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US 10,896,567 B2Granted
Electronic gaming machines with out-of-process rendering
AssigneeAristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited
InventorsThomas Rizos, Donovan David Meyer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic gaming machine architecture is provided in which a gaming platform application and wagering game applications are executed in separate processes but may share access to common display windows; such display windows may be caused to be generated by the gaming platform application, which may then assign specific display windows to the various wagering game applications, along with window handles usable to direct graphical content thereto. The wagering game applications may then direct graphical content to the display windows, while the gaming platform application may retain control over the size, position, transparency, and/or z-order of the display windows.
Claims20
An electronic gaming machine comprising:
- one or more display devices;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more memory devices, wherein:
- the one or more display devices, the one or more processors, and the one or more memory devices are operably connected, and
- the one or more memory devices store computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to cause:
- an operating system for the electronic gaming machine to be executed;
- a gaming platform application to be executed as one or more first processes in the operating system;
- the gaming platform application to cause a plurality of display windows to be instantiated on the one or more display devices, each display window having a corresponding window handle;
- the gaming platform application to obtain the window handle for each display window instantiated by the gaming platform application;
- a first plurality of wagering game applications to be executed, each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications executed as one or more respective second processes in the operating system, wherein each second process is separate from the one or more first processes;
- the gaming platform application to assign a display window to each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications and to provide each wagering game application with the window handle associated with each display window assigned thereto;
- each wagering game application to output graphical content for a wagering game to the display window associated therewith using the corresponding window handle;
- each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications to provide game event messages to the gaming platform application indicative of wagering game events in the wagering game provided by that wagering game application;
- the gaming platform application to identify a first wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications that has provided a first game event message (i) of the game event messages and (ii) indicating that a winning outcome is to be displayed in the display window assigned to the first wagering game application;
- and
- cause one or more of the display windows to be modified in advance of the display of the winning outcome and responsive to receipt of the first game event message by performing one or more actions selected from the group consisting of:
- (a) increasing the size of the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (b) moving the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to a new location on the one or more display devices, (c) causing a display window of the plurality of display windows that is not assigned to one of the wagering game applications to display graphical content in a region that surrounds the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (d) causing the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to cyclically expand and contract in size, and (e) causing one or more display windows of the plurality of display windows that are not assigned to the wagering game applications to display a semi-transparent, uniform color field over all of the display windows assigned to the wagering game applications except for the display window assigned to the first wagering game application.
15 more elements
A method comprising:
- causing one or more processors of an electronic gaming machine to execute an operating system for the electronic gaming machine;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to execute a gaming platform application as one or more first processes in the operating system;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, cause a plurality of display windows to be instantiated on the one or more display devices, each display window having a corresponding window handle;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, obtain the window handle for each display window instantiated by the gaming platform application;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to execute a first plurality of wagering game applications, each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications executed as one or more respective second processes in the operating system, wherein each second process is separate from the one or more first processes;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, assign a display window to each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications and to provide each wagering game application with the window handle associated with each display window assigned thereto;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to cause each wagering game application to output graphical content for a wagering game to the display window associated therewith using the corresponding window handle;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the wagering game applications in the first plurality of wagering game applications, cause each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications to provide game event messages to the gaming platform application indicative of wagering game events in the wagering game provided by that wagering game application;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, manage one or more of size, location, z-order, and transparency of each of the plurality of the display windows based on the wagering game events;
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, identify a first wagering game application of the plurality of wagering game applications that has provided a first game event message (i) of the game event messages and (ii) indicating that a winning outcome is to be displayed in the display window assigned to the first wagering game application;
- and
- causing the one or more processors of the electronic gaming machine to, through execution of the gaming platform application, modify one or more of the display windows in advance of the display of the winning outcome and responsive to receipt of the first game event message by performing one or more actions selected from the group consisting of:
- (a) increasing the size of the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (b) moving the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to a new location on the one or more display devices, (c) causing a display window of the plurality of display windows that is not assigned to one of the wagering game applications to display graphical content in a region that surrounds the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (d) causing the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to cyclically expand and contract in size, and (e) causing one or more display windows of the plurality of display windows that are not assigned to the wagering game applications to display a semi-transparent, uniform color field over all of the display windows assigned to the wagering game applications except for the display window assigned to the first wagering game application.
10 more elements
A computer-readable, non-transitory medium storing one or more computer-executable instructions for controlling one or more processors of an electronic gaming machine having one or more display devices, wherein the computer-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable, non-transitory medium are configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, control the one or more processors to cause:
- an operating system for the electronic gaming machine to be executed;
- a gaming platform application to be executed as one or more first processes in the operating system;
- the gaming platform application to cause a plurality of display windows to be instantiated on the one or more display devices, each display window having a corresponding window handle;
- the gaming platform application to obtain the window handle for each display window instantiated by the gaming platform application;
- a first plurality of wagering game applications to be executed, each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications executed as one or more respective second processes in the operating system, wherein each second process is separate from the one or more first processes;
- the gaming platform application to assign a display window to each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications and to provide each wagering game application with the window handle associated with each display window assigned thereto;
- each wagering game application to output graphical content for a wagering game to the display window associated therewith using the corresponding window handle;
- each wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications to provide game event messages to the gaming platform application indicative of wagering game events in the wagering game provided by that wagering game application;
- and
- the gaming platform application to manage one or more of size, location, z-order, and transparency of each of the plurality of the display windows based on the wagering game events;
- the gaming platform application to identify a first wagering game application of the first plurality of wagering game applications that has provided a first game event message (i) of the game event messages and (ii) indicating that a winning outcome is to be displayed in the display window assigned to the first wagering game application;
- and
- one or more of the display windows to be modified in advance of the display of the winning outcome and responsive to receipt of the first game event message by performing one or more actions selected from the group consisting of:
- (a) increasing the size of the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (b) moving the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to a new location on the one or more display devices, (c) causing a display window of the plurality of display windows that is not assigned to one of the wagering game applications to display graphical content in a region that surrounds the display window assigned to the first wagering game application, (d) causing the display window assigned to the first wagering game application to cyclically expand and contract in size, and (e) causing one or more display windows of the plurality of display windows that are not assigned to the wagering game applications to display a semi-transparent, uniform color field over all of the display windows assigned to the wagering game applications except for the display window assigned to the first wagering game application.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.