Selecting color in wagering game systems

• US 9,367,987 B1
• Filed: 04/26/2011
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Brunell, Edward G., Radek, Paul J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Milap
• Assistant Examiner(s): Henry, Thomas H
• Application Number:
  US13/094,560
• Time in Patent Office: 1,876 Days
• Field of Search: 463/30
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means

Abstract

This document describes techniques for selecting lighting colors in wagering game systems. In some embodiments, a wagering game machine comprising a game controller configured to determine a result for a wagering game, and control presentation of video content indicating the results for the wagering game. The game controller can also select, in response to the result, lighting content and one or more color pallets, wherein the lighting content defines choreographed lighting effects, and wherein the one or more color pallets define coloring for the lighting effects. The wagering game machine can also include a lighting engine configured to randomly select colors from the one or more color pallets, and control presentation of the lighting effects based on the lighting content and the randomly selected colors.

Claims

1. A method of operating a gaming system, the gaming system including and a gaming machine primarily dedicated to playing at least one casino wagering game, the gaming machine including an electronic display device and one or more electronic input devices, the method comprising:

detecting, via at least one of the one or more electronic input devices, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance;

determining a winning result for the casino wagering game in response to an input indicative of a wager covered by the credit balance;

selecting, via a media server, audio content and lighting content associated with the result;

creating, by the media server, a color matrix, wherein the creating the color matrix comprises,

determining, for each color in a first color pallet, a harmonious color in a second color pallet;

creating a first row in the color matrix, the first row including colors of the first color pallet;

creating a second row in the color matrix including colors of the second color pallet, wherein the first row and second row are aligned to form columns in the color matrix;

randomly selecting a column of the color matrix for use in presenting the lighting content;

randomly selecting colors from one of the columns of the color matrix; and

presenting indicia of the winning result, the lighting content, and the colors on one or more of the lighting devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the lighting content indicates one or more adjustments of the one or more lighting devices, wherein the adjustments include one or more of pivoting, panning, telescoping, and rotating.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio content includes indicia indicating color changes associated with the lighting content.

4. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media including instructions which, when executed on one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform operations for presenting a casino wagering game on a wagering game machine, the operations comprising:

detecting, via an electronic input device of a wagering game machine, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance for the wagering game machine;

determining a winning result for a casino wagering game in response to an input indicative of a wager covered by the credit balance;

determining audio content and lighting content associated with the event, wherein the lighting content indicates parameters for illuminating one or more lighting devices;

generating a color matrix including rows and columns, wherein each row includes colors from a color family, and wherein each column includes harmonious colors from the rows;

determining a winning result for the casino wagering game;

presenting indicia for the winning result, the audio content and the lighting content, wherein the presenting includes,

providing the audio content for presentation over audio speakers;

randomly selecting colors from one of the columns; and

illuminating the one or more lighting devices according to the lighting content and the randomly selected colors; and

displaying the indicia on a video display device.

5. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 4, wherein the illuminating the one or more lighting devices occurs in synchronization with indicia included in the audio content.

6. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 4, the operations further comprising:

determining video content associated with the winning result; and

presenting the video content the video display device.

7. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the illuminating the one or more lighting devices occurs in synchronization with indicia in the video content.

8. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 4, wherein the parameters indicate one or more of blink frequency, brightness level, and lighting device orientation.

9. A wagering game system comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer readable storage mediums having computer usable code program executable on the at least one processor, the computer usable program code including code to;

detect, via an electronic input device, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance for a wagering game machine;

determine a winning result for a casino wagering game in response to an input indicative of a wager covered by the credit balance;

generate a color matrix, wherein the color matrix includes a first row including colors of a first color family and a second row including colors of a second color family, and wherein the color matrix includes columns that include harmonious colors from the first color family and the second color family;

control presentation of video content indicating the winning result for the wagering game;

select, in response to the result, lighting content and one or more of the columns of the color matrix, wherein the lighting content defines choreographed lighting effects, and wherein the one or more columns of the color matrix define coloring for the lighting effects;

randomly select colors from the one or more columns of the color matrix; and

control presentation of the lighting effects in response to the winning result, the presentation of the lighting effects displaying the lighting content and the randomly selected colors.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, the computer usable program code further including code to:

color lights in the randomly selected colors; and

present music with the lighting effects.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, the computer usable program code further including code to:

notify other wagering game machines about the lighting content.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the lighting content is associated with a light show, and wherein the light show involves other wagering game machines connected to a network.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, the computer usable program code further including code to:

present audio content synchronized to the lighting content.

14. A computer-implemented method for presenting a media show in a wagering game network, the method comprising:

generating a color matrix, wherein the generating the color matrix comprises,

determining a first color pallet and a second color pallet, wherein the first color pallet includes colors of a first color family and the second color pallet includes colors of a second color family,

determining, for each color in the first color family, a harmonious color in the second color family,

creating a first row in the color matrix including the colors of the first color family and a second row in the color matrix including the colors of the second color family, wherein the first row and second row are aligned to form columns including, for each color in the first color family, the harmonious color in the second color family;

detecting, via at least one of the one or more electronic input devices, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance;

determining a result for the wagering game in response to an input indicative of a wager covered by the credit balance;

determining that the media show will be presented in concert with the result, wherein the media show includes randomized lighting colors and audio content;

selecting, at random, a first group of colors from the color pallets of the color matrix;

directing one or more lighting devices to present the first group of colors;

directing one or more audio speakers to present the audio content;

detecting, in the audio content, indicia instructing selection of another group of colors from the color pallets of the color matrix;

selecting, at random, a second group of colors from the color pallets of the color matrix; and

directing the one or more lighting devices to present the second group of colors.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the first group of colors was selected from a first column of the color matrix, and wherein the second group of colors was selected from a second column of the color matrix.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the lighting devices are associated with at least one wagering game machine.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the detecting indicia includes monitoring the audio content for one or more of rhythm changes, markers inserted by a technician, and key changes.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the directing the one or more lighting devices to present the first and second groups of colors comprises:

generating commands for the one or more lighting devices, wherein the commands identify ones of the lighting devices, and indicate at least one color from the first and second groups of colors; and

transmitting the commands to the ones of the lighting devices.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 further comprising:

presenting, on the one or more lighting devices, lighting effects in addition to the first and second groups of colors, wherein the lighting effects include one or more of blinking, fading-in, fading-out, increasing brightness, and decreasing brightness.

20. A method for presenting a media show in a wagering game system, the method comprising:

creating a color matrix in a memory device, wherein the color matrix includes a first row including colors of a first color family and a second row including colors of a second color family, and wherein the color matrix includes columns that include harmonious colors from the first color family and the second color family;

determining that the media show will be presented in response to a winning result of a wagering game presented on a wagering game machine, wherein the media show includes randomized lighting colors and audio content;

detecting, via at least one of the one or more electronic input devices, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance;

determining the winning result for the wagering game in response to an input indicative of a wager covered by the credit balance;

selecting, at random, colors from a first column of the color matrix in the memory device; and

directing, via communications over a network, one or more lighting devices to present, as part of the media show, the colors from the first column of the color matrix.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

directing, as part of the media show, one or more audio speakers to present the audio content;

detecting, in the audio content, indicia instructing selection of another columns of the color matrix;

selecting, at random, a second column of the color matrix; and

directing the one or more lighting devices to present, as part of the media show, colors from the second column of the color matrix.