3-D TEXT IN A GAMING MACHINE

• US 20080188304A1
• Filed: 04/11/2008
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Schlottmann, Gregory A., LeMay, Steven G., Breckner, Robert E., Escalera, Anthony, Antonov, Serge, Kryuchkov, Alexey
• Granted Patent: US 8,012,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means

Abstract

Methods and apparatus on a gaming machine for presenting a plurality of game outcome presentations derived from one or more virtual 3-D gaming environments stored on the gaming machine are described. While a game of chance is being played on the gaming machine, two-dimensional images derived from a 3-D object in the 3-D gaming environment may be rendered to a display screen on the gaming machine in real-time as part of a game outcome presentation. The 3-D objects in the 3-D gaming environment may include 3-D texts objects that are used to display text to the display screen of the gaming machine as part of the game outcome presentation. Apparatus and methods are described for generating and displaying information in a textual format that is compatible with a 3-D graphical rendering system. In particular, font generation and typesetting methods that are applicable in a 3-D gaming environment are described.

Claims

1. A method of generating a game of chance on a gaming machine that is operable i) to receive cash or indicia of credit for a wager on the game of chance and ii) to output cash or an indicia of credit as an award for the game of chance where the gaming machine comprises a master gaming controller, a display device, a memory device and a 3-D graphical rendering system, the method comprising:

storing on the gaming machine

     1) a font texture for representing a plurality of characters associated with a particular font style,

     2) one or more font parameters for defining global characteristics of the plurality of characters in the font texture; and

     3) one or more character parameters for defining characteristics of each character in the font texture;

during operation of the gaming machine, determining a text string including a plurality of elements for display on the display device;

generating a plurality of 3-D objects wherein each one of the plurality of 3-D objects corresponds to one of the plurality of elements in the text string and wherein said generating comprises for each of the elements in the text string,

i) locating in the font texture a first texture representing a first character corresponding to a first element of the text string;

ii) determining vertices for a first 3-D object defined in a 3-D coordinate system associated with the 3-D graphical rendering system using the font parameters and character parameters associated with the first texture;

iii) mapping the first texture to the first 3-D object;

applying one or more typesetting rules to the plurality of 3-D objects to determine a location of each of the plurality of 3-D objects relative to one another as defined in the 3-D coordinate system to improve a visual quality of the text string rendered from the plurality of 3-D objects and their associated textures;

rendering the text string using the 3-D graphical rendering system;

displaying the rendered text string on the display device;

receiving the wager for the games of chance controlled by the master gaming controller on the gaming machine;

determining a game outcome for the game of chance; and

displaying the game outcome using the 3-D graphical rendering system to the display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the game of chance is selected from the group consisting of a slot game, a keno game, a poker game, a pachinko game, a video black jack game, a bingo game, a baccarat game, a roulette game, a dice game and a card game.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the text string is rendered to convey textual information associated with one or more of i) a game outcome presentation for the game of chance, ii) a gaming maintenance operation, iii) an attract mode feature, iv) a promotional feature, v) casino information, or vi) a bonus game presentation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises adjusting a spacing between two or more of the 3-D objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises adjusting color weights of one or more of the textures associated with the 3-D objects.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises justifying the 3-D objects representing the text string.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises centering the 3-D objects representing the text string.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises adjusting dimensions of strokes in the first texture associated with the first character including changing one or more of pixels or texels in the first texture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises aligning one or more of the 3-D objects representing the text string with a baseline.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises positioning the 3-D objects representing the text string along two or more lines.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises adjusting a spacing between two or more lines along which the 3-D objects representing the text string are aligned.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the one or more typesetting rules comprises adjusting the vertical or horizontal alignment of the 3-D objects representing the text string.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising scaling the one or more 3-D objects to fit within a boundary defined in the 3-D coordinate system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the 3-D objects comprise two triangular polygons.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering the text string in a sequence of images wherein one or more of a shape, a position and an angular orientation of the 3-D objects representing the text string change in the sequence of images.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the font parameters are one or more of a font name, a font style, a font typeface, a font weight, a font baseline, a font ascent, a font descent, a font slant, a font maximum height, a font maximum width and a number of characters in the font texture.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the character parameters are one or more of a character height, a character width, a character ascent, a character descent, a character origin, character information for indicating where to place an adjacent character, a character shape or character location coordinates for locating the character in the font texture.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the font texture comprises a bit map.