Patents by Inventor Andrea C. Hughs-Baird

Andrea C. Hughs-Baird has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6439995
    Abstract: The apparatus and method of the present invention provides a gaming device having a bonus round with multiple selection groups. The bonus round does not end upon an “end-bonus” selection; rather, the bonus round ends upon the selection of a predetermined number of selections from the last or final selection group. In one embodiment of the present invention, the number of selections is determined from a selection group preceding the final selection group. Prior to determining the number of final selection group picks, the present invention provides the player with at least one selection group in which the player selects award indicators until selecting an indicator that advances the player to the next selection group. Player excitement and enjoyment is enhanced because the present invention provides the player with multiple opportunities to achieve game credits and because the player is guaranteed to have at least one opportunity to select from the final selection group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2002
    Assignee: IGT
    Inventors: Andrea C. Hughs-Baird, Paulina Glavich, Bayard S. Webb, Anthony J. Baerlocher
  • Publication number: 20020077165
    Abstract: The present provides a gaming device, wherein a player's skill at an action or event determines the player's success or failure in the round. The game is readily adaptable to becoming a pseudo-skill game that would be required in most gaming jurisdictions. In one pseudo-skill embodiment, the skill game is converted to a game employing skill, but which is controlled by a set number of successful outcomes. That is, the player keeps playing until the player's skill produces the set number of successful outcomes. In another pseudo-skill embodiment, the game only appears to the player as involving skill. Instead, the gaming device randomly determines when and how many times to produce a successful outcome and increase the player's award.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2001
    Publication date: June 20, 2002
    Inventors: Mark W. Bansemer, James G. Nolz, Anthony J. Baerlocher, Andrea C. Hughs-Baird
  • Publication number: 20020049084
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a bonus scheme for a gaming device which presents a plurality of selections to the player in one or more rounds. After a players chooses each selection, a processor, using predetermined probabilities, generates various outcomes. Depending upon which types of outcomes are generated, the player may advance to different rounds where the player can choose other selections, or instead the bonus round can terminate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2001
    Publication date: April 25, 2002
    Inventors: Andrea C. Hughs-Baird, Ryan William Cuddy, Brian Daniel Swift, Anthony J. Baerlocher, Cari L. Blomquist, Lance R. Peterson