Computerized gaming system, method and apparatus

• US 7,988,559 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2001
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Jackson, Mark D., Martinek, Michael G., Brower, Donald A., DeJournett, John L., Yoseloff, Mark L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bumgarner; Melba
• Assistant Examiner(s): Leiva; Frank M
• Application Number:
  US10/182,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20030224858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,799 Days
• Field of Search: 463 16- 20, 463/43, 463 40- 41, 463/42, 463/25, 463/29, 380/251, 380/258
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof

Abstract

The present invention in various embodiments provides a computerized wagering game method and apparatus that features an operating system kernel, a system handler application that loads and executes gaming program shared objects and features nonvolatile storage that facilitates sharing of information between gaming program objects. The system handler of some embodiments further provides an API library of functions callable from the gaming program objects, and facilitates the use of callback functions on change of data stored in nonvolatile storage. The nonvolatile storage also provides a nonvolatile record of the state of the computerized wagering game, providing protection against loss of the game state due to power loss. The system handler application in various embodiments includes a plurality of device handlers, providing an interface to selected hardware and the ability to monitor hardware-related events.

Claims

1. A computerized wagering game apparatus for converting a gaming machine to operate on a universal gaming system, the apparatus comprising:

a computerized game controller having a processor and a memory;

a game controller operable to control a first wager-based game played on the gaming machine;

a user interface comprising one or more game devices;

a wiring harness for connecting the game controller to the user interface; and

a proprietary operating system comprising software that is written for a specific gaming machine hardware configuration and a specific game installed on the gaming machine;

to

remove the proprietary operating system from the gaming machine including the game controller operable to execute the proprietary operating system and to control the first wager game played on the gaming machine;

install a universal gaming system operable to control a second wager-based game on the gaming machine via the user interface, the universal gaming system including a game program layer, an open operating system, a universal controller for running the game program layer on the open operating system and a gaming machine specific input/output interface for providing a communication path between the wiring harness and the universal controller, said gaming machine specific input/output interface comprising a first interface for coupling to the wiring harness and a second interface for coupling to the universal controller wherein the universal controller is designed for communication compatibility with a plurality of different types of gaming machines via a particular gaming machine specific input/output interface associated with each of the different types of gaming machine and wherein the gaming machine is a first type of gaming machine in the plurality of different types of gaming machine;

provide a system handler application providing functional interfaces between the universal gaming system and the one or more game devices via the wiring harness wherein the functional interfaces include a resource manager for mapping input/output lines associated with the wiring harness to resources of the open operating system;

install a game specific program in the game program layer configured to operate with the open operating system, the gaming specific program having gaming program shared objects which are individually loaded and which call common functions, the system handler application interfacing the gaming program shared objects to game data for sharing the game data between at least two of the gaming program shared objects; and

after installing the game specific program, configure the system handler application to include one or more device handlers for interfacing with the one or more game devices, wherein at least one of the device handlers is configured to act as a protocol manager to provide bidirectional communication between the one or more game devices and the open operating system, the one or more device handlers further configured to do the following;

receive first information from the one or more game devices in accordance with a gaming device specific protocol;

convert the first information to a common open operating system protocol usable by the open operating system;

provide the first information to the open operating system in accordance with the common open operating system protocol;

receive second information from the open operating system in accordance with the common open operating system protocol;

convert the second information to the gaming device specific protocol; and

send the second information to the one or more game devices in accordance with the gaming device specific protocol.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more device handlers are selected from the group A consisting of a total input/output device handler, a sound device handler, a serial device handler, a graphics device handler, a memory manager device handler, an NVRAM device handler, a protocols device handler, a resource manager device handler, and a network device handler.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to define the open operating system to include an operating system kernel that executes the system handler application.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gaming program shared objects are specific to the type of game played on the universal gaming system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to configure the game program layer to operate the game as a slot machine.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

wherein the processor is further configured to configure the open operating system to include a resource manager configured to map game specific resources.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to convert the game to a cashless gaming system including defining the open operating system to include a system application handler, wherein the functional interface between the gaming system and the game devices is accomplished via the system application handler, and configure the system handler application to include one or more device handlers configured to interface with the game devices and to install a card reader device handler;

and install a card reader in communication with the card reader device handler.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to change the type of game played on the universal gaming system by changing the gaming program shared objects.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to define the slot machine to be a mechanical reel-based slot machine.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to parse a configuration file, map operating system resources based on the configuration file, and store the resource map in memory.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to configure the system handler application to include a ticket printer device handler;

and to install a ticket printer in communication with the ticket printer device handler.

12. The method apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to configure the game program layer to include a cashless gaming feature.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to map input/output lines to system resources.