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Methods and systems for facilitating play at a gaming device by means of third party offersRelated Patent Categories: Amusement Devices: Games, Including Means For Processing Electronic Data (e.g., Computer/video Game, Etc.), In A Chance ApplicationMethods and systems for facilitating play at a gaming device by means of third party offers description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060211477, Methods and systems for facilitating play at a gaming device by means of third party offers. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/121,243, filed Apr. 11, 2002 in the name of Walker et al. and entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR FACILITATING PLAY AT A GAMING DEVICE BY MEANS OF THIRD PARTY OFFERS, [0002] which application: [0003] (a) claims the benefit of provisional patent application (i) Ser. No. 60/283,080, filed Apr. 11, 2001, entitled "PREVENTING UNDETECTED SUBSTITUTION AT SLOT MACHINES"; (ii) Ser. No. 60/283,074, filed Apr. 11, 2001, entitled "CROSS SUBSIDY SLOT MACHINES"; and (iii) Ser. No. 60/283,081, filed Apr. 11, 2001, entitled "WIN COMPS FOR FRIENDS"; and [0004] (b) is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/521,869, entitled SLOT MACHINE ADVERTISING/SALES SYSTEM AND METHOD, filed Mar. 8, 2000 in the name of Walker et al., which is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/769,085, entitled SLOT MACHINE ADVERTISING/SALES SYSTEM AND METHOD, filed Dec. 18, 1996 in the name of Walker et al. and issued Feb. 13, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,893. [0005] The content of each of the above applications is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0006] This application is related to the following co-pending U.S. patent applications: [0007] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/120,529, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OFFERING FORWARD COMMITMENT AGREEMENTS", filed Apr. 10, 2002 in the name of Walker et al.; [0008] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/112,712, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADVERTISING/SALES AT A GAMING DEVICE", filed Mar. 29, 2002 in the name of Walker et al., and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,890,256 on May 10, 2005. [0009] The content of the above is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0010] The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for operating gaming devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to the provision, at a gaming device, of offers that define a benefit in exchange for a commitment to an obligation. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0011] Gaming devices such as slot machines generate billions of dollars of revenue per year for casinos located in the United States and other countries. Typically, a casino generates well over half of its revenue from gaming devices. The profit a casino realizes from a player playing at a gaming device tends to increase as the duration of the player's play session at the gaming device increases. Accordingly, casinos are acutely interested in increasing the duration of a player's play session at a gaming device. Unfortunately most players who play a gaming device have limited funds or a fixed budget, which tends to limit the duration of the play session. Most players would welcome the opportunity to increase the amount of funds they have available for playing the gaming device and/or to offset any losses they may have incurred while playing the gaming device. Further, a player's attention is typically focused on the gaming device the player is playing, making the player susceptible to respond to any offers that may be presented to the player via the gaming device. [0012] The acquisition of new customers and the inducement of the return of previous customers is a key concern for most businesses. Businesses tend to set a monetary budget to be spent on the achievement of these goals. This budget is typically spent on advertising of the business to potential customers. However, the effectiveness of most advertising (even targeted advertising) is less than ideal. This is partly due to the fact that most people are typically bombarded with a multitude of advertisements for a variety of businesses at any given time. Adding to the lack of satisfactory effectiveness of conventional advertising is the fact that many people are presented with advertisements at a time when they are not sufficiently motivated to act on the advertisement (e.g. by purchasing the product or visiting the merchant being advertised). Further, even if the viewer of the advertisement is interested in the subject of the advertisement, the viewer tends to get distracted and forget about acting on the advertisement as time passes. Thus a need exists for an improved method for businesses to acquire new customer and/or induce the return of previous customers. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013] FIG. 1 comprises a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0014] FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system consistent with the present invention; [0015] FIG. 2B is a block diagram of another embodiment of a system consistent with the present invention; [0016] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a gaming device; [0017] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a controller; [0018] FIG. 5 is a table illustrating an exemplary data structure of a player database; [0019] FIG. 6 is a table illustrating an exemplary data structure of an associated person database; [0020] FIG. 7 is a table illustrating an exemplary data structure of an offer database; [0021] FIG. 8 is a table illustrating an exemplary data structure of a play session database; [0022] FIG. 9 is a table illustrating an exemplary data structure of a subsidizing event database; Continue reading about Methods and systems for facilitating play at a gaming device by means of third party offers... 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