Universal game server

• US 8,920,242 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2005
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet de Courssou, Thierry, Beney, Pierre-Jean
• Primary Examiner(s): Frisby, Kesha
• Application Number:
  US11/131,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20050209007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,515 Days
• Field of Search: 463/42
• 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
• 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 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes

Abstract

A trusted disaster tolerant system architecture supporting concurrently a number of distributed online gaming operations such as slip-scan lottery, video lottery, fixed odd betting terminals, Internet gaming, and interactive TV. A personality front end resolves the peculiarities of the various client systems before submitting the relevant transactional payload to a trusted transactional cache. A universal game random generator may be used either at the central game server or at each individual gaming machine, thus conferring a significant trust to the entire estate of gaming machines fitted with the game random generator. An auditable trusted log allows to rapidly resolve any dispute. The instant-draw model and the differed-draw model are supported. The system may advantageously be used in casino environments.

Claims

1. An online gaming system, comprising:

a plurality of gaming machines, each of the plurality of gaming machines being configured to generate and send an inbound transaction packet that includes an inbound transaction payload across at least one of a plurality of communication networks according to one of a plurality of communication protocols, wherein the inbound transaction payload includes a gaming machine ID, a transaction GUID, a game ID, and a game bet;

at least one central server separate from the plurality of gaming machines and coupled to the plurality of communication networks, the at least one central server including;

at least one transaction engine configured to process inbound transaction payloads conforming to a generic format to generate corresponding outbound transaction payloads;

a personality front end, the personality front end being coupled to the at least one transaction engine and configured to

interface with each of the plurality of communication networks to receive inbound transaction packets from the plurality of gaming machines,

to extract inbound transaction payloads from the received inbound transaction packets,

to transcode the extracted inbound transaction payloads such that they conform to the generic format,

to submit the extracted and generically formatted inbound payloads to the at least one transaction engine,

to generate outbound transaction packets that include the corresponding outbound transaction payloads and

to send the generated outbound transaction packets to a selected at least one of the plurality of gaming machines according to a selected at least one of the plurality of communication protocols.

2. The online gaming system according to claim 1, wherein the inbound transaction payload further comprises at least one of a user/player ID, a terminal originating/return address, and an amount wagered.

3. The online gaming system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication networks include at least one of dial-up, X25, Frame Relay, leased line, Internet and VPN.

4. The online gaming system according to claim 1, wherein said one of the plurality of communication protocols is selected from one of proprietary, X25, TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP, XML and SOAP protocols.

5. The online gaming system according to claim 1, wherein the inbound transaction payload further includes at least one of:

a user/player ID, a terminal originating/return address, or an amount wagered.

6. The online gaming system according to claim 1, wherein the outbound transaction payload further includes a transaction GUID and an amount won.

7. A method of processing inbound transaction payloads from a plurality of gaming machines, each of the plurality of gaming machines being configured to generate and send an inbound transaction packet that includes an inbound transaction payload across at least one of a plurality of communication networks according to one of a plurality of communication protocols, the method comprising the steps of:

configuring at least one central server, that is separate from the plurality of gaming machines and that is coupled to the plurality of communication networks, to include at least one transaction engine configured for processing inbound transaction payloads conforming to a generic format to generate corresponding outbound transaction payloads, and to include a personality front end that is coupled to the at least one transaction engine, the personality front end carrying out steps of;

interfacing with each of the plurality of communication networks to receive inbound transaction packets from the plurality of gaming machines;

extracting inbound transaction payloads from the received inbound transaction packets, wherein the inbound transaction a loads include a gaming machine ID, a transaction GUID, a game ID, and a game bet;

transcoding the extracted inbound transaction payloads to conform to the generic format;

submitting the extracted and generically formatted inbound payloads to the at least one transaction engine;

generating outbound transaction packets that include the corresponding outbound transaction payloads, and

sending the generated outbound transaction packets to a selected at least one of the plurality of gaming machines according to a selected at least one of the plurality of communication protocols.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the inbound transaction payloads further comprise at least one of a user/player ID, a terminal originating/return address, and an amount wagered.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of communication networks include at least one of dial-up, X25, Frame Relay, leased line, Internet and VPN.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said one of the plurality of communication protocols is selected from one of proprietary, X25, TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP, XML and SOAP protocols.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the inbound transaction payload further includes at least one of:

a user/player ID, a terminal originating/return address, or an amount wagered.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the outbound transaction payload further includes a transaction GUID and an amount won.