Granted Patent B2

US 8,961,288 · App. 13/767,553 · Granted Feb 24, 2015

Abstract

Claims (66)

1. A method of operating a gaming system primarily dedicated to providing wagering games, system including a wagering game outcome generator, and one or more wagering game controllers, the method comprising:

detecting, via at least one of the one or more wagering game controllers of the gaming system, a request to present a wagering game via a browser application;

providing, via at least one of the one or more wagering game controllers of the gaming system, wagering game content for the wagering game, wherein a wagering game toolbar of the browser application is configured to present the wagering game content on the wagering game toolbar, and wherein the wagering game content includes one or more game play symbols;

generating a wagering game result, via the wagering game outcome generator, for the wagering game; and

providing, via at least one of the one or more wagering game controllers, the wagering game result for the wagering game, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to present the wagering game result on the wagering game toolbar using the one or more game play symbols, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to cause the one or more game play symbols to change appearance on the wagering game toolbar to specify wagering game play and to specify the wagering game result.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is a plug-in toolbar separate from a navigable display area of the browser application.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that the wagering game toolbar terminates presentation of the wagering game content;

storing a state of the wagering game content prior to termination of the presentation of the wagering game content; and

providing the wagering game content for presentation according to the state via a second wagering game toolbar of a second browser application.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking, for a wagering game tournament, a number of wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar, wherein the number of wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar is associated with at least one player account registered for a wagering game tournament.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prior to presentation of the wagering game content via the wagering game toolbar, providing the wagering game content for presentation via a website, wherein the website is presented via a navigable display area of the browser application; and

in response to detecting a request to navigate away from the website, providing the wagering game content for presentation on the wagering game toolbar.

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

detecting a request to present a wagering game via a navigable display area of a browser application;

receiving, via a website, wagering game content for presentation of the wagering game wherein the wagering game content is presented via the navigable display area of the browser application;

in response to detecting a request to navigate away from the website, providing the wagering game content for presentation via a wagering game toolbar of the browser application, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to present the wagering game content; and

after the browser application navigates away from the website, providing a wagering game result for the wagering game, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to present the wagering game result.

7. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 6 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to cause one or more wagering game play elements of the wagering game content to change appearance on the wagering game toolbar according to game play instructions that perform the wagering game.

8. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 6 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is a plug-in toolbar separate from a navigable display area of the browser application.

9. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 6 said operations further comprising:

detecting that the wagering game toolbar terminates presentation of the wagering game content;

storing a state of the wagering game content prior to termination of the presentation of the wagering game content; and

receiving the wagering game content for presentation according to the state via a second wagering game toolbar of a second browser application.

10. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable storage media of claim 6 said operations further comprising tracking, for a wagering game tournament, a number of wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar, wherein the number of wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar is associated with at least one player account registered for a wagering game tournament.

11. A gaming system primarily dedicated to providing one or more wagering games, the gaming system comprising:

a wagering game outcome generator configured to generate random game outcomes for the one or more wagering games; and

one or more wagering game controllers configured to

detect a request to present at least one of the one or more wagering games via a browser application,

provide wagering game content for the at least one of the one or more wagering games, wherein a wagering game toolbar of the browser application is configured to present the wagering game content on the wagering game toolbar, and wherein the wagering game content includes one or more game play symbols, and

provide at least one of the random game outcomes for the wagering game, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to present the at least one of the random game outcomes on the wagering game toolbar using the one or more game play symbols, wherein the wagering game toolbar is configured to cause the one or more game play symbols of the wagering game content to change appearance on the wagering game toolbar to specify wagering game play and to specify the at least one of the random game outcomes.

12. The gaming system of claim 11 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is a plug-in toolbar separate from a navigable display area of the browser application.

13. The gaming system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more wagering game controllers are configured to:

detect that the wagering game toolbar terminates presentation of the wagering game content;

store a state of the wagering game content prior to termination of the presentation of the wagering game content; and

provide the wagering game content for presentation according to the state via a second wagering game toolbar of a second browser application.

14. The gaming system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more wagering game controllers are further configured to track, for a wagering game tournament, a number of one or more wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar, wherein the number of the one or more wagering games that are played via the wagering game toolbar is associated with at least one player account registered for a wagering game tournament.

15. The gaming system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more wagering game controllers are further configured to:

prior to presentation of the wagering game content via the wagering game toolbar, provide the wagering game content for presentation via a website, wherein the website is presented via a navigable display area of the browser application; and

in response to detection of a request to navigate away from the website, provide the wagering game content for presentation on the wagering game toolbar.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a game outcome generator configured to generate a wagering game result; and

one or more wagering game controllers configured to,

detect a request to present a wagering game via a navigable display area of a browser application,

receive, from a website, first wagering game content for presentation of the wagering game, wherein the first wagering game content is presented via the navigable display area of the browser application,

detect a request by the browser application to navigate away from the website,

in response to the request by the browser application to navigate away from the website, receive second wagering game content for the wagering game for presentation via a wagering game toolbar of the browser application, and

cause the wagering game toolbar to present game play of the wagering game and present the wagering game result for the wagering game using the second wagering game content.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is separate from the navigable display area of the browser application.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the wagering game toolbar is a plug-in toolbar.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more wagering game controllers are configured to:

detect that the wagering game toolbar terminates presentation of the second wagering game content;

store a state of the second wagering game content prior to termination of the presentation of the second wagering game content; and

receive the second wagering game content for presentation according to the state via a second wagering game toolbar of a second browser application.

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for presenting a wagering game via a website displayed in a navigable display area of a browser application;

means for detecting a request to navigate away from the website presented via the navigable display area; and

means for presenting play of the wagering game and one or more wagering game results of the wagering game on a wagering game toolbar of the browser application after the browser application navigates away from the website based on the request to navigate away from the website.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the means for detecting the request to navigate away from the website comprises detecting a request to navigate away from a website address associated with the navigable display area.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

means for storing a state of the wagering game when presented via the navigable display area; and

means for presenting the wagering game on the wagering game toolbar using the state of the wagering game.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

means for initiating a wagering game session for a player account via wagering game content of the navigable display area, and

means for maintaining the wagering game session for the player account via the wagering game toolbar after the wagering game content is no longer presented via the navigable display area.

Assignments (10)