APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING GAME PLAY IN AN ELECTRONIC LOTTERY GAME NETWORK

• US 20070298859A1
• Filed: 09/12/2007
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Everi Games Inc. (Everi Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Multimedia Games Incorporated
• Inventors: Lind, Clifton, Lind, Jefferson, Enzminger, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,092,294 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 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

At least one pool of game play records is stored at a central processing system. Each game play record includes a record index selected from a set of unique index values, each associated with a different result type. A record index associated with a particular game play record is communicated from the central processing system to the player terminal in response to a game play request which a player has entered at the player terminal. The player terminal responds to the received record index by generating display commands using data at the player terminal to produce a graphic representation at the player terminal. This graphic representation is consistent with the result type associated with the index value comprising the particular record index which has been communicated to the player terminal.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the method including:

(a) storing a pool of game play records at a central processing system, each game play record corresponding to a result in a game and including a record index selected from a set of unique indexes where each respective index in the set is associated with a different result type, the record index included with a respective game play record being distinct from a prize value associated with that game play record;

(b) in response to a game play request initiated at a player terminal remote from the central processing system, communicating a record index associated with a particular game play record from the central processing system to the player terminal; and

(c) in response to the record index communicated to the player terminal, generating display commands at the player terminal to display at the player terminal a graphic representation made up of a number of graphic symbols, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type associated with the communicated record index and representing an outcome for the game play request, one of the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal being selected from alternative graphic symbols by a processing device at the player terminal without being specified by the record index.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each graphic symbol included in the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal is selected from alternative graphic symbols by the processing device at the player terminal without being specified by the record index.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of result types is smaller than the number of game play records included in the pool of game play records.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the number of graphic symbols comprises a graphic representation of a playing card face.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the game play request includes a game index value which identifies the pool of game play records from among additional pools of game play records stored at the central processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 further including:

(a) storing an index table at the player terminal, the index table including a table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes; and

(b) performing a table lookup in the index table to locate the table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

7. The method of claim 1 further including:

(a) storing a number of index tables at the player terminal, each index table including a respective table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes;

(b) identifying a respective one of the index tables; and

(c) performing a table lookup in the identified index table to locate the respective table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

8. An apparatus for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the apparatus including:

(a) a game play record storage device at a central processing system, the game play record storage device storing a pool of game play records, each game play record corresponding to a result in a game and including a record index selected from a set of unique indexes where each respective index in the set is associated with a different result type, the record index included with a respective game play record being distinct from a prize value associated with that game play record;

(b) a play request processor at the central processing system for receiving a game play request from a player terminal and for responding to the game play request by communicating the record index associated with a particular game play record from the central processing system to the player terminal; and

(c) a player terminal processor and display device at the player terminal, the player terminal processor receiving the record index communicated to the player terminal and in response to the received record index generating display commands to display at the display device a graphic representation made up of a number of graphic symbols, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type associated with the communicated record index and representing an outcome for the game play request, one of the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal being selected from alternative graphic symbols by the player terminal processor without being specified by the record index.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the game play record storage device stores one or more additional pools of game play records and wherein the game play request includes a game index value which identifies the pool of game play records from among the additional pools of game play records.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further including:

(a) an index table storage device at the player terminal, the index table storage device storing an index table that includes a table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes; and

(b) wherein the player terminal processor performs a table lookup in the index table to locate the table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 further including:

(a) an index table storage device at the player terminal, the index table storage device storing a number of index tables with each index table including a respective table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes;

(b) wherein the player terminal processor identifies a respective one of the index tables based on a game index and performs a table lookup in the identified index table to locate the respective table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

12. A method for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network in which a player terminal communicates with a central processing system which stores at least one pool of game play records, the method including:

(a) storing a pool of game play records at the central processing system, each game play record being associated with a result of a particular result type from among a number of different result types, each result type being associated with a particular prize value and the number of result types being smaller than the number of game play records, each game play record included in the pool of game play records including a record index selected from a set of unique index values, each respective index value in the set being associated with a respective one of the different result types;

(b) in response to a game play request initiated at the player terminal, communicating a record index from the central processing system to the player terminal, the communicated record index being associated with a particular game play record stored at the central processing system; and

(c) in response to receipt of the record index at the player terminal, generating display commands at the player terminal to produce a graphic representation at the player terminal, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type associated with the record index and with the prize value associated with that result type, the record index not specifying the graphic representation and not including the prize value for the particular game play record.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the game play request includes a game index value which identifies the pool of game play records from among additional pools of game play records stored at the central processing system.

14. The method of claim 12 further including:

(a) storing an index table at the player terminal, the index table including a table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes; and

(b) performing a table lookup in the index table to locate the table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

15. The method of claim 12 further including:

(a) storing a number of index tables at the player terminal, each index table including a respective table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes;

(b) identifying a respective one of the index tables; and

(c) performing a table lookup in the identified index table to locate the respective table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

16. An apparatus for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the apparatus including:

(a) a game play record storage device at a central processing system, the game play record storage device storing a pool of game play records where each game play record is associated with a result of a particular result type from among a number of different result types and where each result type is associated with a particular prize value, each game play record included in the pool of game play records including a record index selected from a set of unique index values, each respective index value in the set being associated with a respective one of the different result types;

(b) a play request processor at the central processing system for receiving a game play request from a player terminal and for responding to the game play request by communicating the record index associated with a particular game play record from the central processing system to the player terminal; and

(c) a player terminal processor and display device at the player terminal, the player terminal processor receiving the record index communicated to the player terminal and in response to the received record index generating display commands to display a graphic representation at the display device, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type associated with the record index and with the prize value associated with that result type, the record index not specifying the graphic representation and not including the prize value for the particular game play record.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the game play record storage device stores one or more additional pools of game play records and wherein the game play request includes a game index value which identifies the pool of game play records from among the additional pools of game play records.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 further including:

(a) an index table storage device at the player terminal, the index table storage device storing an index table that includes a table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes; and

(b) wherein the player terminal processor performs a table lookup in the index table to locate the table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 further including:

(a) an index table storage device at the player terminal, the index table storage device storing a number of index tables with each index table including a respective table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes;

(b) wherein the player terminal processor identifies a respective one of the index tables based on a game index and performs a table lookup in the identified index table to locate the respective table entry for the record index received at the player terminal.

20. A method including:

(a) storing a pool of game play records, each game play record corresponding to a result in a game and including a record index selected from a set of unique indexes where each respective index in the set is associated with a different result type, the record index included with a respective game play record being distinct from a prize value associated with that game play record; and

(b) for a record index from a particular one of the game play records, generating display commands at the player terminal to display at the player terminal a graphic representation made up of a number of graphic symbols, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type associated with the record index from the particular one of the game play records and representing an outcome for the game play request, one of the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal being selected from alternative graphic symbols by a processing device at the player terminal without being specified by the record index.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the particular one of the game play records is selected in response to a game play request and wherein the game play request includes a game index value which identifies the pool of game play records from among additional pools of game play records stored at the central processing system.

22. The method of claim 20 further including:

(a) storing an index table at the player terminal, the index table including a table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes; and

(b) performing a table lookup in the index table to locate the table entry for the record index from the particular one of the game play records.

23. The method of claim 20 further including:

(a) storing a number of index tables at the player terminal, each index table including a respective table entry corresponding to each different record index in the set of indexes;

(b) identifying a respective one of the index tables; and

(c) performing a table lookup in the identified index table to locate the respective table entry for the record index from the particular one of the game play records.

24. A method for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the method including:

(a) storing a pool of game play records at a central processing system, each game play record corresponding to a result in a game and including a record index selected from a set of unique indexes, the record index included with a respective game play record being distinct from a prize value associated with that game play record, and one record index being associated with a result type;

(b) in response to a game play request initiated at a player terminal remote from the central processing system, communicating a record index associated with a particular game play record and with the result type from the central processing system to the player terminal; and

(c) in response to the record index communicated to the player terminal, generating display commands at the player terminal to display at the player terminal a graphic representation made up of a number of graphic symbols, the graphic representation being consistent with the result type and representing an outcome for the game play request, one of the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal being selected from alternative graphic symbols by a processing device at the player terminal without being specified by the record index.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein each graphic symbol included in the number of graphic symbols displayed at the player terminal is selected from alternative graphic symbols by the processing device at the player terminal without being specified by the record index.