Player controls

• US 20100062834A1
• Filed: 07/04/2005
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Phillip James Ryan
• Original Assignee: Phillip James Ryan
• Inventors: Ryan, Phillip James
• Application Number:
  US11/587,666
• Publication Number:
  US 20100062834A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• 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 17/3237 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

Abstract

The patent involves the use of a personal Storage Device with memory which can store the unique biometrics of its registered owner for the purposes of identification; can record the unique biometrics of any person attempting to use the device; can confirm whether the user is the registered owner of the device; can control access to electronic devices and their consumption; can monitor and record the operational activity of its user; can store pre-defined value, duration and budgetary constraints; can compare operational activity to pre-defined values, durations and budgetary constraints; can store legal tender value; can visually indicate when it is electronically operative; can be electronically locked and de-activated; and can connect and communicate directly or remotely to other electronic devices. The device can be used in the identification and elimination of problem gamblers from gaining personal access to electronic gaming machines and other gambling devices or services whilst either physically present at a gambling venue or through their remote access to a gambling venue or gambling service via the internet, interactive television, intranets, extraneous, telephones or other digital communication services. In its USB derivative format the device can connect directly or remotely to the ubiquitous USB outlet of electronic devices without the need for additional and expensive electronic reader or writer hardware

Claims

1. A personal Storage Device with memory which can store the unique biometrics of its registered owner for the purposes of identification;

can record the unique biometrics of any person attempting to use the device;

can confirm whether the user is the registered owner of the device;

can control access to electronic devices and their consumption;

can monitor and record the operational activity of its user;

can store pre-defined value, duration and budgetary constraints;

can compare operational activity to pre-defined values, durations and budgetary constraints;

can store legal tender value;

can visually indicate when it is electronically operative;

can be electronically locked and de-activated; and

can connect and communicate directly or remotely to other electronic devices.

2. A personal Storage Device in accordance with claim 1 wherein the Storage Device additionally has its own microprocessor capacity for undertaking the processing of binary digit calculations for the purposes of data storage, data comparison, data manipulation and data analytics of alphanumeric and image data.

3. A personal storage device in accordance with claims 1 and 2 that can store data in an encrypted format for data protection and can store digital certificates to ensure only authorised parties can transmit or receive data to or from the device.

4. A personal Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the device is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device with in built memory.

5. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 which is used in the gambling industry to monitor gamblers.

6. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein the Storage Device can be locked and become inoperable to prevent a person from gaining access to the Storage Device for a defined period of time if the attempted user is not confirmed to be the registered owner of the original device.

7. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein the confirming means of identification includes the use of a biometric fingerprint identification system or other biometric identification characteristics or a personal identification number (PIN) or a password or an external photograph on the outside of the device of the registered owner of the device, or a digital photograph of the registered owner stored internally in the device, or an answer to a specific question associated with the registered owner.

8. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein individual users can pre-record their desired total gambling financial loss information over pre-defined periods of time and their desired total desired durations of gambling over pre-defined periods of time and have these associated with, and even stored within the Storage Device

9. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 8 wherein the pre-defined recorded periods of time associated with each device are daily, weekly, monthly and annually.

10. A Storage Device in accordance with claims 8 and 9 wherein the desired gambling financial loss information and total desired durations of gambling within the pre-defined periods of time are stored on a central monitoring computer to which the device can be connected, and if required can also be stored simultaneously on both the Storage Device and the central monitoring computer.

11. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein each individual player'"'"'s gambling activities as to individual gambling financial bet outlays, individual gambling bet wins, individual gambling bet losses, individual gambling incidents and individual durations of gambling activities are recorded on the Storage Device.

12. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 11 wherein such data is stored on a central monitoring computer to which the device can be connected, and if required can also be stored simultaneously on both the Storage Device and the central monitoring computer.

13. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 wherein each individual player'"'"'s gambling activities with respect to aggregate gambling financial bet outlays, aggregate bet wins or losses, aggregate gambling incidents, and total duration of play are recorded on the Storage Device for pre-defined periods of time such as daily, weekly, monthly, and annually.

14. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 13 wherein such data is stored on a central monitoring computer to which the device can be connected, and if required can also be stored simultaneously on both the Storage Device and the central monitoring computer.

19. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 whereby individual gamblers who voluntarily wish to be excluded from accessing all or some specific gambling facilities and/or all or some specific gambling devices and/or all or some gambling services will be able to have their personal Storage Device pre-set for such restricted access arrangements.

20. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein, in order to successfully gain physical entry and/or exit to a gambling venue, gamblers will be required to match their identity to that stored on or within their Storage Device.

21. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein, in order to successfully gain physical access and/or exit to a gambling venue all prospective players would be required to match their identity to that stored on their personal Storage Device at the time of original player registration, at a designated point at the gambling venue, and those people, who could not digitally match their identity to that stored on the Storage Device, would not have their Storage Device digitally activated for access to any gambling equipment at the venue for a pre-defined duration.

22. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein in order to play on a gambling device, all players would insert their Storage Device into the gambling machine or the telecommunications device facilitating gambling and be required to confirm that their fingerprint(s) or other designated biometric characteristics are the same as those stored on the Storage Device by the original owner of the Storage Device at the time of original registration of the player and the device, so that if a correct match occurs then the player is allowed access to the gambling device or service and his/her gambling behaviours such as money lost and won, wagered and duration of play on every game will be monitored and stored on the Storage Device itself if the gambling device is not being centrally monitored, or stored on the Storage Device itself and/or at a central monitoring computer facility if the gambling device is being centrally monitored.

24. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which is programmed to de-activate or lock out any further use for a pre-defined period of time whenever players using the device are inactive in their gambling for a continuous defined period of time, or for detected uncharacteristic playing behaviour in terms of either their wagers, losses or duration of play, and the Storage Device can only be restarted by further re-confirmation of the identity of the user to equal that of the original registered owner after meeting the pre-defined deactivation period of time.

25. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which controls a person'"'"'s gambling activities with respect to Internet, intranet and extranet gambling sites, interactive television gambling channels and services, and other gambling services provided through the use of electronic devices such as telephones, mobile phones, personal digital organizers, Smartphones, laptop computers, desktop computers, televisions, television set top boxes, activated by the player through telecommunication services such as WAP, Short Message Service, ISDN, General Packet Relay Switching, third generation mobile phones, 2.5 generation mobile phones, satellite, cable, microwave, electronic photons, lightwaves, Bluetooth or remote USB, using controlling mechanisms to confirm identity and compare gambling losses and duration of play to pre-determined limits set by the player and limits known to be in the public interest, through direct connection or remote connection of the Storage Device to the physical device offering a gambling facility.

26. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which has the storage capacity and technical capabilities to securely store legal tender in the form of digital currency in an electronic purse, which can be transferred to the device by a player'"'"'s financial institution or other currency provider in order to allow cashless gambling where the digital currency may be used to wager and thereby be depleted in value, and/or have any winnings accumulated to its value whilst engaged in gambling, and then be re-converted to legal tender if required.

29. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which can connect directly or remotely to a computer'"'"'s USB connectivity point and authenticate and identify the current user to be the original registered owner of the Storage Device, and then allows the user to connect to a unique website through which they can gain access to multiple service providers and have their activities monitored and their access denied to the web site and/or the web sites service providers if their activities exceeds any of their own or the service providers or a government regulators pre-defined limits.

31. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which can connect directly or remotely to the connectivity point of any telecommunications device such as a television, telephone, mobile telephone, personal organizer, Smartphone, and then authenticate and identify the current user to be the original registered owner of the Storage Device, and then allows the user to connect to a unique service provider master portal through which they can gain access to multiple service providers and have their activities monitored and their access denied to the master portal if their activities exceed any of their own or the service providers or a government regulators pre-defined limits.

15. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims that compares actual gambling losses and duration of play to a player'"'"'s pre-determined desired gambling losses and duration of play on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis, and is electronically locked and de-activated either by itself or by a central monitoring computer if the pre-determined financial or duration limits are exceeded in any pre-determined period of time.

16. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 15 that uses a central monitoring computer to undertake the appropriate calculations and device de-activation

17. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims that compares actual gambling losses and duration of play to pre-determined publicly recognized or government mandated reasonable gambling loses and duration of play on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis, and is electronically locked and de-activated either by itself or by a central monitoring computer if the publicly recognized financial or duration limits are exceeded in any pre-determined period of time.

18. A Storage Device in accordance with claim 17 that uses a central monitoring computer to undertake the appropriate calculations and device de-activation

27. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which can be unique to each individual gambling service provider or which can be made available to multiple gambling providers through commercial cooperation or government mandate, to accumulate a single gambler'"'"'s behaviours such as wagers, wins, losses, durations of play on a single USB Storage Device used across all agreed or approved gambling venues or service providers including gaming, wagering, and lotteries, and which would be de-activated if aggregate individual player financial or duration limits across all service providers of gambling or across pre-determined limits for any one individual service provider of gambling are exceeded, or individual publicly acceptable or government mandated limits, are exceeded.

28. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which can connect directly or remotely to an electronic devices USB connectivity point and authenticate and identify the current user to be the original registered owner of the USB Storage Device, and then allows the user to connect to a unique website through which they can gain access to multiple service providers of gambling and have their gambling monitored and their access denied to the web site and/or the web sites service providers if their gambling exceeds any pre-defined limits associated with their unique storage device.

30. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which can connect directly or remotely to the connectivity point of any telecommunications device such as a television, telephone, mobile telephone, personal organizer, Smartphone, and then authenticate and identify the current user to be the original registered owner of the Storage Device, and then allows the user to connect to a unique service provider master portal through which they can gain access to multiple service providers of gambling and have their gambling monitored and their access denied to the master portal if their gambling exceeds any pre-defined limits.

32. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which can have its individual customer pre-set gambling limits and/or publicly recognized or government mandated reasonable gambling financial limits automatically updated by acceptably annual increases due to the effects of inflation etc.

33. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which can have its individual customer pre-set gambling limits updated upon a customers request which is regarded as acceptable by the operators of the Storage Device and as acceptable by any associated government gambling regulator.

34. A Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims which operates using remote USB or Radio Frequency Identification (RAID) means to communicate between itself and electronic devices.

35. A system of gambling that restricts access to gambling to only those players who use a USB Storage Device in accordance with all preceding claims, which has not been deactivated, and requiring every player to present themselves and their Storage Device at all gambling venues or devices to confirm their identity ownership of the device and to confirm their gambling is within their own acceptable limits or acceptable public limits and that their device has not therefore been de-activated to stop their further gambling.

36. A system of gambling including:

(a) identifying a person;

(b) issuing a person with a unique and identifiable USB Storage Device which they must use in order to be able to gamble;

(c) utilizing unique personal identification and authentication means to monitor the person'"'"'s gambling activities across a range of gambling devices and gambling communication channels using the USB Storage Device;

(d) setting limits on gambling behavior for each USB Storage Device owner in terms of both money which can be lost and duration of gambling by the person for pre-defined periods of time; and

(e) providing linkage to financial sources for electronically transferring verifiable funds to the USB Storage Device which are able to be selectively transferred to the device when the user wishes to undertake a gambling activity.

37. A system for regulating gambling substantially as hereinbefore described using a USB Storage Device.