COMMUNICATING IN-CASINO EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20110205068A1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Lewis, Jason R. III, Huynh, Lee
• Granted Patent: US 8,622,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters

Abstract

A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include determining emergency information that indicates a potential threat to the well being of one or more individuals (e.g., patrons, staff, etc.) within a casino. The operations can also include determining and presenting emergency content, on wagering game machines within the casino, which notifies the one or more individuals of the threat. The operations can also include determining individual specific emergency information that relates specifically to the one or more individuals, and providing the individual specific emergency information to the one or more individuals.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring casino safety, computer-implmented method comprising:

determining, based on input from one or more casino emergency monitoring devices, emergency information that indicates a safety threat within a casino;

determining, based on the emergency information, emergency content for use in notifying one or more individuals about the safety threat;

presenting the emergency content on one or more wagering game machines within the casino;

determining individual specific emergency information that relates specifically to the one or more individuals; and

providing the individual specific emergency information to the one or more individuals.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a degree of importance for the emergency information; and

determining instructions to present the emergency content during a wagering game session with a degree of intrusiveness that correlates to the degree of importance for the emergency information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the emergency information that indicates a safety threat to one or more individuals within the casino comprises:

determining a biometric reading of the one or more individuals within the casino; and

determining a disturbance in the biometric reading that indicates bodily distress.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining a biometric reading comprises monitoring the one or more individuals for one or more of physical symptoms of illness, indications of bodily injury, audible sounds of distress, dramatic change in pulse, dramatic change in blood pressure, change in body temperature, pained facial expressions, erratic body movements, belabored breathing, fainting, and vocal sounds of alarm.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the emergency content on the one or more wagering game machines comprises displaying a map on the one or more wagering game machines showing an exit path in relation to representations of one or more casino boundaries.

6. One or more machine-readable media having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a set of one or more processors causes the set of one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining one or more indications of distress of one or more distressed individuals in a casino;

determining identifying information for one or more distressed individuals that exhibit the one or more indications of distress;

determining emergency care instructions for the one or more distressed individuals;

determining a location of one or more nearby persons in the casino capable of assisting the one or more distressed individuals; and

presenting notifications on casino devices that are close to the one or more nearby persons to notify the one or more nearby persons of the one or more distressed individuals.

7. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the notifications include one or more of the identifying information for the one or more distressed individuals, the one or more indications of distress, and the emergency care instructions.

8. The machine-readable media of claim 6, said operations further comprising:

determining emergency care qualifications for the one or more nearby persons, wherein the emergency care qualifications indicate that the one or more nearby persons are capable of assisting the one or more distressed individuals; and

notifying the one or more nearby persons based on their emergency care qualifications.

9. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein said operation of presenting notifications on the casino devices that are close to the one or more nearby persons further comprises:

presenting a map on a wagering game machine display showing a location of the one or more distressed individuals in relation to the location of the one or more nearby persons.

10. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein said operation of determining a location of the one or more nearby persons capable of assisting the one or more distressed individuals further comprises:

determining the location of one or more individuals associated with the one or more distressed individuals.

11. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein said operation of determining the one or more indications of distress of the one or more distressed individuals comprises determining one or more of erratic body movements, unnatural biometrics, unusual facial expressions, group agitation, group stillness, sounds of alarm or distress, and behaviors of the individual that indicate bodily distress.

12. The machine-readable media of claim 6, said operations further comprising:

determining input from the one or more distressed individuals regarding the one or more indications of distress; and

determining the emergency care instructions for the one or more distressed individuals based on the input.

13. A system, comprising:

an emergency coordination server including,

an emergency monitoring unit configured to determine emergency information that indicates an emergency situation in a casino, wherein the emergency situation affects one or more individuals within the casino,

an identification unit configured to retrieve personal information about the one or more individuals within the casino, and

a monitoring processor configured to determine emergency instructions to present to the one or more individuals to notify the one or more individuals of the emergency situation, wherein the emergency instructions relate to the emergency information and the personal information; and

a wagering game machine comprising;

an emergency content controller configured to present the emergency instructions on one or more devices associated with the one or more individuals.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the wagering game machine further comprises:

a location tracking unit configured to

determine a location of the one or more individuals within the casino, and

present a map indicating the location of the one or more individuals and the emergency instructions.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the emergency coordination server further comprises,

a mapping module configured to generate the map indicating the location of the one or more individuals, and

provide the map to the wagering game machine.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the wagering game machine further comprises:

a biometric device controller configured to

determine biometric data indicating distress experienced by the one or more individuals during the emergency situation, and

provide the biometric data to the monitoring processor to determine the emergency instructions.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the wagering game machine further comprises a communication unit configured to provide two-way communications between the one or more individuals within the casino.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the emergency monitoring unit is configured to determine information from one or more of a fire system, an alarm system, physical facility monitoring equipment, an emergency services system, a security enforcement system, emergency response system, a custodial services system, an engineering services system, a weather services system, a terrorist warning services system, a law enforcement services system, and an amber alert services system.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a monitoring unit configured to

determine an emergency notification for a casino,

determine an identity of a casino patron using a mobile wagering game machine,

present a map on a display of the mobile wagering game machine, wherein the map displays representations of one or more casino boundaries,

present a location of the casino patron on a map in relation to the one or more representations of the one or more casino boundaries on the map,

present the location of one or more additional patrons on the map in relation to one or more of the location of the one or more representations of the one or more casino boundaries and the location of the casino patron, and

present an emergency meeting location for the casino patron and the one or more additional patrons.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring unit is further configured to

determine movement of one or more tracking devices associated with one or more of the mobile wagering game machine, the casino patron, and the one or more additional patrons, and

present the movement on the map.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the monitoring unit is further configured to present an escape route on the map for the one or more individuals based on one or more of individual identity, individual preferences, assigned meeting places for a group, individual medical history, account information, and individual biometric data.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring unit is configured to determine the emergency meeting location for the associated individuals by determining one or more of overall patron population in the casino, distribution of associated group members, physical abilities of patrons, age of patrons, relationships between patrons, and detected health issues of patrons.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

means for determining emergency information that indicates one or more of a potential harm and a safety hazard to one or more individuals on a casino floor;

means for determining a degree of severity for the emergency information;

means for determining, based on the degree of severity, emergency content to present to the one or more individuals during a wagering game session;

means for determining a degree of presentation intrusiveness that correlates to the degree of severity for the emergency information; and

means for presenting the emergency content, according to the degree of presentation intrusiveness, on a wagering game machine that hosts the wagering game session.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for determining a degree of presentation intrusiveness comprises

means for determining that the degree of presentation intrusiveness correlates to one or more of an amount of a wagering game display to occupy with the emergency content, a degree of repetitiveness for presenting the emergency content, and level of audio volume for presenting the emergency content, and a degree of visual effect for presenting the emergency content.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for determining the emergency information comprises

means for determining biometric data of the one or more individuals that indicate possible signs of bodily distress experienced by the one or more individuals.