Controlled-environment facility gaming service
Systems, methods and devices provide gaming services to residents of a controlled-environment facility. A first network interface of a device provides a restricted-bandwidth connection to a gaming system via one or more network access points located within the facility. A second network interface of the device establishes a second connection with the gaming system via a high-bandwidth connection in order to download one or more games to the device. Once the device is disconnected from the high-bandwidth connection, a request for the resident to access a downloaded game is issued to the gaming system via the restricted-bandwidth connection. An authorization key granting temporary access to the game is transmitted to the device via the restricted-bandwidth connection. The resident has access to the game until expiration of the authorization key is detected. The authorization key may expire based on duration of gameplay or based on gameplay progress.
1. A communications device for providing gaming services to a resident of a controlled-environment facility, the device comprising:
a first network interface configured to establish a restricted-bandwidth connection with a gaming system via one or more network access points located within the controlled-environment facility;
a second network interface configured to establish a second connection with the gaming system via a high-bandwidth connection;
a memory device configured to store operating system program instructions; and
one or more processors configured to execute the operating system program instructions, causing the communications device to:
connect with the gaming system via the high-bandwidth connection to download one or more games to the memory device;
issue a request for the resident to access a first game of the one or more downloaded games, wherein the request is issued to the gaming system via the restricted-bandwidth connection;
receive, via the restricted-bandwidth connection, an authorization key authorizing a temporary access to the first game; and
allow the resident to utilize the first game until expiration of the authorization key is detected.
2. The communications device of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more sensors configured to collect biometric indicators, wherein the operating system program instructions further cause the communications device to require positive identification of the resident based on collected biometric indicators prior to issuing the request for access to the first game.
3. The communications device of claim 2 , wherein the operating system program instructions further cause the communications device to periodically require positive re-identification of the resident based on collected biometric indicators during the temporary access to the first game by the resident.
4. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the authorization key expires upon expiration of a first duration of access to the first game by the resident.
5. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the authorization key expires upon the resident reaching one or more progress milestones in the first game.
6. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the operating system program instructions further cause the communications device to save a progress of the resident in the first game upon detecting the expiration of the authorization key and further configured to revoke the temporary access to the first game upon saving the progress.
7. The communications device of claim 1 , wherein the operating system program instructions further cause the communications device to provide the resident with an interface for selecting a plurality of the downloaded one or more games to be replaced in a subsequent high-bandwidth connection to the gaming service.
8. A system for providing a resident of a controlled-environment facility with gaming services, the system comprising:
one or more network access points coupled to a gaming service;
the gaming service configured to communicate with a resident communications device via a restricted-bandwidth connection supported by the one or more access points and further configured to communicate with the resident communications device via a high-bandwidth connection, and further configured to download one or more games to the resident communications device via the high-bandwidth connection, and further configured to receive a request via the restricted-bandwidth connection for temporary access to a first game of the downloaded one or more games, and further configured to issue an authorization key to the resident communication device via the restricted bandwidth connection, wherein the authorization key authorizes temporary access by the resident to the first game; and
the resident communications device assigned to the resident, wherein the communications device is configured to connect to the gaming service via the high-bandwidth connection to download the one or more games, and further configured to issue the request via the restricted-bandwidth connection for the resident to access to the first game, and further configured to receive the authorization key from the gaming service via the restricted-bandwidth connection, and further configured to allow the resident to utilize the first game until expiration of the authorization key is detected.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the resident communications device comprises one or more sensors configured to collect biometric indicators, and wherein the communications device requires positive identification of the resident based on collected biometric indicators prior to issuing the request for access to the first game.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the communications device is further configured to periodically require positive re-identification of the resident based on collected biometric indicators during the temporary access to the first game by the resident.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the authorization key expires upon expiration of a first duration of access to the first game by the resident.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the authorization key expires upon the resident reaching one or more progress milestones in the first game.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the communications device is further configured to save a progress of the resident in the first game upon detecting the expiration of the authorization key and further configured to revoke the temporary access to the first game upon saving the progress.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the communications device is further configured to provide the resident with an interface for selecting a plurality of the downloaded one or more games to be replaced in a subsequent high-bandwidth connection to the gaming service.
15. A method for providing a resident of a controlled-environment facility with gaming services via a communications device utilized by the resident, the method comprising:
establishing a first connection with the communications device via a high-bandwidth connection;
determining one or more games available to the resident;
downloading a plurality of the one or more games to the resident device via the high-bandwidth connection;
receiving a request for the resident to access a first game of the one or more downloaded games, wherein the request is received via a restricted-bandwidth connection provided via one or more network access points located within the controlled-environment facility;
generating a key authorizing a temporary access to the first game, wherein the duration of the temporary access is determined based on gaming credits available to the resident;
transmitting the key to the resident device via the restricted-bandwidth connection; and
receiving a notification that the key has expired from the resident device via the restricted-bandwidth connection.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the downloading of the plurality of games further comprises:
determining one or more game previously downloaded to the communications device;
identifying saved progress on the resident device for the one or more previously downloaded games;
determining one or more previously downloaded games to be uninstalled from the resident device, wherein the games to be uninstalled do not include the games with saved progress; and
downloading the plurality of games to the communication device by replacing one or more of the games to be uninstalled.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the key expires upon expiration of a first duration of access to the first game by the resident.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the key expires upon the resident reaching one or more progress milestones in the first game.
19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the games to be uninstalled also do not include one or more of the downloaded games that have been designated by the resident.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more games available to the resident are determined based on a privilege status classification of the resident.