System and method for positionally accurate gaming content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019073869-A1
Application number	US-201816179554-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 2, 2018
Priority date	Sep 23, 2014
Publication date	Mar 7, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system is disclosed for providing access to first interactive content or second interactive content by a user of a portable computing device based upon a determined location of the portable computing device. The system includes a host server, a content server storing data representing the first interactive content and the second interactive content, and a communication network in communication with the host server and the content server. One or more WiFi communication beacons are in communication with the host server through the communication network. The communication network is configured to establish communication with the portable computing device. The host server is configured to determine a location of the portable computing device from the communication of the portable computing device with the communication network using a combination of WiFi signals and Bluetooth signals. The host server configured to control the content server and enable the portable computing device to display the first interactive content when the portable computing device is determined to be in a first location and to display the second interactive content when the portable computing device is determined to be in a second location.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A method comprising:
determining a location of a portable computing device; in response to the determined location being a first location, enabling the portable computing device to play games using a first type of player input, but not a second type of player input; and in response to the determined location being a second location, enabling the portable computing device to play games using the second type of player input, the second type of player input being different than the first type of player input.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step uses at least one of cellular tower positioning or GPS signals.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step uses WiFi trilateration.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step uses proximity, RSSI, and fixed geographic location of a transmitting device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first type of player input includes touch inputs via a touchscreen interface of the portable computing device, and the second type of player input includes gestures made with the portable computing device.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the gestures include pitch, roll, and yaw inputs.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step is performed at least in part by a host server in communication with the portable computing device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further including delivering the games from a content server to the portable computing device.

9 . A method comprising:
determining a location of a portable computing device relative to a fixed-location game display of a fixed-location gaming device, the fixed-location game display configured to display a wagering game; in response to the determined location being a first location in view of the fixed-location game display, enabling the portable computing device to display only a wagering interface but not game play content for the wagering game; and in response to the determined location being a second location out of view of the fixed-location game display, enabling the portable computing device to display both the wagering interface and the game play content for the wagering game.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining step uses at least one of cellular tower positioning or GPS signals.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining step uses WiFi trilateration.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining step uses proximity, RSSI, and fixed geographic location of a transmitting device.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further including:
in response to the determined location being the first location, enabling the portable computing device to play the wagering game using a first type of player input, but not a second type of player input; and in response to the determined location being the second location, enabling the portable computing device to play the wagering game using the second type of player input, the second type of player input being different than the first type of player input.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first type of player input includes touch inputs via a touchscreen interface of the portable computing device, and the second type of player input includes gestures made with the portable computing device.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the gestures include pitch, roll, and yaw inputs.

16 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining step is performed at least in part by a host server in communication with the portable computing device.

17 . The method of claim 9 , further including delivering data associated with the wagering game from a content server to the portable computing device.

18 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the gaming device is a gaming table hosting a live or electronic table game.

19 . One or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage mediums having instructions stored thereon for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a location of a portable computing device; in response to the determined location being a first location, enabling the portable computing device to play games using a first type of player input, but not a second type of player input; and in response to the determined location being a second location, enabling the portable computing device to play games using the second type of player input, the second type of player input being different than the first type of player input.

20 . The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 19 , wherein the first type of player input includes touch inputs via a touchscreen interface of the portable computing device, and the second type of player input includes gestures made with the portable computing device.

Assignees

• Bally Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Hilbert Scott Thomas
• Hedrick Joseph Randolph
• Beaulieu Nicole Marie

Classifications

• G07F17/3272

  Games involving multiple players · CPC title

• G07F17/3218

  wherein at least part of the system is portable · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W4/30

  Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes · CPC title

• H04L67/38

  Electricity · mapped topic