MULTIMEDIA EMULATION OF PHYSICAL REEL HARDWARE IN PROCESSOR-BASED GAMING MACHINES

• US 20080113749A1
• Filed: 09/20/2007
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Vetter, Kay D., Hedrick, Joseph Randy, Mayne, Nicholas B., Beadell, John Leagh, Williams, David C., Larsen, Kurt M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,360,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/20
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

Gaming machines, systems and methods for providing more realistic emulations of rotating reels are disclosed. Gaming machines include an exterior housing, master gaming controller, display device, speakers and virtual reels. A reel spin timer can be adapted to vary the spin times of the simulated rotating reels from one game play to another, and a reel sound generator can be adapted to provide reel sounds to one or more speakers with respect to the simulated rotating reels. Provided reel sounds can also vary from one game play to another, and both reel spin times and reel sounds can be selected randomly from stored values or files. Stored values or files can include samplings from actual physical reels. A remote host can provide downloadable reel spin times and reel sounds to gaming machines within an associated gaming system.

Claims

1. A processor-based gaming machine adapted for accepting a wager, playing a reel-type game based on the wager and granting a payout based on the result of the wager-based reel-type game, comprising:

an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein;

a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components and adapted to execute or control one or more aspects of said wager-based reel-type game;

a display device in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to present a plurality of simulated rotating reels, said plurality of simulated rotating reels including a plurality of reel symbols distributed on a plurality of reel stops thereupon;

one or more speakers in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to present sounds with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels;

a reel spin timer in communication with at least one of said master gaming controller and said display device, wherein said reel spin timer is adapted to vary the spin times of said plurality of simulated rotating reels from one game play to another of reel-type games on said processor-based gaming machine; and

a reel sound generator in communication with at least one of said master gaming controller and said one or more speakers, wherein said reel sound generator is adapted to provide sounds to said one or more speakers with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels, said provided sounds varying from one game play to another of reel-type games on said processor-based gaming machine.

2. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said display device comprises a multi-layer display having a plurality of display screens positioned front to back with respect to each other.

3. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said one or more speakers comprises a plurality of dedicated reel speakers located in close proximity to the display of said plurality of simulated rotating reels.

4. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of dedicated reel speakers corresponds to one simulated rotating reel.

5. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 3, wherein said plurality of dedicated reel speakers are collectively adapted to present stereophonic sounds with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels.

6. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of dedicated reel speakers and each of said simulated rotating reels correspond to each other on a one-to-one basis.

7. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said reel spin timer is adapted to vary said spin times from one game play to another based upon random selections from a plurality of acceptable spin times.

8. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 7, wherein said plurality of acceptable spin times are based upon sampling actual physical reels from a mechanical or electromechanical reel-type gaming machine.

9. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, wherein said reel sound generator is adapted to vary said provided sounds from one game play to another based upon random selections from one or more stored sound files.

10. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 9, wherein said one or more stored sound files are based upon sampling actual physical reels from a mechanical or electromechanical reel-type gaming machine.

11. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, further including:

a storage device in communication with said reel spin timer, said storage device adapted to store a plurality of files with respect to reel spin times.

12. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, further including:

a storage device in communication with said reel sound generator, said storage device adapted to store a plurality of files with respect to reel sounds.

13. The processor-based gaming machine of claim 1, further including:

a network interface coupling said gaming machine to one or more remotely located networked components, said network interface adapted to facilitate the downloading of reel spin times, reel sounds, or both to said gaming machine.

14. A method of presenting simulated reels on a processor-based gaming machine, comprising:

displaying on a display of said processor-based gaming machine a plurality of simulated reels in a static, non-rotating position;

accepting a monetary value wager from said player;

accepting a game-related input from said player;

initiating the play of a wager-based game as a result of said game-related input;

determining reel spin times for each of said plurality of simulated reels, said reel spin times varying from one game play to another of reel-type games on said processor-based gaming machine; and

presenting on said display said plurality of simulated reels in rotational motion, wherein said presentation is based at least in part on the determined reel spin times for each of said plurality of simulated reels.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

generating reel sounds for each of said plurality of simulated reels, said reel sounds varying from one game play to another of reel-type games on said processor-based gaming machine; and

presenting said generated reel sounds on one or more speakers of said processor-based gaming machine.

16. A wager-based gaming system, comprising:

a plurality of processor-based gaming machines adapted for accepting a wager, playing a game based on the wager and granting a payout based on the result of the game, each of said plurality of processor-based gaming machines including;

an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein,

a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components and adapted to execute or control one or more aspects of said wager-based reel-type game, and

a display device in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to present a plurality of simulated rotating reels;

a remote host in communication with said plurality of processor-based gaming machines, said remote host being adapted to download reel spin times, reel sounds, or both to one or more of said plurality of processor-based gaming machines; and

at least one reel spin timer in communication with at least one of said remote host and said plurality of processor-based gaming machines, wherein said at least one reel spin timer is adapted to vary the spin times of said plurality of simulated rotating reels from one game play to another of reel-type games on one or more of said processor-based gaming machines.

17. The wager-based gaming system of claim 16, wherein said at least one reel spin timer is located at said remote host.

18. The wager-based gaming system of claim 16, further including:

at least one reel sound generator in communication with at least one of said remote host and said plurality of processor-based gaming machines, wherein said at least one reel sound generator is adapted to provide sounds to one or more speakers with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels, said provided sounds varying from one game play to another of reel-type games on one or more of said processor-based gaming machines.

19. The wager-based gaming system of claim 18, wherein said at least one reel sound generator is located at said remote host.

20. A wager-based gaming machine, comprising:

an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein;

a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components and adapted to execute or control one or more aspects of a wager-based reel-type game;

a display device adapted to present a plurality of simulated rotating reels; and

a reel spin timer in communication with at least one of said master gaming controller and said display device, said reel spin timer being adapted to vary the spin times of said plurality of simulated rotating reels from one game play to another of reel-type games on said wager-based gaming machine.

21. The wager-based gaming machine of claim 20, wherein said display device comprises a multi-layer display having a plurality of display screens positioned front to back with respect to each other.

22. A wager-based gaming machine, comprising:

an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein;

a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components and adapted to execute or control one or more aspects of a wager-based reel-type game;

a display device adapted to present a plurality of simulated rotating reels;

one or more speakers in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to present sounds with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels; and

a reel sound generator in communication with at least one of said master gaming controller and said one or more speakers, said reel sound generator being adapted to provide sounds to said one or more speakers with respect to said plurality of simulated rotating reels, said provided sounds varying from one game play to another of reel-type games on said wager-based gaming machine.

23. The wager-based gaming machine of claim 22, wherein said one or more speakers comprises a plurality of dedicated reel speakers located in close proximity to the display of said plurality of simulated rotating reels.

24. The wager-based gaming machine of claim 22, wherein at least one of said one or more speakers is adapted to provide haptic feedback with respect to the presentation of said plurality of simulated rotating reels.

25. The wager-based gaming machine of claim 24, wherein at least one of said speakers adapted to provide haptic feedback comprises a subwoofer.