Universal Interface Layer for Gaming Machine Platform Independence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gaming machine software and hardware architectures are inadequate to optimize the capabilities of newer technologies, leading to slow performance and inefficiencies due to restrictive operating systems and BIOS limitations, which hinder platform interchangeability and pre-boot environment functionality.
Innovation Solution
A gaming machine architecture with a universal interface layer that abstracts the gaming platform from the hardware platform, enabling platform independence and facilitating communication between the two, allowing for self-diagnostic, remote configuration, and pre-boot capabilities, as well as improved boot processes and encryption features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a restrictive operating system and BIOS architecture is used in gaming machines, then the system can maintain simplicity and stability, but the software architecture lags behind hardware advancements and cannot optimize newer technologies
Solution Approach 1:
The system architecture is segmented into distinct layers: a hardware platform layer, a universal interface layer, and a gaming platform layer. This segmentation allows each layer to be optimized independently, enabling the gaming platform to access advanced hardware capabilities through standardized interfaces without requiring changes to the core operating system or BIOS, thus resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A universal interface layer is introduced as an intermediary between the hardware platform and the gaming platform. This intermediary layer provides standardized abstraction functions that translate hardware-specific operations into platform-independent calls, allowing the gaming software to adapt to new hardware technologies without increasing overall system complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If platform-specific customization is performed for each hardware platform, then hardware compatibility is achieved, but platform interchangeability is hindered and development efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The universal interface layer implements a universal set of abstraction functions that can interface with multiple different hardware platforms. This universal interface serves multiple purposes: it enables a single gaming platform to work with various hardware configurations, allows hardware platforms to be interchangeable, and provides consistent development guidelines across all implementations, thereby improving both platform interchangeability and development efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If pre-boot environment functionality is added to gaming machines, then self-diagnostic and remote configuration capabilities are enabled, but the boot process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The universal interface layer is designed to initialize and configure itself during the pre-boot environment before the main operating system loads. By performing hardware initialization, driver loading, and system configuration in this preliminary phase, the system enables self-diagnostic and remote configuration capabilities without adding significant complexity to the overall boot process, as these functions are executed in a standardized manner during the boot sequence.
Data Source
AI summary
Gaming machines and systems having a universal interface layer linking a gaming platform to a hardware platform are disclosed. In particular, the universal interface layer is configured such that the gaming platform is hardware platform independent and such that the hardware platform is gaming platform independent. Platform independence can facilitate the interchangeability of one platform without a corresponding need to modify the other platform. The gaming platform can include various gaming modules and an operating system, while the universal interface layer can include firmware, various additional gaming modules, hardware specific drivers and various APIs to facilitate communication between the gaming platform and other universal interface layer components. A safe storage manager can be included to utilize a non-volatile storage component to store data regarding a gaming machine state, with the state being recoverable after a substantial interruption to the machine.