Gaming System Availability Display and Reservation Network
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Solution Overview
Problem
Players face difficulty in finding available gaming machines that match their preferences in a gaming venue with multiple machines, as existing systems lack effective methods to display machine availability and facilitate seamless game requests.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system that utilizes a communications network to generate and display status information on machine availability, allowing players to request games and receive notifications when desired machines become available, with options for display on machines or separate locations, including mobile devices, and includes a notification system to manage reservations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple gaming machines are provided in a gaming venue, then the variety of games available to players increases, but it becomes difficult for players to find available gaming machines that match their preferences
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously collects status information from gaming machines (occupied/vacant states) and provides real-time feedback to players through availability information displays. This feedback loop enables players to make informed decisions about which machines to approach, resolving the contradiction between having many machines and making it easy to find available ones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary communication network and control system that mediates between the gaming machines and players. This intermediary collects machine status data, processes it, and presents it to players in an accessible format, bridging the gap between the large number of machines and the player's need to find available ones efficiently.
2Ease of operation
If real-time status information is collected and displayed for multiple gaming machines, then player ability to find available machines improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs multiple functions: collecting status information from machines, processing availability data, generating layout information, communicating with players, and managing reservations. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional system, the patent avoids the need for separate complex systems for each function, thereby managing overall system complexity while achieving real-time information display.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from individual machine status displays to a multi-dimensional approach by providing layout information that shows spatial relationships between machines, combining location data with availability status. This dimensional enhancement helps players navigate the venue more efficiently without requiring excessive complexity in the display system.
3Productivity
If players can request specific games and receive notifications when machines become available, then player satisfaction and game access efficiency improve, but communication and notification infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables players to autonomously request specific games and receive automated notifications when those games become available. This self-service approach eliminates the need for manual monitoring and intervention by staff, improving game access efficiency while the automated notification system manages communication requirements without proportionally increasing infrastructure complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system is disclosed which comprises a plurality of gaming machines and a communications network arranged to facilitate communications to and from the gaming machines. Each gaming machine is arranged to implement a game, and to generate status information indicative of whether the gaming machine is vacant or occupied, and the system is arranged to display availability information derived from the status information indicative of whether at least some of the gaming machines are vacant or occupied. A corresponding method is also disclosed.