Security of gaming software
AssigneeWMS Gaming Inc.
InventorsThomas Gentles, Timothy Loose, Wayne Rothschild
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gaming machine to conduct a wagering game comprises a processing apparatus and a secondary apparatus. To inhibit unauthorized persons from replacing some or all of the software executed by the processing apparatus with unapproved software, the processing apparatus transmits a security message to the secondary apparatus. The secondary apparatus, in turn, validates the security message and transmits an enable signal when the validation is successful, or a disable signal when the validation is not successful. The processing apparatus is allowed to access to game data based on receipt of the enable signal and is denied access to game data based on receipt of the disable signal.
Claims23
A gaming machine to conduct a wagering game, the gaming machine comprising:
- a processing apparatus to transmit a security message;
- a secondary apparatus to receive and validate the security message, the secondary apparatus to transmit an enable signal in response to successful validation of the security message and transmit a disable signal in response to an unsuccessful validation of the security message;
- and
- a gaming machine component to receive the enable or disable signal, the gaming machine component to allow the processing apparatus access to game data after receipt of the enable signal and deny the processing apparatus access to game data after receipt of the disable signal.
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- transmitting a security message from a processing apparatus to a secondary apparatus;
- validating the security message with the secondary apparatus;
- transmitting, from the secondary apparatus to a gaming machine component, an enable signal in response to a successful validation of the security message, wherein after receiving the enable signal, the gaming machine component allows the processing apparatus to access game data;
- and
- transmitting, from the secondary apparatus to the gaming machine component, a disable signal in response to an unsuccessful validation of the security message, wherein after receiving the disable signal, the gaming machine component prevents the processing apparatus from accessing game data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.