Abstract:
A method is provided for detecting when tampering has occurred on a wager or transaction by using a digital signature created using the transaction details while including one or more previous transactions and an optional control or marker transaction. The pattern of selecting previous transactions can be static or dynamically modifiable and control transactions may occur in a random or pre-determined scheme to create a known baseline for previous and future transactions.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/879,432 filed Sep. 13, 2013. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to wagering game systems and control systems, including the security and integrity of the transactions stored on gaming systems or control systems. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Wager transactions are generally stored in a centralized gaming system that contains all wager information prior to a determining a winner. The party that maintains the wagers may be separate from the party selecting winning numbers and the party responsible for paying winners. A concern exists where the pool of wagers could be modified after a drawing to insert a winning wager or modify an existing wager to increase the prize amount thus allowing fraud to occur. 
         [0004]    In an attempt to prevent wagers from being modified or inserted in the pool of wagers, there are instances where a copy of all the wagers is put into a control system of which the original party does not have access, and winners are determined using both the original pool of wagers and the copy. If a wager was inserted into either the original pool or the copy it would be evident when comparing details between the two systems. 
         [0005]    There are times when the system housing the copy of wagers has not received all the transactions before the event used to determine the winners has occurred. This could be caused by various reasons such as hardware failure or communications related problems, but due to time constraints or other requirements the event must occur. An opportunity now exists where a transaction could be modified or inserted and then moved from the original pool of wagers to the copy. Subsequent processing of winners would match between the two systems. 
         [0006]    Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a method that can be used to identify tampering of any wager to increase a prize amount. 
         [0007]    Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of identifying tampering by insertion or addition of a winning wager. 
         [0008]    A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a method of identifying tampering that is conducted within short time constraints. 
         [0009]    These and other objectives will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art based upon the following written description, drawings, and claims. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    A method of identifying tampering in a pool of transactions includes receiving a plurality of transactions from a plurality of transaction points to a centralized control system. The centralized control system has a processor, software/algorithm, and a database or other data storage system and receives the plurality of transactions via an electronic network. 
         [0011]    Once received, the processor uses the algorithm to create an identifier tag for each transaction. The identifier tag is based upon information from a current/active transaction and at least one preceding transaction. Optionally, the identifier tag can be based on a single transaction. Once assigned, information about the current transaction and the identifier tag are stored together or separately. 
         [0012]    To verify a transaction, a reference tag is created using the same process as that used to create the identifier tag. The information used to create the reference tag can be from the original body of transactions, the copy of transactions or both. The processor then compares the reference tag to the stored identifier tags and/or information related to the identifier tags to determine if there is a match. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an environment for a method of identifying tampering; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an environment for a method of identifying tampering; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an environment for a method of identifying tampering; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram for a method of validating transactions or identifying tampering. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. 
         [0018]    The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to games of entertainment or chance, such as the lotteries or raffles, where transactions are stored in a single or combined pool on one or more computer systems and held until a drawing or event has occurred. 
         [0019]    The present invention is a method for identifying tampering in a pool of transactions  10 , such as wager transactions from a lottery system. This is accomplished by providing a tag  12  made using one-way hash functions, digital signatures or other any other symmetric or asymmetric encryption algorithm for each transaction, with the tag  12  being dependent on a variable amount of preceding transactions  14 . The result is that tampering with a single transaction can be detected and using more proceeding transactions to create a tag  12  leads to a cascading effect, noticeably changing the tag  12  for each subsequent transaction that is linked to the tampered transaction. Properly implemented, a single modification can be detected in the entire set of wagers following the modified wager. The present invention is designed for use with a wagering system, such as used by lotteries, but can be implemented in any area where a series of transactions  10  need to be monitored for tampering. Though the preferred embodiment describes the use of hashes, any functionally equivalent cryptographic primitive may be used. 
         [0020]    The plurality of transactions  10  can be made at a plurality of transaction points  15  or locations such as casinos, convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations or other retail establishments or gaming establishments or the like. The transactions  10  are input into a transaction controller  16  that is connected to a centralized control system  18  via an electronic network. The centralized control system  18  includes a processor  20 , software or an algorithm  22 , and a database or other data storage system  24 . 
         [0021]    The basic embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of receiving a plurality of transactions  10 , creating an identifying tag  12  for each of the plurality of transactions  10  and verifying the identifying tag  12  of each of the plurality of transactions  10 . The plurality of transactions comprises a variable plurality of preceding transactions  14  and an active or current transaction  26 . After receiving and assigning the identifying tag  12  to a current transaction  26 , the current transaction  26  or identifying tag  12  is stored separately or with the plurality of preceding transactions  14  in the database or other data storage system  24  and a new active transaction  26  is received. The process of creating the identifying tag  12  comprises the steps of executing an algorithm with the processor  20 , outputting the identifying tag  12 , and assigning the identifying tag  12  to the current transaction  26 . The verification process comprises the steps of creating a reference tag  28  for a specific transaction, accessing the database or other data storage system  24  containing the corresponding identifying tag  12  for the specific transaction, and comparing the two to determine validity. If the reference tag  28  and identifying tag  12  do not match, then the system  18  determines that tampering has occurred with at least one of the plurality of transactions  10 . 
         [0022]    In order to link the plurality of transactions  10  together, identifying tags  12  from at least one of the plurality of preceding transactions  14  are input into the algorithm  22  when calculating the identifying tag  12  for a current transaction  26 . In effect, the identifying tag  12  for a current transaction  26  is produced using details of at least one previous transaction  14 . An identifying tag  12  created from a single transaction provides protection and using multiple transactions to create an identifying tag  12  provides the strongest protection. This step provides the ideal functionality of the present invention as tampering with any single transaction is evident in all subsequent transactions that use the tampered transaction as a reference input. Essentially, by linking the plurality of transactions  10  together, tampering with one transaction causes a domino effect in the linked transactions which is more easily detected. Potentially, a current transaction  26  can be linked to preceding transactions  14  directly by inputting details from the previous transaction  14  rather than inputting the identifying tags  12  from the preceding transactions  14 . 
         [0023]    While the above basic embodiment describes a plurality of transactions  10 , improved embodiments further comprise a plurality of marker transactions  30 , which act as special control transactions. The marker transactions  30  are used to create a known point of reference in the plurality of wagers relevant to preceding transactions  14  or subsequent transactions. For example, the marker transactions  30  can provide a time stamp, data about contents, or act as a benchmark (e.g. indicating how many previous transactions  14  were linked together in a group). In a sense, the function of the marker transaction  30  can be comparable to a salt. The marker transactions  30  can be created at any time and will be placed within the plurality of transactions  10  as they occur. The most common placements would include the beginning and end of a sales period. In this manner the marker transactions  30  can be used to create a known series of events to be used when determining if and when a system&#39;s copy of transactions has been tampered with. They provide a greater level of assurance that neither preceding nor subsequent transactions have been tampered with, either through modification or insertion. The marker transactions  30  can be of further use in the event of a system failure requiring the activation of a backup system or if the system  18  has an issue with transaction sequence numbers. 
         [0024]    The process of the present invention is designed to be dynamic, allowing the system to balance security and speed. For example, when producing the identifying tag  12  for a current transaction  26 , data could be pulled from a different number of preceding transactions  14 . In addition, the data can be pulled from sequential preceding transactions or alternating preceding transactions (e.g. every other or every third transaction). Potentially, the selected preceding transactions  14  could be randomly determined. This flexibility is important as using more preceding transactions  14  increases the amount of time an algorithm  22  will take to run. In some industries, such as the lottery industry, transactions must be posted within a certain amount of time as set by the regulations. During times of high load a system  18  might not have enough resources to run algorithms  22  that use a large number of preceding transactions  14  used as inputs. The dynamic nature of the present invention allows the system  18  to reduce the number of preceding transactions  14  used as inputs in order to reduce the time for processing transactions. In this example of dynamic selection of preceding transactions  14 , the pattern and quantity of preceding transactions  14  used may be stored with the transaction, the identifying tag or other location, whether encrypted or in clear text. 
         [0025]    One example of the operation of the present invention is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . In this example, identifying tags  12  from previous transactions are used in the generation of the identifying tags  12  for the following two transactions. Resultantly, the tag  12  for each transaction is dependent upon the tags  12  of the previous two transactions  14 . A variation is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , where the identifying tag  12  for each transaction is generated using the details of the previous three transactions  14 . Unlike the first example, once generated, a tag  12  is not used for generation of future tags. These two examples show how variations of the present invention may be implemented while still utilizing the key concept of linking a current transaction  26  to previous transactions  14 . 
         [0026]    Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.