Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02475718 2004-07-26
Attorney Docket No. 5887-313
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
TOUCHSCREEN AMUSEMENT DEVICE
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
60/486,237 filed July ?, 2003, entitled "Touchscreen Amusement Device," the
entire contents of
which is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a touchscreen amusement device, and
more
particularly, to a touchscreen amusement device having a touchscreen display
and a controller
integrally mounted within a display housing and having a rear-mounted support
stand.
Touchscreen amusement devices for playing electronic games, music, video and
multimedia are generally well known in the art. Most prior art touchscreen
amusement devices
include a cathode ray tube (CRT) touchscreen monitor, a controller board, a
sound system and a
revenue device or devices. The overall size of the CRT touchscreen
necessitated cabinets that were
at least as deep as the CRT which were on the order of 16-36" deep depending
on the screen-size of
the CRT touchscreen. Thus, the cabinets for the prior art touchscreen
amusement devices were
bulky and box-like in appearance for both countertop cabinets and free-
standing floor cabinets
(upright and table versions).
One prior art touchscreen amusement device, the VibeTM, commercially available
from Merit Industries, Inc., Bensalem, Pennsylvania, incorporates a liquid
crystal display (LCD)
flatscreen touchscreen display to reduce the overall footprint of the cabinet.
The revenue system for
the VibeTM is integral with the LCD flatscreen display cabinet. However, the
VibeTM requires a
separate cabinet for housing the amusement device controller which is
connected to the LCD
flatscreen display cabinet by a bundle of cables in order to permit remote
mounting of the
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amusement device controller from the combined LCD flatscreen display and
revenue system
housing.
It would be desirable to provide a touchscreen amusement device having a
touchscreen and a controller integrally mounted within a display housing and
having a rear-mounted
support stand. It would also be desirable to provide a touchscreen amusement
having a touchscreen
and a controller integrally mounted within a display housing which is
selectively detachable from a
revenue system for remote mounting.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a touchscreen amusement device that includes a
display housing, a touchscreen display disposed within the display housing and
an amusement
device controller disposed within the display housing. The amusement device
controller is coupled
to the touchscreen display and is configured to display and control at least
one of a electronic games,
music, video and mufti-media applications using the touchscreen display. The
touchscreen
amusement device also includes a rear-mounted support stand configured to
receive and support the
1 S display housing.
In yet another aspect, the present invention is a flatscreen touchscreen
amusement
device including a display housing having a front, a rear, a top edge and a
bottom edge. The
flatscreen touchscreen amusement device includes a flatscreen touchscreen
display disposed within
the display housing, a memory storage device disposed within the display
housing for storing system
control software and at least one of electronic games, music, video and mufti-
media applications and
an amusement device controller disposed within the display housing. The
amusement device
controller is coupled to the touchscreen display and the memory and is
configured to display and
control at least one of electronic games, music, video and mufti-media
applications using the
touchscreen display. The flatscreen touchscreen amusement device includes a
rear-mounted support
2S stand configured to receive and support the display housing. In varying
embodiments, the rear-
mounted support stand includes a coin acceptor having a coin acceptance slot
located in a top front
facing section of the rear-mounted support stand above a top edge of the
display housing and/or a
paper currency acceptor having a paper currency acceptance slot located in a
bottom front facing
section of the rear-mounted support stand below the bottom edge of the display
housing.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of
preferred
embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in
conjunction with the
appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are
shown in the drawings
embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however,
that the invention is
not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the
drawings:
Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a touchscreen amusement device in
accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the touchscreen amusement device of Fig.
1;
Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the touchscreen amusement device of Fig.
1;
Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the touchscreen amusement device of Fig.
l;
Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the touchscreen amusement device of Fig. 1; and
Fig. 6 is a partially exploded view of the touchscreen amusement device of
Fig. 1
having a display, stand and coin acceptor selectively detached.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only
and is
not limiting. The words "right," "left," "lower" and "upper" designate
directions in the drawings to
which reference is made. The words "inwardly" and "outwardly" refer to
directions toward and
away from respectively, the geometric center of the device discussed and
designated parts thereof.
The terminology includes the words above specifically mentioned, derivatives
thereof and words of
similar import. Additionally, the word "a" as used in the claims and in the
corresponding portions
of the specification, means "one or more than one." Further, the terms "coin"
or "currency" should
not be construed as limiting and can be used herein to mean all forms of coin
and paper currency
from any country as well as proprietary tokens, game cards, credit cards,
debit cards, chits, or other
representative forms of credit and/or payment.
Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown in Figs. 1-5 a touchscreen
amusement device 10 that has a touchscreen display l4 and an amusement device
controller U 1
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which are both integrally mounted within a display housing 16. The amusement
device controller
U1 is coupled to the touchscreen display 14 and is configured to display and
control electronic
games, music, video or mufti-media applications using the touchscreen display
14. Preferably, the
touchscreen display 14 is a flatscreen display (i.e., a flatscreen touchscreen
display 14). The
touchscreen display 14 may be a liquid crystal. display (LCD) touchscreen
display, but the
touchscreen may be other touchscreen display technologies which provide a
reduced depth,
flatscreen display.
The touchscreen amusement device 10 also includes a memory storage device U2
disposed within the display housing 16 for storing system control software and
at least one of
electronic games, music, video and mufti-media applications. The memory
storage device U2 can
be any known memory storage device such as a hard disk drive, a compact disk
read only memory
(CD-ROM), a DVD/DVD ROM, an optical disk drive, a FLASH read only memory (ROM)
or
random access memory (RAM) device, an electronically erasable programmable
read only memory
(EEPROM or EPROM) and the like. The memory storage device U2 may even be
integrated with
the amusement device controller U 1, such as built in FLASH ROM/R.AM. The
system control
software includes programming code for operating the touchscreen 14, counting
revenue and/or
credits, system functions such as time/date, sound drivers and the like.
Electronic games may
include action games, strategy games, card games, trivia games and the like.
The music and video
may be compressed files or analog files as is known in the art.
The touchscreen amusement device 10 also includes a rear-mounted support stand
18. The rear-mounted support stand 18 is configured to receive and support the
display housing 16.
Preferably, the rear-mounted support stand 18 is configured with a revenue
system 20, but need not
be. The revenue system 20 includes at least one of a coin acceptor 22, a paper
currency acceptor 24
and a card-reader 23a or 23b (phantom on Fig. 1). The rear-mounted support
stand 18 is modularly
configurable to accept a combination of the revenue devices 22, 23b, 24. When
the revenue system
20 is configured with the coin acceptor system 22, a coin bucket 22b (phantom
in Figs. 3-4) is
removably mounted to the back portion of the rear-mounted support stand 18.
Preferably, the rear-
mounted support stand 18 includes both the coin acceptor 22 having a coin
acceptance slot 22a
located in a top front facing section of the rear-mounted support stand 18
above a top edge of the
display housing 16 and a paper currency acceptor 24 having a paper currency
acceptance slot 24a
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located in a bottom front facing section of the rear-mounted support stand 18
below the bottom edge
of the display housing 16.
The card reader 23a or 23b may optionally be mounted on either the display
housing
16 (i.e., 23a) or on the rear-mounted support stand 18 (i.e., 23b). The card
reader 23a or 23b is
configured to read at least one of a magnetic stripe, a bar code or a smart-
chip, and can be
configured to read combinations thereof. For example the card reader 23a or
23b may be able to
read both a bank or credit card magnetic stripe (i.e., an American Banking
Association or ABA
compatible magnetic stripe) and a proprietary magnetic stripe, bar-code or
smart chip such as a card
for amusement halls, hotels, cruise-ships, resorts, and the like.
The rear-mounted support stand 18 further includes a pedestal base 19 to
provide
greater stability when the touchscreen amusement device 10 is placed in a free-
standing orientation
such as on a bar or table (not shown). However, the rear-mounted support stand
18 may be stably
placed without a pedestal base 19 as well. Further, the rear-mounted support
stand 18 may also be
physically secured to a surface using screws, bolts, glue, mounting brackets
or the like.
The display housing 16 may also include integral speakers 28 for playing music
and
sound effects associated with the electronic games, music, videos, and/or
multi-media files
controlled by the amusement device controller U1. The touchscreen amusement
device 10 may also
include outputs for remote audio amplification by an external sound system
(not shown).
While referred to herein as a rear-mounted support stand 18, the support stand
18
may be mounted at either side or the top or bottom edges of the display
housing 16. Furthermore, as
shown in the attached Figs. 1-5, the revenue system 20 and rear-mounted
support stand 18 are
generally aligned in the middle of the display housing 16 (or about the
centerline thereof).
Alternatively, the revenue system 20 and rear-mounted support stand 18 may be
generally aligned
off the centerline of the display housing 16.
In an alternate embodiment, the display housing 16 is selectively removable
from the
rear-mounted support stand 18 (Fig. 6). Such a configuration allows for
mounting the display
housing 16 in an alternative location such as on a wall, on a reduced
footprint stand 19 or the like,
remote from the coin/money receiving mechanisms such as coin acceptor 22 and
bill acceptor 24
and/or a card reader 23a123b.
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In another alternate embodiment, the display housing 16 may be selectively
detachable from the revenue system 20 for remote mounting of the display
housing 16 from the
revenue system 20 (Fig. 6). The revenue system 20 may be remotely mounted even
when the
display housing 12 is mounted to the rear-mounted support stand 18. Such a
configuration allows
for a single revenue system 20 which is accessible by a plurality of
touchscreen amusement devices
10. The coin acceptor 22 and bill acceptor 24 may take on other shapes, be
configured in other
arrangements or be mounted in a dedicated housing (not shown) as would be
obvious to one skilled
in the art.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention comprises a
touchscreen
amusement device, and more particularly, a touchscreen amusement device having
a flatscreen
touchscreen display and a controller integrally mounted within a display
housing and having a rear-
mounted support stand. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that
changes could be made
to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive
concept thereof. It
is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular
embodiments disclosed,
but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the
present invention as
defined by the appended claims.
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