Gaming machine reel having a rotatable dynamic display

• US 8,342,938 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2008
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Paulsen, Craig A., Griswold, Chauncey W., Hedrick, Joseph R., Wilder, Richard L., Mattice, Harold E.
• Primary Examiner(s): D'AGOSTINO, PAUL ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US12/247,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20090104969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 463/20
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• 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 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A gaming machine reel having a motor capable of rotating the reel operatively coupled to a controller to control a reel rotation speed, a support mechanism coupled to the motor having an outer circumferential region, a rotatable display mounted on the outer circumferential region operable to rotate about an axis of the reel. The rotatable display may be used to display game play indicia utilized in a wager-based game of chance. A game controller coupled to the rotatable display may be configured to determine a portion of the rotatable display that is visible through a viewing window on the gaming machine at a particular, determine pixel locations associated with the visible portions and map visual content to the visible portions as a function of time while the rotatable display is rotating.

Claims

1. A gaming machine, comprising:

a cabinet;

a plurality of reels mounted within the cabinet, each reel comprising a physical reel structure rotatable about an axis and having an outer perimeter region;

a motor capable of rotating said physical reel structure;

at least one display mounted on the outer perimeter region configured to rotate with the physical reel structure, said display comprising an array of addressable pixels and a display driver configured to allow each of the addressable pixels in the array to be activated;

a reel mask mounted to the outside of said cabinet including one or more viewing windows wherein a portion of each of the plurality of reels is visible through said one or more viewing window;

a memory device configured to store

     1) a sequence of a game play indicia and

     2) data and/or instructions for generating images for each indicium in the sequence of the game play indicia; and

a gaming controller, communicatively coupled to the plurality of reels and the memory device, designed or configured to a) receive a wager on an outcome of the wager-based game of chance;

b) determining an outcome to the wager-based game wherein the outcome is indicated by a combination of indicium selected from the sequence of game play indicia;

c) instruct each of the plurality of reels to start rotating;

d) while each of the plurality of reels is rotating, determine a first portion of each of the plurality of reels that is visible at a first time;

determine a plurality of pixel addresses on the at least one display associated with the first portion of each of the plurality of reels;

for each of the plurality of reels, select a sub-set of game play indicia from the sequence;

for each of the plurality of reels, render images of the selected sub-set of game play indicia to the plurality of pixel addresses;

e) while each of the plurality of reels is rotating, repeat step d one or more times; and

e) at least when each of the plurality of reels are at rest, render images of the combination of indicium selected from the sequence of game play indicia that indicate the outcome to wager-based game.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, each reel further comprising a voltage monitor configured to detect a power interrupt to the reel.

3. The gaming machine of claim 1, each reel further comprising a battery backup coupled to the at least one display wherein after a power interrupt is detected to the reel, the battery backup is for enabling one or more indicium rendered on the at least one display prior to the power interrupt to persist on the display.

4. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein an outer perimeter of the outer perimeter region of the reel structure is circular.

5. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein for at least a first reel, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to repeat step d over time such that the rendered images of the selected sub-set of game play indicia appear to rotate at a rate that is independent of a rotation rate of the first reel.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein for at least a first reel, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to repeat step d over time such that the rendered images of the selected sub-set of game play indicia appear to rotate at a rate greater than a rotation rate of the first reel.

7. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein for at least a first reel, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to repeat step d over time such that the rendered images of the selected sub-set of game play indicia appear to rotate at a rate less than a rotation rate of the first reel.

8. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein for at least a first reel, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to repeat step d over time such that one or more indicium appear to remain stationary while the first reel is rotating.

9. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein for at least a first reel, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to repeat steps d-g step d over time such a first indicium appears to rotate at a first rate while a second indicium appears to rotate at a second rate.

10. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein each reel further comprises a lighting source mounted to the reel structure to illuminate the at least one display wherein the at least one display comprises a top side facing the one or more viewing windows and the lighting source is orientated to illuminate at least a bottom side opposite of the top side of said at least one display.

11. The gaming machine of claim 10, wherein the lighting source comprises one or more LED elements.

12. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the at least one display comprises one or more lighting emitting elements.

13. The gaming machine of claim 12, wherein the at least one display comprises an OLED or a PLED display.

14. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the gaming controller is further designed or configured to download the sequence of game play indicia from a remote device.

15. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein during the play of a single game of the wager-based game of chance on at least a first reel and while the first is rotating, the gaming controller is further designed or configured to 1) render a first image associated with a first indicium at a first location on the outer perimeter region of the first reel at first time, said first image visible through the one or more viewing window and 2) render a second image associated with a second indicium at a second time at the first location on the outer perimeter region of the first reel, said second image visible through the one or more viewing windows.

16. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the memory device further comprises at least two sequences of game play indicia where a number of indicium in the first sequence is different than a number of indicium in the second sequence.

17. The gaming machine of claim 16, wherein the gaming controller is further designed or configured to use either the first sequence or the second sequence to generate the outcome for the wager-based game of chance.

18. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the memory device further comprises a first data and/or first instructions for generating a first set of images for each indicium in the sequence of the game play indicia and a second data and/or second instructions for generating a second set of images for each indicium in the sequence of game play indicia.

19. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the gaming controller is further designed or configured to use either the first set of images or the second set of images to indicate the outcome to the wager-based game of chance.