Granted Patent B2

US 9,055,375 · App. 13/834,342 · Granted Jun 9, 2015

Abstract

Claims (86)

1. A gaming system comprising:

a user station further comprising a first computing device operatively coupled to a gaming terminal, a sound receiving device, and one or more sound emitting devices;

the computing device further comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

sampling ambient sounds with respect to the user station via the sound receiving device,

generating a local audio file representative of the ambient sounds and transmitting the audio file to one or more computing devices coupled to the first computing device via an external communications network,

receiving a baseline audio file representative of ambient sounds external to the user station via the communications network,

enabling a user of the user station to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression,

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally suppress the selected external sounds,

extracting one or more user station-specific sound signatures from a combination of the local audio file and the baseline audio file, and

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally amplify sounds associated with the extracted user station-specific sound signatures.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein enabling a user of the user station to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression further comprises:

displaying a list of one or more external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

3. The system of claim 2 , the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of remotely storing the user selection data in association with a digital profile for the user, said user selection data retrievable for later implementation by one or more of the computing devices.

4. The system of claim 1 , the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

identifying one or more exception sound signatures with respect to the first computing device; and

disabling local noise suppression of external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

5. The system of claim 4 , the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

locally amplifying the external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

6. The system of claim 4 , the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

identifying external sounds from the baseline audio file as persistent external sounds or temporary external sounds, and

automatically directing the emission of sound waves to locally suppress the persistent external sounds,

displaying a list of temporary external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the temporary external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the persistent external sounds are periodically identified based on criteria comprising one or more of a date, time of day and location in a gaming area.

8. A gaming system comprising:

a plurality of user stations defining a gaming zone, each of the user stations further comprising a computing device operatively coupled to a gaming terminal, a sound receiving device, and one or more sound emitting devices;

each of the computing devices further comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

sampling ambient sounds for the respective user station via the sound receiving device,

generating a local audio file representative of the ambient sounds and transmitting the audio file to each of the other computing devices in said zone via an external communications network,

receiving audio files from each of the other computing devices in said zone via the communications network,

generating a baseline audio file representative of ambient sounds external to the user station via the communications network,

enabling a user of the user station to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression,

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally suppress the selected external sounds,

extracting one or more user station-specific sound signatures from a combination of the local audio file and the baseline audio file, and

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally amplify sounds associated with the extracted user station-specific sound signatures.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein for each of the user stations, enabling a user to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression further comprises:

displaying a list of one or more external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of remotely storing the user selection data in association with a digital profile for the user, said user selection data retrievable for later implementation by any of the computing devices in the zone.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

identifying one or more exception sound signatures for the respective computing device; and

disabling local noise suppression of external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

locally amplifying the external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

identifying external sounds from the baseline audio file as persistent external sounds or temporary external sounds,

automatically directing the emission of sound waves to locally suppress the persistent external sounds,

displaying a list of temporary external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the temporary external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the persistent external sounds are periodically identified based on criteria comprising one or more of a date, time of day and location in a gaming area.

15. A gaming system comprising:

a central server linked to each of a plurality of user stations via a communications network, a plurality of gaming zones each defined as comprising one or more of said user stations, the central server further comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the program instruction executable by a processor to direct the performance of:

generating one or more audio files for each of the user stations, the audio files comprising a baseline audio file based at least in part on ambient conditions for the respective user station;

each of the user stations further comprising a computing device operatively coupled to a gaming terminal, a sound receiving device, and one or more sound emitting devices;

each of the computing devices further comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

sampling ambient sounds for the respective user station via the sound receiving device,

generating a local audio file representative of the ambient sounds and transmitting the audio file to the central server,

receiving a baseline audio file from the central server representative of ambient sounds external to the user station via the communications network,

enabling a user of the user station to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression,

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally suppress the selected external sounds,

extracting one or more user station-specific sound signatures from a combination of the local audio file and the baseline audio file, and

directing one or more of the sound emitting devices to emit sound waves effective to locally amplify sounds associated with the extracted user station-specific sound signatures.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein for each of the user stations, enabling a user to select via the gaming terminal one or more external sounds for local sound suppression further comprises:

displaying a list of one or more external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of transmitting the user selection data to the central server,

wherein the central server stores the user selection data in association with a digital profile for the user, said user selection data retrievable for later implementation by any of the user stations.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more audio files for each of the user stations generated by the central server further comprising one or more exception sound signatures for the respective computing device;

wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of disabling local noise suppression of external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

locally amplifying the external sounds associated with the exception sound signatures.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein for each of the user stations, the program instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of:

identifying external sounds from the baseline audio file as persistent external sounds or temporary external sounds,

automatically directing the emission of sound waves to locally suppress the persistent external sounds,

displaying a list of temporary external sounds on a user interface associated with the gaming terminal, each of the external sounds associated with a defined sound signature,

enabling user selection of one or more of the temporary external sounds, and

locally storing user selection data for extraction and implementation by a noise suppression module effective to direct the emission of sound waves for locally suppressing sounds having the corresponding sound signatures.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the persistent external sounds are periodically identified based on criteria comprising one or more of a date, time of day and location in a gaming area.

22. The system of claim 15 , the server effective to direct particular exception sound signatures for each of the one or more user stations associated with individual zones.

23. The system of claim 15 , the server effective to direct user stations in a particular zone to further direct the emission of sound waves effective to locally suppress external sounds associated with user stations outside of the respective zone.

Assignments (6)