Gaming System Virtual Session Player Activity Tracking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current player tracking systems in gaming machines fail to accurately record player activity when a player's card is not inserted or is removed prematurely, leading to missed points and incorrect marketing data for casinos.
Innovation Solution
Implementing virtual gaming sessions that continue to monitor and record player activity after the card is removed or before it is inserted, ensuring accurate tracking of credits and points by establishing a secondary session based on remaining credits or ongoing games.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If player tracking systems only track activity during card-inserted sessions, then system complexity remains low, but tracking accuracy deteriorates when cards are not inserted or are removed prematurely
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting card insertion and initiating a tracking session before the player actually begins gaming activity. This ensures that any gaming activity, including pre-card coins, is captured from the moment the card is inserted, preventing loss of tracking data for activities that occur at the very start of a session.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking session continues beyond card removal to capture any remaining gaming activity. The system maintains the tracking session active for a predetermined period after card removal or until a cash-out event occurs, ensuring continuous capture of all gaming activity including post-card-removal games. This continuity prevents gaps in tracking data without requiring constant card presence.
2Ease of operation
If tracking sessions end immediately upon card removal, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability of point accumulation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking session extends beyond the physical card presence to cover the entire period of player engagement with the machine. Activity is continuously monitored until a cash-out event or predetermined time period elapses, ensuring that all gaming activity is captured and points are reliably accumulated even if the card is removed during play.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses cash-out events and predetermined time periods as intermediary markers to define the true end of a tracking session. Rather than using card removal as the immediate endpoint, these intermediary events provide a more reliable boundary that ensures all gaming activity is captured, bridging the gap between physical card presence and actual gaming completion.
3Measurement precision
If virtual sessions are implemented to track activity after card removal, then tracking accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking system is segmented into distinct phases: active card sessions and virtual post-removal sessions. Each phase is managed independently with clear transition rules. This segmentation allows the system to handle different tracking requirements for each phase separately, reducing overall complexity while improving accuracy by ensuring no activity falls between phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically manages virtual session transitions without requiring player intervention. When a card is removed, the system self-initiates a virtual session that continues until a cash-out event or predetermined time period elapses. This automatic self-management reduces operational complexity while maintaining accurate tracking of all gaming activity.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system has a central authority connected to a plurality of gaming machines. Player activity is tracked at the gaming machines during regular gaming sessions and during virtual gaming sessions. Such data is transmitted to the central authority for providing player points in a player account file of a central database. Regular gaming sessions occur between player card insertion and player card removal. Virtual gaming sessions may occur prior to player card insertion as well as after player card insertion. For example, a coin-in event prior to player card insertion will establish a virtual session, and credits remaining on the credit meter at a card-out event will establish a virtual gaming session.