Apparatus and method for retrofitting candle devices on a gaming machine

US008083592B2

(12) UIllt€d States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,083,592 B2 Wells (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 27, 2011 (54) APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR 5,605,506 A * 2/1997 Hoorn et al. .................. .. 463/42 RETROFITTING CANDLE DEVICES ON A 5 2 1\;\/8:189 , , e ers GAMING MACHINE 5,844,808 A 12/1998 Konsmo et al. 5,908,354 A 6/1999 Ok ' ' (75) Inventor: William R. Wells, Carson City, NV (U S) 6,146,276 A 11/2000 ()1<EIZ¥IZZ 6,286,756 B1 9/2001 Stinson et al. (73) Assignee: Leap Forward Gaming, Reno, NV (US) 6,379,246 B1 4/ 2002 Dabrowski 6,533,659 B2 3/2003 Seymour et al. ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Bfuvlllfgg et a1‘ P??? ilssixgelideg 3; adjusted under 35 638463238 B2 I/2005 Wells y ' ' ' ( ) y yS' (Continued) (21) Appl‘ NO‘ 12/943792 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS (22) Filed: Nov. 10, 2010 EP 0 744 786 11/1996 (Continued) (65) Prior Publication Data US 2011/0195786 Al Aug. 11, 2011 OTHER PUBLICATIONS _ _ U.S. Office Action mailed Sep. 6, 2011, from U.S. Appl. No. Related U.S. Application Data 12/943,798‘ (60) Provisional application No. 61/303,106, filed on Feb. 10, 2010, Primary Examiner * Dmitry Suhol Assistant Examiner * Carl V Larsen (51) Int- CL (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm * Beyer Law Group LLP G06F 21/06 (2006.01) G06F 11/30 (2006.01) (57) ABSTRACT G06F 17/00 (2006.01) . . . . . . G06 F 13/14 (200601) A gam1ng perlpheral for a gaming machine is described. The A 6 3 F 9/00 (200601) gaming peripheral can be configured to emulate the functions (52) U S Cl 463/42, 463/46, 463/29, 463/25, ofa lighting device, such as a candle. The gaming peripheral ’ ’ ’ 463/24’ can be configured to provide enhanced gaming features such (58) Field of Classification Search .................. .. 463/46, as 1) enhanced networking capabilities, 2) enhanced PeriPh' 463/42 eral device monitoring and upgrade capabilities, 3) enhanced See application file for Complete Search history player monitoring and security capabilities 4) enhanced gaming function capabilities and 5) enhanced player reward capa(56) References Cited bilities. The enhanced gaming features can be provided in a

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