U.S. patent application number 14/966517 was filed with the patent office on 2017-06-15 for enhanced electronic gaming machine with x-ray vision display.
The applicant listed for this patent is IGT CANADA SOLUTIONS ULC. Invention is credited to Aaron COREY, David FROY.
Application Number | 20170169653 14/966517 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 59019995 |
Filed Date | 2017-06-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170169653 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FROY; David ; et
al. |
June 15, 2017 |
ENHANCED ELECTRONIC GAMING MACHINE WITH X-RAY VISION DISPLAY
Abstract
An electronic gaming machine to play an interactive game where a
player's eye gaze acts as x-ray vision. A graphics processor
generates an interactive game environment and defines a viewing
area as its subset. A display device displays the viewing area,
where a visible game component masks an invisible game component. A
display controller controls rendering of the viewing area on the
display device using the graphics processor. At least one data
capture camera device continuously monitors player eye gaze to
collect player eye gaze data. A game controller calculates a player
eye gaze location relative to the viewing area, the location
corresponding to the invisible game component, and triggers a
control command to the display controller. In response, the display
controller controls the display device in real-time to provide a
graphical animation effect representative of a visual update to the
visible game component to reveal the invisible game component.
Inventors: |
FROY; David;
(Lakeville-Westmorland, CA) ; COREY; Aaron;
(Moncton, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
IGT CANADA SOLUTIONS ULC |
Moncton |
|
CA |
|
|
Family ID: |
59019995 |
Appl. No.: |
14/966517 |
Filed: |
December 11, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 17/3251 20130101;
G06F 3/013 20130101; H04N 13/302 20180501; G06T 13/40 20130101;
G07F 17/3227 20130101; G07F 17/3206 20130101; A63F 13/213 20140902;
H04N 13/383 20180501; G06Q 30/0261 20130101; G06F 3/017 20130101;
A63F 13/40 20140902; G07F 17/3211 20130101; G07F 17/3209 20130101;
H04N 13/398 20180501; G06F 3/012 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G07F 17/32 20060101
G07F017/32 |
Claims
1. An electronic gaming machine comprising: a card reader to
identify a monetary amount conveyed by a token to the electronic
gaming machine; at least one data storage device to store game data
for an interactive game; a graphics processor to generate an
interactive game environment in accordance with the game data and
define a viewing area as a subset of the interactive game
environment, the viewing area having a visible game component
masking or blocking an invisible game component; a display device
to display via a user interface the viewing area; a display
controller to control rendering of the viewing area on the display
device using the graphics processor; at least one data capture
camera device to continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to
collect player eye gaze data relative to the display device; a game
controller for calculating a location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the viewing area using the player eye gaze data, the
location of the eye gaze corresponding to the invisible game
component, and triggering a control command to the display
controller to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area
based on the player eye gaze data and the location of the eye gaze;
in response to the control command, the display controller controls
the display device in real-time or near real-time using the
graphics processor to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device representative of
a visual update to the visible game component to reveal the
invisible game component in the viewing area; and in response to an
outcome of the interactive game, the card reader updates the
monetary amount using the token.
2. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the display
controller controls the display device to display a plurality of
calibration symbols, wherein the at least one data capture camera
device monitors the eye gaze of the player in relation to the
calibration symbols to collect calibration data, and wherein the
game controller calibrates the at least one data capture camera
device and the display device based on the calibration data.
3. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the player eye
gaze data comprises a position and a focus, the position defined as
coordinates of the player's eyes relative to the display device,
the focus defined as a line of sight relative to the display
device.
4. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game
controller determines the location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the viewing area by identifying coordinates on the
display device corresponding to the player eye gaze data and
mapping the coordinates to the viewing area.
5. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game
controller defines a filter movement threshold, wherein the game
controller, prior to determining the location of the eye gaze of
the player relative to the viewing area and triggering the control
command to the display controller to dynamically update the
rendering of the viewing area, determines that the player eye gaze
meets the filter movement threshold.
6. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game
controller predicts the location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the viewing area at a future time using the player eye
gaze data to facilitate dynamic update of the rendering of the
viewing area.
7. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the at least
one data capture camera device continuously monitors an area
proximate to the electronic gaming machine to collect proximity
data, wherein the game controller detects a location of the player
relative to the electronic gaming machine based on the proximity
data, and triggers the display controller to display an
advertisement on the display device.
8. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the display
controller renders a gaze-sensitive user interface on the display
device, wherein the game controller detects the location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the gaze-sensitive user interface
using the player eye gaze data, and triggers the display controller
to dynamically update the rendering of the gaze-sensitive user
interface to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device representative of
a visual update to the gaze-sensitive user interface.
9. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the graphical
animation effect represents at least one of: looking behind the
visible game component masking to reveal the invisible game
component, blocking the invisible game component to reveal the
invisible game component, selecting the revealed invisible game
component, and seeing through or rendering transparent the visible
game component masking or blocking the invisible game component to
reveal the invisible game component.
10. The electronic gaming device of claim 1, wherein the game
controller detects movement of the eye gaze to another location,
the other location corresponding to an additional invisible game
component that is masked or blocked by the visible game component
or another visible game component, and wherein the graphical
animation effect represents updating the visible game component or
the other visible game component to reveal the additional invisible
game component, the location and the other location defining a
direction of movement for the graphical animation effect.
11. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the at least
one data capture camera device monitors an eye gesture of the
player to collect player eye gesture data, and wherein the game
controller triggers the control command to the display controller
to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area based on
the player eye gesture data using the graphical animation effect to
reveal the invisible game component in the viewing area based on
the player eye gesture data, wherein the game controller detects
the eye gesture of the player and the player movement relative to
an additional location in the viewing area corresponding to another
invisible game component using the player eye gesture data and
player movement data, and triggers the display controller to
dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area based on the
player eye gesture data and player movement data using the
graphical animation effect to reveal the other invisible game
component in the viewing area.
12. The electronic gaming device of claim 1, wherein the at least
one data capture camera device is configured to collect player
movement data and wherein the graphical animation effect reveals
the invisible game component based on the player movement data, the
player movement data associated with movement of the player's head
or other part of the player's body or a gesture by the player.
13. The electronic gaming device of claim 1, wherein the invisible
game component is a graphical element with levers that is masked or
blocked by the visible game component, wherein the location of the
eye gaze data corresponds to the visible game component, wherein
the graphical animation effect represents seeing through or
rendering transparent the visible game component to reveal the
graphical element with levers and manipulating the levers to move
or rotate the graphical element based on the eye gaze data.
14. The electronic gaming device of claim 1, wherein the graphics
processor generates a fog effect within the viewing area masking or
blocking the invisible game component, and wherein the game
controller detects the eye gaze at the location for a predetermined
time period and wherein the graphical animation effect and the
visual update represents displaying a transparent circle within the
fog effect to reveal the invisible game component and expanding the
transparent circle to reveal an additional invisible game
component.
15. The electronic gaming device of claim 14, wherein the game
controller detects movement of the eye gaze to another location,
the another location corresponding to the additional invisible game
component, and wherein the graphical animation effect and the
visual update represents moving the transparent circle to reveal
the additional invisible game component.
16. The electronic gaming device of claim 1, wherein the electronic
gaming device is in communication with one or more other electronic
gaming devices, wherein the at least one data storage device stores
game data for a primary multi-player interactive game and a bonus
multi-player interactive game, wherein the invisible game component
is a bonus game component of a set of bonus game components,
wherein the graphical animation effect represents revealing and
selecting the first bonus game component, and wherein the game
controller detects selection of a subset of bonus game components
using the player eye gaze data, the selection triggering a bonus
prize award.
17. The electronic gaming device of claim 16, wherein the invisible
game component is a first bonus game component of a set of bonus
game components, wherein the graphical animation effect represents
revealing and rejecting the bonus game component, and wherein the
game controller detects rejection of the first bonus game component
using the eye gaze data, the rejecting of the bonus game component
triggering the display controller to display on the display device
a second bonus game component and the display controller of the
other electronic gaming device to display on the display device of
the other electronic gaming device the first bonus game
component.
18. The electronic gaming device of claim 16, wherein the invisible
game component is at least a portion of the viewing area of the
other electronic gaming devices, the viewing area of the other
electronic gaming devices having another visible game component,
wherein the graphical animation effect represents seeing through or
rendering transparent the visible game component to reveal the
portion of the viewing area of the other electronic gaming devices,
and wherein the game controller detects a bonus activation based on
the visible game component and the another visible game component,
the bonus activation triggering a bonus prize award.
19. An electronic gaming machine comprising: a card reader to
identify a monetary amount conveyed by a token to the electronic
gaming machine; at least one data storage device to store game data
for one or more primary interactive games and one or more bonus
interactive games; a graphics processor to generate an interactive
game environment in accordance with the game data and define a
viewing area as a subset of the interactive game environment, the
viewing area having a visible game component masking or blocking an
invisible game selector symbol; a display device to display via a
user interface the viewing area; a display controller to control
rendering of the viewing area on the display device using the
graphics processor; at least one data capture camera device to
continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data; a game controller for calculating a location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the player
eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the invisible game
selector symbol, and triggering a control command to the display
controller to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area
based on the player eye gaze data and the location; in response to
the control command, the display controller controls the display
device in real-time or near real-time using the graphics processor
to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area to provide
a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect displayed
on the display device representative of a visual update to the
visible game component to reveal and select the invisible game
selector symbol in the viewing area and displaying a selected
interactive game for the selected invisible game selector symbol;
and in response to an outcome of the selected interactive game, the
card reader updates the monetary amount.
20. An electronic gaming machine comprising: a card reader to
identify a monetary amount conveyed by a token to the electronic
gaming machine; at least one data storage device to store game data
for an interactive game; a graphics processor to generate an
interactive game environment in accordance with a set of game rules
using the game data and define a viewing area as a first subset of
the interactive game environment, the first subset of the
interactive game environment having a first visible game component
masking or blocking a first invisible game component; a display
device to display via a user interface the viewing area; a display
controller to control rendering of the viewing area on the display
device using the graphics processor; at least one data capture
camera device to continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to
collect player eye gaze data; a game controller for calculating a
location of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area
using the player eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the
invisible game component, and triggering a control command to the
display controller to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area based on the player eye gaze data and the location; in
response to the control command, the display controller controls
the display device in real-time or near real-time using the
graphics processor to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area in real-time or near real-time to navigate to a second
subset of the interactive game environment, the second subset of
the interactive game environment having a second visible game
component masking or blocking a second invisible game component,
wherein the update comprises a graphical animation effect displayed
on the display device representative of navigating to the second
subset of the interactive game environment; and in response to an
outcome of the interactive game, the card reader updates the
monetary amount.
Description
FIELD
[0001] Embodiments described herein relate to the field of
electronic gaming machines. The embodiments described herein
particularly relate to the field of providing an enhanced
electronic gaming machine with an interactive display to provide
x-ray vision effects based on a player's eye gaze.
INTRODUCTION
[0002] Casinos and other establishments may have video gaming
terminals that may include game machines, online gaming systems
(that enable users to play games using computer devices, whether
desktop computers, laptops, mobile devices, tablet computers or
smart phones), computer programs for use on a computer device
(including desktop computer, laptops, mobile devices, tablet
computers or smart phones), or gaming consoles that are connectable
to a display such as a television or computer screen.
[0003] Video gaming terminals may be configured to enable users to
play games with a touch interface. Example games may be a slot
machine game, which may involve a reel of symbols that may move by
pulling a lever to activate the reel of symbols. A user may win a
prize based on the symbols displayed on the reel. In addition to
slot machine games, video gaming machines may be configured to
enable users to play a variety of different types of games, which
may involve displaying one or more game components on a display
screen. To interact with a game component of the game, the user may
have to press a button that is part of the machine hardware, or the
user may have to touch a button displayed on a display screen.
[0004] A casino or other establishment has finite space, so it can
operate only a certain number of video gaming terminals. The size
of a video gaming terminal may be limited by its hardware, which
may limit the number of game components, buttons, or interfaces
that can be displayed on a display screen. This hardware limitation
may also limit the amount of and types of physical interactions
that a user may engage in with the machine to play the game. For
convenience to the player, a casino or another establishment may
want the player to have different experiences while playing at the
same video gaming terminal. However, since a video gaming terminal
and its associated hardware have finite size, there may be a limit
on the number of buttons or physical elements present on the gaming
terminal.
[0005] There is a need to immerse the user in their gaming
experience while at the same video gaming terminal, and there is a
further need to make more efficient use of the physical limitations
of the hardware of the video gaming terminal. Therefore it is
necessary to innovate by launching new and engaging electronic game
machines with improved hardware where the player can interact with
the interactive game using their eye gaze.
SUMMARY
[0006] In one aspect, there is provided an electronic gaming
machine that comprises a card reader to identify a monetary amount
conveyed by a player to the electronic gaming machine, at least one
data storage device to store game data for an interactive game, a
graphics processor to generate an interactive game environment in
accordance with a set of game rules using the game data and define
a viewing area as a subset of the interactive game environment, the
viewing area having a visible game component masking or blocking an
invisible game component, a display device to display via a user
interface the viewing area, a display controller to control
rendering of the viewing area on the display device using the
graphics processor, at least one data capture camera device to
continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data, and a game controller for calculating a location of the
eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the
player eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the invisible
game component, and triggering a control command to the display
controller to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area
based on the player eye gaze data and the location. In response to
the control command, the display controller controls the display
device in real-time or near real-time using the graphics processor
to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area to provide
a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect displayed
on the display device representative of a visual update to the
visible game component to reveal the invisible game component in
the viewing area. In response to an outcome of the interactive
game, the card reader updates the monetary amount.
[0007] In some embodiments, the display controller controls the
display device to display a plurality of calibration symbols,
wherein the at least one data capture camera device monitors the
eye gaze of the player in relation to the calibration symbols to
collect calibration data, and wherein the game controller
calibrates the at least one data capture camera device and the
display device based on the calibration data.
[0008] In some embodiments, the player eye gaze data comprises a
position and a focus, the position defined as coordinates of the
player's eyes relative to the display device, the focus defined as
a line of sight relative to the display device.
[0009] In some embodiments, the game controller determines the
location of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area
by identifying coordinates on the display device corresponding to
the player eye gaze data and mapping the coordinates to the viewing
area.
[0010] In some embodiments, the game controller defines a filter
movement threshold, wherein the game controller, prior to
determining the location of the eye gaze of the player relative to
the viewing area and triggering the control command to the display
controller to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area,
determines that the player eye gaze meets the filter movement
threshold.
[0011] In some embodiments, the game controller predicts the
location of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area
at a future time using the player eye gaze data to facilitate
dynamic update to the rendering of the viewing area.
[0012] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device continuously monitors an area proximate to the electronic
gaming machine to collect proximity data, wherein the game
controller detects a location of the player relative to the
electronic gaming machine based on the proximity data, and triggers
the display controller to display an advertisement on the display
device.
[0013] In some embodiments, the display controller renders a
gaze-sensitive user interface on the display device, wherein the
game controller detects the location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the gaze-sensitive user interface using the player eye
gaze data, and triggers the display controller to dynamically
update the rendering of the gaze-sensitive user interface to
provide a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect
displayed on the display device representative of a visual update
to the gaze-sensitive user interface.
[0014] In some embodiments, the graphics processor generates left
and right eye images based on a selected three-dimensional
intensity level, wherein the display device is a stereoscopic
display device, and wherein the game controller triggers the
control command to the display controller to dynamically update the
rendering of the of the left and right eye images based on the
player eye gaze data.
[0015] In some embodiments, the graphical animation effect
represents looking behind the visible game component masking or
blocking the invisible game component to reveal the invisible game
component.
[0016] In some embodiments, the graphical animation effect
represents selecting the revealed invisible game component.
[0017] In some embodiments, the graphical animation effect
represents seeing through or rendering transparent the visible game
component masking or blocking the invisible game component to
reveal the invisible game component.
[0018] In some embodiments, the game controller detects movement of
the eye gaze to another location, the location corresponding to an
additional invisible game component that is masked or blocked by
the visible game component or another visible game component, and
wherein the graphical animation effect represents updating the
visible game component or the other visible game component to
reveal the additional invisible game component.
[0019] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device monitors an eye gesture of the player to collect player eye
gesture data, and wherein the game controller triggers the control
command to the display controller to dynamically update the
rendering of the viewing area based on the player eye gesture data
using the graphical animation effect to reveal the invisible game
component in the viewing area based on the player eye gesture
data.
[0020] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device is configured to collect player movement data associated
with movement of the player's head and wherein the graphical
animation effect reveals the invisible game component based on the
movement of the player's head.
[0021] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device is configured to collect player movement data associated
with movement of a part of the player's body and wherein the
graphical animation effect reveals the invisible game component
based on the movement of a part of the player's body.
[0022] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device is configured to collect player movement data associated
with a gesture by the player and wherein the graphical animation
effect reveals the invisible game component based on the gesture by
the player.
[0023] In some embodiments, the game controller detects the eye
gesture of the player and the player movement relative to an
additional location in the viewing area corresponding to another
invisible game component using the player eye gesture data and
player movement data, and triggers the display controller to
dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area based on the
player eye gesture data and player movement data using the
graphical animation effect to reveal the other invisible game
component in the viewing area.
[0024] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is a
graphical element with levers that is masked or blocked by the
visible game component, wherein the location of the eye gaze data
corresponds to the visible game component, wherein the graphical
animation effect represents seeing through or rendering transparent
the visible game component to reveal the graphical element with
levers and manipulating the levers to move or rotate the graphical
element based on the eye gaze data.
[0025] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is a
graphical element of a series of switches and circuits, wherein the
graphical animation effect represents revealing a portion of the
switches and circuits, and wherein the game controller detects
selection of a switch or circuit in the portion of the switches and
circuits using the eye gaze data, the selection triggering a prize
award.
[0026] In some embodiments, the graphics processor generates a fog
effect within the viewing area masking or blocking the invisible
game component, and wherein the graphical animation effect
represents a transparent circle within the fog effect to reveal the
invisible game component.
[0027] In some embodiments, the game controller detects the eye
gaze at the location for a predetermined time period and wherein
the graphical animation effect and the visual update represents
expanding the transparent circle to reveal additional invisible
game component.
[0028] In some embodiments, the game controller detects movement of
the eye gaze to another location, the location corresponding to an
additional invisible game component, and wherein the graphical
animation effect and the visual update represents moving the
transparent circle to reveal the additional invisible game
component.
[0029] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is a
graphical element of one or more avatars carrying a hidden
document, wherein the graphical animation effect represents
revealing a portion of the avatars to reveal the hidden document,
and wherein the game controller detects selection of the avatar
carrying the hidden document using the eye gaze data, the selection
triggering a prize award.
[0030] In some embodiments, the electronic gaming device is in
communication with one or more other electronic gaming devices, and
wherein the at least one data storage devices stores game data for
a primary multi-player interactive game and a bonus multi-player
interactive game.
[0031] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is a bonus
game component of a set of bonus game components, wherein the
graphical animation effect represents revealing and selecting the
first bonus game component, and wherein the game controller detects
selection of a subset of bonus game components using the eye gaze
data, the selection triggering a bonus prize award.
[0032] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is a first
bonus game component of a set of bonus game components, wherein the
graphical animation effect represents revealing and rejecting the
bonus game component, and wherein the game controller detects
rejection of the first bonus game component using the eye gaze
data, the rejection triggering the display controller to display on
the display device a second bonus game component and the display
controller of the other electronic gaming device to display on the
display device of the other electronic gaming device the first
bonus game component.
[0033] In some embodiments, the invisible game component is at
least a portion of the viewing area of the other electronic gaming
devices, the viewing area of the other electronic gaming devices
having another visible game component, wherein the graphical
animation effect represents seeing through or rendering transparent
the visible game component to reveal the portion of the viewing
area of the other electronic gaming devices, and wherein the game
controller detects a bonus activation based on the visible game
component and the another visible game component, the bonus
activation triggering a bonus prize award.
[0034] In some embodiments, the viewing area has a plurality of
invisible game components, and wherein the graphical animation
effect and the visual update renders visible at least a portion of
the invisible game components.
[0035] In another aspect, there is provided an electronic gaming
machine that comprises a card reader to identify a monetary amount
conveyed by a player to the electronic gaming machine, at least one
data storage device to store game data for one or more primary
interactive games and one or more bonus interactive games, a
graphics processor to generate an interactive game environment in
accordance with a set of game rules using the game data and define
a viewing area as a subset of the interactive game environment, the
viewing area having a visible game component masking or blocking an
invisible game selector symbol, a display device to display via a
user interface the viewing area, a display controller to control
rendering of the viewing area on the display device using the
graphics processor, at least one data capture camera device to
continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data, and a game controller for calculating a location of the
eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the
player eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the invisible
game selector symbol, and triggering a control command to the
display controller to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area based on the player eye gaze data and the location. In
response to the control command, the display controller controls
the display device in real-time or near real-time using the
graphics processor to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device representative of
a visual update to the visible game component to reveal and select
the invisible game selector symbol in the viewing area and
displaying a selected interactive game for the selected invisible
game selector symbol. In response to an outcome of the selected
interactive game, the card reader updates the monetary amount.
[0036] In another aspect, there is provided an electronic gaming
machine that comprises a card reader to identify a monetary amount
conveyed by a player to the electronic gaming machine, at least one
data storage device to store game data for an interactive game, a
graphics processor to generate an interactive game environment in
accordance with a set of game rules using the game data and define
a viewing area as a first subset of the interactive game
environment, the first subset of the interactive game environment
having a first visible game component masking or blocking a first
invisible game component, a display device to display via a user
interface the viewing area, a display controller to control
rendering of the viewing area on the display device using the
graphics processor, at least one data capture camera device to
continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data, and a game controller for calculating a location of the
eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the
player eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the invisible
game component, and triggering a control command to the display
controller to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area
based on the player eye gaze data and the location. In response to
the control command, the display controller controls the display
device in real-time or near real-time using the graphics processor
to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area in
real-time or near real-time to navigate to a second subset of the
interactive game environment, the second subset of the interactive
game environment having a second visible game component masking or
blocking a second invisible game component, wherein the update
comprises a graphical animation effect displayed on the display
device representative of navigating to the second subset of the
interactive game environment. In response to an outcome of the
interactive game, the card reader updates the monetary amount.
[0037] Further features and combinations thereof concerning
embodiments are described.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0038] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic gaming machine
for implementing the gaming enhancements according to some
embodiments;
[0039] FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an electronic gaming
machine linked to a casino host system according to some
embodiments;
[0040] FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of an exemplary online
implementation of a computer system and online gaming system
according to some embodiments;
[0041] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a calibration
process for the electronic gaming machine according to some
embodiments;
[0042] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the mapping of a
player's eye gaze to the viewing area according to some
embodiments;
[0043] FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram of a method implemented by an
electronic gaming machine according to some embodiments;
[0044] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic
gaming machine displaying an advertisement based on collected
proximity data according to some embodiments;
[0045] FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams illustrating a
gaze-sensitive user interface according to some embodiments;
[0046] FIG. 8 is a schematic illustrating an electronic gaming
machine with a stereoscopic 3D screen where the player can interact
with objects displayed on the stereoscopic 3D screen with the
player's eye gaze according to some embodiments;
[0047] FIGS. 9 to 13 are schematic diagrams illustrating how a
player may reveal a hidden prize and select the prize using the
player's eye gaze, according to some embodiments;
[0048] FIGS. 14 to 16 are schematic diagrams illustrating how a
player may reveal a hidden prize, according to some embodiments;
and
[0049] FIGS. 17 and 18 are schematic diagrams that illustrate
navigating from one subset of the interactive game environment to a
second subset of the interactive game environment according to some
embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0050] Embodiments described herein relate to an enhanced
electronic gaming machine (EGM) where the player can play an
interactive game using their eye gaze, and where their eye gaze
acts as x-ray vision. The EGM may have a card reader to identify
the amount of money that a player conveys to the EGM. The EGM may
have at least one data storage device to store game data for an
interactive game. The graphics processor of the EGM may be
configured to generate an interactive game environment using the
game data of an interactive game. The display device of the EGM may
display a viewing area, which may be a portion of the interactive
game environment that has a visible game component masking or
blocking an invisible game component. The EGM may include at least
one data capture camera device to continuously monitor the eye gaze
of the player to collect player eye gaze data. The EGM may have a
game controller that can determine the location of the eye gaze of
the player relative to the viewing area by mapping the location of
the player eye gaze on the display device to the viewing area. The
game controller may trigger a control command to the display
controller of the EGM to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area based on the player eye gaze data. In response to the
control command, the display controller may control the display
device in real-time or near real-time using the graphics processor
to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area to provide
a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect displayed
on the display device representative of a visual update to the
visible game component to reveal the invisible game component.
Depending on the outcome of the interactive game, the card reader
may update the monetary amount.
[0051] The EGM may include one or more data capture camera devices
that may be configured with algorithms to process recorded image
data to detect in real-time the position of the player's eyes in
three-dimensional (3D) space and the focus of the player's gaze in
two dimensional-space (2D) or 3D space. The position of the
player's eyes may be the physical location of the player's eyes in
3D space. The focus of the player's gaze may be the focus of the
gaze on a display device of the EGM. A player may maintain the
position of the player's eyes while focusing on different areas of
a display device of the EGM. A player may maintain the focus of the
player's eye gaze on the same portion of a display device of the
EGM while changing the position of their eyes.
[0052] The EGM may monitor the player eye gaze on the viewing area
by mapping the player eye gaze on the display device to the viewing
area. The player's eye gaze may correspond to an invisible game
component in the viewing area. The EGM may dynamically update and
render the viewing area in 2D or 3D. The player may play an
interactive game using only the eye gaze of the player. In some
embodiments, the player may play an interactive game using their
eye gaze, eye gesture, movement, or any combination thereof.
[0053] The gaming enhancements described herein may be carried out
using a physical EGM. EGM may be embodied in a variety of forms,
machines and devices including, for example, portable devices, such
as tablets and smart phones, that can access a gaming site or a
portal (which may access a plurality of gaming sites) via the
Internet or other communication path (e.g., a LAN or WAN), and so
on. The EGM may be located in various venues, such as a casino,
airport, restaurant, or an arcade. One example type of EGM is
described with respect to FIG. 1.
[0054] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an EGM 10 configured to
continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data. A game controller may determine a location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to a viewing area of the interactive
game environment using the player eye gaze data and triggering a
control command to a display controller to dynamically update the
rendering of the viewing area based on the player eye gaze data to
reveal an invisible game component. EGM 10 has at least one data
storage device to store game data for an interactive game. The data
storage device may store game data for one or more primary
interactive games and one or more bonus interactive games. EGM 10
may have the display controller for detecting the control command
from the game controller. In response to the control command, the
display controller may dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device representative of
a visual update to one or more visible game components to reveal
the one or more invisible game components that may be in the
viewing area.
[0055] An example embodiment of EGM 10 includes a display device 12
that may be a thin film transistor (TFT) display, a liquid crystal
display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), auto stereoscopic 3D
display and LED display, an OLED display, or any other type of
display. An optional second display device 14 provides game data or
other information in addition to display device 12. Display device
12, 14, may have 2D display capabilities or 3D display
capabilities, or both. Gaming display device 14 may provide static
information, such as an advertisement for the game, the rules of
the game, pay tables, pay lines, or other information, or may even
display the main game or a bonus game along with display device 12.
Alternatively, the area for display device 14 may be a display
glass for conveying information about the game. Display device 12,
14 may also include a camera, sensor, and other hardware input
devices. Display device 12, 14 may display at least a portion of
the visible game components of an interactive game. Display device
12, 14 may display the viewing area, which may have one or more
visible game components masking or blocking one or more invisible
game components.
[0056] In some embodiments, the display device 12, 14 may be a
touch sensitive display device. The player may interact with the
display device 12, 14 using touch control such as, but not limited
to, touch, hold, swipe, and multi-touch controls. The player may
use these interactions to manipulate the interactive game
environment for easier viewing or preference, to manipulate game
elements such as visible game components, or to select at least a
portion of the visible game components depending on the design of
the game. For example, the player may select one or more visible
game components displayed by the display device 12, 14. As another
example, the player may not have to touch the display device 12, 14
to play the interactive game. The player may instead interact with
the interactive game using their eye gaze, eye gestures, and/or
body movements. As yet another example, the player may interact
with the interactive game using their touch, eye gaze, eye
gestures, body movements, or a combination thereof.
[0057] EGM 10 may include a player input device or a data capture
camera device to continuously detect and monitor player interaction
commands (e.g. eye gaze, eye gestures, player movement, touch,
gestures) to interact with the viewing area and the visible and
invisible game components displayed on the display device 12, 14.
EGM 10 has a game controller for determining a location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the player
eye gaze data collected by the at least one data capture camera
device, which may continuously monitor eye gaze of a player. The
location of the player's eye gaze may correspond to one or more
invisible game components in the viewing area. The game controller
may trigger a control command to the display controller to
dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area based on the
player eye gaze data and the location corresponding to the
invisible game component. In response to the control command, the
display controller may control the display device in real-time or
near real-time using the graphics processor to dynamically update
the rendering of the viewing area to provide a real-time or near
real-time graphical animation effect displayed on the display
device that may represent a visual update to the visible game
component to reveal the invisible game component in the viewing
area, the visual update based on the player eye gaze data.
[0058] In some embodiments, the control command may be based on the
eye gaze, eye gesture, or the movement of the player, or any
combination thereof. The eye gaze of the player may be the location
on the display device where the player is looking. The eye gesture
of the player may be the gesture made by the player using one or
more eyes, such as widening the eyes, narrowing the eyes, blinking,
and opening one eye and closing the other. The movement of the
player may be the movement of the player's body, which may include
head movement, hand movement, chest movement, leg movement, foot
movement, or any combination thereof. A winning outcome of the game
for provision of an award may be triggered based on the eye gaze,
eye gesture, or the movement of the player, and may be based on the
revealed invisible game component. For example, by looking at a
visible game component displayed by the display controller on the
display device 12, 14 for a pre-determined period of time, the
player may reveal an invisible game component and trigger a winning
outcome. The award may include credits, free games, mega pot, small
pot, progressive pot, and so on.
[0059] Display device 12, 14 may have a touch screen lamination
that includes a transparent grid of conductors. Touching the screen
may change the capacitance between the conductors, and thereby the
X-Y location of the touch may be determined. The X-Y location of
the touch may be mapped to positions of interest to detect
selection thereof, for example, the game components of the
interactive game. A processor of EGM 10 associates this X-Y
location with a function to be performed. Such touch screens may be
used for slot machines, for example, or other types of gaming
machines. There may be an upper and lower multi-touch screen in
accordance with some embodiments. One or both of display device 12,
14 may be configured to have auto stereoscopic 3D functionality to
provide 3D enhancements to the interactive game environment. The
touch location positions may be 3D, for example, and mapped to at
least one visible game component of the plurality of visible game
components.
[0060] A coin slot 22 may accept coins or tokens in one or more
denominations to generate credits within EGM 10 for playing games.
An input slot 24 for an optical reader and printer receives machine
readable printed tickets and outputs printed tickets for use in
cashless gaming. An output slot 26 may be provided for outputting
various physical indicia, such as physical tokens, receipts, bar
codes, etc.
[0061] A coin tray 32 may receive coins or tokens from a hopper
upon a win or upon the player cashing out. However, the EGM 10 may
be a gaming terminal that does not pay in cash but only issues a
printed ticket for cashing in elsewhere. Alternatively, a stored
value card may be loaded with credits based on a win, or may enable
the assignment of credits to an account associated with a computer
system, which may be a computer network connected computer.
[0062] A card reader slot 34 may read from various types of cards,
such as smart cards, magnetic strip cards, or other types of cards
conveying machine readable information. The card reader reads the
inserted card for player and credit information for cashless
gaming. Card reader slot 34 may read a magnetic code on a
conventional player tracking card, where the code uniquely
identifies the player to a host system at the venue. The code is
cross-referenced by the host system to any data related to the
player, and such data may affect the games offered to the player by
the gaming terminal. Card reader slot 34 may also include an
optical reader and printer for reading and printing coded barcodes
and other information on a paper ticket. A card may also include
credentials that enable the host system to access one or more
accounts associated with a user. The account may be debited based
on wagers by a user and credited based on a win.
[0063] The card reader slot 34 may be implemented in different ways
for various embodiments. The card reader slot 34 may be an
electronic reading device such as a player tracking card reader, a
ticket reader, a banknote detector, a coin detector, and any other
input device that can read an instrument supplied by the player for
conveying a monetary amount. In the case of a tracking card, the
card reader slot 34 detects the player's stored bank and applies
that to the gaming machine being played. The card reader slot 34 or
reading device may be an optical reader, a magnetic reader, or
other type of reader. The card reader slot 34 may have a slot
provided in the gaming machine for receiving the instrument. The
card reader slot 34 may also have a communication interface (or
control or connect to a communication interface) to digitally
transfer tokens or indicia of credits or money via various methods
such as RFID, tap, smart card, credit card, loyalty card, near
field communication (NFC) and so on.
[0064] An electronic device may couple (by way of a wired or
wireless connection) to the EGM 10 to transfer electronic data
signals for player credits and the like. For example, NFC may be
used to couple to EGM 10 which may be configured with NFC enabled
hardware. This is a non-limiting example of a communication
technique.
[0065] A keypad 36 may accept player input, such as a personal
identification number (PIN) or any other player information. A
display 38 above keypad 36 displays a menu for instructions and
other information and provides visual feedback of the keys pressed.
Keypad 36 may be an input device such as a touchscreen, or dynamic
digital button panel, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0066] Player control buttons 39 may include any buttons or other
controllers needed to play the particular game or games offered by
EGM 10 including, for example, a bet button, a repeat bet button, a
spin reels (or play) button, a maximum bet button, a cash-out
button, a display pay lines button, a display payout tables button,
select icon buttons, and any other suitable button. Buttons 39 may
be replaced by a touch screen with virtual buttons.
[0067] EGM 10 may also include a digital button panel. The digital
button panel may include various elements such as for example, a
touch display, animated buttons, frame lights, and so on. The
digital button panel may have different states, such as for
example, standard play containing bet steps, bonus with feature
layouts, point of sale, and so on. The digital button panel may
include a slider bar for adjusting the three-dimensional panel. The
digital button panel may include buttons for adjusting sounds and
effects. The digital button panel may include buttons for betting
and selecting bonus games. The digital button panel may include a
game status display. The digital button panel may include
animation. The buttons of the digital button panel may include a
number of different states, such as pressable but not activated,
pressed and active, inactive (not pressable), certain response or
information animation, and so on. The digital button panel may
receive player interaction commands, in some example
embodiments.
[0068] EGM 10 may also include hardware configured to provide eye,
motion or gesture tracking. For example, the EGM 10 may include at
least one data capture camera device, which may be one or more
cameras that detect one or more spectra of light, one or more
sensors (e.g. optical sensor), or a combination thereof. The at
least one data capture camera device may be used for eye, gesture
or motion tracking of player, such as detecting eye movement, eye
gestures, player positions and movements, and generating signals
defining x, y and z coordinates. For example, the at least one data
capture camera device may be used to implement tracking recognition
techniques to collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and player movement data. An example type of motion tracking
is optical motion tracking. The motion tracking may include a body
and head controller. The motion tracking may also include an eye
controller. EGM 10 may implement eye-tracking recognition
technology using cameras, sensors (e.g. optical sensor), data
receivers and other electronic hardware to capture various forms of
player input. The eye gaze, eye gesture, or motion by a player may
interact with the interactive game environment or may impact the
type of graphical animation effect. Accordingly, EGM 10 may be
configured to capture player eye gaze input, eye gesture input, and
movement input as player interaction commands.
[0069] For example, the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and player movement data defining eye movement, eye gestures,
player positions and movements may be used to reveal, select,
manipulate, and/or move visible and/or invisible game components.
As another example, the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and player movement data defining eye movement, eye gestures,
player positions and movements may be used to change a view of the
gaming surface or gaming component. A visible game component of the
game may be illustrated as a three-dimensional enhancement coming
towards the player. Another visible game component of the game may
be illustrated as a three-dimensional enhancement moving away from
the player. The player's head position may be used as a view guide
for the at least one data capture camera device during a
three-dimensional enhancement. A player sitting directly in front
of display 12, 14 may see a different view than a player moving
aside. The at least one data capture camera device may also be used
to detect occupancy of the machine or detect movement proximate to
the machine.
[0070] Embodiments described herein are implemented by physical
computer hardware embodiments. The embodiments described herein
provide useful physical machines and particularly configured
computer hardware arrangements of computing devices, servers,
electronic gaming terminals, processors, memory, networks, for
example. The embodiments described herein, for example, is directed
to computer apparatuses, and methods implemented by computers
through the processing of electronic data signals.
[0071] Accordingly, EGM 10 is particularly configured to provide an
interactive game environment. The display device 12, 14 may
display, via a user interface, the interactive game environment and
the viewing area having one or more visible game components and one
or more invisible game components in accordance with a set of game
data stored in a data store. The interactive game environment may
be a 2D interactive game environment or a 3D interactive game
environment, or a combination thereof.
[0072] A data capture camera device may capture player data, such
as button input, gesture input and so on. The data capture camera
device may include a camera, a sensor or other data capture
electronic hardware. In some embodiments, EGM 10 may include at
least one data capture camera device to continuously monitor the
eye gaze of a player to collect player eye gaze data. The player
may provide input to the EGM 10 using the eye gaze of the player.
For example, using the eye gaze of the player, which may be
collected as player eye gaze data, the player may select an
interactive game to play, interact with a visible or invisible game
component, or trigger a bonus interactive game.
[0073] Embodiments described herein involve computing devices,
servers, electronic gaming terminals, receivers, transmitters,
processors, memory, display, and networks particularly configured
to implement various acts. The embodiments described herein are
directed to electronic machines adapted for processing and
transforming electromagnetic signals which represent various types
of information. The embodiments described herein pervasively and
integrally relate to machines, and their uses; and the embodiments
described herein have no meaning or practical applicability outside
their use with computer hardware, machines, a various hardware
components.
[0074] As described herein, EGM 10 may be configured to provide an
interactive game environment. The interactive game environment may
be a 2D or 3D interactive game environment. The interactive game
environment may include a plurality of visible and/or invisible
game components or game symbols based on the game data. The
invisible game components may be masked or blocked by the visible
game components. The game data may relate to a primary interactive
game or a bonus interactive game, or both. For example, the
interactive game environment may comprise a 3D reel space that may
have an active primary game matrix of a primary subset of game
components. The bonus subset of game components may be different
from the primary subset of game components. The player may view a
viewing area of the interactive game environment, which may be a
subset of the interactive game environment, on the display device
12, 14. The interactive game environment or the viewing area may be
dynamically updated based on the eye gaze, eye gesture, or movement
of the player in real-time or near real-time. The update to the
interactive game environment or the viewing area may be a graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device 12, 14. In some
embodiments, the graphical animation effect may represent a visual
update to the visible game component to reveal an invisible game
component. The update to the interactive game environment or the
viewing area may be triggered based on the eye gaze, eye gesture,
or movement of the player. For example, the update may be triggered
by looking at a particular part of the viewing area for a
pre-determined period of time, or looking at different parts of the
viewing area in a pre-determined sequence, or widening or narrowing
the eyes. The interactive game environment may be updated
dynamically and revealed by dynamic triggers from game content of
the primary interactive game in response to electronic data signals
collected and processed by EGM 10.
[0075] For an interactive game environment, the EGM 10 may include
a display device 12, 14 with auto stereoscopic 3D functionality.
The EGM 10 may include a touch screen display for receiving touch
input data to define player interaction commands. The EGM 10 may
also include at least one data capture camera device, for example,
to further receive player input to define player interaction
commands. The EGM 10 may also include several effects and frame
lights. The 3D enhancements may be an interactive game environment
for additional game symbols.
[0076] EGM 10 may include an output device such as one or more
speakers. The speakers may be located in various locations on the
EGM 10 such as in a lower portion or upper portion. The EGM 10 may
have a chair or seat portion and the speakers may be included in
the seat portion to create a surround sound effect for the player.
The seat portion may allow for easy upper body and head movement
during play. Functions may be controllable via an on screen game
menu. The EGM 10 is configurable to provide full control over all
built-in functionality (lights, frame lights, sounds, and so
on).
[0077] EGM 10 may also include a plurality of effects lights and
frame lights. The lights may be synchronized with enhancements of
the game. The EGM 10 may be configured to control color and
brightness of lights. Additional custom animations (color cycle,
blinking, etc.) may also be configured by EGM 10. The custom
animations may be triggered by certain gaming events.
[0078] FIG. 2A is a block diagram of hardware components of EGM 10
according to some embodiments. EGM 10 is shown linked to the
casino's host system 41 via network infrastructure. These hardware
components are particularly configured to provide at least one
interactive game. These hardware components may be configured to
provide at least one primary interactive game, at least one bonus
interactive game, or both.
[0079] A communications board 42 may contain circuitry for coupling
the EGM 10 to network. Communications board 42 may include a
network interface allowing EGM 10 to communicate with other
components, to access and connect to network resources, to serve an
application, to access other applications, and to perform other
computing applications by connecting to a network (or multiple
networks) capable of carrying data including the Internet,
Ethernet, plain old telephone service (POTS) line, public switch
telephone network (PSTN), integrated services digital network
(ISDN), digital subscriber line (DSL), coaxial cable, fiber optics,
satellite, mobile, wireless (e.g. WMAX), SS7 signaling network,
fixed line, local area network, wide area network, and others,
including any combination of these. EGM 10 may communicate over a
network using a suitable protocol, such as the G2S protocols.
[0080] Communications board 42 communicates, transmits and receives
data using a wireless transmitter, or it may be wired to a network,
such as a local area network running throughout the casino floor,
for example. Communications board 42 may set up a communication
link with a master controller and may buffer data between the
network and game controller board 44. Communications board 42 may
also communicate with a network server, such as in accordance with
the G2S standard, for exchanging information to carry out
embodiments described herein.
[0081] Game controller board 44 includes memory and a processor for
carrying out program instructions stored in the memory and for
providing the information requested by the network. Game controller
board 44 executes game routines using game data stores in a data
store accessible to the game controller board 44, and cooperates
with graphics processor 54 and display controller 52 to provide
games with enhanced interactive game components.
[0082] EGM 10 may include at least one data capture camera device
for implementing the gaming enhancements, in accordance with some
embodiments. The EGM 10 may include the at least one data capture
camera device, one or more sensors (e.g. optical sensor), or other
hardware device configured to capture and collect in real-time or
near real-time data relating to the eye gaze, eye gesture, or
movement of the player, or any combination thereof.
[0083] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device may be used for eye gaze tracking, eye gesture tracking,
movement tracking, and movement recognition. The at least one data
capture camera device may collect data defining x, y and z
coordinates representing eye gaze, eye gestures, and movement of
the player.
[0084] In some examples, a game component may be illustrated as a
3D enhancement coming towards the player. Another game component
may be illustrated as a 3D enhancement moving away from the player.
The player's head position may be used as a reference for the at
least one data capture camera device during a 3D enhancement. A
player sitting directly in front of display 12, 14 may see a
different view than a player moving aside. The at least one data
capture camera device may also be used to detect occupancy of the
EGM 10 or detect movement proximate to the EGM 10. The at least one
data capture camera device and/or a sensor (e.g. an optical sensor)
may also be configured to detect and track the position(s) of a
player's eyes or more precisely, pupils, relative to the screen of
the EGM 10.
[0085] The at least one data capture camera device may also be used
to collect data defining player eye movement, eye gestures, body
gestures, head movement, or other body movement. Players may move
their eyes, their bodies or portions of their bodies to interact
with the interactive game. The at least one data capture camera
device may collect data defining player eye movement, eye gestures,
body gestures, head movement, or other body movement. The game
controller 44 may process and transform the data into data defining
game interactions (e.g. selecting game components, focusing game
components, magnifying game components, movement for game
components), and update the rendering of the viewing area to
provide a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect
representative of the game interactions using the player eye gaze
data, player eye gesture data, player movement data, or any
combination thereof. For example, the player's eyes may be tracked
by the at least one data capture camera device (or another hardware
component of EGM 10), so when the player's eyes move left, right,
up or down, one or more game components on display device 12, 14,
may move in response to the player's eye movements. The player may
have to avoid obstacles, or possibly catch or contact items to
collect depending on the type of game. The player may focus on a
particular location on the display device 12, 14 to cause a
graphical animation effect to be displayed on display device 12, 14
representative of a visual update to a visible game component to
reveal an invisible game component. These graphical animation
effects within the game may be implemented based on the data
derived from collected player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, player movement data, or any combination thereof.
[0086] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device may track a position of each eye of a player relative to
display device 12, 14, as well as a direction of focus of the eyes
and a point of focus on the display device 12, 14, in real-time or
near real-time. The focus direction may be the direction at which
the player's line of sight travels or extends from his or her eyes
to display device 12, 14. The focus point may be referred to as a
gaze point and the focus direction may sometimes be referred to as
a gaze direction. In one example, the focus direction and focus
point can be determined based on various eye tracking data such as
position(s) of a player's eyes, a position of his or her head,
position(s) and size(s) of the pupils, corneal reflection data,
and/or size(s) of the irises. All of the above mentioned eye
tracking or movement data, as well as the focus direction and focus
point, may be examples of, and referred to as, player's eye
movements or player movement data.
[0087] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device may monitor the eye gaze, eye gesture, and/or movement of
two or more people, who may be two or more players of the
interactive game, to collect the player eye gaze data, player eye
gesture data, and/or player movement data. The player eye gaze
data, player eye gesture data, and/or player movement data may be
used such that both players may be able to play the interactive
game simultaneously. The player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and/or player movement data from one or more players of the
interactive game may cause game controller 44 to trigger the
control command to display controller 52 to display on display
device 12, 14 a graphical animation effect to reveal one or more
invisible game components. The interactive game may include aspects
of both cooperative and competitive play.
[0088] A visible or invisible game component may be selected to
move or manipulate with the player's eye movements. The gaming
component may be selected by the player or by the game. For
example, the game outcome or state may determine which symbol to
select for enhancement.
[0089] As previously described, the at least one data capture
camera device may track a position of a player's eyes relative to
display device 12, 14, as well as a focus direction and a focus
point on the display device 12, 14 of the player's eyes in
real-time or near real-time. The focus direction can be the
direction at which the player's line of sight travels or extends
from his or her eyes to the display device 12, 14. The focus point
may sometimes be referred to as a gaze point and the focus
direction may sometimes be referred to as a gaze direction. In one
example, the focus direction and focus point can be determined
based on various eye tracking data such as position(s) of a
player's eyes, a position of his or her head, position(s) and
size(s) of the pupils, corneal reflection data, and/or size(s) of
the irises. All of the above mentioned eye tracking or movement
data, as well as the focus direction and focus point, may be
instances of player movement data.
[0090] In addition, a focus point may extend to or encompass
different visual fields visible to the player. For example, a
foveal area may be a small area surrounding a fixation point on the
display device 12, 14 directly connected by a (virtual) line of
sight extending from the eyes of a player to the display screen.
This foveal area in the player's vision may generally appear to be
in sharp focus and may include one or more game components and the
surrounding area. A focus point may include the foveal area
immediately adjacent to the fixation point directly connected by
the (virtual) line of sight extending from the player's eyes to the
display screen.
[0091] The player eye gaze data and player eye gesture data may
relate to the movement of the player's eyes. For example, the
player's eyes may move or look to the left, which may trigger a
corresponding movement of a game component within the game. The
movement of the player's eyes may also trigger an updated view of
the entire interactive game environment on the display device 12,
14 to reflect the orientation of the player in relation to the
display device 12, 14. The player movement data may be associated
with movement of the body of the player, such as the player's head,
arms, legs, or other part of the player's body. As a further
example, the player movement data may be associated with a gesture
made by the player, such as a gesture by a hand or a finger. The
EGM 10 may convert the focus data relative to display device 12, 14
to eye gaze data relative to the viewing area of the interactive
game which may dynamically update.
[0092] In one embodiment of the invention, the EGM 10 may be
configured to reveal, target, select, deselect, move, and/or rotate
one or more visible and/or invisible game components based on
player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and player movement
data. For example, the EGM 10 may determine that a player has gazed
at (e.g. the focus point has remained more or less constant) a
previously unselected game component for three or more seconds,
then the EGM 10 may select or highlight the game component, so the
player may know that he or she may proceed to move or rotate the
selected or highlighted game component. In another example, the EGM
10 may determine that after a player has selected a game component,
the same player has moved his or her eyes to the right on a
horizontal level for a predetermined length or period of time, then
the EGM 10 may cause the selected game component to move to the
right as well on a horizontal level. Similarly, the EGM 10 may
determine that the player has moved his or her eyes down on a
vertical level for a predetermined length or period of time, and
then the EGM 10 may cause the selected game component to move to
the bottom vertically.
[0093] Display controller 52 may control one or more of display
device 12, 14 using graphics processor 54 to display a viewing area
that may include one or more visible game components masking or
blocking one or more invisible game components based on the game
data of an interactive game.
[0094] Display controller 52 may, in response to detection of the
control command from the game controller 44 based on the player eye
gaze data, player eye gesture data, or player movement data,
control display device 12, 14 using graphics processor 54. Display
controller 52 may update the viewing area to trigger a graphical
animation effect displayed on one or both of display device 12, 14
representative of a visual update to the visible game components to
reveal the invisible game component in the viewing area, the visual
update based on the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data,
or player movement data.
[0095] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device and the display device 12, 14 may be calibrated. Calibration
of the at least one data capture camera device and the display
device may be desirable because the eyes of each player using the
EGM 10 may be physically different, such as the shape and location
of the player's eyes, and the capability for each player to see.
Each player may also stand at a different position relative to the
EGM 10.
[0096] The at least one data capture camera device may be
calibrated by the game controller 44 by detecting the movement of
the player's eyes. In some embodiments, the display controller 52
may control the display device 12, 14 to display one or more
calibration symbols. There may be one calibration symbol that
appears on the display device 12, 14 at one time, or more than one
calibration symbol may appear on the display device 12, 14 at one
time. The player may be prompted by text, noise, graphical
animation effect, or any combination thereof, to direct their eye
gaze to one or more of the calibration symbols. The at least one
data capture camera device may monitor the eye gaze of the player
looking at the one or more calibration symbols and a distance of
the player's eyes relative to the EGM 10 to collect calibration
data. Based on the eye gaze corresponding to the player looking at
different calibration symbols, the at least one data capture camera
device may record data associated with how the player's eyes rotate
to look from one position on the display device 12, 14 to a second
position on the display device 12, 14. The game controller 44 may
calibrate the at least one data capture camera device based on the
calibration data.
[0097] For example, as shown in FIG. 3, before the player 310 plays
the interactive game, the EGM 10 may notify the player 310 that the
at least one data capture camera device (not shown) and the display
device 12, 14 may be calibrated. The display controller 52 may
cause the display device 12, 14 to display one or more calibration
symbols 330. In FIG. 3, nine calibration symbols 330 "A" through
"I" are displayed, but the calibration symbols 330 may be any other
symbols. For example, the calibration symbols 330 may be one or
more game components related to the interactive game to be played.
The calibration symbols 330 may be displayed on any portion of the
display device 12, 14. The player 310 may be prompted to look at
the calibration symbols in a certain order. The at least one data
capture camera device may monitor the eye gaze 320 of the player
310 looking at the calibration symbols 330 and the distance of the
player's eyes relative to the EGM 10 to collect the calibration
data. When the at least one data capture camera device collects
player eye gaze data in real-time, the game controller 44 may
compare the player eye gaze data with the calibration data in
real-time to determine the angle at which that the player's eyes
are looking.
[0098] The display controller 52 may calibrate the display device
12, 14 using the graphics processor 54 based on the calibration
data collected by the at least one data capture camera device. The
at least one data capture camera device may monitor the eye gaze of
the player to collect calibration data as described herein. The
display controller 52 may calibrate the display device 12, 14 using
the graphics processor 54 to display a certain resolution on the
display device 12, 14.
[0099] In some embodiments, the game controller 44 may determine
the location of the eye gaze relative to the viewing area based on
the position of the player's eyes relative to the EGM 10 and an
angle of the player's eyes. As shown in FIG. 4, the at least one
data capture camera device 420 may monitor the position of the
player's eyes 430 relative to EGM 10, and may also monitor the
angle of the player's eyes 430 to collect display mapping data. The
angle of the player's eyes may be determined based on the
calibration of the at least one data capture camera device 420
described herein. The angle of the player's eyes may define the
focus of the eye gaze, which may be a line of sight relative to the
display device 12, 14. Based on the display mapping data, which may
comprise the position of the player's eyes relative to the EGM 10
and an angle of the player's eyes or the line of sight relative,
the game controller 44 may be configured to determine the direction
and length of a virtual array 440 projecting from the player's eyes
430. Virtual array 440 may represent the eye gaze of the player
410. The game controller 44 may determine where the virtual array
440 intersects with the display device 12, 14. The intersection of
virtual array 440 and display device 12, 14 may represent where the
eye gaze of the player 410 is focused on the display device 12, 14.
The display device 12, 14 may be controlled by display controller
52 to display the viewing area. The game controller 44 may identify
coordinates on the display device 12, 14 corresponding to the
player eye gaze data and may map the coordinates to the viewing
area to determine the eye gaze of the player relative to the
viewing area. EGM 10 may determine the location of the viewing area
that the player 410 is looking at, which may be useful for EGM 10
to determine how the player 410 is interacting with the interactive
game. The location of the viewing area that the player 410 is
looking at may correspond to one or more invisible game components.
In some embodiments, the eye gaze of the player may be expressed in
2D or 3D and may be mapped to a 2D or 3D viewing area, depending on
whether the interactive game is a 2D interactive game or a 3D
interactive game.
[0100] Peripheral devices/boards communicate with the game
controller board 44 via a bus 46 using, for example, an RS-232
interface. Such peripherals may include a bill validator 47, a coin
detector 48, a smart card reader or other type of credit card
reader 49, and player control inputs 50 (such as buttons or a touch
screen).
[0101] Player input or control device 50 may include the keypad,
the buttons, touchscreen display, gesture tracking hardware, and
data capture camera device as described herein. Other peripherals
may be one or more cameras used for collecting player input data,
or other player movement or gesture data that may be used to
trigger player interaction commands. Display device 12, 14 may be a
touch sensitive display device. Player control input device 50 may
be integrated with display device 12, 14 to detect player
interaction input at the display device 12, 14.
[0102] Game controller board 44 may also control one or more
devices that produce the game output including audio and video
output associated with a particular game that is presented to the
user. For example, audio board 51 may convert coded signals into
analog signals for driving speakers.
[0103] Game controller board 44 may be coupled to an electronic
data store storing game data for one or more interactive games. The
game data may be for a primary interactive game and/or a bonus
interactive game. The game data may, for example, include a set of
game instructions for each of the one or more interactive games.
The electronic data store may reside in a data storage device,
e.g., a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or the like. Such a
data storage device may be included in EGM 10, or may reside at
host system 41. In some embodiments, the electronic data store
storing game data may reside in the cloud.
[0104] Card reader 49 reads cards for player and credit information
for cashless gaming. Card reader 49 may read a magnetic code on a
conventional player tracking card, where the code uniquely
identifies the player to a host system at the venue. The code is
cross-referenced by host system 41 to any data related to the
player, and such data may affect the games offered to the player by
the gaming terminal. Card reader 49 may also include an optical
reader and printer for reading and printing coded barcodes and
other information on a paper ticket. A card may also include
credentials that enable host system 41 to access one or more
accounts associated with a user. The account may be debited based
on wagers by a user and credited based on a win.
[0105] Graphics processor 54 may be configured to generate and
render animation game enhancements based on game data as directed
by game controller board 44. The game enhancements may involve an
interactive game environment that may provide one or more visible
and invisible game components and graphical animation effects.
Graphics processor 54 may be a specialized electronic circuit
designed for image processing (including 2D and 3D image processing
in some examples) in order to manipulate and transform data stored
in memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer
for output to the display by way of display controller 52. Graphics
processor 54 may redraw various game enhancements as they
dynamically update. Graphics processor 54 may cooperate with game
controller board 44 and display controller 52 to generate and
render enhancements as described herein. Graphics processor 54 may
generate an interactive game environment that may provide one or
more visible and invisible game components, for example, a 3D reel
space of a plurality of game components. The graphics processor 54
may generate graphical animation effects to represent a visual
update to the visible game components to reveal the invisible game
components in the viewing area, the visual update based on the
player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, player movement
data, or any combination thereof.
[0106] Display controller 52 may require a high data transfer rate
and may convert coded signals to pixel signals for the display.
Display controller 52 and audio board 51 may be directly connected
to parallel ports on the game controller board 44. The electronics
on the various boards may be combined onto a single board. Display
controller 52 may control output to one or more display device 12,
14 (e.g. an electronic touch sensitive display device). Display
controller 52 may cooperate with graphics processor 54 to render
animation enhancements on display device 12, 14.
[0107] Display controller 52 may be configured to interact with
graphics processor 54 to control the display device 12, 14 to
display a viewing area defining the interactive game environment
including navigation to different views of the interactive game
environment. Player control inputs 50 and the at least one data
capture camera device may continuously detect player interaction
commands to interact with interactive game environment. For
example, the player may move a visible game component to a
preferred position, select a visible game component, reveal an
invisible game component, or manipulate the display of the visible
and invisible game components.
[0108] In some embodiments, display controller 52 may control the
display device 12, 14 using the graphics processor 54 to display
the viewing area that may have one or more visible and/or invisible
game components. In response to the detection of the control
command based on the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data,
player movement data, or any combination thereof, display
controller 52 may trigger a graphical animation effect to represent
a visual update to the visible game components in the viewing area
to reveal the invisible game components.
[0109] While playing an interactive game on the EGM 10, the eyes of
a player may move suddenly without the player being conscious of
the movement. The eyes of the player may demonstrate subconscious,
quick, and short movements, even if the player is not actively
controlling their eyes to move in this manner. These subconscious,
quick, and short eye movements may affect the game controller's
determination of the eye gaze of the player based on the player eye
gaze data. Accurate processing of the player eye gaze data related
to these subconscious, quick, and short eye movements may result in
detecting the location of the eye gaze of the player representative
of eye twitching or erratic eye movements not reflective of the
player's intended eye gaze, and may be distracting to the player.
It may be useful for the player eye gaze data to be filtered to not
reflect these quick and short eye movements, for example, so the
determination of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing
area by the game controller reflects the intended eye gaze of the
player. It may also be useful for the portion of the player eye
gaze data representative of the subconscious, quick, and short eye
movements to have less determinative effect on the determined
location of the eye gaze of the player. In some embodiments, the
game controller 44 may define a filter movement threshold, wherein
the game controller, prior to determining a location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the player
eye gaze data collected by the at least one data capture camera
device and updating the rendering of the viewing area, determines
that the player eye gaze meets the filter movement threshold. The
at least one data capture camera device may collect player eye gaze
data.
[0110] The game controller 44 may process the player eye gaze data
to correspond with a location on the viewing area. The game
controller 44 may determine where the player is looking at on the
viewing area based on a certain number of previously recorded
player eye gaze data, for example, by tracking the last ten eye
gaze positions to average out where on the viewing area the player
is looking. The game controller 44 may limit the amount of
previously recorded player eye gaze data that is used to determine
where on the viewing area the player is looking. The game
controller 44 may filter out, or "smooth out", player eye gaze data
outside of the pre-determined filter movement threshold, which may
represent sudden and subconscious eye movement. The game controller
44 may map the eye gaze of the player to the viewing area using at
least a portion of the filtered player eye gaze data to determine
the location of the viewing area at which the player is looking, in
order to map the player's eye gaze to the viewing area.
[0111] As another example, the game controller 44 may delay in
processing the player eye gaze data associated with subconscious,
quick, and short eye movements, so the detected location of the eye
gaze of the player does not represent twitching or sudden
unconscious eye movements which may trigger animation effects
causing an unpleasant user experience. Large eye motions may also
be associated with more delay in processing and more smoothing. In
some embodiments, the game controller may partition the player eye
gaze data associated with large eye motions into data
representative of shorter eye motions. The game controller 44 may
analyze the player eye gaze data to determine which data is
associated with subconscious eye movement or with conscious eye
movement based on a filter movement threshold, a time threshold,
movement threshold, or any combination thereof. Player eye gaze
data associated with quick eye movements over a certain period of
time may be determined by the game controller 44 to be subconscious
eye movement. The game controller 44 may delay in processing this
portion of data so the detected location of the eye gaze of the
player may be stable and may not distract the player, or the game
controller may filter out this data and not process it. Player eye
gaze data associated with large eye movements over a certain period
of time may be determined by the game controller to be the player
losing focus or being distracted. The game controller 44 may
similarly delay in processing this portion of data or not process
this portion of data. In some embodiments, game controller 44 may
filter out, or "smooth out" player eye gaze data, player eye
gesture data, player movement data, or a combination thereof, that
may exceed the filter movement threshold, in the manner described
herein.
[0112] The locations where EGM 10 may be used may have a variety of
lighting conditions. For example, EGM 10 may be used in a
restaurant, a hotel lobby, an airport, and a casino. It may be
brighter in some locations and darker in other locations, or the
light quality may fluctuate from brightness to darkness. In some
embodiments, EGM 10 may include an infrared light source that
illuminates the player. The infrared light sources may not
interfere with the eyes of the player. In some embodiments, the at
least one data capture camera device may be an infrared data
capture camera device. The infrared data capture camera device may
collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and player
movement data without being affected by the lighting conditions of
the locations where EGM 10 may be used. In some embodiments, EGM 10
may have a plurality of light sources providing a plurality of
spectra of light, and the at least one data capture camera device
may be a plurality of data capture camera devices configured to
detect a plurality of spectra of light, so the at least one data
capture camera device may collect player eye gaze data, player eye
gesture data, and player movement data without being affected by
the lighting conditions of the locations where EGM 10 may be
used.
[0113] A player that plays an interactive game using EGM 10 may be
wearing glasses. The glasses of the player may cause refractions of
the light that illuminates the player. This may affect the at least
one data capture camera device while it monitors the eye gaze, eye
gesture, and/or movement of the player. Glasses that comprise an
infrared filter may also interfere with or affect the at least one
data capture camera device while it monitors the eye gaze, eye
gesture, and/or movement of the player. EGM 10 may recognize that
the player may be wearing glasses. For example, as the interactive
game commences, display controller 52 may display on display device
12, 14 using graphics processor 54 a question asking the player if
he or she is wearing glasses. The player may provide input
indicating whether he or she is wearing glasses, such as, but not
limited to, with an audio command, touch command, or with the
player's eye gaze. As other example, the game controller 44 may
recognize, based on processing the player eye gaze data from the at
least one data capture camera device, that the light illuminating
the player may be refracted, and may determine that the player is
wearing glasses. When EGM 10 recognizes that the player may be
wearing glasses, the game controller 44 may perform additional
and/or more stringent filtering functions as described herein to
compromise for the player's use of glasses and to accommodate the
refractions of the light that illuminates the player. For example,
the filter movement threshold may be set to be higher for players
who wear glasses.
[0114] In some embodiments, the game controller 44 may be
configured to predict the location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the viewing area at a future time using the player eye
gaze data to facilitate dynamic update to the rendering of the
viewing area. For example, if the game controller 44 determines
that a player is changing their gaze on a horizontal plane from the
left to the right, the game controller 44 may predict that the
player may look at a game component displayed on the right side of
display device 12, 14. The ability for game controller 44 to
predict the location of the eye gaze of the player at a future time
may be useful to rule out inaccurate readings. For example, while a
player plays a game, the at least one data capture camera device
may incorrectly detect a button on the clothing of a player to be
the player's eyes, and may collect incorrect player eye gaze data
based on the button. Based on the location of the eye gaze
predicted by game controller 44, the incorrect player eye gaze data
may be ruled out by game controller 44, and may not be processed by
game controller 44 to trigger a control command to update the
viewing area with a graphical animation effect. As another example,
by predicting the location of the eye gaze, the display controller
52 may adjust the resolution of the display device 12, 14 where the
player is not expected to be looking. This may be useful because
the EGM 10 may have limited processing power. Not all visible game
components may require high resolution. Only the game components
that the player is looking at may require high resolution. The
ability for game controller 44 to predict the location of the eye
gaze of the player may allow display controller 52 to reduce the
resolution of visible game components that the player may not be
looking at, which may increase the efficiency of the processing
power of the EGM 10.
[0115] In some embodiments, EGM 10 may apply one or more predictive
techniques to develop a plurality of predicted points of eye gaze,
which, for example, may approximate and/or estimate where a
player's gaze will travel next. These predictions may also be
provided for use by graphics processor 54 and/or game controller
board 44 in relation with smoothing out and/or accounting for
removal of transient readings, undesirable artefacts and/or
inadvertent gaze positions. In some embodiments, the predictions
may also be used to improve the performance of EGM 10 in relation
to gaze capture and/or processing thereof, by, for example,
applying heuristic techniques to reduce the number of computations
and/or capture frequency by relying on predictions to interpolate
and/or extrapolate between gaze positions captured.
[0116] For example, when a player looks at a location of a viewing
area in an interactive game, the EGM 10 may record where they were
looking and what events are being displayed to the player (e.g., as
first movements and/or gaze positions). When an event is triggered
a second time, the player's gaze movements are recorded into a data
storage system, but then compared to the first movements. A
comparison may include, for example, comparing positions,
velocities, start and end positions, accelerations, etc. as between
various gaze movements.
[0117] For example, for each duration, a path and end location may
be calculated, and a predicted pathway may be developed based on
these locations and stored in a data storage.
[0118] As the event is triggered more times (e.g., more iterations
occur), the data may be accumulated and a predictive pathing model
can be built. Once the predictive pathing model is developed, when
the event is triggered, the EGM 10 could reduce the frequency of
the gaze system updates and use the recorded pathing and final
location to be used to reduce the overall computing resources
required, for example (e.g., performing various steps of
interpolation, extrapolation using the predictive pathing
model).
[0119] Accordingly, predictive pathing can also be used to reduce
errors being produced by the gaze system. Gaze systems may utilize
cameras and edge detection to determine where the player is
looking, and many utilize use infra-red light to see the player's
eye. If there are other infra-red light sources, for example, such
sources may cause the gaze camera to be impacted and may reduce
accuracy of the gaze detection. Accordingly, predictive pathing may
be useful to reduce error in similar situations where there may
otherwise be recorded errors and/or aberrations.
[0120] Further, predictions may not be limited only to a current
player. For example, aggregate information from a large population
of players may be aggregated together to refine the model for
predictive pathing. The model may, for example, take into
consideration the type of player, the type of interaction the
player is having with the EGM 10, the characteristics of the player
(e.g., height, gender, angle of incidence), among others.
[0121] In some embodiments, the predictive pathing model may also
be utilized in the context of a game. For example, if the game
includes aspects which may be selectively triggered based on
various inputs, an input for triggering may include predicted
pathways. In some embodiments, objects and/or layers may be
modified and/or altered.
[0122] In some embodiments, the player may play an interactive game
with EGM 10 in communication with a mobile device. Depending on the
game data of the interactive game, the player may play the
interactive game on EGM 10, on the mobile device, or on both. The
player may play the interactive game using their eye gaze, eye
gestures, movement, the interface of the mobile device, or any
combination thereof. The player may play the interactive game using
only the eye gaze of the player while the player holds on to the
mobile device with one or more hands. The mobile device may, for
example, be a computer, personal digital assistant, laptop, tablet,
smart phone, media player, electronic reading device, data
communication device, or a wearable device, such as Google.TM.
Glass, virtual reality device, or any combination thereof. The
mobile device may be a custom mobile device that may be in
communication with EGM 10. The mobile device may be operable by a
user and may be any portable, networked (wired or wireless)
computing device including a processor and memory and suitable for
facilitating communication between one or more computing
applications of mobile device (e.g. a computing application
installed on or running on the mobile device). A mobile device may
be a two-way communication device with advanced data communication
capabilities having the capability to communicate with other
computer systems and devices. The mobile device may include the
capability for data communications and may also include the
capability for voice communications, in some example embodiments.
The mobile device may have at least one data capture camera device
to continuously monitor the eye gaze, eye gesture, or movement of
the player and collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, or player movement data.
[0123] EGM 10 may include a wireless transceiver that may
communicate with the mobile device, for example using standard WFi
or Bluetooth, or other protocol based on the wireless communication
capabilities of the mobile device. The player may be able to play
the interactive game while the mobile device is in communication
with EGM 10. When connected to the EGM 10, the viewing area may be
displayed on display device 12, 14 or on the screen of the mobile
device, or both. The viewing area may have one or more visible game
components and/or invisible game components. The at least one data
capture camera device on the mobile device and/or the EGM 10 may
collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, or player
movement data, which may be processed by a game controller 44 of
EGM 10 to determine a location of the eye gaze of the player
relative to the viewing area displayed on the mobile device. The
game controller 44 may trigger a control command to the display
controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing
area based on the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, or
player movement data, and location of the invisible game component.
In response to the control command from the game controller 44, the
display controller 52 may control the display device 12, 14, the
mobile device, or both, in real-time or near real-time using the
graphics processor 54 to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device 12, 14, the mobile
device, or both, representative of a visual update to the visible
game components to reveal the invisible game component in the
viewing area.
[0124] In some embodiments, the mobile device in communication with
EGM 10 may be configured to be a display device that compliments
display device 12, 14 when playing the interactive game. The player
may interact with the interactive game through the interface of the
mobile device, through the EGM 10, or any combination thereof. The
interactive game environment, viewing area, and game components of
the interactive game may be displayed on the mobile device, display
device 12, 14, or any combination thereof.
[0125] In some embodiments, a terminal may be connected to one or
more EGM 10 over a network. The terminal may serve as a
registration terminal for setting up the communication between the
mobile device and any EGM 10 connected to the network. Therefore,
the player does not have to physically go to EGM 10 to set up the
link and play the interactive game associated with EGM 10.
[0126] Host system 41 may store account data for players. EGM 10
may communicate with host system 41 to update such account data,
for example, based on wins and losses. In an embodiment, host
system 41 stores the aforementioned game data, and EGM 10 may
retrieve such game data from host system 41 during operation.
[0127] In some embodiments, the electronics on the various boards
described herein may be combined onto a single board. Similarly, in
some embodiments, the electronics on the various controllers and
processors described herein may be integrated. For example, the
processor of game controller board 44 and graphics processor 54 may
be a single integrated chip.
[0128] EGM 10 may be configured to provide one or more player eye
gaze, eye gesture, or movement interactions to one or more games
playable at EGM 10. The enhancements may be to a primary
interactive game, secondary interactive game, bonus interactive
game, or combination thereof.
[0129] FIG. 2B illustrates an online implementation of a gaming
system that may continuously monitor the eye gaze of a player as
described herein. The eye gaze of the player may be monitored
and/or predicted such that data relating to tracked positions,
trajectories, etc. may be obtained. Data may be processed to obtain
further information, such as various derivatives of eye gaze data,
including, for example, velocity, acceleration, snap, and jerk. The
eye gaze data may be processed (e.g., smoothed out) to remove
undesirable characteristics, such as artefacts, transient
movements, vibrations, and inconsistencies caused by head
movements, blinking, eye irregularities, eyelid obstruction,
etc.
[0130] The gaming system may be an online gaming device (which may
be an example implementation of an EGM). As depicted, the gaming
system includes a gaming server 40 and a gaming device 35 connected
via network 37.
[0131] In some embodiments, gaming server 40 and gaming device 35
cooperate to implement the functionality of EGM 10, described
above. So, aspects and technical features of EGM 10 may be
implemented in part at gaming device 35, and in part at gaming
server 40.
[0132] Gaming server 40 may be configured to enable online gaming,
and may include game data and game logic to implement the games and
enhancements disclosed herein. For example, gaming server 40 may
include a player input engine configured to process player input
and respond according to game rules. Gaming server 40 may include a
graphics engine configured to generate the interactive game
environment as disclosed herein. In some embodiments, gaming server
40 may provide rendering instructions and graphics data to gaming
device 35 so that graphics may be rendered at gaming device 35.
[0133] Gaming server 40 may also include a movement recognition
engine that may be used to process and interpret collected player
eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and player movement data,
to transform the data into data defining manipulations and player
interaction commands.
[0134] Network 37 may be any network (or multiple networks) capable
of carrying data including the Internet, Ethernet, POTS line, PSTN,
ISDN, DSL, coaxial cable, fiber optics, satellite, mobile, wireless
(e.g. WMAX), SS7 signaling network, fixed line, local area network,
wide area network, and others, including any combination of
these.
[0135] Gaming device 35 may be particularly configured with
hardware and software to interact with gaming server 40 via network
37 to implement gaming functionality and render 2D or 3D
enhancements, as described herein. For simplicity, only one gaming
device 35 is shown but an electronic gaming system may include one
or more gaming devices 35 operable by different players. Gaming
device 35 may be implemented using one or more processors and one
or more data stores configured with database(s) or file system(s),
or using multiple devices or groups of storage devices distributed
over a wide geographic area and connected via a network (which may
be referred to as "cloud computing"). Aspects and technical
features or EGM 10 may be implemented using gaming device 35.
[0136] Gaming device 35 may reside on any networked computing
device, such as a personal computer, workstation, server, portable
computer, mobile device, personal digital assistant, laptop,
tablet, smart phone, an interactive television, video display
terminals, gaming consoles, electronic reading device, and portable
electronic devices or a combination of these.
[0137] Gaming device 35 may include any type of processor, such as,
for example, any type of general-purpose microprocessor or
microcontroller, a digital signal processing (DSP) processor, an
integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a
reconfigurable processor, a programmable read-only memory (PROM),
or any combination thereof. Gaming device 35 may include any type
of computer memory that is located either internally or externally
such as, for example, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory
(ROM), compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), electro-optical
memory, magneto-optical memory, erasable programmable read-only
memory (EPROM), and electrically-erasable programmable read-only
memory (EEPROM), Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) or the like.
[0138] Gaming device 35 is operable to register and authenticate
users (using a login, unique identifier, and password for example)
prior to providing access to applications, a local network, network
resources, other networks and network security devices. The
computing device may serve one user or multiple users.
[0139] Gaming device 35 may include one or more input devices (e.g.
player control inputs 50), such as a keyboard, mouse, camera, touch
screen and a microphone, and may also include one or more output
devices such as a display screen (with 3D capabilities) and a
speaker. Gaming device 35 has a network interface in order to
communicate with other components, to access and connect to network
resources, to serve an application and other applications, and
perform other computing applications.
[0140] Gaming device 35 connects to gaming server 40 by way of
network 37 to access technical 2D and 3D enhancements to games as
described herein. Multiple gaming devices 35 may connect to gaming
server 40, each gaming device 35 operated by a respective
player.
[0141] Gaming device 35 may be configured to connect to one or more
other gaming devices through, for example, network 37. In some
embodiments, the gaming server 40 may be utilized to coordinate the
gaming devices 35. Where gaming devices 35 may be utilized to
facilitate the playing of a same game, such as an interactive game,
wherein the interactive game includes at interaction between
activities performed by the players on the gaming devices 35,
various elements of information may be communicated across network
37 and/or server 40. For example, the elements of information may
include player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, player
movement data, and/or the viewing area displayed on the gaming
device 35. This information may be used by each of the gaming
devices 35 to provide and/or display interfaces that take into
consideration the received data from another gaming device 35. The
gaming devices 35 may be configured for cooperative and/or
competitive play (or a combination thereof) between the players in
relation to various game objectives, events, and/or triggers.
[0142] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method 500 implemented by EGM 10
using various components of EGM 10. For simplicity of illustration,
method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 2A and EGM 10
but it may be implement using gaming device 35, game server 40 or a
combination thereof.
[0143] As shown, EGM 10 may include a card reader 34 to identify a
monetary amount conveyed by a player to the electronic gaming
machine.
[0144] EGM 10 may include at least one data storage device storing
game data for at least one interactive game or at least one bonus
interactive game, or both.
[0145] EGM 10 may include graphics processor 54 to generate an
interactive game environment and define a viewing area as a subset
of the interactive game environment. The viewing area may have one
or more visible game components masking or blocking one or more
invisible game components based on the game data.
[0146] EGM 10 may include display device 12, 14 to display via a
user interface the viewing area.
[0147] EGM 10 may include display controller 52 to control
rendering of the viewing area on the display device 12, 14 using
the graphics processor 54.
[0148] EGM 10 may include at least one data capture camera device
to continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect player eye
gaze data.
[0149] EGM 10 may include a game controller 44 for determining a
location of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area
using the player eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the
invisible game component, and triggering a control command to the
display controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area based on the player eye gaze data and the
location.
[0150] In response to detection of the control command, the display
controller 52 controls the display device 12, 14 in real-time or
near real-time using the graphics processor 54 to dynamically
update the rendering of the viewing area to provide a real-time or
near real-time graphical animation effect displayed on the display
device 12, 14 representative of a visual update to the visible game
components to reveal the invisible game components in the viewing
area.
[0151] In response to an outcome of the interactive game, the card
reader 34 updates the monetary amount.
[0152] At 502 (FIG. 5), the at least one data capture camera device
and the display device 12, 14 may be calibrated by game controller
44 and display controller 52 as described herein.
[0153] At 504, the graphics processor 54 may generate the
interactive game environment in accordance with the set of game
rules using the game data and define a viewing area as a subset of
the interactive game environment. The viewing area may have one or
more visible game components masking or blocking one or more
invisible game components.
[0154] At 506, display controller 52 may control the display device
12, 14 may display via a user interface the viewing area.
[0155] At 508, the at least one data capture camera device may
continuously monitor the eye gaze, eye gesture, and/or movement to
collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and/or
player movement data.
[0156] At 510, the game controller 44 may determine a location of
the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area as
described herein using the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and/or player movement data, the location corresponding to
the invisible game component, and trigger a control command to the
display controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area based on the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture
data, and/or player movement data, and the location of the
invisible game component.
[0157] At 512, display controller 52 may, in response to detection
of the control command, control the display device 12, 14 using the
graphics processor 54 to dynamically update the rendering of the
viewing area to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device 12, 14
representative of a visual update to the visible game components to
reveal the invisible game components in the viewing area.
[0158] At 514, display controller 52 may trigger a winning outcome
of the game for provision of an award based on the interactions of
the player and the game, which may be associated with the player
eye gaze data, the player eye gesture data, the player movement
data, and/or the revealed invisible game components. The card
reader 34 may update the monetary amount.
[0159] In some embodiments, the EGM 10 may recognize potential
players proximate to the EGM 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the at least
one data capture camera device may continuously monitor an area
proximate to the EGM 10 to collect proximity data. The game
controller 44 may process the proximity data to detect if a person
is proximate to the EGM 10. If a person is detected proximate to
the EGM 10 then the display controller 52 controls the display
device 12, 14 to display an advertisement. The ability for EGM 10
to recognize potential players proximate to the EGM 10 and commence
active self-promotion is useful to gain a competitive advantage
over other gaming machines. It may also be useful for welcoming and
encouraging players to play the game and provide the player with a
sense of astonishment. In contrast to a gaming machine that may
interact with a player after the player has inserted a ticket,
pressed a button, or touched a screen, EGM 10 actively starts the
player's decision-making process to interact with EGM 10
sooner.
[0160] In some embodiments, the display controller 52 may render a
gaze-sensitive user interface on the display device 12, 14, wherein
the game controller 44 detects the location of the eye gaze of the
player relative to the viewing area using the player eye gaze data,
and triggers the control command to display controller 52 to
dynamically update the rendering of the viewing area to provide a
real-time or near real-time the graphical animation effect
displayed on the display device 12, 14 representative of a visual
update to the gaze-sensitive user interface. For example, display
controller 52 may control display device 12, 14 to display a
gaze-sensitive user interface as shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B. The
player may gaze at the one or more visible game components 710 at
the top of the display device 12, 14, and the display controller 52
may cause a graphical animation effect to be displayed
representative of reducing the size of or hiding an options menu
720 at the bottom of the display device 12, 14.
[0161] As shown in FIG. 7A, the options menu 720 may be small and
out of the way. As the options menu 720 is being hidden, display
controller 52 may cause another graphical animation effect to be
displayed representative of enlarging the one or more visible game
components 710 to use the portion of the display device 12, 14
vacated by the options menu 720. As another example, as illustrated
in FIG. 7B, the player may gaze at the bottom of the display device
12, 14, which may cause the options menu 720 to be revealed and
additional options may appear on screen. When the option menu 720
is revealed, the one or more visible game components 710 may reduce
or shrink in size to accommodate the options menu 720. The player
may gaze at a specific area of display device 12, 14, and
additional information may be displayed on display device 12, 14.
Even though the EGM 10 may have one or two display device 12, 14, a
gaze-sensitive user interface may effectively increase the size of
the display devices available to EGM 10. For example, as
illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B, display device 12, 14 may display
one or more visible game components 710 and an options menu 720
without requiring an increase in size of the display device 12, 14.
The gaze-sensitive user interface may optimize the use of the
limited space available on display device 12, 14. By monitoring the
eye gaze of the player, EGM 10 may demonstrate context awareness of
what the player is looking at. For example, the EGM 10 may detect
when the player is distracted by detecting whether the eye gaze of
the player is on the display device 12, 14.
[0162] EGM 10 may reward a player for maintaining their eye gaze on
positive game aspects. For example, the at least one data capture
display device may collect player eye gaze data that may indicate
that the player is looking at a particular positive game component,
such as, but not limited to, a positive game component
representative of the rewarding of points, credits, prizes, or a
winning line on a reel game. The player eye gaze data may also
indicate that the player is looking at a particular positive game
component that may be a revealed invisible game component. The
display controller 52 may control the display device 12, 14 to
display a graphical animation effect to enhance the positive game
component with additional fanfare, for example, a special particle
effect, fireworks, additional resolution and/or size of the
positive game component, greater colour contrast and brightness, or
lights and noises. In some embodiments, the graphical animation
effect may correlate with the amount of time the player has
maintained their eye gaze on the positive game component. The
longer the player focuses their eye gaze on the positive game
component, the more graphical animation effects may be displayed by
display controller 52 on display device 12, 14 and/or the duration
of the graphical animation effects may be extended.
[0163] The EGM 10 may include a display device 12, 14 with auto
stereoscopic 3D functionality. In some embodiments, the player may
interact with a game component presented on a display device 12, 14
with auto stereoscopic 3D functionality. The game component may
appear to be hovering. The player may interact with the game
component with the eye gaze of the player. For example, the focus
of the eye gaze may cause the display controller 52 to control
display device 12, 14 with auto stereoscopic 3D functionality to
provide a graphical animation effect representative of rotating the
game component. As another example, the focus of the eye gaze may
cause the display controller 52 to control display device 12, 14
with auto stereoscopic 3D functionality to provide a graphical
animation effect representative of revealing an invisible game
component. The EGM 10 that may have a display device 12, 14 with
auto stereoscopic 3D functionality may allow a player to interact
with the interactive game without their hands. This may be useful
to not distract from or spoil the 3D effect provided by the display
device 12, 14 with auto stereoscopic 3D functionality. Where the
display device is a stereoscopic display device, the graphics
processor 54 may generate left and right eye images based on a
selected three-dimensional intensity level, and the game controller
44 may trigger the control command to the display controller 52 to
dynamically update the rendering of the left and right eye images
based on the player eye gaze data.
[0164] Tracking the eye gaze, eye gesture, and movement of a player
to reveal masked or blocked invisible game components may be
implemented for a variety of interactive games and graphical
animation effects. For example, the game may be a game with a reel
space and game symbols. As another example, the game may be a game
to focus eye gaze on a game component. The eye gaze of the player
on display device 12, 14 may be implemented as a graphical
animation effect to find and reveal a hidden or obscured game
component. As yet another example, the game component manipulated
by the player's eye gaze, eye gesture, and movement may be a
virtual avatar. The virtual avatar may be navigated in the game
using the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, player
movement data, or any combination thereof, to avoid obstacles and
collect rewards.
[0165] In some embodiments, the display controller 42 may cause
display device 12, 14 to display one or more visible game
components in front of one or more invisible game components. Based
on the player eye gaze data, such as player eye gaze data that may
represent maintaining the player's eye gaze on the one or more
visible game components, the graphical animation effect displayed
on display device 12, 14 may represent looking behind the visible
game component masking or blocking the invisible game component to
reveal the invisible game component. For example, the graphical
animation effect may be such that the visible game component slides
away from its location or pivots inwardly or outwardly to reveal
the invisible game component behind the visible game component.
[0166] In some embodiments, the game controller 44 may process
player eye gaze data to determine the location of the eye gaze of
the player relative to the viewing area and may trigger a control
command for the display controller 52 to reveal an invisible game
component and select the revealed invisible game component for a
primary interactive game or a bonus interactive game. The display
controller 52 may cause display device 12, 14 to render an
invisible game component behind a visible game component. The
player may focus their eye gaze at the visible game component for a
certain period of time. After a certain pre-defined period of time,
the invisible game component may be revealed. The player may focus
their eye gaze at the revealed invisible game component for a
certain period of time. After a certain pre-defined period of time,
the display controller 52 may display on display device 12, 14
using graphics processor 54 a graphical animation effect
representative of the player selecting the revealed invisible game
component. The selection may trigger an event related to the
interactive game, such as, but not limited to, a prize award, a
bonus game, advancement or progression in the interactive game,
ending the game, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,
after the invisible game component has been revealed, the player
may select the revealed invisible game component through display
device 12, 14, which may be a touch-sensitive display device.
[0167] An embodiment of the player's ability to reveal invisible
game components, where the player's eye gaze may be represented by
EGM 10 to act as x-ray vision, and select the revealed invisible
game components is illustrated in FIGS. 9 through 13. Player 900
may be playing an interactive game on EGM 10. The interactive game
shown in FIGS. 9 through 13 is a reel game, but the interactive
game may be any type of game. Display controller 52 may control
display device 12, 14 to display viewing window 910 that may
contain visible game components 940a, 940b, and 940c. Depending on
the game data of the interactive game, there may be more or less
visible game components. The visible game components 940a, 940b,
and/or 940c may be masking or blocking one or more invisible game
components. For example, in FIG. 9, the player 900 may be presented
with a screen on display device 12, 14 to pick a prize, which may
be represented by visible game components 940a, 940b, and/or 940c.
The prize may be a multiplier prize, which may multiply the bonus
bet made by the player 900. The player may not know the details of
the multiplier prize, as the details may be represented by an
invisible game component. The at least one data capture camera
device may monitor the eye gaze of player 900 to collect player eye
gaze data. Game controller 44 may calculate the location of the
player's eye gaze on the display device 12, 14 and map the player's
eye gaze 930 to the viewing area. The player eye gaze data may
correspond to the player 900 focusing their eye gaze on one or more
of the visible game components 940a, 940b, or 940c.
[0168] The eye gaze 930 may correspond to the location of the
invisible game component. Game controller 44 may trigger a control
command to display controller 52 to display on display device 12,
14 using graphics processor 54 a graphical animation effect
representative of a visual update to the visible game component to
reveal the invisible game component. As shown in FIG. 10, player
900 may focus their eye gaze 930 on visible game component 940a to
reveal the details of the multiplier prize. The at least one data
capture camera device may collect player eye gaze data that
indicates that the player 900 is focusing their eye gaze 930 on
visible game component 940a for a certain period of time. The focus
of the player's eye gaze 930 may correspond to the location of the
invisible game component. As shown in FIG. 11, the game controller
44 may send a control command to display controller 52 to display a
graphical animation effect on display device 12, 14 to remove
visible game component 940a and reveal the invisible game component
950a. In FIG. 11, the revealed invisible game component 950a may be
a "2.times." multiplier bonus. The multiplier prize corresponding
to the revealed invisible game component 950a may be revealed but
may not be selected. The player 900 may make a decision based on
the revealed invisible game component 950a.
[0169] For example, the player 900 may not believe that a
"2.times." multiplier prize is a desirable bonus prize. As shown in
FIG. 12, the player 900 may focus their eye gaze 930 on another
visible game component, such as visible game component 940b. The
game controller 44 may determine that player 900 is looking at
visible game component 940b for a certain period of time. This may
cause game controller 44 to send a control command to display
controller 52 to display a graphical animation effect on display
device 12, 14 using graphics processor 54 representative of a
visual update to a visible game component to reveal an invisible
game component, such as invisible game component 950b, a "3.times."
multiplier prize, as shown in FIG. 13. The multiplier prize
corresponding to the revealed invisible game component 950b may be
revealed but may not be selected. After the player 900 has revealed
the invisible game components, where EGM 10 represented the
player's eye gaze 930 as x-ray vision, the player 900 may focus
their eye gaze on a revealed invisible game component to select the
revealed invisible game component. The selection of the "3.times."
multiplier prize may trigger an event related to the interactive
game, such as multiplying the bonus bet of player 900 by three.
[0170] In some embodiments, the display controller 42 may cause
display device 12, 14 to display one or more visible game
components in front of one or more invisible game components. The
graphical animation effect may represent seeing through or
rendering transparent the visible game component masking or
blocking the visible game component to reveal the invisible game
component. For example, based on the eye gaze of the player that
may be focused on a portion of the visible game component, the
display controller 52 may cause an a graphical animation effect to
be displayed on display device 12, 14 such that the portion of the
visible game component that the player may be looking at may become
translucent to a certain degree or transparent. This may reveal the
invisible game component hidden behind the visible game
component.
[0171] In some embodiments, one or more invisible game components
may be located in one or more portions of a viewing area, according
to the game data of the interactive game stored in the at least one
data storage device. A player may look at one or more portions of
display device 12, 14 to reveal the one or more invisible game
components. The at least one data capture camera device may collect
player eye gaze data based on the player's eye gaze. The game
controller 44, processing the player eye gaze data, may determine
that there may be movement of the eye gaze of the player from one
location of the display device 12, 14 to another. The game
controller 44 may map the eye gaze of the player to the viewing
area. The location of the eye gaze of the player may correspond to
one or more invisible game components that may be masked or blocked
by one or more visible game components. The game controller 44 may
send a control command to the display controller 52. In response to
the control command, the display controller 52 may control display
device 12, 14 in real-time or near real-time using graphics
processor 54 to update the rendering of the viewing area with a
graphical animation effect that may represent a visual update of
the one or more visible game components to reveal the one or more
invisible game components.
[0172] In some embodiments, the at least one data capture camera
device of EGM 10 may continuously monitor an eye gesture of the
player to collect player eye gesture data. Moreover, the at least
one data capture camera device of EGM 10 may continuously monitor
the player's movement, such as movement of the player's head,
movement of the player's body, or gestures made by the player to
collect player eye gaze data or player movement data. The game
controller 44 may trigger the control command to the display
controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing
area based on the player eye gesture data and/or player movement
data using the graphical animation effect to update the one or more
visible game components to reveal the one or more invisible game
components in the viewing area. For example, the at least one data
capture camera device may collect player eye gesture data
representative of the player squinting or widening their eyes at a
visible or invisible game component displayed on display device 12,
14. The game controller 44 may trigger a control command to display
controller 52 to update the rendering the viewing area in real-time
or in near real-time by displaying a graphical animation effect
representative of revealing and magnifying the invisible game
component. As another example, the at least one data capture camera
device may collect player movement data representative of the
player moving their hand in a certain direction towards a visible
or invisible game component displayed on display device 12, 14. The
game controller 44 may trigger a control command to display
controller 52 to update the rendering the viewing area in real-time
or in near real-time by displaying a graphical animation effect
representative of revealing the invisible game component, and/or
interacting with the visible or invisible game component.
[0173] In some embodiments, one or more invisible game components
may be located in one or more portions of a viewing area, according
to the game data of the interactive game stored in the at least one
data storage device. A player may look at or gesture at one or more
portions of display device 12, 14 to reveal the one or more
invisible game components. The at least one data capture camera
device may collect player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data,
and/or player movement data. The game controller 44, processing the
player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and/or player
movement data, may detect the eye gaze, eye gestures, and/or
movement of the player from one location of the display device 12,
14 to another. The game controller 44 may map the eye gaze, eye
gestures, and/or movement of the player to the viewing area. The
location of the eye gaze, the eye gesture, and/or movement of the
player may correspond to one or more invisible game components that
may be masked or blocked by one or more visible game components.
The game controller 44 may send a control command to the display
controller 52. In response to the control command, the display
controller 52 may control display device 12, 14 in real-time or
near real-time using graphics processor 54 to update the rendering
of the viewing area with a graphical animation effect that may
represent a visual update of the one or more visible game
components to reveal the one or more invisible game components,
based on the player eye gaze data, player eye gesture data, and/or
player movement data.
[0174] In some embodiments, the interactive game may require skill
from the player to complete. For example, the interactive game may
require a player to complete a task within a finite amount of time.
The amount of time remaining for the player to complete the task
may be displayed on display device 12, 14 to increase pressure on
the player. For example, the interactive game may be a skill-based
maze bonus game. The player may control an avatar using the
player's eye gaze to travel through a series of mazes. The player
may cause the avatar to collect prizes. There may be a timer to
indicate the amount of time the player may navigate the maze. The
maze bonus game may include visible game components and/or
invisible game components. The maze may include traps that may be
visible or invisible. A visible game component may mask or block an
invisible trap. The player may look at a portion of the display
device 12, 14, which may be mapped to a location of the viewing
area that may correspond to an invisible trap, to cause display
controller 52 to display on display device 12, 14 a graphical
animation effect representative of a visual update to the visible
game component to reveal the invisible trap. The player may look at
the traps with their gaze to deactivate the traps and allow the
avatar to continue through the maze. Once the player has guided the
avatar to the exit, the player may play a new stage of the maze
based upon the amount of prizes collect, or the maze game may
finish. The threshold for the amount of prizes needed to be
collected may progressively increase based upon which bonus stage
the player is at. The maze bonus game may be configured to have one
or more levels of difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the less
time the player may have to complete the maze challenge and the
player may have to navigate through more traps in the maze.
[0175] In some embodiments, for another skill-based maze game,
while the player leads an avatar through a maze using the eye gaze
of the player, there may be special tiles that the display
controller 52 may be configured to cause to appear on the display
device 12, 14. The player may have a specified number of breakable
tiles actions. While moving the avatar through the maze, the player
may break any wall by locking their gaze on the wall. In some
embodiments, a breakable tile action may be an invisible game
component that may be revealed by the eye gaze of the player. This
may be used to help the player to find the exit.
[0176] In some embodiments, based on the game data of the
interactive game, display controller 52 may display using graphics
processor 54 one or more opaque objects on display device 12, 14.
To interact with the interactive game, the player may use their eye
gaze as x-ray vision to see through the one or more visible game
components, such as the one or more opaque objects, to see the
invisible game components, such as hidden information. For example,
the one or more opaque objects may be a safe. The invisible game
component may be a graphical element with levers. Inside the safe
may be one or more levers and/or a tumbler. Based on the player eye
gaze data, the display controller 52 may display a graphical
animation effect that may represent seeing through the safe or
revealing the graphical element with levers and/or a tumbler. The
player may interact with and manipulate the tumbler, such as
turning the tumbler to the correct position and moving the lever
and rotating in the opposite direct when the correct positions of
the lever and/or tumbler have been reached. The game controller may
recognize that the correct positions of the lever and/or tumbler
have been reached, and display controller 52 may display a
graphical animation effect representative of opening the safe,
which may reveal a prize.
[0177] In some embodiments, based on the game data of the
interactive game, display controller 52 may display using graphics
processor 54 one or more series of switches on display device 12,
14. To interact with the interactive game, the player may use their
eye gaze as x-ray vision to see through the visible game component,
such as the series of switches, to reveal the invisible game
component, which may be a graphical element of a series of circuits
and switches. The hidden circuits may connect the switches. The
switches may be associated with a prize or a series of list prizes.
The player may focus their gaze on a switch to select the switch
corresponding to the prize that the player wants to win.
[0178] In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 14 to 16, based on
the game data of the interactive game, the graphics processor 54
may generate a fog effect within the viewing area 1410 that may
mask or block the invisible game component. The display controller
52 may display on display device 12, 14 the viewing area 1410 that
may have a fog effect, as shown in FIG. 14. Player 1400 may focus
their eye gaze 1430 to one or more portions of the viewing area
1410. The at least one data capture camera device may monitor the
eye gaze 1430 of the player 1400 and may collect player eye gaze
data. The game controller 44 may calculate the location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the viewing area 1410 using the
player eye gaze data. The location of the eye gaze may correspond
to the invisible game component. In this example, as shown in FIG.
14, the invisible game component may be the tropical island
background and prizes obscured by fog effect generated by graphics
processor 54. Game controller 44 may trigger a control command to
the display controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of
the viewing area 1410 based on the player eye gaze data and the
location of the eye gaze. In response to the control command, the
display controller 52 may control display device 12, 14 using
graphics processor 54 to display a graphical animation effect to
reveal the invisible game component. In this example, as shown in
FIG. 14, the scene is covered in fog. The player may not be able to
see through the fog. To see through the fog, the graphical
animation effect may be a transparent circle 1420 displayed at a
location corresponding to the eye gaze 1430 of the player 1400 that
removes the effects of the generated fog effect and reveals the
tropical island background.
[0179] As shown in FIG. 15, the player 1400 may interact with the
interactive game based on their eye gaze. For example, the player
1400 may focus their eye gaze 1430. The at least one data capture
camera device may collect this player eye gaze data. Game
controller 44 may recognize that the player is focusing their eye
gaze 1430. Display controller 52, in response to a control command
from game controller 44, may display a graphical animation effect
on display device 12, 14 representative of expanding the
transparent circle 1420, so the player may reveal more invisible
game components.
[0180] As shown in FIG. 15, the player 1400 may move their eye gaze
1430. The game controller 44 may process the player eye gaze data
collected by the at least one data capture camera device to
determine that the eye gaze 1430 of the player 1400 has moved to
another location. This new location may correspond to another
invisible game component. The graphical animation effect displayed
by display controller 52 on display device 12, 14 may reveal this
other invisible game component. In FIG. 15, the player 1400 has
moved their eye gaze 1430. The corresponding graphical animation
effect may be moving the transparent circle to reveal a prize that
was obscured by the fog effect. As shown in FIG. 16, the prize 1440
may be revealed after the player 1400 focuses their eye gaze 1430
at the location of the prize 1440 for a specified amount of
time.
[0181] In some embodiments, based on the game data of the
interactive game, display controller 52 may display using graphics
processor 54 one or more avatars on display device 12, 14. For
example, one or more avatars may be a spy. One or more invisible
game components may be a graphical element of one or more avatars
carrying a hidden document. The hidden documents may be obscured by
the spy avatar. The spy may be attempting to sneak out hidden
documents. To interact with the interactive game, the player may
use their eye gaze as x-ray vision to see through the visible game
component, such as the avatars, to determine which avatar is the
spy, and reveal the invisible game component, such as the hidden
documents. The player may focus their gaze on the spy holding the
hidden documents to select the spy, which may trigger an event
related to the interactive game, such as winning a prize.
[0182] In some embodiments, one or more players may play in a
shared game or a multi-player game. The shared game or multi-player
may be a primary interactive game or a bonus interactive game. The
EGM 10 of one player may be in communication with one or more other
EGMs, for example, wireless communication. The at least one data
storage device may store game data for a shared game or
multi-player game that may be a primary multi-player interactive
game and/or a bonus multi-player interactive game. For example,
during the shared bonus game, each player may search the viewing
area displayed on display device 12, 14 for one or more invisible
game components masked or blocked by one or more visible game
components. The at least one data capture camera device on each EGM
may monitor the eye gaze of the players and collect eye gaze data
for each player. The invisible game component may be a bonus game
component of a set of bonus game components. The bonus game
components may be displayed as symbols, which may be related to the
shared game or multi-player game. The player may use their eye
gaze, such as focusing their eye gaze on a portion of the display
device 12, 14, corresponding to the location of an invisible game
component, to reveal the invisible game component. The player may
further use their eye gaze, such as focusing their eye gaze on the
revealed invisible game component, to select the revealed invisible
game component. Game controller 44 may detect when a player has
selected a pre-defined subset of bonus game components, using the
player eye gaze data, such as a player selecting a certain
combination of bonus game components or the same bonus game
components. The selection of the pre-defined subset of bonus game
components may trigger a bonus prize reward. For example, the first
player to select a matching set of bonus game components may win
the bonus prize.
[0183] The player may not want to select a revealed invisible game
component. The player may use their eye gaze or eye gesture, such
as looking towards the edge of the display device 12, 14, or
blinking, to reject a revealed first bonus game component. The game
controller 44 may detect the eye gaze and/or eye gesture of the
player representative of rejecting the revealed invisible game
component, and may trigger the display controller 52 to display on
the display device 12, 14 a second bonus game component. The game
controller 44 of EGM 10 may also cause the game controller 44 of
another EGM to cause the display controller of the other EGM to
display on the display device of the other EGM the revealed first
bonus game component. This may give the effect of a player "passing
along" a rejected bonus game component to another player.
[0184] In some embodiments, while one or more players are playing a
shared game or a multi-player game, the display controller 52 of an
EGM for a player may control the display device of the EGM to
display different layers, each layer corresponding to the viewing
area of the other players. While a player looks at their display
device, the player may see the other player's viewing areas hidden
behind their viewing area. In some embodiments, the shared game may
be a reel game. When the players spin the reels, the rendering of
each player's viewing area may be updated and may be viewed by each
player. A player may view their own reels on their display device,
except where the player's eye gaze is focused on the display
device. Instead, at the portion of the display device that a player
is looking at, the viewing area of one or more other players may
appear and any win with a combination of the one or more viewing
areas may give a prize to the one or more players. This may
encourage cooperative play between multiple players. In some
embodiments, a player may press a button to view the viewing area
of another player.
[0185] In some embodiments, the graphics processor 54 may generate
an interactive game environment with a set of game rules using game
data, such that there may be one or more invisible game components.
The graphics processor 54 may define a viewing area as a subset of
the interactive game environment, which may contain one or more
invisible game components. The display controller 52 may control
the display device 12, 14 in real-time or near real-time using the
graphics processor 54 to update the rendering of the viewing area
to provide a real-time or near real-time graphical animation effect
representative of rendering visible at least a portion of the
invisible game components in the viewing area. This may allow more
game components to be displayed on the display device 12, 14, which
may have finite size. For example, EGM 10 may provide a privacy
mode for the player. There may be a menu at the bottom of display
device 12, 14 that may display the credits conveyed to EGM 10 by
the player or the amount of credits won by the player. By default,
the credits may be invisible, blurred out, or masked or blocked by
a visible game component. When the player focuses their eye gaze on
the user interface, the display controller 52 may control display
device 12, 14 to reveal or display the amount of credits. The
graphical animation effect to reveal or display the amount of
credits may be, for example, to display the invisible credit
amount, to put in focus the blurred out credit amount, or to remove
the visible game component and reveal the invisible credit amount.
This may allow the player to hide the amount of credits associated
with the player or the amount of credits won by the player from
nearby observers.
[0186] A player may play one or more games at EGM 10. The player
may have the option of selecting an interactive game from a
plurality of interactive games to be played at EGM 10 when the
player initially conveys credits to EGM 10. However, not all game
selector symbols may be displayed on display device 12, 14 because
the display device 12, 14 may lack space. Another reason may be
that one or more game selector symbols may be intentionally masked
or blocked so the player may find and reveal it to play a hidden or
bonus interactive game. The player may use their eye gaze to
display a plurality of game selector symbols and to select and play
a game from the plurality of games. The player may also use their
eye gaze to find and reveal one or more invisible game selector
symbols masked or blocked by one or more visible game components
and to select and play the corresponding game. In some embodiments,
EGM 10 may have a card reader to identify the monetary amount
conveyed by the player to the EGM 10. The EGM 10 may have at least
one data storage device that may store game data for one or more
primary interactive games and/or bonus interactive games. The
graphics processor 54 may generate an interactive game environment
in accordance with a set of game rules using the game data and
define a viewing area as a subset of the interactive game
environment, the viewing area having one or more game selector
symbols. The viewing area may also have one or more visible game
components masking or blocking an invisible game selector symbol.
EGM 10 may have display device 12, 14 to display via a user
interface the viewing area. EGM 10 may have a display controller 52
to control rendering of the viewing area on the display device 12,
14 using the graphics processor 54. At least one data capture
camera device may continuously monitor the eye gaze of a player to
collect player eye gaze data.
[0187] A game controller 44 may determine a location of the eye
gaze of the player relative to the viewing area using the player
eye gaze data, the location corresponding to the invisible game
selector symbol, and triggering a control command to the display
controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing
area based on the player eye gaze data and the location of the
player eye gaze. In response to the control command, the display
controller 52 may control the display device 12, 14 in real-time or
near real-time using the graphics processor 54 to dynamically
update the rendering of the viewing area to provide a real-time or
near real-time graphical animation effect displayed on the display
device 12, 14 representative of a visual update corresponding to
selecting one of the game selector symbols, or revealing and
selecting the invisible game selector symbol, in the viewing area
and displaying a selected interactive game for the selected game
selector symbol, the visual update based on the player eye gaze
data. For example, display controller 52 may control display device
12, 14 to display a plurality of game selector symbols configured
in the shape of a carousel. Based on the eye gaze of the player,
such as up, down, left, or right, the display controller 52 may
control display device 12, 14 to display a rotating carousel of
game selector symbols, which may reveal additional and hidden game
selector symbols. The player may focus on a portion of the display
device 12, 14 to reveal one or more invisible game selector
symbols. Based on the eye gaze of the player, such as looking at or
near the center of display device 12, 14, the rotating carousel of
game selector symbols may slow down or stop at a game selector
symbol corresponding to the player's preferred game. The player may
also focus on one or more visible game components to reveal the
invisible game selector symbol. In response to an outcome of the
interactive game, the card reader may update the monetary amount.
The player may focus on the game selector symbol to select and play
the game. In some embodiments, the player may scroll through the
plurality of game selector symbols or reveal invisible game
selector symbols using their eye gaze, eye gestures, the movement
of their head, the movement of their body, or a combination
thereof.
[0188] A player may use their eye gaze to navigate through the
interactive game environment, change the camera angle on a visible
game component or a revealed invisible game component, and discover
and reveal invisible game components in the interactive game
environment that may not be in the viewing area. The EGM 10 may
have a card reader to identify a monetary amount conveyed by a
player to the EGM 10. The EGM 10 may have at least one data storage
device to store game data for an interactive game. The graphics
processor 54 may generate an interactive game environment in
accordance with a set of game rules using the game data and define
a viewing area as a first subset of the interactive game
environment, the first subset of the interactive game environment
having a first visible game component masking or blocking a first
invisible game component. The display device 12, 14 may display via
a user interface the viewing area. Display controller 52 may
control rendering of the viewing area on the display device 12, 14
using the graphics processor 54. At least one data capture camera
device may continuously monitor eye gaze of a player to collect
player eye gaze data. The game controller 44 may determine a
location of the eye gaze of the player relative to the viewing area
using the player eye gaze data and triggering a control command to
the display controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of
the viewing area based on the player eye gaze data.
[0189] In response to the control command, the display controller
52 controls the display device 12, 14 in real-time or near
real-time using the graphics processor to dynamically update the
rendering of the viewing area in real-time or near real-time to
navigate to the second subset of the interactive game environment,
the second subset of the interactive game environment having a
second visible game component masking or blocking a second
invisible game component, wherein the update comprises a graphical
animation effect displayed on the display device representative of
navigating to the second subset of the interactive game
environment, the update based on the player eye gaze data. In
response to an outcome of the interactive game, the card reader
updates the monetary amount. A player may use their eye gaze, eye
gestures, head movement, body movement, or any combination thereof
to navigate through the interactive game environment, change the
camera angle on a visible game component, and discover and reveal
invisible game components in the interactive game environment that
may not be in the viewing area.
[0190] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the
graphical animation effect displayed on the display device 12, 14
may represent a smooth sliding transition from the first subset of
the interactive game environment to the second subset of the
interactive game environment. Graphics processor 54 may generate
interactive game environment 1710 in accordance with a set of game
rules using the game data for one or more interactive games stored
in at least one data storage device. Interactive game environment
1710 may include one or more game components, some of which may be
visible, while others may be invisible. In FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, two
game components 1750a and 1750c are visible, and game component
1750b is invisible as it may be masked or blocked by a visible game
component, but there may be more or less game components based on
the game data of the one or more interactive games. Graphics
processor 54 may define a viewing area 1740 as a first subset of
the interactive game environment. In FIG. 17, the viewing area 1740
includes visible game component 1750a and excludes invisible game
component 1750b. Display device 12, 14 may display viewing area
1740. Display controller 52 may control rendering of the viewing
area on the display device 12, 14 using the graphics processor 54.
Game controller 44 may process player eye gaze data collected from
the at least one data capture camera device to determine that the
eye gaze 1730 of the player 1720 may be focused on visible game
component 1750a.
[0191] As illustrated in FIG. 17, player 1720 may view visible game
component 1750a on display device 12, 14. Player 1720 may wish to
navigate to another area of the interactive game environment 1710.
For example, player 1720 may wish to discover visible game
components that may mask or block invisible game components. Game
controller 44 may determine that the location of the eye gaze of
the player relative to the viewing area has changed. For example,
the player 1720 may be looking at the top of display device 12, 14.
Based on this change of location of the eye gaze 1730, game
controller 44 may trigger a control command to the display
controller 52 to dynamically update the rendering of the viewing
area 1740. Display controller 52 may update the rendering of the
viewing area 1740 in real-time or near real-time to navigate to the
second subset of the interactive game environment 1710. A graphical
animation effect, such as a sliding animation effect, may be used
to transition from the viewing area 1740 comprising a first subset
of the interactive game environment 1710 to the viewing area 1740
comprising a second subset of the interactive game environment. As
shown in FIG. 18, the viewing area 1740 is a second subset of the
interactive game environment 1710 that is different from the first
subset of the interactive game environment 1710. The viewing area
1740 comprising the second subset of the interactive game
environment 1710 contains invisible game component 1750b. The
invisible game component 1750b may be masked or blocked by one or
more visible game components. Since the viewing area 1740 is
displayed on display device 12, 14, from the perspective of player
1720, the player's eye gaze has caused a transition from a first
subset of the interactive game environment 1710 to a second subset
of the interactive game environment 1710. The effect of the eye
gaze of the player may be to navigate the interactive game
environment 1710. For example, the player 1720 may be looking at
visible game component 1750a, and through navigation of the
interactive game environment 1710, the player 1720 discovered a
second subset of the interactive game environment. This may create
the effect that the display device 12, 14 is an infinitely large
screen, or a larger screen than it actually is. The player 1720 may
focus their eye gaze 1730 on the visible game component masking or
blocking invisible game component 1750b, which may cause display
controller 52 to display a graphical animation effect on display
device 12, 14 representative of a visual update to the visible game
component to reveal invisible game component 1750b in the second
subset of the interactive game environment. This may give the
player a sense of discovery and satisfaction as part of an engaging
gaming experience.
[0192] As another example, one or more game components 1750 may be
within a viewing area 1740 and displayed on display device 12, 14
with a certain camera angle or view angle. The game controller 44
may process collected player eye gaze data and trigger a control
command to display controller 52 to update the rendering of the
viewing area 1740 in real-time or near real-time to display a
graphical animation effect representative of changing the camera
angle or view angle. From the perspective of player 1720, the
graphical animation effect may appear to be a rotation of the one
or more game components 1750 on display device 12, 14. As yet
another example, the player, using their eye gaze, may reveal an
invisible game component and may rotate the revealed invisible game
component.
[0193] The embodiments of the devices, systems and methods
described herein may be implemented in a combination of both
hardware and software. These embodiments may be implemented on
programmable computers, each computer including at least one
processor, a data storage system (including volatile memory or
non-volatile memory or other data storage elements or a combination
thereof), and at least one communication interface.
[0194] Program code is applied to input data to perform the
functions described herein and to generate output information. The
output information is applied to one or more output devices. In
some embodiments, the communication interface may be a network
communication interface. In embodiments in which elements may be
combined, the communication interface may be a software
communication interface, such as those for inter-process
communication. In still other embodiments, there may be a
combination of communication interfaces implemented as hardware,
software, and combination thereof.
[0195] Throughout the following discussion, numerous references
will be made regarding servers, services, interfaces, portals,
platforms, or other systems formed from computing devices. It
should be appreciated that the use of such terms is deemed to
represent one or more computing devices having at least one
processor configured to execute software instructions stored on a
computer readable tangible, non-transitory medium. For example, a
server can include one or more computers operating as a web server,
database server, or other type of computer server in a manner to
fulfill described roles, responsibilities, or functions. The
devices provide improved computer solutions for hardware
limitations such as display screen, display device, and so on.
[0196] The following discussion provides many example embodiments.
Although each embodiment represents a single combination of
inventive elements, other examples may include all possible
combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus if one embodiment
comprises elements A, B, and C, and a second embodiment comprises
elements B and D, other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D,
may also be used.
[0197] The term "connected" or "coupled to" may include both direct
coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other
contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one
additional element is located between the two elements).
[0198] Embodiments described herein may be implemented by using
hardware only or by using software and a necessary universal
hardware platform. Based on such understandings, the technical
solution of embodiments may be in the form of a software product.
The software product may be stored in a non-volatile or
non-transitory storage medium, which can be a compact disk
read-only memory (CD-ROM), USB flash disk, or a removable hard
disk. The software product includes a number of instructions that
enable a computer device (personal computer, server, or network
device) to execute the methods provided by the embodiments.
[0199] The embodiments described herein are implemented by physical
computer hardware. The embodiments described herein provide useful
physical machines and particularly configured computer hardware
arrangements. The embodiments described herein are directed to
electronic machines methods implemented by electronic machines
adapted for processing and transforming electromagnetic signals
which represent various types of information. The embodiments
described herein pervasively and integrally relate to machines, and
their uses; and the embodiments described herein have no meaning or
practical applicability outside their use with computer hardware,
machines, a various hardware components. Substituting the computing
devices, servers, receivers, transmitters, processors, memory,
display, networks particularly configured to implement various acts
for non-physical hardware, using mental steps for example, may
substantially affect the way the embodiments work. Such computer
hardware limitations are clearly essential elements of the
embodiments described herein, and they cannot be omitted or
substituted for mental means without having a material effect on
the operation and structure of the embodiments described herein.
The computer hardware is essential to the embodiments described
herein and is not merely used to perform steps expeditiously and in
an efficient manner.
[0200] For example, and without limitation, the computing device
may be a server, network appliance, set-top box, embedded device,
computer expansion module, personal computer, laptop, personal data
assistant, cellular telephone, smartphone device, UMPC tablets,
video display terminal, gaming console, electronic reading device,
and wireless hypermedia device or any other computing device
capable of being configured to carry out the methods described
herein.
[0201] Although the embodiments have been described in detail, it
should be understood that various changes, substitutions and
alterations can be made herein without departing from the scope as
defined by the appended claims.
[0202] Moreover, the scope of the present application is not
intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the
process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means,
methods and steps described in the specification. As one of
ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the
disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines,
manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps,
presently existing or later to be developed, that perform
substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same
result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be
utilized. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include
within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture,
compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
[0203] As can be understood, the examples described above and
illustrated are intended to be exemplary only.
* * * * *