Player tracking and identification system

• US 6,234,900 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2000
• Issued: 05/22/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Biometric Recognition LLC
• Original Assignee: Blake Cumbers
• Inventors: Cumbers, Blake
• Primary Examiner(s): ONEILL, MICHAEL W
• Application Number:
  US09/588,791
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• Field of Search: 463/1, 463/11, 463/12, 463/13, 463/16, 463/17, 463/18, 463/19, 463/20, 463/25, 463/29, 463/30, 463/40, 463/41, 463/42, 463/46, 463/47, 700/90, 700/97, 700/92, 273/138.1, 273/138.2, 273/139, 273/143.R, 273/292, 273/293, 235/375, 235/380, 235/382, 382/100, 382/115, 382/118
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players

Abstract

A system and method is set forth for tracking the play of players playing gaming devices such as slot machines through passive identification of the players. Passive identification can be achieved by analysis of a player, such as facial image photography, infrared scan, scans of a player'"'"'s iris or other features of the eye, and the like. Players provide identification information and physical recognition data is acquired as by a digital or video camera. For each player an account file and a file of the image data is stored. When the player plays the slot machine, a camera scans the player and acquires image data which is compared to stored data to identify the player. The identified player'"'"'s account file is opened and data from the device representing parameters of play, e.g. amounts wagered, is allocated to the identified player'"'"'s account file for the purpose of providing comps and other benefits to the player. Doe image data and account files can be stored to allocate parameters for unidentified players. Further the device acquired image data can be compared with stored image data to identify undesirables such as slot cheats or the like.

Claims

1. A method for tracking selected parameters of play of a player playing a wagering game comprising:

inputting and storing reference informational data from each player including player identification data and matching physical identification image data into memory of a data processor to form a library of files of identified players and their corresponding physical identification image data;

during play of the game scanning the player thereof to acquire image data of the player;

transmitting said acquired image data to said data processor;

providing data to the data processor identifying the game played by the player;

said data processor matching the received image data to the data identifying the game being played by the player;

said data processor comparing said received acquired image data to said identification data of said library to determine if acquired image data corresponds to said stored identification data to identify the player;

if said received acquired image data corresponds to the identification data of a player of said library, said data processor storing in the memory of the player'"'"'s file the game identification data and the corresponding player identification to match the identified player to an identified game;

if the acquired image data does not correspond to the identification data of a player of said library, said data processor creating a doe memory file and storing in the doe memory file the acquired image data and game identification data; and

sending at least one parameter of play of the identified game to said data processor, said data processor matching the parameter to the player'"'"'s file to store parameter of play data allocated to the player playing the game.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is a slot machine wherein the player plays the game by inputting a wager into the machine, the method including sensing each wager made by the player during play of the machine and generating signals corresponding thereto, sending the wager corresponding signals to said data processor, said data processor matching the wagering signals to the player'"'"'s file to track the wagering by the player at the machine.

3. The method of claim 1 the game is a slot machine wherein the player plays the game by inputting a wager into the machine, the method including locating a camera on the machine at a position to scan the player playing the machine to acquire the image data of the player.

4. The method of claim 1 further including giving the player an instrument including machine readable player identifying data, storing in the memory of the data processor files data corresponding to each player assigned an instrument, locating the instrument at an instrument reader at the game played by the player, said reader sending data signals to the data processor corresponding to the readable identifying data, said data processor comparing the data signals sent which correspond to the readable identifying data and image data to identify the player and his data file and confirm allocation of parameter data to a player'"'"'s file.

5. The method of claim 1 further including inputting and storing reference informational data from each player including player identification image data and matching the image data into the memory of a data processor to form a library of files of identified players and their corresponding physical identification images, comparing the inputted physical image identification data to any previously acquired image data files assigned a doe identification and if there is a match, said processor allocating all game parameters previously allocated to the corresponding doe file to the corresponding player file.

6. The method of claim 1 including sending wagering data as the parameter of play.

7. The method of claim 1 including sending wagering data per unit time as the parameter of play.

8. The method of claim 1 including storing the physical identification data as data corresponding to the facial image of the player.

9. The method of claim 1 including storing the physical identification data as data corresponding to the characteristics of the player'"'"'s eyes.

10. The method of claim 1 including storing the physical identification data as data corresponding to an infrared image of the player'"'"'s face.

11. A system for tracking a parameter representative of the play of a player playing a wagering game comprising:

a processor having a first data storage device, said first data storage device including for each player to be tracked personal reference data and player physical identification data;

an image acquirer adapted to, at the game being played, acquire image data of the player playing the game corresponding to the stored physical identification data;

means for inputting a digital parameter signal representative of the parameter of play to be tracked by the system;

a data link to transmit said acquired image and said parameter signals to the processor; and

said processor including means for comparing the acquired digital image to the stored image data of the first data storage device to determine whether the acquired image matches a stored image to identify the player, if said match is found said processor assigning the parameter of play to the identified player,

whereby tracking of the player wagering activity is enabled without active entry of personal slaver data at the time of play by either player or casino personnel or by a player identification card.

12. In a system for allocating to a player account the wagering activity of said player playing an electronic gaming device of the type having adapted to generate bet data representative of each wager made by the player, a player tracking processor, a memory structure including for each player an account file including personal data to identify the player and historical wagering activity data for the player, means for identifying each machine and communicating the bet data to the tracking processor and means for allocating the bet data to a player'"'"'s account for recording said historical wagering activity, the improvement comprising:

a player-identifying data processor having for each player a memory structure including (i) digital physical image data of said player and (ii) corresponding player identification data;

an image acquirer at each machine to acquire image data of the player playing the machine corresponding to said stored image data;

a first data link to transmit said acquired image data to said player-identifying data processor;

means for generating a signal identifying the machine which is the source of the acquired image data;

said player-identifying data processor including means for comparing the acquired image data to the image data of the memory structure to determine if the acquired image data corresponds to the stored image data to identify the player;

means for the player-identifying data processor to communicate with the player tracking processor; and

means for, if the player is identified, directing the bet data from the identified machine to the identified player'"'"'s account file,

whereby tracking of the player wagering activity is enabled without active entry of personal player data at the time of play by either player or casino personnel or by a player identification card.

13. A method for tracking selected parameters of play of a player playing a wagering game wherein tracking of the player wagering activity is enabled without active entry of personal player data at the time of play by either player or casino personnel or by a player identification card comprising:

inputting and storing reference informational data from each player including player identification data and matching physical identification image data into memory of a data processor to form a library of files of identified players and their corresponding physical identification image data;

during play of the game scanning the player thereof to acquire image data of the player;

transmitting said acquired image data to said data processor;

providing data to the data processor identifying the game played by the player;

said data processor matching the received image data to the data identifying the game being played by the player;

said data processor comparing said received acquired image data to said identification data of said library to determine if acquired image data corresponds to said stored identification data to identify the player;

if said received acquired image data corresponds to the identification data of a player of said library, said data processor storing in the memory of the player'"'"'s file the game identification data and the corresponding player identification to match the identified player to an identified game.