Temporary Peripheral Instantiation for EGM Mobile Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Casino enterprises face challenges in providing personalized and interactive gaming experiences for patrons, as existing systems do not effectively leverage the capabilities of portable electronic devices to enhance gameplay and customer engagement.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system that enables secure communication and interaction between electronic gaming machines and portable electronic devices, allowing for the instantiation of temporary peripherals to send and receive content, including video, audio, and sensory inputs, and to affect game states, thereby providing customized and shared experiences for players.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If electronic gaming machines are equipped with communication interfaces to connect with portable electronic devices, then patron engagement and personalized content delivery are improved, but device complexity and security requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs an intermediary communication framework where the EGM's communication interface acts as a mediator between the portable electronic device and the gaming system. This intermediary layer handles protocol translation, data formatting, and security authentication, allowing personalized content delivery without directly complicating the core gaming machinery. The intermediary manages the complexity by abstracting communication details into standardized interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication interface is designed with multi-functionality to handle various communication protocols and data types through a single unified interface. This universal interface can accommodate different portable devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops) and support multiple communication modes (video streaming, audio transmission, data exchange), thereby improving adaptability while managing complexity through consolidation rather than proliferation of separate interfaces.
2Reliability
If secure communication protocols are implemented between EGMs and portable devices, then system security is improved, but communication overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary authentication actions by establishing secure communication channels and validating device credentials before actual gaming content transmission begins. This preliminary security handshake includes device identification, authentication token verification, and encryption key exchange, ensuring that subsequent communications occur over already-secured channels, thereby minimizing repeated authentication overhead during gameplay.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication protocol incorporates feedback mechanisms where the EGM continuously monitors communication quality, authentication status, and data integrity. This feedback loop allows the system to dynamically adjust security measures, such as re-authenticating only when necessary or switching between different encryption levels based on current trust levels, thereby maintaining security while optimizing processing time by avoiding unnecessary security checks.
3Adaptability or versatility
If temporary peripherals are instantiated on EGMs to interface with portable devices, then input integration and output capabilities are improved, but system stability and security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates the peripheral functionality into separate, temporary virtual components that run within a controlled environment on the EGM. Instead of integrating portable device interfaces directly into the core EGM system, the temporary peripherals are extracted as independent software modules that handle all input/output operations. This extraction ensures that any instability or security issues in the peripheral layer do not propagate to the core gaming system, maintaining system stability while providing enhanced adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The temporary peripherals create virtual copies of standard gaming interfaces that mimic traditional EGM controls and displays. Rather than requiring the EGM to natively support diverse portable device interfaces, the system creates software copies of familiar gaming peripherals (virtual joysticks, touch interfaces, display renderers) that operate within the EGM's controlled environment. These copies provide the necessary adaptability for different devices while maintaining system stability by keeping the core EGM architecture unchanged.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system including electronic gaming machines (EGMs) compatible with patron-controlled portable electronic devices, such as smart phones or tablet computers, is described. EGMs within the gaming system can be configured to establish communications with portable electronic devices. After communications are established, the EGMs can be configured to determine input and output capabilities of the portable electronic devices and instantiate temporary peripherals. A temporary peripheral instantiated on an EGM can be used to send output to the portable electronic device and/or receive input from the portable electronic device. In some embodiments, input from a temporary peripheral can be used to affect a state of a wager-based game played on the EGM.