ANONYMOUS PLAYER TRACKING WITH MOBILE DEVICES
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- (a) receiving, at a network interface of a server and from a portable electronic device, identifying information of the portable electronic device, the portable electronic device not being a casino-provided player tracking device;
(b) determining, by the server, whether one of a plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information of the portable electronic device;
(c) responsive to determining that one of the plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information of the portable electronic device, attributing, by the server, at least part of first gaming activity conducted on the portable electronic device to that loyalty program account;
(d) afterwards, again receiving, at the network interface of the server, the identifying information from the portable electronic device; and
(e) responsive to passively associating, based at least in part on the received identifying information, the portable electronic device with second gaming activity that has occurred on a gaming machine within a casino, attributing, by the server, at least part of the second gaming activity to the loyalty program account associated with the identifying information of the portable electronic device.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A monitoring system for monitoring customer activities within a casino enterprise can be used to determine a current utilization of casino activities so that the casino can offer an optimal mixture of activities. Further, the system can identify customers (whose loyalty a casino enterprise may wish to cultivate) based on their utilization of the activities. The monitoring system can passively track portable wireless devices and associate the portable wireless devices with activities within the casino enterprise that are not attributable to customers registered in a loyalty program. The person controlling a particular portable device can be unknown. A virtual customer account can be created where the first portable device is used to identify a virtual customer associated with the account. Based upon identification of the first portable device, activities can be associated with the virtual customer and store to the virtual customer account.
3 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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(a) receiving, at a network interface of a server and from a portable electronic device, identifying information of the portable electronic device, the portable electronic device not being a casino-provided player tracking device; (b) determining, by the server, whether one of a plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information of the portable electronic device; (c) responsive to determining that one of the plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information of the portable electronic device, attributing, by the server, at least part of first gaming activity conducted on the portable electronic device to that loyalty program account; (d) afterwards, again receiving, at the network interface of the server, the identifying information from the portable electronic device; and (e) responsive to passively associating, based at least in part on the received identifying information, the portable electronic device with second gaming activity that has occurred on a gaming machine within a casino, attributing, by the server, at least part of the second gaming activity to the loyalty program account associated with the identifying information of the portable electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A gaming system comprising:
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a network interface configured to communicate with and receive identifying information from a portable electronic device that is not a casino-provided player tracking device; and a controller configured to; (a) responsive to the network interface receiving the identifying information of the portable electronic device, determine whether one of a plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information; (b) responsive to determining that one of the plurality of different loyalty program accounts is associated with the received identifying information, attribute at least part of first gaming activity conducted on the portable electronic device to that loyalty program account; (c) afterwards, responsive to the network interface again receiving the identifying information from the portable electronic device, determine, based at least in part on the received identifying information, whether to passively associate the portable electronic device with second gaming activity that has occurred on a gaming machine within a casino; and (d) responsive to passively associating the portable electronic device with the second gaming activity, attribute at least part of the second gaming activity to the loyalty program account associated with the received identifying information of the portable electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification