Amusement devices: games – Games accessories – All video game accessories
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-27
2002-12-10
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Games accessories
All video game accessories
C454S184000, C361S695000, C463S046000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06491298
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to game playing methods for gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to thermal management systems for gaming machines.
There are a wide variety of devices that can comprise a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are lights, slot reels, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, bonus wheels, and button pads. These devices provide many of the features which allow a gaming machine to present a game. Some of these devices are built into the gaming machine. Often, a number of devices are grouped together in a separate box that is placed on top of the gaming machine. Devices of this type are commonly called a top box.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices including bill validators and coin acceptors to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices including key pads and button pads to determine the wager amount and initiate game play.
As technology in the gaming industry progresses, the traditional mechanically driven reel slot machines are being replaced with electronic counterparts having CRT, LCD video displays or the like. These video/electronic gaming advancements enable the operation of more complex games, which would not otherwise be possible on mechanical-driven gaming machines. For example, in addition to reel slot machines, it is now common to observe stand-alone or multiple platform video electronic games including Keno, Blackjack, Poker, Pai Gow, or slots in even the smallest gaming establishments.
Typically, video/electronic gaming machines utilize numerous internal electrical components including, for example, a power supply, a monitor, a communication board, a sound system, a printer and a CPU. During extensive use, and due to the fact that many of these game devices are always “on” even when not being played, many of the internal electrical components require thermal management to prevent premature component failure. For example, CPUs typically generate a significant amount of heat but only operate properly within a specified temperature range. Thus, most CPUs require a thermal management system of some type to prevent the CPU from overheating and failing.
Within the gaming industry, the space occupied by a gaming machine is a critical commodity. While the functionality of gaming machines has increased via the introduction of new technology, the space and volume allotted to gaming machines has not increased. Thus, within the relatively constant volume offered by the gaming machine cabinet, newer electronic gaming devices such as printers, monitors and card readers must be packaged with older gaming devices such as coin hoppers, coin acceptors, and lock boxes which are still needed by the gaming machine.
With the limited space within the gaming machine cabinet and the addition of electronic components requiring thermal management, packaging to provide both functionality and thermal management is becoming an important issue within the gaming industry. Traditionally, thermal management within gaming machine cabinets has been provided by taking advantage of natural convection. With vents near the top and the bottom of the gaming machine cabinets, internally generated hot air is convected naturally towards the top of the gaming machine where it may be expelled out the top vent. Cool air is naturally drawn into to the gaming machine through the bottom vent. When necessary, this process may be aided by fans within the gaming machine. With mostly mechanical components that tend to be fairly heat tolerant, this simple process is adequate to provide thermal management for a gaming machine.
In modern gaming machines, natural convection is still utilized as part of the gaming machine thermal management system. However, with many heat sensitive electrical components, thermal management requires careful packaging and flow path analysis to ensure that local hot spots do not develop within the gaming machine cabinet that may cause an electrical component failure. For example, an electronic board is typically mounted to the back cabinet of the gaming machine. When a local hot spot develops in the back of the cabinet near the electronic board as the result of poor air circulation, the portion of the electronic board near the hot spot may fail. To improve circulation within the gaming machine cabinet and prevent local hot spots, fans are often placed within the gaming machine cabinet. Once a packaging scheme has been developed for the components within gaming machine cabinet, the fans must be carefully located to achieve the desired circulation patterns within the gaming machine cabinet. Often, the placement of fans and the development of a packaging scheme is an iterative process. Further, space limitations typically require the fans to be small and noise limitations require the fans to be quiet.
Another problem associated with gaming machine thermal management is that internal particulates and contaminates can often be passed from one internal component to another internal component due to the common circulation of the air. For example, within the gaming machine cabinet, there is often an accumulation of coin dust and other particulates generated from the action of coins with the coin hopper. This dust often consists of metallic particles such as nickel and copper from the coins, and carbon steel from the hopper. As a result, this conductive dust complicates the cooling of internal components. More particularly, fans may circulate the coin dust from within the gaming machine and then distribute and deposit it onto the components being cooled, as well as other internal components which do not require cooling. Such deposition of these conductive particulates may compromise the operation of sensitive components within the gaming machine, and may even cause shorting of circuitry. Thus, dust management is also considered in the thermal management system developmental process.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide thermal management systems for modern electronic gaming machines which overcome the limitations associated with electronic component heat and dust sensitivity in a gaming machine cabinet with significant space and volume restrictions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention addresses the needs indicated above by providing a gaming machine with a thermal management system comprised of fans, vents and a particular configuration of thermal sources (e.g. CPU, power supply, monitor) and gaming machine components (e.g. printer, coin hopper, etc.). For a given component packaging scheme with the gaming machine cabinet, the thermal management system uses natural convection and a system of fans to cool the gaming machine cabinet by pulling air over the thermal sources and directing the air towards the top of the gaming machine. The pulling action of the fans helps to maintain laminar flow within the gaming machine cabinet which reduces heat build up within the gaming machine cabinet. Additionally, the fans are orientated to prevent dust accumulation on sensitive components such as the CPU and other electronics and to minimize the noise level outside of the gaming machine.
One aspect of the present invention provides a thermal management system for a gaming machine. The thermal management system can be generally characterized as including 1) a gaming machine cabinet with a front, a back opposite the front, a first side connecting the back and the front, a second side connecting the back a
Beadell John L.
Criss-Puszkiewicz Cynthia
Lesourd Kehl T.
Paulsen Craig A.
Wagner Eric L.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas LLP
IGT
Layno Benjamin H.
Mendiratta V K
LandOfFree
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