High volume electronic lottery ticket distribution system

• US 20060148552A1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Everi Games Inc. (Everi Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Multimedia Games Incorporated
• Inventors: Enzminger, Joseph R., Malle, Nimai C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,476,152 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/17
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

A method includes storing game record groups at a game server adapted to communicate with a number of gaming sites. The game server communicates two or more of the game record groups to a site controller associated with one of the gaming sites, and the site controller stores those game record groups. The site controller selects one of the stored game record groups in response to a game availability request associated with a respective game, and communicates the selected game record group from the site controller to a player station services controller associated with the gaming site. The player station services controller stores that respective game record group and communicates data from a respective game record to a player station in response to a game play request from the player station, thereby allowing the player station to present a player with a lottery game result for the game play request.

Claims

1. A method including:

(a) storing a number of game record groups at a game server adapted to communicate with a number of gaming sites;

(b) communicating two or more of the game record groups to a site controller associated with a gaming site and storing the two or more game record groups at the site controller,

(c) in response to a game availability request associated with a respective game, selecting a respective game record group at the site controller associated with the respective game, communicating the selected game record group from the site controller to a player station services controller associated with the gaming site, and storing that respective game record group at the player station services controller; and

(d) communicating data from a respective game record stored at the player station services controller to a player station in response to a game play request from the player station.

2. The method of claim 1 further including compressing the data making up the selected game record group and wherein the selected game record group is stored at the player station services controller in a compressed format.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the two or more game record groups at the site controller includes storing a backup game record group for use in responding to an additional game availability request.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the two or more game record groups at the site controller includes storing enough game record groups so that one or more respective game record groups are available for the player station services controller and each of a number of additional player station services controllers.

5. The method of claim 1 further including decompressing the respective game record in response to the game play request from the player station.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the data from the respective game record stored at the player station services controller to the player station includes communicating a result index representing a game result.

7. The method of claim 1 further including identifying the respective game record stored at the player station services controller as having a used status, the identification of the respective game records as having a used status being performed in connection with communicating the data from the respective game record to the player station.

8. The method of claim 1 further including detecting a release condition for the selected game record group at the player station services controller.

9. The method of claim 8 further including communicating the selected game record group from the player station services controller to the site controller in response to detecting the release condition.

10. The method of claim 8 further including communicating the selected game record group to the game server.

11. An apparatus including:

(a) a site controller associated with a first gaming site included in a number of gaming sites, the site controller being adapted to receive a first game record group from a game server, and the site controller including site controller data storage for storing the first game record group; and

(b) a player station services controller associated with the first gaming site, the player station services controller being adapted to receive the first game record group from the site controller, and including player station services data storage for storing the first game record group, the player station services controller also being adapted to communicate game record data from the first game record group to a player station at the gaming site in response to a game play request from the player station.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the game server is adapted to communicate with the number of gaming sites and includes central data storage for storing a number of game record groups in addition to the first game record group.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 further including two or more additional player station services controllers associated with the first gaming site.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the first game record group is a game record set representing all of the game records defined for a lottery game.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the first game record group is a game record subset made up of game records selected from a game record set which represents all of the game records defined for a lottery game.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the player station services data storage is random access memory.

17. A program product stored on one or more computer readable devices, the program product including:

(a) game server program code being executable to store a number of game record groups at a central storage device and to communicate a first game record group to a site controller upon request, the first game record group being included in the number of game record groups;

(b) site controller program code being executable to receive the first game record group communicated under control of the game server program code, to store the first game record group at data storage associated with the site controller, and to communicate the first game record group to a player station services controller upon request; and

(c) player station services program code being executable to receive first game record group communicated under control of the site controller program code and to store the first game record group, the player station services program code also being executable to communicate game record data to a player station in response to a game play request from the player station, the game record data including data from a respective game record included in the first game record group.

18. The program product of claim 17 wherein the site controller program code includes instructions executable to compress the first game record group before communicating the first game record group to the player station services controller.

19. The program product of claim 17 wherein the site controller program code includes instructions executable to store a backup game record group at the site controller in addition to the first game record group.

20. The program product of claim 17 wherein the site controller program code is executable to store a second game record group at the data storage associated with the site controller.

21. The program product of claim 17 wherein the player station services program code further includes instructions executable to decompress a game record from the first game record group before communicating the game record data from the player station services controller to the player station.

22. The program product of claim 17 wherein the game record data communicated from the player station services program controller is a result index representing a result associated with the respective game record.

23. The program product of claim 17 wherein the player station services program code further includes instructions executable to indicate that the respective game record has been used once it is associated with the game play request.

24. The program product of claim 23 wherein the player station services program code further includes instructions executable to detect a release condition for the first game record group stored at the player station services data storage.

25. A method including:

(a) storing a number of game record groups at a first storage device associated with a gaming site;

(b) in response to a game availability request associated with a respective game available at the gaming site, selecting a respective game record group at the first storage device, communicating the selected game record group from the first storage device to a second storage device located at the gaming site, and storing that respective game record group at the second storage device, the second storage device being high-speed memory; and

(c) communicating data from a respective game record stored at the second storage device to a player station in response to a game play request from the player station.

26. The method of claim 25 further including compressing the respective game record group for storage at the second storage device.

27. The method of claim 25 further including decompressing the respective game record from a compressed format in response to receiving the game play request from the player station.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein the game availability request is generated in response to meeting a predefined condition with an existing game record group at the second storage device.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the game availability request is generated in response to a log-on action at a respective player station at the gaming site.