System for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network

• US 6,358,151 B1
• Filed: 02/14/2000
• Issued: 03/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Everi Games Inc. (Everi Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Multimedia Games Incorporated
• Inventors: Lind, Jefferson C., Enzminger, Joseph R., Lind, Clifton
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrison, Jessica J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T.
• Application Number:
  US09/503,651
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: 463/1, 463/16, 463/17, 463/30, 463/31, 463/40, 463/42, 463/43, 463/44
• US Class Current: 463/43
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/081 electric

Abstract

Pools of game play records (25) used in lottery-type games are stored at each player terminal (14) in a network which includes at least one player terminal and least one central processing system (12). The central processing system (12) is responsible for receiving game play requests from the player terminals (14) and, in response to each game play request, providing game play record identifying information (32) to the player terminal from which the game play request originated. This game play record identifying information (32) allows the player terminal (14) to access the identified game play record (25) and use information from the game play record to communicate to the player the result of the game play.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the network utilizing at least one player terminal, at least one central processing system, and at least one pool of game play records, each game play record in a pool being associated with a predetermined result, the method including the steps of:

(a) maintaining unique record identifiers at a central processing system, each record identifier being associated with a different game play record in a pool of game play records;

(b) storing the pool of game play records at a player terminal, each game play record in the pool at the player terminal being addressable by the unique identifier associated with the respective game play record;

(c) in response to a game play request communicated to the central processing system from the player terminal, communicating the record identifier associated with a particular game play record from the central processing system to the player terminal;

(d) in response to the record identifier communicated to the player terminal, accessing the particular game play record at the player terminal; and

(e) utilizing information accessed from the particular game play record at the player terminal to generate display commands and produce a graphic representation at the player terminal, the graphic representation being consistent with a predetermined result associated with the particular game play record.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of:

(a) storing the pool of game play records at the central processing system.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of maintaining unique record identifiers at the central processing system includes the step of:

(a) in each game play record, storing the unique record identifier associated with the respective game play record.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of maintaining unique record identifiers at the central processing system includes the step of:

(a) incrementing from one unique record identifier to another in response to the game play request communicated from the player terminal.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein each unique record identifier comprises a counter value and the step of incrementing from one unique record identifier to another includes the step of:

(a) maintaining a count of game play requests made at the player terminal.

6. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:

(a) monitoring a number of unused game play records remaining in the pool of game play records stored at the player terminal; and

(b) storing a new pool of game play records at the player terminal once the number of unused game play records reaches a minimum value.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic lottery game network includes at least one additional player terminal and the method includes the steps of:

(a) storing the pool of game play records at each player terminal; and

(b) in response to an additional game play request communicated to the central processing system from any of the player terminals, communicating the record identifier associated with a different game play record from the central processing system to the respective player terminal from which the additional game play request originated.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic lottery game network includes at least one additional pool of game play records and wherein each game play request designates a particular one of the pools of game play records, and the method includes the steps of:

(a) maintaining additional unique record identifiers at the central processing system, each additional record identifier being associated with a different game play record in an additional pool of game play records;

(b) storing each pool of game play records at the player terminal, each game play record in each pool at the player terminal being addressable by the record identifier associated with the respective game play record; and

(c) in response to each of a plurality of additional game play requests communicated to the central processing system from the player terminal, communicating a respective record identifier from the central processing system to the player terminal, the respective record identifier being associated with a different game play record in the respective pool designated in the respective game play request.

9. An apparatus for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the network utilizing at least one player terminal, at least one central processing system, and at least one pool of game play records, each game play record in a pool being associated with a predetermined result, the apparatus including:

(a) an identifier arrangement at a central processing system for maintaining unique record identifiers, each record identifier being associated with a different game play record in a pool of game play records;

(b) a player terminal storage device at a player terminal for storing the pool of game play records, each game play record in the pool stored at the player terminal storage device being addressable by the unique identifier associated with the respective game play record;

(c) a play request processor at the central processing system for causing the record identifier associated with a particular game play record to be communicated from the central processing system to the player terminal in response to a game play request communicated to the central processing system from the player terminal;

(d) a record accessing arrangement at the player terminal for accessing the particular game play record at the player terminal in response to the record identifier communicated to the player terminal; and

(e) a display processing arrangement at the player terminal for utilizing information accessed from the particular game play record at the player terminal to generate display commands and produce a graphic representation at the player terminal, the graphic representation being consistent with a predetermined result associated with the particular game play record.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further including:

(a) a central storage device at the central processing system for storing the pool of game play records at the central processing system.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein each game play record includes the unique record identifier associated with the respective game play record.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the identifier arrangement at the central processing system includes:

(a) an incrementing arrangement for incrementing from one unique record identifier to another in response to the game play request communicated from the player terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each unique record identifier comprises a counter value and the incrementing arrangement includes:

(a) a counter arrangement for maintaining a count of game play requests made at the player terminal.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 further including:

(a) a monitoring arrangement for monitoring a number of unused game play records remaining in the pool of game play records stored at the player terminal; and

(b) a game pool updating arrangement for storing a new pool of game play records at the player terminal storage device once the number of unused game play records reaches a minimum value.

15. A program product stored on a computer readable medium for facilitating game play in an electronic lottery game network, the network utilizing at least one player terminal, at least one central processing system, and at least one pool of game play records, each game play record in a pool being associated with a predetermined result, the program product comprising:

(a) record storage program code for storing at least one pool of game play records at a player terminal, each game play record in the pool at the player terminal being addressable by a unique identifier associated with the respective game play record;

(b) play request processing program code for responding to a game play request at the player terminal by causing the record identifier associated with a particular game play record to be communicated from a central processing system to the player terminal;

(c) record access program code for accessing the particular game play record at the player terminal in response to the record identifier communicated to the player terminal; and

(d) display control program code for utilizing information from the particular game play record at the player terminal to generate display commands for producing a graphic representation at the player terminal, the graphic representation being consistent with a predetermined result associated with the particular game play record.

16. The program product of claim 15 wherein:

(a) the record storage program code also causes the pool of game play records to be stored at the central processing system.

17. The program product of claim 16 wherein each game play record includes the unique record identifier associated with the respective game play record.

18. The program product of claim 15 further including:

(a) record selection program code for incrementing from one unique record identifier to another in response to the game play request communicated from the player terminal.

19. The program product of claim 18 wherein each unique record identifier comprises a counter value and the record selection program code includes:

(a) counter program code for maintaining a count of game play requests entered at the player terminal.

20. The program product of claim 15 further including:

(a) monitoring program code for monitoring a number of unused game play records remaining in the pool of game play records stored at the player terminal; and

(b) pool updating program code for causing a new pool of game play records to be stored at the player terminal once the number of unused game play records reaches a minimum value.