Modular entertainment and gaming system configured to capture raw biometric data and responsive to directives from a remote server
View Patent ↗A secure and modular architecture for monitoring and controlling clusters of pay entertainment and gaming devices. The architecture allows flexible and secure use of state-of-the-art multimedia and Internet technologies to attract the younger player generation used to flashy and networked games. Cash or cash-less entertainment and gaming devices are supported.
1. A gaming system including:
a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a communication network, each gaming machine being configured to enable player interaction and to receive and display video images corresponding to the player interaction on the gaming machine; and
a central server coupled to the communication network, the central server including a plurality of computer servers, wherein each computer server is a separate piece of hardware and includes a single and separate player interaction and game engine associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gaming machines, each player interaction and game engine being configured to apply game rules, to provide game outcomes, and to individually render video images for its associated gaming machine in response to the player interaction on its associated gaming machine, each player interaction and game engine being further configured to transmit the individually rendered video images to its associated gaming machine.
2. The gaming system according to claim 1 , wherein the communication network is wireless.
3. The gaming system according to claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is at least one of portable and mobile.
4. The gaming system according to claim 1 , wherein the player interaction includes voice commands.
5. The gaming system according to claim 1 , wherein the video images include television images and selectable TV channels.
6. The gaming system according to claim 1 , wherein the central server is further configured to generate and transmit sound signals for each gaming machine over the communication network, and wherein each gaming machine is further configured to receive and render the transmitted sound signals.
7. A gaming system including:
a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a communication network, each gaming machine being configured to enable player interaction and to receive and display video images corresponding to the player interaction on the gaming machine; and
a central server system coupled to the communication network, the central server system including a farm of computer servers that are separate and distinct from the plurality of gaming machines, each computer server being a single and separate piece of hardware and including a single and separate player interaction and game engine associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gaming machines, each computer server being configured to apply game rules, to provide game outcomes, and to individually render video images for its associated gaming machine in response to the player interaction on its associated gaming machine, each player interaction and game engine being further configured to transmit the individually rendered video images to its associated gaming machine.
8. The gaming system according to claim 7 , wherein the communication network is wireless.
9. The gaming system according to claim 7 , wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is at least one of portable and mobile.
10. The gaming system according to claim 7 , wherein the player interaction includes voice commands.
11. The gaming system according to claim 7 , wherein the video images include television images and selectable TV channels.
12. The gaming system according to claim 7 , wherein the central server system is further configured to generate and transmit sound signals for each gaming machine over the communication network, and wherein each gaming machine is further configured to receive and render the transmitted sound signals.
13. A gaming system including:
a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a communication network, each gaming machine being configured to enable player interaction and to receive, decode and display video images corresponding to the player interaction; and
a central server coupled to the communication network, the central server including a plurality of computer servers, wherein each computer server is a separate piece of hardware and includes a single and separate player interaction and game engine associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gaming machines, each player interaction and game engine being configured to apply game rules, to provide game outcomes, and to individually create and compress the video images, and to send the individually created and compressed video images for its associated gaming machine over the communications network to its associated gaming machine in response to the player interaction on its associated gaming machine.
14. The gaming system according to claim 13 , wherein the communication network is wireless.
15. The gaming system according to claim 14 , wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is at least one of portable and mobile.
16. The gaming system according to claim 13 , wherein the player interaction includes voice commands.
17. The gaming system according to claim 13 , wherein the central server is further configured to generate and send sound signals for each gaming machine over the communication network, and wherein each gaming machine further includes means for receiving and rendering the sound signals.
18. A gaming system including:
a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a communication network and each gaming machine being configured to capture player biometric data and to send the captured player biometric data over the communication network; and
a central server coupled to the communication network, the central server including a plurality of computer servers, wherein each computer server is a separate piece of hardware and includes a single and separate player interaction and game engine associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gaming machines, each player interaction and game engine being configured to receive and process the player biometric data sent by its associated gaming machine,
wherein each gaming machine of the plurality of gaming machines is further configured to receive the processed player biometric data from its associated player interaction and game engine.
19. The gaming system according to claim 18 , wherein the communication network is wireless.
20. The gaming system according to claim 19 , wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is at least one of portable and mobile.
21. The gaming system according to claim 19 , wherein the player biometric data includes unprocessed fingerprint or palm print data.
22. The gaming system according to claim 19 , wherein the player biometric data includes unprocessed voice data.
23. The gaming system according to claim 19 , wherein the player biometric data includes at least one still picture or a video image stream of a player's head or face.
24. The gaming system according to claim 19 , wherein the processed player biometric data includes a software command event resulting from a player voice command.
25. The gaming system according to 19 , wherein the player biometric data includes a video image of a player's head or face and is used to create a player avatar.
26. The gaming system according to 18 , wherein processing the player biometric data includes at least one of establishing a certified identity of a player and recognizing a command from the player.
27. A gaming system including:
a plurality of gaming machines coupled to a communication network, each gaming machine being configured to capture biometric data of a player; and
a central server system coupled to the communication network, the central server system including a farm of computer servers, each computer server being a single and separate piece of hardware associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gaming machines, each computer server being configured to receive and process the player biometric data sent by its associated gaming machine,
wherein each gaming machine is further configured to obtain the processed player biometric data from its associated computer server after sending the captured player biometric data to its associated computer server.
28. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the communication network is wireless.
29. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is at least one of portable and mobile.
30. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the player biometric data includes unprocessed fingerprint or palm print data.
31. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the player biometric data includes voice data.
32. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the player biometric data includes at least one still picture or a video image stream of a player's head or face.
33. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the processed biometric data includes a software command event resulting from a player voice command.
34. The gaming system according to claim 27 , wherein the player biometric data includes video image data of a player head or face and is used to create a player avatar.
35. The gaming system according to 27 , wherein processing the player biometric data includes at least one of establishing a certified identity of the player and recognizing a command from the player.