Centralized gaming system with modifiable remote display terminals

• US 7,727,071 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2007
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Giobbi, John J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Peter DungBa
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hall; Arthur O.
• Application Number:
  US11/820,329
• Publication Number:
  US 20080032763A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: 463 15- 23, 463 29- 38, 463/1, 463 10- 14, 463 25- 27, 463 2- 8, 463 42- 45, 463/50, 273/143.R, 273/138.1, 273/138.2, 273/139, 273/141.A, 273/142.B, 273/142.C, 273/142.J, 273/317.1, 273/453, 273460-461, 273/108.1, 273/108.3, 273/108.4, 273/118.A, 273/119.A, 273/122.A, 273/123.A, 273/125.A, 273/126.A, 273/142.JB, 273/273, 273/317.3, 273/317.4, 273/317.5, 273/317.6, 710/300, 360313-319, 360324-327, 324/207.21, 324/235, 324/252, 365/8, 365/158, 365/226, 345156-158, 345/167, 345473-474, 345/557, 345/664, 345/679, 715/229, 715/856, 715/FOR.221, 707/203, 717/122, 717/170, 711/3, 711/123, 711125-126, 711129-132, 711/135, 711138-140, 711/144
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3234 about the performance of a gaming system, e.g. revenue, diagnosis of the gaming system
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3262 Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played

Abstract

A centralized gaming system comprises a central server system and a plurality of display terminals remote from and linked to the central server system. The central server system includes a master game server, a game execution server, and a database server. The master game server stores a plurality of games of chance. Each game includes respective game play software and respective audiovisual software. In response to one of the games being selected for play at one of the display terminals, the game play software for the selected game is loaded from the master game server into the game execution server and is executed by the game execution server to randomly select an outcome. The audiovisual software for the selected game is selectively executed at the display terminal to visually represent the outcome on a display of the display terminal. The database server collects game activity data based on the outcome and maintains such data for report generation and player tracking purposes. The master game server may evaluate the collected game activity data and, in turn, modify one or more of the display terminals for maximizing earnings and target marketing.

Claims

1. A method of playing a game of chance with a central game system linked to one or more remote terminals, comprising:

receiving, at one of the remote terminals, a request from a player to play a game of chance from a plurality of games of chance stored on the central game system, the one terminal including a display configured to display game play features for the plurality of games of chance, the central game system storing a correct version of audiovisual software and game-play software corresponding to the requested game of chance, the request initiating a process of the player playing the requested game of chance;

in response to receiving the request to play the game of chance, determining whether a storage buffer includes the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software stored at the central game system;

caching, in the storage buffer, the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software if in response to determining that the correct version is not included in the storage buffer, wherein caching the correct version occurs during the process of the player playing the requested game of chance;

executing the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software cached in the storage buffer; and

displaying, on the display of the one terminal, a game session of the requested game of chance according to the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software.

2. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 1, wherein caching the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software comprises:

storing, at the one terminal, the audiovisual software in a memory structure; and

storing, at the one terminal, the game-play software in the memory structure,

wherein the memory structure includes the storage buffer adapted to cache software corresponding to one or more last played games of chance.

3. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 2, wherein the memory structure includes a primary storage unit from which the audiovisual software and the game-play software are executed.

4. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 1, further comprising:

collecting, at the one terminal, game activity data corresponding to the game session; and

communicating, from the one terminal, the game activity data to the central game system, the central game system accumulating the game activity data with accumulated data from the one or more terminals.

5. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 1, further comprising determining, at the one terminal, an outcome for the requested game of chance by communicating, from the one terminal, with a linked game controller of the central game system, the linked game controller linking execution of the game-play software with other terminals.

6. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 1, further comprising determining, at the one terminal, an outcome for the requested game of chance by communicating, from the one terminal, with a progressive controller of the central game system, the progressive controller linking execution of the game-play software with a progressive jackpot common to the one or more terminals.

7. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 1, wherein the audiovisual software stored by the central game system is an updated audiovisual software version corresponding to the requested game of chance, and the game-play software stored by the central game system is an updated game-play software version corresponding to the requested game of chance.

8. A method off playing a game of chance with a central game system linked to one or more remote terminals, comprising:

receiving, at one of the remote terminals, a request from a player to play a game of chance from a plurality of games of chance stored on the central game system, the one terminal including a display configured to display game play features for the plurality of games of chance, the central game system storing a correct version of audiovisual software and game-play software corresponding to the requested game of chance, the central game system serving any of the plurality of games of chance to the one or more remote terminals, the request initiating a process of the player playing the requested game of chance;

in response to receiving the request to play the game of chance, obtaining, at the one terminal, the correct version of audiovisual software corresponding to the requested game of chance from the central game system if the correct audiovisual software is not already cached in a storage buffer;

in response to receiving the request to play the game of chance, obtaining, at the one terminal, the correct version of game-play software corresponding to the requested game of chance from the central game system if the game-play software is not already cached in the storage buffer;

caching, at the one terminal, the correct version of the audiovisual software in the storage buffer, wherein caching the correct version of the audiovisual software occurs during the process of the player playing the requested game of chance;

caching, at the one terminal, the correct version of the game-play software in the storage buffer, wherein caching the correct version of the game-play software occurs during the process of the player playing the requested game of chance; and

displaying, on the display of the one terminal, a game session corresponding to the requested game of chance according to the correct version of the audiovisual software and the correct version of the game-play software.

9. The method for playing a game of chance according to claim 8, further comprising:

determining, at the one terminal, an outcome for the requested game of chance, comprising executing the game-play software stored in the storage buffer; and

presenting, at the one terminal, the outcome for the requested game of chance, comprising executing the audiovisual software in the storage buffer.

10. A gaming system, comprising:

a central game system including a storage device storing a correct version of audiovisual software and game-play software for plurality of games of chance;

a remote terminal linked to the central server system, the remote terminal receiving a request from a player to play a selected game of chance from the plurality of games of chance and executing the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance, the request initiating a process of the player playing the requested game of chance; and

a storage buffer caching, from the central game system, the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance, wherein caching the correct version occurs during the process of the player playing the requested game of chance,

wherein the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance is obtained and cached in response to the request to play the selected game of chance, and

the remote terminal executes the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance.

11. The gaming system according to claim 10, wherein the terminal further includes a memory structure adapted to store the audiovisual software and the game-play software.

12. The gaming system according to claim 11, wherein the memory structure includes a primary storage unit from which the audiovisual software and the game-play software are executed.

13. The gaming system according to claim 11, wherein the terminal further includes the storage buffer that stores cached software corresponding to one or more last played games of chance.

14. The gaming system according to claim 13, wherein:

the central game system further determines whether the audiovisual software is stored in the storage buffer, and whether the game-play software is stored in the storage buffer,

the remote terminal includes one or more processors that execute the game-play software received from the storage buffer, without receiving the game-play software from the central game system, and

the one or more processors further execute the audiovisual software received from the storage buffer, without receiving the audiovisual software from the central game system.

15. The gaming system according to claim 10, wherein each terminal further collects game activity data corresponding to execution of the game-play software and communicates the game activity data to the central game system, the central game system including a database server accumulating the game activity data from each terminal.

16. The gaming system according to claim 10, wherein the central game system further includes a linked game controller, the linked game controller linking execution of the game-play software on the remote terminal with other remote terminals.

17. The gaming system according to claim 10, wherein the central game system further includes a progressive controller, the progressive controller linking execution of the game-play software with a progressive jackpot common to the remote terminal and other remote terminals.

18. The gaming system according to claim 10, wherein the correct version of the audiovisual software corresponding to the selected game of chance is an updated audiovisual software version, and the correct version of the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance is an updated game-play software version.

19. A centralized gaming system, comprising:

means for serving any of a plurality of games of chance, the means for serving comprising means for storing a correct version of audiovisual software and game-play software; and

one or more terminals linked to the means for serving, each terminal comprising;

means for receiving a request from a player to play a selected game of chance from the plurality of games of chance from the means for serving, the request initiating a process of the player playing the requested game of chance;

means for obtaining, from the means for serving, the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software corresponding to the selected game of chance in response to receiving the request to play the selected game of chance;

means for buffering, in a storage buffer, the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software cached software if the correct version is not in the storage buffer, wherein caching the correct version occurs during the process of the player playing the requested game of chance; and

means for executing the correct version of at least one of the audiovisual software and the game-play software cached in the storage buffer to provide the selected game of chance.

20. The centralized gaming system according to claim 19, wherein each terminal further comprises means for storing the audiovisual software and the game-play software.

21. The centralized gaming system according to claim 19, further comprising means for accumulating game activity data with accumulated data from one or more of the terminals, wherein each terminal further comprises means for collecting the game activity data corresponding to execution of the game-play software.

22. The centralized gaming system according to claim 19, further comprising means for linking execution of the game-play software to one or more of the other terminals.

23. The centralized gaming system according to claim 19, further comprising means for linking execution of the game-play software with a progressive jackpot common to one or more of the terminals.