Inter
national
J
our
nal
of
Electrical
and
Computer
Engineering
(IJECE)
V
ol.
9,
No.
2,
April
2019,
pp.
1418
1425
ISSN:
2088-8708,
DOI:
10.11591/ijece.v9i2.pp1418-1425
1418
Adv
anced
play
er
tracking
system
Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek
and
Bo
ˇ
stjan
Vlao
vi
ˇ
c
F
aculty
of
Electrical
Engineering
and
Computer
Science,
Uni
v
ersity
of
Maribor
,
Slo
v
enia
Article
Inf
o
Article
history:
Recei
v
ed
Apr
11,
2018
Re
vised
Jul
6,
2018
Accepted
Jul
19,
2018
K
eyw
ords:
Gaming
industry
SAS
RFID
card
reader
Sessions
Feedback
promotions
Bounce
back
bonus
Cashless
Point
redeem
Slot
reserv
ation
ABSTRA
CT
The
Player
T
racking
System
(PTS)
is
already
well
reno
wned
in
the
Casino
industry
.
It
can
track
the
acti
vity
of
users
and
monitor
the
performance
and
operation
of
g
aming
machines.
The
recognized
do
wnside
of
such
a
system
is
that
users
usually
do
not
w
ant
to
be
track
ed,
mostly
,
because
the
y
feel
that
the
functioning
of
the
g
aming
machine
might
be
tampered
with
to
minimize
their
winning
potential.
PTS
has
to
of
fer
a
v
ariety
of
services
to
stimulate
a
user
to
use
the
membership
card.
In
this
paper
,
we
propose
an
Adv
anced
PTS
that
simplifie
s
some
tedious
tasks,
automates
con
v
ersi
on
of
bonus
points
to
playing
credits,
displays
jackpot
counters,
introduces
the
g
am
ing
machine
reserv
ation
system,
pro
vides
cashless
transfers,
deli
v
ers
interacti
v
e
personalized
a
w
ards
and
promotions
with
prize
winning
g
ames,
enables
ordering
of
refreshments
from
the
g
aming
machine,
and
pro
vides
some
additi
onal
inno
v
ati
v
e
features.
Its
use
reduces
the
w
orkload
of
cas
ino
emplo
yees
and
enables
the
casino
management
team
to
access
configuration
of
the
system
and
analytical
data
with
the
use
of
a
web
bro
wser
from
all
desired
locations
and
de
vices.
The
biggest
installation
of
the
presented
APTS
manages
more
than
400
g
aming
machines,
and
is
well-recei
v
ed
by
the
users.
Copyright
c
2019
Institute
of
Advanced
Engineering
and
Science
.
All
rights
r
eserved.
Corresponding
A
uthor:
Bo
ˇ
stjan
Vlao
vi
ˇ
c,
F
aculty
of
EE
&
CS,
Uni
v
ersity
of
Maribor
,
K
oro
ˇ
ska
cesta
46,
2000
Maribor
,
Slo
v
enia.
+386
2
220
7217
Email:
bostjan.vlao
vic@um.si
1.
INTR
ODUCTION
The
Player
T
racking
System
(PTS)
is
already
well
reno
wned
in
the
casino
industry
.
It
can
track
the
acti
vity
of
users
and
monitor
the
performance
and
operation
of
g
aming
machines.
Its
main
objecti
v
e
is
to
pro
vide
users
with
better
e
xperience
by
automating
some
tedious
tasks
and
pro
viding
additional
entertainment
with
personalized
and
interacti
v
e
content
deli
v
ery
[1].
Most
of
the
e
xisting
systems
identify
the
user
by
a
personal
membership
card
that
is
inserted
into
t
he
inte
grated
card
reader
during
the
use
of
the
g
aming
machine.
The
system
can
track
g
ames
that
were
played
[2]
and
store
the
collected
data
in
a
database
at
the
Central
Serv
er
(CS).
One
of
the
well-recei
v
ed
means
is
the
use
of
the
RFID
contactless
membership
cards
[3,
4,
5].
Acquired
data
can
be
used
to
classify
users
to
membership
le
v
els,
a
w
ard
them
with
bonus
points
and
other
gifts,
e.g.,
coupons
for
discounted
meals,
drinks,
sho
ws,
rooms,
etc.
PTS
helps
to
entice
users
to
return
to
the
casino
[6].
The
recognized
do
wnside
of
such
a
system
is
that
users
usually
do
not
w
ant
to
be
track
ed.
Mostly
,
because
the
y
feel
that
the
functioning
of
the
g
aming
machine
might
be
tampered
with
to
minimize
their
winning
potential.
Therefore,
the
system
has
to
of
fer
a
v
ariety
of
services
to
stimulate
a
use
r
to
use
the
ID
card.
Experience
sho
ws
that
a
w
arding
users
with
bonus
points
and
gifts
is
not
enough.
Players
should
be
stimulated
by
v
arious
additional
benefits.
In
this
paper
we
propose
an
Adv
anced
PTS
(APTS)
that
implements
inno
v
ati
v
e
approaches
to
stimulat
e
users
to
use
membership
cards,
pro
vides
interacti
v
e
deli
v
ery
of
a
w
ards
and
promotions,
reduces
interaction
with
J
ournal
Homepage:
http://iaescor
e
.com/journals/inde
x.php/IJECE
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
IJECE
ISSN:
2088-8708
1419
the
staf
f,
and
pro
vides
some
additional
inno
v
ati
v
e
features.
The
presented
APTS
is
already
installed
at
v
arious
casinos
and
is
well-recei
v
ed
by
the
users
[7].
After
careful
consideration,
we
ha
v
e
decided
to
focus
on
the
follo
wing
features:
(a)
Management
with
the
web
bro
wser
,
(b)
Personalized
touchscreen
interf
ace
for
the
user
,
(c)
Con
v
ersion
of
bonus
points
to
playable
credits,
(d)
Cashless
operation
with
additional
security
,
(e)
A
g
aming
machine
reserv
ation,
(f)
Display
of
the
jackpot
counters,
(g)
Ordering
of
refreshments,
and
(h)
V
arious
promotions
tar
geted
at
the
user
.
APTS
should
implement
a
we
b
frontend
that
will
enable
a
casino
management
team
to
access
configu-
ration
of
the
system
and
analytical
data
with
the
use
of
the
web
bro
wser
from
all
desired
locations
and
de
vices.
Personalization
of
services
is
possible
with
the
use
of
RFID
contactless
membership
cards.
Display
and
user
input
should
be
pro
vided
by
a
modern
touchscreen
interf
ace.
A
welcome
benefit
for
most
users
is
the
possibility
t
o
con
v
ert
bonus
points
to
playing
credits
directly
at
a
g
aming
machine
without
third-party
assistance
[6].
Point
Redeem
functionality
con
v
erts
player
bonus
points
to
playable
credits
directly
at
the
g
aming
machine.
This
greatly
reduces
interaction
with
the
staf
f
and
speeds
up
the
process.
Users
are
classified
to
membership
le
v
els
based
on
the
number
of
acquired
points.
A
number
of
acquired
points
in
a
specified
time
peri
od
might
be
the
basis
for
special
of
fers.
Therefore,
the
system
has
to
enable
t
he
user
to
check
the
amount
of
acquired
points
-
current,
lifeti
me,
and
in
a
specific
time
period
(last
year
,
month
etc.).
Lifetime
points
present
the
sum
of
all
acquired
points
since
the
user
has
joined
the
casino’
s
Lo
yalty
Program.
Cashless
operation
enables
a
user
to
open
a
virtual
bank
account
at
the
casino.
The
membership
card
has
similar
functionality
as
an
A
TM
card.
Users
can
transfer
mone
y
from
their
vi
rtual
account
to
the
g
aming
machine
or
vice
v
ersa.
Gaming
machines
distinguish
between
three
types
of
credits:
Cashable,
restricted
promo,
and
non-restricted
promo.
W
e
support
these
with
three
s
ub
accounts
[8].
W
e
pro
vide
additional
protection
from
the
misuse
of
the
membership
card
by
the
Personal
Identification
Number
(PIN).
Some
users
w
ant
to
get
some
fresh
air
or
go
for
a
short
w
alk,
b
ut
the
y
do
not
w
ant
some
other
user
to
occup
y
their
f
a
v
orite
g
aming
machine.
Accordi
ng
to
the
membership
le
v
el,
casinos
can
grant
user
the
po
wer
to
reserv
e
a
machine
under
certain
conditions
and
for
a
limited
time
[9].
Slot
Reserv
ation
functionality
pro
vides
reserv
ation
of
the
machine
for
a
limited
time.
The
time
period,
as
well
as
other
conditions
which
a
user
has
to
meet
to
be
allo
wed
to
use
this
option,
ha
v
e
to
be
configurable.
Some
users
can
entertain
themselv
es
at
a
g
aming
machine
for
hours
at
a
time.
During
these
e
xtended
periods,
a
user
will
lik
ely
desire
some
refreshments
[10].
Personal
Attendant
is
a
simple
functionality
for
calling
casino
attendant
if
help
is
needed
or
the
user
desires
to
order
some
snack.
Furthermore,
the
user
should
be
able
to
place
an
order
directly
from
the
g
aming
machine.
This
also
reduces
greatly
the
w
orkload
of
the
attendants,
who
just
deli
v
er
ordered
items
and
do
not
ha
v
e
to
collect
orders
first.
Casinos
pro
vide
promotional
materials
to
users,
b
ut
most
of
them
are
ne
v
er
used,
e
v
en
if
the
y
are
tar
geted
at
the
specific
user
group.
APTS
should
enable
deli
v
ery
of
promotions
directly
to
the
g
aming
machine.
Indi
vidual
preferences
of
the
membership
card
user
can
be
tak
en
into
account,
which
is
currently
not
supported
by
the
kno
wn
systems
[11].
In
this
paper
we
introduce
Bounce
Back
Bonus,
Jackpot
Check,
and
Feedback
Promotions.
During
the
de
v
elopment
we
ha
v
e
follo
wed
trends
in
the
user
interf
ace
design
and
best
coding
practices
with
focus
on
the
code
readability
and
with
future
e
xtensions
in
mind.
The
structure
of
the
paper
is
as
follo
ws.
In
Section
2
Results
and
Discussions
are
gi
v
en.
In
Section
2.1
we
propose
a
scalable
hardw
are
platform.
In
Section
2.2
we
present
softw
are
solutions,
including
implementation
of
the
Slot
Accounting
System,
introduction
of
sessions,
some
ne
w
features,
and
de
v
elopment
of
player
tracking
module
add-on
for
the
g
aming
machines.
The
paper
concludes
with
Section
3
where
we
gi
v
e
an
o
v
ervie
w
and
outline
the
possible
directions
for
the
future.
Advanced
player
tr
ac
king
system
(Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek)
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
1420
ISSN:
2088-8708
2.
RESUL
TS
AND
DISCUSSIONS
In
this
section
solutions
for
proposed
features
are
presented
and
discussed.
First,
we
introduce
the
hardw
are
platform
of
the
proposed
system.
It
is
follo
wed
with
the
softw
are
solutions
for
the
proposed
inno
v
ati
v
e
features.
2.1.
Hard
war
e
Platf
orm
T
o
o
v
ercome
the
detected
shortcomings
of
the
e
xisting
systems,
we
ha
v
e
decided
to
propose
a
scalable
hardw
are
platform.
W
ith
the
distrib
uted
functionality
approach
we
stri
v
e
to
support
future
upgrades
at
minimal
costs
to
the
customers.
Figure
1
presents
the
basic
b
uilding
blocks
of
the
APTS
platform.
Figure
1.
Adv
anced
player
tracking
system
o
v
ervie
w
The
system
is
controlled
by
a
Central
Serv
er
which
is
managed
with
the
use
of
the
web
fronted
fr
om
the
selected
IP
addresses.
The
CS
contains
a
database
and
enables
the
casino
management
team
to
access
the
system’
s
analytical
data
and
a
v
ailable
configuration
tools.
No
other
unit
is
accessible
via
the
Internet,
thus
the
Central
Serv
er
requires
tw
o
netw
ork
adapters,
the
first
for
the
Internet,
and
the
second
for
the
Floor
Netw
ork.
The
Floor
netw
ork
is
a
local
area
Ethernet
netw
ork
and
connects
the
Central
Serv
er
to
an
opti
o
na
l
JackPot
Controller
(JPC)
and
se
v
eral
Box
Serv
ers
(BS).
When
a
change
of
settings
is
detected,
it
is
redistrib
uted
to
the
JPC
and
BS
by
a
special
service.
JPC
manages
v
arious
jackpot
counters
that
are
increased
based
on
the
acti
vity
of
the
g
aming
machi
n
e
s
that
are
assigned
to
the
counter
.
Each
counter
has
minimum
and
maximum
v
alues.
The
majority
of
the
system
logic
is
implemented
at
the
Box
Serv
ers.
Each
BS
usually
manages
up
to
8
USB-RS422
Hubs,
while
each
of
them
pro
vides
an
interf
ace
to
6
g
aming
machines.
Therefore,
BS
can
pro
vide
access
to
48
g
aming
machines.
Usually
,
casinos
assign
up
to
20
g
aming
machines
to
each
box.
The
number
of
used
BS
is
limited
only
by
the
capabilities
of
the
netw
ork
and
CS,
which
is
not
a
real
concern
for
an
y
practical
implementation.
The
biggest
installation
of
the
APTS
managed
more
than
400
g
aming
machines.
APTS
has
to
establish
a
connection
to
each
g
aming
machine.
It
has
to
acquire
information
about
g
ames
,
statuses,
and
e
v
ents
e
x
ecuting
on
the
machine,
and
pro
vide
means
for
the
introduction
of
ne
w
features.
W
e
ha
v
e
researched
a
v
ailable
approaches,
and
ha
v
e
decided
to
implement
the
Slot
Accounting
System
Protocol
(SAS)
that
is
supported
by
most
g
aming
machine
manuf
acturers
[8].
Each
g
aming
machine
is
e
xtended
with
the
Interf
ace
Board
(IB)
that
connects
to
USB-RS422
Hub
.
The
IB
connects
to
a
g
aming
machine
with
at
least
tw
o
interf
aces:
Connection
to
the
g
aming
machine’
s
logic
board
via
RS232,
and
a
connection
to
switches
that
detect
tampering
with
the
doors
and
f
ailure
of
the
primary
po
wer
.
T
o
be
able
to
monitor
digital
inputs
non-stop
and
trigger
alarms
in
the
case
of
misconduct,
it
has
to
be
po
wered
independently
from
the
primary
po
wer
supply
of
the
g
aming
machine.
W
e
ha
v
e
decided
to
pro
vide
po
wer
o
v
er
the
RS422
b
us.
Connection
to
additional
functional
units,
lik
e
Bill
Acceptor
,
Coin
Acceptor
,
T
ick
et
Printer
are
possible.
IB
supports
up
to
three
serial
ports,
8
digital
inputs,
and
an
I
2
C
b
us.
Serial
port
signal
le
v
els,
RS232
IJECE
V
ol.
9,
No.
2,
April
2019
:
1418
–
1425
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
IJECE
ISSN:
2088-8708
1421
or
TTL,
are
selectable
by
jumpers.
Additionally
,
IB
pro
vides
the
means
to
e
xtend
the
g
aming
machine
with
custom-made
units,
lik
e
Player
T
racking
Module
(PTM)
that
we
ha
v
e
de
v
eloped
as
a
user
interf
ace.
The
presented
implementation
of
the
PTM
is
based
on
an
8-bit
PIC18F46J11
microcontroller
[12]
that
is
connected
to
the
I
2
C
b
us.
PTM
includes
a
capaciti
v
e
touchscreen
and
RFID
card
reader
.
The
resolution
of
the
touchscreen
is
480x272px.
Images,
fonts,
te
xts
and
other
files
being
sho
wn
on
display
are
st
ored
on
the
internal
SD
card.
Files
can
be
copied
directly
to
the
card
or
uploaded
via
the
serial
interf
ace.
RFID
communication
between
membership
card
and
the
reader
is
achie
v
ed
without
g
alv
anic
contacts
that
are
prone
to
f
aulty
contacting,
dirt,
unidirectional
insertion,
etc
[13].
F
or
the
con
v
enience
of
the
user
,
the
card
reader
pro
vides
a
special
slot
for
the
membership
card.
After
the
insertion
of
the
membership
card,
ID
and
a
corresponding
Cyclic
Redundanc
y
Check
(CRC)
is
read
e
v
ery
tw
o
seconds
until
the
card
is
remo
v
ed.
There
were
no
major
problems
detected
with
this
approach,
b
ut,
occasionally
,
the
reader
f
ailed
to
read
the
ID.
F
alse
detection
of
the
card
remo
v
al
presented
an
incon
v
enience
that
we
ha
v
e
tackled
with
an
additional
IR
LED
transmitter
-recei
v
er
pair
.
This
approach
has
impro
v
ed
the
operation,
b
ut
accumulated
dirt
might
interfere
with
the
card
detection
on
v
ery
rare
occasions.
2.2.
Softwar
e
Solutions
Softw
are
solutions
were
de
v
eloped
for
CS,
BS,
and
PTM.
User
Interf
ace
for
the
Casino
Management
T
eam
i
s
designed
as
a
web
application
with
HTML5,
CSS3,
PHP
,
jQuery
,
Ja
v
aScript,
JSON,
and
Ajax.
Data
is
stored
in
an
Oracle
database
11g
[14].
Softw
are
solutions
for
CS
are
be
yond
the
scope
of
this
article.
W
e
will
focus
on
the
functionalities
that
are
implemented
on
the
Box
Serv
er
and
Graphical
User
Interf
ace
(GUI)
for
the
Player
T
racking
Module.
After
some
consideration,
the
platform-independent
programming
language
Qt
w
as
selected
for
the
de
v
elopment
of
the
Box
Serv
er
softw
are.
Detailed
documentation
and
man
y
e
xamples
are
readily
a
v
ailable
[15,
16,
17].
GUI
for
the
PTM
w
as
de
v
eloped
with
the
use
of
dedicated
en
vironment
eGFX
Designer
.
2.2.1.
Slot
Accounting
System
SAS
protocol
defines
a
communication
interf
ace
between
g
aming
machine
and
system
host.
By
defini-
tion,
a
system
host
is
e
v
erything
that
is
not
part
of
the
g
aming
machine.
It
can
be
interf
aced
to
a
host
either
by
daisy
chaining
multiple
g
aming
mac
hines
to
a
single
collection
unit,
or
by
connecting
single
machines
to
smart
interf
ace
boards.
T
o
achie
v
e
higher
data
rates
per
g
aming
machine
and
a
v
oid
addressing
issues,
we
ha
v
e
decided
for
the
later
[8].
The
Slot
Logic
Board
connects
to
the
IB
with
a
19,200
baud
RS232
connection
as
sho
wn
in
Figure
1.
The
11-bit
data
pack
et
consists
of
one
start
bit,
eight
data
bits,
a
ninth
w
ak
eup
bit,
and
one
stop
bit.
Communication
is
initiated
by
sending
messages
using
general
and
long
polls.
General
polls
are
used
to
request
e
v
ent
e
xceptions,
such
as:
Game
played,
cashout
b
utton
pressed,
cashbox
full,
etc
.
Long
polls
are
used
to
request
basic
information
(type
R),
to
send
information
and
configure
the
g
aming
machine
(type
S),
to
configure
or
retrie
v
e
information
for
the
specific
g
ame
(type
M),
or
pools
m
ight
be
sent
to
multiple
g
aming
machines
simultaneously
(type
G)
[8].
Data
is
g
athered
at
re
gular
interv
al
s
with
general
and
l
ong
polls.
The
interv
al
i
s
configurable.
The
first
message
of
the
general
pool
includes
the
machine’
s
address
OR-ed
with
0x80
and
the
w
ak
eup
bit.
Gaming
machines
use
the
w
ak
eup
bit
to
determine
whether
the
recei
v
ed
byte
is
the
first
byte
of
a
ne
w
message
or
an
additional
byte
of
the
current
message.
If
no
e
xceptions
are
pending,
g
aming
machine
responds
with
00
(no
acti
vity),
otherwise
it
sends
corresponding
e
xception
code
[8].
Additional
data
is
requested
by
long
polls,
e.g.,
Send
current
credits,
Send
meters,
Send
selected
g
ame
number
.
First
message
of
the
long
poll
includes
machine’
s
address
and
the
w
ak
eup
bit.
The
one-byte
com-
mand
might
be
follo
wed
by
se
v
eral
data
bytes.
The
last
byte
of
the
long
pool
is
CRC.
Because
some
machine
manuf
acturers
do
not
support
all
pools
defined
by
the
SAS,
a
list
of
a
v
ailable
pools
is
configurable.
2.2.2.
Sessions
W
e
support
tw
o
types
of
sessions.
The
General
Session
(GS)
starts
when
the
user
authorizes
with
the
membership
card
as
sho
wn
in
Figure
2,
a.
If
the
card
is
not
inserted,
Uncarded
Session
(US)
is
started.
Each
session
has
a
unique
session
ID.
Advanced
player
tr
ac
king
system
(Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek)
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
1422
ISSN:
2088-8708
T
o
mak
e
a
det
ailed
analysis
of
the
user’
s
actions
on
a
g
aming
machine
possible,
all
data
has
to
be
recorded.
During
the
GS,
detailed
session
data
are
polled
from
the
g
aming
machine.
Acquired
information
is
then
sent
to
service
running
on
the
Casino
Serv
er
and
data
are
sa
v
ed
to
database
as
sho
wn
in
Figure
2,
b
.
F
or
this,
XML
formatted
strings
are
sent
o
v
er
the
TCP
as
sho
wn
in
Figure
3.
General
Session
terminates
if:
(a)
The
membership
card
is
remo
v
ed
and
no
playable
credit
is
present
on
the
machine,
(b)
Predefined
inacti
vity
timeout
occurs,
or
(c)
Reserv
ation
of
the
g
aming
machine
is
made.
Figure
2.
Message
sequence
chart:
card
inserted,
session
start,
cashless,
session
data
transfer
<
A
P
T
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
>
<
V
E
R
S
I
O
N
V
A
L
U
E
=
”
1
1
”
/
>
<
C
O
N
T
E
N
T
C
M
D
=
”
7
A
”
T
I
M
E
=
”
2
0
1
8
0
1
2
2
0
5
:
5
1
:
2
4
.
3
1
5
”
S
E
Q
U
E
N
C
E
=
”
5
6
7
”
S
L
O
T
I
D
=
”
3
1
”
P
L
A
Y
E
R
I
D
=
”
4
8
3
1
”
C
R
E
D
I
T
=
”
8
5
1
3
5
3
”
/
>
<
/
A
P
T
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
>
Figure
3.
XML
formatted
string
with
session
data
If
a
user
for
gets
to
insert
the
membership
card
Uncarded
Session
is
started.
It
starts
e
v
ery
time
no
other
session
is
running,
and
credits
at
the
g
aming
machine
increase.
The
user
can
load
credits
by
inserted
mone
y
,
a
purchased
tick
et,
or
an
y
other
supported
w
ay
.
US
closes
when
credits
drop
to
zero
or
after
predefined
time
of
inacti
vity
.
In
some
cases,
we
can
link
g
ames
that
were
played
withi
n
the
US
to
the
user
.
If
a
membership
card
is
inserted
during
such
session,
a
ne
w
General
Session
is
established
and
the
session
ID
of
the
closed
US
is
used
to
link
data
to
the
user
.
If
GS
w
as
closed
due
to
the
inacti
vity
timeout,
US
is
started.
Because
credit
is
not
zero,
a
user
may
play
g
ames
e
v
en
if
the
membership
card
is
remo
v
ed.
These
g
ames
are
played
within
US,
b
ut
can
be
link
ed
to
the
user
,
too.
Ne
xt,
we
present
some
inno
v
ati
v
e
functionalities
of
the
APTS.
2.2.3.
Slot
Reser
v
ation
The
reserv
ation
of
the
g
aming
machine
(Slot
Reserv
ation)
can
be
implemented
with
the
SAS
Shutdo
wn
Command.
It
does
not
actually
shut
do
wn
the
g
aming
machine,
b
ut
only
mak
es
it
unplayable.
Slot
Reserv
ation
is
triggered
by
selecting
a
corres
pond
i
ng
menu
action
at
the
PTM.
The
system
transmits
a
long
poll
0x01,
Shutdo
wn
IJECE
V
ol.
9,
No.
2,
April
2019
:
1418
–
1425
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
IJECE
ISSN:
2088-8708
1423
(Lock
Out
Play).
The
g
aming
machine
responds
with
0x01-0x7F
for
A
CK
or
0x81-0xFF
for
N
A
CK.
V
alue
of
the
A
CK
corresponds
to
the
address
of
the
g
aming
machine,
while
at
N
A
CK,
the
address
is
OR-ed
with
0x80
[8].
During
the
testing
we
ha
v
e
found
that
g
aming
m
achines
from
dif
ferent
m
anuf
acturers
do
not
respond
in
the
same
manner
.
If
a
g
aming
machine
reserv
ation
request
is
sent
during
a
g
ame,
some
g
aming
machines
accept
the
reserv
ation
and
it
is
e
x
ecuted
after
the
g
ame
is
completed,
others
den
y
reserv
ation.
T
o
solv
e
this
issue
we
ha
v
e
implemented
a
command
b
uf
fer
where
commands
w
ait
until
specific
conditions
are
met.
In
the
case
of
the
Shutdo
wn
Command,
it
is
not
transmitted
to
the
g
aming
machine
until
the
Game
End
e
xception
is
recei
v
ed.
Usually
g
ames
are
completed
in
a
fe
w
seconds
or
less.
During
this
period
we
notify
the
user
with
an
appropriate
message
on
the
touchscreen.
2.2.4.
Bounce
Back
Bonus
Bounce
Back
Bonus
(BBB)
helps
to
stimulate
a
user
to
visit
the
casino
as
soon
as
possible.
The
user
is
a
w
arded
with
credits
based
on
the
amount
spent
during
the
last
visit.
Players
are
allo
wed
to
redeem
the
a
w
ard
only
a
couple
of
days
after
the
last
visit.
The
e
xact
time
period,
as
well
as
the
amount,
is
configurable.
This
is
best
e
xplained
by
an
e
xample.
A
player
visits
the
casino
on
Monday
and
spends
e
100.
The
casino
a
w
ards
the
user
with
5%
BBB
if
the
y
visit
one
of
their
v
enues
in
the
ne
xt
three
days.
The
user
will
be
able
to
redeem
e
5
w
orth
of
playable
credits
if
he/she
returns
not
later
than
Thursday
.
Usually
,
the
BBB
amount
is
not
a
linear
function
of
the
spent
amount,
b
ut
casinos
define
dif
ferent
spending
le
v
els.
Each
le
v
el
can
ha
v
e
a
dif
ferent
BBB
amount.
2.2.5.
Cashless
SAS
defines
cashless
transfers
within
Adv
anced
Funds
T
ransfer
(AFT)
[8].
Ev
erything
is
managed
by
the
BS
and
stored
on
the
CS.
If
Automatic
Cashless
T
ransfer
is
enabled
for
the
user
,
the
amount
to
be
transferred
is
reserv
ed
on
the
CS.
F
or
each
transfer
BS
notifies
CS
if
the
transfer
w
as
successful.
If
successful,
the
reserv
ed
amount
is
deducted
from
the
user’
s
balance,
if
not,
the
reserv
ation
is
released.
When
the
user
remo
v
es
the
card,
the
re
v
erse
operation
is
performed
and
remaining
mone
y
is
transferred
from
the
g
aming
machine
back
to
the
account.
W
e
should
emphasize
that
the
balance
of
the
user
is
not
stored
on
the
card.
A
player
can
al
w
ays
check
his
current
balance,
transfer
selected
amounts
manuall
y
from
and
to
the
g
aming
machine,
and
enable
Automatic
Game
T
ime
T
ransfers
(A
GTT)
to
automate
the
transfer
.
If
A
GTT
is
enabled,
and
the
amount
of
credits
is
belo
w
the
de
fined
minimum
v
alue,
an
additional
predefined
amount
is
transferred
to
the
g
aming
machine
as
sho
wn
in
Figure
2,
a.
These
v
alues
can
be
configured
on
a
per
-user
basis.
2.2.6.
F
eedback
Pr
omotions
Casinos
w
ant
to
a
w
ard
lo
yal
users
with
additional
gifts
or
benefits.
Users
do
not
visit
a
casino
only
to
play
,
b
ut
also
to
be
entertained.
Thus,
deli
v
ery
of
the
a
w
ards
has
to
be
as
entertaini
ng
as
possibl
e.
Interacti
v
e
Feedback
Promotions
upgrade
simple
promotional
messages
with
user
interaction.
This
might
be
a
confirmation
of
the
of
fer
,
or
an
entertaining
g
ame
where
users
can
earn
additional
a
w
ards.
Games
can
be
nested
into
one
another
without
practical
limits.
Mone
y
and
amount
of
points
can
be
fix
ed
or
set
dynamically
,
based
on
the
selected
parameters,
e.g.,
the
amount
of
mone
y
that
w
as
spent
in
t
he
last
day
.
Mone
y
a
w
ards
are
uploaded
to
the
used
g
aming
machine,
points
are
added
to
the
user’
s
point
balance
on
the
CS.
If
the
a
w
ard
is
material
in
nature,
a
coupon
for
picking
it
up
is
printed
by
the
tick
et
printer
.
W
e
present
tw
o
e
xamples
of
such
g
ames,
Pirate’
s
Chest
and
Deal—No
deal.
Pirate’
s
Chest
is
a
g
ame
where
the
configured
number
of
treasure
chests
are
sho
wn
on
the
display
.
A
player
can
select
which
one
to
open
and
win
an
a
w
ard
that
might
be
inside.
The
user
can
win
another
g
ame,
a
predefined
amount
of
mone
y
,
some
playing
points,
or
a
gift,
e.g.,
free
meal,
drink,
je
welry
,
or
another
g
ame.
In
the
g
ame
Deal—No
deal
the
user
is
of
fered
an
a
w
ard
which
can
be
acce
p
t
ed
or
rejected.
If
rejected,
the
user
is
of
fered
another
a
w
ard
that
can
be
either
of
higher
or
lo
wer
v
alue.
The
user
can
ag
ain
accept
or
reject
the
of
fer
.
In
e
v
ery
iteration
the
user
is
notified
ho
w
man
y
of
fers
are
left.
The
last
of
fer
can
not
be
rejected.
Most
of
the
parameters,
e.g.,
number
of
iterations,
minimum
and
maximum
a
w
ard
v
alue,
are
configurable.
Advanced
player
tr
ac
king
system
(Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek)
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
1424
ISSN:
2088-8708
2.2.7.
J
ackpot
Check
Jackpot
counters
are
managed
by
the
Jackpot
Controller
.
The
y
are
incremented
for
a
specific
percent-
age
of
the
mone
y
spent
on
the
g
aming
machines
associated
with
each
counter
.
Each
counter
can
ha
v
e
dif
ferent
percentage
settings.
Each
machine
can
contrib
ute
to
multiple
or
no
Jackpot
counters,
depending
on
its
configu-
ration.
While
the
counter
approaches
the
maximum
v
alue,
the
probability
of
the
jackpot
increases
accordingl
y
.
Therefore,
users
are
eager
to
kno
w
the
current
v
alue
of
all
rele
v
ant
counters.
Usually
,
big
displays
are
used
to
present
the
jackpot
counters.
The
Jackpot
Check
feature
sends
a
TCP
request
to
the
JP
Controller
for
the
last
v
alues
of
the
counters
and
displays
them
on
the
touchscreen.
This
enables
users
to
track
rele
v
ant
counters
directly
at
the
g
aming
machine.
2.2.8.
Graphical
User
Interface
The
GUI
of
the
PTM
consists
of
se
v
eral
predefined
screens
that
can
be
grouped
in
playlists.
Each
screen
and
playlist
can
be
customised
by
the
customer
.
A
great
deal
of
customization
is
a
v
ail
able.
The
y
can
be
configured
for
each
indi
vidual
user
,
b
ut
this
is
usually
not
the
case.
In
standby
mode,
the
idle
screen
usually
displays
a
casino
logo
and
te
xt:
”Please,
i
nsert
your
card!”.
When
a
membership
card
is
inserted,
General
Session
starts
and
all
necessary
user
information
is
read
from
the
database.
Ne
xt,
screens
are
displayed
that
are
part
of
the
Intro
playlist.
Playlists
define
order
and
timings
for
the
displayed
screens.
Intro
Playlist
supports
tw
o
screens:
W
elcome
Screen
and
Bounce
Back
T
ransfer
.
The
W
elcome
Screen
sho
ws
user’
s
name,
welcome
message,
and
current
number
of
points.
On
the
Bounce
Back
T
ransfer
screen
the
user
can
redeem
his
Bounce
Back
Bonus
a
w
ard.
When
Intro
playlist
is
finished,
the
main
menu
screen
is
sho
wn.
From
the
main
menu
the
user
can
check
and
redeem
his
current,
monthly
,
or
absolute
points.
He
can
perform
Cashless
transaction,
check
current
Jackpot
v
alues,
call
a
personal
attendant,
order
be
v
erages
or
snacks,
reserv
e
the
machine,
and
access
basic
profile
settings.
After
an
inacti
vity
timeout,
Idle
playlist
is
displayed.
It
can
include
the
follo
wing
screens:
Jackpot
V
alues,
Points
Progress,
Bounce
Back
Progress,
and
Bounce
Back
Notification.
The
Points
Progress
screen
notifies
the
user
ho
w
much
more
has
to
be
spent
to
earn
another
point.
Bounce
Back
Progress
sho
ws
ho
w
much
until
he
reaches
the
ne
xt
a
w
ard
le
v
el.
When
a
ne
w
a
w
ard
is
achie
v
ed,
the
Bounce
Back
Notification
screen
is
displayed.
End
Playlist
is
displayed
when
the
playing
session
is
closed.
Theoretically
,
it
can
include
an
y
screen,
b
ut
usually
only
Bounce
Back
Notification
is
appropriate.
3.
CONCLUSION
Gaming
technology
mark
ets
are
e
v
olving
f
aster
than
e
v
er
.
There
is
a
constant
demand
for
adv
anced,
intelligent,
and
attracti
v
e
Player
T
racking
Systems.
In
this
article,
we
ha
v
e
presented
an
APTS
which
implements
features
that
simplify
some
tedious
tasks
,
reduce
the
w
orkload
of
casino
emplo
yees,
and
entertain
the
user
.
All
features
were
well
recei
v
ed
by
the
users.
Some
of
them
were
not
part
of
the
specification
requirements
and
were
added
during
the
de
v
elopment.
One
of
these
is
Uncarded
Sessions,
which
turned
out
to
be
a
v
ery
po
werful
tool,
and
still
has
potential
for
upgrades.
Feedback
Promotions
ha
v
e
almost
unlim
ited
potential
for
the
creati
v
e
presentation
of
the
mark
et
ing
material
and
additional
entertainment
of
the
user
.
Ho
we
v
er
,
implementation
of
comple
x
g
ames
w
ould
require
an
upgrade
of
the
8-bit
microcontroller
.
One
of
the
possibl
e
solutions
w
ould
be
to
use
an
ARM
Cote
x
processor
unit
[18].
A
CKNO
WLEDGEMENT
The
authors
ackno
wledge
the
financi
al
support
from
the
Slo
v
enian
Research
Agenc
y
(research
c
ore
funding
No.
P2-0069).
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BIOGRAPHIES
OF
A
UTHORS
Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek
recei
v
ed
his
Diploma
de
gree
of
Electrical
Engineering
from
the
F
aculty
of
Electri-
cal
Engineering
and
Computer
Science,
Uni
v
ersity
of
Maribor
,
Slo
v
enia,
in
2012.
F
or
nine
years
he
has
been
w
orking
as
a
softw
are
de
v
eloper
at
Adv
ansys
d.o.o,
a
compan
y
committe
d
to
de
v
eloping
top-of-the-line
IT
systems
for
the
g
aming
industry
on
a
global
scale.
Bo
ˇ
stjan
Vlao
vi
ˇ
c
recei
v
ed
his
Diploma
and
Ph.D.
de
grees
from
the
F
aculty
of
Electrical
Engineering
and
Computer
Science,
Uni
v
ersity
of
Maribor
,
Slo
v
enia,
in
1999
and
2004,
respecti
v
ely
.
He
is
currently
an
Assistant
Professor
with
the
Uni
v
ersity
of
Maribor
.
His
main
research
areas
are
in
the
field
of
telecommunications.
Advanced
player
tr
ac
king
system
(Ale
ˇ
s
ˇ
Sk
erbinek)
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.