Standard peripheral communication

• US 7,351,147 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2002
• Issued: 04/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: LeMay, Steven G., Stockdale, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau; Ronald
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harper; Tramar
• Application Number:
  US10/214,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20020187830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,065 Days
• Field of Search: 463/20, 463/16, 463/40, 273/143.R, 710/15, 710/129
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof

Abstract

A disclosed gaming machine has a plurality of “gaming peripherals,” each communicating with a master gaming controller via a standard peripheral interface such as the USB (Universal Serial Bus). Further, the gaming peripherals employ a standard peripheral controller and one or more specialized “peripheral devices” (e.g., the actual lights, bill validators, ticket printers, etc. that perform the specific functions of the gaming peripherals). Much of the hardware associated with the peripheral controller is identical from one gaming peripheral to the next. Only a portion of the peripheral controller hardware is specific to the different types of gaming peripherals.

Claims

1. A method of enumerating peripheral devices connected to a gaming machine, the method comprising:

providing the gaming machine comprising a) a housing, b) one or more gaming peripherals coupled to the housing wherein each gaming peripheral comprises one or more peripheral devices and a peripheral controller, c) a master gaming controller coupled to the housing and operable to communicate with each gaming peripheral, d) an input mechanism coupled to the housing adapted for receiving cash or indicia of credit and e) an output mechanism coupled to the housing for outputting cash or indicia of credit wherein the master gaming controller adapted for controlling the one or more gaming peripherals to present a game of chance to a user of the gaming machine and wherein under control of the master gaming controller the gaming machine is operable i) to receive the cash or indicia of credit for a wager on the game of chance and ii) to output the cash or an indicia of credit as an award for the game of chance resulting from said wager,

providing one or more secure communication ports with a higher level of security than one or more other communication ports wherein a first peripheral device is operable to communicate via the one or more secure communication ports with the master gaming controller or via the one or more other communication ports with the master gaming controller and wherein the master gaming controller is configured to require that the first peripheral device only communicate through the one or more secure communication ports;

establishing, under control of the master gaming controller, communications between each of the gaming peripherals and the master gaming controller;

determining, under control of the master gaming controller, whether one or more peripheral devices on each gaming peripheral is authorized to communicate with the master gaming controller;

querying, under control of the master gaming controller, each of the gaming peripherals for peripheral devices;

determining, under control of the master gaming controller;

an identity of the first peripheral device and a first communication port through which the first peripheral device is attempting to communicate and allowing communications with the first peripheral device when the first communication port is a secure communication port;

for each peripheral device, loading a device driver for controlling one or more features of the peripheral device;

controlling operation of each peripheral device using the device driver for the peripheral device;

storing critical information on the master gaming controller relating to each of a plurality of steps in the game of chance that are displayed during a play of the game of chance wherein the critical information includes information relating to player choices made during the play of the game of chance and wherein in an event of a malfunction during the play of the game of chance the master gaming controller is operable to restore the game of chance to a step in the game of chance that was displayed just prior to the malfunction using the stored critical information, and

generating, under control of the master gaming controller, the game of chance on the gaming machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with each of the gaming peripherals using the same communication protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the same communication protocol is at least one of a USB communication protocol or a IEEE 1394 compatible communication protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more communication parameters from the gaming peripheral wherein the communication parameters are selected from the group consisting of a release specification number, a device class, a subclass, a device communication protocol, a maximum receive packet size, a maximum send packet size, a vendor identification, a product identification, a device release number, a manufacturer string, a product string, a device descriptor, a device protocol, a serial number and a configuration interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending one or more communication parameters to the gaming peripheral wherein the communication parameters are selected from the group consisting of a release specification number, a device class, a subclass, a device communication protocol, a maximum receive packet size, a maximum send packet size, a vendor identification, a product identification, a device release number, a manufacturer string, a product string, a device descriptor, a device protocol, a serial number and a configuration interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices are selected from the group consisting of lights, printers, coin counters, bill validators, ticket readers, card readers, key pads, button panels, display screens, speakers, information panels, motors, mass storage devices and solenoids.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a communication port through which a peripheral device is communicating.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a type of the peripheral device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a communication port through which a peripheral device is communicating;

identifying a type of the peripheral device;

when the communication port and the type of the peripheral device match communication port requirements for the type of the peripheral device,

establishing communications with the peripheral device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the features of the peripheral devices.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a device identifier in a device identification protocol for a first peripheral device on a first gaming peripheral from the first gaming peripheral;

identifying at least one of a device type and operating features of the first peripheral device using the device identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting a device driver for the first peripheral device using the device identifier.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the master gaming controller has no device driver precisely matching a first peripheral device on the gaming peripheral; and

identifying an available device driver that meets at least some requirements for controlling the first peripheral device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining that a first peripheral device on a first gaming peripheral has been disconnected or is no longer communicating with the master gaming controller;

and

removing the software device driver for the first peripheral device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

controlling operation of a second peripheral device on the first gaming peripheral different from the first peripheral device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications are established with each of the gaming peripherals during a power-up phase for the gaming machine.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing communications with a first gaming peripheral during an operational phase for the gaming machine without interrupting communications between the master gaming controller and a plurality of gaming peripherals already in communication with the master gaming controller.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

terminating communications with a first gaming peripheral during an operational phase for the gaming machine without interrupting communications between the master gaming controller and a plurality of gaming peripherals already in communication with the master gaming controller.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the game of chance using one or more of the peripheral devices.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the game of chance is at least one of a mechanical slot game, a video slot game, a video poker game, a video lottery game or a video keno game.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the features of each of the peripheral devices using a device identification protocol.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the device identification protocol is a number assigned to each peripheral device.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

selecting the device driver for controlling each of the peripheral devices using the device identification protocol.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein a first gaming peripheral comprises a plurality of peripheral devices and wherein a separate device driver is loaded to operate the one or more features of each peripheral device on the first gaming peripheral.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a first gaming peripheral is not authorized for communications, terminating communications with the first gaming peripheral.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein authorization to communicate is determined using one or more of port information and a device identification protocol.