20130260872 | System And Method For Product-Based Gaming | October, 2013 | Kofman et al. |
20120142419 | Directional Pad Rotating Mechanism | June, 2012 | Muramatsu |
20150050977 | SECURITY METHODS USING MOBILE DEVICES | February, 2015 | Omar |
20140194212 | Expandable Baton With Locking Mechanism | July, 2014 | Walter et al. |
20060178178 | Device for inputting control signals for a computer-based simulated table football game | August, 2006 | Nebel et al. |
20080200247 | Game system having main display viewable by a plurality of players | August, 2008 | Yoshizawa |
20130165239 | Close Combat Device | June, 2013 | Gaudet |
20100285884 | High performance network art rendering systems | November, 2010 | Gauer III et al. |
20080139269 | Gaming machine, method for controlling a gaming machine, and method for playing a game | June, 2008 | Toyoda |
20080234053 | Adjustable defense baton | September, 2008 | Castro |
20040029634 | Gaming apparatus | February, 2004 | Boulton |
[0001] The present application claims priority of U.S. patent application No. 60/386,740, filed Jun. 10, 2002, entitled “Lottery Management System”.
[0002] The present invention relates to lottery systems, and more particularly to a lottery management system and platform for distributing dynamic lottery system services and functionality across an open communications network.
[0003] Lottery ticket sales generate large revenues for government-run programs. Typically, the state lottery organization will authorize lottery sales agents to sell lottery tickets in exchange for a commission on overall sales and winning ticket sales. Lottery sales agents include common retailers, such as gas station and convenience store operators, who are typically provided with one or more of a variety of lottery-dispensing technologies covering various types of lottery games. For example, a 24-hour convenience store may have a point-of-sale (POS) lottery terminal behind the counter for management by a clerk, as well as a self-service lottery kiosk available to customers elsewhere in the store. The method of purchase and delivery usually depends on the type of purchase being made. For example, the purchaser of an instant scratch ticket, for example, may pay for the ticket at the POS counter, or through a self-service kiosk. Since instant win scratch tickets can be pre-printed and issued in bulk to the lottery sales agents, no formal registration of the ticket purchase is necessary. Validation of a winning ticket occurs when the ticket bearer provides the ticket to an attending clerk, who can scan the ticket serial number for authentication.
[0004] Alternatively, for large lottery pools such as the BIG GAME™ or POWER BALL™, where purchasers pick a series of numbers for a chance to win a large jackpot, the numbers must be recorded with the centralized lottery operators. In this case, a lottery form can be filled out by the purchaser and presented to the clerk or self-service kiosk. The form is then read by a computer reader and the selected numbers sent over a network connection to a central transaction processor, which records the numbers and sends acceptance information back to the POS terminal or kiosk. The local lottery machine then prints the now-registered lottery ticket for the purchaser.
[0005] The advantages to having an electronic network to receive and issue lottery information are many. First, the registration of purchased tickets ensures the lottery service provider knows important information, such as the exact number of winning tickets and their location of purchase, for example. Second, the lottery service provider can print special codes or provide elements of authentication to prevent unauthorized forgery or copying of lottery tickets. Third, the information recorded can provide valuable business management insight, such as what games are selling well in which locations and at which times, for example.
[0006] Past lottery systems have employed proprietary system architectures communicating over a “closed network.” While such systems fulfill the requirements of high-performance lottery transaction engines, they do not allow for easy integration with outside networks. Such systems typically include applications and operating systems written in procedural languages, tightly integrated with their hardware platforms. Efforts to port current software applications to alternative hardware platforms have proven costly and time-consuming. Thus, current lottery systems have difficulty communicating with external networks and non-lottery applications.
[0007] What is needed is a networked lottery system that can enable existing and future lottery service providers and sales agents with a simple means for incorporating lottery retail services and related management functionality. Such a lottery system would enable the lottery service providers to immediately address system management needs, such as activating or deactivating a lottery sales agent, initiating or discontinuing a particular lottery game, and isolating system network or fraud problems. The system would further provide enhanced business management information, at the lottery service provider level as well as the lottery sales agent level. The system would operate using network communication and programming standards so as to enable simple scalability and expansion. These and other features are addressed by the present invention.
[0008] It is thus one object of the present invention to provide a substantially open standard, electronic lottery platform, which enables current and future lottery service providers to easily integrate with and establish a customized package of lottery system features.
[0009] The system of the present invention ensures lottery service providers can provide a highly reliable, extremely secure, fast and standardized system enabling all their mission-critical business needs. In addition, through plug-and-play architecture, the system of the present invention ensures a high degree of re-usability, thereby ensuring shorter time to market and providing a cost-effective solution to support the lottery community. In one embodiment of the invention, the system of the present invention can employ the Internet for providing a new range of on-line customer services. The system of the present invention is platform-, operating system- and database-independent and allows for easy integration of third party applications.
[0010]
[0011]
[0012]
[0013]
[0014]
[0015]
[0016]
[0017]
[0018]
[0019] As shown in
[0020] As shown in
[0021] In one embodiment, the lottery management system and the lottery service provider processing components include a series of PC servers which individually handle transaction processing, communications, data storage, game management and network management functions. For example, the transaction processing engine
[0022] Access to the system of the present invention can occur via a private or public network
[0023] The lottery sales agent POS devices or other lottery terminals can be “thin” client or “thick” client terminals. In a thin client implementation, a web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer™ resides on the POS device and accesses appropriate gaming applications available on the network from an application server (or combination web server and application server). The POS device can be a PC, electronic cash register, web appliance or lottery terminal, such as an Altura™ combination lottery reader/printer commercially available from GTECH Corporation, West Greenwich, R.I. When a transaction occurs, inputs from the thin client are transmitted to the application server where they are processed and transmitted to the lottery central system for logging. The serial number is then transferred back to the IP printer at the agent location, where the lottery ticket is printed. In a thick client implementation, a complete lottery application resides on the lottery terminal and the data can be communicated throughout the network such as from the lottery terminal to the central system. It will be appreciated that the present invention can be used by current lottery service providers having an existing thin or thick client topology in place. It will further be appreciated that the present invention can accommodate a variety of input and output devices.
[0024] As shown in
[0025] The transaction handler
[0026] Device
[0027] A channel (e.g.,
[0028] The lottery engine or host
[0029] The hosts can operate using a multitude of stored procedures. In one embodiment, the stored procedures are sets of SQL statements that perform a logical group of database operations. For example, the Video ProSys system uses the stored procedures extensively to maintain and manage the video games, video lottery terminals (VLTs) and VMTs. The Video ProSys (VPS) management application use these stored procedures to access, display and update the data on the database. Thus, in one embodiment, the VPS management application communicates with the database server using stored procedures. The Video Lottery System (VLS) database server processes the stored procedures using an SQL server. The definitions for the stored procedures are kept in the database server and accessed through the SQL server. The results of the request are returned to VPS management application.
[0030] The transaction processing engine
[0031] A transaction processor manages and account for the products used in accordance with the present invention. The role of processors is product management. In one embodiment of the present invention, the games use a transaction processor, which is the placeholder for the business logic for wagers, validations, and cancellations. The current generation of processors is lightweight and most of the transaction processing is done at an external host that is connected to the system of the present invention. These processors delegate their processing functions to external systems through message exchange. For example, lightweight processors can delegate their processing functions to external systems through message exchange component
[0032] Message Exchange (MX)
[0033] As shown in
[0034] As part of the commerce services
[0035]
[0036] Upon access, the system
[0037] As shown in
[0038] At the base or network layer, security can be implemented in order to provide authentication, authorization, and integrity services for data carried on the network. Such security can assist in protecting the network and its users from network-based attacks, which may be conducted by outsiders attempting to read data, modify data, deny service such as by exhausting network resources, and probe network configurations. Such protection against external attacks can be provided, for example, by firewalls, IP filtering, IP tunneling, hub authentication and line encryption, as well as by the physical and logical protection of the associated servers and routers within the lottery sales agent and lottery service provider equipment.
[0039] As shown in
[0040] This includes the transaction processing engine
[0041] The middle layer for each lottery service provider can include a web server, an application server, a message exchange component and a lottery engine or transaction processing engine
[0042] As described earlier, the application server is, in one embodiment, J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) compliant. Typically, the application server can interface with system databases in order to retrieve and store transaction information. The web servers and application servers can operate in a variety of operating systems, including Windows™, LinUX™ or Unix™ operating systems, and can interface with various types of commercially available databases, including Sybase™, Oracle™, Informix™, IBM™ and Microsoft SQL™.
[0043] As shown in
[0044] At the lottery sales agent level, the system administration capabilities depend upon the sales agent and the types of lottery dispensing technologies employed. For example, a particular retailer may have stores in multiple locations and may desire to centrally manage the lottery operations of each store. Such a lottery sales agent can be provided with system and network management capabilities, reporting and interfaces for non-lottery third party applications.
[0045] Lottery sales agents can communicate directly with their particular state lottery via private network or over a public network such as the Internet. The communications between the state lottery service provider and the lottery sales agent generally pertain to the purchase and recordation of lottery drawing tickets. For example, a particular state lottery may offer instant scratch tickets as well as various types of lottery drawing games, including a Pick-3 game, a Pick-4 game, a Super Lotto game, and a multi-state game. For the lottery drawing games, it is necessary to record different fields of information to determine the ultimate cash prize distributions. Thus, the communication from a particular sales agent may include the purchaser's selected numbers, the store in which the purchase was made, the game related to the purchase, and the date and time of purchase. Once sent to the lottery service provider, this information is processed by the game's transaction processing engine and stored in a database, and information is sent back to the lottery sales agent for the printing of a lottery ticket receipt.
[0046] As shown in the method
[0047] As at
[0048] Through these capabilities, it can be appreciated that the present invention provides an enhanced platform for lottery integration. In one embodiment, the platform of the present invention can be based upon the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), and can allow lottery service providers to integrate their internal information systems with those of partners, suppliers, and distributors, while further enabling the placement and tracking of orders, the reporting of problems, and manipulation of account information. This may include, for example, connectivity to other internal or external data sources for increased business intelligence.
[0049]
[0050] As further shown in
[0051] Acquirers
[0052] As shown in
[0053] In this embodiment, commerce services
[0054] Operation
[0055] In operation, the system of the present invention allows interaction by game participants, lottery distributors, lottery providers (e.g., states), lottery retailers and third party application developers. These actors can interact with game selection and delivery, game management, system setup and commerce services. An example diagram showing the various actors and interactive capabilities in one embodiment of the invention is shown in
[0056] A lottery provider
[0057] A commissioned lottery retailer
[0058] It will be appreciated that one aspect of the present invention enhances the interactivity of the lottery system. The interactivity of the present invention provides the ability to play electronic instant style and draw based games via the Internet. In one embodiment, Internet capabilities include providing an informational web site having programming to provide results-based services such as the broadcast of winning numbers by way of email and/or short messaging service-based (SMS-based) text messages to personal computers or mobile phones, for example, as is well known in the art. In another embodiment, the system of the present invention provides a fully interactive system and wagering engine with a web-based front end and the capability to wager on electronic instant tickets. This embodiment can comprise two applications, a player application and a full administration application, both of which have a web based front end. In a further embodiment, connectivity is provided to a host wagering system
[0059] In one embodiment, the framework for providing instant games can de-couple the game play and presentation from the mechanics of the game and how it is recorded. This can be achieved by separating the presentation of the game at the front end (browser), from the system and the data generation programming (e.g., XML) at the backend, by clearly defined interfaces. This means that the range of games that can be developed is endless and will not require a change to the system itself, thereby allowing independent game developers to interact with the system of the present invention.
[0060] In one embodiment, the instant game framework operates such that the presentation layer, the game processor and the ticket generator are de-coupled. A predefined generic API can be defined that allows any number of instant game types to be added with ease. In one embodiment, the present invention can make use of Macromedia Flash™ for the presentation layer and XML can be used as a standard conduit. Additionally, the draw game framework can support Lotto games, including for example, Lotto™, Lotto Extra™, Thunderball™, Hotpicks™ and Big Draw™. The framework will also handle other game types (e.g. numbers) together with the handling of draw-based promotional tickets. Wallet management provides the ability to load, unload and adjust wallet balances. Both the player and administrative personnel have the ability to view financial (e.g., loads, wins, adjustments) transactions. Additionally, both the player and administrative personnel have the ability to view game (wager and winning) transactions. The application has a separate site that provides administration functions for both accounts and the application itself. Further administrative facilities provided by the-present invention can include such features as checking system availability, searching for user or prospect, managing user accounts and games, and creating/editing authorized users, for example.
[0061] It will be appreciated that the present system allows players and administrative personnel to create accounts. Account management includes the ability to log in, log out, reset passwords, provide for inactivity timeouts, access bookmarks, close, suspend and reinstate accounts, for example. There are a number of facilities provided by the system that allow appropriately privileged individuals to load, disable, re-enable or expire a game. Before an individual registers with the system and accesses the site they are known as prospects. Registration can be a long process. The system tracks the information being entered by a prospect and allows administrative staff to view details to give support during the registration process if required. The life cycle of both instant and draw tickets is carefully managed by the interactive system to ensure integrity and for repudiation reasons.
[0062] To encourage prospects to register and become familiar with the game offerings, the present invention incorporates a facility which present instant games that can be played without the need to be registered or wager using funds from a wallet. Similarly for draw games, players can fill in and save a playslip without the requirement to be registered. This extremely important facility has been added to ensure the integrity of the system and protect the player. The system saves details of the unfinished plays and presents them to the player for completion on next log in.
[0063] For draw-based games the rules of cancellation can mimic those present at the retailer terminal. In one embodiment, cancellations can only be executed by a suitably privileged person at the contact center. Cancelled tickets can be shown in the financial and game histories of the player. The interactive component of the present system provides extensive configurable logging capabilities. The system provides the ability for a user to create favorites (e.g., playslips) for Lotto™ and Thunderball™, for example, and save them under unique names. Once the favorites have been saved, the user can then recall them based on name in order to pre-populate or edit playslips in the future.
[0064] Upon completion of a winning ticket, the system can either a) credit the winnings to the user's wallet b) credit the winnings to the user's debit card or c) allow the user to arrange an appointment at a regional center to pick up a check (e.g., for high tier wins). Prior to the check being printed, a suitably privileged person can be required to log the claim in the interactive system, which then sends the necessary information to host (e.g., IPS) for check processing. The host can then send confirmation of the check payment back to the interactive component, which logs this to complete the cycle.
[0065] For draw-based games, the interactive component of the present system accepts a file from the host (e.g., AlphaGOLS™) that identifies and updates all draw-based tickets with either a winner or loser status after each draw. The present system also provides a ‘rollback’ facility in the unlikely event that the host has produced incorrect details. All draw-based game orders in an unknown state in the system can be tagged as cancelled in the host. In order to ensure this, the present system can create and send a file to the host containing all unknown orders for processing. This file can be sent regularly (e.g., twice daily).
[0066] In one embodiment, a standalone application can be used by game developers to test the presentation and ticket generator without the need for access to the instant game processor of the present invention. This can assist in helping to speed the delivery of new instant games, as problems are identified early in the delivery. Synchronization between the host and the interactive component of the present invention can be handled by way of a “heartbeat” message. At a configurable interval, the system can poll the host to check for any system status changes. If changes have been made, these can be requested and updated within the system. An authorized user can turn “throttles” on and off as well as configure the concurrent user limits used by the throttles. Throttles are configured per function in the database, and each function can map to a page or set of pages on the site. When one of these pages is requested and if the throttle for the function is turned on, then the number of concurrent users is checked. If the number of concurrent users is greater than or equal to the configured number of allowed concurrent users, then a standard error page is returned. A given player can elect to be a member of a trial group who will try new games and provide feedback. The system provides the ability to assign or unassign a player from a pre-defined trial group. The system provides a very flexible means of limiting the functional areas available to named groups.
[0067] For wagering users (player) the system can display a number of different notifications directed specifically to the player. These notifications inform the player about important issues regarding their account status and game playing states. The system allows for the loading and use of tokens as a method of payment for wagers. The system also allows suitably privileged personnel to adjust a player's token balance. The system further allows for player and system limits on instant games. It also provides the ability for players to elect to exclude themselves from playing an instant game or all instant games. A suitably privileged person via the administration interface can reset this setting. In one embodiment, the system provides the ability for an authorized user to execute a series of Unix commands to initiate “end of day” and “end of week” processes. The interactive component can provide a plurality of reports that cover the system sales, liabilities, player transactions and game statuses, for example. The system further allows for limited campaign management such as managing retail outlets, tokens and promotions, for example.
[0068] The interactive component of the present invention facilitates access to games on existing OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) wagering systems (e.g., AlphaGOLS™ and ProSys™) from interactive wagering systems. The term “interactive” in the present context can apply to any channel that does not include a retailer. An interactive player-based wagering system could consist of several channels, such as mobile, Internet, and interactive television channels, for example. The present invention places no restrictions on these channels. This interactivity across multiple channels can be provided in accordance with the present invention by using application programming interfaces (APIs). In a commercial implementation, such APIs can be offered as part of a software development kit (SDK). As seen from
[0069] The transaction processing in accordance with the present invention is based on the concept that each transaction arrives from a terminal (e.g.,
[0070] When a player places a wager, it passes through the Internet cloud and reaches the game processor
[0071] In the thin client embodiment, applications no longer have to be downloaded to terminals. They reside on an application server located near the central system. Game parameters no longer have to be downloaded to a terminal. All application changes are immediately available to the POS and all game parameter changes are immediately available to the POS. Nevertheless, application performance is comparable to a thick client application. Applications can be run on many thin client devices starting from a full size POS to a small handle POS. All business logic is shared and identical at all POS devices. Presentation (GUI) is the only thing that changes. Thin client implementations reduce the cost of implementation, reduce the maintenance for each terminal device type and provide secure transaction and ticket printing. In one embodiment, third party POS devices can provide their own presentation (GUI) using the POS channel and still use the same business logic as the Retail Channel for processing wagers.
[0072] It will be appreciated that the present invention provides heretofore unavailable communications and revenue opportunities for lottery retailers servicing a lottery service provider (e.g., a state). For example, retailers can be provided with telecommunications network services via the lottery system of the present invention. While at least part of the network would be dedicated to the lottery system transaction processing, any available network bandwidth can be used by the lottery retailer as it sees fit. Further, the present invention provides lottery retailers with the opportunity to view its own inventory management system using an interface in accordance with the present invention. The integration of lottery product and commercial product inventory data will enable store or corporate management to run daily accounting and shift balancing reports from a single source.
[0073] For lottery managers or the lottery director, the present invention can leverage the present invention's lottery infrastructure to provide additional management advantages. For example, retailer reporting functions can be kept separate from the lottery reports, by providing retailers with secure access to reports from a separate web site than the lottery controlled web sites. Additionally, the present invention can enable electronic distribution of data exported or extracted from the retailer accounting system and automatically generate and transfer electronic reports via the NACS-approved standard format for extensible markup language (XML EDI).
[0074] The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims of the application rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.