DYNAMIC SIGNATURE MANAGEMENT

1 . A method, comprising:

repetitively generating a signature image comprising a sorted list of signatures, some of the signatures in the sorted list being hardware signatures associated with a corresponding plurality of hardware components physically attached to a wagering game machine operable to present a wagering game; and

enabling operation of the wagering game machine to proceed to a baseline configuration state when the signature image matches an image associated with the baseline configuration state of the wagering game machine.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

concatenating the sorted list of signatures and at least one signature associated with a static image stored in a storage medium housed within the wagering game machine to provide the signature image.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining the at least one signature by:

extracting a first signature associated with a first portion of the static image comprising a basic input-output system (BIOS) image stored in at least one first storage device; and

extracting a second signature associated with at least a second portion of the static image comprising a jurisdiction verification memory image stored in at least one second storage device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

extracting additional signatures associated with image content, the image content accessible to the wagering game machine and having instructions that can be executed by a processor in the wagering game machine; and

adding the additional signatures to an unsorted version of the sorted list.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

aggregating an unsorted list of signatures including the hardware signatures and additional signatures associated with image content accessible to the wagering gaming machine; and

sorting the unsorted list to provide the sorted list.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the image content includes at least one game image corresponding to the wagering game to be presented by the wagering game machine.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

removing duplicate signatures from at least one of the sorted list, or an unsorted list that can be sorted to provide the sorted list.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

when the signature image does not match the image associated with a baseline configuration state of the wagering game machine, at least one of providing an alarm indication or conducting authentication operations over hardware and/or software located within the wagering game machine to determine an updated configuration state of the wagering game machine.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the signature image to a gaming server to be stored as a baseline image.

10 . A wagering game machine, comprising:

one or more processors operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value may be wagered;

a plurality of hardware components;

a storage medium storing a static image and communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

a signature image generation module to generate a signature image as a sorted list of signatures, some of the signatures in the sorted list being hardware signatures associated with corresponding ones of the plurality of hardware components.

11 . The machine of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of hardware components comprise:

at least one of a value input device, a player input device, a primary display, a printer, or an information reader.

12 . The machine of claim 10 , wherein the storage medium comprises:

at least two separate read only memory storage devices communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein at least one signature associated with a static image comprises separate signatures associated with each one of the at least two separate read only memory storage devices, and wherein the signature image comprises a combination of the sorted list of signatures and the at least one signature associated with the static image.

13 . The machine of claim 12 , wherein a first portion of the static image comprises a basic input-output system (BIOS) image stored in a first one of the read only memory storage devices, and wherein a second portion of the static image comprises a jurisdiction verification memory image stored in a second one of the read only memory storage devices

14 . The machine of claim 10 , further comprising:

a memory to store the sorted list comprising non-duplicated signatures.

15 . A system, comprising:

a wagering game server;

a wagering game machine communicatively coupled to the wagering game server over a network, the wagering game machine having one or more processors operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value may be wagered, the wagering game machine further comprising a plurality of hardware components and a storage medium storing a static image; and

a signature image generation module to generate a signature image as a sorted list of signatures, some of the signatures in the sorted list being hardware signatures associated with corresponding ones of the plurality of hardware components.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the signature image generation module is included in the wagering game server.

17 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a memory to store at least one signature associated with a static image and the signatures contained in the sorted list, or the signature image, wherein the signature image comprises a combination of the at least one signature associated with the static image.

18 . A non-transitory storage medium to store instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in a machine performing the method of:

repetitively generating a signature image comprising a sorted list of signatures, some of the signatures in the sorted list being hardware signatures associated with a corresponding plurality of hardware components physically attached to a wagering game machine operable to present a wagering game; and

enabling operation of the wagering game machine to proceed to a baseline configuration state when the signature image matches an image associated with the baseline configuration state of the wagering game machine.

19 . The medium of claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a seed value from one of a wagering game server or an administration, operation, and maintenance server to be used in generating the signature image.

20 . The medium of claim 18 , wherein the signature image comprises a combination of the sorted list and at least one signature associated with a static image, and wherein the at least one signature associated with the static image comprises a hash of a read only memory signature image.