CONFIGURING AND CONTROLLING CASINO MULTIMEDIA CONTENT SHOWS

• US 20110115413A1
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Ugarte, Martin R. JR., Erickson, Eric V., Kelly, Sean P., Griffin, John L., Thomas, Alfred, Pryor, David M., Gronkowski, Timothy T.
• Application Number:
  US12/945,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20110115413A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/312
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources

Abstract

A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In some embodiments, the operations can include configuring a casino light show on a light show design map using lighting device objects that correlate to lighting hardware devices in a casino. The lighting hardware devices can present light effects using different lighting control formats. The operations can further include configuring the light effects for the lighting device objects, and generating lighting control instructions in a common data format. The operations can further include converting the lighting control instructions to individual sets of lighting control instructions that comply with the different lighting control formats. The operations can further use the sets of lighting control instructions to present the light effects on the lighting hardware devices according to the different lighting control formats required by the lighting hardware devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a light show design map on a user interface;

presenting lighting device objects on the light show design map, wherein the lighting device objects correlate to lighting hardware devices in a casino that present light effects using different lighting control formats, and wherein the lighting device objects are assigned to the different lighting control formats;

configuring the light effects for the lighting device objects according to user input via the user interface;

generating light show control data in a common data format for the lighting device objects; and

converting the light show control data from the common data format to hardware specific lighting control instructions that comply with the different lighting control formats.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing the hardware specific lighting control instructions to a light show control device that is capable of presenting the light effects on the lighting hardware devices using the hardware specific lighting control instructions.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein configuring the light effects comprises:

determining a user selection of multiple groups of the lighting devices objects; and

simultaneously configuring the light effects for the multiple groups of the lighting devices.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the lighting device objects on the light show design map comprises:

presenting separate sets of the lighting device objects, wherein the separate sets of the lighting device objects represent sets of lighting devices that utilize the different lighting control formats;

determining user selections of multiple ones of the lighting device objects from the separate sets of the lighting device objects;

presenting the multiple ones of the lighting device objects on the light show design map, wherein the multiple ones of the lighting device objects include light source objects that present light effect previews on the light show design map, and wherein the light source objects correlate with light source elements on the lighting hardware devices that produce light for the light effects; and

configuring the light source objects with light effect settings according to the user input.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the different lighting control formats include one or more of a proprietary emotive lighting data format, a digital visual interface format, and a DMX lighting format, and wherein the common data format comprises an XML data format.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising presenting the user interface via a web-browser.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating format type identifiers that identify the different lighting control formats that are associated with each of the lighting device objects; and

embedding the format type identifiers in one or more files of lighting control instructions for groups of lighting control instructions that pertain to the different lighting control formats.

8. One or more machine-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a set of one or more processors causes the set of one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving synchronized light show control data in a common data format, wherein the synchronized light show control data includes lighting control instructions for presenting light effects for a casino light show on both a first lighting hardware device and a second lighting hardware device in a casino, wherein the first lighting hardware device operates using a first lighting control format and the second lighting hardware device operates using a second lighting control format, wherein the second lighting control format is different from the first lighting control format;

converting the common data format of the synchronized light show control data to a first set of converted lighting control instructions that comply with the first lighting control format for the first lighting hardware device, and a second set of converted lighting control instructions that comply with the second lighting control format for the second lighting hardware device;

controlling a first set of light effects for the casino light show on the first lighting hardware device using the first set of converted lighting control instructions; and

controlling a second set of light effects for the casino light show on the second lighting hardware device using the second set of converted lighting control instructions.

9. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 8, said operations further comprising:

determining, from the synchronized light show control data, hardware identifiers for the first lighting hardware device and the second lighting hardware device;

referring to hardware specification files for the hardware identifiers stored on a network computer;

searching through the hardware specification files to find correlates of the hardware identifiers; and

ascertaining the first lighting control format and the second lighting control format specified in the hardware specification files associated with the correlates of the hardware identifiers.

10. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 8, said operations further comprising:

determining, from the synchronized light show control data, hardware identifiers for the first lighting hardware device and the second lighting hardware device;

determining lighting control format identifiers embedded in the synchronized light show control data that correlate with the hardware identifiers; and

ascertaining the first lighting control format and the second lighting control format using the lighting control format identifiers.

11. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 8, said operations further comprising:

detecting a common light show presentation schedule stored in the synchronized light show control data; and

presenting the casino light show on the first lighting hardware device and the second lighting hardware device according to the common light show presentation schedule.

12. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein said operation of presenting the light show on the first lighting hardware device and the second lighting hardware device according to the common light show presentation schedule includes operations further comprising:

detecting, from the synchronized light show control data, a first hardware identifier for the first lighting hardware device and a second hardware identifier for the second lighting hardware device;

detecting a first casino network address associated with the first hardware identifier and a second casino network address associated with the second hardware identifier;

providing a first sequence of instructions, from the first set of lighting control instructions, to the first casino network address for the first lighting hardware device, wherein the first sequence of instructions follows a first timeline, specified in the common light show presentation schedule, for the first lighting hardware device; and

providing a second sequence of instructions, from the second set of lighting control instructions, to the second casino network address for the second lighting hardware device, wherein the second sequence of instructions follows a second timeline, specified in the common light show presentation schedule, for the second lighting hardware device.

13. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 11, said operations further comprising:

determining at least one required presentation format for at least one presentation element on a player owned device;

converting one or more of the first set of lighting control instructions and the second set of lighting control instructions to a converted set of presentation instructions for the at least one required presentation format; and

providing the converted set of presentation instructions to the player owned device to present on the at least one presentation element of the player owned device according to the common light show presentation schedule.

14. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the lighting hardware devices are one or more of a light emitting diode display, a light-bulb fixture, a laser light fixture, a neon light fixture, a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode device, a stereoscopic display, a high-definition television, a fluorescent lighting fixture, a liquid crystal display projection lamp, a strobe light fixture, and a spot light fixture.

15. A system comprising:

a casino content show configuration device configured to

present a casino floor layout map on a user interface,

present lighting device objects on the casino floor layout map, wherein the lighting device objects represent lighting hardware devices in a casino,

present a plurality of light timing pattern graphics on the user interface, wherein the plurality of light timing pattern graphics represent pre-set presentation patterns for a casino light show,

select, via user input, one light timing pattern graphic from the plurality of light timing pattern graphics, wherein the one light timing pattern graphic includes one or more timing pattern graphic lines that present the casino light show along the one or more timing pattern graphic lines according to a light show timeline,

position, via the user input, the light timing pattern graphic on the casino floor layout map over at least a portion of the lighting device objects,

select a number of the lighting device objects that are within a specified distance to the one or more timing pattern graphic lines,

associate the number of the lighting device objects with the one or more timing pattern graphic lines, and

configure each of the number of the lighting device objects with light show effects for the casino light show; and

a casino content show control device configured to

detect occurrence of a gaming event on a wagering game machine in the casino, wherein the gaming event triggers the presentation of the casino light show,

associate lighting hardware devices with the timing pattern graphic lines in a way that correlates with the number of the lighting device objects that are within the specified distance to the one or more timing pattern graphic lines, and

present the casino light show on the lighting hardware devices according to the light show timeline using a location of the wagering game machine as a starting point for the casino light show.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of light timing pattern graphics comprise one or more of a swirling circular pattern, a concentric diamond pattern, a concentric circle pattern, a snake pattern, a radiating pattern, a random pattern, a spatial growth pattern, a parameterizable spatial mathematical function pattern, a wave pattern, a generic polygon pattern, a pattern that represents numerical sequences, a chaotic pattern, a scatter pattern, a casino logo image, and a player avatar image.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the casino content show configuration device is further configured to configure presentation layers of the casino floor layout map that represent specific lighting device objects on the casino floor that work according to different lighting formats.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the specified distance is based on one or more of an operator preference, a type of triggering event, a type of show, a scale associated with the casino floor layout map, and a scale of a size of the timing pattern graphic compared to a size of the lighting device objects.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the casino content show control device is further configured to

determine a position of an origin point for the one light timing pattern graphic on at least one of the lighting device objects on the casino floor layout map,

associate the origin point for the at least one of the lighting device objects on the casino floor layout map with the location of the wagering game machine, and

use the corresponding location of the wagering game machine as a beginning point for the casino light show.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a casino show module configured to

present a casino floor layout map on a user interface,

present lighting device objects on the casino floor layout map, wherein the lighting device objects represent lighting hardware devices in a casino,

present a plurality of light timing pattern graphics on the casino show configuration user interface, wherein the plurality of light timing pattern graphics represent pre-set presentation patterns for a casino light show,

select, via user input, one light timing pattern graphic from the plurality of light timing pattern graphics, wherein the one light timing pattern graphic includes one or more timing pattern graphic lines that present the casino light show along the one or more timing pattern graphic lines according to a lightshow timeline,

position, via the user input, the light timing pattern graphic on the casino floor layout map over at least a portion of the lighting device objects,

select a number of the lighting device objects that are within a specified distance to the one or more timing pattern graphic lines,

associate the number of the lighting device objects with the one or more timing pattern graphic lines,

assign a plurality of timeline interval points on the light show timeline that correlate with the number of lighting device objects associated with the one or more timing pattern graphic lines,

configure each of the number of the lighting device objects with light show effects for the casino light show, and

configure the light show effects to present at each of the plurality of timeline interval points according to the lightshow timeline.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the casino show module is further configured to

determine location points on the one or more timing pattern graphic lines that are within the specified distance to the one or more timing pattern graphic lines, and

assign the plurality of timeline interval points to positions on the timeline that correlate with the location points on the one or more timing pattern graphic lines, wherein the timeline interval points represent light effect trigger points in time that initiate light effects on the lighting hardware devices associated with the number of the lighting device objects assigned to the one or more timing pattern graphic lines

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the casino show module is further configured to

determine a plurality of timing pattern graphic lines associated with the one light timing pattern graphic, and

configure each of the plurality of timing pattern graphic lines with separate light effects that run according to different timelines for the casino light show.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for presenting a light show design map on a user interface;

means for presenting lighting device objects on the light show design map, wherein the lighting device objects correlate to lighting hardware devices that present light effects using different lighting control formats, wherein the lighting device objects are assigned to the different lighting control formats;

means for presenting configuration objects on the lighting device objects, wherein the configuration objects are configurable for light effect characteristics, and wherein the configuration objects correlate with lighting device elements on the lighting hardware devices that present the light effect characteristics;

means for presenting light show timelines associated with the configuration objects, wherein the light show timelines follow a common time schedule for a casino light show;

means for presenting light effect objects on the light show timelines per time frame, which light effect objects represent the light effect characteristics over time; and

means for configuring the representations of light effects on the light show timelines according to user input.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising means for presenting a light show preview of the light effects, according to the common time schedule for the casino light show, on one or more of light source objects on the light show design map and on the lighting hardware devices.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising means for presenting the light show preview from multiple views of the casino floor layout map which represent multiple views of a casino floor.

26. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising:

means for presenting a control to select one of a plurality of gaming events that triggers presentation of the casino light show;

means for determining a user selection of one of the plurality of the gaming events; and

means for presenting conflict views during the light show preview according to light show priorities related to the one of the plurality of the gaming events.