METHOD OF PROVIDING SECONDARY CONNECTIONS TO GAME DEVICE
SUBSIDIARY INTERFACE PORTS
The present invention relates to game devices that feature ports for interfacing to subsidiary equipment.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
In general, game or games devices, and in particular, gaming machines currently have a number of one way serial ports used for broadcasting game related information and one serial port that works in both ways and is designed for communications with centralised cash control equipment. In gaming machines, apart from serial communications, functionally all ports have a subsidiary equipment function input for the purpose of disabling the gaming machine in certain prescribed situations. All ports also have a machine power good function output used to signalise normal operation of the gaming machine. All the inputs and outputs on the ports are generally of the RS422 physical interface type and are intended for peer-to-peer connections only.
The present invention relates specifically to a method that overcomes the peer-to-peer limitation and allows multiple subsidiary devices communicating to the same approved gaming machine subsidiary interface ports.
Existing types of subsidiary equipment used in conjunction with gaming machines are connected to the dedicated subsidiary interface ports on the gaming machine. Each port usually has a specific regulation authority defined function that can not be replicated on a different port. This creates a situation that two or more pieces of subsidiary equipment can not be connected to the gaming machine if they perform similar functions and if they are prescribed to use the same dedicated port.
Some other types of electronic games devices are also restricted in their ability to overcome peer-to-peer limitations that exist and therefore their operation can benefit from the apparatus and method of the present invention.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of interfacing to games device subsidiary interface ports in the way that more than one apparatus of subsidiary equipment can share the existing communication ports without jeopardising the integrity of the communications. At the very least, the object of the invention is to provide an alternative to known methods and apparatus.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of providing a connection to a games device of a plurality of subsidiary equipment devices, the games device having a plurality of one-way serial ports for broadcasting game information data and at least one two-way serial port for connection to control equipment, said at least one two-way serial port being a subsidiary equipment interface port, said method including the steps of connecting a first one of said subsidiary equipment devices to said subsidiary equipment interface port, said first one of subsidiary equipment devices having a secondary equipment passthrough port which is controlled by a control means associated with said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices, connecting at least a second one of said subsidiary equipment devices to said secondary equipment passthrough port on said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices, whereby broadcast data sent from the games device via said subsidiary equipment interface port to said secondary equipment passthrough port of said first one of subsidiary equipment devices is retransmitted to said other subsidiary equipment devices; and all data and/or requests addressed to said subsidiary equipment interface port of said games device from said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices or from said other subsidiary equipment devices via said secondary equipment passthrough port on said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices are transmitted or retransmitted to said subsidiary equipment interface port of said games device.
According to another aspect, there is provided apparatus for providing connection of a plurality of subsidiary equipment devices to a games device, the games device having a plurality of one-way serial ports for broadcasting game information data and at least one
two-way serial port for connection to control equipment, said at least one two-way serial port being a subsidiary equipment interface port, said apparatus including a first one of said subsidiary equipment devices connected to said subsidiary equipment interface port, said first one of subsidiary equipment devices having a secondary equipment passthrough port which is controlled by a control means associated with said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices, at least a second one of said subsidiary equipment devices connected to said secondary equipment passthrough port on said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices, whereby broadcast data sent from the games device via said subsidiary equipment interface port to said secondary equipment passthrough port of said first one of subsidiary equipment devices is retransmitted to said other subsidiary equipment devices; and all data and/or requests addressed to said subsidiary equipment interface port of said games device from said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices or from said other subsidiary equipment devices via said secondary equipment passthrough port on said first one of said subsidiary equipment devices are transmitted or retransmitted to said subsidiary equipment interface port of said games device.
Preferably, the data and/or requests transmitted or retransmitted are prioritised in accordance to status and outcome of a previous communication session.
Preferably the priority depends on protocol, regulations and application itself.
Preferably the control means is the device main processor or some other programmable artificial intelligence integrated circuit built in to the device. This means that the first one of said subsidiary equipment devices has internal software tasks.
Preferably, the first one of subsidiary equipment devices having a secondary equipment passthrough port, is adapted to receive game status information from the games device, transfer credits, and provide enable/disable signals to the games device as prescribed according to preselected requirements.
Preferably, the first one of subsidiary equipment devices having a secondary equipment passthrough port connected thereto is connected to central monitoring apparatus which also monitors a number of other games devices, the central monitoring apparatus being adapted
to receive and send from and to the first one of subsidiary equipment devices different signals and/or commands according to system requirements and/or regulations.
Preferably, the first one of subsidiary equipment devices has a plurality of ports, a first one of the ports connecting to the one port of the subsidiary equipment interface ports to gather game status information. Preferably, a second one of the ports being connected to the subsidiary equipment interface port to provide for centralised cash control equipment functionality.
Preferably, the at least a second one of said subsidiary equipment devices connected to the secondary equipment passthrough port is a subsidiary equipment device associated with another system. Preferably, the secondary equipment passthrough port supports centralised cash control equipment functionality on the subsidiary equipment device of that other system.
Preferably, the secondary devices connected to the first one of subsidiary equipment devices include any ancillary devices suitable for use with games systems, and includes within this scope the use of hardware, software, firmware and the like. This can involve the use of daughterboards or similar such devices.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be now described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the network of gaming devices that operate according to the method of the present invention; and
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a network of gaming devices that operate according to an embodiment of the method of the present invention.
BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The method described in this document is implemented on the proprietary Mikohn Gaming Australasia Pty Ltd device called Watchman™ interface board as seen in Fig. 2 while the generic embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 1.
The Watchman™ interface board of the preferred embodiment is designed to gather game status information from gaming machines (or approved poker machines) APM , transfer credits to the APM and disable/enable the APM in situations prescribed by government regulations and by the algorithms of Jackpot or Monitoring systems operation. After the information is collected it is then transmitted further to the central site of the Jackpot or Monitoring System whichever is applicable. The Watchman™ is also used to receive different commands from the central site and act upon them accordingly to the government regulations and the algorithms of the Jackpot or Monitoring System operation whichever is applicable.
The Watchman™ has two specialised ports to interface to the subsidiary equipment interface ports SEPof the APM. One of them (J2) is normally connected to port P5 of the APM and gathers the game status information.
The other port (Jl) is normally connected to port PI of the APM and provides for Centralised Cash Control Equipment functionality.
The Watchman™ also has one secondary equipment passthrough port SEPP (Jl 1) that provides the connection point for a secondary subsidiary device belonging to another system. The primary intention for the use of the SEPP (Jl 1) is to support Centralised Cash Control Equipment functionality on that secondary device. For that reason all the pins on the SEPP (Jl 1) connector act as an exact copy of port PI on the APM that is dedicated for Centralised Cash Control Equipment.
Based on the status of the game, the status and priorities of the tasks running on the Watchman™ device and the status of the secondary device connected to SEPP (Jl 1) the
Watchman™ processor will redirect messages coming from APM PI port to the internal software tasks or to the secondary device connected to SEPP (Jl 1).
Messages coming from secondary device connected to SEPP (Jl 1) and addressed to the APM port PI, and messages coming from internal software tasks and addressed to APM port PI will be redirected to the APM port PI in accordance to the status of the game, the status and priorities of the tasks running on the Watchman™ device and the status of the secondary device connected to the SEPP.
This allows for the primary and secondary devices both having a possibility to perform functions of the Centralised Cash Control Equipment on the NSW APM.
When required by the system environment and allowed by government regulations the game status broadcasts coming out of the APM port P5 can also be retransmitted to the second subsidiary device via the SEPP (Jl 1).
The secondary devices connected to the Watchman™ include any ancillary devices suitable for use with gaming systems, and includes within this scope the use of hardware, software, firmware and the like. This can involve the use of daughterboards or similar such devices.
The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention, and modifications obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, the present invention is described with respect to the gaming machine APM of the preferred embodiment, however, a games devices which has ports to communicate with other games devices, like or unlike, can implement the method and apparatus of the present invention such that the apparatus of the present invention connects subsidiary devices to the games device. These games devices include within their scope all games devices or any machine used for amusement purposes including gambling and is capable of communication with other devices.