Showing mobile device display on a electronic gaming machine

Abstract

A gaming system compatible with patron-controlled mobile devices, such as smart phones or tablet computers, is described. The gaming system can be configured to allow a copy of a current mobile device's screen display to be output to a display on a wager-based electronic gaming machine. A person at the EGM can use the copy of the mobile device's screen display on the EGM to determine that their phone is currently paired with the EGM. In one embodiment, the mobile device can be remotely controlled from the EGM. For instance, touch screen inputs received at the EGM can be used to affect a state of the mobile device.

1 . A method in a wager-based electronic gaming machine (EGM) including a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
 establishing communications with a mobile device;   receiving a copy of a mobile device screen display from the mobile device; and   displaying the copy of the mobile device screen display to a display on the EGM wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display is used to indicate that a mobile device with the mobile device screen display is in an active communication session with the EGM.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein EGM further includes a wireless interface for direct communications with the mobile device and established communications are via the wireless interface. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the establishing communications comprises establishing a secure pairing with the mobile device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communications with the mobile device are via a remote server in communication with the mobile device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising: sending a request to the remote server to enable communications between the mobile device and the EGM. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the copy of the mobile device display screen received from the mobile device includes a copy of all or a portion of a frame buffer from the mobile device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein mobile device is configured as a VNC server to allow or the all or the portion of the frame buffer to be sent to the EGM. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: receiving high-level instructions for generating the copy of the mobile device display and based upon the high-level instructions generating the copy of the mobile device screen display to be sent to a frame buffer associated with the display on the EGM. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display is generated using approved content stored on the EGM. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: determining whether the copy of the mobile device screen display includes objectionable content. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , when objectionable content is detected, removing or obscuring the objectionable content. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , when objectionable content is detected preventing the copy of the mobile device screen display from being displayed on the EGM. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: during an unbroken communication session between the mobile device and the EGM, receiving a plurality of copies of the mobile device screen display wherein each copy represents a state of the mobile device screen display at a particular time and replacing on the EGM display a first copy of the mobile device screen display from a first time with a second copy of the mobile device screen display from a second time. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: determining a time interval between updates of the EGM display with a new copy of the mobile device screen display. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: receiving player tracking information from the mobile device and instantiating a player tracking session based upon the received player tracking information wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display is used to indicate that the player tracking information was received from the mobile device that provided the copy of the mobile device screen display. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising: terminating display the copy of the mobile device screen display to indicate that the player tracking session based upon the player tracking information received from the mobile device is no longer in force. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: receiving information from the mobile device for determining that the mobile device is currently executing an approved application that is outputting content to the mobile device display screen. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: receiving input data indicating a selection from the copy of the mobile device screen display, sending data to the mobile device that causes a state of the mobile device, including content output to the mobile device screen display, to change. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the data sent to the mobile devices causes an application on the mobile device to be launched. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the data sent to the mobile device is used to indicate a selection of an item within an application executing on the mobile device. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising receiving a new copy of the mobile device screen display after the state of the mobile device has changed wherein the new copy reflects the state change on the mobile device. 
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , where the copy of the mobile device screen display is output to the display while the display includes images associated with a presentation for the wager-based game. 
     
     
         24 . A computer readable storage medium for executing computer code on a processor in a wager-based electronic gaming machine comprising:
 computer code for establishing communications with a mobile device;   computer code for receiving a copy of a mobile device screen display from the mobile device; and   computer coded for displaying the copy of the mobile device screen display to a display on the EGM wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display is used to indicate   that a mobile device with the mobile device screen display is in an active communication session with the EGM.   
     
     
         25 . A method in server including a processor and a memory configured to communicate with a plurality of wager-based electronic gaming machines (EGMs), the method comprising: establishing communications with a mobile device;
 determining the mobile device is in the vicinity of a first EGM;   establishing communications between the mobile device and the first EGM;   receiving a copy of a mobile device screen display from the mobile device; and   sending the copy of the mobile device screen display to the first EGM for output to a display on the first EGM wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display is used to indicate that the mobile device with the mobile device screen display is in an active communication session with the first EGM.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising: during an unbroken communication session with the mobile device, terminating the communications between mobile device and the first EGM;
 determining the mobile device is in the vicinity of a second EGM;   establishing communications between the mobile device and the second EGM;   receiving a new copy of a mobile device screen display from the mobile device; and   sending the new copy of the mobile device screen display to the second EGM for output to a display on the second EGM wherein the new copy of the mobile device screen display is used to indicate that the mobile device with the mobile device screen display is in an active communication session with the second EGM.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the copy of the mobile device screen display occupies a portion of the display on the EGM and the copy of the mobile device screen is at least partially surrounded by a game displayed on the display on the EGM.