Patent US5952640 - Gaming machine system operable with general purpose charge cards

United States Patent [w]

Lucero

IIIIIIH

US005952640A

[ii] Patent Number: 5,952,640

[45] Date of Patent: *Sep. 14,1999

[54] GAMING MACHINE SYSTEM OPERABLE WITH GENERAL PURPOSE CHARGE CARDS

[75] Inventor: James L. Lucero, Arcadia, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Scotch Twist, Inc., New York, N.Y

[ * ] Notice: This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

[21] Appl. No.: 09/157,777 [22] Filed: Sep. 21, 1998

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation of application No. 08/718,206, Sep. 20, 1996, abandoned, which is a continuation of application No. 08/430,354, Apr. 28, 1995, Pat. No. 5,559,312, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 08/060,277, May 11, 1993, Pat. No. 5,457,306, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 07/950,980, Sep. 23, 1992, abandoned, which is a continuation of application No. 07/740,814, Aug. 6, 1991, abandoned, which is a continuation of application No. 07/453,991, Dec. 19, 1989, Pat. No. 5,038,022.

[51] Int. CI.6 G06F 15/21; G06F 15/44

[52] U.S. CI 235/380; 902/23; 463/25;

463/29

[58] Field of Search 235/375, 380;

902/23; 463/25, 29, 41

[merged small][merged small][merged small][table]

In a gaming establishment, a player feeds a general purpose charge card such as a VISA, MasterCard or AMERICAN EXPRESS card to a reader at a gaming machine or enters on a keyboard or other input device, information relating to the general purpose charge card, and keys in a desired amount of playing credit and optionally, a PIN (personal identification number) for automatic transmission to a remote financial institution (VISA or other charge card facility) either directly or through an intermediate transaction processing facility. Also transmitted are an identification of the gaming machine and the gaming operator. Upon approval of the requested playing credit, the gaming machine is enabled and thereafter a running net (balance) is kept for the player and/or each machine and/or the gaming operator by accounting for win-lose-draws. After the playing session is over, net playing credit information is automatically transmitted to the financial institution either directly or through an intermediate transaction processing facility so that the entire playing sessions can be a single line item on the player's regular statement from that financial institution. Provisions are made to allow a player to use the same playing credit to play on more than one machine at the same time, to quit a machine and quickly move to another and still keep the same running balance, and to move from one gaming establishment to another on the same running balance.

34 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets