HK1195163A - Electronic game and/or entertainment device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a game and/or entertainment device, more particularly in the form of a coin-operable or token-operable gaming machine and/or gambling device with multiple separate display units for presenting information, more particularly game contents and/or game information, wherein at least one of the display units is furnished with a touch panel for inputting control commands by touching. According to the invention, the touch panel is formed continuously over at least one part of each of at least two different display units. By extending the touch panel across the boundary region or intermediate space between two display units, it is possible to achieve a continuously closed off front of the device, despite the use of multiple display units, whereby the structure of the corresponding device wall is simplified and the security against intrusion into the housing at gaps is increased.

Description

Electronic game and/or entertainment device

The invention relates to a gaming and/or entertainment device, in particular in the form of a token-operated and/or token-operated gaming machine, having a plurality of separate display units for displaying information, in particular game content and/or game information, wherein at least one of the display units is provided with a touch panel for inputting control instructions by touch.

These game devices can for example form reel spinning slot machines which are designed electronically and in which a plurality of spinning reels are represented in a rotating manner on a display unit together with various game symbols and a prize is output if a reel with the same game symbol stops along a winning line. In addition to this display unit, which represents the actual game, for example in the form of a designated reel, there is often provided at least one further display unit, which displays additional game information, such as, for example, prizes, gaming chips and the like which are obtained. The display unit can be designed in the form of a screen which can display, in particular electronically, the game content and the game information, wherein, in particular, a plurality of screens can be arranged one above the other in a housing having a general tower shape. Below these display units or screens, there can be provided, for example, at the abdominal level of a player standing in front of the game apparatus, an operator control panel with operator control elements, such as a slot, a lottery printer and control keys, such as a control chip key or a start/stop key, which can be activated mechanically or in some other way by means of sensors and can be used, among other things, for operating or stopping the reels. In these game devices, the additional screen is installed not only in order to be able to display supplementary game information, such as, for example, other game possibilities of the device or other betting states, but also in order to be able to allow different games to be run simultaneously, as a result of which the player can additionally be provided with entertainment via the respective other screen during less exciting phases of the game.

Recently, it has been proposed here to provide the screen or the display unit with some touch panel in order to control the device by touching the display or a separate display element itself, for example in order to activate or move a display element on one of the screens, for example in order to rotate the representation of the roulette wheel or to stop the representation of the rotating reel. Document US7,479,065B1 shows a reel spinning slot machine arrangement in which a touch panel is arranged above a display unit for displaying reels, which reels may be designed in the form of a screen or an actual mechanical reel arrangement, so that the rotation of the reels can be controlled by touching said touch panel. The control assigned to the touch panel is here designed in such a way that the device user can rotate the scroll bar accordingly with a sweeping movement of a finger along the touch panel. A sensor system assigned to the touch panel here senses a specified swipe movement, which is then converted by the controller into a corresponding actuation of the reel drive or of the screen display.

Further examples of touch screen operated game devices are known from the documents AT 006316U 1 or EP 1953632 a 2.

If these gaming or entertainment devices have multiple screens designed to touch the screen in order to permit control instructions to be input by touch in each case, the implementation of the housing or the encapsulation of the interior of the gaming machine can be difficult. Since the touch panel surface must be arranged in an exposed manner in order to permit a corresponding touch, the display unit designed as a touch panel cannot be enclosed behind a transparent housing panel (for example in the form of a large glass panel), since then these touch panel screens can no longer be touched. In view of this, separate viewing windows are typically formed in the housing for the plurality of separate display units. However, this approach complicates the implementation of the housing, as various intermediate spaces between the individual display units must be taken into account. In addition, safety issues may be exacerbated as the number of intervening spaces and edge areas increases, leading to greater susceptibility to mechanical manipulation, such as by attempting to penetrate the joints between individual display elements using mechanical objects such as screwdrivers.

The invention is based on the object of providing an improved game or amusement device of the type mentioned at the outset which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art and which advantageously develops the prior art. In particular, in the case of a gaming or entertainment device having a plurality of separate display units with touch screen operation, the design of the device housing is simplified and the protection against mechanical manipulation is improved.

According to the invention, the specified objects are achieved by means of a game and/or entertainment device according to claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

In order to solve this specific problem, it is proposed to no longer assign a separate touch panel to each individual display unit, but to actually provide a common touch panel for at least two display units which are themselves arranged and designed separately. According to the invention, the touch panel is designed to be continuous over at least a part of at least two different display units in each case. Since the touch panel extends over the border area or intermediate space between two display units, a continuously closed device front face can be obtained even if a plurality of display units are used, as a result of which the design of the corresponding device wall is simplified and the protection against penetration into the housing over the gap area is improved.

The touch panel can be designed and arranged here in such a way that information from the various display units can be seen on the same touch panel and that the display units can be actuated from the same touch panel by touching a plurality of display units. Thus, the touch panel advantageously forms not only a cover plate extending over a plurality of display units, but also a functional unit that interacts with a plurality of separate display units and permits interactive processing of information displayed on the various display units. In this context, various portions or sections of the touch panel are located above various display units. While the first section of the touch panel is exclusively assigned to the first display unit and/or extends exclusively over the designated first display unit, the second section of the touch panel is exclusively assigned to the second display unit and/or extends only over this second display unit. Various display units are located under various sections of the same touch panel.

The display units themselves may each form a number of components here, which are themselves independent and may be designed in such a way that they can function independently, in addition to a common touch panel. In particular, these display units may form display assemblies which can be installed and/or replaced independently of one another and/or may have power supply sections which are designed independently of one another and/or control modules which are designed independently of one another and which control the display elements produced on the respective display unit. In the context of the present application, the display unit can be, in particular, a screen or a mechanical reel assembly, preferably having two, three, four or more rotatable reels, wherein a screen forming the display unit is designed flat in the sense of a conventional flat screen or curved in the sense of an electronic reel display screen. In the context of the present invention, separate display units are therefore in particular display assemblies which can function independently and which have display regions which can be seen or perceived independently of one another and which each permit the complete display of an independent game. The display ranges or image sections of the separate display units (which can be seen from the device operator console) are preferably located outside one another, in particular in such a way that the display ranges or image sections of the display units which can be seen from the device operator console are outside the display ranges or image sections of the respective other display units. Accordingly, the sections of the touch panel assigned to the separate display units are then also arranged outside one another, considered from the device operator console. However, the display units are combined in terms of their arrangement and in terms of their function by means of the common touch panel to such an extent that the visible display area of the display units is at least partly located below the common touch panel, and/or the display of the plurality of display units can be varied by means of the common touch panel, or control instructions relating to the display elements on the various display units can be influenced.

In this context, the touch panel does not necessarily have to extend over the entire visible display area of the display unit assigned to it, especially if only a part of the information available on the display unit is provided for interactive processing on the display unit. However, the touch panel advantageously extends over a large area of the entire display area of all separate display units assigned to the touch panel, wherein the touch panel may advantageously extend over a large area of the entire display area of the apparatus, including the display areas of the various separate display units. If the display unit of the game or entertainment device is arranged on the front side of the housing, in its upper region (as may be the case, for example, in so-called stand-alone devices), the touch panel advantageously extends substantially over the entire upper front side of the device housing, wherein, if appropriate, the housing shell may be provided on the edge (for example, in the case of a door or window frame).

In an advantageous development of the invention, the game or entertainment device may comprise three separate display units, which are preferably arranged one above the other, wherein the designated touch panel (here designed in a continuous and integral manner) extends over the visible display areas of the three separate display units.

Because a continuous touch panel is used, it is advantageously also possible to mount display units of different sizes and/or different formats and/or having different surfaces contoured in varying ways without the need for special adaptations of the device housing. In a development of the invention, the touch panel can extend over a plurality of display units which are designed differently and/or are arranged with different degrees of tilt. Thus, even if some display elements are used which are arranged differently curved or offset with respect to one another or which adopt different formats with respect to one another, a device surface which is contoured in a uniform or continuous manner can be obtained in the region of the display elements. For example, flat screens and screens with curved surfaces can be assembled with one another into display units, on which screens a uniformly profiled touch panel extends, with the result that the touch panel does not require an irregularly configured device housing wall.

In one development of the invention, the touch panel can be contoured in a planar as well as curved manner, wherein combinations thereof can also be provided, for example in such a way that a panel section curved in an arcuate manner adjoins a planar panel section. Independently of the features explained above, the use of a touch panel with at least one curved panel section entails certain advantages even in the case of a device with only one screen and in particular permits an organic housing shape which can be configured in a coordinated manner without the need to take into account a specific screen contour with a smooth, in particular curved, outer or viewing face. According to an aspect of the invention, a touch panel having at least one section with at least one uniaxial curvature may extend in particular over a planar display area of a display unit of an interactive terminal. The interactive terminal here may be in particular a gaming and/or amusement machine, but also a gaming chip redemption machine and/or a gaming chip issuing machine or a token issuing machine or some other interactive terminal, in particular a stand-alone terminal.

The bending of the touch panel can here be designed in a substantially different way, for example in the form of a uniaxial bending around an upright axis of curvature (substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device) or in the form of a uniaxial bending around a lying axis of curvature (approximately parallel to the transverse axis of the housing of the device). Alternatively, the touch panel may also have a surface curve that curves around multiple axes, for example in the form of a pad-shaped profile, or a shell-shaped or channel-shaped profile. For example, corner regions of the touch panel can be curved towards the operator console, wherein the central region of the touch panel can advantageously be designed in a planar manner or can be designed to be curved in a single axis.

In particular, a curved touch panel can be mounted to extend over the display unit, the display surface of which is not placed in a common plane, in order to provide a uniform front area of the device housing facing the operator's console (even in the case of such an arrangement of the display unit), while the touch panel is adapted according to the display unit.

For example, in the case of a reel-spinning coin machine device, a display unit with a convex profile (in particular a cylindrical display unit, which permits a realistic representation of the spinning reel) may be combined with an approximately horizontal display unit arranged below or above this cylindrical display unit and covered by a continuous, e.g. planar or uniformly curved, touch panel. For example, the designated cylindrical display unit may be a reel arrangement that may be mechanically driven, or a screen that is of curved design and represents a rotating reel, while the flat display may be used to display additional information or another game.

In one development of the invention, at least one of the display units covered by the touch panel may have a different contour of the display surface than the touch panel placed above it. The touch panel thus does not necessarily follow the contour of the display surface of the display unit placed therebelow identically, but may in fact form a contour independently of it and be spaced more or less apart from the display surface of the display device placed therebelow, i.e. it is not necessary to provide a uniform gap size between the display surface of the respective display unit and the touch panel located thereabove, which may nevertheless be the case. In this context, the touch panel can be placed directly on the display surface of the display device lying therebelow and be in contact with this display surface in a punctiform or linear or planar manner. However, the touch panel may be arranged to be spaced apart from the display device without contact at all.

In one development of the invention, various distances can be provided between the various display units on the one hand and the touch panel on the other hand, i.e. these display units can be mounted at different degrees of spacing from the touch panel, as a result of which a relatively high degree of freedom is obtained with respect to the positioning of the display units and it is not necessary to accept an uneven front face of the housing.

In an advantageous development of the invention, the touch panel is designed to be transparent, wherein the display units can have separate display surfaces (in particular screen surfaces) and also mechanical display surfaces, in front of which the touch panel (designed to be transparent) extends. The touch panel does not have to form the display surface of the corresponding display device. In practice, the touch panel is advantageously a separate component, wherein each display unit has its own display surface, for example in the form of a screen surface, for displaying the respective information or display elements.

In order to achieve good visibility conditions and low lateral glare on the display units from the device operator console, in an advantageous development of the invention the plurality of display units can be arranged inclined at obtuse angles with respect to one another, wherein, in particular, two or three screens each inclined at obtuse angles with respect to one another can be arranged one above the other, as a result of which the viewing axes of the device operator are in each case incident virtually perpendicularly on the respective display unit. In an advantageous development of the invention, the touch panel is nevertheless designed in a non-curved manner given such an arrangement of the display unit at obtuse angles, in order to obtain a uniform front face of the device and to avoid difficult to mold housing sections. In a particularly advantageous development of the invention, the touch panel can have in this context a concavely curved contour which fits snugly against the polygonal curve (curved with obtuse angles) of the display surfaces of the plurality of separate display units or is close to the polygonal curve, for example like an inner enclosing circle which fits snugly against the polygon.

In particular, the profile of the touch panel may be constructed in such a way that the distance of the rear side of the touch panel from the surface of the display unit is smallest in the area of the central sections of the two adjoining display units, while the distance from the surface of the display unit increases towards the joint area of the display units and/or also towards the edges of the adjoining display units facing away from each other. The touch panel fits most snugly against the central regions of these display units that are tilted at obtuse angles relative to each other.

If at least one of the display units is profiled in a convex manner, in a development of the invention the touch panel situated above this display unit can have a profile which is planar or concave.

In a development of the invention, the touch panel may also extend continuously over two display units, in particular in the form of flat screens, one of which is arranged to be partially hidden from view of the device operator console behind the other display unit. Such a staggered arrangement of display elements and the offset of the display surface into the depth of the device may be advantageous, in particular when a standard format screen is to be used on the device in order to create different viewing windows in different formats, for example one of the display elements is to create only one display area in the form of a narrow strip or L-shaped display area, even if the display device itself has a standard format display area.

In order to be able to use the same touch panel for various arrangements of the display unit and to adapt the touch panel in terms of its contour, in an advantageous development of the invention a flexibly designed touch panel can be used, which can be deformed in such a way that the touch panel can adopt various bending curves. Whether the touch panel is to adopt a planar profile in the mounted state or a profile that is curved in one axis or curved in multiple axes, it is possible to use the same touch panel or the same type of touch panel, which touch panel, after mounting, is deformed into a correspondingly desired curvature, for example due to the fact that the touch panel is mounted on a correspondingly curved frame or carrier. These deformable, preferably elastically flexible touch panels can be formed, for example, by touch-sensitive films which are applied to flexible support substrates, such as, for example, transparent polycarbonate panels which are adhesively bonded, for example, by means of a double-sided adhesive tape. The pressure-sensitive flexible films may be, for example, PET films, wherein a conductive polymer layer may be applied to or incorporated in the pressure-sensitive film and/or between the film and the support substrate, by means of which polymer layer contact of a finger with the touch panel may be sensed.

The flexibility of the touch panel is advantageously designed here in such a way that, although the touch panel can be brought into the desired curved state by means of some mounting measures, the touch panel is not subsequently deformed any further, at least not permanently, by the correct finger pressure, with the result that, if used correctly, the touch panel does not otherwise change its curvature once the curvature has been defined by the mounting process. In particular, the touch panel may have a degree of tension and flexibility that maintains the touch panel in a desired surface shape.

Even if the display units are arranged staggered into the depth of the device where appropriate, or even if the display units have different surface profiles, in an advantageous development of the invention the touch panel forms a continuous transparent viewing panel of uniform profile over a large area, which viewing panel is mounted in front of the display unit and fitted into the device housing and/or forms a front area of the device housing, in particular over an operator control section of the device housing.

Even with this particular embodiment of the plurality of separate display units, it is advantageous if the touch panel is designed over a large area and is formed on at least more than 30% of the front side of the device facing the operator of the device. Thus, a standardized device housing can be used for various gaming device models, the "interior" of which can be configured in different ways, for example by mounting display units that are contoured in various ways and/or differ in format. Since the touch panel is large in area, in an advantageous development of the invention the touch panel can also form more than 50% of the front side of the housing facing the operator of the device, so that depending on the device model, two or three or four or even more screens can be installed in the device housing without being limited in terms of the arrangement of the display units to excessively tight peripheral conditions.

In order to permit easy access to the desired contact point even in the case of a relatively large offset or deviation of the touch panel surface curve from the display surface of the underlying display unit in certain cases, and without the assignment of the actually contacted surface section of the touch panel to the underlying display range being less susceptible to faults, in a development of the invention a parallax compensation device can be provided which corrects viewing errors due to a given offset or a different curvature curve. The parallax compensation means provided for this purpose may for example comprise some sensing means for sensing the head position of the device operator and may assign a correspondingly sensed contact point position (in which, for example, a finger is in contact with the touch panel) or a display area of the display unit located below the touch panel (offset with respect to the contact point on the touch panel) in different ways depending on the sensed head position (or, in other words). Parallax is the term used to describe a physical or optical effect whereby an object viewed in or behind a transparent medium does not actually lie exactly where it is viewed when there is a viewing axis that is not perfectly perpendicular to the surface of the medium. The parallax compensation device allows for this phenomenon and corrects these viewing errors according to the sensed head or eye position of the device operator and certain geometric peripheral mounting conditions that may be stored in memory.

In order to be able to use a continuous touch panel correctly and continuously beyond the display unit boundaries even in separate embodiments of the display device, in one development of the invention this touch panel is assigned control means which permit the movement of display elements from a display unit to another display unit across the middle boundary or middle space of the display unit. The continuous touch panel and the control means assigned to this touch panel and the display unit are configured in such a way that display content, for example in the form of an information window, can be moved from one display unit to the other by touching the touch panel. For this purpose, the control means assigned to the touch panel and the display unit may comprise some moving means by means of which the operator can move the display element continuously over the display boundary and to another display element by moving his finger or hand over the touch panel. This continuous movement process permits, in particular, an operator to intuitively control the device. However, alternatively or additionally, it would also be possible to cause the display content to be moved from one display unit to another, not by moving a finger over the touch panel, but rather only by tapping the touch panel accordingly, for example first in the area of one display unit and then in the area of the other display unit. The representation of the course of movement on the display units can be controlled here in various ways, for example in a digitally switched manner so that the display ends on one display unit and starts seamlessly or with a time-shifted offset on the other display unit. However, the course of movement can advantageously be represented continuously along a corresponding path, as a result of which the device user can visually follow this movement.

If the movement process is displayed continuously, in one development of the invention the display of the display elements to be moved can be blanked out in some of the joint areas between the two display units. The corresponding blanking means for blanking out the various sections of the display element may take into account the gap size between the display units and blank out the respective wide strips of the display element, wherein in each case the other section is blanked out continuously, in order to allow the transition of the display element from one display unit to the other to occur seamlessly, in particular in such a way that an even larger area of the display element is blanked out on the display unit from which the display element leaves, while an even smaller part of the display element is blanked out on the display unit to which the display element is being moved.

The invention will be explained in more detail below on the basis of preferred exemplary embodiments and the associated drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1: there is shown a schematic partial perspective view of a gaming device according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the device comprising three separate display units, which are arranged one above the other, in the form of a screen arranged below or behind a common touch panel,

FIG. 2: a vertical section through the gaming apparatus from fig. 1 is shown, which section shows the arrangement of the display units and the touch panel assigned to the display units, wherein a touch panel is provided, which touch panel is designed to be planar and is arranged directly in front of the display units,

FIG. 3: a vertical section through a game device similar to fig. 2 is shown, wherein two screens arranged on top of each other are arranged at an obtuse angle with respect to each other, and a third cylindrical screen arranged below is arranged protruding out of the plane of the central screen, and a concavely curved touch panel is provided, which fits snugly against the arrangement of display units at an obtuse angle,

FIG. 4: a longitudinal section through a game device similar to fig. 2 is shown, wherein, in contrast to the embodiment in fig. 2, the lower display unit for displaying the rotating reels is not formed by a screen curved in a cylindrical manner but by a mechanical reel arrangement,

FIG. 5: a longitudinal section through a game device similar to fig. 3 is shown, wherein, in contrast to the embodiment in fig. 3, the lower display unit for displaying the rotating reels is not formed by a screen curved in a cylindrical manner but by a mechanical reel arrangement,

FIG. 6: a longitudinal section through a gaming device similar to fig. 2 is shown, wherein two screens arranged on top of each other are arranged offset to each other, when viewed from the device operator console, with one screen partially overlapping the other, wherein a planar touch panel is placed on the two screens arranged offset to each other,

FIG. 7: showing a longitudinal section through a gaming device similar to fig. 2, wherein three screens are provided arranged one above the other, wherein the lower two screens are arranged offset to each other front-to-back when considered from the device operator console, and the third upper screen is arranged inclined at an obtuse angle relative to the central screen, and the touch panel comprises a planar section and a concave section which continuously adjoins the planar section and fits snugly against the inclined upper screen,

FIG. 8: a longitudinal section through a gaming device similar to fig. 2 is shown, wherein four screens are provided arranged on top of each other, wherein the upper three screens are arranged offset to each other and tilted with respect to each other when viewed from the device operator console, and the lower fourth screen is provided with a convex display surface, wherein a planar touch panel is formed extending continuously over all four screens,

FIG. 9: a schematic part of a cross-sectional view showing a joint area between two separate screens on the boundary of which one display element can be moved from one screen to the other because a finger is moved on a boundary section on a touch panel, and

FIG. 10: a schematic illustration of a touch panel designed in a flexible manner is shown in side and plan views, each of which shows various bending states of the flexible touch panel.

The game device 1 shown in fig. 1 forms a standing unit in the form of a stand-alone device and comprises a substantially box-shaped device housing 11 which is approximately at the height of a man and the upper half of which is intended to accommodate a display device comprising a plurality of separate display units which can function independently and, in the illustrated embodiment, three screens which are arranged one above the other, wherein the first screen 12 is designed as a curved LCD-TFT screen and the second screen 13 and the third screen 14 are each designed as a flat LCD-TFT display. As shown in fig. 1, the game device housing 11 has for this purpose only a single window-like cutout 15 in its front face for all assigned screens. Designated cut-outs 18 in the device housing 11 here define a game display area 16 in which game content, game information and, if appropriate, additional information are displayed with the plurality of display units 12, 13 and 14. In particular, the gaming device may be used as a casino or slot machine or otherwise configured as a gaming chip redemption machine and/or gaming chip or token issuing machine or as some other interactive terminal, particularly freestanding.

Below the screens 12, 13 and 14 or the cut-out 15, the game device housing 11 has an operator control panel section 17 which projects towards the player and extends over the entire width of the device housing 11 and is designed in a substantially box-shaped manner, see fig. 2. The upper side of the operator control panel section of the device housing 1 is designed approximately planar and accommodates the operator control panel, which may comprise a plurality of manually activated operator control keys in the form of push-button switches. In the shown embodiment the operator control keys are mechanical switches, but of course the operator control keys may also be activated according to other operating principles, in particular they may be part of a touch screen. It goes without saying that the operator control section can also comprise a gaming chip input unit and/or a gaming chip output unit, which units can of course be designed differently and can comprise, for example, token modules and/or ticket modules, token printers or electronic card reading and writing devices.

Furthermore, the operator control panel may have a grip and also a start button on the front side of the operator control panel section and a plurality of operator control buttons on the upper side of the plane, for example for adding gaming chips, for retrieving gaming information or for controlling further gaming functions.

The games displayed on the screens 12, 13 and 14 are controlled by an electronic control device, preferably in the form of a computer, which is housed inside the device housing 11, in the lower half of the device housing. The control device actuates the display device on the one hand and communicates with the operator control keys of the operator control panel on the other hand. Of course, the means for outputting the prize is also actuated by the control means.

In this case, a single continuous touch panel 25 is arranged in front of a given screen from the device operator's console, this touch panel 25 extending over and covering the separate screens or display units 12, 13 and 14.

A particular advantage here is that during construction of the device housing, it is not necessary to make any special allowance for the various intermediate spaces between the individual display units, in particular the various intermediate connection plates can be eliminated, as a result of which the protection against mechanical manipulation is also improved.

Fig. 3 shows a game apparatus 1 according to another exemplary embodiment. In the present case, the touch panel 25 is arranged similarly to that shown in fig. 2, but the touch panel 25 is designed to be curved, in particular the touch panel 25 has a concave curvature.

According to another exemplary embodiment, instead of the screen 12, a mechanical reel arrangement 42 can be provided as display unit, for example having three or five reels which are mounted alongside one another in such a way that they can rotate about a common axis, as shown in fig. 4 and 5. Otherwise, these embodiments correspond to the embodiments in fig. 2 and 3.

According to another exemplary embodiment (illustrated in fig. 6), the second screen 13 and the third screen 14 are arranged offset and staggered one behind the other, with the result that the screen 14 extends partly behind the screen 13 and is partly covered by the latter. In this context, the second screen 13 is arranged roughly substantially immediately below or above the front of the device in the front screen plane, while the concealed screen 14 is arranged deeper into the device body, offset in the direction of the viewing axis onto the screen, with the result that a part of its screen surface is concealed behind the screen 13 in the direction of the viewing axis onto the screen. This hidden screen arrangement allows the use of a plain format screen, even if the viewing window or cut-out is unusually shallow (in the vertical direction) but wide. All/the two screens 13 and 14, which are offset with respect to each other or hidden from each other, advantageously adopt the same format. In particular, these screens can be designed as flat screens, for example in the form of TFT monitors.

According to another exemplary embodiment (illustrated in fig. 7), the two screens 12 and 13, which are arranged offset or staggered back and forth from each other in the depth direction of the housing, may also be combined with a third screen 14, which is arranged inclined with respect to the two screens. As shown in fig. 7, the first screen 12 and the second screen 13 are arranged offset or staggered back and forth from each other, with the result that the second screen 13 is arranged to be partially hidden behind the screen 13. The designated second screen 13 is here arranged to be offset deeper into the device body in the direction of the viewing axis onto the screen, with the result that a lower section of its screen surface is hidden behind the first screen 12 in the direction of the viewing axis onto the screen. Meanwhile, the upper third screen 14 is adjacent to the prescribed second screen 13 without being hidden, wherein the lower longitudinal edge of the upper screen 14 extends approximately in parallel along the upper longitudinal edge of the center screen 13. However, the upper third screen 14 is designated to be tilted forward out of the plane of the second screen 13 at an obtuse angle, see fig. 7, similarly to the case in the embodiment according to fig. 3.

As shown in fig. 7, the touch panel 25, which extends continuously over all screens 12, 13 and 14, may also comprise differently curved sections, for example, as shown in fig. 7, a planar lower section and a continuously adjoining concavely curved upper section, which in the embodiment according to fig. 7 fits snugly against the upper screen 14, which is tilted forwards. Regardless of the inclination of the screen and/or its depth offset, the touch panel 25 can have this or another arrangement of sections which are differently curved or planar, wherein the touch panel 25 is preferably designed in a continuously contoured manner without curved points.

As shown in fig. 8, the touch panel 25 may also extend over the four screens 12, 13, 14, and 15. In this context, screens with different surface contours can be used, as illustrated for example by the first screen 12 and the screen 13 arranged above it, wherein these screens 12 and 13 (with different contours) can be arranged in the same plane or arranged offset with respect to one another. In addition, at least one screen can be provided which is offset back into the depth of the device body, as is illustrated by the third screen 14 according to fig. 8, which has a screen section which is partially hidden in the viewing direction onto the screen, which screen section extends behind the second screen 13. In addition, at least one screen arranged to be inclined at an obtuse angle with respect to the other screens may be provided, as illustrated by the fourth screen 15 according to fig. 8. This inclined screen 15 can abut in a substantially flush manner or without offset with an adjacent screen here with an edge, as shown by means of fig. 7 explained previously. However, the inclined screen 15 may alternatively be arranged offset with respect to the adjacent screen, as shown in fig. 8. The fourth screen 15 is not only inclined at an obtuse angle but also arranged in a partially hidden manner, because the lower section of the fourth screen 15 is arranged to be offset into the depth of the device body and to extend a certain distance behind the third screen 14, see fig. 8. The inclined arrangement of the screen advantageously provides an improved or ergonomic embodiment of the game device for the user, with a maximum degree of flexibility with respect to the display area for providing information for interaction with the user, in particular with respect to the device size of the game device, which would otherwise be limited.

According to fig. 8, the touch panel 25 may have a substantially planar curve. According to another aspect of the invention, a bending curve of the touch panel 25 is provided, for example as in the case of the screen arrangement shown in fig. 8, or in the case of another arrangement of a plurality of screens, for example three (see fig. 3) or four, where the bending in this case is designed around the lateral axis of the game device. The curvature may be designed at least partially in the form of an arc or an ellipse.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is advantageous to provide a curved line of the touch panel 25 about the longitudinal axis of the gaming device.

Alternatively, there may be a bending of the touch panel 25 both around the lateral axis and around the longitudinal axis, wherein, for example, a pad-shaped embodiment of the touch panel 25 may be obtained, in which, for example, corner regions of the touch panel 25 are bent towards the operator console.

The control of the touch panel may comprise a parallax compensation means for compensating the coordinate position, as a result of which parallax compensation given different screen arrangements (in particular given screens shifted into depth) is permitted for the user of the touch panel. The parallax compensation device may here comprise some sensing means which may be arranged, for example, on the device housing, in particular on the front side of the device housing, and which sense the head position and/or the eye position of a device operator standing in front of the device, in order to be able to perform parallax compensation depending on the sensed eye position or head position. This parallax compensation means here uses not only the sensed head position or eye position, but also some stored geometric parameters which characterize the position of the screens relative to each other and to the touch panel 25, and/or the contour of the display surfaces of the display units 12, 13, 14 and 15.

The controls of the touch panel are also adapted in such a way that, for example, a continuous movement of the graphic elements, for example from the first screen 12 to the second screen 13 or the third screen 14 or the further screen 15, is possible, as illustrated in fig. 9. In this context, the touch panel 25 can be assigned a control device 26 for controlling the position of the display elements on at least two different display units 13 and 14, wherein the designation control device 26 advantageously has a movement device 27 for moving the display elements 28 from one display unit to the other across the boundary between the two display units. The designation mobile means 27 may here advantageously comprise blanking control means for blanking out various sections of the display element, wherein these blanking control means advantageously take into account the gap size between the display units 13 and 14 in the determination of the blanked out sections. In particular, an approximately bar-shaped planar segment can be blanked out of the display element to be moved, the height of this planar segment approximately corresponding to the gap size between the display elements, see fig. 9.

The electronic device may be configured using any suitable hardware and/or software. According to one embodiment, the electronic device may include: a designated touch panel 25; a touch controller connected to the touch panel 25; and a system control logic coupled to the touch controller, the at least one processor, a system memory, a non-volatile memory and/or memory device, and the one or more communication interfaces. A communication interface is designed to interface with the respective video of the respective screens on which screen graphical elements can be displayed.

In particular, the touch panel 25 with touch controller is provided and designed in order to make the detected position information available.

In each case, touch panel 25 can be formed using suitable touch sensitive technologies such as, for example and without limitation, capacitive, resistive, acoustic surface wave (SAW), infrared, and visual imaging.

Here, it is not absolutely necessary to physically touch the touch panel 25, but in fact the presence of an object close to the surface can also be detected.

The movement of the displayed element 28 from one screen 13 to an adjacent screen 14 may include coordinate calculations that occur at successive time intervals, taking into account the respective current location information of the detected touch to the touch panel. These calculations may be performed in pixel units. If the graphic element starts to move over a screen edge during the course of the movement, this area of the graphic element (or protruding from one screen edge) can be blanked off in particular at a distance from the adjacent screen edge.

As shown in fig. 10, in an advantageous development of the invention, the touch panel 25 can be designed to be flexible, with the result that the touch panel 25 can assume various bending curves and can be mounted in various bending curves in the housing of the device, wherein the touch panel 25 extends continuously over and covers separate screens or display units. Here, fig. 10(a) shows a side view with a substantially horizontal viewing axis onto the touch panel, and fig. 10(b) shows a plan view or side view from above with a substantially vertical viewing axis. As shown in various curved states according to fig. 10(a) and 10(b), the touch panel 25 can be curved in various directions on one axis or a plurality of axes according to a curve which is desirably adopted by the front surface of the device case formed by the touch panel.

Claims (16)

1. A game and/or entertainment device, in particular a game device which can be operated with tokens and/or tokens, having a plurality of separate display units (12, 13, 14, 15), in particular screens, for displaying information, in particular game content and/or game information, wherein at least one of the display units (12, 13, 14, 15) is provided with a touch panel (25) for inputting control instructions by touch, characterized in that this touch panel (25) is designed to be continuous over at least a part of at least two different display units (12, 13, 14, 15) in each case.

2. The game and/or entertainment device of the preceding claim, wherein the touch panel (25) extends continuously over three display units (12, 13, 14, 15) preferably arranged one above the other, and/or over substantially the entire game display area (16) of the game and/or entertainment device.

3. The game and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) extends over a plurality of display units (12, 13, 14, 15) which are designed to have different and/or are arranged to have different degrees of tilt with respect to each other.

4. The gaming and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the display units (12) covered by the touch panel (25) has a display surface with a different contour than the touch panel (25) above it.

5. The game and/or entertainment device as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) is designed to be transparent and the display units have display surfaces (12 a, 13a, 14a, 15 a), in particular screen surfaces, which are designed separately from the touch panel (25) and over which the transparently designed touch panel (25) extends, wherein the touch panel (25) is preferably spaced apart from the display surface (12 a, 13a, 14 a) at least in certain sections, below which a display unit (12, 13, 14) is located.

6. The gaming and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) has at least one section with a contour that is curved at least on one axis, wherein the bending around the one or more bending axes is advantageously provided parallel to a vertical longitudinal axis of the device housing body and/or the bending around the one or more bending axes is advantageously provided parallel to a horizontal transversal axis of the device housing body.

7. The game and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) is designed to be continuous on at least two screens (13, 14; 14, 15) that are inclined at obtuse angles with respect to one another, wherein the touch panel (25) is preferably designed without curvature and/or has a curve that is curved in an arcuate shape and fits snugly against the surfaces of the screens (13, 14; 14, 15) that are inclined at obtuse angles.

8. The game and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein a display unit (12) is arranged below a planar or concavely curved touch panel section, which display unit has a display surface shaped in a convex manner.

9. The game and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) is designed to be flexible, so that the touch panel (25) can be placed in different curved states.

10. The gaming and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) extends continuously over two screens (13, 14), one of the screens (14) being arranged to be partially hidden behind the other screen (13) when viewed from a device operator console.

11. The gaming and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) forms a transparent viewing panel which is mounted in front of the display units (12, 13, 14, 15) and is fitted into a device housing (11) and forms a front area of the device housing facing the device operator console.

12. The gaming and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) extends over at least 30% of the area of the front face of the housing of the gaming and/or entertainment device facing the device operator's console.

13. The gaming and/or entertainment device as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) is assigned a parallax compensation device comprising sensing means for sensing the head position and/or the eye position of a device operator, and depending on the sensed head position a correspondingly sensed contact point position is moved on the touch panel and/or assigned to a display element of the display unit, which display element is offset with respect to the sensed contact point position.

14. The game and/or entertainment device of one of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel (25) is assigned control means (26) for controlling the position of display elements on at least two different display units (13, 14), wherein the said control means (26) have moving means (27) for moving a display element (28) from one display unit (13) to another display unit (14) across a display unit boundary located between the display units (13, 14).

15. The game and/or entertainment device of the preceding claim, wherein the moving device (27) has blanking control means for blanking out different sections of the display element (28) according to a gap size between the display units (13, 14) when the display element is moved over the borders of the display units (13, 14).

16. An interactive terminal, in particular a gaming device and/or an entertainment device, with at least one display unit (12, 13, 14, 15) for displaying information, wherein the at least one display unit (12, 13, 14, 15) is provided with a touch panel (25) for inputting control instructions by touch, characterized in that the touch panel (25) has at least one section with an at least one-axis curved contour, wherein the curved section of the touch panel (25) extends over the display surface of the planar contour of the display unit (12, 13, 14, 15).