Dynamic configuration of a gaming system

• US 8,359,477 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Gatto, Jean-Marie, Brunet de Courssou, Thierry
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): Debnath, Suman
• Application Number:
  US11/090,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20050172336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,860 Days
• Field of Search: 713/181, 713/189, 726 1- 10, 463 38- 45
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/532 using secure communication, e.g. by encryption, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5586 for enforcing rights or rules, e.g. to prevent foul play
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2109 Game systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/006 involving public key infrastructure [PKI] trust models network architecture or network communication protocol for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A method to enable dynamic configuration of gaming terminals installed in one or a plurality of gaming premises whereby certified games, certified data files and certified support software components are activated in accordance with a predetermined schedule or automatically in response to the observed gaming activity. The method may include allocating an individual PKI certificate to each executable software component and each of its versions, binding the PKI certificate to the executable software, associating a distinctive policy for each certificate and then enforcing the software execution policies in accordance with the desired authorized game configuration and schedule. The PKI certificate'"'"'s “Subject Name” (or “Issued to” field or “CommonName” field) may be a concatenation of the software component identification, its version number and optionally other identification characters. The method applies equally to other network connected gaming subsystems. The method enables a fine-grained and secure control of the authorized software components and thus the flexibility to securely configure the gaming system in accordance with a schedule or in a close-loop fashion in order to meet business objectives. In addition, a method to enable the certification authority to bind the certificates to the tested code is described.

Claims

1. A method for a network connected gaming system to enable selective availability of games on gaming terminals of the gaming system, each of the gaming terminals carrying out the steps of:

installing a plurality of game software on selected gaming terminals;

enforcing at least one software restriction policy to determine whether each of the installed plurality of game software is authorized to be executed and denying execution to any of the installed plurality of game software determined by the enforced at least one software restriction policy to be non-authorized;

choosing a selected set of the authorized installed game software to offer to players of the selected gaming terminals;

displaying, on the selected gaming terminals, a menu of the set of authorized game software for selection by the player;

monitoring the game activity of the players on the selected gaming terminals;

checking for a change in the at least one software restriction policy and enforcing at least any changed software restriction policy;

modifying the selected set of the installed game software to offer to players of the selected gaming terminals based upon an outcome of the monitoring step and the enforcement of any changed software restriction policy;

displaying, on the selected gaming terminals, a modified menu of the authorized modified set of game software for selection by the player.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the enforcing, monitoring and checking steps are executed in a close-loop fashion such as to optimize player game activity in real-time.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of downloading at least one game software to a selected set of the gaming terminals.

4. A method for a network connected gaming system to enable selective availability of games on PC based gaming terminals coupled to the gaming system, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting game software to be made available to players on selected ones of the gaming terminals;

terminating all game software on at least one of the selected gaming terminals to transform each of the at least one selected gaming terminals into a generic PC communicating in the network connected gaming system;

downloading the selected game software to the generic PCs;

verifying, by each of the generic PCs, a trustworthiness of the downloaded selected game software by enforcing at least one software restriction policy and only authorizing execution of those of the downloaded selected game software that are determined by the at least one software restriction policy to be authorized,

checking for a change in the at least one software restriction policy and enforcing at least any changed software restriction policy;

modifying the selected set of the installed game software to offer to players of the selected gaming terminals based upon an outcome of checking for a change in the at least one software restriction policy and enforcing of the changed software restriction policy; and

enabling execution, by each of the generic PCs, only those of the downloaded selected game software that are determined by the enforced at least one software restriction policy to be authorized, and

starting an execution of game software to transform the generic PCs back into gaming terminals.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of displaying an “

out-of-service”

message or equivalent message to a player while the at least one selected gaming terminal is transformed into a generic PC.

6. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of displaying a list of authorized game software for selection by the player.

7. A method according to claim 4, wherein the selected game software is authorized by a regulatory authority.

8. A method according to claim 4, wherein the PC based gaming terminals run a version of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

9. A method according to claim 4, wherein the step of downloading the selected game software uses the Software Installation Policy (SIP) feature of the Windows operating system.

10. A method according to claim 4, wherein the step of downloading the selected game software uses the Microsoft SMS Systems Management Server.

11. A method for a network connected gaming system to enable selective availability of games on PC based gaming terminals coupled to the gaming system, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting game software to be made available to players on selected ones of the gaming terminals;

terminating all gaming software on the selected gaming terminals to transform each selected gaming terminal into a generic PC communicating in the network connected gaming system;

booting the generic PCs;

starting an operating system on the generic PCs;

downloading via the network the selected game software to the generic PCs;

verifying, by each of the generic PCs, a trustworthiness of the downloaded selected game software by enforcing at least one software restriction policy and only authorizing execution of those of the downloaded selected game software that are determined by the at least one software restriction policy to be authorized, and

enabling execution, by each of the generic PCs, only those of the downloaded selected game software that are determined by the enforced at least one software restriction policy to be authorized,

checking for a change in the at least one software restriction policy and enforcing at least any changed software restriction policy;

modifying the selected set of the installed game software to offer to players of the selected gaming terminals based upon an outcome of checking for a change in the at least one software restriction policy and enforcing of the changed software restriction policy; and

starting an execution of game software to transform the generic PCs back into gaming terminals.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of displaying an “

out-of-service”

message or equivalent message to the player while the selected gaming terminals are transformed into generic PCs.

13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of displaying a list of software for selection by the player.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the game software is authorized by a regulatory authority.

15. A method according to claim 11, wherein the booting includes at least one of cold-booting, hot-booting and power-on booting.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein PC based gaming terminals are configured to run a version of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

17. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of downloading game software uses the Software Installation Policy feature of the Windows operating system.

18. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of downloading the selected game software uses the Microsoft SMS Systems Management Server.