Earliest Patent Allowing for Secondary Controller in Picture-in-Picture Applications in Gaming Machines
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Tipping Point Gaming (TPG), a pioneer and leading developer of “Picture-In-Picture” (PIP) style systems and applications for the casino gaming industry, has announced today that it has signed an exclusive license agreement with WMS Gaming Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Scientific Games Corporation, for its Dunn patent, US Patent No. 6089975.
The Dunn patent teaches how a secondary controller added to an existing gaming machine can intercept the data going to the gaming machine’s video display and introduce additional data to produce a different and desired outcome on the video display that would not be available from the original gaming machine. Dunn specifically claims, for example, how the game video can be interposed with interactive advertising and then presented together on the gaming machine’s display.
“Dunn was truly a visionary / pioneer in the area of PIP for the gaming industry and this patent is significant in that it is one of the earliest active patents in this category predating any other PIP patents on the market. We are pleased to have taken an exclusive license to such an important patent,” said Sam Johnson, CEO of TPG.
TPG’s flagship product, PlayItVision®, is a patented proprietary PIP-style system capable of offering wager-based side games, customized and targeted marketing promotions, and event-based bonusing on any existing deployed EGM. With PlayItVision, players can choose to increase their action on a slot machine by playing side-bet games alongside their favorite games while the casinos enjoy improved incremental net win per day from their existing deployed gaming assets.
TPG’s PlayItVision technology is compatible with all manufactures make and model of slot machines and systems. By leveraging the already deployed assets on the casino operator’s floor, PlayItVision unifies the delivery of games and applications regardless of the manufacturer, resulting in minimized costs to implement a server-based/PIP gaming and marketing solution. Further, by unifying the legacy slot floor with HTML5 capabilities, PlayItVision allows for easy development and deployment of games and applications by TPG’s casino partners, as well as the ability to tap into the growing pool of 3rd party games and app providers.
Johnson added, “Licensing the Dunn Patent not only helps pave the way for TPG’s proprietary PIP delivery technology, it exemplifies our commitment to expand our intellectual property portfolio which now stands at more than 30 IP assets. We are eager to employ this powerful portfolio of IP to continue to provide unique and innovative gaming and bonusing applications for our casino partners.”