# US 10,055,938 B2 · Crowd based bonus and promotional system and method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,055,938 B2 - Document ID: US10055938B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/345,290 - Filed: 2016-11-07 - Published: 2017-02-23 - Granted: 2018-08-21 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-12 - Assignees: Certus Technologies - Applicants: Certus Technologies - Inventors: Rick Rowe - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10055938B2 ## CPC - G07F 17/3255: {Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements} - G06Q 30/0207: Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates - G06Q 30/0235: constrained by time limit or expiration date - G07F 17/3206: {Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics} - G07F 17/3211: {Display means} - G07F 17/3237: {about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players} - G07F: COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS (coin sorting G07D3/00; coin testing G07D5/00; {handling coins or paper currencies apart from payment activated apparatus G07D; payment architectures, schemes or protocols G06Q20/00}) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract A bonus and/or promotion system, such as for a casino or other retail location, includes one or more sensors for detecting the presence of one or more persons at a location and a bonus or promotion generator configured to generate and output bonuses or promotions based upon detected levels of persons in an area. The bonus or promotion generator may provide an output to existing audio and/or visual display devices of the location for announcing bonuses or promotions. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of providing a progressive bonus comprising: providing at least one sensor configured to detect the presence of at least one person in a first area of a plurality of areas at a location; transmitting an output of said at least one sensor through a network to a progressive bonus generator comprising at least one server that includes non-transitory machine readable instructions for generating a progressive bonus and a database that includes progressive bonus configuration data; increasing a progressive bonus amount when at least one person is detected in said first area of said location, generating at said at least one server a bonus award comprising at least a portion of said progressive bonus amount; and transmitting from the server via the network information regarding said bonus award to at least one display device of said location. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said location comprises a casino. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one display comprises a video display or an audio device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of: a thermal sensor, a wireless beam sensor, a proximity sensor, and an RFID sensor. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said bonus award is generated when said number of persons is above a predetermined threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said bonus award is generated when said number of persons is below a predetermined threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step of compiling information from said at least one sensor to generate information regarding said number of persons in said first area. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said bonus award is only redeemable at a second area of said location. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said bonus award is generated randomly via a trigger based on said number of persons above a predetermined threshold causing said bonus award to be awarded at a designated location. ### Claim 10 A system for providing a progressive bonus comprising: at least one sensor configured to detect the presence of at least one person, said at least one sensor located in a designated location; a progressive bonus system server, said server comprising a processor, at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing machine readable instructions to generate a progressive bonus, and at least one database of progressive bonus information; a first communication link between said at least one sensor and said progressive bonus server, an output of said at least one sensor being provided to said progressive bonus system server via said first communication link; and at least one second communication link between said progressive bonus system server and at least one existing system at said location, said progressive bonus system server being configured to generate a progressive bonus dependent upon at least a number of persons detected in at least one area of said location as detected by said at least one sensor and received via said first communication link, and information regarding said generated progressive bonus is provided to said at least one existing system via said at least one second communication link. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein said at least one database defines at least one progressive bonus based upon a number of sensed persons. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system in accordance with claim 11 wherein said number of sensed persons comprises a number of sensed persons above a threshold number. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The system in accordance with claim 11 wherein said number of sensed persons comprises a number of sensed persons below a threshold number. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein said at least one existing system comprises a system which includes at least one video display. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein said at least one existing system comprises a gaming system comprising a plurality of gaming machines. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein said at least one existing system comprises a table gaming system comprising a plurality of table games. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The system in accordance with claim 10 wherein said progressive bonus comprises a randomly generated trigger based on the number of persons above a predetermined threshold causing said progressive bonus to be awarded at a designated location.