GAME APPARATUS

• US 20080146347A1
• Filed: 10/24/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Aruze Corp. (Universal Entertainment Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aruze Corp. (Universal Entertainment Corporation)
• Inventors: OKADA, Kazuo
• Application Number:
  US11/877,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20080146347A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A game apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention is provided with a server that controls progress of a game, and at least one station which is connected to the server via a signal line, has an operation section for a player to perform operations to execute the game and a display section that displays details of the game executed by the player in the operation section, and operates based on a command from the server. A plurality of communication connections is established between the server and the station, and when a failure occurs in one of the communication connections, data to cause the game to progress is communicated using the other communication connection.

Claims

1. A game apparatus comprising:

a server that controls progress of a game; and

at least one station which is connected to the server via a signal line, has an operation section for a player to perform operations to execute the game, and a display section that displays details of the game executed by the player in the operation section, and operates based on a command from the server,

wherein a plurality of communication connections is established between the server and the station, and when a failure occurs in one of the communication connections, data to cause the game to progress is communicated using the other communication connection.

2. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when an excessive load occurs in the server during data communication in one of the communication connections established between the server and the station, data transmission from the station to the server is temporarily avoided to wait until the load of the server returns to normal conditions.

3. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein while a plurality of stations is provided and each of the stations is connected to the server independently of one another via each signal line, one of the plurality of stations is connected to another station via a signal line, and

when a failure occurs in the communication connection established between the server and the one of the stations, the one of the stations transmits data to the server through the another station.

4. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein while a plurality of stations is provided and each of the stations is connected to the server independently of one another via each signal line, one of the plurality of stations is connected to another station via a signal line, and

when an excessive load occurs in the server during data communication in one of the communication connections established between the server and the one of the stations, the one of the stations transfers data to be transmitted to the server to the another station to temporarily stack.

5. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server is connected to a plurality of sub-stations via respective signal lines, each of the stations is connected to respective one of the sub-stations via a signal line, and when a failure occurs in the communication connection established between the server and one of the stations, the one of the stations transmits data to the server through the respective one of the sub-stations connected via the signal line as an alternative path.

6. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server is connected to a plurality of sub-stations via respective signal lines, each of the stations is connected to respective one of the sub-stations via a signal line, and when an excessive load occurs in the server during data communication in one of the communication connections established between the server and the one of the stations, the one of the stations transfers data to be transmitted to the server to the respective one of the sub-stations connected via the signal line to temporarily stack.

7. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server is connected to a plurality of sub-stations via respective signal lines, each of the stations is connected to respective one of the sub-stations via a signal line, and when a failure occurs in the signal line between the server and one of the sub-stations, the one of the sub-stations transmits data to the server through the respective one of the stations connected via the signal line as an alternative path.

8. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server is connected to a plurality of sub-stations via respective signal lines, each of the stations is connected to respective one of the sub-stations via a signal line, and when an excessive load occurs in the server during data communication in the signal line between the server and the one of the sub-stations, the one of the sub-stations transfers data to be transmitted to the server to the respective one of the stations connected via the signal line to temporarily stack.

9. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server and each of the stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

10. The game apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the server and each of the sub-stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

11. The game apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the server and each of the sub-stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

12. The game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the server and each of the sub-stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

13. The game apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the server and each of the sub-stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

14. The game apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the server and each of the sub-stations are connected with a plurality of signal lines for redundancy.

15. The game apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.

16. The game apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.

17. The game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.

18. The game apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.

19. The game apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.

20. The game apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the server provides each of the sub-stations with a sub-game for betting a game value on a game result of the player playing in any one of the stations.