Gaming machine with surround sound features

• US 20050282631A1
• Filed: 07/14/2005
• Published: 12/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Pryzby, Eric M., Bonney, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,766,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/35
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters

Abstract

A gaming machine for conducting a wagering game includes selective application of surround sound. The selective application of surround sound allows certain key gaming events to be emphasized over other gaming events. The surround sound may be varied to produce certain effects, such as a tactile effect and a gradual building up of suspense and anticipation that increases player excitement and enjoyment. A surround sound decoder may be added in some embodiments to convert monophonic and stereo wagering games into surround sound. The surround sound may be implemented as true surround sound or as virtual surround sound.

Claims

1. A gaming machine, comprising:

a game display operable to display a symbol combination representing an outcome of a wagering game, the outcome being randomly selected from a plurality of outcomes; and

an audio system operable to produce gaming sounds during game play of the wagering game, the gaming sounds corresponding to gaming events associated with the wagering game, the gaming events including one or more special gaming events;

wherein the audio system is configured to produce in surround sound only gaming sounds that correspond to the one or more special gaming events during the game play of the wagering game.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising a chair for allowing a player to sit while playing the wagering game, wherein the audio system comprises surround sound speakers placed in predefined locations around the chair.

3. The gaming machine of claim 2, wherein at least one of the speakers is a subwoofer, the audio system configured to provide an audio signal to the at least one subwoofer for vibrating the chair.

4. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the audio system comprises a surround sound decoder for converting non-surround sound audio signals to surround sound audio signals.

5. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the gaming events correspond to winning outcomes in the wagering game and the special gaming events correspond to a predetermined subset of the winning outcomes.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the gaming events correspond to all outcomes of the wagering game, including winning outcomes, and the special gaming events correspond only to the winning outcomes.

7. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the audio system is configured to produce virtual surround sound.

8. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the audio system is configured to produce true surround sound.

9. A method of operating a gaming machine, comprising:

receiving a wager in the gaming machine;

displaying a symbol combination representing an outcome of a wagering game in response to receiving the wager, the outcome being randomly selected from a plurality of outcomes; and

selectively producing surround sound in response to certain ones of the plurality of outcomes being randomly selected during the game play of the wagering game.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising varying the surround sound during the game play of the wagering game to build player anticipation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the surround sound distinguishes the certain ones of the plurality of outcomes from other ones of the plurality of outcomes to the player.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of outcomes includes winning outcomes and the certain ones of the plurality of outcomes are a subset of the winning outcomes in the wagering game.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising selectively producing surround sound when a player achieves one or more wagering activity related milestones.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of outcomes includes one or more game enhancement features being awarded to a player during the game play of the wagering game, further comprising selectively producing surround sound when the one or more game enhancement features are awarded to the player.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the surround sound includes generic wagering game sounds.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the surround sound includes sounds that relate to a specific theme of the wagering game.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the surround sound is stored as surround sound format audio data files in the gaming machine.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the surround sound is stored as non-surround sound format audio data files, further comprising converting the non-surround sound format audio data files to surround sound format audio data files.

19. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for directing a gaming machine to perform the method of claim 9.

20. A gaming machine, comprising:

a game display operable to display a symbol combination representing an outcome of a wagering game, the outcome being randomly selected from a plurality of outcomes; and

an audio system operable to produce gaming sounds during the wagering game;

wherein the wagering game has a theme and the audio system is configured to produce, in surround sound, theme-related sounds that provide a realistic ambience based on the theme of the wagering game.

21. A gaming machine, comprising:

a game display operable to display a symbol combination representing an outcome of a wagering game, the outcome being randomly selected from a plurality of outcomes;

an audio system operable to produce gaming sounds during the wagering game; and

a surround sound decoder connected to the audio system, the surround sound decoder configured to convert gaming sounds having a non-surround sound format into a surround sound format.