Granted Patent B2

US 8,216,052 · App. 11/996,238 · Granted Jul 10, 2012

Abstract

Claims (47)

1. A computer-implemented method of controlling the acquisition and consumption of shared game assets between wagering games, the method comprising:

receiving, via at least one first input device, a first player input to start a first game session on a first gaming machine, the first game session comprising one or more randomly generated first game outcomes, the first game session having access to a set of shared game assets stored on at least one memory device;

receiving, via at least one second input device, a second player input to start a second game session on a second gaming machine, the second game session being at least partly concurrent with the first game session, wherein any game outcome in the second game session is a second game outcome that is randomly generated independently of the first game outcomes, the second game session having access to the set of shared game assets stored on the at least one memory device;

acquiring a first game asset in the first game session, and adding the acquired first game asset to the set of shared game assets while the second game session is occurring such that both the first and second game sessions have access to the first game asset at the same time; and

consuming the first game asset in the second game session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of shared game assets includes at least one of a free spin, a jackpot multiplier, and a theme-specific game piece.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first game asset is consumed in the second game session while the first game session is still ongoing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first game session and the second game session includes a base game and a bonus game, and wherein at least one game asset from the set of shared game assets is consumed in the bonus game.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein consuming the first game asset results in an award having monetary value.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to consuming the first game asset, requesting permission, via an asset processing unit, to consume the first game asset in the second game session;

receiving the permission; and

after consuming the first game asset, modifying, via the asset processing unit, the set of shared game assets to reflect the consumption of the first game asset.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the permission is requested while the first game session is still ongoing.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the permission is received while the first game session is still ongoing.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising transmitting an indication, via the asset processing unit and to one or both of the first and second gaming machines, that the set of shared game assets has been modified.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first gaming machine is a master gaming machine, the master gaming machine processing game asset requests and tracking modifications to the set of shared game assets.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving a first game session termination request from the one of the first and second gaming machines;

determining if the termination request originates from the master gaming machine;

in response to the termination request originating from the master gaming machine, designating the second gaming machine as the master gaming machine.

12. A gaming system controlling the acquisition and consumption of shared game assets during gaming sessions occurring on multiple gaming machines, the system comprising:

at least first and second gaming machines configured to conduct wagering games independently of each other;

one or more processors that process game asset requests and track game assets in a set of shared game assets;

at least one memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to operate with the first gaming machine and second gaming machine to

receive a request from the first gaming machine for access to the set of shared game assets, the first gaming machine conducting a first game session comprising one or more randomly generated first game outcomes;

receive a request from the second gaming machine for access to the set of shared game assets, the second gaming machine conducting a second game session that is at least partly concurrent with the first game session, wherein any game outcome in the second game session is a second game outcome that is randomly generated independently of the first game outcomes;

in response to a first game asset being acquired in the first game session, add the first game asset to the set of shared game assets while the second game session is occurring such that the first and second game sessions simultaneously have access to the first game asset;

receive a request from the second gaming machine to consume the first game asset in the second game session;

grant the request to consume the first game asset; and

modify the set of shared game assets to reflect the consumption of the first game asset.

13. The gaming system of claim 12 , wherein one of the first and second gaming machines is designated as a master gaming machine, the master gaming machine comprising the one or more processors and processing game asset requests and tracking modifications to the set of shared game assets.

14. The gaming system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are connected for communication to the first and second gaming machines via a communications network.

15. The gaming system of claim 14 , wherein the set of shared game assets is stored on an asset server connected to the communications network.

16. The gaming system of claim 12 , further comprising, in response to the request to consume an asset, disabling consumption of the requested asset to prevent more than one consumption of the requested asset.

17. A machine-readable, non-transitory medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method comprising:

receiving, via at least one input device, a first player input to start a first game session on a first gaming machine, the first game session comprising one or more randomly generated first game outcomes, and the first game session having access to a set of shared game assets stored on at least one memory device;

receiving, via at least one second input device, a second player input to start a second game session on a second gaming machine, the second game session having access to the set of shared game assets at least partly concurrently with the first game session, wherein any game outcome in the second game session is a second game outcome that is randomly generated independently of the first game outcomes;

acquiring a first game asset, in the first game session, and adding the acquired first game asset to the set of shared game assets such that the first and second game sessions gain access to the first game asset at the same time; and

consuming the first game asset, in the second game session and while the first game session is still ongoing.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising, prior to consuming the first game asset:

requesting permission, while the first game session is still ongoing, to consume the first game asset in the second game session; and

receiving the permission.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising, prior to consuming the first game asset:

requesting permission to consume the first game asset in the second game session; and

receiving the permission while the first game session is still ongoing.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the medium resides on an asset server on a communications network.

Assignments (12)