Virtual glass for a gaming machine

• US 20050153776A1
• Filed: 01/12/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Schlottmann, Gregory A., LeMay, Steven G., Goodman, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,016,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/30
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• 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

Various virtual glasses for providing visual and audio displays in a gaming machine are disclosed. Such virtual glasses may replace traditional gaming machine displays such as silk-screened glasses and secondary video screens. A virtual glass system comprises at least a host adapted to provide video content, a host storage unit adapted to store video content for the host, and a virtual glass in communication with the host. A standard virtual glass comprises at least a logic device, a storage unit, and a video display device. Multiples of each item may be present in each virtual glass system and/or virtual glass. In particular, the combined capacity of all virtual glass storage units is substantially less than the combined video content capacity of the host storage units. Additional devices can include remote hosts, remote virtual glasses, multiple hosts, networked systems and advanced logic devices capable of providing prioritization and increased functionality.

Claims

1. A gaming machine adapted for accepting wagers and granting monetary awards, comprising:

an associated first host adapted to present video content to a virtual glass;

at least one first host storage unit in communication with said first host and adapted to store video content accessible to said first host; and

at least one associated virtual glass in communication with said first host, said at least one virtual glass comprising at least one logic device, at least one virtual glass storage unit and one video display device,

wherein the combined capacity of all virtual glass storage units within said virtual glass is substantially less than the combined video content capacity of all first host storage units.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said first host comprises a master gaming controller for said gaming machine.

3. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises flash RAM.

4. The gaming machine of claim 3, wherein said flash RAM is adapted to be readily erasable or overwritable, but is also sufficiently nonvolatile so as to be retrievable after a machine shutdown or other malfunction.

5. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises dynamic RAM.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said at least one first host storage unit comprises at least one of a hard disk, a disk drive, or a flash drive.

7. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said at least one first host storage unit stores video data specific to an establishment operating the gaming machine.

8. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said video display device is selected from the group consisting of cathode ray tubes, liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, field emission displays, digital micromirror devices, touchscreens, and combinations thereof.

9. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a master gaming controller, wherein said virtual glass is adapted to implement a communication protocol that allows the virtual glass to be identified by said master gaming controller as a device authorized to connect to said master gaming controller.

10. The gaming machine of claim 9, wherein said communication protocol is compatible with protocols selected from the group consisting of Universal Serial Bus, Firewire, Bluetooth®

Wireless, and combinations thereof.

11. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the communication technology and protocol utilized for communications between said first host and said virtual glass is selected from the group consisting of Universal Serial Bus, Firewire, proprietary cables and buses, Bluetooth®

Wireless systems, wireless fidelity systems, and combinations thereof.

12. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is provided in a top box portion of the gaming machine, said top box portion being located above a main cabinet portion of the gaming machine.

13. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is provided in a belly glass region of the gaming machine, said belly glass region being located on a main cabinet portion of the gaming machine.

14. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is provided in a side panel region of the gaming machine, said side panel region being located on a main cabinet portion of the gaming machine.

15. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is provided in a remote location from the gaming machine, said remote location being separate and apart from the remainder of the gaming machine.

16. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is adapted to decompress video content presented in a compressed format.

17. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is adapted to scale video content presented in an undesirable size.

18. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass comprises one or more anti-aliasing algorithms and is adapted to utilize at least one of said algorithms to alter presented video content.

19. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is adapted to execute scripts in association with presented video content.

20. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said virtual glass is adapted to render presented video content in a 3-D format into a 2-D format.

21. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said host is provided in a remote location from the remainder of the gaming machine, said remote location being separate and apart from the remainder of the gaming machine.

22. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said gaming machine is incorporated into a network of gaming machines comprising one or more additional hosts and/or virtual glasses.

23. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a second host, said second host being separate and distinct from said first host.

24. A virtual glass adapted for use in a gaming environment, comprising:

at least one logic device, said at least one logic device adapted to process video content presented by an associated host, wherein said associated host is in communication with at least one host storage unit adapted to store video content accessible to said host;

at least one virtual glass storage unit, wherein the combined capacity of all virtual glass storage units within said virtual glass is substantially less than the combined video content capacity of all host storage units; and

a display device.

25. The virtual glass of claim 24, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises flash RAM.

26. The virtual glass of claim 24, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises dynamic RAM.

27. The virtual glass of claim 24, wherein at least one of said host, said at least one host storage unit and said virtual glass is associated with a gaming machine.

28. The virtual glass of claim 24, wherein said virtual glass is incorporated into a network comprising one or more additional hosts and/or virtual glasses.

29. A method of providing a display associated with a gaming machine, the method comprising:

providing a host;

providing at least one host storage unit;

providing a virtual glass;

providing at least one virtual glass storage unit, wherein the combined capacity of all virtual glass storage units is substantially less than the combined video content capacity of all host storage units;

accessing video content stored on said at least one host storage unit;

presenting said video content from said host to said virtual glass; and

displaying said video content on said virtual glass.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

storing said video content in said at least one virtual glass storage unit.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises flash RAM.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one virtual glass storage unit comprises dynamic RAM.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of said host, said at least one host storage unit and said virtual glass is associated with a gaming machine.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein said virtual glass is incorporated into a network comprising one or more additional hosts and/or virtual glasses.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

implementing a communication protocol on said virtual glass that allows the virtual glass to be identified by a master gaming controller of said gaming machine as a device authorized to connect to said master gaming controller.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said communication protocol is compatible with protocols selected from the group consisting of Universal Serial Bus, Firewire, Bluetooth®

Wireless, and combinations thereof.