主权项 |
1. Apparatus for determining an award of a set of prizes where each prize in the set has a respective prize value, the apparatus including:
memory for storing prize data indicative of prize values (CP1 . . . CPn) in the set; an input device configured to receive input signals from a respective plurality of slot machines, each of the slot machines including an acceptor configured to receive credit value to establish a credit balance, a wager input device configured to receive one or more wagers from one or more players, each wager being deducted from the credit balance, and a redemption device configured to enable the one or more players to redeem the credit balance; a component configured to: (i) process the input signals for successive time periods, thereby to determine a contribution amount based on the wagers received at the slot machines for each time period; (ii) access weighting data, wherein the weighting data includes a weighting value (W1 . . . Wn) respectively associated with each prize value (CP1 . . . CPn), wherein the weighting values define relative proportions of the contribution amount applied to the respective prize values such that the contribution amount is divided between the prize values for each time period; and (iii) for each time period, apply the weighting values to the contribution amount, thereby to determine a plurality of increment values (IV1 . . . IVn), such that each increment value (IV1 . . . IVn) corresponds to a respective weighting value (W1 . . . Wn) and a respective prize value (CP1 . . . CPn); an increment device configured to maintain, for each prize value (CP1 . . . CPn) a respective corresponding accumulated value (AV1 . . . AVn), wherein the increment device is configured to receive data indicative of the increment values (IV1 . . . IVn) for each period and, in response, increment in parallel one or more of the corresponding accumulated values (AV1 . . . AVn), towards the prize values (CP1 . . . CPn); and a comparator configured to determine, for each period, whether incrementing of the accumulated values (AV1 . . . AVn) has caused one or more of the accumulated values (AV1 . . . AVn) to meet or exceed its associated prize value (CP1 . . . CPn) and, if so, generate an award signal for those one or more prize values, set the weighting values associated with those one or more prize values to zero, and increase the weighting values not associated with those one or more prize values such that the contribution amount is divided between the prize values for which the weighting value is non-zero. |