Centralized Licensing Services for Gaming Establishments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for managing software licenses in gaming establishments lack precision and timeliness, and there is no effective way to restrict or stop the use of licensed software if payment fees are not met, leading to inefficiencies and revenue losses for software providers.
Innovation Solution
A centralized licensing system where a license proxy, controlled by a central licensing manager, is deployed within a gaming establishment to manage and enforce license usage, enabling or disabling features based on payment status and usage data, ensuring accurate tracking and compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a gaming establishment uses licensed software without a centralized monitoring system, then the establishment can operate software features, but the software provider cannot obtain precise usage data or enforce payment compliance
Solution Approach 1:
A license proxy is introduced as an intermediary component deployed within the gaming establishment's network. This proxy acts as a mediator between the gaming machines and the central licensing manager, collecting usage data locally and enforcing license compliance. The intermediary enables precise measurement of software usage without requiring direct integration into each gaming machine, thus achieving measurement precision while limiting the increase in overall system complexity.
2Loss of information
If the software provider implements a centralized licensing manager to monitor usage, then precise and timely license data can be obtained, but the system requires deployment of additional components within the gaming establishment
Solution Approach 1:
The licensing system is segmented into distinct functional components: a central licensing manager for policy management and data aggregation, and distributed license proxies for local monitoring and enforcement. This segmentation allows the system to obtain complete and accurate usage information by dividing the monitoring function across multiple points, while each component remains relatively simple in design, thus reducing the complexity burden of the overall centralized system.
3Reliability
If the license proxy checks every feature enable request with the central licensing manager, then compliance can be enforced, but network communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The license proxy performs preliminary validation of feature enable requests against locally cached license information before contacting the central licensing manager. This preliminary action filters out many routine requests that can be validated locally, reducing the number of network communications required. Compliance enforcement remains reliable because the proxy maintains synchronized license data from the central manager, while feature enablement time is reduced by eliminating unnecessary network round trips.
4Productivity
If the system allows gaming machines to independently manage their own licenses, then each machine operates autonomously, but centralized control and accurate aggregate usage tracking become impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the autonomy of individual gaming machines with centralized control by having each machine's license proxy report usage data to and receive policy updates from the central licensing manager. This merging allows the central manager to maintain accurate aggregate usage tracking and enforce compliance across the entire network, while individual machines continue to operate autonomously with locally cached license information, thus improving operational efficiency without significantly complicating the ease of operation for end users.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and devices are provided for central management of licenses, particularly those relating to wagering games. A license proxy deployed in and/or dedicated to a gaming establishment may operate under the control of a central licensing manager controlled by another entity, e.g., by a game provider. The license proxy may receive requests to enable features of an electronic gaming machine of the gaming establishment (e.g., game themes, player tracking features and/or peripheral device features) and determine, based on information provided by the central licensing manager, whether to grant such requests. The license proxy may also process requests to enable features of other devices in a gaming establishment, such as server-based features.