Service controller for servicing wagering game machines

#A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which the claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any person of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever. Copyright 2006, 2007, WMS Gaming, Inc.

#This invention relates generally to the field of wagering game machines and more particularly to the field of troubleshooting and servicing wagering game machines.

#A wide variety of computerized wagering game machines are now available to casino operators and players. Computerized wagering game machines range from slot machines to games that are traditionally played live, such as poker, blackjack, roulette, etc. These wagering game machines provide many benefits to game owners and players, including increased reliability over mechanical machines, greater game variety, improved sound and animation, and lower overall management cost.

#The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the Figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is a dataflow diagram illustrating dataflow attendant to operations for remotely servicing wagering game machines, according to example embodiments of the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a wagering game machine, according to example embodiments of the invention;

#Methods and apparatus for servicing wagering game machines are described herein. This description of the embodiments is divided into five sections. The first section provides an introduction to embodiments of the invention. The second section describes example gaming device architectures, while the third section describes example operations performed by some embodiments of the gaming device architectures. The fourth section describes gaming machines and gaming network and the fifth section provides some general comments.

#This section introduces embodiments of the invention. In one embodiment, wagering game machines can electronically report varying types of service information to remotely located service controllers. The service controllers can analyze the service information along with service plans applicable to the wagering game machines. The service controllers can, based on the service information and service plans, take measures to repair/maintain the wagering game machines.

#In one embodiment, the service controller can use general service information to determine that specific wagering game machine components need service. For example, the service information can indicate how many maximum bets were made in a given time period. If the number of maximum bets is uncharacteristically low, the service controller can determine that the “max bets” button needs service. The service controller can determine how to service the “max bets” button based on a service plan (e.g., a service contract) covering the wagering game machine. The following discussion of FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of such a system.