On-the-fly encryption on a gaming machine

• US 8,705,739 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Campbell, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nirav B
• Application Number:
  US12/065,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20090220078A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,807 Days
• Field of Search: 380/251, 380/259, 380200-202, 713/193, 713/179, 713/180, 713/181, 713/165, 713/167, 713/176, 463/29, 463 40- 42, 463/25, 726 26- 30
• US Class Current: 380/251
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/12 Protecting executable software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2109 Game systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods for on-the-fly encryption of data storage on a computerized wagering gaming machine are described herein. In some embodiments, a method includes accessing, using an on-the-fly encryption operation, data from a nonvolatile data storage in a computerized wagering gaming machine.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of accelerated initialization of a computerized wagering game machine configured to conduct a wagering game, the game machine including one or more processors, nonvolatile memory storage, and one or more memory storage devices storing a plurality of gaming components, the method comprising:

authenticating, via at least one of the one or more processors, initialization data received into the nonvolatile memory storage;

in response to successfully authenticating the initialization data and wherein each of the plurality of gaming components is associated with a distinct designated authentication percentage, authenticating, via at least one of the one or more processors, the distinct, designated authentication percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components, wherein at least one of the designated authentication percentages is less than 100 percent; and

in response to successfully authenticating the designated authentication percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components and prior to authenticating any remaining percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components, making the wagering game machine operable to conduct the wagering game.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to an unsuccessful authentication of the designated authentication percentage of one or more gaming components of the plurality of gaming components, making the wagering game machine inoperable to conduct the wagering game.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, after making the wagering game operable, authenticating a remaining percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components while conducting the wagering game on the wagering game machine.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the designated authentication percentages of at least two gaming components of the plurality of gaming components are different from each other.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the designated authentication percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components depends on the corresponding gaming component.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the designated authentication percentages of all of the gaming components of the plurality of gaming components are less than 100 percent.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, after making the wagering game machine operable, authenticating any remaining unauthenticated gaming components stored on the wagering game machine while conducting the wagering game on the wagering game machine.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaming components includes at least one of instructions for conducting the wagering game and license-enforcement data related to one or more gaming components.

9. A computerized wagering game machine configured to conduct a wagering game, the wagering game machine comprising:

nonvolatile memory storage;

one or more processors; and

one or more memory storage devices storing a plurality of gaming components, each of the plurality of gaming components being associated with a distinct, designated authentication percentage, wherein at least one of the designated authentication percentages is less than 100 percent;

wherein at least one of the one or more processors executes instructions that cause the wagering game machine to;

authenticate initialization data received into the nonvolatile memory storage;

in response to successfully authenticating the initialization data, authenticate the designated authentication percentage of each of the gaming components of the plurality of gaming components; and

in response to successfully authenticating the designated authentication percentage of each of the gaming components of the plurality of gaming components and prior to authenticating any remaining percentage of each of the gaming components of the plurality of gaming components, become operable to conduct the wagering game.

10. The wagering game machine of claim 9, wherein the designated authentication percentage of at least one gaming component of the plurality of gaming components is configurable by an operator or wagering game establishment prior to initialization of the wagering game machine.

11. The wagering game machine of claim 9, wherein the initialization data is delivered to the nonvolatile memory storage from an external memory storage device.

12. The wagering game machine of claim 9, wherein the initialization data is delivered to the nonvolatile memory storage from a server via a communications network.

13. The wagering game machine of claim 9, wherein the plurality of gaming components includes at least one of instructions for conducting the wagering game and license-enforcement data related to one or more gaming components.

14. The wagering game machine of claim 9, wherein, after making the wagering game operable, the instructions further cause the game machine to authenticate any remaining percentage of each gaming component of the plurality of gaming components while the game machine conducts the wagering game.

15. The wagering game machine of claim 14, wherein, in response to an attempt use a gaming component prior to 100 percent authentication of the respective gaming component, the instructions further cause the game machine to become inoperable.

16. A machine-readable, non-transitory medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a wagering game machine including nonvolatile memory storage and one or more memory storage devices to perform a method comprising:

authenticating initialization data received into the nonvolatile memory storage;

authenticating on-the-fly encryption data stored on at least one of the one or more memory storage devices;

in response to successfully authenticating the initialization data and the on-the-fly encryption data, decrypting one or more of a plurality of game components stored on at least one of the one or more memory devices, wherein the one or more game components are decrypted via the on-the-fly encryption data using separate encryption key and wherein each of the one or more decrypted game components is associated with a distinct, designated authentication percentage;

authenticating the distinct, designated authentication percentage of each decrypted gaming component of the plurality of gaming components, wherein at least one of the designated authentication percentages is less than 100 percent; and

in response to successfully authenticating the designated authentication percentage of each decrypted gaming component and prior to authenticating any remaining percentage of each decrypted gaming component, making the wagering game machine operable to conduct the wagering game.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising, in response to an unsuccessful authentication of the designated authentication percentage of one or more of the decrypted gaming components of the plurality of gaming components, making the wagering game machine inoperable to conduct the wagering game.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the initialization data is delivered to the nonvolatile memory storage from an external memory storage device.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein authenticating includes one or more of comparing a stored digital signature to a computed digital signature, comparing a stored hash value with a computed hash value, and encrypting/decrypting using an encryption key.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of gaming components includes at least one of instructions for conducting the wagering game and license-enforcement data related to one or more gaming components of the plurality of gaming components.