Method and system for player group sharing and redistributing gaming awards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11514756-B2
Application number	US-202117479235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2021
Priority date	Feb 20, 2019
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

An electronic gaming system is capable of forming a multi-player group to play a game; receiving, from a first gaming device, first game play information for a first game played by a first player member of the multi-player group on the first gaming device; determining that the first game play information comprises a first winning outcome corresponding to a first winning outcome; in response, allocating the first winning outcome among the first and second player members; and notifying a second gaming device of the second player member that the second player member has received the second portion of the first winning outcome.

First claim

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A method for sharing player awards in a gaming system, comprising:
forming, by a processor of a gaming system, a multi-player group to play a gaming session comprising multiple games to be played by the multi-player group, the multi-player group comprising multiple player members and the multiple games are played substantially simultaneously by the multiple player members of the multi-player group, the forming comprising:
receiving, via a network interface by the gaming system processor and from a first user device associated with a first player member, a group formation request to form the multi-player group;
sending, via the network interface to a user device associated with each of a plurality of potential player members for the multi-player group, a join request comprising an invitation to join the multi-player group;
receiving, via the network interface and from a plurality of user devices, a plurality of join request responses; and
validating each join request response by confirming for each join request: that a sequence of characters in the join request response matches a predetermined sequence of characters, that a location of a corresponding user device is within a specified location, that the join request response was received within a selected period of time, that the join request response was sent by a selected communication modality, and/or that the join request was received substantially synchronously with a group chat comprising the corresponding user device;

receiving, by the network interface of the gaming system, game play information for a game in the gaming session;
determining, by the gaming system processor, that the game play information comprises a winning outcome corresponding to an award;
in response to the processor determining that the game play information comprises the winning outcome, allocating, by the gaming system processor, the winning outcome among the player members of the multi-player group;
notifying, by a network interface, a user device corresponding to each player member of the multi-player group of the share of the winning outcome allocated to the respective player member; and
incrementing, by the gaming system processor, a value of an electronic record associated with an account of each of the player members of the multi-player group to reflect an allocable share of the winning outcome.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gaming system processor validates successfully each of the join request responses, wherein the plurality of user devices comprise electronic gaming machines, wherein the multiple games comprise a slot game, wherein the winning outcome comprises a jackpot, wherein one of the player members in the multi-player group plays a game in the gaming session independent of games in the gaming session played by other player members of the multi-player group, and wherein the group formation request comprises a number of potential player members invited to be in the multi-player group, an invitation code to be input by each of the invited potential player members, and a predetermined rule set defining allocation of the winning outcome among the player members of the multi-player group and a duration of the multi-player group, the predetermined sequence of characters comprising the invitation code.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the winning outcome comprises a progressive jackpot, wherein different player members have different allocable shares, and further comprising:
receiving, by the gaming system processor via the network interface and from a second user device associated with a second player member, a join request response to join the multi-player group, the join request response comprising the invitation code and agreement by the second player member to the predetermined rule set;
initiating, by the gaming system processor, the allocating and notifying when a join request response is received from a number of player members of the multi-player group; and
terminating, by the gaming system processor, the multi-player group when the duration of the multi-player group reaches a predetermined time.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple games are played independently by the multiple player members, wherein the user device comprises a gaming machine, wherein one of the player members in the multi-player group plays a game in the gaming session independent of games in the gaming session played by other player members of the multi-player group, wherein the winning outcome comprises a bonus, wherein the group formation request comprises a plurality of a number of potential player members invited to be in the multi-player group, an identity of the potential player members, contact information for the plurality of potential player members and/or user devices of the potential player members, an invitation code to be input by each of the invited potential player members, the predetermined sequence of characters comprising the invitation code, a predetermined rule set defining requirements for group initiation, allocation of the winning outcome among the player members of the multi-player group, and a duration of the multi-player group, wherein the join request comprises a request to agree to at least some of the predetermined rule set, wherein the forming comprises:
forming the multi-player group after the validating and upon confirming that the multi-player group satisfies a predetermined set of group initiation rules; and further comprising:
initiating, by the gaming system processor, the winning outcome allocating and user device notifying after termination of a join time interval determined by the gaming system, wherein an allocable share of each player member is determined pseudo-randomly on a winning outcome-by-winning outcome basis, wherein the winning outcome allocating and notifying the user device occur after termination of the gaming session, and wherein different player members have different allocable shares.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the player members in the multi-player group plays a game independent of games played by other player members of the multi-player group, wherein the user device comprises a virtual gaming machine and further comprising:
initiating, by the gaming system processor, the allocating and notifying after at least a predetermined amount of money is received by the gaming system to fund the games played by the player members of the multi-player group;
when an award sharing message is opened by a player member of the multi-player group, incrementing, by the gaming system processor, a value of an electronic record associated with the account of the player member to reflect the player member's allocable share of the winning outcome, wherein each of the player members share equally in the winning outcome; and
terminating, by the gaming system processor, the multi-player group when an amount of money is used by the player members of the multi-player group to play games in the gaming session on virtual gaming machines.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein notifying the user device comprises sending the award sharing message to an account of a corresponding player member on a social networking website, wherein one of the player members in the multi-player group plays a game in the gaming session independent of games in the gaming session played by other player members of the multi-player group, wherein the user device comprises a video game gambling machine, wherein the game is video poker, and further comprising:
when an award sharing message is opened by a notified player member of the multi-player group within a predetermined time, incrementing, by the gaming system processor, a value of an electronic record associated with the account of the notified

Assignees

• Igt Reno Nev

Inventors

• Yi Fei
• Gong Wei

Classifications

• G07F17/3274

  wherein the players cooperate, e.g. team-play · CPC title

• G07F17/3225

  Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users · CPC title

• G07F17/3253 Primary

  involving articles, e.g. paying in bottles, paying out toys · CPC title

• G07F17/3281

  wherein game attributes are transferred between players, e.g. points, weapons, avatars · CPC title

• G07F17/3272 Primary

  Games involving multiple players · CPC title