阅读说明：本技术 用于游戏产业记账的网络架构 (Network architecture for gaming industry accounting ) 是由 多米尼克·默哈德 大卫·库巴雅克 迈克·阮 于 2019-09-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：外围设备安装于电子游戏机的机柜并配置为检测娱乐场游戏的玩家的个人电子设备并与其通信。所述个人电子设备配置为向所述外围设备通信传送身份信息和/或账户信息,所述外围设备又能够用于使得能够在所述电子游戏机上玩游戏。本发明涉及的其它实施例涉及促进对娱乐场环境中的全部积点或真实交易进行密码加密和可验证的记账的网络架构。(Peripheral devices are mounted to a cabinet of an electronic gaming machine and are configured to detect and communicate with personal electronic devices of players of a casino game. The personal electronic device is configured to communicate identity information and/or account information to the peripheral device, which in turn can be used to enable game play on the electronic gaming machine. Other embodiments to which the invention relates are directed to network architectures that facilitate cryptographically encrypted and verifiable accounting for all points or real transactions in a casino environment.)

1. A peripheral device for an electronic gaming machine in a casino environment, the peripheral device having:

a mobile interface device configured to establish a communication channel with a personal electronic device of a player; and

a dedicated processing unit configured to receive an identifier from the mobile interface device and send instructions to a peripheral controller in the electronic gaming machine to authorize a transaction between an account associated with the identifier and the electronic gaming machine.

2. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the communication channel is a secure communication channel.

3. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the communication channel is a wireless communication channel.

4. Peripheral device according to claim 3,

the wireless communication channel is a bluetooth communication channel.

5. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the peripheral equipment is arranged on a cabinet of the electronic game machine.

6. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the dedicated processing unit is communicatively connected to a server, the dedicated processing unit being configured to verify the identifier based on input received from the server.

7. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the identifier includes a name of the player.

8. Peripheral device according to claim 1,

the identifier comprises an account number.

9. A system for identifying a player account in a casino environment, the system comprising a personal electronic device and an electronic gaming machine,

the electronic game machine includes:

a game machine processing unit;

a peripheral controller in communication with the gaming machine processing unit; and

a dedicated processing unit configured to receive an identifier from the personal electronic device and send instructions to the peripheral controller to cause crediting to the gaming machine processing unit from an account associated with the identifier.

10. The system of claim 9,

the personal electronic device is a cellular telephone.

11. The system of claim 9,

the special purpose processing unit includes a wireless mobile device interface.

12. The system of claim 9,

the special purpose processing unit is communicatively connected to a server, and the special purpose processing unit is configured to query the server with the identifier to determine the account.

13. The system of claim 9,

the identifier includes information regarding the identity of a player controlling the personal electronic device.

14. The system of claim 9,

the identifier includes an account balance.

15. A method of recording transactions between players and electronic gaming machines in a casino environment, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server communicatively connected to the electronic gaming machine, a request to record a first transaction between the player and the electronic gaming machine;

combining the first transaction with the second transaction;

calculating a first bi-directional hash of the first transaction and the second transaction; and

a second bidirectional hash of the first bidirectional hash and the previously calculated bidirectional hashes of at least the third transaction and the fourth transaction is calculated.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

verifying the first transaction using the player's public key.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

the first transaction is verified using a public key of the electronic gaming machine.

18. The method of claim 15,

the second bi-directional hash is associated with a block in the chain of blocks.

19. The method of claim 15,

the first transaction includes identity information of the player.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

the second bidirectional hash is stored in memory.

Technical Field

Embodiments described herein relate to computer network architectures, and more particularly, to computer network architectures configured to facilitate recording, tracking, and auditing wagers, transactions, and/or promotions for cash substitutes in a casino, wagering, gaming, or shooting environment.

Background

A regulatory body may require a gaming industry entity, such as a casino, to maintain an accurate record of cashless transactions (e.g., ticket-in-ticket-out transactions, player card transactions, etc.) initiated by or made through an electronic gaming machine controlled by the entity. Typically, such transaction records are communicated directly from the electronic gaming machine to a local or remote server using software and/or hardware approved by a regulatory agency.

However, existing electronic gaming machines typically process cashless transactions without verifying the identity of the individual authorizing or performing the transaction. For example, when a player card is inserted into an electronic gaming machine, the electronic gaming machine automatically debits a player account associated with the player card without verifying the identity of the person inserting the card.

Moreover, once approved, cashless transaction reporting hardware and/or software associated with the electronic gaming machine cannot be modified to incorporate new or additional features (including features that enhance security) without going through expensive and time-consuming re-approval processes performed or authorized by regulatory agencies.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments described herein relate to a peripheral device for use with an electronic gaming machine in a casino environment. The peripheral device has: a mobile interface device configured to establish a communication channel with a personal electronic device of a player; and a dedicated processing unit configured to receive the identifier from the mobile interface device. Thereafter, the specialized processing unit is configured to send instructions to a peripheral controller in the electronic gaming machine to authorize a transaction between an account associated with the identifier and the electronic gaming machine.

Embodiments described herein relate to a system for identifying player accounts in a casino environment. These example systems include personal electronic devices and electronic gaming machines. The electronic game machine includes: a game machine processing unit; a peripheral controller in communication with the gaming machine processing unit; and a dedicated processing unit. The dedicated processing unit is configured to receive an identifier from a personal electronic device and in response send instructions to the peripheral controller to credit the gaming machine processing unit from an account associated with the identifier.

Other embodiments described herein relate to a method of recording transactions between a player and an electronic gaming machine in a casino environment, the method comprising the acts of: receiving, at a server communicatively connected to the electronic gaming machine, a request to record a first transaction between a player and the electronic gaming machine; combining the first transaction with the second transaction; calculating a first bi-directional hash of the first transaction and the second transaction; and calculating a second bidirectional hash of the first bidirectional hash and the previously calculated bidirectional hashes of at least the third transaction and the fourth transaction.

Drawings

Hereinafter, representative embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be understood that the following description is not intended to limit the invention to one embodiment. On the contrary, the present disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the embodiments described herein, and the scope of the invention should be determined based on the appended claims.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a casino system configured for use in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a simplified schematic diagram of a casino system configured for use in accordance with at least one embodiment to which the invention relates.

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of a casino system to which the present invention relates, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to communicate with a server outside of the casino network.

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram of a casino system to which the present invention relates, wherein a personal electronic device is configured to communicate with a dedicated processing unit in an electronic gaming machine.

FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram of a casino system to which the present invention relates, wherein a personal electronic device is configured to communicate with a server within a casino network.

FIG. 5 is another simplified schematic diagram of a casino system to which the present invention relates, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to communicate with a server within a casino network.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a casino system configured to record transactions in a casino into a blockchain.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another casino system configured to record transactions in a casino into a blockchain, particularly including a work coordination server for distributing computing work tasks.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example of operation of a method for identifying a player account using a personal electronic device in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an example of operation of a method for identifying a player account using a personal electronic device in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation of a method of receiving and verifying transactions in a casino blockchain environment.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of operation of a method for combining authenticated transactions into tiles in a casino blockchain environment.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of operation of another method for combining authenticated transactions into tiles in a casino blockchain environment.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a method of identifying a player and an electronic game machine using a personal electronic device according to the present invention.

FIG. 14A is a simplified diagram of a system for associating a player account with an electronic gaming machine creation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14B is a simplified diagram of another system for associating a player account with an electronic gaming machine creation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14C is a simplified diagram of another system for associating a player account with an electronic gaming machine creation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14D is a simplified diagram of another system for associating a player account with an electronic gaming machine creation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14E is a simplified diagram of another system for associating a player account with an electronic gaming machine creation in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a method of disassociating an electronic gaming machine from a player account according to the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a method of associating an electronic gaming machine with player account creation according to the present invention.

The use of the same or similar reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar, related, or identical items.

Further, it is to be understood that the proportions and dimensions (relative or absolute) of the various features and elements (and collections and combinations thereof) and the limits, spacings and positional relationships therebetween are provided in the drawings for ease of understanding only, and thus the embodiments of the present invention are not necessarily shown or illustrated to scale and are not intended to particularly point out any trends or requirements for the illustrated embodiments but to exclude the embodiments described with reference thereto.

Detailed Description

Some embodiments of the invention relate to a distributed computer network architecture configured to verify a player's identity and also record, track, and/or audit cash-substitute wagers, transactions, redemptions, and/or promotions initiated, processed, or facilitated by electronic gaming machines (e.g., slot machines, video card machines, keno gaming machines, etc.) under the control of gaming industry entities (e.g., casinos or other wagering, gaming, or shooting environments) without the need to modify and/or integrate gaming machine processing units or existing accounting systems or computer network systems used by the gaming industry entities.

More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to a distributed computer network architecture in which a "player" (also referred to as a patron, customer, user, etc.) of an electronic gaming machine in a casino authorizes personal information communication from a personal electronic device controlled by the player to a dedicated processing unit (also referred to as a "peripheral") mounted to the same or a nearby cabinet of the electronic gaming machine, thereby enabling the electronic gaming machine to identify himself or herself.

In this manner, the player's personal electronic device is able to facilitate secure and verified interaction with the electronic gaming machine (e.g., recharging a player's account to play a game) without requiring the player to save, carry, or present game play credentials (e.g., ticket-in-ticket vouchers, player cards, etc.), property, or other cashless tokens to the electronic gaming machine. The result of this structure is that a player can more quickly begin playing a game, more quickly redeem it, and receive casino-offered promotions or coupons on their personal electronic device regardless of whether the player is currently interacting with the electronic gaming machine. Further, as described in the present invention, the electronic game machine is optionally manufactured without some conventional components such as a ticket-in-and-out machine, a voucher printer, a bill validator, and the like, which may be mechanically malfunctioning. As a result, such an electronic game machine can achieve high reliability and durability superior to the mechanical life.

Continuing with the above example, in many embodiments, to establish a secure communication channel between the personal electronic device and the dedicated processing unit, an application executed by the player's personal electronic device facilitates wireless communication (using one or more standardized or proprietary wireless communication protocols) with a wireless communication module of the dedicated processing unit in the electronic gaming machine. Thereafter, the personal electronic device can securely exchange information with the dedicated processing unit. Examples of wireless communication protocols include, and are not limited to: Wi-Fi; bluetooth; near field communication; infrared rays; optical communication; cellular communication; acoustic communication (acoustics communication); image-based communication (image-based communication); fiducial markers for image processing, and the like.

In other examples, to establish a secure communication channel between the personal electronic device and the dedicated processing unit, the personal electronic device is connected directly and/or in electrical engagement with the dedicated processing unit in the electronic gaming machine (e.g., via a cable or docking station).

In these examples, as described above, once the secure communication channel is established, the personal electronic device can send or communicate any suitable information to the dedicated processing unit. Such information includes, but is not limited to: player identity information (e.g., name, birthday, gender, biometric information, etc.); financial information of the player (e.g., account number, account identifier, routing number, credit card number, player account information); player preferences or historical information (e.g., player history, game play history, player preferences, etc.); data from one or more sensors of the personal electronic device (e.g., temperature, camera data, microphone data, etc.); and so on.

In one embodiment, in response, the special purpose processing unit can communicate with a local or remote server that maintains an account associated with the player. If the player's account balance exceeds a minimum threshold level required to enable game play on the electronic gaming machine, the local or remote server sends a signal to cause issuance of gameplay credits to a gaming machine processing unit in the electronic gaming machine to enable the player to play a game rendered by the electronic gaming machine.

In another non-limiting manner, these embodiments replace and/or supplement traditional property, ticket-in-ticket, player cards, and/or other traditional systems and cashless interaction methods that are conducted between players and electronic gaming machines in a casino environment. As a result of this configuration, as described above, the electronic gaming machine is operated and/or configured with few components that may be subject to periodic mechanical failure (e.g., bill validators, printers, card readers, etc.), thereby increasing the reliability and lifetime of the electronic gaming machine. Additionally, as a result of this configuration, players can benefit from improved control and authorization of cashless transactions conducted and/or facilitated by electronic gaming machines in a casino environment.

For ease of description, many embodiments of the present invention refer to a "casino" as an example of a gaming industry entity, it being understood that it is only one example. Similarly, for ease of description, the phrase "electronic gaming machine" as used herein is generally understood to refer to a stationary slot machine within a casino, however, it is also understood that this is just one example of an electronic gaming machine. In other words, in some embodiments, other gaming industry entities and/or fixed, portable, and/or digital (e.g., software-based) electronic gaming machines and/or services can be adapted for use with the various embodiments described herein and their equivalents.

The phrase "personal electronic device" and its equivalents as used herein refers to any electronic device controlled by a player in a casino, whether or not the device belongs to or is operated by the casino or a particular player (e.g., a player is loaned while the player is at the casino). Examples of personal electronic devices include, and are not limited to: a mobile phone; a tablet computer; a portable computer; a smart watch; a smart wristband; a wireless paging system pager; a key fob; bluetooth enabled or Wi-Fi enabled accessory devices (e.g., headphones, health monitors, etc.); and so on.

As described herein, components of a personal electronic device include, but are not limited to: one or more processors, memory, a power source, one or more sensors, one or more communication interfaces, one or more data connectors, one or more power connectors, one or more input-output devices, such as speakers, rotary input devices, microphones, toggle buttons, mute buttons, biometric sensors, cameras, force-sensing pads, and/or touch-sensing pads, and the like.

The personal electronic device can include a display. The display can be implemented using any suitable technology, including, without limitation, a multi-touch and/or multi-stress touch screen using liquid crystal display technology, light emitting diode technology, organic light emitting display technology, organic electroluminescent technology, electronic ink, or other types of display technology or combinations of types of display technologies.

In many embodiments, one or more components of the personal electronic device can include, or be communicatively coupled to, circuitry and/or logic components, such as a processor and a memory. The processor of the personal electronic device can be implemented as any personal electronic device capable of processing, receiving or transmitting data or instructions. For example, the processor can be a microprocessor, central processing unit, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, digital signal processor, analog circuit, digital circuit, or a combination of these devices. The processor can be a single threaded or a multi-threaded processor. The processor can be a single core or multi-core processor.

Thus, as used herein, the phrase "processing unit" or more generally "processor" refers to a hardware-implemented data processing device or circuitry that is physically configured to perform specific data transformations, including data operations represented as code and/or instructions contained in programs stored in or accessible from memory. The term is intended to encompass a single processor or processing unit, a plurality of processors, a plurality of processing units, analog or digital circuitry, or other suitably configured computing element or combination of elements.

Further, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for recording specific transactions of a particular electronic gaming machine with a particular user in a casino environment. More broadly, these embodiments relate to a centralized or decentralized distributed computer network architecture that cryptographically signs transactions in a casino environment (e.g., by players, electronic gaming machines, other servers, or any other suitable intermediary or regulatory body), respectively, stores and logs in a distributed ledger.

These and other embodiments are discussed below with reference to fig. 1A-10. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the detailed description given herein with respect to the drawings is for purposes of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting.

In general, FIG. 1A illustrates a simplified system diagram of a casino environment including an electronic gaming machine, personal electronic devices, and a distributed network architecture to which the present invention relates. These requirements are described in particular detail below.

As noted above, casino operators (hereinafter more broadly referred to as "gaming industry entities") typically set up many electronic devices in a casino floor, as well as other locations where the operator needs to identify and authenticate a player and track transactions between the player and various electronic devices in the casino floor. Examples of such electronic devices include electronic gaming machines, point-of-sale terminals, electronic table games, and the like.

More specifically, casino operators are typically required to track transactions involving "property" and its equivalents, where "property" refers generally to any form of financial factor, such as monetary instruments issued by a governmental entity, bank credit, house credit, pre-paid local or remote accounts, and any other form of convertible and/or convertible denomination of financial value, whether inside the casino or elsewhere.

To facilitate tracking and auditing of such transactions, as well as the transfer of property between the player and the casino operator, conventional casino operators often encourage players to use casino-issued "cards" or paper vouchers, commonly referred to as "in-ticket-out" cards or paper vouchers and receipts. Essentially, a ticket-in-ticket card (e.g., by displaying and printing the player's name on the card) is used to identify the player and associate a given "point" value with the player. Typically, the point value is also credited to a "player account" in the casino accounting system, which associates the player's name and identity information with all of the credentials and points credited to the player. A player can attempt to limit access to and use of the ticket-in-ticket card, however in a traditional casino environment, anyone possessing the player's ticket-in-ticket card can transfer value from the card; casinos typically verify the identity of a player only when a ticket-in-ticket voucher is presented for redemption for a financial transaction.

To use a ticket-to-ticket card, a player (or, in general, anyone in possession of the card) can top up an account associated with the ticket-to-ticket card by paying the casino with property, or debiting one or more real money accounts (e.g., a financial institution's checking or savings account), or crediting one or more credit cards or similar accounts. These debits and credits are exchanged for casino "points" and other physical and digital properties that are redeemable at the casino.

Points in the player's account can be redeemed in the casino environment for almost any purpose, including wagering, wagering using casino games, purchasing meals or other items, visiting shows, or other activities. Points can also be converted into property upon request by the player. The points can be redeemed for assets at booths, electronic games, betting stations, online through mobile device software applications, or otherwise, and vice versa. Regardless of how such transactions occur, regulatory agencies require that each point of each instance in the transaction stream be tracked, including generation of points (redeemed for property), use (e.g., wagering results at an electronic gaming machine or purchases at a casino), and/or conversion to property again or other forms of consideration be provided to the player.

Typically, point tracking occurs across multiple casino computer systems and devices, including, for example, a master casino tracking system, a slot management system, a ticket entry-exit management system, a point of sale system, a property management system (e.g., for lodging, entertainment, and similar casino-related business systems), stand-alone electronic gaming machines, and the like. These devices and others are each communicatively connected to a central accounting server (or server set) that processes and records transactions.

In other words, and without limitation, virtually any device or system that is involved in paying for, redeeming, transferring, or using points in a casino environment is typically required to track each point and the identity of the player who collects, redeems, or otherwise transfers the points. As can be appreciated, these requirements introduce a high degree of complexity to casino games, systems and operators.

In addition, the primary games of casino gaming machines and systems are strictly regulated by one or more regulatory bodies, which may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. As described above, any changes to certain hardware and/or software components of an electronic gaming machine typically require re-validation and re-approval by the gaming regulatory authority. The re-authentication process can be lengthy and expensive, and during this process, the electronic gaming machine is offline and unavailable to the player.

These regulatory and technical limitations often prevent casino operators from changing basic gaming functions or otherwise modifying casino games, including modifying gaming machine processing units (improving playability, managing wagers, and/or maintaining meters in electronic gaming machines). Instead, new functions and hardware are typically designed in the following way: isolated and/or insulated from any supervised hardware or software component, and ideally not at all interacting therewith.

Further, it is understood that electronic gaming machines can operate for decades. It is therefore desirable to easily retrofit older electronic gaming machines with new features and functions, but some of these older electronic gaming machines may not have been designed with modern technological trends in mind.

To address those regulatory challenges described above, one prior approach involves a selectively usable dedicated peripheral controller, commonly referred to as a slot machine interface board. The peripheral controllers enable the electronic gaming machine and/or an external server or system to communicate with one or more peripheral devices without involving or interacting with the gaming machine processing unit. These peripheral devices do not typically affect the underlying game play of the electronic gaming machine (which is controlled by the gaming machine processing unit), but do provide additional incentives and features to the player. For example, peripheral devices interconnected to one or more electronic gaming machines typically provide coupon rewards, notify players of promotions, or otherwise through one or more peripheral controllers.

The peripheral controllers also enable the electronic gaming machine to communicate with other casino system servers and external servers via one or more networks, further without involving the gaming machine processing unit. Other designs are contemplated in other examples, some of which virtualize the functionality of the peripheral controller within the electronic gaming machine processor. To achieve a particular objective, different methods may be required to incorporate the new functionality without re-authenticating the gaming machine processing unit. Several examples of such systems are described in U.S. patent application 15/482,615 entitled "Bill differentiation and case Dispensing Device, System and Method for Use in aCasino Context," filed on 9, 22, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In other embodiments or examples, a peripheral controller may not be required. In these examples, the gaming machine processing unit in the electronic gaming machine is capable of communicating directly with other casino systems and external servers. In other embodiments, the gaming machine processing unit can be implemented as software running in a container or virtual machine on a processor, a peripheral controller or any suitable local or remote processor within the electronic gaming machine.

Thus, in general, for embodiments to which the invention relates, a dedicated processing unit can be installed in an electronic gaming cabinet as an add-on peripheral device configured to communicate with a peripheral controller.

In many embodiments, one or more components of the special-purpose processing unit may include, or be communicatively coupled to, circuitry and/or logic components, such as a processor and memory. The processor of the personal electronic device can be implemented as any personal electronic device capable of processing, receiving or transmitting data or instructions. For example, the processor can be a microprocessor, central processing unit, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, digital signal processor, analog circuit, digital circuit, or a combination of these devices. The processor can be a single threaded or a multi-threaded processor. The processor can be a single core or multi-core processor.

The dedicated processing unit is configured to communicate and securely communicate information with the player's personal electronic device. As a result of this configuration, when the dedicated processing unit receives identification or identification information from the personal electronic device, the peripheral device can coordinate the connection of the player's account with the electronic gaming machine so that the player can quickly and efficiently play games on the gaming machine. In some cases, this process is done transparently to the player; a player can sit at the electronic gaming machine and immediately begin interacting with the gaming machine. In other embodiments, the process is performed interactively with the user; a player can sit at an electronic gaming machine and receive an alert on their personal electronic device requesting permission to associate a player's account with the electronic gaming machine. In these examples, and others provided by the present invention, there is no need for a player to process, save, or maintain any player cards, vouchers, or other cashless tokens in order to interact with an electronic gaming machine in a casino.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example embodiment of a system to which the present invention relates. As shown in FIG. 1A, according to at least one embodiment of the invention, system 100 includes a gaming machine processing unit 102 communicatively coupled to a peripheral controller 104.

In the illustrated embodiment, the peripheral controller 104 is communicatively coupled to one or more peripheral devices (e.g., printer 106, bill validator 108) and a dedicated processing unit 110a, the dedicated processing unit 110a including (or otherwise coupled to) a mobile interface device 110b configured to communicate with the personal electronic device 112. In other embodiments, other peripheral devices may include, but are not limited to, for example, a display; a button; an uninterruptible power supply; network devices, and the like.

In the illustrated embodiment, the peripheral controller 104 is communicatively coupled to the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a, as described above, and the peripheral controller 104 facilitates identification, verification, and tracking of the player while the player interacts with the gaming machine processing unit 102, as discussed further below.

More specifically, the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a is configured to establish a secure connection with the player's personal electronic device 112 (and/or an application executing on the personal electronic device 112) using any suitable technique.

In one embodiment, all or a portion of the mobile interface devices 110b of the respective gaming machine processing units 102, peripheral controllers 104, and dedicated processing units 110a are provided or disposed at the gaming cabinet 114. The printer 106 and bill validator 108 can also be provided in the gaming cabinet 114 if desired, or the printer 106 and bill validator 108 can be provided separately as desired for one or more of any of the embodiments contemplated by the present embodiment or equivalents thereof.

As described with respect to other embodiments to which the present invention relates, the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a can be configured to utilize any mobile device interconnect components, protocols, and technologies, including and not limited to: bluetooth, Wi-Fi, near field communication, cellular and other wireless communication protocols, devices and systems now known and/or later developed, and the like. In many examples, the mobile interface device 110b of the special-purpose processing unit 110a includes at least one wired connection capable of connecting (e.g., via a cable connection, docking station, etc.) directly and/or electrically engaged with a personal electronic device. Several examples of Mobile interface Devices and their use are described in U.S. patent application 15/482,668 entitled "Device, System, and Method for manufacturing communications Between Electronic Gaming Machines and Mobile Devices," filed on 7/4/2017, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In one embodiment, the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a is configured to communicate data signals with the personal electronic device 112 using near field communication and bluetooth protocols (via one or more wireless radio frequency protocols). This example is discussed in more detail below, but it is understood that this is merely one example embodiment for ease of description and that other systems to which the present invention relates can configure the mobile interface device 100 to communicate with the personal electronic device 112 using any other suitable technique.

Continuing with the example introduced above, the personal electronic device 112 can be configured to identify and authenticate a player associated with the personal electronic device 112 to one or more servers provisioned in the casino system (e.g., the casino management system server 118). More specifically, the personal electronic device 112 can include a processor and memory that store player identification information. The processor of the personal electronic device 112 can be configured to execute programs, applications or services according to executable instructions stored in the memory. When the application is launched by the processor, a graphical user interface can optionally be provided to the player to enter, edit, or remove various personally-identifying specific details, such as, and not limited to: name information, address information, tax information, photo information, driver's license information, financial information, etc. In other embodiments, an application executed by a processor of personal electronic device 112 can be configured to access one or more specific details stored in a preference file of memory. In yet another example, an application executed by a processor of the personal electronic device 112 can be configured to access one or more remote databases to establish or obtain identity or identification information of a player operating the personal electronic device 112. Examples of remote databases include, without limitation: a cellular service subscriber database; a social media or social network database; a third party verification service; government or municipal approval services; and so on. In another example, an application executed by a processor of the personal electronic device 112 can present a graphical user interface requesting that a user of the personal electronic device 112 manually enter identification information and/or credentials. For example, the personal electronic device 112 can request that a user of the personal electronic device 112 submit a certificate to log into a third-party database, such as a social media website or a third-party authentication service or an account server provided by or otherwise associated with the casino.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing example embodiments are not exhaustive; it will be appreciated that a personal electronic device such as those described in this disclosure can be configured to store, obtain, and/or otherwise retrieve suitable identifying information sufficient to associate a player or other operator or holder of the personal electronic device with one or more accounts associated with a casino or a particular electronic gaming machine. In other embodiments, the personal electronic device can include, and is not limited to: requesting an account number to verify the identity of the player; taking a picture with a camera module to verify the identity of the player; requesting or asking the player to solve the Turing test; requesting or asking the user to provide biometric information (e.g., fingerprint, facial depth map, vein map, iris scan, etc.); requesting or asking the user to repeat the phrase to the microphone; requesting or asking a user to log into one or more third party services or websites; requesting or asking a user to present a code generated on a personal electronic device to an employee of a casino, an electronic gaming machine, or another device; requesting or requiring a user to photograph or scan a government issued identity document, such as a driver's license or passport; requesting or requiring a user to input a pin code or a password each time identity information is requested by the electronic game machine or a special processing unit in the electronic game machine; requesting or requiring the user to agree to the terms of the use certificate or agreement; requesting or asking the user to verify the user's age; requesting or asking the user to take a picture or scan a credit or debit card; etc. or any combination, sequence or series of the above.

Further, it will be appreciated that the personal electronic device can communicate information about the player to a dedicated processing unit (e.g., dedicated processing unit 110a) in any suitable manner. For example, the personal electronic device to which the present invention relates is capable of communicating in an encrypted or unencrypted manner including, but not limited to: a name; a birthday; a picture; a driver license number; a passport number; a pin code; an account number; a cryptographic signature or public key; an account balance; betting preferences (e.g., maximum, minimum, denomination, etc.); a dietary preference; a beverage preference; game play parameter preferences (e.g., playback speed, animation preferences, wagering parameters, etc.); performance or event participation preferences; time or period since a particular event; nationality; age; an address; version information about an operating system of the personal electronic device; version information about an application operating on the personal electronic device; performance information about the user; a player's history of wagers; etc., or any combination, sequence or series of the above.

In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a personal electronic device such as that described in this disclosure can be configured in any suitable manner to request or obtain information about a player in any suitable manner. Thus, the phrase "information" as used herein with respect to a player is understood to refer to any information or data relating to or otherwise related to the player or the player's personal electronic device, whether stored, accessed, obtained, requested, or provided to the personal electronic device. The information can be communicated in an encrypted or unencrypted manner, in a compressed or uncompressed manner, and according to any suitable file format or data transfer protocol now known or later developed.

Returning to the example presented in FIG. 1A, it can be appreciated that the personal electronic device 112 can be provided by a player, by a casino, or otherwise. As described above, personal electronic device 112 can be any device configured to wirelessly identify and/or authenticate a player to a casino management system server, such as casino management system server 118. Examples of such personal electronic devices include, and are not limited to: smart phones, smart watches, and other personal mobile computing devices capable of communicating with an electronic gaming machine through a wireless connection. In accordance with at least one embodiment and as discussed in more detail below, such wireless connections are authenticated and secure.

Further, it should be appreciated that the communication paths and/or links communicatively connecting the various gaming machine processing units 102, peripheral controllers 104, and mobile interface devices 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can utilize any desired media, such as copper wires, printed circuit boards, optical cables, wireless paths, or other media. In one embodiment, the peripheral controller 104 is communicatively coupled with the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) compatible communication means. In other embodiments, the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a can be communicatively coupled to any other component in the gaming cabinet 114 using any known or later developed communication component.

In yet another embodiment, the communication component used to communicatively couple the printer 106, bill validator 108 or dedicated processing unit 110a mobile interface device 110b to one or more of the gaming machine processing unit 102 and peripheral controller 104 can utilize a single medium, with data signals communicated between these devices being communicated in a split, interleaved, addressed or other manner. In short, any known or later developed communication technology can be used to communicatively connect one or more components in gaming cabinet 114 with a second or more other components.

Such techniques can also be configured to facilitate any given component needing to be removed and replaced, for example, for repair, renewal, or otherwise, as desired for any given embodiment. It should also be understood that all or a portion of the power for one or more components disposed in the gaming cabinet 114 can be provided by other components disposed within the gaming cabinet 114.

For example, the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a can be communicatively connected to the peripheral controller 104 via a universal serial bus connection and can receive power provided from the peripheral controller 104 via the universal serial bus connection.

In other embodiments, power for the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a may be provided by any known or later-developed technique. Any known or later developed communication protocol (e.g., universal serial bus 3.0 or otherwise) may be used to facilitate communication between the mobile interface device 110b of the special purpose processing unit 110a, the peripheral controller 104, and one or more casino management system servers (e.g., casino management server 118).

It should also be understood that while described in the figures and elsewhere in connection with the various embodiments of the invention, the components of the gaming cabinet 114 can be provided internal or external to the cabinet and can exist as any desired combination of hardware and software elements. It should be understood that these hardware and/or software elements can exist virtually and can utilize hardware and software components utilized by other gaming cabinet components.

The gaming cabinet 114 can be configured to include other components not shown in fig. 1A. Examples of such other components include, and are not limited to: ticket-in-ticket readers, article dispensers (e.g., beverage dispensers), user interface components, and other components. One or more of the other components can be configured to communicate with the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a directly or indirectly (e.g., via the peripheral controller 104).

The gaming machine processing unit 102 can be configured to provide any desired gaming experience to the player. For example, in one embodiment, the gaming machine processing unit 102 can be a slot machine, a video card game, or any other gaming experience. In one embodiment, the gaming table and dealer can replace the gaming machine processing unit 102. In one embodiment, the gaming cabinet 114 can provide the option of an unsupervised experience with an electronic gaming machine or other component that provides various types of non-wagering user interfaces (e.g., miner video games, etc.). It should be appreciated that such non-wagering and wagering can be combined to effect the utilization of the various embodiments described. Thus, the gaming machine processing unit 102 is able to provide the interactive experience desired by any type of player, both supervised and unsupervised. The electronic gaming machines to which the present invention relates can include any desired hardware and software components necessary to provide a desired gaming or other interactive experience. The type of games and other experiences and the technical ability of an electronic gaming machine to provide such experiences are beyond the scope of the present invention.

The peripheral controller 104 can be configured as an intelligent device with respect to one or more components of the gaming cabinet 114, wherein the peripheral controller 104 itself executes one or more software/logic programs or control routines required by the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a or one or more of the other components of the gaming cabinet 114. The peripheral controller 104 can also be configured to directly or indirectly control the operation of any application programs executing on the personal electronic device 112 when the personal electronic device 112 is communicatively connected to the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110 a.

When configured as a smart device in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, the peripheral controller 104 can be configured to be directly or indirectly communicatively coupled to the promotion server 120, such that the peripheral controller 104 has direct access to various advanced features of the system 100. To facilitate this system configuration, the peripheral controller 104 can also be configured with one or more drivers and/or application program interfaces such that the promotion server 120 can control one or more features and functions of the personal electronic device 112, including, for example, information, features and functions provided by applications executing on the personal electronic device 112, via the peripheral controller 104 and the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110 a.

In one embodiment, the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be configured to instruct the personal electronic device 112 to present a link to a mobile application. Upon selection of such a link, the mobile application associated with the casino operator can be downloaded, installed and selected for execution on the mobile device automatically, semi-automatically (requiring some user interaction), or manually. The mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can also be configured to instruct the personal electronic device 112 to perform mobile payment options.

In another embodiment, the peripheral controller 104 can be configured as a pass-through device with respect to one or more components of the gaming cabinet 114, wherein the peripheral controller 104 essentially acts as a router or hub through which communications between the mobile interface devices 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a are routed and directed to other system 100 components (e.g., components of the casino management system server 118 or other internal servers 116).

When configured as a pass-through device in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, the peripheral controller 104 can be configured, for example, to enable the promotion server 120 to communicate with and control the operation of the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a and the personal electronic device 112, the personal electronic device 112 being communicatively coupled to the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110 a. Being configured as a pass-through device, the peripheral controller 104 can also be configured to communicate data messages between the promotion server 120 and the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a to the player's personal electronic device 112.

In another embodiment, the peripheral controller 104 may be physically absent from the gaming cabinet 114. Rather, another gaming cabinet 114 component (e.g., the mobile interface device 110b of the gaming machine processing unit 102 or the dedicated processing unit 110a) can provide such various features and functions. It should also be understood that the hardware and/or software providing the features and functionality of the peripheral controller 104 in either of the smart device and/or pass-through device can be provisioned in components of the other internal servers 116 (e.g., as virtual machines operating on the casino management system server 118).

It should be understood that a casino system can include more than two gaming cabinets 114, wherein the peripheral controller 104 uses different modes of operation in each gaming cabinet. For example, the first peripheral controller can utilize the smart device mode of operation when the second peripheral controller utilizes the pass-through mode of operation. Further, the peripheral controller 104 can be configured to change its operating mode based on the type of mobile device utilized, the transaction requested, or other conditions. For example, the peripheral controller 104 can use smart device mode when the mobile device is compatible with near field communication and the peripheral controller 104 can use pass-through mode when the mobile device is not compatible with near field communication.

The mobile interface device 110b of the special purpose processing unit 110a can be configured to operate based on one or more system protocols. Such protocols, for example, can be configured to manage when the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a is available and when it is not. The mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a is configured to be able to identify and authenticate the personal electronic device 112 with any desired form of electronic identification or other data representation.

Merely illustrative herein, examples of such electronic identification forms can include, and are not limited to: signals generated by near field communication, Wi-Fi signals, bluetooth signals, other known communication techniques, and optical images (e.g., two-dimensional bar codes, QR codes), among other forms.

In one embodiment, the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be configured to receive other forms of information provided on a "ticket" or "tag," such as a signature of a player or a code or other identifier that the player provides using, for example, a touch screen compatible user interface or otherwise on the personal electronic device 112. The mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be configured to include optical character generation functionality, pattern generation functionality, and other forms of signal and character generation technology. According to at least one embodiment, a mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be provided in conjunction with the bill validator 108 or the printer 106.

According to at least one embodiment, the system 100 can be configured to utilize a printer 106, a bill validator 108, a display provided by the gaming machine processing unit 102, or other device capable of generating a QR code readable by the personal electronic device 112. The QR code thus generated can be printed as a ticket or displayed on a display, for example. The QR code can be utilized to provide sufficient information to the personal electronic device 112 such that the personal electronic device 112 is paired with the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a in a given session. It should therefore be appreciated that for at least one embodiment to which the present invention relates, the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a can be configured (but is not required to be configured) to engage or use near field communication functionality to pair the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a with the personal electronic device 112 for any given session or other session.

The unique identifier can be used to identify the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110 a. Examples of identifiers include, and are not limited to: a network address, a device address, a media access control address, a serial number, a unique sequence of numbers, by a combination of two or more mobile interface devices in a casino system, or otherwise.

For at least one embodiment, the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a can be identified by an address provided with the near field communication transceiver. It should be appreciated that such addresses may be unique to each session based on the encryption code that the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a passes to the personal electronic device 112 for any given session. The mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be configured to accumulate, monitor, and provide various metrics regarding the use of the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a, including, for example, usage data, device health, status, and other parameters desired by the casino operator, regulatory body, player, or any combination of the foregoing.

In some cases, the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a can be identified by a static address passively broadcast by a near field communication transmitter disposed within or on the gaming cabinet 114. In other cases, the opposite structure can be used; the personal electronic device (e.g., personal electronic device 112) identifies itself to the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a by passively broadcasting a static address by a near field communication transmitter disposed within the personal electronic device 112 or on the personal electronic device 112. In other examples, the personal electronic device (e.g., personal electronic device 112) is able to identify itself to the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a by passively broadcasting a static address by a near field communication transmitter disposed within a player card, payment card, identification document, token, ticket, or other object associated with the personal electronic device 112 or associated with a player associated with the personal electronic device 112.

The peripheral controller 104 is communicatively connected to a network 122. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the casino can exclusively utilize the network 122, enabling the network 122 to be shut down physically and/or logically to external systems and intruders. One or more firewalls and closed-restricted data ports or other methods can be used to restrict access to casino system endpoints. Network 122 can utilize any known or later-developed networking technology. The network 122 can include and utilize a local area network, a wide area network, the internet, or any other communication configuration, topology, medium, protocol, and technology.

Network 122 is communicatively interconnected with one or more servers, databases, devices, and/or systems utilized by the casino for its management, accounting, reporting, marketing, management, sales, and other purposes. Examples of such servers include: a casino management system server 118, a slot machine management system server 124, a billing server 126, a property management system server 128, a point of sale system server 130, and a promotion server 120.

It should be understood that data communications between any of the components of the system 100 and/or data storage of any of the components of the system 100 can be encrypted. The system 100 components can utilize any desired single encryption technique or combination of encryption techniques, including and not limited to: using secure sockets layer, virtual private networking, public-private key, 128-bit, 256-bit, and other encryption algorithms, or other known or later-developed encryption algorithms, techniques, and technologies.

For at least one embodiment, the communication between the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a and the personal electronic device is encrypted when the casino authenticates the player's personal electronic device (e.g., the personal electronic device 112). Such communications can also be communicated in clear text or encrypted form between the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110a and the one or more internal servers 116 via the peripheral controller 104.

It should also be appreciated that, in accordance with at least one embodiment, any two or more networked system components, such as the casino management system server 118 and the promotion server 128, can be logically, physically, virtually, directly or indirectly communicatively connected to the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110 a. These communication connections can use one or more application program interfaces such that communications between any two components conform to one or more protocols configured to authorize, access, control, or otherwise manage one or more features or functions provided by system 100 and its components.

As further shown in FIG. 1A, for at least one embodiment, system 100 is capable of using one or more external networks, identified in FIG. 1A as network 132. Network 132 can utilize any desired data communication technology, protocol, medium, and topology. According to at least one embodiment, the network 132 includes the Internet. Network 132 can be configured to communicatively connect internal server 116 with one or more third parties and/or external server systems (e.g., a shooting server 134, a pari-mutuel or mutual wagering server 136, a marketing server 138, and/or a sports or event wagering server 140). The external servers are collectively identified in the figure as external servers 142. It should be appreciated that the services provided by one or more of such third-party systems and servers can be provided to players as advanced features. For at least one embodiment, players can access such third-party systems and servers using personal electronic devices 112 communicatively coupled to the mobile interface device 110b of the specialized processing unit 110 a.

The foregoing embodiments, and various alternatives and variations thereof, illustrated in fig. 1A are presented for the purpose of facilitating a proper illustration and understanding of various configurations and structures of network architectures that facilitate communications among and between personal electronic devices of players, various components of electronic gaming machines, and/or one or more casino servers or systems and various components thereof to which the present invention relates. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the invention in the specific embodiments described or in the equivalents thereof.

Therefore, it should be understood that only the foregoing and following descriptions of specific embodiments are given, with a view to illustrating and limiting the invention. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, FIG. 1B illustrates a simplified system diagram of the system shown in FIG. 1A, with certain elements omitted for simplicity of illustration and description. As shown, system 100 includes a gaming machine processing unit 102 communicatively coupled to a peripheral controller 104. As described above, the peripheral controller 104 is capable of connecting to both internal and external servers (identified as internal server 116 and external server 142, respectively), and to the dedicated processing unit 110a, which in turn includes or is connected to the mobile interface device 110 b. In some embodiments, such as shown in FIG. 1B, peripheral controller 104 and specialized processing unit 110a can be inserted at a demultiplexer and/or router identified as demultiplexer-router 104, but this is not required for all embodiments. Also shown in the simplified system diagram is a personal electronic device 112 communicatively coupled to the mobile interface device 110b of the dedicated processing unit 110a via a wireless communication connection.

As noted above, while certain examples are provided above, it will be appreciated that the personal electronic device may be capable of communicating identification or other information to one or more casino servers or services in a variety of suitable manners and for a variety of suitable purposes. Several examples are provided below.

For simplicity of illustration and description, the following example embodiments refer to players in a casino having a bluetooth enabled cellular telephone. The exemplary embodiments described below also refer to an electronic game machine that includes a dedicated processing unit configured for bluetooth communication. Examples also refer to a casino-controlled (e.g., internal to the casino) accounting server that manages player funds accounts associated with players. In these examples, the accounting server is in communication with the electronic gaming machines and/or dedicated processing units.

As a first example, the dedicated processing unit can periodically scan for or monitor for the presence of bluetooth devices (e.g., by device-to-service discovery, monitoring with passive bluetooth beacons or advertisements, etc.). Once the player's cell phone is within Bluetooth range of the electronic gaming machine's dedicated processing unit, the dedicated processing unit can provide a signal to the electronic gaming machine and/or the accounting server that indicates that the player is near the portion of the casino floor where the electronic gaming machine and dedicated processing unit are installed.

In other embodiments, a plurality of dedicated processing units can detect the presence of a player's handset based on a Bluetooth response or a signal provided by the handset. In these examples, the position of the player in the casino floor can be triangulated to improve accuracy. By locating the player in the casino floor in this manner, the accounting server can deny any requests for access to the player's account from electronic gaming machines and/or dedicated processing units at other locations (or elsewhere) in the casino. In this manner and as a result of this structure, access to the player's account is geographically limited, thereby essentially increasing the security of the player's interests.

In another example, the dedicated processing unit can be configured to initiate a bluetooth connection to the player's cell phone after the player places the cell phone on or near the near field communication antenna. Once the bluetooth connection is established, the handset can provide the player's identity information to a dedicated processing unit, which in turn can communicate with an internal or external server, either directly or through a peripheral controller. The server can, in turn, communicate with the dedicated processing unit and/or the peripheral controller to grant gaming credits to the electronic gaming machine from the player's account. In this way and as a result of this structure, game play can be started after the player places her or his cellular phone on the near field communication antenna of the electronic game machine.

In another example, the dedicated processing unit can be configured to initiate a bluetooth connection to the player's cell phone after the player places the two-dimensional barcode displayed by the cell phone on or near a camera or barcode reader within the electronic game. Once the bluetooth connection is established, the handset can provide the player's identity information to a dedicated processing unit, which in turn can communicate with an internal or external server, either directly or through a peripheral controller. The server can, in turn, communicate with the dedicated processing unit and/or the peripheral controller to grant gaming credits to the electronic gaming machine from the player's account. In this manner and as a result of this structure, game play can be started after the player places her or his cell phone over or near the barcode reader (or camera) of the electronic game machine.

In yet another example, the dedicated processing unit can be configured to initiate a bluetooth connection to the player's cell phone after the player places the camera of the cell phone in a position to read a two-dimensional barcode displayed on or near the electronic gaming machine. Once the bluetooth connection is established, the handset can provide the player's identity information to a dedicated processing unit, which in turn can communicate with an internal or external server, either directly or through a peripheral controller. The server can, in turn, communicate with the dedicated processing unit and/or the peripheral controller to grant gaming credits to the electronic gaming machine from the player's account. In this way and as a result of this structure, game play can be started after the player has placed his or her cell phone over or near the barcode displayed on the electronic game machine or near the electronic game machine.

In yet another example, the dedicated processing unit can be configured to initiate a bluetooth connection to the player's cell phone after receiving the signal from the player's cell phone. For example, a player can launch an application on a cell phone or make a selection on a graphical user interface to indicate the user's intent to launch a game play. As with other embodiments of the invention, once the bluetooth connection is established, the handset provides the player's identity information to a dedicated processing unit, which in turn can communicate with an internal or external server, either directly or through a peripheral controller. The server can, in turn, communicate with the dedicated processing unit and/or the peripheral controller to grant gaming credits to the electronic gaming machine from the player's account.

In yet another example, the dedicated processing unit can be configured to initiate a bluetooth connection to the player's cell phone after receiving the signal from the electronic gaming machine. For example, a player can make a selection in a graphical user interface provided on a display of the electronic gaming machine to indicate the user's intent to initiate a game. As with other embodiments of the invention, once the bluetooth connection is established, the handset provides the player's identity information to a dedicated processing unit, which in turn can communicate with an internal or external server, either directly or through a peripheral controller. Thereafter, the server, in turn, communicates with the dedicated processing unit and/or the peripheral controller to grant gameplay credits to the electronic gaming machine from the player's account. The signal initiating the bluetooth connection can be sent and/or received in any suitable manner using any suitable technology (e.g., bluetooth, near field communication, Wi-Fi, acoustic, optical, etc.). Examples of analog signals include, and are not limited to: images or barcodes arranged on the gaming cabinet read by a camera or scanner in the personal electronic device; an image or barcode arranged or displayed on the personal electronic device read by a camera or scanner in the electronic game machine; a passive near field communication signal transmitted from a player-owned tag, token, or personal electronic device and received by a near field communication module in the electronic gaming machine; a passive near field communication signal transmitted from the electronic gaming machine and received by a near field communication module in a player-owned tag, token, or personal electronic device; an active near field communication signal transmitted in any direction between a tag, token, or personal electronic device owned by a player and an electronic gaming machine; sounds or sound patterns transmitted in any direction at any suitable volume (in an existing audible band or an existing non-audible band) between a tag, token, or personal electronic device owned by a player and an electronic gaming machine; an image or pattern of light transmitted in any direction between a player-owned tag, token, or personal electronic device and the electronic gaming machine (in an existing visible band or an existing invisible band); and the like, as well as any combination of the foregoing. In other examples, the signal to initiate the bluetooth connection can be triggered and/or sent at least partially in response to an output provided by a sensor in one or both of the personal electronic device or the electronic gaming machine. For example, in one embodiment, an accelerometer in the personal electronic device can detect a bump, which in turn triggers a signal to initiate a bluetooth connection with a particular selected electronic gaming machine. More simply, and from the perspective of the player, an operation that knocks the personal electronic device into the electronic gaming machine (such that the accelerometer registers a knock that exceeds a particular threshold) would cause the electronic gaming machine to securely pair with the personal electronic device to grant the electronic gaming machine gameplay credits from the player's account.

As noted above, the foregoing example embodiments, and various alternatives and variations thereof, described with reference to fig. 1A-1B, are generally presented for ease of illustration and understanding of various configurations and structures of network architectures that facilitate communications among and between various components of a player's personal electronic device, electronic gaming machine, and/or one or more casino servers or systems to which the present invention relates. These examples are not exhaustive. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific details presented herein may not be necessary to practice the specifically described embodiments or their equivalents.

For example, FIG. 2 shows a casino system similar to the system described with reference to FIGS. 1A-1B. In this system, however, the personal electronic device can be configured to communicate directly with an external server, which in turn can communicate with the casino system and/or a particular electronic gaming machine.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the system 200 includes a personal electronic device 202, the personal electronic device 202 configured to communicate and communicate information with an electronic gaming machine 204. More specifically, the personal electronic device 202, similar to other embodiments described herein, is configured to wirelessly communicate information with a dedicated processing unit 206 within the electronic gaming machine 204. As with other embodiments of the invention, the specialized processing unit 206 can include an interface to implement any suitable hardware and/or software sufficient to communicate information with the personal electronic device 202. Examples of such hardware and/or software are provided with reference to other embodiments described herein and are not repeated here.

As described in other embodiments of the present invention, the specialized processing unit 206 of the electronic gaming machine 204 is communicatively coupled to the peripheral controller 208. In some cases, the demultiplexer-router 210 can be configured to route signals sent from the dedicated processing unit 206 to the peripheral controller 208, but the demultiplexer-router 210 can be unnecessary as described with respect to other embodiments to which the present invention relates.

As with other embodiments of the present invention, the electronic gaming machine 204 must include a gaming machine processing unit 212. Exemplary functions and/or operations of a gaming machine processing unit (e.g., gaming machine processing unit 212) are described with reference to other embodiments to which the present invention relates and will not be repeated herein.

In this example embodiment, the personal electronic device 202 is also configured to communicate information with an external server 214. External server 214 is understood to be an external deployment network and/or service of the casino. Example external servers can include, and are not limited to: a bank server; an external casino server; a third party account server; a social media server; and so on.

The system 200 also includes an internal server 216. The internal server 216 is understood to be an internal deployment network of the casino. Example internal servers can include, and are not limited to: an account management server; a transaction server; a sales promotion server; a point-of-sale server; a property server; a slot machine server; and so on.

As a result of the illustrated embodiment, a personal electronic device, such as personal electronic device 202, can obtain identity information and/or security information from a server external to the casino network. For example, the personal electronic device 202 can be configured to obtain a security token and/or session key from the external server 214. The session key is then communicated to the specialized processing unit 206, which specialized processing unit 206 can in turn communicate the key back to the internal server 216, either directly or via the peripheral controller 208. In this manner, the internal server 216, which is in communication with the external server 214, is able to verify a secure session with the personal electronic device 202.

In another example, the personal electronic device 202 can be configured to receive a session key or security token from the special purpose processing unit 206. Thereafter, the personal electronic device 202 can communicatively transmit the session key (or another key generated using at least a portion of the received session key) to the external server 214. The external server 214 can then transmit the same or another session key to the internal server 216 to authorize access (e.g., game play) to the electronic gaming machine 204 by a player in possession of the personal electronic device 202.

In yet another example, the personal electronic device 202 can be configured to send the identification information to the special purpose processing unit 206. In response, the specialized processing unit 206 can verify the identity information provided by the personal electronic device 202 via the peripheral controller 208 or directly to the internal server 216. In some cases, internal server 216 can compare the identity information provided by personal electronic device 202 to one or more entries stored in one or more databases accessible to internal server 216. If a match is found, the internal server 216 can in turn send a signal to one or more components of the electronic gaming machine 204 authorizing a player possessing the personal electronic device 202 to access the electronic gaming machine 204 (e.g., play a game).

Conversely, if a match is not found, or if the internal server 216 is not maintaining or has no access to a database having sufficient information to verify the identity information provided by the personal electronic device 202, the internal server 216 can send a request to the external server 214 to verify the provided identity information. The external server 214 can verify the identity of the personal electronic device 202 and/or the player owning the personal electronic device 202 using any suitable technique, including and not limited to: submitting a request to the personal electronic device 202 for a player to log into one or more services; submitting a request to the personal electronic device 202 for the player to verify his or her identity and/or his or her intent to access the electronic gaming machine 204; and so on.

The foregoing example embodiment, and various alternatives and variations thereof, described with reference to fig. 2 are presented for the purpose of facilitating a proper explanation and understanding of various configurations and structures of a network architecture that facilitates communications among a player's personal electronic device, various components of an electronic gaming machine, and/or one or more casino servers or systems and various components thereof involved with the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the invention in the specific described embodiments or their equivalents.

Therefore, it should be understood that only the foregoing and following descriptions of specific embodiments are given, with a view to illustrating and describing only limited embodiments. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, FIG. 3 shows a casino system similar to the system described with reference to FIG. 2. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 with reference to the various elements described in the system 200 shown in FIG. 2, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here. The system 300 includes: personal electronic device 302, electronic game console 304, specialized processing unit 306, peripheral controller 308, optical demultiplexer-router 310, game console processing unit 312, and internal server 316. In this embodiment, in contrast to fig. 2, an external server can be unnecessary.

In this example, the personal electronic device 302 can be configured to provide identification and/or identification information to the electronic gaming machine 304 without input from an external server. In this example, information provided by the personal electronic device 302 and/or information derived from information provided by the personal electronic device 302 can be transmitted directly or indirectly to the internal server 316. The internal server 316 can compare the information provided by the specialized processing unit 306 to information stored in one or more databases (e.g., a player database, a player tracking database, a player account database, etc.), and if a match is obtained, the internal server 316 can in turn send a signal to one or more components of the electronic gaming machine 304 authorizing a player possessing the personal electronic device 302 to access the electronic gaming machine 304 (e.g., play a game).

In another example, FIG. 4 illustrates a casino system similar to the system illustrated with reference to FIG. 3. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 with reference to the various elements described in the system 300 shown in FIG. 3, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here. System 400 includes personal electronic device 402, electronic gaming machine 404, specialized processing unit 406, peripheral controller 408, optical demultiplexer-router 410, gaming machine processing unit 412, and internal server 416. In this embodiment, in contrast to FIG. 3, the personal electronic device 402 is configured to transact information with the internal server 416.

The personal electronic device 402 and the internal server 416 can communicate any suitable data over any suitable communication connection (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.), including and not limited to: a secure session token; a security and/or login cookie; identity information; balance information; and so on.

In another example, FIG. 5 shows a casino system similar to the system described with reference to FIG. 2. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 with reference to the various elements described in the system 200 shown in FIG. 2, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here. The system 500 includes: personal electronic device 502, electronic game console 504, specialized processing unit 506, peripheral controller 508, optical demultiplexer-router 510, game console processing unit 512, external server 514, and internal server 516. In this embodiment, in contrast to FIG. 4, only the internal server 516 is configured to communicate with the external server 514. As a result of this structure, internal server 516 can be configured to query external server 514 to verify identification and/or identity information provided by personal electronic device 502. For example, the personal electronic device 502 can submit a request to top up a player account with additional funds. In this example, the internal server 516 can be configured to query a banking institution represented by the external server 514 to verify that the player has the ability to provide funds to the player's account in an amount requested. In other embodiments, the internal server 516 can communicate with the external server 514 for any other suitable purpose.

The foregoing embodiments, and various alternatives and variations thereof, shown in fig. 3-5 are presented for the purpose of facilitating proper explanation and understanding of various configurations and structures of network architectures that facilitate communication by and between personal electronic devices of players, various components of electronic gaming machines, and/or one or more casino servers or systems and various components thereof to which the present invention relates. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the invention in the specific described embodiments or their equivalents.

Therefore, it should be understood that only the foregoing and following descriptions of specific embodiments are given, with a view to illustrating and limiting the invention. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, it is to be understood that any of the devices communicatively coupled as contemplated by the present invention may exchange or communicate any suitable data at any suitable speed over any suitable wired or wireless medium, based on any suitable protocol. The communicated data can be encrypted, compressed, or formatted according to any suitable standard. In many cases, private and/or confidential information (e.g., financial or banking information) is preferably encrypted from end-to-end to ensure that player privacy is maintained.

Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various casino systems and services to which the present invention relates can be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, a casino billing system can be implemented in a number of ways. Typically, as described above, a casino accounting system comprises at least one server and at least one database. The server records each transaction for a player's credits in the casino environment. More specifically, the billing system server can be configured to record transaction information, such as, and without limitation: a player name; a time stamp; a player balance; an electronic gaming machine that completes a transaction; and so on.

The following embodiments refer to a distributed network architecture implementing a casino accounting system that can be used with any of the embodiments to which the invention relates. More particularly, the following embodiments relate to casino accounting systems in which individual transactions are cryptographically signed and added to a shared and/or distributed ledger. As a result of this structure, transaction records in the casino can be stored in a redundant, robust, and distributed manner.

For example, fig. 6 shows a casino network, identified as system 600, configured to store transactions and transaction details over a distributed blockchain. As with other embodiments described herein, the system 600 can include an internal network over which one or more casino servers or services operate and transact data. These servers are collectively identified as casino servers 602.

As with other embodiments of the present invention, system 600 also includes one or more electronic gaming machines. Three example electronic gaming machines are identified as electronic gaming machine 604, electronic gaming machine 606, and electronic gaming machine 608.

In this embodiment, system 600 also includes two personal electronic devices, identified as personal electronic device 610 and personal electronic device 612. It will be appreciated that the two personal electronic devices shown correspond to players interacting with two of the three electronic gaming machines shown, in accordance with various embodiments to which the present invention relates. In particular, a first player associated with personal electronic device 610 is shown interacting with electronic gaming machine 604, and a second player associated with personal electronic device 612 is shown interacting with electronic gaming machine 608.

As described above, the system 600 is configured to store transaction data on a blockchain. In other words, each transaction conducted in the casino environment 600 is signed by at least one encryption key. More specifically, the transaction data (whether encrypted or otherwise) can be hashed using the private key of the public-private key combination. The resulting hash (referred to herein as a "signature") can be appended to or otherwise associated with the transaction data. Thereafter, the public key of the same public-private key pair can be used to verify that the transaction data has not changed since the original signature was generated.

For example, a point transaction between a first player (associated with personal electronic device 610) and electronic gaming machine 604 can be signed by a private key associated with the first player (e.g., a private key stored on personal electronic device 610) and/or by a private key associated with electronic gaming machine 604. By providing a cryptographically unique signature, it is possible to verifiably and reliably associate the identity of a player with each transaction that the user authorizes.

Thereafter, a regulatory body, casino audit, accounting or other person or software application can use the public keys of both the electronic gaming machine 604 and the first player or the public key of either to hash the transaction data again to verify that the transaction data has not changed since it was originally recorded. In this manner, transactions conducted in a casino environment facilitated by the system 600 can be cryptographically authenticated, once signed by both parties to the transaction, without the possibility of later counterfeiting or altering the transaction on a computer. Thus, in general, it can be appreciated that cryptographic signing of transactions in a casino environment significantly increases the invariance of the database storing such transactions and thus improves security.

In other embodiments, multiple signed transactions in a casino environment can be combined together into a "block" of transactions. The transactions may typically be ordered based on the time stamp, but this is not required. Once ordered in a particular manner, the transactions themselves in the block can be hashed according to the selected hashing algorithm. In many embodiments, to generate a Merkel tree with a single root hash, transactions are hashed in pairs, but this is not required. As can be appreciated, the two-way hashing of transaction blocks has the effect of simplifying error checking and verification of previous transactions in a casino environment; verifying the hash of the root node and/or the discrete number of branches of the Merkel tree on the computer is simpler than verifying the hash of individual transactions in the block.

In other embodiments, multiple sequential transaction blocks can be hashed together into a "chain". Similar to the transaction combination described above, sequential blocks can be hashed bi-directionally; these hashes can be stored in a database so that all transactions in all blocks can be easily verified later. In this way, as more and more blocks are added to the chain, the reliability and invariance of the data stored in the chain increases.

In some examples, this can be done by a central server or set of servers in the casino environment (in particular hashing transactions and combining into blocks). However, this is only one example.

In some embodiments, more than one server can be used to undertake the tasks of performing one or more of the operations described above. For example, a server group (e.g., the mine-verification server group 614) can perform tasks in parallel to compute a hash of a block of transactions and/or signatures received over a period of time or after a particular timestamp. It will be appreciated that this may create race conditions between servers; different servers processing different transaction groups in a slightly different order may return disparate hashes. A problem may exist if it is desired to store data corresponding to these hashes in a single database or a single blockchain.

Thus, some embodiments described in the present invention require servers of the mining-verification server set 614 to perform the computational work. This intentionally slows the process of hashing transactions into chunks, so statistically, only a single server will complete the computational work "first". Once a server completes the computation, the salted hash (salt hash) discovered by the first server can be verified at other servers or devices to complete the computation, after which the hash computed by the first server is added to the blockchain. In many cases, the system 600 may require a minimum number of verifications before adding blocks and/or transactions to the blockchain. For example, six verifications may be required before adding a block to a chain.

The computational effort that the servers of the mining-verification server set 614 need to perform may vary from embodiment to embodiment. However, in one particular example, the task of the servers of the mine-verification server set 614 is to find a hash of the transaction block that requires inclusion of a particular alphanumeric string (hereinafter referred to as a "target hash"). For example, in one embodiment, the target hash may be required to have the least significant character "0". In other cases, the target hash may be required to have the most significant character equal to "000". In other embodiments, any string may be required. In yet another embodiment, the target hash may be required to meet any other criteria. Example requirements for the target hash can include, and are not limited to: a particular string of digits; a total count of a particular number; a total count of the number pairs; equal first and last characters; no specific number or character at all; and so on.

To change the target hash, the servers of the mine-verification server set 614 are able to generate a random hash (referred to herein as a "salted" hash) to hash a particular transaction block. It will be appreciated that the target hash may change as a whole due to a single bit change of the salted hash. In this way, the target hash can be changed by sequentially or randomly changing the salted hash. In hashing a particular ordered transaction group, once the salted hash found by one of the servers of the mine-verification server set 614 causes the target hash to meet a predetermined criteria, the system 600 can employ the target hash of the "winning" server in the server set as the next chunk in the blockchain. The iterative change of the salted hash of the hash process on the transaction block to obtain a target hash having attributes matching predetermined criteria is referred to herein as "mining", or more generally as performing a "computational job".

It will be appreciated that different target hash requirements are associated with different difficulties in the computational effort, the more difficult the computational effort, the longer it takes for any server of the mine-verification server set 614 to solve. Thus, for embodiments to which the present invention relates, a particular casino and/or casino system may be able to periodically change the difficulty of the computational effort required by the mining-verification server set 614.

In other embodiments, a separate server can not be required. For example, as shown in some embodiments, the set of mine-verification servers 614 is optional. In these embodiments, one or more components within each individual electronic gaming machine can assume the task of performing the computational work required to maintain the blockchain of transactions conducted in the casino. For example, in one embodiment, each electronic gaming machine in a casino floor includes a dedicated blockchain processor unit that is tasked with performing the computing work involved in the present invention. In other cases, only a certain number of electronic gaming machines in a casino floor include a dedicated blockchain processor unit that is tasked with performing the computing work involved in the present invention.

In other embodiments, the computational tasks involved in the invention can be performed by a processor or processors in an existing component or peripheral device in the electronic gaming machine. These components include, for example and without limitation: a processor in the validator; a processor within the ticket entry-ticket exit peripheral device; the invention relates to a processor in a special processing unit; a processor within the peripheral controller; a processor within the gaming machine processing unit; a graphics processing unit in the electronic game machine; and so on.

In some cases, different processors in different components of a single electronic gaming machine can cooperate or otherwise aggregate processing power in order to more quickly perform the required computing work. For example, in one embodiment, different sets of salted hashes can be distributed to different processors within an electronic game. In this manner, a single electronic gaming machine is able to process a large number of salted hashes in parallel, although each individual processor in these components may not appear to be a high power or high frequency processor traditionally suited to cryptographic processing tasks.

In further embodiments, a personal electronic device, such as the player described above, can participate in performing computing tasks (such as those described above). In these embodiments, the invention relates to a dedicated processing unit capable of assigning a task or a series of tasks (e.g., operative to verify whether a certain set of salted hashes with a particular transaction block satisfies a predetermined criterion) to a personal electronic device with which the dedicated processing unit is communicating.

In some embodiments, to prevent the personal electronic device from consuming a large amount of battery capacity, relatively small computational tasks may also be offloaded to the personal electronic device.

In other cases, the casino system can request that the player use the player's personal electronic device to perform computing work. In exchange for allowing the casino to use the player's personal electronic device for computing work, the casino system can grant points and/or credits to the player's account. For example, in one embodiment, a player wearing a smartphone sits at an electronic gaming machine to which the present invention relates. Once identification information is exchanged between the smartphone and the electronic gaming machine using the techniques of the present invention, the player can be presented with the option of using the computing capabilities of the player's smartphone to perform computing work. The player's account can be credited with an amount of credit if the player agrees, or alternatively, some promotion or coupon can be distributed or credited to the player.

In some embodiments, as described above, the difficulty of the computational effort can vary depending on the embodiment. Thus, in some cases, a casino system (referred to herein as a "work coordination server") is able to dynamically and in real-time allocate and/or distribute computing jobs or portions of computing jobs to processors, devices, components, or personal electronic devices based on the number of transactions being processed in the casino at a particular time.

Figure 7 shows a casino system similar to that described with reference to figure 6. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is to be understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 with reference to the various elements described in the system 600 shown in FIG. 6, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here. The system 700 includes: one or more casino servers (identified as casino server 702), one or more electronic gaming machines (e.g., electronic gaming machines 704, 706, 708), one or more personal electronic devices (e.g., personal electronic devices 710, 712), and optionally one or more mining or authentication servers 714.

The system 700 also includes a work coordination server 716. As described above, the job coordination server 716 can dynamically and in real-time assign and/or distribute a computing job or a portion of a computing job to processors, devices, components, or personal electronic devices based on the number of transactions being processed in a casino at a particular time. For example, during off hours when a casino is not going to conduct a large number of transactions, the work coordination server 716 can not request any of the players' personal electronic devices to perform the computing work described above. Conversely, during times of high demand when the casino is handling a large number of transactions, the work coordination server 716 can increase incentives for individual players to authorize use of the computing power of the players' personal electronic devices.

In other embodiments, the work coordination server 716 additionally or alternatively performs other operations, such as, and without limitation: assigning electronic gaming machines not reserved by the player to perform the computing job; allocating unused electronic gaming machines for computing work; allocating an internal casino server to perform computing work; allocating an external server to perform computing work; and so on.

It will be appreciated that a work coordination server, such as work coordination server 716, can be configured to adapt computing work dynamically balanced in load among any number of suitable processors or devices in a casino environment.

The foregoing embodiments and various alternatives and variations thereof shown with reference to fig. 6-7 are presented for the purpose of facilitating a proper illustration and understanding of the various configurations and structures of the blockchain network architecture and its various components or operations that facilitate securely recording all transactions in a casino environment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the invention in the specific described embodiments or their equivalents.

Therefore, it should be understood that only the foregoing and following descriptions of specific embodiments are given, with a view to illustrating and limiting the invention. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

In general, FIGS. 8-9 show flow diagrams corresponding to methods of using a personal electronic device to identify a player and/or credit an electronic gaming machine from a player account in accordance with the invention.

For example, FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of the operations of a method involving the use of a personal electronic device to identify a player in accordance with the present invention. The method 800 includes an operation 802 in which a mobile interface device communicatively coupled to a dedicated processing unit (see, e.g., fig. 1A-5) detects the presence of a personal electronic device using methods or techniques in accordance with the present invention, in operation 802. In operation 804, a secure communication channel is established between the mobile interface device and the personal electronic device. In operation 806, the specialized processing unit requests identity and/or identification information from the personal electronic device. Thereafter, the dedicated processing unit receives and verifies the requested information in operation 808. For example, the dedicated processing unit can submit a query including the received information to an internal or external server, such as described above.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operation of a method of identifying a player account using a personal electronic device in accordance with the present invention. The method 900 includes an operation 902 in which a mobile interface device communicatively coupled to a dedicated processing unit (see, e.g., fig. 1A-5) detects the presence of a personal electronic device using methods or techniques involving the present invention, in operation 902. In operation 904, a secure communication channel is established between the mobile interface device and the personal electronic device. In operation 906, account balance information is received from the personal electronic device. Although not required, the account balance information can be accompanied by an account number or other identifier. Thereafter, in operation 908, the gaming machine processing unit is credited with the account balance associated with the account.

In these examples, the account balance information can be sent to the specialized processing unit along with a cryptographic signature used to verify that the account balance information is authentic and up-to-date. For example, in previous operations, the personal electronic device could communicate with an internal or external server to request a verified account balance. In response, the internal or external server sends an account balance and an encrypted signature that the specialized processing unit can send or read (or, in other embodiments, the encrypted account balance may not be readable or modifiable by the personal electronic device).

In general, fig. 10-12 show flow diagrams corresponding to methods of authenticating and storing transactions on a blockchain to which the present invention relates.

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary operations of a method of receiving and verifying transactions in a casino blockchain environment. The method 1000 includes an operation 1002 in which a server (e.g., the mining-verification server described above) receives a transaction request, in operation 1002. In other cases, a processor assigned by the work coordination server receives a transaction request to perform a task.

Upon receipt of the transaction request, processing occurs at operation 1004 to decrypt all outstanding or unrecorded transactions, including the transaction request received at operation 1002. As explained above, the public key can be used to decrypt the transaction.

Next, at operation 1006, the hash of the decrypted transaction can be verified by comparing the hash to a public key associated with the transaction (e.g., a particular electronic gaming machine, a particular player or electronic device, etc.). Finally, at 1006, the non-verifiable transaction is discarded.

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary operations of a method of combining verified transactions into tiles in an entertainment venue blockchain environment. The method 1100 begins at operation 1102, where a set (fixed size or arbitrary size) of transactions that have been validated is selected in operation 1102. In some cases, all pending transactions can be included, but this is not required and some transactions can be omitted or skipped. Next, a hash of the chunk constructed in operation 1102 is computed in operation 1104. Next, in operation 1106, the new chunk and its hash are added to the blockchain by hashing the new chunk with the existing blockchain.

FIG. 12 illustrates exemplary operations of another method of combining verified transactions into tiles in an entertainment venue blockchain environment. The method 1200 begins at operation 1202 where a set (fixed size or arbitrary size) of transactions that have been verified is selected in operation 1202. In some cases, all pending transactions can be included, but this is not required and some transactions can be omitted or skipped. Next, in operation 1204, a salted hash is determined and hashed with the chunk constructed in operation 1202 to create a bi-directional hash. Next, in operation 1206, the bi-directional hash is compared to a target hash criterion. If the bi-directional hash matches the target hash criteria, the block is added to the blockchain. Optionally, the method can resume at operation 1208 by waiting for some selected number of acknowledgements (i.e., other servers that produced the same hash value).

FIG. 13 illustrates exemplary operations of a method of transferring funds in a casino environment to which the present invention relates. Method 1300 begins at operation 1302, where a personal electronic device to which the present invention relates receives an instruction from a player to initiate a transfer of funds from an account associated with the player (e.g., a bank account, a player account, etc.) to an electronic gaming machine, as described herein. Typically, in the following examples, the account is controlled or otherwise accessible by a third party server (e.g., a bank server or an account management server). In some examples, such as in the illustrated embodiment, this operation is optional.

In response to the request from the personal electronic device in operation 1302, the third party server confirms the transaction request and creates a unique transaction identifier (or code) associated with the requested transaction in operation 1304. Thereafter, the third party server bundles the transaction identifier with a server identifier (or code) associated with the third party server into a message, which is returned to the personal electronic device, preferably through an encrypted data channel. In some examples, such as in the illustrated embodiment, this operation is optional.

In response to the message received by the personal electronic device from the third-party server in operation 1304, the personal electronic device can act to initiate a secure local communication with the electronic gaming machine with which the player desires to interact in operation 1306. Any suitable method of initiating secure local communication can be used, including methods involving bluetooth communication, near field communication, Wi-Fi communication, and the like, to which the present invention relates. For simplicity of description, the present embodiment is described with reference to near field communication, but it is understood that this is only one example and other embodiments can be implemented in different ways.

In response to the personal electronic device initiating a secure local communication with the selected electronic gaming machine in operation 1603 (e.g., tapping the personal electronic device by a player onto a passive or active near field communication tag disposed on or within a gaming cabinet associated with the electronic gaming machine), the peripheral controller within the selected electronic gaming machine can request and/or receive a server identifier and transaction identifier communicated to the personal electronic device from a third party server communication. Thereafter, in operation 1308, the peripheral controller can communicate the transaction identifier and the server identifier to a promotion server in accordance with the present invention along with an asset identifier (or code) associated with the peripheral controller and/or the electronic gaming machine. In this manner, the promotional server is notified of the identity of the electronic gaming machine with which the player desires to interact.

Thereafter, in operation 1310, the promotion server can transmit the transaction identifier, the server identifier, and the asset identifier back to the third party server for verification. If the third-party server verifies the information received from the promotion server, then in operation 1312, the third-party server can send a funds-transfer transaction request to the peripheral controller of the selected electronic gaming machine. In response, the electronic gaming machine can add funds based on the funds-transfer request in operation 1314. Thereafter, the electronic gaming machine and/or a peripheral controller of the electronic gaming machine can report to one or more casino systems and/or to one or more other servers (e.g., third party servers) that the transaction was successfully completed or that the transaction failed due to an error.

Next, in operation 1316, the third party server can (optionally) send an instruction to the player's personal electronic device to update the balance stored in the personal electronic device. Finally, at optional operation 1318, a display of the electronic gaming machine may be updated to indicate success or failure of the requested transaction.

The foregoing embodiments, and various alternatives and variations thereof, shown in the drawings are presented for the purpose of facilitating a proper explanation and understanding of the various configurations and structures of a network architecture that facilitates communications by and between a player's personal electronic device, various components of an electronic gaming machine, and/or one or more casino servers or systems and various components thereof to which the present invention relates. More simply, these embodiments describe systems and methods for associating a player account with a particular electronic gaming machine so that once a player arrives at the gaming machine, the player can quickly and easily begin interacting with the electronic gaming machine. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the specifically described embodiments or their equivalents.

Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing description of specific embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, and as noted above, it should be understood that the various embodiments described herein relate generally to systems for associating, linking, or otherwise logically or legally connecting player accounts to electronic gaming machines. A number of suitable techniques and network architectures to facilitate such operations are described above with reference to fig. 14A-14E.

For example, fig. 14A shows a system to which the present invention relates. The system 1400a includes an electronic gaming machine 1402, the electronic gaming machine 1402 being capable of including a display 1404 in addition to the other components discussed with reference to other embodiments to which the present invention relates. In some embodiments, 1404 is configured to display a graphical user interface that presents the electronic casino game (or service) to the player, such as, and not limited to: card playing; a sports game; betting equally; shooting a lucky game; a slot machine game; pairing games; a multi-player character game; and so on.

In some embodiments, a supplemental graphical user interface (also referred to as a "secondary display") can also be shown on the display 1404. In the illustrated embodiment, the supplemental graphical user interface is identified as supplemental graphical user interface 1406. The supplemental graphical user interface 1406 is shown in an overlaid manner, occupying only a portion of the display 1404, but it should be understood that this is only one configuration; other examples can be implemented in other ways.

In some embodiments, the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 can provide additional options and/or features to a player of the electronic gaming machine 1402. Example features can include, and are not limited to: a beverage service order; hotel service ordering; player account balance information; player account management; a player account funding operation; third-party service (e.g., online service, social media service) integration; and so on. In some examples, the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 can provide different buttons, e.g., buttons 1408a, 1408b, that can be associated with different functions of the supplemental graphical user interface 1406. For example, in one embodiment, button 1408a is associated with a player account balance inquiry function and button 1408b is associated with a player check-in or account disassociation function, as described in more detail below.

As with other embodiments to which the present invention relates, the electronic gaming machine 1402 can also include a peripheral controller 1410 that is networked to or otherwise in communication with an external server (e.g., the promotion server 1412). The peripheral controller 1410 and the promotion server 1412 can be configured in the same manner as other embodiments of the present invention are directed to. In other cases, the component 1410 shown in FIG. 14A may be another component of the electronic gaming machine 1402 communicatively connected to an external server (e.g., the promotion server 1412). Example alternative components of an electronic gaming machine communicatively connected to an external server include, and are not limited to: a ticket entrance-ticket exit controller; a banknote validator; a game machine processing unit; a display controller; a mobile communication module; and so on. For ease of description, the following embodiments refer to a peripheral controller (identified in the figures as peripheral controller 1410) in communication with an external server (identified in the figures as promotion server 1412), although it will be understood that this is only one example and other embodiments can be implemented in other ways.

As described with respect to other embodiments of the present invention, the electronic gaming machine 1402 can also include a mobile communication module 1414 configured in the same manner and/or with the same hardware as the other embodiments of the present invention are related to.

The mobile communication module 1414 is configured to exchange information with a personal electronic device 1416. In the illustrated embodiment, the mobile communication module 1414 and the personal electronic device 1416 can be configured for bi-directional and/or multi-channel communication. For example, the mobile communication module 1414 can be configured with near field communication and bluetooth communication capabilities, as described with respect to other embodiments to which the present invention relates. In this example, the mobile communication module 1414 can receive an identifier (and/or other data or information) from the personal electronic device 1416 via active or passive near field communication. Thereafter, and in some cases, the mobile communication module 1414 and the personal electronic device 1416 can be communicatively connected to each other by bluetooth communication based on an identifier, after which information can be securely exchanged. The information exchanged between the personal electronic device 1416 and the mobile communication module 1414 is typically associated with a player account and/or an identity of a player, as described in other embodiments of the invention, although these are merely examples and other information can be exchanged in other embodiments. Examples include, but are not limited to: a player name; a player account balance; a third party account; a third party account balance; player preferences (e.g., food or beverage preferences, game setting preferences, redemption preferences, funding preferences, etc.); player history (e.g., game play history, casino history, third party activity history, social media history, etc.); a social media account; a telephone number; and so on.

In some embodiments, the personal electronic device 1416 is also in communication with the promotion server 1412. In these embodiments, the personal electronic device 1416 can obtain information from the mobile communication module 1414, which can in turn be communicated to the promotion server 1412. For example, the mobile communication module 1414 can communicate an identifier to the personal electronic device 1416 that identifies the electronic gaming machine 1402. Thereafter, the personal electronic device 1416 can communicate the identifier to the promotion server 1412. After receiving the identifier from the personal electronic device 1416, the promotion server 1412 can establish a logical connection between the personal electronic device 1416 (and/or a player account associated with the personal electronic device 1416) and the electronic gaming machine 1402. Once a logical connection and/or other association is made between the personal electronic device 1416 and the electronic gaming machine 1402, the promotion server 1412 can perform a number of operations including, but not limited to: transferring funds from a player account associated with personal electronic device 1416 to electronic gaming machine 1402; cause the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 to display and/or update its display; the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 is self-defined with player specific information associated with the personal electronic device 1416; instructing components within the electronic game machine (e.g., peripheral controller 1410) to perform tasks such as, and without limitation, printing tax or financial documents from a voucher printer, printing redemption vouchers or promotional coupons from a voucher printer, printing lottery tickets or receipts from a voucher printer, printing transaction reports from a voucher printer, displaying information on a secondary display, displaying information on a display associated with input to the electronic game machine 1402 (e.g., buttons, levers, touch screens, etc.), and the like.

In these embodiments, the personal electronic device 1416 can also include a display, such as display 1418. In some examples, the personal electronic device 1416 can request permission and/or confirmation from a player (e.g., a user of the personal electronic device 1416) before and/or during interaction with the electronic gaming machine 1402. For example, in one embodiment, the personal electronic device 1416 is capable of causing a confirmation to be displayed in a graphical user interface shown on the display 1418. The confirmation can request permission to communicate and/or exchange information (e.g., player account information) with the electronic gaming machine 1402.

The foregoing example embodiment is merely one example configuration of a system to which the present invention relates. Generally speaking, the system shown in FIG. 14A facilitates efficient connection and/or association of a player account with a particular electronic gaming machine such that a player can interact with any selected electronic gaming machine in a casino floor simply by using and carrying the player's personal electronic device; without the player having to carry, acquire, present and/or save a ticket, cash or cash substitute.

From the player's perspective, the player approaches the electronic gaming machine 1402 and taps the player's personal electronic device (personal electronic device 1416) to a marked or otherwise identified area of the electronic gaming machine 1402 (in one example) to initiate near field communication and/or bluetooth communication with the gaming machine.

Optionally, as described above, the personal electronic device 1416 may also be capable of communicating with a remote or local server (e.g., a promotional server or a third party account server) in exchange for, without limitation: a security token; logging in the coo kie; login information; and so on. Thereafter, the remote server can communicate with one or more systems of the electronic gaming machine to replenish the gaming machine with value from the player's account and display player-specific information to the player on the main display or the secondary display, or for any other suitable purpose.

However, the architecture shown and described with reference to fig. 14A is merely one example. Fig. 14B shows another example of a network architecture, such as 1400B, of the system of the present invention. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in fig. 14B with reference to the various elements described in the system 1400a shown in fig. 14A, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here. The system 1400b includes an electronic gaming machine 1402, an external server (identified as a promotion server 1412), and a personal electronic device 1416. In contrast to the embodiment shown in FIG. 14A, bi-directional and/or multi-channel communication between the personal electronic device 1416 and the electronic gaming machine 1402 (or more specifically, the mobile communication module 1414) may not be necessary. In this embodiment, the personal electronic device 1416 can include a passive near field communication tag that is read by the mobile communication module 1414 of the electronic gaming machine 1402. In this manner, the electronic gaming machine 1402 and the external server can coordinate based on information retrieved from the passive near field communication tag in the personal electronic device 1416 to associate a player account associated with the owner of the personal electronic device 1416 with the electronic gaming machine 1402 reading the passive near field communication tag.

The foregoing example embodiment is merely one example configuration of a system to which the present invention relates. Generally speaking, the system shown in FIG. 14B facilitates efficient connection and/or association of a player account with a particular electronic gaming machine such that a player can interact with any selected electronic gaming machine in a casino floor simply by using and carrying the player's personal electronic device. As with the embodiment shown in fig. 14A, there is no need for the player to carry, acquire, present and/or save tickets, cash or cash substitutes.

From the player's perspective, the player approaches the electronic gaming machine 1402 and taps the player's personal electronic device onto a marked or otherwise identified area of the electronic gaming machine 1402, thereby initiating one-way communication with the gaming machine for identifying the player and/or a player account or source of funds to the gaming machine and/or an external server. More specifically, in this example, one or more components in the electronic gaming machine 1402 are able to communicate information received from the passive near field communication tag of the personal electronic device 1416 with a remote or local server (e.g., a promotional server or a third party account server) in exchange for, without limitation: security tokens, login cookies, login information, and the like. Thereafter, the remote server can communicate with one or more systems of the electronic gaming machine to replenish the gaming machine with value from the player's account and display player-specific information to the player on the main display or the secondary display, or for any other suitable purpose.

Fig. 14C shows another example of a network architecture of a system 1400C to which the present invention relates. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that various elements described with reference to the system 1400a shown in fig. 14A use like reference numerals in the embodiment shown in fig. 14C and the description of these various elements is not repeated here.

The system 1400c includes an electronic gaming machine 1402, an external server (identified as a promotion server 1412), and a personal electronic device 1416. In contrast to the embodiment shown in FIG. 14A, bi-directional and/or multi-channel communication (or more specifically, the mobile communication module 1414) between the personal electronic device 1416 and the electronic gaming machine 1402 may not be necessary. In this embodiment, the mobile communication module 1414 may include a passive near field communication tag that is read by the personal electronic device 1412. In this manner, the personal electronic device 1412 and the external server can coordinate based on information retrieved from the passive near field communication tag of the mobile communication module 1414 to associate a player account associated with the owner of the personal electronic device 1416 with the electronic gaming machine 1402 that read the passive near field communication tag.

14A-14B, the foregoing example embodiment is merely one example architecture of a system to which the present invention relates. Generally speaking, the system shown in FIG. 14C facilitates efficient connection and/or association of a player account with a particular electronic gaming machine such that a player can interact with any selected electronic gaming machine in a casino floor simply by using and carrying the player's personal electronic device. As with the embodiment shown in fig. 14A-14B, there is no need for the player to carry, acquire, present and/or save tickets, cash or cash substitutes.

From the player's perspective, the player approaches the electronic gaming machine 1402 and taps the player's personal electronic device onto a marked or otherwise identified area of the electronic gaming machine 1402, thereby initiating one-way communication with the gaming machine that identifies the personal electronic device for the player and/or player account or funding source to the gaming machine and/or an external server. More specifically, in this example, one or more components in the personal electronic device 1412 can communicate information received from a passive near field communication tag in an electronic gaming machine (e.g., a mobile communication module) with a remote or local server (e.g., a promotion server or a third party account server) in exchange for, without limitation: a security token associated with the user identity and/or player account, a login cookie, login information, and the like. Thereafter, the remote server can communicate with one or more systems of the electronic gaming machine to replenish the gaming machine with value from the player's account and display player-specific information to the player on the main display or the secondary display, or for any other suitable purpose.

Fig. 14D shows another example of a network architecture of a system 1400D to which the present invention relates. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that various elements described with reference to the system 1400a shown in fig. 14A are labeled with like reference numerals in the embodiment shown in fig. 14D and the description of these various elements is not repeated here.

The system 1400d includes an electronic gaming machine 1402, an external server (identified as a promotion server 1412), and a personal electronic device 1416. In contrast to the embodiment shown in fig. 14A-14C, communication (or more specifically, a mobile communication module) between the personal electronic device 1416 and the electronic game machine 1402 can be eliminated. In this embodiment, the personal electronic device 1412 can communicate directly with an external server to associate a player account associated with the owner of the personal electronic device 1416 with an electronic gaming machine (e.g., electronic gaming machine 1402) selected by the player via the personal electronic device 1412. For example, the display 1418 of the personal electronic device can display a graphical user interface that presents options to the player to enter a code associated with the electronic gaming machine 1402 or to take a photograph or video. In some examples, the personal electronic device 1416 can send the code, photo, or video to an external server, which in turn can determine the associated electronic gaming machine by comparing the code, photo, or video to entries stored in a database.

Fig. 14E shows another example of a network architecture such as the system 1400E described herein. For simplicity of description and illustration, it is understood that like reference numerals are used in the embodiment shown in fig. 14E with reference to the various elements described in the system 1400a shown in fig. 14A, and the description of these various elements is not repeated here.

The system 1400e includes an electronic gaming machine 1402, an external server (identified as a promotion server 1412), and a personal electronic device 1416. In contrast to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 14A-14D, the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 can not be shown on the display 1404 of the electronic gaming machine 1402. Rather, in this example, the supplemental graphical user interface 1406 can be shown on the display 1418 of the personal electronic device 1416.

The foregoing embodiments, and various alternatives and variations thereof, shown in the drawings are presented for the purpose of facilitating a proper explanation and understanding of the various configurations and structures of a network architecture that facilitates communications by and between a player's personal electronic device, various components of an electronic gaming machine, and/or one or more casino servers or systems and various components thereof to which the present invention relates. More simply, these embodiments describe systems and methods for associating a player account with a particular electronic gaming machine so that once a player arrives at the gaming machine, the player can quickly and easily begin interacting with the electronic gaming machine. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that some of the specific elements presented may not be necessary to practice the invention in the specific described embodiments or their equivalents.

Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing description of specific embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching, as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, while the embodiments illustrated with reference to fig. 14A-14E involve near field communications and bluetooth communications, it will be appreciated that none of these examples require the communication of identification information from a player's personal electronic device to a casino server or system to facilitate the association of a particular player account (and/or resource source) with a particular electronic gaming machine. The communication can be one-way or multi-way, can be through a single communication channel or multiple communication channels, and so forth.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example operation of disassociating a player account from an electronic gaming machine. The method 1500 begins at operation 1502, in operation 1502, the electronic gaming machine and/or personal electronic device determines that a player has left the electronic gaming machine. For example, the personal electronic device can include sensors (e.g., inertial sensors, gyroscopes, global positioning sensors) or accelerometers that can be used to determine whether the personal electronic device is moving. Similarly, or in a related example, the electronic gaming machine may include one or more sensors configured to determine whether a player is seated and/or otherwise interacting with the machine. Example sensors include, but are not limited to: a pressure sensor disposed in the seat or in the venue; a proximity sensor; an image sensor; an acoustic sensor; and so on. Upon determining that the player has left the electronic gaming machine, the method 1500 continues to operation 1504 where the electronic gaming machine is disconnected from the player account in operation 1504. In other words, operation of the electronic gaming machine by the second player may not utilize the first player account in any way. Finally, in operation 1506, the third party server and/or other casino system server can be notified that the electronic gaming machine has been disconnected and disassociated from the player account.

FIG. 16 illustrates operations of a method of updating a secondary or supplemental display region of an electronic gaming machine based on a player account identified at least in part by a personal electronic device associated with a particular player (e.g., connected via a database). The method 1600 begins at operation 1602, where an identification token is transmitted between a personal electronic device and an electronic gaming machine via one-way or two-way communication in operation 1602. As described with respect to fig. 14A-14E and other embodiments to which the invention relates, the token can be communicated from the personal electronic device to the electronic gaming machine, from the electronic gaming machine to the personal electronic device, from the personal electronic device to a third party or external server, from the electronic gaming machine to a third party or external server, or any suitable combination thereof. Next, in operation 1604, the electronic gaming machine is associated with a player account associated with the identification token. Finally, in operation 1606, the secondary display and/or the secondary display area (whether the secondary display is associated with the personal electronic device or the electronic gaming machine) may be updated to show player specific information, such as, and without limitation: player name, player account balance, player funding source, player transaction history; player tax information; player restriction information; player food or beverage preferences; and so on. The secondary display and/or area can also be configured to play games, present lottery ticket purchase options, present ticket and/or tax form printing options, or any other suitable option to the player.

It is to be understood that while a number of embodiments are disclosed above, the operations and steps presented with respect to the methods and techniques described herein are exemplary and are therefore not exhaustive. It is also to be understood that alternative orders of steps, or fewer or additional operations may be required or desired for particular embodiments.

While the above disclosure has been described in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects, and functions described in one or more of the various embodiments are not only suitable for describing particular embodiments of such features, aspects, and functions, but may be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the several embodiments of the invention, whether or not such embodiments are shown and whether or not such features are presented as part of a described embodiment. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be determined based on the claims of the present invention.

Further, it should be understood that the organization and/or entity responsible for accessing, aggregating, verifying, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing, or otherwise using private data (including private property data) to which the present invention relates should preferably comply with published and industry-established privacy, data, and network security policies and measures. For example, it should be understood that data and/or information obtained from a remote or local data source should be accessed based only on legal, compliant, and reasonable usage (only if the subject of the data and/or information has informed consent).