ASSEMBLY FOR NETWORKING A PLURALITY OF GAMING MACHINES TO A CENTRAL SERVER AND WITH IMPROVED MICROPROCESSOR CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL AND FAULT ANALYSIS

摘要

An assembly for networking a plurality of gaming machines to a centralserver situated at a remote location from the individual gaming machines. Eachof the gaming machines includes a main processor. A plurality of peripheralcontrollers are provided with each controller being slaved to a selectedperipheral operating device associated with the gaming machine. Theperipheral controllers are each operable to transmit to the main processor datarelative to the operation of each peripheral device. A distributed networkarchitecture and communication protocol is established between the mainprocessor and peripheral controllers which facilitate collection of data by themain controller through reduced internal wiring. A communication networkconsisting of an existing AC power line network within a facility operablyconnects each of said main processors associated with separate gamingmachines in parallel to a network interface adapter/controller (NIAC) and thento network server. A first network interface adapter unit contained within eachof said gaming machine outputs frequency converted signals across said existingAC power line network and the network interface adapter and control unit(NIAC) reconverts the frequency input into a digitized output for transmissionto the network server.