Service-oriented gaming network environment

• US 20040229699A1
• Filed: 02/26/2004
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gentles, Thomas A., Blackburn, Christopher W., Block, Rory L., Swamy, Vikram, Warkentin, Terry D.
• Application Number:
  US10/788,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20040229699A1
• 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 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions

Abstract

A gaming services framework comprises a set of services, protocols, XML schemas, and methods for providing gaming system functionality in a distributed, network based architecture. Systems and methods provide a service-oriented framework for gaming and property management based upon internetworking technology and web services concepts. One aspect of the systems and methods includes a loosely coupled architecture that consists of software components that semantically encapsulate discrete functionality (self contained and perform a single function or a related group of functions—the component describes its own inputs and outputs in a way that other software can determine what it does, how to invoke its functionality, and what result to expect). These components may be distributed and programmatically accessible (called by and exchange data with other software) over standard internetworking protocols (TCP/IP, HITP, DNS, DHCP, etc.).

Claims

1. A system providing a gaming network environment, the system comprising:

at least one gaming machine communicably coupled to a gaming network; and

at least one service provider communicably coupled to the gaming network, said service provider operable to perform a service;

wherein the gaming machine issues a request for the service and the service provider responds to the request for the service, said request and response formed using internetworking protocols.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the service provider comprises a web services provider and the internetworking protocols comprise web services internetworking protocols.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a discovery agent communicably coupled to the gaming network, said discovery agent providing a discovery service and wherein the service provider is operable to publish data for the service to the discovery agent and wherein the gaming machine is operable to query the discovery agent for the availability of the service.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a boot service.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a gaming management service.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the gaming management service is operable to provide configuration data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an accounting service.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an authentication service.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an authorization service.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an accounting service.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an event management service.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a gaming software update service.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a message director service.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a content integrity service.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a progressive gaming service.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a mobile gaming device location service.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the mobile gaming device location service is a GPS based service.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a player tracking service.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a game theme location service.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a personalization service.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a cashless transaction service.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a bonusing service.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a game outcome service.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises an advertising service.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a property management service.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the standard internetworking protocols includes a services description language protocol layer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the services description language protocol layer is a version of the WSDL web services description language protocol.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the internetworking protocols includes a service discovery protocol layer.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the service discovery protocol layer comprises the UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) protocol layer.

30. A method for providing a service in a gaming network, the method comprising:

publishing the availability of a service on a gaming network with a discovery agent communicably coupled to the gaming network;

receiving by the discovery agent a request for a service description for the service from a gaming machine communicably coupled to the gaming network;

registering by the gaming machine with the service; and

processing one or more service requests between the gaming machine and the service.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the service is a web service.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising defining the web service using a service description language.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the service description language comprises a Web Services Description Language (WSDL).

34. The method of claim 30, wherein publishing the service includes registering the service with a registry.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the registry comprises a UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) registry.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein the service description is located using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

37. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for providing a service in a gaming network, the method comprising:

publishing the availability of a service on a gaming network with a discovery agent communicably coupled to the gaming network;

receiving by the discovery agent a request for a service description for the service from a gaming machine communicably coupled to the gaming network;

registering by the gaming machine with the service; and

processing one or more service requests between the gaming machine and the service.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the service is a web service.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, further comprising defining the web service using a service description language.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the service description language comprises a Web Services Description Language (WSDL).

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein publishing the service includes registering the service with a registry.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the registry comprises a UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) registry.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the service description is located using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).