WO2006077384A1

WO2006077384A1 - Secure control

Info

Publication number: WO2006077384A1
Application number: PCT/GB2006/000123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Derek Peter Lynch; Andrew Nicholas Walker; Robert Clay Bailey
Original assignee: CARNABY GAMING MACHINES Ltd
Current assignee: CARNABY GAMING MACHINES Ltd
Priority date: 2005-01-19
Filing date: 2006-01-13
Publication date: 2006-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 2007-07-19
Also published as: GB0501077D0

Abstract

A method and apparatus for a fruit machine are disclosed. The fruit machine includes a master microcontroller storing data determining a prize profile of the fruit machine .

Description

Secure Control

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a casino and/or coin-operated machine . In particular, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to a fruit machine which is secure and easy to assemble .

Fruit machines are well known and have a wide variety . One type of fruit machine is a mechanical reel fruit machine in which mechanical reels in the form of drums which have symbols displayed around the cylindrical surface of the drums rotate . After a spinning session, in which all of the reels or only selected ones of the reels rotate, the symbols on a win line or close to a win . line indicate whether a person playing the fruit machine has won or lost . It is well known that individual machines play according to a prize profile . The prize profile determines a manner in which the machine pays out . Prize profiles are often closely guarded secrets as the success of a particular machine will be substantially dependent upon the prize profile .

Another type of machine which is well known is one in which the mechanical reels are replaced by a screen with images made to represent rotating reels being displayed under control of a processor. It will be understood that embodiments of the present invention are not restricted in application to any one of these fruit machine types but rather are generally applicable .

Traditional systems for casino and coin-operated machines use a central microprocessor to manage the whole machine . More recent systems use a powerful processor running the most complicated operating systems with many modern day fruit machines including sophisticated processors . In addition most systems use an additional custom logic device to enforce security. Security is an issue so as to avoid monetary fraud whereby anyone accessing the processor storing a game profile could change the function of a machine and thus alter the pay out on any spin. Also when the fruit machines are sold it has been known for some miscreant to illegally change a processing chip within a fruit machine to convert the way a cheaper fruit machine operates into the way a much more expensive fruit machine operates . This loses money for fruit machine manufacturers .

Another problem which is commonly noted by fruit machine manufacturers is the manner in which different parts of the machine must be connected together to supply power and signalling to the various parts of the fruit machine . The wiring and connections in a fruit machine are commonly referred to as harnessing . When a new fruit machine is wired or when an old fruit machine is refitted the harnessing operation can be time consuming and costly. Also the complexity of the harnessing process makes the process prone to user error which may subsequently cause the machine to malfunction .

It is an aim of the present invention to at least partly mitigate the above-mentioned problem.

It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a fruit machine and a fruit machine itself which is secure and not susceptible to tampering by third parties .

It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a fruit machine and a fruit machine itself in which the component parts of the fruit machine are laid out so that wiring can be simple .

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a fruit machine, comprising : a master microcontroller storing data determining a prize profile of the fruit machine .

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for manufacturing a fruit machine, comprising the steps of : providing a fruit machine cabinet including a cabinet body and at least one door; and ' providing a master microcontroller in said cabinet body; wherein said master microcontroller is arranged to store data determining a prize profile of said fruit machine .

^' Embodiments of the present invention provide a fruit machine in which microcontrollers rather than microprocessors are used to control operation of the fruit machine . Microcontrollers are not only simpler and cheaper devices than microprocessors but are also more secure because they are non replicatable .

Embodiments of the present invention use microcontrollers to store the prize profile of the fruit machine . Microcontrollers have natural security advantages over microprocessors since the programme memory and the data memory can be hidden. Most other systems known in the prior art use EPROM' s or flash- memory cards to hold the programme memory. The EPROM' s and RAM chips in which data is held can be easily read and duplicated. In the past an additional custom logic device such as a security chip has been required to ensure this does not happen . Embodiments of the present invention avoid the requirement for the additional custom logic device .

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described hereinafter, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :

Figure 1 illustrates a fruit machine; Figure 2 illustrates parts of a fruit machine ;

Figure 3 illustrates a connector;

Figure 4 illustrates a system bus of a fruit machine ; and

Figure 5 illustrates a microcontroller .

In the drawings like reference numerals refer to like parts .

Figure 1 illustrates a fruit machine in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The term fruit machine will be referred to throughout this specification and it will be understood that the term is meant to broadly encompass all types of casino and/or coin-operated machines . , The fruit machine includes a cabinet 11 and cabinet door 12. These are illustrated more clearly in Figure 2. The cabinet body 11 contains many working parts of the fruit machine such as mechanical reels 13. Five mechanical reels are illustrated in Figure 2 although it will be understood that embodiments of the present invention are not limited to such a number of reels nor indeed to mechanical reels . Indeed embodiments of the present invention may be applied to electronic fruit machines in which the place of the reels is taken by a display screen with images displayed on the screen representing the symbols 14 which are displayed around a circumferential surface of the reels . The door 12 has five viewing windows 15₀ to 15₄ through which a user can view the reels during play . As is known in the art a user introduces a coin or other token into the machine via an access point 16 or in some other way pays for credit with the machine . The credit remaining is displayed at a display part 17 of the machine . Play is iniated by pulling the handle 18. It will be appreciated that play may alternatively be automatically initiated or initiated by pressing a button 19. Further buttons 20 are provided to enable a user to control some further aspect of the fruit machine according to a game play. For example the buttons 20 may be used to hold reels so that during a spinning mode of operation selected reels identified by the user do not spin.

When a user has acquired credit in the fruit machine the reels are spun during a game . The mechanical reels 13 rotate and symbols displayed on the reels will rotate accordingly. As the reels come to rest after a spinning session the alignment of the symbols on the reel determine whether a user has won or lost . The win/lose condition is determined by the alignment of the symbols with respect to a win line 21. Whether a particular configuration of symbols wins or loses is determined by a prize table 22 which is displayed for a user to view . For example the prize table will determine that any lemon symbols displayed on the win line in any position will pay out a certain amount . The prize table is publically known. The reels are display mechanisms and their movement is controlled by individual stepper motors so that a suitably precise alignment of the reel can be assured after each spin. The reels have 20 symbols per reel and 200 stops per 360° turn. Reels are not limited to these numbers of symbols or stops .

A tower lamp 23 is located on the top surface of the fruit machine 10 so as to indicate when a large win is paid out or to provide some other indication to staff or users . When a win takes place tokens or money in the form of coins are ej ected into a tray 24 for collection by a player .

A main game board 25 is located in a secure box 26 within the fruit machine cabinet . A master microcontroller 27 is located on the game board. Embodiments of the present invention rely on microcontrollers rather than microprocessors for control of the fruit machine . Microcontrollers are simpler and cheaper devices than microprocessors but also display a range of advantages . The system for controlling the fruit machine divides the management of the machine into distinct tasks and allocates a microcontroller to each task. The result is an array of microcontrollers distributed throughout the fruit machine cabinet working in concert to achieve a complete casino or coin-operated system.

Microcontrollers have natural security advantages over microprocessors . Most importantly the programme memory and the data memory can be hidden . This is in contrast to prior art fruit machines in which EPROM' s or flash-memory card are used to hold the programme memory. Also further data is held in RAM. chips which are physically separated from the processor. EPROM' s and RAM chips can be easily read and duplicated so that prior art systems require an additional custom logic device to maintain the manufacturer' s security. By using microcontrollers embodiments of the present invention overcome this problem. The programme memory and data memory within each microcontroller device of the fruit machine 10 invokes built-in security. Once set by the system manufacturer the microcontroller security prohibits any reading of the programme and data memory and also prohibits any externally initiated partial reprogramming . At least one of the microcontrollers , for example the master microcontroller 27 may however be configured by the system manufacturer to allow limited upgrades in the field. These encoded modifications can be limited to predefined parameters and the main body of the system will remain hidden at all times .

As illustrated in Figure 2 spinning of each reel is carried out under control of a respective reel microcontroller 28_O to 28₄ secured to a local printed circuit board (PCB) 29_O to 29₄. Control signals and power is provided to each of these PCB' s via a two-wire communication bus . Many gaming systems in the prior art require a large number of interconnections between the various sub assemblies . An advantage of embodiments of the present invention is that processing of particular commands is devolved down to individual peripherals which allows simple commands to be handled on a two-wire communication bus . In addition to the two-wire communication bus some power and signal connections may be accommodated within an eight conductor cable . An industry-standard RJ45 connect or standard CAT 5 cable provides a very quick positive locking connection. In this way the game board 25 may be connected (either directly or via a motherboard) to each of the PCB' s 29 using commonally obtainable cabling . The system describes the allocation of conductors within standard CAT 5 cabling with RJ45 connectors 30 as illustrated in Figure 3. Each connector 30 may be provided with a locking tab 31 to provide simple push and click connections between the various peripheral parts of the fruit machine . This standardisation reduces the production costs and time to cable/connect all of the various working parts together . This cabling, referred to as harnessing, can be a very time consuming process . There is an additional advantage in that replacement harnessing can be purchased "off the shelf" in many retail outlets . In an emergency a field engineer can local-purchase a CAT 5 cable and it will work in the fruit machine to run the reels or the LED displays or the hard meters or many other peripheral portions .

Figure 4 illustrates how the master microcontroller 27 connected to the main game board 25 communicates with the further microcontrollers distributed throughout the fruit machine 10. The master microcontroller controls communication over a data bus 40 so that no other microcontrollers talk to each other but only react to instructions provided from the main microcontroller . Only the microcontroller on the game board 25 initiates communication between microcontrollers . Figure 5 illustrates the microcontroller 27 in more detail . An example of such a microcontroller is the microcontroller type PIC18F452 manufactured by Microchip Inc . The microcontroller includes a programme memory 50 which stores data determining the prize profile of the specific fruit machine 10. The prize profile determines the likely hood of achieving a win under any given circumstances . Effectively it determines the pattern of prize monies returned to the user when they play the machine . The prize profile determines many parameters including the statistical output of a machine and whether money paid out by the machine is paid out in one big infrequent payment or many smaller payments . The prize profile is a key foundation and most guarded secret as it determines the very characteristics of how a specific fruit machine plays . By storing data determining this prize profile in a microcontroller fraud and other types of problems associated with prior art fruit machines in which the prize profile is determined by a microprocessor which can be accessed by a criminal are obviated. A portion 51 of the programme memory 50 is provided so that the running of a fruit machine can be updated. The updated method includes a port 52 which is connected to the updatable programme portion 51. The port 52 is connected via some suitable connection such as CAT 5 cabling with RJ45 connectors to a user input output socket 53 (shown in Figure 2) . Alternatively because the instructions and control of an updating process may be complex a four or six-wire cable may be used. A manufacturer may choose to update some part of operation of the fruit machine at any time subsequent to an initial build. New instructions for the fruit machine will be determined by the manufacturer and these may be loaded onto a device provided to a field engineer . The device may be a simple memory stick having a USB link for connecting to the input socket 53 or may be on a laptop or PC which is taken to the location of the fruit machine and then connected via socket 53 or a memory stick provided by the manufacturer . The programme memory portion 51 may then be updated . This update may be in the form of- a patch as is known by those skilled in the art . It is to be appreciated that the programme portion 51 is kept separate and distinct from the main memory portion 50 of the programme memory. At no point can a third party access or change the majority portion of the programme memory 50. The master microcontroller 27 also includes a data memory 54 for holding data during processing operations . Instructions for distribution to slave microcontrollers are derived from the program memory instructions of the master microcontroller . A further input/output port 56 provides a connection to the data bus 40 so that instructions from the master microcontroller 27 may be provided to the further microcontrollers or signals from the remote further microcontroller may be provided to the on-chip processing .

As illustrated in Figure 4 the game board 25 also includes further slave microcontrollers . One of these is a further slave microcontroller 56 for controlling a real time clock (RTC) . A further microcontroller 57 is responsible for monitoring certain switches such as door switches . A further microcontroller 58 which is located on the game board 25 controls the generation of sound which is heard by a user during game play. The sound microcontroller 58 communicates with a sound flash rom 59 during the sound generation process . It will be appreciated that the game board may be a plug in game board which can be secured in the box 26. In this way a field engineer can remove an old or faulty game board and replace it with a new game board. By providing game boards which may be removably secured to the fixed protective box 26 the game play of a fruit machine can be altered since each game board will include the new master controller which may have a different prize profile . In accordance with alternative embodiments of the present invention the game board may be fixed and not removable .

The fruit machine also includes a motherboard 60. The motherboard acts as a distribution board distributing necessary signals around the machine . The motherboard may be located in the box 26 or in some other space within the cabinet or on the door . The motherboard provides a common connection point for the various components in the machine . The motherboard distributes the data and power to other peripherals on the system bus and also provides a connection point to the world outside the machine for electronic data collection. The motherboard provides serial connections which can be configured to protocols common in the industry so as to communicate with electronic data collection systems or serial peripherals like ticket printers . The microcontroller on the motherboard can also be configured to provide signals to communicate with other devices via the publicly declared "cctalk" protocol .

Cables from the motherboard are connected to each of the reel controlling microcontrollers 28. These connectors may be RJ45 and CAT 5 cabling .

A daughterboard 61 is connected to the data bus

40. The daughterboard may be located in the door 12 of the fruit machine so as to provide signals or alarms when the door is opened. The daughterboard 61 includes a further door microcontroller 62 for this purpose . The daughterboard 61 provides data services on the door of the machines . It provides connections for the buttons , button-lamps and VFD display and coin validators . It also distributes the main bus to other peripherals on the door, like the LED board and the meterboard. This has considerable advantage in minimising the number of cables which cross from the main cabinet to the door across the hinge .

An LED board 63 which may also be provided on the door of the fruit machine includes a further microcontroller which is an LED microcontroller 64 for providing instructions determining how LED' s or some other lighting on the fruit machine will operate .

A meterboard 65 includes a further microcontroller which is a meter microcontroller 66 determining metering of coins/tokens held by the fruit machine and paid out by the fruit machine .

The system thus distributes tasks so that time- critical peripherals do not monopolise a main game processor. This is a problem with some prior art devices . An example of a time-hungry peripheral in a gaming machine is the task of spinning say five reels . Each reel is a stepper-motor which may need servicing a thousand times each second. With prior art machines the signalling for this stepping motion has meant that large cables including very many wires have been necessary. This has made harnessing of the fruit machine costly. According to embodiments of the present invention each reel carries its own microcontroller whose only task is to service that one reel . The main game controller need only send a simple command to each reel and let it manage the spin unattended. Similar efficiencies are made with LED numeric displays . The microcontroller which controls the bank of LED displays needs only one simple command and can then be left to manage the display flashing or other visual effects without needing processing time from the main game controller .

Embodiments of the present invention provide the advantage that the system can be augmented to suit a specialist market or peripheral . The system bus configuration allows straight forward expansion without the need to redesign the existing system component boards . Embodiments of the present invention also provide a low component redundancy. This is because whilst with other prior art systems where main boards must be provided with components to handle more reels or lamps than are always required, bespoke boards may be provided and fitted simply in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention . As such these game boards do not need to use redundant components .

Embodiments of the present invention provide a machine with the potential for reduced manufacturing costs . Whereas generally the cost of modern microprocessors varies greatly from a few pounds up to one hundred pounds the microcontrollers used according to embodiments of the present invention are typically a few pence or a pound each. Equally custom logic chips required for system security with prior art fruit machines cost many pounds plus an initial tooling charge of some hundreds of pounds . Embodiments of the present invention do not require use of these custom security chips .

Also embodiments of the present invention keep harnessing costs low because common standard cabling and connectors may be used. Another advantage of the present invention is that system boards using microcontrollers in accordance with embodiments of the present invention do not generate much heat unlike prior art fruit machines which use processor boards . As a result there is no requirement for additional cooling fans .

Embodiments of the present invention also provide the advantage that the fruit machines can be smaller than those constructed according to prior art systems . This is because the microcontrollers are small and the number of additional chips required is small and the circuit boards are small . As will be appreciated, the provision of multiple small boards , rather than one single large board means that it is easier to accommodate the necessary boardage in a fruit machine cabinet .

Embodiments of the present invention have been described above by way of example only. It will be understood that modifications to the details of the specifically described example may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A fruit machine, comprising : a master microcontroller storing data determining a. prize profile of the fruit machine .

2. The fruit machine as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising : a plurality of reels each including symbols disposed around a circumferential surface of the reel , symbols on said reels ^' being arranged to indicate a win/lose condition after a spinning mode of operation; and at least one further microcontroller for providing instructions for spinning at least one of said reels .

3. The fruit machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein each said further microcontroller comprises a non replicatable data store for storing data determining said instructions .

4. The fruit machine as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein each reel of said plurality of reels is spun according to instructions provided by a one further microcontroller .

5. The fruit machine as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 further comprising : a plurality of further microcontrollers each associated with a respective one of said plurality of reels ; wherein each further microcontroller provides instructions to spin the respective reel associated with that microcontroller .

6. The fruit machine as claimed in 1 , further comprising : a user display for displaying images representing symbols on a plurality of reels , said symbol images indicating a win/lose condition after a spinning mode operation; and wherein said master microcontroller provides instructions for initiating said spinning mode of operation.

7. The fruit machine as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a programme memory determining operation of the fruit machine is located in a microcontroller .

8. The fruit machine as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising : a data bus ; and a plurality of microcontrollers distributed throughout a fruit machine cabinet and each arranged to perform a respective operation when initiated by signals sent by the master microcontroller via the data bus .

9. The fruit machine as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising : a harnessing assembly distributed throughout a fruit machine cabinet comprising a two-wire communication bus .

10. The fruit machine as claimed in claim 8 wherein said harnessing assembly comprises CAT 5 cable connected to a plurality of microcontrollers via respective RJ45 connectors .

11. The fruit machine as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said master microcontroller includes a memory port which may be written to to thereby update instructions provided by the microcontroller, and wherein the fruit machine further comprises an input/output port arranged to receive a memory device for downloading new data to said master microcontroller via the memory port .

12. A method for manufacturing a fruit machine, comprising the steps of : providing a fruit machine cabinet including a cabinet body and at least one door; and providing a master microcontroller in said cabinet body; wherein said master microcontroller is arranged to store data determining a prize profile of said fruit machine .

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising the steps of : mounting a plurality of reels in said cabinet body, each said reel including symbols disposed around a circumferential surface of the reel for indicating a win/lose condition after a spinning mode of operation . ^*

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 further comprising the steps of : providing a plurality of further microcontrollers each associated with a respective one of said plurality of reels , wherein each further microcontroller provides instructions to spin a respective one reel associated with that microcontroller .

15. The method as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13 further comprising the steps of : providing a data bus ; and providing a plurality of further microcontrollers distributed throughout the fruit machine cabinet each being arranged to perform at least one respective operation when initiated by signals sent by the master microcontroller via the data bus .

16. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising the steps of : providing a user display for displaying images representing symbols on a plurality of reels in said cabinet body; wherein said master microcontroller provides instructions for initiating a spinning mode of operation after which symbols displayed on the user display indicates a win/lose condition.

17. The method as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 16 further comprising connecting each microcontroller to a data bus via CAT 5 cabling and at least one RJ45 connector .

18. A method substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings .

19. Apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings .