Gaming system, gaming device and method for displaying multiple concurrent games using dynamic focal points

• US 8,333,657 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Nelson, Dwayne R., Cockerille, Warner, Carlisle, Christopher D., Quitt, Jonathan, Kertesz, Andrew, O'Rourke, Suzanne
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US13/245,264
• Time in Patent Office: 449 Days
• Field of Search: 463/27, 463/26, 463/25
• US Class Current: 463/27
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/50 Controlling the output signals based on the game progress
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3206 Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3213 Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3267 Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3269 Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

The gaming system disclosed herein changes the focal point of a display device at different points in time to assist the player in focusing on different simultaneously or concurrently played games at different points in time. Specifically, the gaming system displays a plurality of simultaneously or concurrently played games on a display device. In response to a designated event occurring in association with a specific one of the plurality of simultaneously or concurrently played games, the gaming system changes the focal point of the display device to draw the player'"'"'s focus or attention to that specific one of the simultaneously or concurrently played games. Put differently, the gaming system dynamically allocates and/or indicates different portions of a display device to different simultaneously or concurrently played games at different points in time to account for different events occurring in such simultaneously or concurrently played games.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a display device;

at least one input device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the at least one input device to;

(a) at a first point in time and prior to an occurrence of any display reconfiguration event, display a first configuration of a plurality of simultaneously played games, said first configuration including a first game displayed in association with a first portion of a game play area and a second game displayed in association with a second, different portion of the game play area, said first portion of the game play area being greater than the second portion of the game play area;

(b) at a second, subsequent point in time after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, display a second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games, said second configuration including the first game displayed in association with the second portion of the game play area and the second game displayed in association with the first portion of the game play area; and

(c) independent of any displayed configurations of the plurality of simultaneously played games, for each of the simultaneously played games;

(i) generate an outcome,

(ii) display the generated outcome, and

(iii) provide the player any award associated with the generated outcome.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to enable the player to select the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of a designated generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game and a display of a designated award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor at a third point in time, after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the first game, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

5. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the first game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the first game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the first game, a display of the generated outcome of the first game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the first game.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the game play area is associated with a displayed focal point of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the first game is associated with a first average duration for a complete play of the first game and the second game is associated with a second, greater average duration for a complete play of the second game.

8. The gaming system of claim 7, wherein the first game is played by one player and the second player is played by a plurality of players.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor after the occurrence of the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to:

(i) display the second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games for a designated period of time, and (ii) after the designated period of time, display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

10. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein:

(i) the first configuration is associated with the first game displayed at a first location of the game play area and the second game displayed at a second, different location of the game play area; and

(ii) the second configuration is associated with the second game displayed at the first location of the game play area and the first game displayed at the second, location of the game play area.

11. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising:

(a) at a first point in time and prior to an occurrence of any display reconfiguration event, causing a display device to display a first configuration of a plurality of simultaneously played games, said first configuration including a first game displayed in association with a first portion of a game play area and a second game displayed in association with a second, different portion of the game play area, said first portion of the game play area being greater than the second portion of the game play area;

(b) at a second, subsequent point in time after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, causing the display device to display a second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games, said second configuration including the first game displayed in association with the second portion of the game play area and the second game displayed in association with the first portion of the game play area; and

(c) independent of any displayed configurations of the plurality of simultaneously played games, for each of the simultaneously played games;

(i) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to generate an outcome,

(ii) causing the display device to display the generated outcome, and

(iii) providing the player any award associated with the generated outcome.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

13. The method of claim 11, which includes enabling the player to select the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of a designated generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game and a display of a designated award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

14. The method of claim 11, which includes causing the display device to display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games at a third point in time after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the first game.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the first game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the first game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the first game, a display of the generated outcome of the first game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the first game.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first portion of the game play area is associated with a displayed focal point of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the first game is associated with a first average duration for a complete play of the first game and the second game is associated with a second, greater average duration for a complete play of the second game.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first game is played by one player and the second player is played by a plurality of players.

19. The method of claim 11, which includes, after the occurrence of the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, causing the display device to:

(i) display the second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games for a designated period of time, and (ii) after the designated period of time, display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein:

(i) the first configuration is associated with the first game displayed at a first location of the game play area and the second game displayed at a second, different location of the game play area; and

(ii) the second configuration is associated with the second game displayed at the first location of the game play area and the first game displayed at the second, location of the game play area.

21. The method of claim 11, which is provided through a data network.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the data network is the internet.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium including a plurality of instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) at a first point in time and prior to an occurrence of any display reconfiguration event, cause a display device to display a first configuration of a plurality of simultaneously played games, said first configuration including a first game displayed in association with a first portion of a game play area and a second game displayed in association with a second, different portion of the game play area, said first portion of the game play area being greater than the second portion of the game play area;

(b) at a second, subsequent point in time after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, cause the display device to display a second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games, said second configuration including the first game displayed in association with the second portion of the game play area and the second game displayed in association with the first portion of the game play area; and

(c) independent of any displayed configurations of the plurality of simultaneously played games, for each of the simultaneously played games;

(i) generate an outcome,

(ii) causing the display device to display the generated outcome, and

(iii) provide the player any award associated with the generated outcome.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to enable the player to select the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the second game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the second game, a display of the generated outcome of the second game, a display of a designated generated outcome of the second game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the second game and a display of a designated award associated with the generated outcome of the second game.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to cause the display device to display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games at a third point in time after the occurrence of a display reconfiguration event associated with the first game.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the display reconfiguration event associated with the first game is selected from the group consisting of:

a request for the player to place a wager in association with the play of the first game, a request for the player to make an input in association with the play of the first game, a display of the generated outcome of the first game, a display of any award associated with the generated outcome of the first game.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the first portion of the game play area is associated with a displayed focal point of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the first game is associated with a first average duration for a complete play of the first game and the second game is associated with a second, greater average duration for a complete play of the second game.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the first game is played by one player and the second player is played by a plurality of players.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein when executed by the at least one processor after the occurrence of the display reconfiguration event associated with the second game, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to:

(i) display the second configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games for a designated period of time, and (ii) after the designated period of time, display the first configuration of the plurality of simultaneously played games.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein:

(i) the first configuration is associated with the first game displayed at a first location of the game play area and the second game displayed at a second, different location of the game play area; and

(ii) the second configuration is associated with the second game displayed at the first location of the game play area and the first game displayed at the second, location of the game play area.