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(11) | EP 2 775 462 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | System for and method of controlling an electronic gaming device |
| (57) A system and method for controlling an electronic gaming device ("EGM") from a mobile
device during a remote access play session. The EGM is switched between a local access
mode in which the inputs on the EGM are active and a remote access mode in which the
inputs on the EGM are de-activated and a player interfaces the EGM using a mobile
device such as a smartphone or a tablet computer. During remote access play sessions,
all critical game play operations continue to be performed exclusively on the EGM
and not on the mobile device. Critical game play operations include random number
generation and determination of game outcome. Game content, including video, screenshot
images and audio of the game are transmitted to the mobile device for display to the
player. Player input and selections are made on the mobile device.
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Copyright:
[0001] Portions of this disclosure contain material in which copyright is claimed by the applicant. The applicant has no objection to the copying of this material in the course of making copies of the application file or any patents that may issue on the application, but all other rights whatsoever in the copyrighted material are reserved.
Background:
[0002] Electronic gaming machines ("EGMs") offer a variety of games such as mechanical spinning reel games, video spinning reel games, video poker games, roulette games, keno games and other types of wagering games that are commonly deployed at a casino for use by players. Playing a particular EGM requires the player to physically sit at the machine and place a wager on the outcome of the game. The player then interacts with the game during the game cycle to make selections as directed for different options until the game cycle ends with the game outcome being selected and displayed to the player. If the outcome is a winner, the player receives an award corresponding to the outcome.
[0003] To date, to actively play a game on an EGM, a player must be physically present at the EGM. Prior art exists for the use of mobile devices for certain interactions with an EGM. For example, United States Patent Publication No. 2012/0315984A1 describes the use of a mobile device for developing and maintaining customer loyalty in the casino, although the player is unable to control game play operation of an EGM directly from a mobile device. This publication describes a technique for playing wager-based video card or slot games where game content, including game outcomes are generated on a remote device such as a server, and sent to a mobile device for display. The publication provides a description of an EGM configured to receive at least game outcomes from a remote device (server) where the EGM itself does not use a random number generator ("RNG") to generate game outcomes locally. The game outcomes are instead generated remotely (from the server) in response to inputs made on the mobile device such as an input indicating a wager amount and/or an input to initiate the game. The wager amount or initiation information can be sent from the mobile device to a remote device such as from a mobile gaming device to a server. After receiving the game outcomes from the remote device (server), a game presentation for the game outcomes generated remotely can be generated and displayed on the mobile device. In some instances, the game presentation can also be generated remotely (from the server) and then streamed for display to the mobile device. (See Paragraph [0092] of 2012/0315984A1).
[0004] The prior art fails to show the use of a mobile device to remotely control an EGM where control may be switched between: (a) local control of the EGM by a player physically present at the EGM interacting with the EGM through the inputs on the EGM; and (b) remote control of the EGM by a player using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computing device. The present invention provides a system and method that allows for switching of control between local operation of the EGM and remote operation of an EGM from a mobile device.
Brief Description of the Drawings:
[0005] For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show more clearly how it functions, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show embodiments of the present invention in which:
[0007] FIGURE 2 shows a block diagram of an electronic gaming machine for playing a game and connected to a network controlled by a central server based system with an external system also connected to the network;
[0008] FIGURE 3 shows a block diagram of a group of electronic gaming machines on a network connected to a server based system and an external system;
[0012] FIGURE 6B is a block diagram of mobile device and an EGM connected using a remote gaming gateway;
[0013] FIGURE 6C is a block diagram of an EGM that may be switched between remote access using a mobile device and local access by physically playing at the EGM;
[0017] FIGURE 10 is a block diagram showing the capture and transmission of screenshots from an EGM to a mobile device during remote play; and
[0018] FIGURE 11 shows a block diagram of a group of electronic gaming machines on a network connected to a group of remote access devices through a group of gateways.
Detailed Description of the Invention:
[0019] The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Throughout Figures 1-11, like elements of the invention are referred to by the same reference numerals for consistency purposes.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows an electronic gaming machine ("EGM") 100 with a number of components. A primary display 105 is used to show game play and resulting outcomes, and may be in the form of a video display (shown), or alternatively, physical reels. Touch screen displays are included on most EGMs and provide a flexible interface for operation of EGM 100, including displaying symbols during game play. Other components include a bill validator (see Fig. 2) housed inside EGM 100 into which bills may be inserted through bill slot 110. Buttons 115 on the exterior of EGM 100 are used to initiate and control EGM operations in conjunction with touch screen display 105 by the player. EGMs may further include a secondary display 120 for displaying other game functions including bonus screens. Either of primary display 105 or secondary display 120 may be used to show information to the player such as pay tables, messages, advertising, entertainment screens or other types of information. Multiple meters 125 on display 105 are used for tracking credits available for play, amount won on a particular play, number of coins bet and other amounts are typically positioned near the bottom of screen 105. EGM 100 may also accept coins. In those cases, a coin tray 130 at the bottom of EGM 100 is used to catch coins as they are dispensed to a player.
[0021] It is common for EGM 100 to include a ticket-in, ticket-out ("TITO") component that includes a ticket reader and ticket printer housed inside of EGM 100 that may accept bar coded credits printed on a ticket through slot 110 and for which the value of the credits is displayed on meters 125 upon a ticket being inserted.
[0022] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of EGM 100 connected to a central server based system 200 and showing certain internal components of EGM 100. All operational functions of EGM 100 are controlled by a controller 135 such as a microprocessor housed inside EGM 100 that is resident on a game board 140. The controller executes instructions that include operation of an EGM based random number generator 145 ("RNG") that is typically implemented in software and stored in a memory 150. Alternatively, a true hardware random number generator may be used. The internal components of EGM 100 are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Game outcomes are determined based on the random numbers selected by RNG 145. A bill validator 155 for accepting paper currency is shown integrated with a ticket reader and ticket printer. Bill validator 155 accepts currency in the form of bills or tickets from a player and adds credit to meters 125 on EGM 100.
[0023] An external system 205 such as a player tracking system, a slot accounting system or a bonusing system may also be connected to EGM 100. These types of systems are typically connected to EGM 100 either through a separate interface board (not shown) or directly to different components of EGM 100 including but not limited to game board 140. A player tracking system may also include other components installed in EGM 100 such as a player tracking display 210, a keypad 215 and a card reader 220. These components allow for direct interaction between external system 205 and the player to receive information from the player on keypad 215 or through information on a card inserted into card reader 220, and to display information to the player on display 210. A network is established between external system 205 and EGM 100 by network connection 225. The network may be connected to all EGMs 100 in a casino or any smaller subset of EGMs 100.
[0024] Server based system 200 is also connected to EGMs 100 by a network connection 230 which may be a separate connection or the same connection as the network connecting EGM 100 to external system 205. Server based system 200 may be a single server or it may represent a group of interconnected servers that are configured to be a single system interfacing with a group of EGMs.
[0025] It will be understood that the type of network 230 over which data is communicated can be one of several different types of networks. These include a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), an intranet, the internet or other classes of networks. Any type of network technology could be used without departing from the principles of the invention. This would include communication via any protocol on any of the layers of the OSI model (ISO/IEC 7498-1) with or without encryption (e.g. SSL encryption, VPN, etc). The time is synchronized on all components of the system via a network protocol such as, for example, network time protocol ("NTP") to ensure that time stamps may be reliably compared.
[0026] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a group of EGMs 100 a-x on a network connection 230 between central server based system 200 and each of EGMs 100 ax. It should be understood that the network may be set up with any number of EGMs that may number into the thousands of machines. Each of EGMs 100 a-x is also connected to external system 205 that may be a player tracking, slot accounting, bonusing or other type of system.
[0027] FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show mobile devices that may be used to remotely control EGM 100. Fig. 4A is a smartphone 405 such as an iPhone® sold by Apple® while Fig. 4B is a tablet computing device 410 such as an iPad® sold by Apple®. Either of these devices as well as other mobile handheld devices may be used to remotely access and control EGM 100 once EGM 100 is placed in a remote access mode. For ease of reference in this description, a mobile device will be generally referred to as mobile device 405. However, it should be understood, that mobile device 405 may be substituted with mobile device 410, or any other electronic device with communicative connection capabilities that is remotely located from EGM 100 and from which EGM 100 may be controlled. Such devices may include a dedicated remote electronic gaming device specially designed and produced for remote gaming purposes, a laptop computer, a portable video gaming device such as an PlayStation Portable, or PSP®, sold by Sony®, or any other general computing device that may be programmed or loaded with application software to provide the necessary capabilities for remotely controlling EGM 100.
[0028] To enable remote control, a player interacts with EGM 100 on mobile device 405 using multi-channel communication. Actions are performed using physical buttons such as touchscreen 105 or buttons 115 on EGM 100 and the touchscreen or buttons on mobile device 405. Actions include, but are not limited to the transfer of funds, game selection, switch to activate remote control by the mobile device and return local control to the EGM, along with all other functions required to play a game and receive credit for player loyalty rewards. The multi-channel communication allows for transmission of game content including streaming video screen states, individual JPEG screen states, and/or text messaging, as well as audio to be transmitted between EGM 100 and mobile device 405. Throughout the process, all gaming functions are performed by EGM 100 with status of those actions transmitted to mobile device 405 for display to the player. The player interacts with EGM 100 by responding when necessary using inputs on mobile device 405. Since the gaming functions are performed on EGM 100, there is not an opportunity for a compromise of data or security on mobile device 405, which merely acts to display information to the player and provide responses from the player when necessary and is in physical lock-out mode while EGM 100 is under remote control by mobile device 405. Critical gaming functions such as running the RNG and determining game outcomes are handled exclusively by the internal components of EGM 100 irrespective of whether EGM is in local mode or remote access mode.
[0029] To ensure a secure connection between EGM 100 and mobile device 405 during a remotely controlled play session, a communication channel must be established between EGM 100 and 405. A mobile device 405 is able to identify a particular EGM by, for example, scanning a quick response code ("QR") code displayed physically on the exterior surface of EGM or on one of the screens 105, 120 of EGM 100. Once mobile device 405 has the QR code, it can specify the particular EGM with which to establish communication. In an alternative embodiment, the identification code representing respective EGMs may be provided by means of an RFID tag attached to the EGM from which the mobile device may be adapted to read or detect identification information using an RFID communication protocol. It should be understood that other techniques for identifying EGM 100 are also available including but not limited t near field communication ("NFC").
[0030] Once a communication channel is established between EGM 100 and mobile device 405, which may use Bluetooth, WiFi or any other communication linking format, transmission of data between EGM 100 and mobile device 405 may be carried out to send an audio/video stream 505 from EGM 100 to mobile device 405 as shown in FIG. 5. The protocol is used to format transmissions which include video, images and audio. The protocol may be any standard protocol such as real-time transport protocol ("RTP") over user data protocol ("UDP") or an MPEG protocol such as MPEG2 video encoder. Any other codecs or protocol may be used including a proprietary protocol specifically designed for EGM-mobile device communication. In one embodiment, an encoder known as VideoLAN x264 encoder may be used in view of this protocol having very low latency for video streaming. Transmission of the state of EGM 510 is also transmitted from EGM 100 to mobile device 405. This may include messaging related to the availability of EGM 100 for play, the timing of game play, a waiting state indicating that EGM 100 is awaiting an input from the user or other messages related to EGM components such as acceptor/printer 155, buttons 115, screens 105, 120, doors 520, keys 525, or hopper/dispenser 530 on EGM 100. Operational instructions 515 are sent from mobile device 405 to EGM 100 to provide user input, a request to use EGM in remote mode, request to terminate remote mode or other user instructions.
[0031] It should be understood that EGM 100 may switch between local access by a player physically playing EGM 100 directly at EGM 100 and remote access by a player playing through mobile device 405. This concept is shown in FIG. 6A showing the options of local access 600 and remote access 601.
[0032] Once a communication connection is established between EGM 100 and mobile device 405, a gateway 605 (or a proprietary connection service referred to as LightBridgetm or LightBridgetm service developed by the assignee of this application) as shown in FIG. 6B is deployed to switch modes between local access on EGM 100 and remote access on mobile device 405. Gateway 605 is controlled by EGM controller 135, or a separate controller 135 as shown in FIG. 6C that is used for the purpose of running gateway 605 and controlling the connection between EGM 100 and mobile device 405. Upon establishing the connection, all signals from the buttons 155 and other inputs on EGM 100 are blocked and only gateway signal transmissions are propagated. As can be seen in FIG. 6A, initially, the QR code is scanned by mobile device 405 and a signal is sent to EGM 100 to switch from local operation mode to remote access mode at step 1. Gateway 605 is then notified of the switch after receiving a signal from mobile device 405 at step 2, and mobile device 405 then initiates a play session at step 3 that establishes two-communications between EGM 100 and gateway 605 at step 4, and between mobile device 405 and gateway 605 at step 5.
[0033] Once in remote access mode, a hierarchy of actions 705 becomes available, an example of which is shown in FIG. 7, where actions can be executed by the player on mobile device 405 which are propagated to EGM 100. Screen actions 710 on mobile device 405 are activated by touchscreen clicks 715 and use of the mechanical button actions 720 performed by pressing button 725 on mobile device 405 are implemented during game play by EGM 100. Using software applications developed for a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device for use with the gateway, it is possible to specify any button functionality on a touchscreen or physical buttons on mobile device 405. Key actions 730 performed on a keyboard (not shown) on mobile device 405 can turn on 735 or turn off 740 a particular functionality. Similarly, access control 745 can be turned on 750 or turned off 755 using any of the user interface options previously described (e.g. touchscreen clicks, button depressions, keyboard actions).
[0034] An example of the possible states 800 of EGM 100 are shown in FIG. 8. The states 800, or a subset thereof, may be propogated from EGM 100 to mobile device 405, which is adjusted according to the states. This may happen at any time appropriate within the session. A set of touchscreen buttons displayed on the touchscreen of mobile device 405 reflect the particular screen state 805 as being screen 1 (810) to screen n (815) at any given time provide the player with the opportunity to make selections with respect to input and interaction with EGM 100. The states of these buttons are configured to simulate the states of EGM buttons 115 during play. It should be understood, that for smaller screens, it may be required or desirable to show only certain subgroups of buttons on the touchscreen of a mobile device at any given time, particularly if the mobile device is a smartphone. For a larger device like a tablet or laptop with a larger screen, it may be possible to show the screen of EGM 100 as it would appear on touchscreen 105 at any particular time. In that case, all buttons may be shown, while some may be operational or not depending on the input required at that point in the game play cycle.
[0035] Similar to the sceens state 805, the state of the speakers 820 on EGM 100 is also propogated to mobile device 405. However, for speakers, state 820 in the present case is simply whether there is audio being played or not without any additional states.
[0036] As described earlier, messages related to other functionality on EGM 100 may also be communicated to mobile device 405. For example, the state of the cabinet 825 may provide indications related to the state of buttons 830, doors 835, keys 840 and any other components 845 on EGM 100.
[0037] FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which multiple EGMs 100 may be controlled simultaneously, or in parallel. In this case, the display of screens from each controlled EGM would be alternated on mobile device 405 as player input and the display of game outcomes is required. In this case, it will be necessary to clearly indicate to the player the particular current screen and the game in play on each particular remotely accessed EGM that is being viewed at any given time. A selection screen may be provided on the mobile device 405 on which are arranged a number of icons, each icon representing a respective EGM being controlled. A thumbnail picture may be shown at each icon to represent a screen state of the respective EGM. Alternatively a miniaturized video stream may be shown.
[0038] FIG. 10 is an embodiment where captured still image screenshots or streaming video of game play content may be in use. In the case of screenshots, EGM 100 sends screenshots of the particular game play screen to mobile device 405. In doing so, the image of a screenshot that in local operation mode would be shown on screen 105 is captured by a screengrabber program or hardware 1005. The captured screenshot image is encoded by encoder 1010 and input to a multiplexer 1015 before it is transmitted to mobile device 405. Upon being received by mobile device 405, the image is input to a demultiplexer 1020 and decoded by a decoder 1025 before it is displayed to the player on screen 1030 of mobile device 405. Within EGM 100, the screenshot image for a video screen may be captured using a program to freeze the needed screenshot. A host of freely available screenshot programs are available for this purpose, or a proprietary program may be used. Also, a program for handling multimedia such as FFmpeg may be used to handle the image during processing while a media player such as FFmpeg+ may be used to display the image on screen 1030 of mobile device 405. In the event that it is necessary to capture a set of spinning reels at one or more particular points during the game play cycle as opposed to an image on a video screen, a camera (not shown) positioned inside of the EGM cabinet may be used for this purpose.
[0039] In the case where streaming video of game play content is in use, it should be understood that the system works as described above for still image screenshots except that screenshots are taken continuously to generate a video. For example, screenshots may be captured sixty times per second. The individual frames are encoded into video using a video format such as mpeg2 video stream, h264 or any other video encoding format. The video is input to multiplexer 1015 which may split video streams into a group of different streams that are then merged by demultiplexer 1020 when the streams are received at mobile device 405.
[0040] FIG. 11 shows a block diagram of a group of EGMs 100a-f on a network connected to a group of remote access devices 405 a-f through a group of gateways a-n. This diagram shows the scalability and flexibility of a system of EGMs connecting to remote access devices while routing communications through a set of gateways 605a-n. As can be seen in Fig. 11, it is not necessary for an individual gateway 605 to be employed for each EGM-mobile device pairing. Instead a single gateway 605 may handle communications for large numbers of EGM-mobile device pairings provided each session established between an EGM and a mobile device is handled according to the procedures described herein. When a particular gateway reaches capacity, a pairing is established at another gateway. It should be understood that for the greatest level of flexibility, any EGM 100 in the system may be paired with any mobile device 405 across any gateway 605 with all gateways being configured in the network to be connectable to any EGM 100 and any mobile device 405.
[0041] While the invention has been described with respect to the figures, it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. Any variation and derivation from the above description and drawings are included in the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims.
1. A system in which a plurality of electronic gaming machines ("EGMs") are connected
on a network enabling players to play games on the EGMs by remotely accessing the
EGMs using a mobile device, comprising:
a mobile device for controlling an EGM in a remote access mode of operation;
a plurality of EGMs, each EGM comprising:
a random number generator for generating random numbers that determine the outcome of the game and that correspond to a predefined set of game outcomes including winning and losing outcomes;
a display for displaying game play including game outcomes to a player;
a set of inputs on the EGM from which a player may interface with the EGM;
an EGM controller for controlling game play on the EGM;
a mode controller for switching exclusively between:
a local access mode in which a player interacts with the EGM using the set of inputs; and
a remote access mode in which a player interacts with the EGM using a mobile device; and
a gateway between the EGM and the mobile device for facilitating communication between the EGM and the mobile device.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device is one of a group of electronic devices
from the group including: (a) a smartphone; (b) a tablet computer; (c) a laptop computer;
(d) a portable video gaming device; and (e) a dedicated device on which a player may
access an EGM in the remote access mode.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the EGM further comprises an identification code and
further wherein the mobile device initiates a remote access mode session by reading
the identification code and transmitting a signal to the EGM including the identification
code requesting that the EGM initiate a remote access mode session.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the EGM further comprises an EGM remote session capture
component for capturing game play and transmitting the game play, including game outcomes
to the mobile device during a remote session for display to the player.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein the game play content is provided in a form that comprises
one or more among the group comprising: (a) screenshot images; (b) video content;
or (c) audio content.
6. A method of operating an electronic gaming machine ("EGM") among a plurality of EGMs
connected on a network for which players are enabled to play games on the EGMs remotely
using a mobile device, comprising:
obtaining an identification code at the mobile device from a particular EGM on which a player has decided to initiate a remote access play session;
providing an initiation request including the identification code from the mobile device to the particular EGM;
establishing a communication link on a gateway between the mobile device and the EGM to enable communications comprising player input from the mobile device to the EGM and game play content provided from the EGM to the mobile device during the remote access play session;
de-activating a set of inputs on the EGM during the remote access play session;
playing one or more games during the remote access play session using inputs on the mobile device to provide player selections to the EGM and receiving game play content from the EGM that is received by the player on the mobile device including game outcomes;
completing the remote access play session; and
re-activating the set of inputs on the EGM and de-activating the communication link on the gateway between the mobile device and the EGM.
7. The method of claim 6 further comprising activating at least two remote access play
sessions on a mobile device on at least two corresponding EGMs in parallel.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the mobile device is one of a group of electronic device
from the group including: (a) a smartphone; (b) a tablet computer; (c) a laptop computer;
(d) a portable video gaming device; and (e) a dedicated device on which a player may
access an EGM in the remote access mode.
9. The method of claim 6 wherein identification code is a QR code.
10. The method of claim 6 wherein the game play content is provided in a form that comprises
one or more among the group comprising: (a) screenshot images; (b) video content;
or (c) audio content..
REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.
Patent documents cited in the description