System and method of pausing and restarting wagering games

• US 20080090650A1
• Filed: 12/05/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elia Tarantino
• Original Assignee: Elia Tarantino
• Inventors: Tarantino, Elia
• Granted Patent: US 7,857,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• 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 17/3272 Games involving multiple players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3286 Type of games

Abstract

A system and method permit pausing/saving a game and restarting/restoring a game. In one embodiment, a player may pause a wagering game and then restart or restore that game at a later time and at the same or a different gaming machine. Game state information may be stored on a machine readable medium and then later read from that medium. Alternatively, game state information may be stored remotely from a gaming machine, such as at a remote server. The remotely stored information may be identified by information associated with a machine readable medium issued to the player or other information provided by the player.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method of permitting a player to pause an in-progress wagering game presented on a first gaming machine at a first time and resume said game at a later time comprising the steps of:

generating game state information corresponding to a state of said game being presented on said first gaming machine;

storing said generated game state information on a machine-readable medium;

reading said game state information from said machine-readable medium at a gaming machine at said later time; and

utilizing said game state information to restart said game.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said game state information comprises information comprising the number of credits belonging to said player.

4. The method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said medium is a removable medium issued to said player.

5. The method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said gaming machine at which said game state information is read at a later time is different than said first gaming machine.

6. The method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said medium comprises a player card.

7. A method of pausing a game presented on a first gaming machine at a first time and resuming said game at a later time comprising the steps of:

pausing said game at a first condition;

generating game state information regarding said first condition of said game;

storing said generated game state information on a storage medium;

associating identifying information with said generated game state information;

utilizing said identifying information to identify said generated game state information; and

resuming said game from said first condition at a gaming machine based on said generated game state information.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said generated game state information comprises information comprising the number of credits belonging to said player.

9. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said identifying information is stored on a removable medium remote from said storage medium.

10. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said identifying information comprises information identifying said player.

11. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said game is resumed at a second gaming machine different from said first gaming machine.

12. A method of pausing an in-progress wagering game at a first time and restarting said game at a second time comprising:

pausing said game at a first time in a first condition;

generating game state information identifying said game at said first condition;

storing said game state information at a remote computing device;

storing information identifying said remotely stored game state information on a machine-readable medium;

reading said identifying information from said machine-readable medium at a gaming machine at a later time;

using said identifying information to obtain said remotely stored game state information;

utilizing said obtained game state information to restart said game from said first condition.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12 wherein first condition is between a start and end of said game.

14. The method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said game state information comprises information regarding a number of credits belonging to said player.

15. The method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said game state information comprises information regarding information displayed on a display to said player.

16. The method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said machine-readable medium comprises a player tracking card.

17. The method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said machine-readable medium comprises a printed ticket.

18. The method in accordance with claim 12 further comprising the step of accepting input from said player to pause said game.