AU2014242206A1

AU2014242206A1 - A system and method for use with a gaming machine

Info

Publication number: AU2014242206A1
Application number: AU2014242206A
Authority: AU
Inventors: John Boesen
Original assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2006-05-05
Filing date: 2014-10-09
Publication date: 2014-10-30
Also published as: AU2012200364A1

Abstract

A controller for a gaming machine, the controller adapted to receive data from a bill acceptor that may 5 represent bill data or ticket data, the controller arranged to process the data and to: (a) output bill data to a game controller in response to a bill being inserted into the bill acceptor, and wherein the game controller is arranged to process the bill data and provides a player 10 with a number of credits that can be wagered on the game; (b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism in response to a ticket being inserted into the bill acceptor, the ticket processing mechanism being separate from the game controller, wherein the ticket processing 15 mechanism is arranged to process the ticket data to: (i) form credit data and send the credit data to the game controller, wherein in response to the credit data the game controller provides the player with a number of credits that can be wagered on the game and (ii) form a 20 remainder data and send the remainder data to the controller, the remainder data representing a monetary value that is less than the denomination of the gaming machine; and (c) in response to receiving the remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism instruct a 25 ticket printer to print a ticket having the monetary value of the remainder value. 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM --------- 1

Description

- 1 A GAMING MACHINE, A CONTROLLER FOR A GAMING MACHINE, A GAMING SYSTEM, AND A GAMING METHOD 5 Related Application This application is a divisional application of Australian application no. 2012200364, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 10 Field The present invention relates generally to the field of gaming machines. 15 Background of the Invention Many of today's gaming (slot) machines are fitted with ticket dispensing facilities. When a person using such a 20 gaming machine wishes to cash-in game credits on a machine the person can press the "collect" button on the machine, which in turn causes the machine to issue the person with a ticket. The ticket has printed material (such as, for example, a bar code). Once a person has been issued with 25 a ticket, they can present it to a cashier, who will in turn process the ticket and give the person the appropriate monies. The monies paid to the person are equivalent to the monetary value of the game credits accrued on the gaming machine when the collect button was 30 pressed. Unfortunately, many currently installed gaming machines are only capable of dispensing tickets. Consequently, a person wishing to change from one machine to another has 35 to go through the aforementioned process of obtaining a ticket redeeming the ticket for money and then subsequently inserting that money into another machine to 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 2 obtain game credits. The task of moving monies between gaming machines can be time consuming and annoying to persons that switch between different gaming on a relatively frequent basis. 5 Definitions Throughout this specification the following terms are to be interpreted as having the following meanings: 10 * Bill - is legal monetary tender in the form of a paper or polymer note-as opposed to coins-such as, for example, a $5.00 bill. * Ticket - is a paper (or other suitable substrate material) ticket issued by a gaming machine that 15 has printed material (such as a barcode) thereon which is associated with a monetary value. Summary of the Invention 20 According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a controller for a gaming machine, the controller that is electrically coupled via a data link to a bill acceptor and being further arranged to receive bill data or ticket data from the bill acceptor via the data 25 link, the controller arranged to process the data and to: a) output bill data to a game controller; and b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism; the controller further arranged to receive remainder 30 data from the ticket processing mechanism and control a printer to print a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data. According to a second aspect of the present invention 35 there is provided a gaming machine comprising a controller that is electrically coupled via a data link to a bill acceptor, the controller being arranged to receive bill 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 3 data or ticket data from the bill acceptor via the data link, the controller arranged to process the data and to: a) output bill data to a game controller; and b) output ticket data to a ticket processing 5 mechanism; the controller further arranged to receive remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism and control a printer to print a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data. 10 According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming system comprising: a game controller; a ticket processing mechanism; 15 a bill acceptor that outputs data containing bill data when a bill is inserted and ticket data when a ticket is inserted; a ticket printer; and a controller that is electrically coupled to the 20 ticket processing mechanism and the bill acceptor via at least one data link, and which is arranged to receive data from the bill acceptor via the at least one data link, to process the data and to: a) output bill data to a game controller; and 25 b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism; the controller further arranged to receive remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism and control a printer to print a ticket having a value specified by the 30 remainder data. In an embodiment, the ticket processing mechanism is configured to process the ticket data and determine whether the ticket data is valid ticket data. 35 In an embodiment, the ticket processing mechanism is arranged to process valid ticket data to form credit data and output the credit data to the game controller. 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 4 In an embodiment, the ticket processing mechanism is arranged to process the valid ticket data based on a minimum denomination of the game controller to produce 5 credit data and remainder data having a combined value corresponding to the value of the valid ticket data. In an embodiment, the ticket processing mechanism comprises a server for validating the ticket data and a 10 client for processing the ticket data. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of processing data comprising: processing data received from a bill acceptor that is 15 electrically coupled to the controller via a data link, to determine whether the data represents bill data or ticket data; outputting bill data to a game controller in response to determining that the data represents bill data; 20 outputting ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism in response to determining that the data represents ticket data; receiving remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism; and 25 printing a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data. In an embodiment, the method comprises processing said ticket data to determine whether the ticket data is valid. 30 In an embodiment, the method comprises processing valid ticket data for from credit data and outputting said credit data to the game controller. 35 In an embodiment, the method comprises processing the valid ticket data to produce credit data and remainder data based on a minimum denomination of the game 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 5 controller, the credit data and remainder data having the same combined value as the ticket data. An advantage of those embodiments where a ticket is printed is that they facilitate the scenario where the 5 gaming machine accepts, for example, $1.00 denominations only but a person inserts a ticket with the value of, for example, $1.67. Being able to print a ticket allows $1.00 to be credited on the gaming machine and print a ticket with a value of $.0.67. The $0.67 ticket could, for 10 example, be inserted into a $0.01 machine or presented to the cashier to collect $0.67. Thus, by utilising embodiments of the invention vendors can retrofit gaming machines to support insertion of tickets at a fraction of the cost of replacing the gaming machine. 15 A Brief Description of the Drawings Notwithstanding any other embodiments that may fall within the scope of the present invention, an embodiment of the 20 present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of a gaming system 25 that includes an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 provides a flow chart of various steps performed in an embodiment of the present invention; and 30 Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing additional detail of some of the components of Figure 1. Detailed Description 35 Referring to Figure 1, which is a block diagram of a system 100 embodying the present invention, the system 100 includes at least one electronic gaming machine 102 (EGM) 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 6 in the form of a typical slot machine that is produced by companies such as Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd, and retrofit system 104 based on the same principle as the system 6000 product from Aristocrat Technologies 5 Australia Pty Ltd for remote credit transfer. The electronic gaming machine 102 comprises several components including: a gaming board 106; a backplane 108 (that is, a data bus); a bill acceptor 110; a thermal 10 printer 112; a button panel 114; a video monitor 116; and an electronic controller 118. The gaming board 106 is electrically coupled to the backplane 108. The bill acceptor 110 and the thermal printer 112 are electrically coupled to the electronic controller. Thus, the gaming 15 board 106 is in data communication with the bill acceptor 110 and the thermal printer 112 via the backplane 108 and controller 118. A thermal printer is preferred because tickets they print work well with bill acceptors. However, persons skilled in the art will appreciate that 20 other types of printers may be used or indeed that a thermal printer may be provided in addition to an existing printer. The button panel 114 and the video monitor 116 are also coupled (electrically) to the backplane 108. The electronic controller 118 is electrically connected to the 25 bill acceptor 110 and the thermal printer 112 via any appropriate links such as serial RS232 links 120 and 122. The electronic controller 118 is also electrically connected to the backplane 108 and further connected to the retrofit system 104 via a serial RS232 link 124. It 30 is noted that the backplane 108 is electrically connected to the retrofit system 104 via an appropriate data communication link 126, for example one that supports the x-series protocol, which is a protocol used in New South Wales, Australia. 35 The gaming board 106 is essentially a computer motherboard and is installed with a memory device (such as an EPROM) 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 7 that contains one or more game programmes such as Queen of the Nile from Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd. Persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the gaming board 106 executes the one or more game 5 programmes stored in the memory device and thus provides an electronic game controller. The button panel 114 and the video monitor 116 enable persons to interact with the games. More specifically, the button panel 114 allows persons to operate the games, while the video monitor 10 presents the game to the persons. As mentioned previously, the system 100 includes a retrofit system 104 in the form of a modified system 6000 product from Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd. 15 The retrofit system of the preferred embodiment provides a ticket processing mechanism that allows an inserted ticket to be processed in a manner such that this is not apparent to the gaming board 106. The retrofit system 104 essentially comprises a personal computer 128 and a 20 database 130 that provides a head system 136, and an electronic control unit 132. Although shown as separate to the gaming machine in Figure 1, the electronic control unit may be provided in a number of locations but is typically provided within the electronic gaming machines 25 casing on a separate circuit board. The electronic control unit 132 may be referred to as a "Ticket Client" as it is a client to the head system that is the "Ticket Master". The retrofit system 104 also includes a data communication link 134 which may be in the form of an 30 RS485 link or another appropriate link such as Ethernet, which is electrically coupled to the personal computer 128 of the head system 136 and the electronic control unit 132 to allow data to be exchanged therebetween. The data link 124, which is electrically coupled to the controller 118, 35 is electrically connected to the control unit 132 to allow the controller 118 and the control unit 132 to exchange data with each other. The data link 126, which is 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 8 electrically connected to the backplane 108, is also electrically connected to the electronic control unit 132. The system 100 is distinguishable over similar existing 5 systems in that it includes the controller 118 in the gaming machine 102, which is not present in existing gaming machines. Furthermore, the control unit 132 of the retrofit system 104 provides additional functionality not provided in similar existing retrofit systems. With 10 regard to the controller 118, which is in the form of a microprocessor (or microcontroller) based electronic board, it is arranged to monitor data messages generated by the bill acceptor 110. In particular, when a person inserts a bill (such as $5.00 or $10.00 note) or a ticket 15 into the bill acceptor 110 the bill acceptor 110 will generate data that is received by the controller 118 via the data link 120. As shown in Figure 3 on receiving the data, the bill acceptor data processor 119a of the controller 118 will process the data to determine whether 20 a bill or a ticket has been inserted into the bill acceptor 110 (that is to determine whether it is bill or ticket data). That is, the data generated by the bill acceptor 110 will include data indicating whether a bill or ticket has been inserted into the bill acceptor 110. 25 If on processing the data generated by the bill acceptor 110 the processor 119a of controller 118 determines that a bill has been inserted into the bill acceptor 110, processor 119a of the controller 118 places a bill 30 insertion message onto the backplane 108. That is, the controller outputs (or issues) a bill insertion message including the bill data to the gaming board via the backplane. On detecting the presence of the bill insertion message, the gaming board 106 will give the 35 player the amount of game credits equivalent to the bill inserted into the bill acceptor 110. On the other hand if on processing the data from the bill acceptor 110 the 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 9 processor 119a of controller 118 determines that a ticket has been inserted into the bill acceptor 110, the controller 118 will issue the control unit 132 with a ticket insertion message 124a via the link 124.That is, 5 the controller outputs (or issues) a ticket insertion message including the ticket data to the control unit 132 of the ticket processing mechanism. On receiving the ticket insertion message the control unit 10 132 communicates with the personal computer 128 which acts as a server (just as the control unit 132 acts as a client) (via link 134) to seek confirmation that the ticket inserted into the bill acceptor 110 is valid. In this regard, the ticket has a barcode printed thereon and 15 the information encoded in the barcode is contained in the ticket insertion message. The information related to the barcode that is in the ticket insertion message is provided to the personal computer 128 by a ticket insertion message processor 133a of the control unit 132 20 so that the ticket can be verified when the personal computer 128 is 'asked' 134a by the control unit 132 to verify the ticket, it checks the database 130 for the existence of a record that corresponds to the information in the ticket insertion message. The ticket insertion 25 message processor also stores the ticket insertion message in memory 133b. The memory may be persistent so that in the event of a power failure it is possible to determine the state immediately before power loss occurred and take the necessary actions to cleanup or complete the 30 transaction. Subsequent to checking the database 130 the personal computer 128 will inform the control unit 132, by way of sending an electronic message, of the existence of a 35 corresponding record. If the electronic message 134b received from the personal computer 128 indicates that no corresponding record exists, an invalid ticket handler 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 10 133c of the control unit 132 will assume that the ticket is invalid and instruct (by sending an electronic message 124b via link 124) the controller 118 accordingly, the control unit will also clear the message from memory 133b. 5 An invalid ticket handler 119b of the controller 118 will in turn instruct the bill acceptor 110 to reject the ticket. On the other hand, if the personal computer 128 determines that a corresponding record exists in the database 130 it will advise the control unit 132 10 accordingly (by sending an electronic message 134c via link 134), which in effect is an indication that the ticket is valid and which also contains the value of the ticket. In response, a credit processor places a game credit message 126a containing credit data onto the 15 backplane 108 via link 126 that defines the correct amount of credit. On detecting the game credit message, the gaming board 106 will provide the appropriate number of game credits in the same way as if a bill had been inserted into the bill acceptor 110. 20 In addition to placing the game credit message onto the backplane 108, the credit processor 133d of control unit 132 may issue a print ticket message 124c containing remainder data to the controller 118 via the link 124. 25 The remainder data specifies the difference in value between the credit data and the original ticket data. On receiving the print ticket message 124c, the controller 118 will instruct the printer 112 to print a ticket sending the print ticket message on to the printer 112 via 30 the link 122. If the credit processor control unit 132 issues the print ticket message 124c, it will also inform the personal computer 128 that the message 124c has been issued. The personal computer 128 will in turn make a record of the ticket in the database 130 so that if that 35 particular ticket is inserted into the bill acceptor 110 at a later date (or any other ticket reading device, such as one that might be used by a cashier) the ticket can be 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 11 verified as previously described. The advantage of allowing the control unit 132 to be able to effect the printing of a ticket is that, for example, 5 if the ticket has a value of $1.67 and the gaming machine only accepts $1.00 denominations, the game credit message issued by the control unit can be for the value of $1.00, while the remaining $0.67 can be issued on a ticket. The $0.67 ticket could subsequently be inserted into a $0.01 10 gaming machine to obtain 67 game credits or redeemed for money at a cashier. Accordingly, the credit processor 133d is configured to split the value of the ticket based on the minimum acceptable denomination of gaming machine 102. 15 A person skilled in the art will appreciate from the above description that the gaming board 106 which provides an electronic gaming controller for control of a play of games will not be aware of the existence of the electronic 20 controller 118. A person skilled in the art will also appreciate that while the functions 119a, 119b, 119c performed by the electronic controller 118 and the functions performed by 25 the control unity 132, 133a, 133c, 133d are shown as separate functional components, these may in fact be separate sub-routines of program code executed by the controller 118 and the control unit 132. Further persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions of 30 the electronic controller 118 and the electronic control unit 132 could be merged into a single device. In this embodiment The main aforementioned steps performed by the controller 35 118 and the control unit 132 are illustrated in the flow chart 200 in Figure 2. At step 205, the controller 118 monitors all communication between the bill acceptor, the 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 12 printer and the gaming board. Most communications pass through but others are intercepted, in particular ticket insertion messages received from the bill acceptor 110. Thus at step 210 it determines whether the bill acceptor 5 has communicated that a ticket has been inserted. If the answer is no it allows communications to flow through to the gaming board 106 without interfering. That is it outputs the message previously provided by the bill acceptor 112 to the gaming board 106 via backplane 108. 10 If at step 210 the answer is yes, the electronic controller 118 intercepts the message and outputs it via link 124 to electronic control unit 132 for validation. At step 225 the electronic control unit 132 determines whether the ticket is valid by querying the head system 15 136 at step 220. If it receives an invalid ticket response from the head system 136 it rejects the ticket at step 250. If it receives a message that the ticket is valid from the head system 136, the electronic control unit 132 retrieves the value of the ticket, determines the 20 credit amount and the remainder amount. At step 240 the credit amount is transferred to the backplane 108 where it is picked up by the gaming board. The remainder amount is transferred to the electronic controller 118. Accordingly, assuming the transfer is determined to be 25 successful at step 245 the ticket is accepted at 260 and if a remainder amount is remaining as determined at step 265 a ticket for the remainder amount is printed at step 270. The method then returns to the monitoring state 205. 30 While the present invention has been described with reference to the aforementioned embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that alterations, changes and improvements may be made and equivalents may be substituted for the elements thereof and steps thereof 35 without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt to a particular situation or material to the teachings of the 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 13 present invention without departing from the central scope thereof. Such alterations, changes, modifications and improvements, though not expressly described above, are nevertheless intended and implied to be within the scope 5 and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the embodiment for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the independent 10 claims. 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM

Claims

1. A controller for a gaming machine, the controller 5 that is electrically coupled via a data link to a bill acceptor and being further arranged to receive bill data or ticket data from the bill acceptor via the data link, the controller arranged to process the data and to: a) output bill data to a game controller; and 10 b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism; the controller further arranged to receive remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism and control a printer to print a ticket having a value 15 specified by the remainder data.

2. A gaming machine comprising a controller that is electrically coupled via a data link to a bill acceptor, the controller being arranged to receive bill data or 20 ticket data from the bill acceptor via the data link, the controller arranged to process the data and to: a) output bill data to a game controller; and b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism; 25 the controller further arranged to receive remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism and control a printer to print a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data. 30

3. A gaming system comprising: a game controller; a ticket processing mechanism; a bill acceptor that outputs data containing bill data when a bill is inserted and ticket data when a ticket 35 is inserted; a ticket printer; and a controller that is electrically coupled to the 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 15 ticket processing mechanism and the bill acceptor via at least one data link, and which is arranged to receive data from the bill acceptor via the at least one data link, to process the data and to: 5 a) output bill data to a game controller; and b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism; the controller further arranged to receive remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism and 10 control a printer to print a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data.

4. A gaming system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the ticket processing mechanism is configured to process the 15 ticket data and determine whether the ticket data is valid ticket data.

5. A gaming system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the ticket processing mechanism is arranged to process valid 20 ticket data to form credit data and output the credit data to the game controller.

6. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein the ticket processing mechanism is arranged 25 to process the valid ticket data based on a minimum denomination of the game controller to produce credit data and remainder data having a combined value corresponding to the value of the valid ticket data. 30

7. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 6 wherein the ticket processing mechanism comprises a server for validating the ticket data and a client for processing the ticket data. 35

8. A method of processing data comprising: processing data received from a bill acceptor that is electrically coupled to the controller via a data 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 16 link, to determine whether the data represents bill data or ticket data; outputting bill data to a game controller in response to determining that the data represents bill 5 data; outputting ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism in response to determining that the data represents ticket data; receiving remainder data from the ticket 10 processing mechanism; and printing a ticket having a value specified by the remainder data.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 comprising 15 processing said ticket data to determine whether the ticket data is valid.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 comprising processing valid ticket data for from credit data and 20 outputting said credit data to the game controller.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 comprising processing the valid ticket data to produce credit data and remainder data based on a minimum denomination of the 25 game controller, the credit data and remainder data having the same combined value as the ticket data.

12. A controller for a gaming machine substantially as herein described. 30

13. A gaming machine comprising a controller substantially as herein described. 35 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM - 17

14. A gaming system substantially as herein described.

15. A method of processing data substantially as 5 herein described. 5839575_1 (GHMatters) P71010.AU.5DEBORAM