In-room gaming

Abstract

A method for in-room gaming suitable for cruise ships and remote hotels allows players to play electronic games of skill or chance on their room TV or on any other available TV. Players may interact with the games via an input device as simple as a standard telephone or as powerful as a palm-sized WiFi device fitted with a credit card reader. The method and system need not require any rewiring of the room and leverages on any data service already in place, such as an individual telephone line, a wired or Wifi local area network. The in-room gaming system may include a central gaming server that generates the game video rendering for each player, the video being streamed or otherwise provided to the associated TV via an individual TV channel, thereby enabling rich, powerful and secure gaming while reducing maintenance costs and preventing obsolescence. In-room players may enjoy the flexibility to wager from any available television and may use the in-room gaming system to build relationships and social networks with other players if they desire.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 741,652, filed Dec. 2, 2005, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates generally to the field of pay computer-controlled games, either games of skills or games of chance, and more particularly to the architecture and configuration of systems that offer such games. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information [0003] Previous systems for allowing guests in the hospitality industry to play electronic games of skill or chance on the television sets in their rooms have all used costly, specialized technology such as interactive set-top boxes, full PCs, or other elaborate game play networks. These systems have a number of shortcomings, the first of which being that they involve a significant initial financial commitment on the part of operators for the purchase of hardware. These exis...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] Embodiments of the present invention may utilize different technologies for upstream or uplink transport (from the personal play action controllers to the central game server) and for downstream or downlink transport (from the central game server(s) to the corresponding player's TV). Having upstream and downstream communications utilize separate transport technologies enables the re-use much of the existing telephone and television infrastructure of most any ship or remote hotel. According to embodiments of the present invention, the uplink bandwidth requirements are small. However, to provide a responsive gaming experience, the uplink transport technology should have relatively low latency. Telephone technology fits both requirements, in that it is a relatively low bandwidth medium (as it was originally developed for voice communications) and in that it has low latency, which allows even widely separated users to have natural and lag-free conversations. The downstream transport technology, however, preferably accommodates a higher bandwidth, such as to accommodate a plurality of simultaneous high-bandwidth video signals.

Problems solved by technology

Previous systems for allowing guests in the hospitality industry to play electronic games of skill or chance on the television sets in their rooms have all used costly, specialized technology such as interactive set-top boxes, full PCs, or other elaborate game play networks.

These existing in-room systems are also slow to install and often require considerable maintenance since much of their delicate, costly hardware is spread out across numerous guest rooms and is susceptible to guest abuse.

Moreover, in-room equipment is rapidly becoming obsolete because of the continuous need for ever increasing power to drive upgraded graphics.

The lack of interactive TV set top box standards, especially relative to game security, has prevented the cost-effective and widespread deployment of secure in-room TV gaming.

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