System for electronic game promotion
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A gaming system, comprising:
- a gaming device containing a game to be played by a user;
a gaming network coupled to the gaming device;
an award generator operative on the gaming network, the award generator structured to generate more than one award available for a user of the gaming device;
a selection mechanism structured to accept from the user an indication of a selected one of the available awards; and
a ticket printer coupled to the gaming device and structured to generate printed output based on a signal received from the selection mechanism.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A printer on a networked gaming device can be controlled by the network to generate awards. The printer can operate as both a typical printer in a gaming device and as a printer for the gaming network, or separate printers can be installed in the gaming device. If the particular player has identified himself or herself to the gaming network, then the gaming system has a very high probability that it is communicating to a known player. Therefore, the printer operates as a direct communication conduit to a player. Additionally, previously issued awards can be redeemed by a validator coupled to the gaming network.
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Citations
94 Claims
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1. A gaming system, comprising:
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a gaming device containing a game to be played by a user;
a gaming network coupled to the gaming device;
an award generator operative on the gaming network, the award generator structured to generate more than one award available for a user of the gaming device;
a selection mechanism structured to accept from the user an indication of a selected one of the available awards; and
a ticket printer coupled to the gaming device and structured to generate printed output based on a signal received from the selection mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A gaming system, comprising:
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a gaming device containing a game to be played by a user;
a ticket printer coupled to the gaming device and structured to generate printed tickets;
a gaming network coupled to the gaming device, the gaming network structured to monitor game activity;
a second ticket printer coupled to the gaming network;
an awarding system running on the gaming network, the awarding system structured to generate an award for a user; and
a ticket generator coupled to the second ticket printer and structured to signal the second ticket printer to generate the tickets based on signals from the awarding system. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A gaming system, comprising:
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a gaming device containing a game to be played by a user;
a gaming network coupled to the gaming device, the gaming network including a player database;
an identification system coupled to the gaming device and to the gaming network, the identification system structured to match a user playing the game to player information stored on the player database;
a ticket reader coupled to the gaming device and structured to read and decode data from a ticket inserted in the ticket reader to identify a particular award; and
a ticket validator coupled to the ticket reader and to the gaming network, the ticket validator structured to grant the particular award to the identified player when the ticket is inserted in the ticket reader and the identified player is authorized to receive such an award. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A gaming system, comprising:
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a gaming device containing a game to be played by a user;
a gaming network coupled to the gaming device, the gaming network including a modeling parameters database that includes a plurality of ticket triggers;
an award generator operative on the gaming network, the award generator structured to use the plurality of ticket triggers in generating an award available for a user of the gaming device; and
a ticket printer coupled to the gaming device and structured to generate printed output based on a signal received from the award generator. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A gaming system, comprising:
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a plurality of gaming devices containing games to be played by users;
a gaming network coupled to the plurality of gaming devices;
an award generator operative on the gaming network and structured to generate an award available for at least one of the users of the gaming device, the award generator including;
a first set of triggers associated with a first group of one or more of the plurality of gaming devices, a second set of triggers associated with a first group of one or more of the plurality of gaming devices, and a comparator to compare current data on the gaming network to the first and second sets of triggers; and
a ticket printer coupled to the award generator and structured to generate printed output based on a signal received from the award generator. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67)
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68. A method for printing tickets at a gaming device that is interconnected by a gaming network to a host computer, the method comprising:
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monitoring game play data received from the gaming device;
comparing the play data to a set of predefined award variables;
granting two or more awards when the play data conform to the set of predefined variables;
accepting a user selected one of the awards; and
generating a ticket indicative of the selected award at the gaming device. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. A method for generating an award at a gaming device that is interconnected by a gaming network to a host computer, the method comprising:
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loading into an award processor a set of predefined conditions;
accepting data generated by a player using the gaming device;
comparing the data to the set of conditions;
awarding a first award when the data match a first of the set of predefined conditions;
awarding a second award when the data match a second of the set of predefined conditions; and
generating a ticket indicative of either the first or second award. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84)
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85. A method for operating a gaming network that includes a database of player data, the method comprising:
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accepting a representation of a promotional item from a user who is identified to the computer network;
verifying that the user is eligible to receive the promotional item by inspecting the database of player data; and
, if so verifiedawarding the promotional item to the user. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91)
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92. A method of generating an award for a user of a gaming device that is one of a plurality of gaming devices coupled to a gaming network, the method comprising:
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assigning a first set of ticket triggering events to a first group of the plurality of gaming devices, the first group including fewer than all in the plurality of gaming devices;
comparing current gaming network data to the first set of ticket triggering events; and
generating a ticket to the user when one of the first set of ticket triggering events is satisfied by the current network gaming data. - View Dependent Claims (93, 94)
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Specification