Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-01
2001-06-19
Evans, F L (Department: 2877)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C902S023000, C463S025000, C463S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247643
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to gaming in general and in particular to using charge cards such as, for example and without limitation, VISA, MasterCard or American Express charge cards, and bank account access cards, to operate gaming machines such as, for example, slot machines. A visual display, a keyboard, and a card reader (or a device such as a keyboard, touch screen or the like for entering card and personal identification information) are associated with the gaming machine to provide playing credit to the player upon approval of the player's charge card. The terms general purpose charge card, or charge card for short, are used herein to distinguish from a prior art “house card” of the type issued for use only in a specified gaming establishment. A charge card can be a credit card (the card owner is given credit and is billed later) or a debit card (the card owner's account is debited), or some other billing and/or paying arrangement can be made between the issuer and the owner of the general purpose credit card.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Casinos and certain other business establishments have gaming machines such as, for example only and without limitation, slot machines in which a player can insert coins, pull a handle, and hope for a winning combination of elements on spinning wheels to allow him or her to win money from the machine. These are games of chance that some individuals play for entertainment and others with the hope of receiving winnings.
Casinos typically have cashiers at windows where patrons can obtain coins or tokens to play the gaming machines. A player who runs out of coins or tokens while at a gaming machine must walk away from the machine and find a cashier to get more coins or tokens, and the player may or may not resume playing. Even if wishing to resume, the player may lose his or her place at the previously chosen machine, and some players find this annoying, e.g., because a player feels that a machine was ready for “payoff” or that the player was on a “roll” on that machine but had to discontinue play to go replenish the supply of coins or tokens. These prior systems therefore disrupt the playing of the machine in a manner which is undesirable for the casino and may also be undesirable from the standpoint of the player.
It has been proposed to use house charge cards which differ from general purpose charge cards in that they are issued by a particular gaming establishment and have restriction on use peculiar to that establishment. Such house cards would avoid the need to get coins or tokens from the cashier or to cash in coins and tokens but still would require a player who does not have such a house card to go through the procedures for obtaining one, and would tend to limit a player to the one or more establishments that have already provided that particular player with a house card.
In addition, the player would have to comply with the restriction imposed on house card use by the issuing casino, e.g., would have settle the account for each house card according to the rules of the particular establishment that issued the card.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to gaming machines and systems and particularly to a system and a method that make it possible for a player to participate in games of chance at casinos and other gaming establishments by using a general purpose charge card rather than a house card, and to a system and a method that provide a particularly efficient way for the player to obtain playing credit with a general purpose charge card, to use the playing credit and have it updated to account for wins, losses and draws from games of chance played at one or more machines at one or more casinos, and to ultimately have the player's account at a remote financial institution credited or debited and the account of the playing establishment or establishments credited or debited during and/or after a playing session.
In a particular example of the invention, which is not a limitation on the scope of the invention, a player supplies a general purpose charge card to a gaming machine at a casino, e.g., by feeding the card to a conventional magnetic card reader. The card reader reads selected information from the charge card, transmits it over a data link for validation, e.g., to the card issuer and, upon receiving back a validation over the data link, requests a personal identification number (PIN) from the player. The player enters the PIN, e.g., through a keypad, a touch screen or a keyboard at the gaming machine, which in an alternative embodiment can also be used to manually enter information that would otherwise be read from the card by the card reader. If the PIN is similarly validated, the gaming machine prompts the player to enter an amount of requested playing credit, e.g., through a display or by a voice message. The player enters an amount of requested credit, and the system determines whether to grant that requested credit on the basis of selected criteria. The determination may be made through another communication with the card issuer, or it can be made on the basis of some other criterion, such as whether the requested amount conforms to a selected threshold. Upon approval of the requested credit, or of some other amount of playing credit, the gaming machine displays to the player the amount of granted playing credit available for play or pay-out at that gaming machine and enables the gaming machine to use said playing credit for plays. The player then plays on that machine, and the system detects those plays and win/lose/draw results therefrom, as well as any pay-out requests by the player and any end-of-play requests by the player. The system maintains and updates credit balances for the gaming machine, for the player and for the casino in response to the detected play results, pay-out requests and end-of-play requests, and displaying at least the updated balance for the player at the gaming machine. The system posts a daily balance for at least the player to a credit process facility, and processes the balances to update accounts for the player and for the casino with the card issuer.
In addition, the system determines if any playing credit remains for the player from a previous transaction, and takes such remaining credit into account in the step of determining whether to grant the requested playing credit. Still in addition, the player can request additional playing credit, in which case the system goes through a similar validation process, and the player can request the use of playing credit at one or more additional gaming machines. If the request for such additional machines is granted, the system takes plays or requests for pay-outs and end-of-play requests at such additional gaming machines into account in maintaining said balances.
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Cooper & Dunham LLP
Evans F L
Scotch Twist, Inc.
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