;

l) the previous gaming terminal returning an authorization for the payment to the requesting network connected entry terminal;

m) the previous gaming terminal updating the previous meters to reflect the payment, and

n) paying the payment to patron.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein steps a) and k) are carried out using at least one stateless network connected entry terminal.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the previous gaming terminal denies payment for the ID instrument in step l) if the credit of the previous meters is exhausted or has already been paid.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein each step that includes communication over the network is carried out securely.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein each step that includes communication over the network is carried out at least partly wirelessly.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein each step that includes communication over the network is carried out securely and at least partly wirelessly.

35. The method of claim 29, further including an initial step of providing a plurality of stateless network entry terminals operated by cashiers to allow patrons to deposit funds and to redeem credits.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument includes at least one of a printed ticket with text and/or an encoded barcode, a printed ticket with text and/or embedded encoded magnetic strip, a magnetic ID card, a smart ID card, biometric recognition, an ID button, an ID key-chain, a personal electronic wallet, a secure handheld computer, a secure mobile phone, a secure computer wrist watch and a keyboard or keypad and username, password combination.

37. The system of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument is associated to one of the selected one of a player account, an anonymous game session account, a voucher verification account, a time gaming account and a smartcard reconciliation account.

38. The method of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument is anonymous.

39. The method of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument is associated with a personal information of the patron.

40. The method of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument is associated with a membership of the patron.

41. The method of claim 29, wherein requests to transfer meters use network broadcasting wherein the requests are broadcast to each of the gaming terminals in the estate.

42. The method of claim 29, wherein the ID instrument is configured to store an identifier of the gaming machine on which the patron last played, the identifier being read by the network connected entry terminal or by a selected one of the gaming terminals of the estate to enable the selected one gaming terminal to use the stored identifier to directly contact the gaming machine on which the patron last played in lieu of network broadcasting.

43. The method of claim 29, wherein the new gaming terminal terminates the gaming of the patron at step h) if the credit amount is exhausted.

44. The method of claim 29, wherein step k) enables the patron to request full or partial payment on any remaining credit.

45. The method of claim 29, further comprising a step of mirroring meters in each gaming terminal of the estate in at least one mirroring peer gaming terminal of the estate to achieve fault tolerance, the at least one mirroring peer gaming terminal being configured to provide the mirrored meters to a requesting network connected entry terminal or a requesting gaming terminal upon of failure of a requested gaming terminal to respond to a request for meters.

46. The method of claim 29, wherein each of the at least one network connected entry terminals is integrated within a respective gaming terminal of the estate.

47. The method of claim 29, wherein the at least one network connected entry terminal is configured to be operated by a human cashier.

48. The method of claim 29, wherein the at least one network connected entry terminal is automated.

49. The method of claim 29, wherein the at least one network connected entry terminal is stateless.