Dynamic Casino Tracking And Optimization

• US 20070271113A1
• Filed: 07/26/2007
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Williams, Richard, Nelson, Dwayne, Rowe, Richard, Moser, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,425,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/34 Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3206 Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3234 about the performance of a gaming system, e.g. revenue, diagnosis of the gaming system
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3237 about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3255 Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements

Abstract

Gaming establishment patrons may be categorized and responsive services and features presented whether or not the patrons (or their companions) are known. Gaming and non-gaming activities of a patron may be identified and tracked. Information from various private and/or public databases accessible by a gaming establishment, may be used for patron ranking and to determine offers, goods and services that may be targeted to a patron.

Claims

1. A system for providing gaming services, comprising:

a plurality of biometric devices for obtaining biometric data regarding people in or near a gaming establishment, the biometric devices configured for communication with other devices via a network; and

a server, comprising;

at least one network interface configured for communication with the network; and

at least one logic device configured to do the following;

obtain biometric data regarding a person from at least one of the biometric devices via the network interface;

categorize the person with reference to the biometric data; and

determine whether to provide a benefit to the person according to a categorization.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one logic device is further configured to do the following:

obtain player indicia regarding the person from a database; and

categorize the person with reference to the biometric data and the player indicia.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one logic device determines the person'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment, and wherein the person is categorized, at least in part, according to the expected economic value.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for tracking the person'"'"'s location while the person is within, or in the vicinity of, the gaming establishment, the tracking means comprising means for communicating the person'"'"'s location via the network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of biometric devices comprises a plurality of cameras.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of biometric devices comprises a plurality of fingerprint scanners.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric data comprise facial image data.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the database is a player loyalty system database.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one logic device is further configured to assign a rank to the patron, the rank depending at least in part on the patron'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the tracking means comprises a radio frequency identification network.

11. A method of providing gaming services, comprising:

obtaining first player indicia regarding a person in or near a gaming establishment without reference to the person'"'"'s voluntary participation in a player loyalty system;

categorizing the person with reference to the first player indicia; and

determining whether to provide a benefit to the person according to a categorization.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtaining step further comprises obtaining first player indicia regarding a person near a gaming establishment.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtaining step comprises obtaining biometric data.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the player loyalty system comprises a card-based player tracking system.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

obtaining second player indicia regarding the person with reference to a database; and

categorizing the person with reference to the first player indicia and the second player indicia.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the benefit comprises a comp or enhanced personal service.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the first player indicia include one or more of clothing indicia, jewelry indicia, personal association indicia, tipping indicia and purchasing indicia.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the categorizing step comprises a determination of the person'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the categorizing step comprises assigning a rank to the person, the rank depending at least in part on the person'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising tracking the person'"'"'s location while the person is within, or in the vicinity of, the gaming establishment.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising associating a code with the person'"'"'s data.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the categorizing and determining steps are performed dynamically.

23. The method of claim 12, wherein the first player indicia include one or more of automobile indicia, clothing indicia, jewelry indicia, personal association indicia, tipping indicia and purchasing indicia.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the biometric data comprise facial image data.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein the database is a voluntary player loyalty system database.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the database is a publicly available database.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of obtaining second player indicia is performed in response to first player indicia.

28. A system for providing gaming services, comprising:

means for obtaining first player indicia regarding a person in or near a gaming establishment without reference to the person'"'"'s voluntary participation in a player loyalty system;

means for categorizing the person with reference to the first player indicia; and

means for determining whether to provide a benefit to the person according to a categorization.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the obtaining means comprises means for obtaining biometric data.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the player loyalty system comprises a player tracking system.

31. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

means for obtaining second player indicia regarding the person with reference to a database; and

means for categorizing the person with reference to the first player indicia and the second player indicia.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the categorizing means comprises means for determining the person'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the categorizing means comprises means for assigning a rank to the person, the rank depending at least in part on the person'"'"'s expected economic value to the gaming establishment.

34. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for tracking the person'"'"'s location while the person is within, or in the vicinity of, the gaming establishment.

35. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for associating a code with the person'"'"'s data.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the biometric data comprise facial image data.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the database is a voluntary player loyalty system database.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the database is a publicly available database.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein the means for obtaining second player indicia is activated in response to first player indicia.

40. A player tracking system for tracking customer activity for a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections, said system comprising:

a plurality of player tracking media for distribution to respective participating customers that include respective customer IDs which are associated with respective customer accounts;

a plurality of gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking media to monitor the gaming activity data of the respective customer;

a plurality of non-gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the non-gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the non-gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking media to monitor the non-gaming activity data of the respective customer; and

a computer system having a database of the respective customer accounts associated with respective customer Ids, and each gaming activity player tracking unit and each non-gaming activity player tracking unit coupled to the computer system to process the respective gaming activity data and non-gaming activity data for each respective customer.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein

the non-gaming activity player tracking unit includes a wireless interface configured to detect the presence of a respective player tracking media in the local vicinity of the respective non-gaming section of the casino establishment.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein

the non-gaming activity player tracking unit is configured for placement proximate the entrances and exits of selected, respective non-gaming sections of the casino establishment to detect at least one of an entrance and an exit of the respective customer into and out of the respective non-gaming section.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein

said database includes a management program to update the patron movement of the respective customers in said casino establishment over a time period.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein

said respective player tracking media is a Radio Frequency (RF) enabled smart card configured to generate an RF signal, and

said wireless interface is a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver responsive to said RF signal.

45. The system of claim 41, wherein

the non-gaming sections include one or more of the following:

a casino restaurant, a casino shop, a casino theater, a casino bar and a casino showroom.

46. A gaming system for communicating with wireless gaming devices and locating wireless gaming devices, said gaming system comprising:

a plurality of wireless gaming devices capable of generating wireless signals;

a plurality of wireless signal receivers capable of receiving the wireless signals wherein a portion of the wireless signal receivers are located in gaming machines; and

a location server for determining a location of one or more of the wireless gaming devices and for tracking a status of the plurality of wireless gaming devices.

47. The gaming system of claim 46, wherein the location of the wireless gaming device is determined using signal triangulation.