Granted Patent B2

US 8,622,830 · App. 12/860,467 · Granted Jan 7, 2014

Abstract

Claims (83)

1. One or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a set of one or more processors causes the set of one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining a position of a computerized graphical interface that is presented on a wagering game machine display associated with a wagering game machine, wherein the computerized graphical interface presents wagering game content;

determining a position of a wagering game object, from the wagering game content, relative to a boundary of the computerized graphical interface;

determining sound content associated with the wagering game object, wherein the sound content is presentable on a plurality of audio production devices associated with the wagering game machine, wherein the audio production devices are configured to present the sound content; and

controlling distribution of the sound content on the plurality of audio production devices based on the position of the computerized graphical interface on the wagering game machine display and based on the position of the wagering game object relative to the boundary of the computerized graphical interface.

2. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 1 , said operations further comprising:

dynamically adjusting the distribution of the sound content on the plurality of audio production devices based on a change in the position of the computerized graphical interface and based on a change in the position of the wagering game object relative to the boundary of the computerized graphical interface.

3. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein said operation of determining the position of the computerized graphical interface on the wagering game machine display includes operations further comprising:

determining a coordinate position for a graphical interface structural characteristic of the computerized graphical interface;

comparing the coordinate position to a corresponding position on a display boundary for the wagering game machine display; and

determining a relative position of the computerized graphical interface to the display boundary location using the coordinate position.

4. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 3 , wherein the graphical interface structural characteristic comprises one or more of a boundary, a mid-point, a corner, an anchor, a border, a handle, a coordinate point, a grid, a layer, a scroll-bar, and a control.

5. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 3 , wherein said operation of controlling the distribution of the sound content includes operations further comprising:

associating the coordinate position of the graphical interface structural characteristic to a display dimension scale, wherein the display dimension scale indicates a dimensional measurement for the wagering game machine display;

determining a value on the scale that correlates with the coordinate position;

setting a panning limit that correlates with the value; and

controlling sound panning in the plurality of sound production devices based on the panning limit.

6. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 3 , wherein said operation of determining the coordinate position of the graphical interface structural characteristic of the computerized graphical interface on the wagering game machine display includes operations further comprising:

determining a reference point for an edge of the display boundary of the wagering game machine display;

determining a visual offset amount for the computerized graphical interface, wherein the visual offset amount represents an amount that the computerized graphical interface is offset visually from the reference point for the wagering game machine display; and

determining a panning limit for the sound content based on the visual offset amount.

7. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 6 , wherein the operation of controlling the distribution of the sound content includes operations further comprising:

adjusting sound volume for the sound content to a degree of panning in accordance with the panning limit so that the plurality of audio production devices produce an overall audio field representative of the position of the computerized graphical interface in relation to the reference point for the edge of the display boundary.

8. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

dynamically adjusting sound parameters for the sound content based on one or more of changes to configurations for the wagering game machine, movement of a player, changes to a resolution of the wagering game machine display, and movement of the computerized graphical interface to a peripheral device.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting wagering game content in a content window on a wagering game machine display associated with a wagering game machine;

determining a first structural characteristic for the content window, wherein the first structural characteristic defines a structural portion of the content window;

determining a second structural characteristic for the wagering game machine display, wherein the second structural characteristic defines a structural portion of the wagering game machine display;

comparing locations of the first structural characteristic and the second structural characteristic;

determining a spatial relationship between the content window and the wagering game machine display based on the locations of the first structural characteristic and the second structural characteristic;

controlling sounds from a plurality of wagering game machine speakers based on the spatial relationship; and

dynamically adjusting sound parameters for the sounds based on one or more of movement of a player, changes to a resolution of the wagering game machine display, and movement of a computerized graphical interface to a peripheral device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the spatial relationship is a relative position between display coordinates of the first structural characteristic and display coordinates of the second structural characteristic defining a window position within the wagering game machine display.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the controlling includes distributing the sound between the plurality of wagering game machine speakers to represent a position of the content window relative to the wagering game machine display.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining a change in position of the content window based on the movement of the first structural characteristic for the content window; and

dynamically adjusting sound distribution from the plurality of wagering game machine speakers based on the change in the position of the content window.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

dynamically adjusting sound parameters for the sounds based on one or more of changes to configurations for the wagering game machine display, and an addition of additional sounds from additional content windows.

14. A system comprising:

a display device configured to

present a graphical interface, and

present wagering game content in the graphical interface;

a plurality of sound production devices configured to present sound content from a plurality of locations positioned around the display device; and

an audio control module configured to

determine a first position of the graphical interface relative to display dimensions for the display device on which the graphical interface is presented,

determine a second position of a wagering game object, from the wagering game content, relative to a structural element of the graphical interface,

determine a priority associated with the wagering game object, and

modify sound distribution between the plurality of sound production devices based on the first position, the second position, and the priority associated with the wagering game object.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the audio control module is further configured to modify one or more of sound panning, sound volume, sound balance, and sound direction.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the audio control module is further configured to

correlate the first position of the graphical interface with a scale related to the display dimension,

scale the first position to a sound characteristic parameter, and

generate sound control instructions to modify sound distribution between the plurality of sound production devices based on the sound characteristic parameter.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the audio control module is further configured to

determine a change in the first position based on movement of the graphical interface within the display device, and

dynamically adjust the sound distribution based on the change in the first position.

18. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a sound distribution module configured to

present wagering game content via a computerized graphical window on a computerized wagering game display,

determine display dimensions for the computerized wagering game display,

determine a relative position of the computerized graphical window to the display dimensions on which the computerized graphical window is presented,

present wagering game sound content from a plurality of speakers positioned around the computerized wagering game display, wherein the plurality of speakers are positioned in locations that generate audio fields that represent a position of the computerized graphical window in relation to the display dimensions of the computerized wagering game display,

determine that a specific game condition occurs for the wagering game content;

move the computerized graphical window within the computerized wagering game display based on occurrence of the specific game condition, and

dynamically distribute the wagering game sound content between the plurality of speakers based on movement of the computerized graphical window relative to the display dimensions.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the display dimensions represent a wagering game display screen resolution.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the sound distribution module is further configured to set a panning limit based on the relative position.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the sound distribution module is further configured to

determine a preferred location, specified by a first player setting, to move the computerized graphical window to when the specific game condition occurs, wherein the specific game condition is specified by a second player setting, and wherein prior to occurrence of the specific game condition, the wagering game sound content produced from the plurality of speakers has a balanced sound,

move the computerized graphical window to the preferred location such that an area for the computerized graphical window is predominantly located offset from a central reference point on the computerized wagering game display, and

dynamically adjust volume for the wagering game sound content to create an unbalanced sound on the plurality of speakers to indicate that the computerized graphical window has moved to the preferred location, wherein the volume for the unbalanced sound correlates with the offset from the central reference point on the computerized wagering game display.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the specific game condition comprises one or more of a change in priority for the wagering game content, a change in a perceived value setting by the player account for the wagering game content, a change in an expected payout value for the wagering game content, an occurrence of amount of time left to participate in a wagering game, an occurrence of a number of players involved in a wagering game, an occurrence of a number of social contacts participating in a wagering game, an availability of a preferred type of wagering game, a loading of a specific genre of a wagering game, and an occurrence of a potential reward value for a wagering game.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for determining an off-set position of window in relation to a central reference point for a wagering game machine display, wherein the window is positioned pre-dominantly in a given region of the wagering game machine display;

means for determining sound content associated with wagering game content presented in the window on the wagering game machine display, wherein the sound content is presentable via a plurality of speakers positioned in relation to the wagering game machine display, and wherein the plurality of speakers are configured to produce a multi-directional sound for the wagering game content;

means for moving the window based on a game condition associated with the wagering game content; and

means for dynamically adjusting a panning of the multi-directional sound on the plurality of speakers, based on the moving of the window, wherein the dynamically adjusting the panning causes a majority of sound volume for the multi-directional sound to originate from a sound direction associated with the given region in which the window is positioned on the wagering game machine display.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising:

means for determining a content object position within the wagering game window; and

means for additionally panning the multi-directional sound according to the content object position within the wagering game window relative to the position of the wagering game window on the wagering game machine display.

Assignments (13)