Method, apparatus, and program product for producing and applying a graphic simulation across multiple gaming machines

The Applicants claim the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/986,950 filed Nov. 9, 2007, and entitled “Method, Apparatus, and Program Product for Conducting a Game Having a Shared Image Component.” The entire content of this provisional application is incorporated herein by this reference.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent documents or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all rights of copyright.

The present invention is directed to a system which provides a graphic effect across multiple gaming machines to display results in a wagering game. The invention encompasses both methods and apparatus for producing multiple gaming machine graphic effects and awarding prizes indicated by the graphic effect. The invention further encompasses program products for producing multiple gaming machine graphic effects and awarding corresponding prizes.

Many different types of gaming machines have been developed to provide various formats and graphic presentations for conducting games and presenting game results. For example, numerous mechanical reel-type gaming machines, also known as slot machines, have been developed with different reel configurations, reel symbols, and paylines. More recently, gaming machines have been developed with video monitors that are used to produce simulations of mechanical spinning reels. These video-based gaming machines may use one or more video monitors to provide a wide variety of graphic effects in addition to simulated spinning reels, and may also provide secondary/bonus games using entirely different graphics. Video-based gaming machines may also be used to show card games or various types of competitions such as simulated horse races in which wagers may be placed. Game manufacturers are continuously pressed to develop new game presentations, formats, and game graphics in an attempt to provide high entertainment value for players and thereby attract and keep players.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,324 discloses a gaming system in which a bonus result at a gaming machine included in a group of gaming machines may be displayed to the winning player through a multi-screen video presentation. However, the multi-screen presentation disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,324 is limited in how it shows results for multiple players concurrently. In order to show awards for multiple players, the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,324 relies in part on a video display device separate from any of the gaming machines. The separate video display device must be visible to all of the players for which award in the multi-screen presentation is to be displayed. This arrangement limits the ability to provide presentations that generate excitement and interest across large numbers of gaming machines, and gaming machines arranged in diverse physical orientations.

The present invention provides a gaming system which produces a shared image game in which one or more common graphic elements are shown at multiple gaming machines to produce a graphic effect, such as an animation across the multiple gaming machines, and in which a prize for the game is at least partially indicated for a given gaming machine by the respective graphic element displayed at that gaming machine at a point in time. The graphic effect using common graphic elements across multiple gaming machines will be referred to herein as a “shared image graphic effect.”

A first form of the present invention includes an apparatus having a number of gaming machines, with each gaming machine having a respective player control arrangement which enables a player to make inputs through the respective gaming machine, and also having a respective video display device. The apparatus in this first form of the invention also includes a shared image display control arrangement and a shared image prize controller. The shared image display control arrangement operates to control the respective video display device associated with each gaming machine in the number of gaming machines to produce a shared image graphic effect that appears to extend across the different video display devices. One preferred shared image graphic effect includes a simulation of a multi-segmented prize reel in which the various prize reel segments appear to travel across each respective video display device in a rotation direction and then ultimately reach a stopped (static) condition to display a respective reel segment at the respective video display device of each respective gaming machine. The prize reel segments together represent a series of distinct graphic elements which appear to sequentially travel in unison (that is, as if physically interconnected in a fixed physical relationship) across each respective video display device in the rotation direction and then stop so that a respective distinct graphic element is displayed at each of the video display devices. The shared image prize controller operates to award a shared image prize for at least one of the gaming machines. This shared image prize corresponds to a prize represented at least in part by a respective one of the reel segments displayed at the video display device of the at least one gaming machine when the reel segments appear to come to a stop. For example, a given reel segment may show a prize value that is awarded to the player at the particular gaming machine, or may show a multiplier value that is applied to some value accumulated for the player at the particular gaming machine.

In the first form of the invention the shared image display control arrangement may include a respective client component located at each gaming machine and a display control server component that may be located remotely from any of the gaming machines. The display control server component functions to cause various commands (client commands) to be communicated to each of the gaming machines in order to help produce the shared image graphic effect. For example, each respective client component in one implementation is responsive to the receipt of a client command comprising a start command to cause the video display device of the respective gaming machine to begin displaying a respective single machine component of the shared image graphic effect. The single machine component of the shared image graphic effect comprises the series of graphic images produced at the video display device of a single one of the gaming machines in order to produce the part of the shared image graphic effect shown at that given gaming machine. Each respective gaming machine cooperating to produce the shared image graphic effect will produce a respective single machine component of the overall shared image graphic effect.

Alternatively to the client/server network arrangement for controlling the video display device at each respective gaming machine in the first form of the invention, an apparatus according to the present invention may include a shared image display control arrangement that is connected to each video display device to directly provide a respective video drive signal to each respective video display device.

One preferred method according to the first form of the invention includes detecting a triggering event and responsive to detecting the triggering event, controlling a number of video display devices to produce a shared image graphic effect such as the above-described prize reel simulation. This method further includes awarding a shared image prize for a first one of the gaming machines. The shared image prize corresponds to a prize represented at least in part by a respective one of the graphic elements displayed at the video display device of the first one of the gaming machines when the series of graphic elements appear to stop (such as when the simulated reel stops spinning for example).

In this method according to the first form of the invention, the step of controlling each video display device may include communicating one or more client commands from the display control server to each of the gaming machines over a local area network. The respective client command or commands to each respective gaming machine may include a start location in video image data stored at the respective gaming machine and an end location in the video image data, and perhaps other information that may be necessary or desirable for allowing the respective gaming machine to display the desired single machine component of the shared image graphic effect.

Some preferred methods according to the first form of the invention include detecting an ineligible condition at one or more of the gaming machines. In response to detecting the ineligible condition at a given gaming machine, the method may include modifying the single machine component of the shared image graphic effect at that gaming machine to indicate that the respective gaming machine is not eligible for the shared image prize. This modification of the single machine component of the shared image graphic effect may include reducing the brightness of the single machine component of the shared image graphic effect, changing colors included in the single component of the shared image effect, and/or making some other suitable modification in the single machine component of the shared image graphic effect.

The invention also encompasses a program product stored in one or more computer readable devices. A program product according to the first form of the invention includes shared image display program code and shared image award program code. The shared image display program code is executable for controlling the video display device associated with each gaming machine in the number of gaming machines to produce the shared image graphic effect, such as the prize reel simulation described above. The shared image award program code is executable for awarding the shared image prize for at least one of the gaming machines. The shared image prize corresponds to a prize represented by a respective one of the graphic elements displayed at the video display device of one of the gaming machines when the series of graphic elements appear to stop.

In one preferred program product according to the first form of the invention, the shared image display program code includes respective display control client program code executed at a respective processing device located at each respective gaming machine, and display control server program code that may be executed at a processing device at a location separate from any of the gaming machines. The display control server program code is executable for causing a respective client command(s) to be communicated to each respective gaming machine for coordinating the different gaming machines to produce the desired shared image graphic effect. The respective display control client program code located at each respective gaming machine is executable for causing the video display device of the respective gaming machine to display the respective single machine component of the shared image graphic effect.

A second form of the invention includes a number of gaming machines with each respective gaming machine having a respective video display device and a respective player control arrangement similarly to the previously described embodiment. In this second form of the invention a shared image display control arrangement selectively controls the video display device associated with each gaming machine in the number of gaming machines to produce a shared image graphic effect, but the shared image graphic effect need not be a series of physically interconnected graphic elements such as a simulation of a segmented prize reel. Rather, the shared image graphic effect in this second form of the invention includes one or more distinct prize-indicating graphic elements which appear at selected ones of the video display devices. A shared image result controller in this second form of the invention awards a shared image prize for each gaming machine displaying one of the prize-indicating graphic elements at a one or more points in the shared image graphic effect, such as a conclusion of the shared image graphic effect for example. The shared image prize corresponds to a prize represented at least in part by the respective one of the prize-indicating graphic elements displayed at the video display device of the respective gaming machine at the one or more points in the shared image graphic effect.

A program product according to this second form of the invention includes shared image display program code. The shared image display program code is executable for controlling the video display device associated with each gaming machine in the number of gaming machines to produce the shared image graphic effect including one or more distinct prize-indicating graphic elements which appear at selected ones of the video display devices. The program product in this second form of the invention also includes shared image award program code executable for awarding a shared image prize for each gaming machine displaying one of the prize-indicating graphic elements at the one or more points of the shared image graphic effect.

These and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.