Gaming terminal network with a message director

• US 8,414,397 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2003
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Block, Rory L., Blackburn, Christopher W., Jan, Chih-Hui, Simmermon, James P., Warkentin, Terry D.
• Primary Examiner(s): D'AGOSTINO, PAUL ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US10/629,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20040185936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,542 Days
• Field of Search: 463/42, 463/27, 463/25, 726/5, 365/189.05
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication

Abstract

A method and apparatus in a gaming network for transmitting event messages from gaming terminals to a central server and, consequently, routing each event message to an appropriate application. The system may include multiple gaming function specific servers with multiple applications on each server using a dedicated central server for message routing. In addition, this system can route secondary event messages generated by primary event messages. These secondary messages may be routed to other applications, other servers, or the gaming terminals. The system utilizes an association data structure in the central server to route messages without the need for embedded routing software code in each application, minimizing the need to rewrite software code that may result from any changes in gaming function or the applications that provide that functionality.

Claims

1. A method of communication in a gaming network having a central server linked to a plurality of gaming terminals, the method comprising:

receiving a primary event message in a routing queue of the central server from one of the plurality of gaming terminals;

identifying, using an association data structure, a first application queue associated with a first application configured to process the primary event message, the association data structure implemented using a relational database and storing an association of the primary event message to at least the first application queue; and

transmitting the received primary event message to the identified first application queue.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

retrieving the primary event message from the first application queue with the first application; and

processing the primary event message with the first application.

3. The method of claim 2, further including:

generating a secondary event message from the processing of the primary event message;

transmitting the secondary event message to the routing queue of the central sever;

identifying a second application queue associated with a second application configured to process the secondary event message using the association data structure, the association data structure storing an association of the secondary event message to the second application queue; and

transmitting the secondary event message to the identified second application queue.

4. The method of claim 2, further including executing the first application on a secondary server in communication with the central server.

5. The method of claim 4, further including:

generating a secondary event message from the processing of the primary event message;

transmitting the secondary event message to the routing queue of the central server;

identifying a second application queue associated with a second application configured to process the secondary event message using the association data structure, the association data structure storing an association of the secondary event message to the second application queue; and

transmitting the secondary event message to the second application queue.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the gaming terminal generates the primary event message.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising identifying, using the secondary event message, the gaming terminal that generated the primary event message.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first application queue associated with the first application configured to process the primary event message comprises:

determining an event type associated with the primary event message; and

determining, using the relational database, a queue identifier related to the event type, the queue identifier identifying the first application queue.

16. The method of claim 1, further including using a message oriented middleware to receive the primary event message in the routing queue of the central server, transmit the received primary event message to the identified first application queue, and retrieve the primary event message from the first application queue with the first application.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the message oriented middleware is configured to prioritize one or more primary event messages in the routing queue of the central server.

8. A gaming network comprising:

a gaming terminal for generating an event message; and

a central server in communication with the gaming terminal, the central server including;

a routing queue operable to receive a plurality of event messages including the event message for one or more applications,

a plurality of application queues, each application queue operable to receive one or more event messages of the plurality of event messages, each application queue associated with an application of the one or more applications to process the received one or more event messages in each respective application queue,

an association data structure, implemented using a relational database and operable to establish an association between the plurality of event messages and at least one application queue of the plurality of application queues,

wherein the central server is operable to receive the plurality of event messages in the routing queue, identify via the association data structure at least one application queue of the plurality of application queues corresponding to the received plurality of event messages and transmit the received plurality of event messages to the at least one application queue identified via the association data structure.

9. A method of communication in a gaming network having a central server linked to a plurality of gaming terminals, the method comprising:

receiving a primary event message in the central server from one of the plurality of gaming terminals, the central server including an association data structure implemented using a relational database, the association data structure associating the primary event message with at least one application configured to process the primary event message;

identifying, using the association data structure, at least one application to process the primary event message; and

transmitting the received primary event message to the identified at least one application for processing.

10. A method of communication in a gaming network having a central server linked to a plurality of gaming terminals, the method comprising:

receiving a primary event message in a routing queue of the central server from one of the plurality of gaming terminals;

identifying, using an association data structure, a first application queue associated with a first application configured to process the primary event message, the association data structure implemented using a relational database and storing an association of the primary event message to the first application queue;

identifying a second application queue associated with a second application configured to process the primary event message using the association data structure, the association data structure storing the association of the primary event message to the second application queue; and

transmitting the received primary event message to the identified first and second application queues.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting the received primary event message to the identified first and second application queues includes using message queuing, the message queuing including a store-and-forward mechanism.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the message queuing prioritizes messages received in the first and second application queues, the prioritization configured to guarantee adequate response time for a critical application at the expense of a less important application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the primary event message is formatted using a standardized interface language.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the standardized interface language includes an extensible markup language (XML).

18. A method of communication in a gaming network having a central server linked to a plurality of gaming terminals, the method comprising:

receiving a primary event message in a routing queue of the central server from one of the plurality of gaming terminals;

identifying, using an association data structure, a first application queue associated with a first application configured to process the primary event message, the association data structure implemented using a relational database and storing an association of the primary event message to at least the first application queue;

transmitting the received primary event message to the identified first application queue;

retrieving the primary event message from the first application queue with the first application;

processing the primary event message with the first application;

identifying a second application queue associated with a second application configured to process the primary event message using the association data structure, the association data structure storing an association of the primary event message to the second application queue; and

routing the primary event message to the second application queue.