Virtual gaming peripherals for a gaming machine

• US 8,628,413 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2005
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: LeMay, Steven G., Nelson, Dwayne R., Breckner, Robert E., Benbrahim, Jamal
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin Y
• Application Number:
  US11/285,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20060073869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,974 Days
• Field of Search: 463/31
• US Class Current: 463/31
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3248 involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

A disclosed gaming machine provides a plurality of virtual gaming peripherals that are each used to generate one or more gaming services. To provide a particular gaming service, each virtual gaming peripheral may comprise virtual gaming peripheral software that controls one or more gaming devices. Examples of gaming services provides by virtual gaming peripherals may include but are not limited to a player tracking service, a vending machine purchase, a lottery ticket purchase, an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) service, a hotel/casino service, a communication service, a registration service, a sports book service, an entertainment service, a prize redemption service and a locator service. A logic device, such as a master gaming controller on the gaming machine, may simultaneously activate a plurality of virtual gaming peripherals. Therefore, a gaming device may be shared by a plurality of active virtual gaming peripherals and additional logic may be provided to resolve conflicts that arise when two or more virtual gaming peripherals desire to control the same gamingdevice at the same time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

executing, on a gaming machine, a wager-based game, a first gaming process, a second gaming process, and a shared gaming device manager process, wherein the gaming machine includes one or more input mechanisms for receiving cash or an indicia of credit for a wager to play the wager-based game, one or more output mechanisms for outputting cash or an indicia of credit, and at least one shared gaming device, wherein;

the first gaming process, when executed, provides a first gaming service on the gaming machine by controlling the shared gaming device when the first gaming process has control priority, the first gaming service is not required to play the wager-based game and is not used as part of the wager-based game;

the second gaming process, when executed, provides a second gaming service on the gaming machine by controlling the shared gaming device when the second gaming process has control priority, the second gaming service is not required to play the wager-based game and is not used as part of the wager-based game; and

the shared gaming device manager process automatically determines, according to a control priority, which of the first gaming process and the second gaming process is permitted to control the shared gaming device;

receiving a first request from a player for the first gaming service;

receiving a second request from the player for the second gaming service;

automatically assigning control of the shared gaming device to a selected one of the gaming processes according to the control priority;

automatically preventing control of the shared gaming device by another of the gaming processes according to the control priority; and

providing a gaming service on the gaming machine, using the shared gaming device under control of the selected gaming process, wherein

the first gaming service or the second gaming service is selected from the group consisting of a player tracking service, a vending machine purchase, a lottery ticket purchase, an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) service, a hotel/casino service, a communication service, a registration service, a sports book service, a non-wager based entertainment service, an Internet enabled service, and a locator service;

the first gaming process or the second gaming process is selected from the group consisting of a virtual player tracking unit process, a virtual vending machine process, a virtual lottery machine process, a virtual ATM process, a virtual concierge process, a virtual video phone process, a virtual telephone process, a virtual casino kiosk process, a virtual prize redemption process, a virtual sports book process that uses at least a touch screen, a display screen and a ticket printer to provide a sports book wager so as to allow the player to make a wager on an event at the gaming machine, to monitor events, to receive results and to cash out a winning event ticket, a virtual entertainment center process and a virtual message center process; and

the shared gaming device is selected from the group consisting of a light panel, a bonus wheel, a sound projection device, a card reader, a ticket reader, an input panel, a touch screen, a display screen, a key pad, a camera, a finger print reader, a bill validator, a solenoid, a CD/DVD-drive, a removable media drive, a flash drive, a USB communication port, an infrared communication port, an Ethernet communication port, a printer, a bar-code reader, a biometric input device, a slot reel, a motor, a mass storage device, a communication device, a wireless communication interface, a coin hopper, a note dispenser, and a coin acceptor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first gaming service uses a first combination of gaming devices including the shared gaming device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second gaming service uses a second combination of gaming devices including the shared gaming device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first gaming process is one of the gaming processes used to generate the wager-based game.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the first gaming service is no longer using the shared gaming device and assigning control of the shared gaming device to the second gaming process.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically preventing step further comprises:

displaying a message indicating a prevented gaming service is unavailable.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the second gaming service can be provided without the shared gaming device and

providing the second gaming service using one or more gaming devices that do not include the shared gaming device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to assigning control of the shared gaming device to the first gaming process,

determining the first gaming service can be provided without the shared gaming device,

automatically preventing control of the shared gaming device by the first gaming process, and

automatically assigning control of the shared gaming device to the second gaming process.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing the first gaming service using one or more gaming devices that do not include the shared gaming device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while the first gaming process is assigned control of the shared gaming device, receiving a request from a third gaming process to use the shared gaming device;

preventing the third gaming process from using the shared device controlled by the first gaming process.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while the first gaming process is assigned control of the shared gaming device, receiving a request from a third gaming process to use the shared gaming device;

switching control of the shared gaming device from the first gaming process to the third gaming process according to the control priority.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the first request for the first gaming service,

determining the first gaming process has requested to use the shared gaming device;

assigning a first priority value to the first gaming process;

determining the second gaming process has requested to use the shared gaming device; and

assigning a second priority value to the second gaming process.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

comparing the first priority value to the second priority value to determine which of the first gaming process and the second gaming process is assigned control of the shared gaming device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the wager-based game is selected from the group consisting of a slot game, a keno game, a poker game, a pachinko game, a video black jack game, a bingo game, a baccarat game, a roulette game, a dice game and a card game.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second gaming process is one of the gaming processes used to generate the wager-based game.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, at a shared gaming device manager, a request from a first gaming process to use a shared gaming device to provide a first gaming service, wherein the shared gaming device manager process is executed on a gaming machine with a gaming operating system that activates and deactivates gaming processes, the gaming machine comprising one or more input mechanisms for receiving cash or an indicia of credit for a wager to play a wager-based game, one or more output mechanisms for outputting cash or an indicia of credit, and the shared gaming device;

automatically assigning control of the shared gaming device to the first gaming process; and

automatically preventing for a limited time, according to a control priority, a second gaming process configured to provide a second game service different from the first gaming process from controlling the shared gaming device, the second gaming process configured to provide a second game service, wherein;

the first gaming service or the second gaming service is selected from the group consisting of a player tracking service, a vending machine purchase, a lottery ticket purchase, an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) service, a hotel/casino service, a communication service, a registration service, a sports book service, a non-wager based entertainment service, an Internet enabled service, and a locator service;

the first gaming service and the second gaming service are not required to play the wager-based game and are not used as part of the wager-based game;

the first gaming process or the second gaming process is selected from the group consisting of a virtual player tracking unit process, a virtual vending machine process, a virtual lottery machine process, a virtual ATM process, a virtual concierge process, a virtual video phone process, a virtual telephone process, a virtual casino kiosk process, a virtual prize redemption process, a virtual sports book process that uses at least a touch screen, a display screen and a ticket printer to provide a sports book wager so as to allow the player to make a wager on an event at the gaming machine, to monitor events, to receive results and to cash out a winning event ticket, a virtual entertainment center process and a virtual message center process; and

the shared gaming device is selected from the group consisting of a light panel, a bonus wheel, a sound projection device, a card reader, a ticket reader, an input panel, a touch screen, a display screen, a key pad, a camera, a finger print reader, a bill validator, a solenoid, a CD/DVD-drive, a removable media drive, a flash drive, a USB communication port, an infrared communication port, an Ethernet communication port, a printer, a bar-code reader, a biometric input device, a slot reel, a motor, a mass storage device, a communication device, a wireless communication interface, a coin hopper, a note dispenser, and a coin acceptor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first gaming process is a virtual gaming peripheral process or a game play process.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one gaming process is a virtual gaming process, a game play process or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining the first gaming process is finished using the shared gaming device; and

assigning control of the shared gaming device to another gaming process different from the first gaming process.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of requests to use the shared gaming device from different gaming processes;

assigning a priority to each request in the control priority; and

assigning control of the shared gaming device to each gaming process in an order determined according to the control priority.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the priority assigned to each request is determined from a context in which the shared gaming device is to be used.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the priority assigned to a request changes as a function of time.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

generating the control priority as a list of prioritized gaming processes waiting to use the shared gaming device.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

assigning a first priority to the first gaming process;

while the shared gaming device is controlled by the first gaming process, receiving a second request to use the shared gaming device from a second gaming process;

assigning a second priority to the second gaming process that is higher than the first priority; and

switching control of the gaming device from the first gaming process to the second gaming process.