Gaming system for individual control of access to many devices with few wires

• US 20040198493A1
• Filed: 03/22/2001
• Published: 10/07/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Wilder, Richard, Mattice, Harold, Gail, Theodore
• Granted Patent: US 7,462,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/90 Constructional details or arrangements of video game devices not provided for in groups A63F13/20 or A63F13/25, e.g. housing, wiring, connections or cabinets
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication

Abstract

A system controls access to a plurality of devices with only four lines by grouping the devices in nodes, wherein each node includes a local control circuit and a predetermined number of the devices, with each local control circuit defining a shift register, the positions of which are respectively connected to the devices. The nodes are connected in series with a host controller, so that the shift registers of the several nodes cooperate to form a system shift register. The nodes are serially addressed by a serial data message from a DATA OUT line of the host controller, which message includes M×N data bits followed by strobe indicator, where N is the number of nodes and M is the number of devices at each node. All controllers are connected to a V+ line and a COMMON line and a RETURN line. The system register forms a fourth line, one end of which is connected to the host controller DATA OUT terminal and the other end of which may be connected to the RETURN line.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a plurality of devices to be individually accessed;

a host controller having a data out terminal a power terminal and a common terminal;

a plurality of local controllers each having a data in terminal, a data out terminal, a power terminal, a common terminal and plural device terminals,

the controllers being interconnected in a string with the data out terminal of the host controller being connected to the data in terminal of a first local controller and the data in terminal of each of the other local controllers being connected to the data out terminal of the preceding local controller in the string;

each local controller having its device terminals respectively connected to individual ones of the devices;

a power line interconnecting the power terminals of the host controller and all of the local controllers; and

a common line interconnecting the common terminals of the host controller and all of the local controllers.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the devices include optical devices.

3. The gaming system of claim 2, wherein each of the optical devices is an LED.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each of the local controllers is a microcontroller.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the host controller includes a data in terminal, the data out terminal of a last node being connected to the data in terminal of the host controller.

6. The gaming device of claim 5, wherein at least one of the devices is a device having states which are to be detected.

7. The gaming system of claim 6, wherein the at least one of the devices is a switch.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the host controller includes means for producing at its data out terminal an output signal comprising a serial digital data stream directed to all of the nodes.

9. The gaming system of claim 8, wherein the devices include at least one device having states which are to be controlled, the output signal including data for controlling states of the at least one device.

10. The gaming device of claim 9, wherein at least one device is an LED.

11. The gaming system of claim 8, wherein the devices include switches and LEDs, the output signal including a portion for causing the local controllers to record the states of the switches and a portion for causing the local controllers to control the states of the LEDs.

12. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein all of the devices are associated with a single gaming machine.

13. A gaming system comprising:

a plurality of devices to be individually accessed, arranged in a string of M nodes, with each node including up to N of the devices, wherein M and N are whole numbers greater than one;

a host controller having a data out terminal;

a plurality of local controllers respectively associated with the nodes, each local controller having a data in terminal and a data out terminal and including a N-bit shift register with the register positions respectively connected to device output terminals to which the devices of the associated node may respectively be connected;

the data out terminal of the host controller being connected to the data in terminal of a first node and the data in terminal of each of the other nodes being connected to the data out terminal of the preceding node in the string so that the string of nodes provides a (M×

N)-bit shift register;

the host controller producing at its data out terminal an output signal comprising a serial digital data stream including M×

N bits followed by a strobe indicator so that the M×

N bits are sequentially loaded into and fill the (M×

N)-bit register;

each local controller being responsive to the strobe indicator for utilizing the contents of its N-bit register for accessing the associated devices.

14. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein each of the local controllers is a microcontroller.

15. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein N is 4.

16. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the serial digital data stream comprises binary data.

17. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the devices include at least one device having states which are to be controlled, each local controller being responsive to the strobe indicator for latching the contents of its register to those of its device output terminals connected to the at least one device for controlling states of at the least one device.

18. The gaming system of claim 17, wherein the at least one device is an LED.

19. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the devices include at least one device having states which are to be recorded, each local controller being responsive to the strobe indicator, for each register position connected to the at least one device, for loading into that register position a bit indicative of the current state of the at least one device.

20. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the at least one device is a switch.

21. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the output signal is comprised of bytes each having a length of (N)2^x bits.

22. The gaming system of claim 21, wherein consecutive N-bit segments of a byte respectively address consecutive nodes.

23. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein all of the devices are associated with a single gaming machine.

24. A gaming system comprising:

a plurality of devices to be individually accessed including one or more first devices to be sensed and one or more second devices to be controlled, the devices being arranged in a string of M nodes with each node including up to N of the devices, wherein M and N are whole numbers greater than one;

a host controller having a data out terminal and a data in terminal;

a plurality of local controllers respectively associated with the nodes, each local controller having a data in terminal and a data out terminal and including a N-bit shift register with the register positions respectively connected to device output terminals to which the devices of the associated node may respectively be connected;

the data out terminal of the host controller being connected to the data in terminal of a first node and the data in terminal of each of the other nodes being connected to the data out terminal of the preceding node in the string so that the string of nodes provides a (M×

N)-bit shift register, and the data out terminal of a last node being connected to the data in terminal of the host controller;

the host controller producing at its data out terminal an output signal comprising a serial digital data stream including M×

N bits followed by a strobe indicator so that the M×

N bits are sequentially loaded into and fill the (M×

N)-bit register,

each local controller being responsive to the strobe indicator for;

(a) for each of its register positions connected to a first device, loading into that register position a bit indicative of the current state of the first device; and

(b) for each of its register positions connected to a second device, latching the contents of that position to its associated device output terminal for controlling the associated second device.

25. The gaming system of claim 24, wherein each of the local controllers is a microcontroller.

26. The gaming system of claim 25, wherein N is 4.

27. The gaming system of claim 24, wherein the output signal comprises binary data.

28. The gaming system of claim 24, wherein each of the first devices is a switch and each of the second devices is an LED.

29. The gaming system of claim 24, wherein the contents of the (M×

N)-bit register is returned to the data in terminal of the host controller in response to the loading into the (M×

N)-bit register of an output signal from the host controller.

30. The gaming system of claim 24 wherein all of the devices are associated with a single gaming machine.

31. A method for individually accessing each of a plurality of devices in a gaming system comprising:

grouping the devices into M nodes, with each node including a local controller and up to N devices connected to the local controller, wherein M and N are whole numbers greater than one,

connecting the local controllers in series with one another and with a data out terminal of a host controller so that the local controllers cooperate to define an (M×

N)-bit shift register,

providing a power line connected to all of the controllers and a common line connected to all of the controllers, and

transmitting from the host controller data out terminal to all of the local controllers a serial digital data message including M×

N bits respectively corresponding to the devices for individually controlling the devices.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the data message terminates with a strobe indicator which causes each local controller to access the devices connected thereto in accordance with a portion of the data message corresponding to that local controller.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the data message is a binary data message.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the devices include at least one device having states which are to be sensed, and further comprising sensing the current state of the at least one device, and returning to the host controller from each node a signal indicative of the current state of the at least one device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein each digital data message terminates with a strobe indicator, and each local controller responds to the strobe indicator for storing, for each at least one device connected thereto, a data bit corresponding to the current state of the at least one device, the stored bits being shifted from the register in response to the next data message from the host controller.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the devices include at least one device having states which are to be controlled, and further comprising controlling the states of the at least one device in response to the data message.