Preserving Game State Data For Asynchronous Persistent Group Bonus Games

• US 20110092271A1
• Filed: 10/17/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Incorporated (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Original Assignee: Intellectual Garden LLC
• Inventors: Nguyen, Binh T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,602,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3267 Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method for preserving game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game may have a plurality of gaming machines associated with the asynchronous persistent group bonus game and at least one network server having at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory. The processor may be configured to determine whether a bonus game session is triggered on any of the plurality of gaming machines; and if the bonus game session is triggered, display live game monitor activities, and periodically save the persistent bonus game state and other data on the at least one non-volatile memory.

Claims

1. A system for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game, comprising:

a plurality of gaming machines associated with the asynchronous persistent group bonus game, each of the plurality of gaming machines including;

at least one processor,

at least one input device,

at least one display,

at least one local non-volatile memory configured to store a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display and the at least one input device to enable a player to play a primary game of chance upon receipt of a wager; and

at least one network server having at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory, the at least one processor configured to communicate with each of the plurality of gaming machines via a network to;

determine whether a bonus game session is triggered on any of the plurality of gaming machines; and

if the bonus game session is triggered;

cause the asynchronous persistent group bonus game to be displayed for any gaming machine that has triggered the bonus game session;

determine whether the player is a new player to the asynchronous persistent group bonus game;

modify the persistent bonus game state data when an event occurs in the asynchronous persistent group bonus game; and

save the persistent bonus game state data on the at least one non-volatile memory.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the gaming machine is configured to transmit primary player data to the at least one network server, and the at least one network server is configured to transmit persistent bonus game state data associated with the player data to at least one of the plurality of gaming machines.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network server is configured to transmit data to at least one of the plurality of gaming machines to display the asynchronous persistent group bonus game on the at least one display.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network server further comprises a bonus game database configured to store persistent bonus game state data.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein previously saved persistent bonus player data is obtained from the bonus game database, if it is determined that the player is not a new player to the asynchronous persistent group bonus game, and

wherein the previously saved persistent bonus player data allows the player to play the bonus game session using bonus game play assets obtained from the player'"'"'s previous play of the asynchronous persistent group bonus game.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one locator device to determine a location of each of the plurality of gaming machines, the at least one locator device configured to communicate with the at least one network server via the network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one network server is configured to configure each of the plurality of gaming machines in accordance with at least one location based characteristic based on the location of the gaming machine.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network server is on a peer-to-peer network.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one network server is a bonus server.

10. A method for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game on at least one network server configured to communicate with a plurality of gaming machines, the plurality of gaming machines being configured to receive a wager from a player to play a primary game of chance on the plurality of gaming machines, comprising:

receiving a request to play the primary game of chance;

determining if a bonus game session is triggered, wherein upon the triggering of the bonus game session;

obtaining persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game from a network server, the network server having at least one non-volatile memory configured to store the persistent bonus game state data for the asynchronous persistent group bonus game; and

determining whether a game state saving event occurs; and

saving a persistent bonus player data on the at least one non-volatile memory on the at least one network server when it is determined that the game state saving event occurred.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising saving a persistent bonus world data on the at least one non-volatile memory when it is determined that the game state saving event occurred.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining if another bonus game session is triggered for a player;

recalling the saved persistent bonus player data from the at least one non-volatile memory if it is determined that another bonus game session is triggered, wherein the saved persistent bonus player data allows the player to play the bonus game session using at least one bonus game play asset obtained from the player'"'"'s previous play of a bonus game session of the asynchronous persistent group bonus game.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprises receiving an input to use a bonus game play asset to play the asynchronous persistent group bonus game

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

updating a player account data based upon the persistent bonus player data from the bonus game session; and

saving the player account data on the at least one non-volatile memory.

15. A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game on at least one network server configured to communicate with a plurality of gaming machines, the plurality of gaming machines being configured to receive a wager from a player to play a primary game of chance on the plurality of gaming machines, comprising:

receiving a request to play the primary game of chance;

determining if a bonus game session is triggered, wherein upon the triggering of the bonus game session;

obtaining persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game from a network server, the network server having at least one non-volatile memory configured to store the persistent bonus game state data for the asynchronous persistent group bonus game; and

receiving an input to use at least one bonus game play asset to play the asynchronous persistent group bonus game during the bonus game session;

determining whether a game state saving event occurs; and

saving a persistent bonus player data on the at least one non-volatile memory on the at least one network server when it is determined that the game state saving event occurred.

16. A method for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game on at least one network server configured to communicate with a plurality of gaming machines, the plurality of gaming machines being configured to receive a wager from a player to play a primary game of chance on the plurality of gaming machines, comprising:

operating an asynchronous persistent group bonus game from at least one network server,

receiving a request from at least one of the plurality of gaming machines to play the asynchronous persistent group bonus game;

displaying the asynchronous persistent group bonus game on a display visible to the player;

detecting an event in the asynchronous persistent group bonus game that modifies the persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game; and

periodically saving the persistent bonus game state data on at least one non-volatile memory, the at least one non-volatile memory stored on at least one network server.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the displaying further comprises displaying the asynchronous persistent group bonus game on a community display.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the detecting an event further comprises receiving an input to use a bonus game play asset to play the asynchronous persistent group bonus game.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving further comprises:

saving persistent bonus group data, wherein the persistent bonus group data includes information about at least one team.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving further comprises:

saving persistent bonus world data, wherein the persistent bonus world data includes information about the environment of the asynchronous persistent group bonus game.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

converting a persistent bonus award into at least one credit;

updating a player account data with the at least one credit;

saving the player account data on the at least one non-volatile memory at the at least one network server; and

redeeming the at least one credit for a monetary value or other non-monetary prize if the player elects to cash out.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

converting a persistent group award into at least one credit;

distributing the at least one credit among players who are members of a group that has won a persistent group award in the asynchronous persistent group bonus game;

updating a player account data with the at least one credit distributed to each player;

saving the player account data on the on the at least one non-volatile memory at the at least one network server; and

redeeming the at least one credit for a monetary value or other non-monetary prize if the player elects to cash out.

23. A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game on at least one network server configured to communicate with a plurality of gaming machines, the plurality of gaming machines being configured to receive a wager from a player to play a primary game of chance on the plurality of gaming machines, comprising:

operating an asynchronous persistent group bonus game from at least one network server, the asynchronous persistent group bonus game having persistent bonus game state data;

receiving a request from at least one of the plurality of gaming machines to save the asynchronous persistent bonus game state data; and

saving the persistent bonus game state data on at least one non-volatile memory, the at least one non-volatile memory stored on at least one network server.

24. A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game on at least one network server configured to communicate with a plurality of gaming machines, the plurality of gaming machines being configured to receive a wager from a player to play a primary game of chance on the plurality of gaming machines, comprising:

receiving a request to open a player session for the asynchronous persistent group bonus game from at least one of the plurality of gaming machines;

determining if existing player game session data is associated with the player session;

sending the existing player game session data to the at least one gaming machine if existing player game session data exists;

receiving a request to save asynchronous persistent group bonus game data for the player session; and

saving the persistent group bonus game data on at least one non-volatile memory on the at least one network server.

25. The program storage device of claim 24 further comprising opening a new player session for the at least one gaming machine if the previous player game session data does not exist.