Granted Patent B2

US 9,123,201 · App. 13/752,980 · Granted Sep 1, 2015

Abstract

Claims (62)

1. A method for creating a leaderboard for players playing wagering games on multiple technological platforms, comprising:

receiving, at an aggregate leaderboard server via a communications network from a leaderboard management server for at least one online wagering game, wagering game data for a first plurality of players playing the online wagering game;

receiving, at the aggregate leaderboard server via the communications network from a leaderboard management server for at least one wagering game hosted on slot machines, wagering game data for a second plurality of players playing the wagering game hosted on the slot machines;

aggregating, by an aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the wagering game data for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players;

determining, by the aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, aggregate scores for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players based, at least in part, on metrics that are different between the online wagering game and the wagering game hosted on the slot machines;

ranking, by the aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players based, at least in part, on the determined aggregate scores;

updating, by an aggregate leaderboard updating unit of the aggregate leaderboard server, the leaderboard based, at least in part, on the ranking of the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players; and

presenting, on a display device of an electronic computing device, the leaderboard.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a trend in behavior of the plurality of players; and

modifying a criterion for the leaderboard based, at least in part, on the trend.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said aggregating the wagering game data for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players comprises aggregating the wagering game data from a first leaderboard for the online wagering game and a second leaderboard for the at least one wagering game hosted on slot machines.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein values for the wagering game data from the online wagering game are less than values for the wagering game data for the at least one wagering game hosted on slot machines.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein said determining the aggregate scores for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players comprises calculating the aggregate scores with values based, at least in part, on positions of the first and second plurality of players on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard, wherein the position based values for at least one of the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard are weighted.

6. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions comprising program instructions to:

receive, at an aggregate leaderboard server via a communications network from a leaderboard management server for an online wagering game, wagering game data for a first plurality of players playing the online wagering game;

receive, at the aggregate leaderboard server via the communications network from a leaderboard management server for a wagering game hosted in a casino, wagering game data for a second plurality of players playing the wagering game hosted in the casino;

aggregate, by an aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the wagering game data for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players, wherein the wagering game data for the first plurality of players is based on a first metric and the wagering game data for the second plurality of players is based on a second metric;

normalize, by the aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the wagering game data for the first plurality of players and the wagering game data for the second plurality of players to a common metric;

determine, by the aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, aggregate scores for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players based, at least in part, on the common metric;

rank, by the aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players based, at least in part, on the determined aggregate scores;

update, by an aggregate leaderboard updating unit of the aggregate leaderboard server, the leaderboard based, at least in part, on the ranking of the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players; and

present, on a display device of an electronic computing device, the leaderboard.

7. The machine-readable storage media of claim 6 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions to:

determine a trend in behavior of the plurality of players; and

modify a criterion for the leaderboard based, at least in part, on the trend.

8. The machine-readable storage media of claim 6 , wherein the program instructions to aggregate the wagering game data for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players comprise program instructions to aggregate the wagering game data from a first leaderboard for the online wagering game and a second leaderboard for the at least one wagering game hosted on slot machines, wherein the first leaderboard has different content than the second leaderboard.

9. The machine-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein values for the wagering game data from the online wagering game are less than values for the wagering game data for the at least one wagering game hosted on slot machines.

10. The machine-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions to calculate the aggregate score for the first plurality of players and the second plurality of players comprise program instructions to calculate the aggregate scores with values based, at least in part, on positions of the first and second plurality of players on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard, wherein the position based values for at least one of the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard are weighted.

11. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions comprising program instructions to:

receive, at an aggregate leaderboard server via a communications network from a first leaderboard management server, first wagering game data for a first set of players for a wagering game hosted on dedicated wagering game machines in a wagering game establishment;

receive, at the aggregate leaderboard server via the communications network from a second leaderboard management server, second wagering game data for a second set of player for an online wagering game, wherein the first wagering game data comprises wagering game data with a different metric than the second wagering game data;

for a first leaderboard, rank, by an aggregate decision engine of the aggregate leaderboard server, the first set of players based, at least in part, on the first wagering game data;

for a second leaderboard, rank, by the aggregate decision engine, the second set of players based, at least in part, on the second wagering game data;

rank, by the aggregate decision engine, a third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard, wherein the third set of players comprises players from the first set of players and the second set of players;

update, by an aggregate leaderboard updating unit of the aggregate leaderboard server, a third leaderboard based on ranking of the third set of players; and

present, on a display device of an electronic computing device, the third leaderboard.

12. The machine-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions to determine players from the first and the second sets of players that are ranked in both of the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard.

13. The machine-readable storage media of claim 12 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions to calculate a score for each player of the third set of players based on position of the player in the first leaderboard and position of the player in the second leaderboard, wherein the program instructions to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions to rank the third set of players in accordance with the calculated scores.

14. The machine-readable storage media of claim 12 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions to calculate a score for each player of the third set of players based on wagering game data of the player for the online wagering game and wagering game data of the player for the wagering game hosted on dedicated wagering game machines in the wagering game establishment, wherein the program instructions to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions to rank the third set of players also based on the calculated scores.

15. The machine-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions to:

determine first scores for the first set of players and second scores for the second set of players;

convert at least one of the first scores and the second scores to yield aggregate scores with a common metric;

rank the third set of players based, at least in part, on the aggregate scores with the common metric.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a network interface; and

a machine-readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to,

receive, at the apparatus via a communications network from a first leaderboard management server, first wagering game data for a first set of players for a wagering game hosted on dedicated wagering game machines in a wagering game establishment;

receive, at the apparatus via the communications network from a second leaderboard management server, second wagering game data for a second set of player for an online wagering game, wherein the first wagering game data comprises wagering game data with a different metric than the second wagering game data;

for a first leaderboard, rank, by an aggregate decision engine of the apparatus, the first set of players based, at least in part, on the first wagering game data;

for a second leaderboard, rank, by the aggregate decision engine, the second set of players based, at least in part, on the second wagering game data;

rank, by the aggregate decision engine, a third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard, wherein the third set of players comprises players from the first set of players and the second set of players;

update, by an aggregate leaderboard updating unit of the apparatus, a third leaderboard based on ranking of the third set of players; and

present, on a display device of an electronic computing device, the third leaderboard.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to determine players from the first and the second sets of players that are ranked in both of the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to calculate a score for each player of the third set of players based on position of the player in the first leaderboard and position of the player in the second leaderboard, wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to rank the third set of players in accordance with the calculated scores.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to calculate a score for each player of the third set of players based on wagering game data of the player for the online wagering game and wagering game data of the player for the wagering game hosted on dedicated wagering game machines in the wagering game establishment, wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to rank the third set of players also based on the calculated scores.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to rank the third set of players based on the first leaderboard and the second leaderboard comprise program instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determine first scores for the first set of players and second scores for the second set of players;

convert at least one of the first scores and the second scores to yield aggregate scores with a common metric;

rank the third set of players based, at least in part, on the aggregate scores with the common.

Assignments (11)