Controlling gaming effects on available presentation devices of gaming network nodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10002491-B2
Application number	US-201013382783-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2010
Priority date	Jul 7, 2009
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include determining a bank gaming effect for presentation on a bank of content presentation devices. The bank of content presentation devices can be associated with a plurality of wagering game machines. The operations can further include receiving presentation status information for the bank of content presentation devices. The presentation status information can indicate one or more events that affect a state of availability of each of the bank of content presentation devices to present the bank gaming effect. The operations can further include determining, based on the presentation status information, one content presentation device, from the bank of content presentation devices, that is ineligible to present the bank gaming effect. The operations can also include excluding the one content presentation device from participation in the bank gaming effect.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of operating a gaming system primarily dedicated to providing at least one casino wagering game, the gaming system including a plurality of wagering game machines and one or more controllers, the method comprising:
selecting, by one or more processors of the one or more controllers, a plurality of content presentation devices for presentation of a gaming effect, wherein the plurality of content presentation devices comprise video, sound production or lighting devices associated with a plurality of wagering game machines, wherein each of the plurality of content presentation devices has an identifier, and wherein a portion of the gaming effect is configured to be synchronized across the plurality of content presentation devices and the plurality of wagering game machines, and wherein the portion of the gaming effect is presented without interruption via the plurality of content presentation devices during a time interval;
receiving, into a non-transitory machine-readable medium coupled to the one or more content controllers, presentation status information for at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices, wherein the presentation status indicates a state of availability of the at least one of the video, sound production or lighting devices;
determining, by the one or more controllers, based on the presentation status information, that the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices is unavailable to present the portion of the gaming effect during the time interval; and
utilizing, by the one or more processors of the one or more controllers, the presentation status information and the identifier for each of the plurality of content presentation devices to generate a transmission schedule in the non-transitory machine-readable medium, that synchronizes timing of transmissions of content control data for the gaming effect to the plurality of content presentation devices, wherein the transmission schedule is configured to schedule content control data to be sent to eligible content presentation devices using the identifier for each eligible content presentation device of the eligible content presentation devices, and wherein the transmission schedule omits the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices that is unavailable to present the portion of the gaming effect based, at least in part, on the presentation status information and the identifier of the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices that is unavailable to present the portion of the gaming effect.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first presentation priority value associated with a content presentation event that occurs via at least one of the plurality of wagering game machines associated with the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices;
determining a second presentation priority value associated with the gaming effect; and
determining that the first presentation priority value exceeds the second presentation priority value in presentation importance.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the content presentation event comprises one or more of a lighting event that requires access to the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices and a wagering game related event that prohibits use of the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
monitoring the presentation status information for a change in one or more events that affect the state of availability;
determining, based on the presentation status information, that the one or more events make the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices eligible to present the gaming effect after the time interval; and
sending content control data to the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices to present additional portions of the gaming effect.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the presentation status information includes an indication of lighting data sent from one or more lighting control sources to the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices, and further comprising:
determining, from the presentation status information, that the one or more lighting control sources have priority access to the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining that the portion of the gaming effect includes a distinct content element that is distinct from other content elements of the gaming effect; and
determining that the distinct content element would be omitted from a presentation of the portion of the gaming effect in response to the determining that the at least one of the plurality of presentation devices is unavailable.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the distinct content element is used, via the gaming effect, to indicate a potential game outcome, and wherein the distinct content element is required to be presented continuously during the gaming effect.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein
the identifier comprises a network address of the at least one of the plurality of content presentation devices.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:
determining, based on the presentation status information, eligible lighting devices, from the plurality of content presentation devices, that are eligible to present the portion of the gaming effect;
including the eligible lighting devices in the transmission schedule; and
transmitting the content control data, according to the transmission schedule, to the eligible lighting devices.

10. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising:
determining that a second content presentation device is associated with the at least one of the plurality of the content presentation devices that is unavailable;
excluding the second content presentation device irrespective of the state of availability of the second content presentation device.

11. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a set of one or more processors cause the set of one or more processors to perform operations for operating a gaming system primarily dedicated to providing at least one casino wagering game, the gaming system including a plurality of wagering game machines and one or more controllers, the operations comprising:
selecting a plurality of content presentation devices for presentation of a gaming effect synchronized across a plurality of associated wagering game machines arranged in a bank configuration, wherein the gaming effect is configured to be presented without interruption via the plurality of content presentation devices, wherein the plurality of content presentation devices comprise video, sound production or lighting devices associated with the plurality of wagering game machines, and wherein each of the plurality of content presentation devices has an identifier;
receiving presentation status information for the plurality of presentation devices, wherein the presentation status information indicates one or more events that affect states of availability of the video, sound production or lighting devices to present the gaming effect;
determining, based on the presentation status information, a first one or more of the plurality of presentation devices that are ineligible to present the gaming effect;
determining, based on the presentation status information

Assignees

• Greenberg Jacob C
• Gronkowski Timothy T
• Holmes John Michael
• Loose Timothy C
• Ugarte Jr Martin R
• Velu Muthu
• Bally Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Greenberg Jacob C
• Gronkowski Timothy T
• Holmes John Michael
• Loose Timothy C
• Ugarte Jr Martin R
• Velu Muthu

Classifications

• G07F17/3211

  Display means · CPC title

• A63F13/52

  involving aspects of the displayed game scene · CPC title

• G07F17/3227 Primary

  Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters · CPC title

• G07F17/3223

  Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, leader-follower, wireless communication · CPC title