Gaming machine reel having a rotatable dynamic display

摘要

A gaming machine reel having a motor capable of rotating the reel operatively coupled to a controller to control a reel rotation speed, a support mechanism coupled to the motor having an outer circumferential region, a rotatable display mounted on the outer circumferential region operable to rotate about an axis of the reel. The rotatable display may be used to display game play indicia utilized in a wager-based game of chance. A game controller coupled to the rotatable display may be configured to determine a portion of the rotatable display that is visible through a viewing window on the gaming machine at a particular, determine pixel locations associated with the visible portions and map visual content to the visible portions as a function of time while the rotatable display is rotating.

主权项

1. A gaming machine, comprising:
a cabinet; a plurality of reels mounted within the cabinet, each reel comprising a physical reel structure rotatable about an axis and having an outer perimeter region; at least one display mounted on the outer perimeter region configured to rotate with the physical reel structure, said at least one display comprising an array of addressable pixels; a memory device configured to store a sequence of game play indicia utilized in a wager-based game of chance and instructions for generating images for each indicium in the sequence of game play indicia; and a gaming controller, communicatively coupled to the plurality of reels and the memory device and configured to: (a) receive a wager on an outcome of the wager-based game of chance; (b) determine an outcome to the wager-based game of chance wherein the outcome is indicated by a combination of indicia selected from the sequence of game play indicia; (c) cause each of the plurality of reels to start rotating via rotation of the corresponding physical reel structures and the at least one displays mounted thereto; (d) while each of the plurality of reels is rotating, for said reel:
(i) determine a first symbol display portion of said reel;(ii) determine a first plurality of pixel addresses on the at least one display associated with the first symbol display portion of said reel;(iii) select a game play indicium from the sequence of game play indicia;(iv) before the first symbol display portion becomes visible through a viewing window, render an image of the selected game play indicium to the first plurality of pixel addresses;(v) continue rendering the image of the selected game play indicium to the first plurality of pixel addresses while the reel rotates and the first symbol display portion remains visible through the viewing window;(vi) after the first symbol display portion ceases to be visible through the viewing window, stop rendering the image of the selected game play indicium to the first plurality of pixel addresses; and(vii) thereafter, select a different game play indicium from the sequence of game play indicia and while repeat (d)(iv) to (d)(vi) for the selected different game play indicium; and (e) stop the plurality of reels from rotating such that images of the combination of indicia selected from the sequence of game play indicia that indicate the outcome to wager-based game are visible on the reels through the viewing window.