Universal peer-to-peer game download

• US 20050282637A1
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Published: 12/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mudalla Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cyberview Technology, Inc. (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet de Courssou, Thierry
• Granted Patent: US 7,600,251 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/408 Peer to peer connection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/12 Protecting executable software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2109 Game systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A universal peer-to-peer game download for future proof gaming machines and legacy gaming machines, not requiring a central server for downloading. A peer-to-peer network of gaming machines includes a network; a first gaming machine including a first locked enclosure, a first computing device disposed within the first locked enclosure for controlling game play on the first gaming machine, a first download-enabled computing device that is configured to be selectively coupled to the network and disposed within the first locked enclosure, and a second gaming machine. The first download enabled computing device is configured to couple to the second gaming machine over the network and to download a package authenticated by a certificate directly from the second gaming machine, the package including software components to be installed and executed on the first computing device.

Claims

1. A method for downloading software components to a non-PC based gaming machine over a network, the non-PC based gaming machine including a locked enclosure and persistent storage, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a PC within the locked enclosure of the non-PC gaming machine, the PC including local storage;

connecting the PC to the network;

providing an interface between the PC and the non-PC based gaming machine;

sending directly, from another gaming machine coupled to the network, a package authenticated by code signing only to the PC over the network, the package including the software components to be installed on the non-PC gaming machine;

verifying the code signing and unpacking the software components included in the package, and

enabling the non-PC based gaming machine to execute the unpacked software components.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PC runs a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-PC is a PC hardware not running a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the software components are authorized by a regulatory authority.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending step uses a network file copy.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the package is a Microsoft MSI package.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the package is equivalent to a Microsoft MSI package.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface includes an Application Program Interface (API).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent storage of the non-PC gaming machine includes a disk drive or a recordable solid state memory storage.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the enabling step includes a step of storing the unpacked software components on the disk drive or the recordable solid state memory storage through the interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent storage of the non-PC gaming machine includes a ROM.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent storage of the non-PC gaming machine includes a ROM, wherein the interface includes a ROM emulator and wherein the enabling step includes sending the unpacked software components to the ROM emulator such that the non-PC based gaming machine executes the software components from the ROM emulator, bypassing the execution of the ROM software of the non-PC gaming machine.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the verifying step includes one of issuing a verification command and a step of rebooting the PC.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of rebooting the PC and verifying the code signing of any package stored in the PC'"'"'s local memory upon reboot.

15. The method of claim 1, further including a step of sending a menu of available games to the non-PC based gaming machine and wherein when a game is selected from the menu and software for the selected game is not stored in the non-PC gaming machine, the API further causes the verifying and enabling steps to be carried out on a package corresponding to the selected game.

16. The method of claim 1, further including a step of sending a menu of available games to the non-PC based gaming machine and wherein when a game is selected from the menu and software for the selected game is not stored in the non-PC gaming machine, the API further causes the verifying, unpacking and enabling steps to be carried out on a package corresponding to the selected game.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the package corresponding to the selected game in the verifying and enabling steps is stored in the PC'"'"'s local storage.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the package corresponding to the selected game is stored on an other gaming machine coupled to the network and wherein the package corresponding to the selected game is directly sent to the local storage of the PC from the other gaming machine prior to the verifying and enabling steps being carried out on the downloaded and stored package.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending step is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting the method if the package code signing is invalid.

21. The method of claim 1, further including a step of sending a selected package stored on the PC directly to the PC of another gaming machine.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the sending is done in a peer-to-peer fashion or in a daisy-chain fashion.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the verifying of the code signing is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and/or path rules.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the code signing uses a distinctive certificate for each package.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the enforcing the policies is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and/or path rules.

25. A method for ensuring that only authorized software components execute on a non-PC based gaming machine connected to a network, the non-PC based gaming machine including a locked enclosure, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a PC within the locked enclosure of the non-PC gaming machine;

connecting the PC to the network;

providing an interface between the PC and the non-PC based gaming machine;

packaging authorized software components that are executable to the non-PC gaming machine but not to the PC into a code signed MSI installation package;

configuring certificate rule policies to enable execution of the code signed MSI installation package;

enforcing the policies, and

directly sending, from another gaming machine coupled to the network, the code signed MSI installation package to the PC within the secure locked enclosure of the non-PC gaming machine, and

executing the code signed MSI installation package upon startup of the non-PC based gaming machines or upon a command.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of booting up the PC within the locked enclosure upon startup of the non-PC gaming machine.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the code signing uses a distinctive certificate for each MSI installation package.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the directly sending step is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the non-PC is a PC hardware not running a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the directly sending step uses a network file copy.

31. The method of claim 25, further including a step of sending a selected package stored on the PC directly to the PC of another gaming machine.

33. A gaming machine, comprising:

a locked enclosure;

a first computing device disposed within the locked enclosure, the first computing device being configured to run a first operating system and being programmed to enable game play of the gaming machine when the first operating system is booted;

a second computing device disposed within the locked enclosure of the gaming machine, the second computing device being configured to run a second operating system and, when the second operating system is booted, to receive game software components directly from an other gaming machine over a network, and

a mass storage device within the locked enclosure, the mass storage being accessible by the first and the second computing devices;

wherein the second computing device is configured to receive a package authenticated by a code signing directly from the other gaming machine over the network only when booted under the second operating system, the package including the software components to be installed on the mass storage device, and wherein the first computing device is configured to execute the unpacked software components only when booted under the first operating system.

34. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the second computing device is further configured to verify the code signing and to unpack the software components included in the package when booted under the second operating system.

35. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first and second computing devices are configured such that only one of the first and second computing devices can be booted at any given time.

36. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first computing device is configured to be uncoupled from the network when the first computing device is booted under the first operating system.

37. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first operating system is one of Linux, an embedded commercial operating system and a proprietary operating system.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the second operating system is one of Microsoft Windows®

and a commercial operating system capable of secure network communication and of enforcing policies via built-in or third party add-in functionalities.

39. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first computing device is non PC-based.

40. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first computing device is a PC-based gaming machine that is not capable of securely receiving game software components over the network.

41. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the first computing device is a PC-based computing device not running a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

42. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the second computing device includes a PC.

43. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein the second computing device runs a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

44. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein receiving a package is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

45. The gaming machine of claim 33, wherein receiving a package uses a network file copy.

46. The gaming machine of claim 34, wherein the verifying of the code signing is done under software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and/or path rules.

47. The gaming machine of claim 34, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting if the package code signing is invalid.

48. The gaming machine of claim 33, further including sending a selected package stored on the PC directly to the PC of another gaming machine.

49. The gaming machine of claim 48, wherein the sending is done in a peer-to-peer fashion or in a daisy-chain fashion.

50. A method for downloading software components over a network to a first gaming machine controlled by a first computing device, the first gaming machine being disposed within a locked enclosure, a second gaming machine being coupled to the network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a second computing device within the locked enclosure of the first gaming machine;

connecting the second computing device to the second gaming machine over the network;

providing an interface between the second computing device and the first computing device;

downloading a package authenticated by a code signing directly from the second gaming machine over the network, the package including software components to be installed and executed on the first computing device, the software components not being compatible with the second computing device;

verifying the code signing and unpacking the software components included in the package, and

enabling the first computing device to execute the unpacked software components.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the downloading step is carried out with the software components not being executable by the second computing device.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein the first providing step is carried out such that the second computing device runs a version of the Microsoft Windows®

operating system.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein the first providing step is carried out with the second computing device including a PC.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein the package downloading step is carried out with the software components being authorized by a regulatory authority.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein the package includes a Microsoft MSI package or equivalent package.

56. The method of claim 50, wherein the second providing step is carried out such that the interface includes an Application Program Interface (API).

57. The method of claim 50, wherein the verifying step includes one of issuing a verification command and a step of rebooting the second computing device.

58. The method of claim 50, further comprising the step of rebooting the second computing device and verifying the code signing of any package stored in a local memory of the second computing device upon reboot.

59. The method of claim 50, wherein downloading a package is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

60. The method of claim 50, wherein downloading a package uses a network file copy.

61. The method of claim 50, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting of the method if the package code signing is invalid.

62. The method of claim 50, further including a step of sending a selected package stored on the second computing device directly to a selected gaming machine over the network.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the sending is done in a peer-to-peer fashion or in a daisy-chain fashion.

64. The method of claim 50, wherein the verifying of the code signing is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and path rules.

65. A method for downloading software components to a PC based gaming machine over a network to which a plurality of other gaming machines are coupled, the PC based gaming machine including a persistent data storage, the method comprising the steps of:

configuring the PC based gaming machine with a dual-boot capability including a first operating system and a second operating system, the persistent storage being accessible by the first operating system and by the second operating system;

executing the game software when the first operating system is booted;

connecting the PC to the network when the second operating system is booted;

downloading a package authenticated by a code signing to the PC based gaming machine directly from one of the other gaming machines coupled to the network only when booted under the second operating system, the package including the software components to be installed on the persistent data storage;

verifying the code signing and unpacking the software components included in the package when booted under the second operating system, and

enabling the PC based gaming machine when booted under the first operating system to execute the unpacked software components.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein the first operating system is a selected one of Linux, an embedded commercial operating system and a proprietary operating system.

67. The method of claim 65, wherein the second operating system is a selected one of Microsoft Windows, a commercial operating system capable of secure network communication by enforcing policies via build-in or third party add-in functionalities.

68. The method of claim 65, wherein each of the first and second operating systems is capable of requesting a reboot under the first or second operating systems.

69. The method of claim 65, wherein the software components are authorized by a regulatory authority.

70. The method of claim 65, wherein the package is a Microsoft MSI package.

71. The method of claim 65, wherein the package is equivalent to a Microsoft MSI package.

72. The method of claim 65, wherein downloading a package is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

73. The method of claim 65, wherein downloading a package uses a network file copy.

74. The method of claim 65, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting of the method if the package code signing is invalid.

75. The method of claim 65, further including a step of sending a selected package stored on the PC directly to the PC of another gaming machine.

76. The method of claim 75, wherein the sending is done in a peer-to-peer fashion or in a daisy-chain fashion.

77. The method of claim 65, wherein the verifying of the code signing is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and path rules.

78. A network of gaming machines, comprising:

a network;

a first gaming machine including a first locked enclosure, a first computing device disposed within the first locked enclosure for controlling game play on the first gaming machine, a first download-enabled computing device that is configured to selectively couple to the network and disposed within the first locked enclosure, and

a second gaming machine;

wherein the first download enabled computing device is configured to couple to the second gaming machine over the network and to download a package authenticated by a code signing directly from the second gaming machine, the package including software components to be installed and executed on the first computing device.

79. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the first download-enabled device is further configured to verify the code signing, to unpack the software components included in the package, and to store the unpacked software components in a first mass storage device.

80. The network of gaming machines of claim 79, wherein the first computing device is further configured to execute the unpacked software components.

81. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the second gaming machine includes a second locked enclosure, a second computing device disposed within the second locked enclosure for controlling game play on the second gaming machine, and a second download-enabled computing device that is configured to be selectively coupled to the network and disposed within the second locked enclosure and wherein the first download enabled computing device is configured to couple to the second download-enabled computing device over the network to download the package.

82. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the software components are not executable by the first download-enabled computing device.

83. The network of gaming machines of claim 81, wherein the unpacked software components are not executable by the second download-enabled computing device.

84. The network of gaming machines of claim 81, wherein the second download enabled computing device is configured to couple to the first download enabled device over the network and to download a package authenticated by a code signing directly from the first download-enabled device, the package including software components to be installed and executed on the second computing device.

85. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the second gaming machine is configured to couple to the first download enabled device over the network and to download a package authenticated by a code signing directly from the first download-enabled device, the package including software components to be installed and executed on the second gaming machine.

86. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein downloading a package is carried-out in a peer-to-peer fashion or a daisy chain fashion.

87. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein downloading a package uses a network file copy.

88. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the verifying of the code signing is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and path rules.

89. The network of gaming machines of claim 78, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting if the package code signing is invalid.

90. A method of propagating new software components to a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a network, comprising the steps of:

broadcasting, from one of the plurality of gaming machines coupled to the network, a package authenticated by a code signing directly to other ones of the plurality of gaming machines coupled to the network, the package including the new software components to be installed and executed on the other ones of the plurality of gaming machines coupled to the network,

at each of the gaming machines to which the package was broadcast, verifying the code signing, unpacking and storing the new software components included in the package, and executing the stored software components.

91. The method of claim 90, wherein the plurality of gaming machines include both PC-based gaming machines and non PC-based gaming machines.

92. The method of claim 90, wherein the verifying of the code signing is performed using software restriction policy or equivalent centrally federated enforcement infrastructure for enabling the execution of authorized software in network nodes using certificate rules, hash rules and path rules.

93. The method of claim 90, wherein the verifying of the code signing is followed by aborting of the method if the package code signing is invalid.