Gaming interruption and reconnection management

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for managing interruption and reconnection of a game session in a computer based gaming system having a computerized gaming machine devised for executing a game and being communicatively connected to a remote data storage, wherein: the execution of a game comprises at least one instance of determining a set of associated game session data; an identity code is reserved for identification of each execution instance of a game; each determined set of associated game session data is associated with said identity code and stored in the remote data storage; and if an interruption occurs in the execution of a game, then the identity code for the current game execution instance is associated with a status indicator indicating that said game execution has been interrupted.

1 - 58 . (canceled) 
     
     
         59 . A method for managing a game session in a computer based gaming system including a gaming machine configured to execute a game and being communicatively connected to a gaming server including a remote data storage, said method comprising:
 receiving, by a client game module of the client gaming machine, a wager from a player to initiate a gaming session, the wager received via a credit input device of the client gaming machine;   reserving, by the client gaming machine, an identity code in the remote data storage for identification of the gaming session and the client gaming machine;   transmitting, by the client game module, a request for a game outcome to a server module of the gaming server for at least one game phase of the gaming session, the server module communicatively coupled to the client game module, the request including game rules and the wager value associated with the gaming session;   determining, by a server module communicatively coupled to a client gaming module of the client gaming machine, outcome information for at least one game phase, wherein the outcome information is based on the game parameters and a random number generated by a random number generator associated with the gaming server;   associating, by the server module, game session data for the at least one game phase with the identity code and storing the associated game session data and identity code in the remote data storage, the game session data including at least one of the wager value, the random number, and the outcome information;   associating, by a server reconnect handler of the gaming server, a status indicator with the identity code in the remote storage indicating an interruption of the game execution when an interruption occurs before completion of the at least one game phase;   providing, by the server reconnect handler, the identity code and the status indicator to the player;   retrieving, by the client game module, the stored game session data associated with the identity code from the remote data storage;   reconstructing, by the client game module, the interrupted gaming session using the at least one of the wager value, the random number, and the outcome information to determine second outcome information, wherein the second outcome information is based on the same factors as in the interrupted gaming session before the interruption occurred; and   displaying, by the client game module, the second outcome information to the player.   
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein providing, by the server reconnect handler, the identity code further comprises communicating, in response to a game interruption, the identity code for an interrupted game execution instance via a voucher to the player. 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein determining second outcome information comprises:
 determining the wager value, the random number, and a second outcome dependent on the generated random number; and   determining a win value dependent on the second outcome and the wager value.   
     
     
         62 . The method of  claim 61  wherein if the status indicator indicates an interruption of a game execution, said method further comprises reconstructing the interrupted game execution up to the point of interruption based on the game session data associated with the identify code. 
     
     
         63 . The method of  claim 62  further comprises:
 storing the identity code; and 
 communicating the identity code to a player. 
 
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 63  communicating the identity code to a player further comprises outputting the identity code to a player in a machine readable form on a printable medium that is output as a token of value in the shape of a voucher. 
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein storing the identity code further comprises associating the identity code with a player account information. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 59  wherein associating, by a server reconnect handler of the gaming server, a status indicator further comprises determining whether the game session has been completed or interrupted. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66  wherein the gaming machine is communicatively coupled to a remote data storage, said method further comprising triggering a game execution interruption if the communicative connection between the gaming machine and a remote data storage is interrupted. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 66 , further comprising triggering a game execution interruption in response to an electrical signal. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 66 , further comprising triggering a game execution interruption in response to abnormal termination of a player session. 
     
     
         70 . A gaming system for operating a gaming application, said gaming system comprising:
 a gaming server comprising a data storage, a server module, and a server reconnect handler; and   a client gaming machine communicatively coupled to said gaming server, said client gaming machine comprising a credit input device, a client reconnect handler, and a client game controller module, said client gaming machine configured to:   receive, by said client game controller module, player input signals and a wager from the player to initiate a gaming session, the wager received via said credit input device;   reserve, by said client reconnect handler, an identity code in said data storage for identification of the gaming session and the client gaming machine;   transmit, by said client game module, a request for a game outcome to said server module for at least one game phase of the gaming session, the request including game rules and the wager value associated with the gaming session;   determine, by said server module, outcome information for the at least one game phase, the outcome information based on the game parameters;   associate, by said server module, game session data for the at least one game phase with the identity code, wherein the associated game data includes the wager value and the outcome information;   associate, by said server reconnect handler, a status indicator with the identity code in said data storage indicating an interruption of the game execution when an interruption occurs before completion of the at least one game phase;   retrieve, by said client game module, the stored game session data associated with the identity code from said data storage;   reconstruct, by said client game module, the interrupted gaming session using the at least one of the wager value and the outcome information to determine second outcome information based on the same factors as in the interrupted gaming session before the interruption occurred; and   display, by said client game module, the second outcome information to the player.   
     
     
         71 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 70  wherein said server reconnect handler is configured to communicate the identity code for an interrupted game execution, generated in response to a game interruption, via a voucher to the player. 
     
     
         72 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 70 , wherein to determine, second outcome information for the at least one game phase, said client gaming machine further configured to:
 determine the wager value and a second outcome dependent on the generated random number; and   determine a win value dependent on the second outcome and the wager value.   
     
     
         73 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 70  wherein if the status indicator indicates an interruption of a game execution, said client gaming machine further configured to reconstruct the interrupted game execution up to the point of interruption based on the game session data associated with the identify code. 
     
     
         74 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 73  further comprising a printer for communicating the identity code to a player in a machine readable form on a printable medium that is output as a token of value in the shape of a voucher. 
     
     
         75 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 73 , further comprising a player tracking device, said gaming machine is further configured to associate the identity code with a player account information. 
     
     
         76 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 70  wherein said server reconnect handler is further configured to determine whether the game session has been completed or interrupted. 
     
     
         77 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 76  wherein said gaming machine is further configured to trigger a game execution interruption if the communicative connection between said gaming machine and the data storage is interrupted. 
     
     
         78 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 76 , wherein said gaming machine is further configured to trigger a game execution interruption in response to at least one of an electrical signal and an abnormal termination of a player session.