Linked communications for gaming systems using acoustic signatures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10510207-B2
Application number	US-201816140932-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2018
Priority date	Sep 27, 2017
Publication date	Dec 17, 2019
Grant date	Dec 17, 2019

Abstract

A gaming system includes logic circuitry and a gaming machine for conducting a casino wagering game. The logic circuitry receives, via an acoustic input component of the gaming machine, an acoustic capture signal representative of a player account identifier corresponding to a player account from a mobile device, determines the player account identifier represented by the capture signal, and associates a gaming session on the gaming machine with the corresponding player account. In addition, the logic circuitry, in response to receiving in a prescribed manner, via the acoustic input component, an acoustic maintain-session signal from the mobile device, maintains the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the corresponding player account for a period of time, In response to failing to receive the maintain-session signal in the prescribed manner, the logic circuitry terminates the association between the gaming session and the corresponding player account.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gaming system comprising:
a gaming machine configured to conduct a casino wagering game, the gaming machine including an acoustic input component; and
logic circuitry configured to:
receive, via the acoustic input component, an acoustic capture signal from a mobile device, the capture signal representative of a player account identifier corresponding to a player account, the capture signal having distinctive capture characteristics;
determine the player account identifier represented by the capture signal and associate a gaming session of the casino wagering game on the gaming machine with the corresponding player account;
in response to receiving, in a prescribed manner via the acoustic input component, an acoustic maintain-session signal from the mobile device, the maintain-session signal having distinctive maintain-session characteristics, maintain the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the corresponding player account for a period of time; and
in response to failing to receive the maintain-session signal in the prescribed manner, terminate the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the corresponding player account.

2. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the gaming machine includes a presence sensor, and wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:
detect, via the presence sensor, an indication of the mobile device being within a detection range; and
in response to detecting the indication, trigger the gaming machine to receive the capture signal.

3. The gaming system of claim 2 , wherein the presence sensor is a proximity sensor.

4. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the maintain-session signal includes a unique session identifier and wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to link the session identifier to the gaming session.

5. The gaming system of claim 4 , wherein the logic circuitry is configured to, in response to detecting, via the logic circuitry, a different session identifier within the maintain-session signal, end the gaming session.

6. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the prescribed manner of receiving the maintain-session signal includes receiving the maintain-session signal periodically according to a predetermined time schedule.

7. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the prescribed manner of receiving the maintain-session signal includes determining a distance between the mobile device and the gaming machine and, in response to the distance exceeding a predetermined maximum distance, storing game play information associated with the gaming session and terminating the gaming session.

8. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the capture signal or the maintain-session signal is an audible tone.

9. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:
receive, via the acoustic input component, an acoustic signal; and
determine a signal type of the acoustic signal as a capture signal, a maintain-session signal, or acoustic noise, based upon characteristics of the acoustic signal, wherein the capture characteristics of a capture signal are different from the maintain-session characteristics of a maintain-session signal.

10. The gaming system of claim 9 , wherein the capture signal has a first modulation scheme and the maintain-session signal has a second modulation scheme different from the first modulation scheme.

11. A method of operating a gaming system, the gaming system including logic circuitry and a gaming machine with an acoustic input component, the method comprising:
receiving, by the logic circuitry via the acoustic input component, an acoustic capture signal from a mobile device, the capture signal representative of a player account identifier corresponding to a player account, the capture signal having distinctive capture characteristics;
determining, via the logic circuitry, the player account identifier represented by the capture signal and associating, via the logic circuitry, a gaming session on the gaming machine with the corresponding player account; and
transmitting, to the corresponding player account via the logic circuitry, game-play information related to the gaming session on the gaming machine.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the distinctive capture characteristics include a particular signal modulation method.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the player account identifier is embedded in the signal modulation.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the signal modulation method is a digital modulation scheme.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the signal modulation method is one of frequency-shift keying (FSK), phase-shift keying (PSK), or amplitude-shift keying (ASK).

16. A method of operating a gaming system including logic circuitry and a gaming machine having an acoustic input component, the method comprising:
initiating, via the logic circuitry, a gaming session on the gaming machine, the gaming session being associated with a player account;
in response to receiving, in a prescribed manner via the acoustic input component, a maintain-session signal from a mobile device, the maintain-session signal having distinctive maintain-session characteristics, maintaining, via the logic circuitry, the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the player account for a period of time; and
in response to failing to receive the maintain-session signal in the prescribed manner, terminating, via the logic circuitry, the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the player account.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein terminating the association between the gaming session and the player account further comprises:
establishing, via the logic circuitry, a maintain-session counter having an initial value for the gaming session;
causing, via the logic circuitry, the maintain-session counter to increment or decrement periodically, wherein the maintain-session counter is reset to the initial value in response to the maintain-session signal being received in the prescribed manner;
comparing, via the logic circuitry, the maintain-session counter to a predetermined threshold value; and
ending, via the logic circuitry, association between the gaming session and the player account in response to the maintain-session counter matching the threshold value.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:
analyzing, via the logic circuitry, the maintain-session signal to determine a session identifier represented by the maintain-session signal;
determining, via the logic circuitry, whether the session identifier is associated with the mobile device; and
in response to determining the session identifier is associated with the mobile device, maintaining, via the logic circuitry, the association between the gaming session on the gaming machine and the player account for a period of time.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the prescribed manner of receiving the maintain-session signal includes receiving the maintain-session signal periodically according to a predetermined time schedule.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:
prior to receiving an expected maintain-session signal according to the predetermined time schedule, activating, by the logic circuitry, the acoustic input component; and
in response to receiving the expected maintain session signal, deactivating, via the logic circuitry, the acoustic input component until activation for a subsequent exp

Assignees

• Bally Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Lyons Martin
• Gray Ronald

Classifications

• G07F17/3241 Primary

  Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance (computer security G06F21/00) · CPC title