WAGERING GAME METHOD, GAMING MACHINE, GAMING SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM PRODUCT PROVIDING A FEATURE CLUB SYSTEM
A gaming machine includes a feature club interface system. This feature club interface system provides an interface through which a player at the gaming machine may access a number of features available through the gaming machine which may or may not be related to wagering games offered through the gaming machine. The feature club interface system may rely on communications with a remote feature club server to initiate or enable various features at the gaming machine.
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The Applicants claim the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/538,743 filed Sep. 23, 2011, and entitled “Wagering Game Method, Gaming Machine, Gaming System, and Program Product Providing a Feature Club System.” The entire content of this provisional application is incorporated herein by this reference.
COPYRIGHT NOTICEA portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wagering games, gaming machines, gaming systems, and associated methods and program products. More particularly, the invention relates to wagering games, gaming machines, and gaming systems which facilitate additional player interactions during the course of a gaming session to enhance the player's gaming experience.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of wagering games have been developed in an attempt to provide players with new and varied gaming experiences. In addition to providing primary games, a gaming machine may offer one or more bonus or secondary games. These bonus or secondary games may be offered in an effort to vary the play at the gaming machine, and to offer enhanced prizes which help hold the player's interest. Gaming machines which offer wagering games may also provide tournament play in which players compete against each other in the play of a primary or other game offered through the gaming machine. Various prizes may be offered for the tournament winner and high ranking players (such as the second and third place players for the tournament).
In addition to offering different types of gaming machines to attract players, casinos may also offer a player club system to casino patrons. Player club systems commonly require a player to enroll in some fashion, and may be used to collect player activity records, store player preference information, and offer promotional points which may be redeemed by the enrolled player for various benefits.
There remains a need in the field of wagering games for systems and arrangements to enhance the player's gaming experience and encourage the player to continue play at a given gaming facility.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention encompasses gaming machines which include two separate interface systems, and also encompasses methods employing these two separate interface systems. A first interface system may be referred to as a wagering game player interface system or simply a “player interface system.” This player interface system provides an interface through which the player may play wagering games offered through the gaming machine and may include an interface with a player club system offered by the casino in which the gaming machine may be located. A second interface system included in a gaming machine according to the present invention includes a feature club interface system. This feature club interface system provides an interface through which a player at the gaming machine may access a number of features available through the gaming machine which may or may not be related to wagering games offered through the gaming machine. In particular, a gaming machine embodying principles of the invention may include a feature club processor which receives one or more inputs from the feature club interface system and, in response to those inputs, causes a feature club input communication to be sent to a feature club server remote from the gaming machine. This feature club input communication identifies a feature available through the gaming machine. The feature club processor also receives a feature club output communication from the feature club server. This feature club output communication affects a feature available through the gaming machine, for example, enabling the feature.
In addition to gaming machines and methods performed through a gaming machine, the present invention also encompasses networked gaming systems including one or more gaming machines and methods of operating such networked gaming systems. The invention further encompasses program products executable by one or more processing devices to perform the various gaming machine and gaming system methods.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.
In the following description,
Referring to
The gaming machine 100 illustrated for purposes of example in
It will be appreciated that gaming machines may also include a number of other player interface devices included in the player interface system in addition to devices that are considered player controls for use in playing a particular game. Gaming machine 100 also includes a currency/voucher acceptor 112, a player card reader having a player card input 114, and a voucher/receipt printer 115. Numerous other types of player interface devices may be included in gaming machines that may be used according to the present invention.
A gaming machine which may be used to implement embodiments of the present invention may also include a sound system to provide an audio output to enhance the user's playing experience. For example, illustrated gaming machine 100 includes speakers 116 which may be driven by a suitable audio amplifier (not shown) to provide a desired audio output at the gaming machine. An additional speaker may be included above primary display device 104, but is not shown in the perspective of
Gaming machine 100 further includes a cabinet accent lighting system for providing accent lighting effects in coordination with events at the gaming machine or otherwise. The illustrated embodiment includes a cabinet accent lighting system having elongated upper accent light fixtures 118 which may include a number of LEDs or other types of lights to provide various lighting effects on either side of primary display device 104. Lower elongated accent light fixtures 120 are also included on either side of the cabinet 101 between the level of primary display device 104 and touch screen button panel 106.
As will be described further below, feature club display 107 makes up the primary player input device for the feature club interface system of illustrated gaming machine 100. Although mechanical buttons may be located around the periphery of feature club display 107, this display provides a convenient location for many of the graphic presentations that may be displayed to the player in implementations of the feature club system. A touch sensitive surface associated with feature club display 107 provides a convenient location for receiving feature club inputs as will be described below.
The diagrammatic representation of
Feature club interface processing system 222 includes CPU 225, with its own random access memory (RAM) 226, and non-volatile memory 227, such as a suitable disk-based or solid state hard drive for storing feature club graphical user interface program code 224 and any other program code which may be executed by CPU 225. Processing system 222 also includes network controllers 230 and 230a, and touch screen controller 229 connected to a suitable touch screen film or other touch-registering element associated with feature club display device 107.
Those familiar with data processing devices and systems will appreciate that other basic electronic components will be included in gaming machine 100 such as a power supply, cooling systems for the various system components, audio amplifiers, and other devices that are common in gaming machines. These additional devices are omitted from the drawings so as not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail.
All of the elements 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 210a, and 211 shown in
It will also be appreciated that graphics processors are also commonly a part of modern computer systems. Although separate graphics processor 215 is shown for controlling primary video display device 104, CPU 205 may control all of the display devices directly without any intermediate graphics processor. Similarly, although processing system 222 is shown as including no separate graphic processor for controlling feature club display device 107 (thus implying that the graphics processing for display device 107 is handled by CPU 225), implementations of the invention may include a processing system such as system 222 with a separate graphics processor. The invention is not limited to any particular arrangement of processing devices for controlling the video display devices included with gaming machine 100. Also, a gaming machine implementing the present invention is not limited to any particular number of video display devices or particular types of display devices.
In the illustrated gaming machine 100, CPU 205 executes software which ultimately controls primary game play and related functions and tournament game play including player input program code executable to receive player inputs, result program code executable to obtain game outcomes, and game display program code executable to control the presentation of the graphic symbols displayed in the course of game play through the display devices 104 and 108 associated with the gaming machine. CPU 205 also executes software related to communications handled through network controllers 210 and 210a, and software related to various peripheral devices such as those connected to the system through audio controller 209, serial interface 211, and touch screen controller 217. CPU 205 may also execute software to perform accounting functions associated with play of the primary game (such as payout program code executable to award prizes for game play), and may execute player club program code to implement play club features at the gaming machine as will be discussed further below. Random access memory 206 provides memory for use by CPU 205 in executing its various software programs while the nonvolatile memory or storage device 207 may comprise a hard drive or other mass storage device providing storage for game software such as game program code 204 prior loading into random access memory 206 for execution, or for programs not in use or for other data generated or used in the course of gaming machine operation. Network controller 210 provides an interface to other components of a gaming system in which gaming machine 100 may be included. An example network will be described below in connection with
CPU 225 or CPU 205 may execute feature club program code executable to receive inputs from the feature club interface system of the gaming machine, and to control feature club communications to and from the feature club server as will be described further below.
It should be noted that the invention is not limited to gaming machines employing the personal computer-type arrangement of processing devices and interfaces shown in example gaming machine 100. Other gaming machines through which the feature club system may be implemented may include one or more special purpose processing devices to perform the various processing steps for implementing the present invention. Unlike general purpose processing devices such as CPU 205, which may comprise an Intel Pentium® or Core® processor for example, these special purpose processing devices may not employ operational program code to direct the various processing steps.
The example gaming machine 100 which may be used to implement some embodiments of the present invention is shown in
Reel Assembly 213 is shown in the diagrammatic representation of
The diagrammatic representation of
It will be appreciated that the diagrammatic representations shown in
It should also be noted that regulatory requirements may affect the configuration of gaming machines 100 which may be used in gaming systems implementing the present invention. For example, some regulatory environments may allow communications to and from a game processor such as CPU 205 with another processing system within the gaming machine such as processing system 222. In these regulatory environments, the configuration using direct communications via crossover cable 232 shown in
Referring now to
The example gaming network 400 shown in
Feature club host server 406 includes a suitable processing device for receiving feature club input communications from the feature club interface systems associated with the various gaming machines 100, and sending the appropriate feature club output communications back to the gaming machines, and particularly to the respective feature club interface system associated with each respective gaming machine 100. Feature club host server 406 also maintains databases for tracking feature club points (which may include multiple different types of points) for each feature club enrollee, and perhaps other types of points or credits. Feature club host server 406 may also be accessed through suitable elements of network 400 to enroll players in the feature club and open feature club accounts. For example, the feature club interface system associated with a given gaming machine 100 may allow a player to enroll in the feature club and open a feature club account using various graphic displays presented on feature club display 107 in
Feature club host server 406 may also maintain databases relating activated or available features to the various player accounts. For example, implementations of a feature club system according to the present invention may allow feature club members to use their awarded feature club points to purchase features such as avatars, applications available through feature club display 107, and other types of features. Also, various features may be made available to feature club members based on various characteristics of the players, including total playing time, wagered amounts, etc. Feature club host server 406 may maintain all of this information related to the various feature club accounts using one or more databases.
It should be noted that the player club points which may be maintained through a player club server included in system 400 are separate from the feature club points which are maintained for various players through feature club host server 406. Feature club points may be used to obtain the example features noted in the preceding paragraph, while play club points may typically not be used to obtain such features.
Tournament host server 410 is included in network 400 for supporting the tournament-related processes which may be offered as a feature through a feature club interface system according to the invention. Tournament qualification and tournament game scoring processes may be performed through tournament host server 410 for example. In particular, tournament host server 410 may receive primary game play and wagering information and entry fee payment information from each gaming machine 100 in order to perform tournament qualification functions.
It will be appreciated that the nature of communications between a gaming machine 100 and tournament host server 410 in a given embodiment of the invention will be somewhat dependent upon the configuration of the gaming machine and the network or networks in which they are connected. For example, in the gaming machine 100 configuration shown in
Progressive server 407 may accumulate progressive awards by receiving defined amounts, such as a percentage of the wagers from eligible gaming devices or by receiving funding from marketing or casino funds. Progressive server 407 may also provide progressive awards to winning gaming devices in response to a progressive event. Such a progressive event may comprise, for example, a progressive jackpot game outcome or other triggering event such as a random or pseudo-random win determination at a networked gaming device or server. Accounting server 411 may receive gaming data from each of the networked gaming devices, perform audit functions, and provide data for analysis programs. Player account server 409 may maintain player account records, and store persistent player data such as accumulated player points and/or player preferences (for example, game personalizing selections or options).
Networked gaming machines 100 (EGM1-EGMn) and one or more overhead displays 413 may be operatively connected so that the overhead display or displays may mirror or replay the content of one or more displays of gaming machines 100. For example, the primary display content for a given gaming machine 100 may be stored by a display controller or game processor 205 or tournament interface processor 225 of the given gaming machine and transmitted through network controller 210 as shown in
Example gaming network 400 also includes a gaming website 421 which may be hosted through web server 420 and may be accessible by players via the Internet. One or more games may be displayed as described herein and played by a player through a personal computer 423 or handheld wireless device 425 (for example, a Blackberry® cell phone, Apple® iPhone®, personal digital assistant (PDA), iPad®, etc.). To enter website 421, a player may log in with a user name that may, for example, be associated with the player's account information stored on player account server 409. Once logged onto website 421 the player may play various games on the website. Also website 421 may allow the player to make various personalizing selections and save the information so it is available for use during the player's next gaming session at a casino establishment having the gaming machines 100.
Website 421 may also provide functions associated with the feature club offered through gaming machines 100. For example, players may be allowed to create a feature club account through website 421 which may be associated with feature club points earned by the player.
It will be appreciated that gaming network 400 illustrated in
The feature club interface system for each respective gaming machine, that is the feature club interface processing system 222 (in
Graphic 500 in
Personal jackpot icon 704 may be invoked to initiate a process which allows the player to add a personal progressive jackpot to the game being offered at that gaming machine. The player selects the size of the jackpot and the average frequency of the jackpot. Based on those selected values, the underlying software calculates the size of the side wager the player needs to make on each game play to activate the personal progressive jackpot. The program then matches up progressive frequency with a symbol combination in the game that approximates that frequency, and then causes a display device such as feature club display 107 to communicate to the player the symbol combination they need to win the jackpot. The player could create a password so that every time they play that game on given gaming machine they could pull up their personal jackpot.
It will be appreciated that some of the example graphics described above include virtual buttons which when touched cause a different screen or graphic to appear at the feature club display device 107. However, if no virtual control available on a given graphic displayed at feature club display 107 is invoked in a given period of time, feature club processing system 222 may cause the display device to show another graphic. Feature club processing system 222 may cause the graphics to rotate to ensure the player sees all of the features that may be available as a feature club member. Also, the particular graphics chosen for a particular sequence at feature club display 107 may be influenced by the activity at the gaming machine. For example, if the game available at the gaming machine offers a progressive prize and the player takes some action such as opening a help screen regarding the progressive prize, feature club display 107 may be controlled to display a graphic such as graphic 700 which includes the personal jackpot application.
Graphic 900 provides an announcement area 901, an animated character 902, and icons 905, 906, and 907 for three different tournaments available through the gaming system. A button icon 908 may be invoked by the player to retrieve rules relating to tournament qualification and play. When button icon 908 is invoked, the rules may be displayed in announcement area 901, or the entire screen area or some other display portion may be used to display the requested rules. Numerous other graphic elements, informational elements, and virtual buttons or other controls may be accessible through graphic 900. For example, icons 905, 906, and 907 may touched to initiate one or more screens to allow the player to enter the respective tournament, either using the feature club points or credits, or points from some other account to pay the entry fee, or using gaming credit or other value entered at the gaming machine.
The flow chart of
As shown in
The process steps shown in dashed box 1001 include those steps that are typically performed during a gaming session at a gaming machine. In particular, the player may make a wager and initiate a play in the game as shown at process block 1007. In response to the play in the game, an outcome is displayed to the player and any winnings associated with the outcome are credited to the player in some fashion as indicated a block 1008. Also, player club points may be awarded for a given play as indicated at process block 1009 in
The process steps shown in dashed box 1002 in
The feature club monitoring and account maintenance steps shown in dashed box 1003 may include a number of different steps which generally facilitate the various feature game functions which may be available at a gaming machine. In particular, the steps in dashed box 1003 include monitoring game activity as shown at process block 1020 and monitoring feature club activity as shown at process block 1021. Game activity may be monitored in any suitable fashion. For example, the feature club system implemented at a gaming machine may receive game play information directly from the game processor such as in the configuration shown in
The step shown at process block 1022 in
Aside from the functions described above, major functions of the feature club display such as touch screen display device 107 in
The display device may be used to sign a player up for different types of game-related promotions in addition to game tournaments.
The display device may be used for connecting to the Internet and for different types of social media.
The display device may be used to display and play many different types of gaming related and non-gaming related applications.
The display device may be used for television or video phone calls.
The display device may be used for separate games that may or may not have a connection to a game on the primary display device (display device 104 in
The display device may be used to make a sports bet.
The display device may be employed to display a leader board for some type of tournament or competition.
The display device may provide a customization interface through which a player may customize the player experience by selecting volume control, game sounds, the size of the game symbols, etc.
The display device could be used for “community” type games or bonuses, where the player is participating in a separate application from the primary game (displayed through a primary display device such as device 104 in
The display device may also be used to allow a player to choose an avatar from a suitable graphic and every time the player plays at a gaming machine, the avatar builds up points to purchase bonus-type trophies that can be used to win additional prizes within each game, or win free spins in the primary game, or win other types of bonuses.
In addition to these major functions which may be implemented through a feature club display device such as feature club display device 107 in
As used in the foregoing description and the following claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, that is, to mean including but not limited to. Any use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another, or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Rather, unless specifically stated otherwise, such ordinal terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term).
The above-described example embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments and modifications to these preferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A gaming machine for providing a wagering game, the gaming machine including:
- (a) a wagering game display system, the wagering game display system defining a primary game display area at a front of the gaming machine cabinet;
- (b) a feature club interface system mounted on the gaming machine cabinet below the primary game display area;
- (c) a touch screen display included in the feature club interface system;
- (d) at least one wagering game processor; and
- (e) at least one memory device operatively connected to the at least one wagering game processor and storing instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to (i) receive one or more inputs from a wagering game player interface system to initiate a play in a first wagering game, (ii) obtain an outcome for the respective play in the first wagering game, (iii) cause the at least one wagering game display system to display a graphic representation of the outcome for the respective play, (iv) cause any winning credit amount associated with the outcome for the respective play to be awarded for the respective play, (v) receive one or more inputs from the feature club interface system, (vi) cause a feature club input communication to be sent to a feature club server remote from the gaming machine, the feature club input communication identifying a feature available through the gaming machine, and (vii) receive a feature club output communication from the feature club server, the feature club output communication affecting a feature available through the gaming machine.
2. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause a player club input communication to be sent to a player club server remote from the gaming machine to affect a player club account maintained by the player club server, the player club server being separate from the feature club server.
3. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system also includes controls for the wagering game player interface system.
4. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system to display a graphic for at least one additional wagering game available at the gaming machine other than the first wagering game.
5. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system to display a graphic for at least one tournament game available at the gaming machine other than the first wagering game.
6. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system to display a graphic for at least one advertisement for a product unrelated to any wagering game available at the gaming machine.
7. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system to display a graphic for a software application unrelated to any wagering game available at the gaming machine.
8. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the software application comprises a social networking application.
9. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the at least one memory device also stores instructions executable by the at least one wagering game processor to cause the touch screen display included in the feature club interface system to display a graphic for a feature available in one or more wagering games available at the gaming machine.
10. A method including:
- (a) receiving one or more inputs to initiate a play in a first wagering game available through a gaming machine;
- (b) obtaining an outcome for the respective play in the first wagering game;
- (c) displaying a graphic representation of the outcome for the respective play through a wagering game display system of the gaming machine;
- (d) displaying any winning credit amount associated with the outcome for the respective play through the wagering game display system of the gaming machine;
- (e) receiving one or more inputs from a feature club interface system of the gaming machine;
- (f) sending a feature club input communication to a feature club server remote from the gaming machine, the feature club input communication identifying a feature available through the gaming machine; and
- (g) receiving a feature club output communication from the feature club server, the feature club output communication affecting a feature available through the gaming machine.
11. The method of claim 10 further including sending a player club input communication to a player club server remote from the gaming machine and separate from the feature club server, the player club input communication affecting a player club account maintained by the player club server.
12. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display and wherein the touch screen display also includes controls for a wagering game player interface system of the gaming machine adapted to provide player inputs to control the play of the wagering game.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display, and further including displaying at the touch screen display a graphic for at least one additional wagering game available at the gaming machine other than the first wagering game.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display, and further including displaying at the touch screen display a graphic for at least one tournament game available at the gaming machine other than the first wagering game.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display, and further including displaying at the touch screen display a graphic for at least one advertisement for a product unrelated to any wagering game available at the gaming machine.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display, and further including displaying at the touch screen display a graphic for a software application unrelated to any wagering game available at the gaming machine.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the application comprises a social networking application.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein the feature club interface system includes a touch screen display, and further including displaying at the touch screen display a graphic for a feature available in one or more wagering games available at the gaming machine.
19. A program product stored on one or more non-transitory computer readable data storage devices, the program product including:
- (a) player input program code executable by at least one processor to receive one or more inputs to initiate a play in a first wagering game available at a gaming machine;
- (b) result program code executable by the at least one processor to obtain an outcome for the respective play in the first wagering game;
- (c) game display program code executable by the at least one processor to cause a display system associated with the gaming machine to display a graphic representation of the outcome for the respective play through a wagering game display system of the gaming machine;
- (d) feature club program code executable by at least one processor to (i) receive one or more inputs from a feature club interface system of the gaming machine, the feature club interface system including a touch screen display, and to (ii) cause a feature club input communication to be sent to a feature club server remote from the gaming machine, the feature club input communication identifying a feature available through the gaming machine, and to (iii) receive a feature club output communication from the feature club server, the feature club output communication affecting a feature available through the
- (e) payout program code executable by the at least one processor to award a prize for each outcome for the respective play of the first wagering game representing a winning outcome.
20. The program product of claim 19 further including player club program code executable by the at least one processor to cause a player club input communication to be sent to a player club server remote from the gaming machine and separate from the feature club server, the player club input communication affecting a player club account maintained by the player club server.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 18, 2012
Publication Date: Mar 28, 2013
Applicant: Multimedia Games, Inc. (Austin, TX)
Inventor: Multimedia Games, Inc. (Austin, TX)
Application Number: 13/622,275
International Classification: A63F 9/24 (20060101);