AU2004241798B2

AU2004241798B2 - Player identification

Info

Publication number: AU2004241798B2
Application number: AU2004241798A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Martin Moshal
Original assignee: Waterleaf Ltd
Current assignee: Waterleaf Ltd
Priority date: 2003-05-21
Filing date: 2004-05-19
Publication date: 2009-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2024-05-19
Also published as: EP1626786A4; EP1626786A1; GB0311669D0; AU2004241798A1; US20070270209A1; WO2004103499A1; CA2526355A1

Description

WO 2004/103499 PCT/IB2004/001633 1 5 PLAYER IDENTIFICATION Field of the Invention 10 This invention relates to a player identification system and, more particularly, to a player identification system that can be employed in conjunction with betting terminals. The invention extends to a method of identifying players at betting terminals. 15 Background to the Invention Betting terminals have become increasingly common in a number of different jurisdictions that have a regulated gambling industry. 20 Such a betting terminal has a player console that offers a player a menu of one or more games of chance that the player can select to play. Each game of chance has outcomes that are determined by random events, usually generated by means of a random number generator implemented in software. The software 25 random number generator may be executed locally within the player console itself, or may be implemented externally in a gaming server, which is linked to the betting terminal by means of a communication network. In the latter topology, one or more separate player consoles may be connected to a single external gaming server by means of the communication network. 30 It is usual for the player to play any of the games of chance by means of pre purchased credit. For reasons of simplicity and convenience it is customary for CONFIRMATl lnPV 2 the player console to be equipped with a coin-receiving mechanism and a banknote reader that will allow the player to acquire credit in a simple manner without the necessity of using payment tokens such as credit cards, debit cards and the like. The player console may also be equipped with a printer that prints out an encoded voucher on demand when 5 the player desires to terminate his playing session and to cash out any credit that he may have accumulated. The voucher may be redeemed for value from an operator of the betting terminal. The games of chance offered by the player console may offer jackpot prizes that can be io won from time to time. Such a player console operates in an "always on" mode, in the sense that no player login or authentication is required in order to play any of the games of chance. The player console may be located at a convenient location, such as a betting shop, an entertainment is venue, or the like. The gaming server to which the player console is linked may also be located with the player console, or may be located remotely therefrom. It is possible that disputes may arise from time to time between different players over the right to cash out from any particular betting terminal, especially when a jackpot prize has 20 been won. A need therefore exists to provide a player identification system, and a method of identifying players at betting terminals that will, at least partially, alleviate the abovementioned difficulties and disadvantages. 25 Summary of the Invention According to one aspect, there is provided a player identification system, comprising: a betting terminal operable by a player to play at least one game thereon and to 30 place a wager on an outcome of any turn of the game, the outcome of each turn of the game being determined, at least in part, by chance; a camera associated with the betting terminal, the camera being arranged to capture an image of the player operating the betting terminal; wherein the camera is configured to capture an image of the player operating the 35 betting terminal at least once during each turn of the at least one game; and by: 3 a logging facility configured to log, for each turn of the at least one game, logging data representative of a size and type of the wager placed by the player on the turn of the game, the corresponding outcome of that turn of the game, and the image of the player captured by the camera during the turn of the game. 5 According to another aspect, there is provided a method for identifying players at a betting terminal, comprising the steps of: enabling a player to operate a betting terminal to play at least one game thereon and to place a wager on an outcome of any turn of the game, the outcome of each turn of 1o the game being determined, at least in part, by chance; wherein capturing, at least once during each turn of the at least one game, a camera image of the player operating the betting terminal; and logging, for each turn of the at least one game, logging data representative of a size and type of the wager placed by the player on the turn of the game, the corresponding is outcome of that turn of the game, and the camera image of the player during the turn of the game. Brief Description of the Drawings 20 A preferred embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [THE NEXT PAGE IS PAGE 5] EDITORIAL NOTE APPLICATION NO. 2004241798 This specification does not contain a page numbered 4.

WO 2004/103499 PCT/IB2004/001633 5 Figure 1 is a functional representation of a player identification system according to the invention, shown in conjunction with a betting terminal. 5 Detailed Description of the Invention Referring to Figure 1, a player identification system is indicated generally by reference numeral (100). 10 The player identification system (100) is associated with a betting terminal indicated generally by reference numeral (1) that includes a gaming server (2) and a user access facility (3) in the form of a player console having a touch screen (4), a banknote reader (5), a coin receiving mechanism (6) such as a coin slot, and a thermal printer (7). The player console also includes an Internet 15 enabled processor (8) which is in communication with the gaming server (2) by means of a communication network (9) that is, in this embodiment, the Internet. The player console (3) is located remotely from the gaming server (2) and is usable by a player to play any one of a number of different video games that are 20 available for play. A menu of available games is presented to the player on the touch screen (4) and the player is able to select any one of the games in the menu for play by touching a corresponding icon (not shown) displayed on the screen in a manner that is well known in the art. 25 The Internet-enabled processor (8) is a conventional personal computer operating under a Windows 2000 operating system, which is well known and commercially available from the Microsoft Corporation of Seattle, Washington, USA. The Internet-enabled processor (8) and the gaming server (2) execute different components of any available game that is selected for play by the 30 player. Each game consists of a client process that is executed in the processor (8) and a server process that is executed in the gaming server (2). The client process of a selected game simulates the progress of the game on the touch WO 2004/103499 PCT/IB2004/001633 6 screen (4), while the server process generates, upon request of the of the client process, one or more random events that determine an outcome or outcomes of a turn of the game. The client process obtains the result of the random event from the gaming server (2) along the communication network (9) and utilises the 5 result to display a corresponding outcome of the game to the player in an intelligible manner by means of the simulation on the touch screen (4). Each one of the available games is playable by the player against the consumption of credit. The player may insert one or more banknotes into the 10 banknote reader (5) and coins into the coin slot (6) in order to procure credit to play any of the games, without the need to use payment tokens such as debit cards, credit cards or the like. The player's credit balance is displayed on the touch screen (4) at all times. The player utilises his credit to place a wager on every turn of the games that he selects for play. The outcome of any wager is 15 either an unsuccessful outcome in which the player's wager is forfeited to an operator of the betting terminal (1), or a successful outcome in which the player's wager is paid out at predetermined odds. The player identification system (100) includes a logging database (10) remote 20 from the player console (3), which is accessible by means of the communication network (9). The operation of the logging database (10) will be described in more detail in the description that follows. The player identification system (100) includes, further, a logging facility in the form of a non-volatile storage memory (11) and a logging application software program (12) that is executable in the 25 processor (8) of the player console (3). The non-volatile storage memory (11) is a local Random Access Memory circular buffer and is sized to store transaction data corresponding to a predetermined number, say 20, of consecutive wagers made by the player. The transaction data is buffered in the circular buffer (11) by the logging application software program (12) that executes in the processor (8) 30 of the player console (3).

WO 2004/103499 PCT/IB2004/001633 7 The player identification system (100) also includes a camera (13) arranged to capture an image of a player using the player console (3) to play any available game thereon. The client process that executes in the processor (8) activates the camera (13) to capture the image of the player operating the player console (3) at 5 least once during each turn of any game played by the player at the console. The transaction data corresponding to any particular wager includes data relating to the size and type of the wager, the outcome of the wager, the size of a prize won by the player for a successful wager, an identification code corresponding to 10 the selected game on which the wager was placed, a further identification code corresponding to a player console from which the wager was made by the player, and the image taken by the camera (13) of the player who made the wager. The logging application software program (12) downloads the buffered transaction data to the logging database (10) when the local buffer (11) is full and, once the 15 download is complete, flushes the local buffer. The player identification system (100) includes an enquiry facility (14) connected to the communication network (9). The enquiry facility (14) is a conventional computer workstation capable of accessing the transaction data contained in the 20 logging database (10). In particular, the enquiry facility (14) enables the stored image of the player corresponding to any particular wager to be displayed on a display monitor of the computer workstation for viewing by interested parties. Numerous modifications are possible to this embodiment without departing from 25 the scope of the invention. In particular, the betting terminal (1) may include more than one player console (3) communicable with the gaming server (2). Each player console (3) has a corresponding camera (13), local buffer (11) and logging application software program (12). In this instance, the downloaded contents from the different local buffers (11) of the display consoles (3) are consolidated 30 and merged into the remote logging database (10). The merged transaction data in the remote logging database (10) is available for the performance of offline queries.

WO 2004/103499 PCT/IB2004/001633 8 Further, the gaming server (2) and the camera (13) may be integrated within the display console (3) to provide, effectively, a standalone betting terminal. In this instance, the functionality of the gaming server (2) and the processor (8) in the 5 display console ( 3) may be consolidated, necessitating only a single processor for the betting terminal (1) Further, the remote logging database (10) may also be integrated within the display console (3), making it possible to dispense with the use of an open communication network (9) such as the Internet and rely, instead, on a closed communication network or a local communication bus. 10 The invention therefore provides a player identification system that enables the identification of users of a betting terminal to be checked and verified.

Claims

1. A player identification system, comprising: a betting terminal operable by a player to play at least one game thereon and to 5 place a wager on an outcome of any turn of the game, the outcome of each turn of the game being determined, at least in part, by chance; a camera associated with the betting terminal, the camera being arranged to capture an image of the player operating the betting terminal; wherein the camera is configured to capture an image of the player operating the 10 betting terminal at least once during each turn of the at least one game; and by: a logging facility configured to log, for each turn of the at least one game, logging data representative of a size and type of the wager placed by the player on the turn of the game, the corresponding outcome of that turn of the game, and the image of the player captured by the camera during the turn of the game. 15

2. A player identification system as claimed in claim I in which the betting terminal is operable by the player to play any one of a number of different selectable games. 20

3. A player identification system as claimed in claim 2 in which the camera is arranged to capture the image of the player operating the betting terminal at least once during each turn of any game being played by the player.

4. A player identification system as claimed in claim 3 in which the logging data is 25 representative, also, of the particular game being played by the player.

5. A player identification system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the logging facility comprises a non-volatile storage memory for storing the logging data thereon. 30

6. A player identification system as claimed in claim 5 in which the storage memory is configured as a rolling buffer capable of storing logging data relating to a number of the most recent turns of any games played by the player. 10

7. A player identification system as claimed in claim I further comprising an enquiry facility operable to display any logging data contained in the storage memory.

8. A player identification system as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a display s monitor capable of displaying any image of the player contained in the storage memory.

9. A method for identifying players at a betting terminal, comprising the steps of: enabling a player to operate a betting terminal to play at least one game thereon and to place a wager on an outcome of any turn of the game, the outcome of each turn of Io the game being determined, at least in part, by chance; wherein capturing, at least once during each turn of the at least one game, a camera image of the player operating the betting terminal; and logging, for each turn of the at least one game, logging data representative of a size and type of the wager placed by the player on the turn of the game, the corresponding is outcome of that turn of the game, and the camera image of the player during the turn of the game.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 further comprising the step of enabling the player to operate the betting terminal to play any one of a number of different selectable 20 games.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 further comprising the step of capturing the image of the player operating the betting terminal at least once during each turn of any game being played by the player. 25

12. A method as claimed in claim 11 further comprising the step of logging additional data representative of the particular game being played by the player.

13. A method as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 further comprising the step of 30 storing the logging data on a non-volatile storage memory.

14. A method as claimed in claim 9 further comprising the step of configuring the storage memory as a rolling buffer capable of storing logging data relating to a number of the most recent turns of any games played by the player. 35 11

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising the step of displaying any logging data contained in the storage memory on an enquiry facility having a display monitor. 5

16. A player identification system being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the embodiments, as that embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings.

17. A method for identifying players at a betting terminal being substantially as 10 hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the embodiments, as that embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings. Dated 25 March, 2009 Waterleaf Limited is Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON & FERGUSON