Patent Publication Number: US-8992314-B2

Title: Universal game server

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/130,937 filed on May 16, 2005, which is a Divisional of previously filed application Ser. No. 10/656,631, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,147,334, filed Sep. 4, 2003, from which application priority is hereby claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(e). This application is related in subject matter to commonly assigned International Application No. PCT/US02/37529, filed Nov. 22, 2002, entitled, “Large Scale Controlled and Secure Data Downloading,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/332,522, filed Nov. 23, 2001. The present invention relates in general computing systems, and more particularly to, various embodiments for effecting alternative port recovery mechanisms without significantly impacting an entire computing system. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention related generally to the field of online gaming as well as interactive TV voting or gaming. 
     2. Copyright Notice/Permission 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright 2003, Cyberscan Technology Inc., All Rights Reserved. 
     3. Description of the Related Art 
     Internet server based merchant sites such as Amazon.com have flourished since the explosion of the Internet. These very high traffic sites rely on a pervasive three-tier model: web page server farm, clustered database server and web browser user interaction. The transactional operations such as adding an item to the shopping cart and proceeding with credit card payment may take in the order of seconds to complete. During heavy traffic, the response time deteriorates rapidly. Transactional data travels via complex paths with multiple speed-optimization caches, via executing machines selected by cookie driven session state management, via imposing clusters and via hugely complex databases. Consequently, zero-loss of data integrity is difficult to guaranty under all possible failure modes. Occasional loss of data integrity is not critical for an online merchant and a manual procedure may be applied to resolve customers&#39; complains. In addition, malicious intrusion, virus contamination and distributed denial of service are a permanent threat. 
     Internet technologies have matured somewhat and are now relatively simple to implement; solutions can be rapidly developed. Some startup companies are now attempting to apply experience acquired in developing merchant Internet sites to gaming sites including, for example, offshore Internet gaming sites. Evidently, these gaming operations are not regulated and it is not known how these systems perform in comparison with conventional gaming systems such as online state lotteries and online casino slots. Lately, some companies have proposed offshore Internet gaming systems for use in casino and national video lotteries. Disaster tolerance with no interruption of service and zero-loss of data integrity is not even considered. 
     Although Internet server technology is tempting, it is clear that the Internet server technology is unproven and that due to its hidden complexity, it is immensely difficult to reassure game regulators as to the integrity and security of systems using such Internet server technology. Moreover, gaming laboratories that test and certify gaming systems for compliance with stringent data integrity principles would need to invest considerably in educating their engineers. The “keep-it-simple” principle is still much favored by regulators. 
     Currently, in order to produce random game outcome, the majority of gaming applications use either software methods or either plug-in hardware generators. Software-only random generators (also called pseudo random generators) are well known for their poor quality in such that knowledge may be acquired allowing to predict the numbers. On the other side, plug-in hardware generators have a simple interface (such as RS232, Parallel port, USB) that can be observed and spoofed. Encrypted plug-in hardware generators are significantly costly and have not made any inroad into the gaming machines such as used in the casinos. In addition, encrypted hardware generators are too slow to be used for server based random generators. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The above-mentioned shortcomings and untrustworthiness of the prior art are addressed by embodiments of the present invention, which will be understood by reference to the following specification. 
     It is an object of the present invention to offer a system architecture capable of supporting a distributed online gaming operation such as slip-scan lottery, video lottery, fixed odd betting terminals, Internet gaming and interactive TV. 
     It is another object of the present invention to offer a system architecture that is configured to concurrently support a number of distributed online gaming operations such as, for example, slip-can lottery, video lottery, fixed odd betting terminals, Internet gaming, and interactive TV. A personality front end resolves the peculiarities of the various client systems before submitting the relevant transactional payload to a trusted transactional cache. 
     It is another object of the present invention to offer a trusted system architecture. A persistent synchronized auditable trusted log in the trusted server cache isolated from the business server allows most any dispute to be rapidly resolved by reference thereto. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to offer a disaster tolerant system architecture. A “N-transaction” model is proposed for the differed-draw model, and a geographically separated load-balancing model is proposed for the instant-draw model. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to merge trusted game transaction technology with Internet technology in order to benefit of the lower cost of Internet networking. 
     The methods and systems disclosed herein may advantageously be used in casino environments. 
     Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention is an online gaming system, comprising: a communication network; at least two central servers, each of the at least two servers being coupled to the network, and at least one gaming machine coupled to the communication network, each of the at least one gaming machine being configured to carry out a game transaction for each game played and to commit each game transaction to each of the at least two central servers. 
     Each of the at least two central servers may return a game transaction commit acknowledgment to the at least one gaming machine. The gaming machine may acknowledge to a player a validity of the game transaction upon receipt of at least one game transaction commit acknowledgment during a predetermined timeout period following the commit of the game transaction to each of the at least two central servers. Each game transaction committed to each of the at least two central servers may have an identical inbound game payload comprising at least one of a gaming machine ID, a user/player ID, a transaction GUID, a gaming machine originating/return address, a game ID, a game bet, and an amount wagered. The at least one gaming machine may be configured to be an active participant in a fault tolerance of the online gaming system. The at least one gaming machine may be configured to construct a synchronization log for rebuilding one or a plurality of the at least two central servers upon failure thereof. The online gaming system may be further configured to be rapidly synchronized by using the synchronization log upon returning to its operational state subsequent to failing to communicate with the at least one gaming machine. The communication network may be or include the Internet and a protocol to transport a payload of each game transaction may be UDP, for example. The at least two central servers and the at least one gaming machine may be configured to support instant-draw and deferred-draw of random events. The at least two central servers may be geographically remote from one another. Each of the at least two central servers may include a trusted transactional cache, the trusted transactional cache being configured to process each committed game transaction, and to provide real time persistent storage and logging of aspects of each committed game transaction. The at least two central servers may further comprise at least one of the trusted transactional cache, a business server and a logistic support server. 
     According to another embodiment thereof, the present invention is an online gaming system, comprising a communication network; at least two geographically dispersed central servers, each of the at least two geographically dispersed central servers being coupled to the communication network, at least two gaming machines, each of the at least two gaming machines being coupled to the communication network and being configured to carry out a game transaction for each game played, the at least two gaming machines being configured to carry out load balancing when committing the game transactions to the at least two geographically dispersed central servers over the communication network. 
     The load balancing may include having each gaming machine selecting only one of the at least two geographically dispersed central servers to which to commit the game transaction. The communication network may be the Internet and a protocol to transport a payload of each game transaction may be UDP, for example. The at least two central servers and the at least two gaming machines may be configured to support instant-draw and deferred-draw of random events. The at least two geographically dispersed central servers may each further comprise a trusted transactional cache, the trusted transactional cache being configured to process each committed game transaction, and to provide real time persistent storage and logging of aspects of each committed game transaction. The at least two geographically dispersed central servers may further comprise at least one of a trusted transactional cache, a business server and logistic support server. 
     According to still another embodiment thereof, the present invention is an online gaming system, comprising: a communication network; a plurality of gaming machines, each of the plurality of gaming machines being configured to carry out game transactions and being coupled to the communication network, and N geographically dispersed central servers, each of the N geographically dispersed central servers being coupled to the communication network, selected one of the plurality of gaming machines being further configured to perform load balancing when committing transactions to the N geographically dispersed central servers and selected ones of the plurality of gaming machines being configured to commit game transactions to each of the N geographically dispersed central servers. 
     The load balancing may include having each gaming machine selecting only one of the N geographically dispersed central servers to which to commit the game transaction. Each of the N geographically dispersed central servers may be configured to return a game transaction commit acknowledgment to the gaming machine that initiated the transaction commit over the communication network. The gaming machine may acknowledge to the player the validity of the game transaction upon receipt of at least one game transaction commit acknowledgment during a predetermined timeout period following the commit of the game transaction to each of the N geographically dispersed central servers. Each game transaction committed to each of the N geographically dispersed central servers may have an identical inbound game payload comprising at least a selected set of the at least one gaming machine ID, the user/player ID, the transaction GUID, the gaming machine originating/return address, the game ID, the game bet, and the amount wagered. The communication network may include the Internet and a protocol to transport a payload of each of the game transactions may be UDP, for example. The N geographically dispersed central servers and the plurality of gaming machines may be configured to support instant-draw and deferred-draw of random events. The N geographically dispersed central servers may each further comprise a trusted transactional cache, the trusted transactional cache being configured to process each committed game transaction, and to provide real time, secure and persistent storage and logging of aspects of each committed game transaction. Each of the N geographically dispersed central servers may further comprise at least one of a trusted transactional cache, a business server and logistic support server. 
     An embodiment of the present invention is an online gaming system, comprising a plurality of gaming machines, each of the plurality of gaming machines being configured to generate and send an inbound transaction packet that may include an inbound transaction payload across at least one of a plurality of communication networks according to one of a plurality of communication protocols; at least one central server coupled to the plurality of communication networks and to each of the at least one central servers, the at least one central server including: at least one transaction engine configured to process inbound transaction payloads to generate corresponding outbound transaction payloads; a personality front end, the personality front end being configured to interface with each of the plurality of communication networks to receive inbound transaction packets from the plurality of gaming machines, to extract the inbound transaction payloads from the received inbound transaction packets, to submit the extracted inbound payloads to the at least one transaction engine, to generate outbound transaction packets that may include the corresponding outbound transaction payloads and to send the generated outbound transaction packets to a selected one of the plurality of gaming machines. 
     The inbound transaction payload may include at least one of a gaming machine ID, a user/player ID, a transaction GUID, a terminal originating/return address, a game ID, a game bet, and an amount wagered. The personality front end may be further configured to transcode specific transaction payloads produced by the plurality of gaming terminals into generic transaction payloads. The plurality of communication networks may include at least one of dial-up, X25, Frame Relay, leased line, Internet and VPN, for example. The communication protocol(s) may be selected from one of proprietary, X25, TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP, XML and SOAP protocols, for example. 
     The present invention, according to another embodiment thereof, is a game random number generator for supplying random game numbers to a gaming machine, comprising at least one hardware number generator configured to provide random number seeds at t predetermined rate, and at least one pseudo-random number generator coupled to the at least one hardware number generator, the at least one pseudo-random number generator being configured to generate the random game numbers from the random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware number generator. 
     The game random number generator may further include a first trusted log configured to securely log all of random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware generator. The game random number generator may further include a second trusted log configured to supply game random numbers on demand for each individual game draw within the gaming machine. The game random number generator may further include at least one game result assembler coupled to the at least one pseudo-random number generator, the at least one game result assembler being configured to receive random game numbers produced by the at least one pseudo-random number generator and to generate ranging random game numbers. For example, the at least one hardware random number generator may be one of a RNG of Intel 8XX series of PC motherboard chipsets, the chipset being integrated on a motherboard of a computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart card communicating with the computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart device communicating with the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a processor compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the processor being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a motherboard chipset compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the chipset being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a security plug-in device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine, and/or a RNG of an add-on card or add-on board security device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine. 
     The present invention, according to another embodiment thereof, may also be viewed as a gaming system comprising at least one gaming machine; at least one central game server coupled to the at least one gaming machine over a network, the at least one central game server including: at least one hardware number generator configured to provide random number seeds at a predetermined rate, and at least one pseudo-random number generator couple to the at least one hardware number generator, the at least one pseudo-random number generator being configured to generator, on demand, the random game numbers from the random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware number generator. 
     The gaming system may further include a first trusted log configured to securely log all of random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware number generator. The gaming system may further include a second trusted log configured to securely log all of random game numbers generated by the at least one pseudo-random number generator. The at least one pseudo-number generator may be configured to supply game random numbers on demand for each individual game draw within the gaming machine. The gaming system may further include at least one game result assembler coupled to the at least one pseudo-random number generator, the at least one game result assembler being configured to receive random game numbers produced by the at least one pseudo-random number generator and to generate ranging random game numbers. The at least one hardware random number generator may be one of, for example, a RNG of Intel 8XX series of PC motherboard chipsets, the chipset being integrated on a motherboard of a computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart card communicating with the computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart device communicating with the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a processor compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the processor being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a motherboard chipset compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the chipset being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of security plug-in device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine, and/or a RNG of an add-on card or add-on board security device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine. 
     According to another embodiment, the present invention is a gaming system comprising at least one gaming machine, including: at least one first hardware number generator configured to provide random number seeds at a predetermined rate, and at least one first pseudo-random number generator coupled to the at least one first hardware number generator, the at least one first pseudo-random number generator being configured to generate, on demand, the random game numbers from the random number seeds generated by the at least one first hardware number generator for each game draw performed at the at least one gaming machine; at least one central game server coupled to the at least one gaming machine, the central game server including: at least one second hardware number generator configured to provide random number seeds at a predetermined rate, and at least one second pseudo-random number generator coupled to the at least one second hardware number generator, the at least one second pseudo-random number generator being configured to generate, on demand, the random game numbers from the random number seeds generated by the at least one second hardware number generator for each game draw performed at the at least one gaming machine. 
     The gaming system may further include a first trusted log configured to securely log all of random number seeds generated by the at least one first hardware number generator, and a second trusted log configured to securely log all of random number seeds generated by the at least one second hardware number generator. The gaming system may further include: a third trusted log configured to securely log all of random game numbers generated by the at least one first pseudo-random number generator, and a fourth trusted log configured to securely log all of random game numbers generated by the at least one second pseudo-random number generator. The first and second hardware random number generators may be identical. The first and second pseudo random number generators may be identical. The at least one gaming machine may be configured to select at least one random game number for each game draw from the at least one first pseudo-random number generator or from the second pseudo-random number generator. The gaming system may further include at least one game result assembler coupled to the at least one first pseudo-random number generator or to the at least one second pseudo-random number generator, the at least one game result assembler being configured to receive random game numbers produced by the first or second pseudo-random number generators and to generate ranging random game numbers. The first or second hardware random number generator may be one of, for example, a RNG of Intel 8XX (series of PC motherboard chipsets, the chipset being integrated on a motherboard of a computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart card communicating with the computer within the gaming machine; a RNG of a secure smart device communicating with the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a processor compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the processor being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a motherboard chipset compliant with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, the chipset being integrated on the motherboard of the computer of the gaming machine; a RNG of a security plug-in device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine, and/or a RNG of an add-on card or add-on board security device communicating with the computer within the gaming machine. 
     According to still another embodiment, the present invention may be viewed as a gaming machine configured to execute game draws whose outcome depend upon random game numbers, the gaming machine comprising: at least one hardware number generator configured to provide random number seeds at a predetermined rate, and at least one pseudo-random number generator coupled to the at least one hardware number generator, the at least one pseudo-random number generator being configured to generate the random game numbers from the random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware number generator. 
     The gaming machine may further include a first trusted log configured to securely log all of random number seeds generated by the at least one hardware number generator. The gaming machine may further include a second trusted log configured to securely log all of random game numbers generated by the at least one pseudo-random number generator. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention may be defined as a gaming system comprising: a communication network; at least one central web server, each of the at least one central web server being coupled to the network, at least one central transaction server, each of the at least one central transaction server being coupled to the network and, at least one web browser based gaming machine coupled to the communication network, each of the at least one web browser based gaming machine comprising: a standard web browser being configured to display rich page content and animations of the game produced by the at least one central web server, and a plug-in for the standard web browser, the plug-in being configured to carry out a game transaction for each game played and to commit each game transaction to the at least one central transaction server. 
     The communication network may be or include the Internet. The plug-in may be configured to complete the game transaction upon receipt of a validation transaction from the at least one central transaction server. The committed game transaction may include an inbound game payload comprising at least one of a gaming machine ID, a user/player ID, a transaction GUID, a gaming machine originating/return address, a game ID, a game bet, and an amount wagered. The validation transaction from the at least one central transaction server may include an outbound packet comprising at least one of a gaming machine ID, a user/player ID, a transaction GUID, and an outcome of the game. The plug-in may be further configured to commit each game transaction to each of the at least one central transaction servers. 
     Yet another embodiment of the present invention is an on-line gaming system, comprising a communication network; at least two central servers, each of the at least two central servers being couple to the communication network; at least one gaming machine coupled to the communication network, each of the at least one gaming machine being configured to carry out a game transaction for each game played and to commit each game transactions to each of the at least two central servers; each of the at least two central servers may include a trusted transactional cache, the trusted transactional cache being configured to process each committed game transaction and each of the at least one gaming machine may be configured to actively participate in a continued availability of the gaming system by contributing to a building of a synchronization log such that a failed trusted transaction cache may be synchronized using the synchronization log upon the failed trusted transactional cache returning to an operational state. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a conventional secure online transactional topology. 
         FIG. 2  shows conventional transaction initiation model. 
         FIG. 3  shows a conventional transaction retry model, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a conventional end of transaction acknowledgment model. 
         FIG. 5  shows a conventional web server topology. 
         FIG. 6  shows web service with transaction captured by dialup transactional server, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows a fast dialup transaction capture, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  shows a web browser transaction engine plug-in, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows web service with transactions committed by dialup, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  shows the merging of web services and transactional services, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11  shows the merging of web services and Internet routed transactional services, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 12  shows an “n”-transaction model—nominal mode, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 13  shows an “n”-transaction model—failure of one server, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 14  shows an “n”-transaction model—synchronization log, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 15  shows a “2” transaction model—server and network server topology, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 16  shows a “2” transaction model—distributed load replication, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 17  shows a “2” transaction model—load failover, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 18  shows a system architecture overview, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 19  shows a trusted transactional cache overview, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 20  shows a business server overview, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 21  shows a logistic support overview, according to embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 22  shows a personality front-end overview, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 23  shows 2-sites geographically dispersed load balancing, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 24  shows 2-sites geographically dispersed load balancing—failover, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 25  shows 3-sites geographically dispersed load balancing, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 26  shows 3-sites geographically dispersed load balancing—failover, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 27  shows Universal Game Random Number Generator (RNG), according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 28  shows a gaming system and illustrates both localized and centralized random game number generation using the present Universal Game RNG, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a conventional secure online transaction topology used for transactional business application  114  such as banking, healthcare or retail terminals  106 , lottery terminal  108 , transactional kiosk  110  and video gaming machines  112 . Typically, a transactional server  102  communicated with online terminals  106 ,  108 ,  110 ,  112  via a private network  104 . Within the context of the present invention, the terms “online terminal”, “terminal”, “game machine” and “gaming machine” and their corresponding plural forms are interchangeable and may be substituted for one another without loss of meaning or generality. Large-scale conventional transactional systems have been conceived for slow, unreliable and expensive private networks  104  prior to the Internet era; as a result, the application layer protocols on which they are based are somewhat simple, although exceptionally efficient and able to fully recover from errors. The X25 protocol and derivatives thereof for the link layer were universally favored for private networking until secure Internet solutions such as VPN and IPSec have become widely available and trusted. When applied to new generation high bandwidth networks, these protocols provide ultra fast transactional services. 
       FIG. 2  shows a proven transaction model  200  used as application layer for the conventional secure online transactional business and illustrates the slow of transactional information over time from the user  202  to the terminal  204 , through the network  206  to the server  208 . In this model, the terminal is the “transaction master”, that is, a transaction  212  is always initiated at the terminal  204  and is terminated at the terminal by the printing or viewing of an acknowledgment or receipt, as shown at  224 . The time axis  210  is oriented from top to bottom. Furthermore, as will be described later, the terminal is entirely responsible for the recovery of any error that may occur in the network path. In a typical transaction in which no error occurs, a user  202  initiates a transaction  212  at terminal  204 . This transaction initiation may be the result of clicking on a submit button on a dialog entry form, pressing a play button on a gaming machine or the result of a play-slip presented and scanned into a lottery scanner. Upon transaction initialization, the terminal  204  executes a process  214  concluded by the forwarding of a communication packet  216  to the network  206 . The server  208  receives the inbound packet  216  on which it executes the transaction  218 . At the conclusion of transaction  218 , the server  208  generates and returns an outbound communication packet  220  that is forwarded to the network  206 . Upon successful receipt of the packet  220 , the terminal  204  examines the server acknowledge signal received at  222 . Upon successful identification of the server acknowledgment signal, the terminal issues a receipt  224  to the user  202  or alternatively displays the receipt. 
     In general, the series of actions and/or processes initiated by a user (or an equivalent automated process) leading to the forwarding of an inbound transaction packet to the transaction server is called “committing a transaction” or “a transaction commit”. 
     In order to make a distinction with the “N” transaction model that will be detailed later in this document, the conventional model  200  of  FIG. 2  is called the “One” transaction model.  FIG. 3  illustrates a proven retry model  300  used for the conventional secure online transactional business. The terminal will continually keep retrying to send a transaction commit until a server acknowledgment is received. In this extremely simple error recovery model, it is not necessary to know where exactly the failure has occurred. The failure may have occurred at any point along the path of the transaction.  FIG. 3  shows the case in which three recovery attempts are made. The user  302  initiates a transaction  312 , then the terminal  304  executes the process  314 , whereupon a corresponding transaction packed is forwarded at  316  to the network  306 . 
     It is now assumed that a failure along the network path  306  prevents the server  308  from receiving the inbound packet at its interface, as shown at  318 . After a predetermined time-out, the terminal  304  determines that the server acknowledgment has been received. Consequently, the terminal  304  re-sends the transaction packet (retry # 1   320 ) that is forwarded at  322  to the network  306 . 
     Another failure along the network path  306  now prevents the server  308  from receiving the inbound packet at its interface, as shown at  324 . After a predetermined time-out, the terminal  304  again determines that no server acknowledgment has been received, and again re-sends the transaction packet (retry # 3   326 ) that is forwarded at  328  to the network  306 . 
     A third failure along the network path  306  now prevents the server  308  from receiving the inbound packet at its interface, as shown at  330 . After a predetermined time-out, the terminal  304  again determines that no server acknowledgment has been received, consequently, it re-sends the transaction packet (retry # 3   332 ) that is forwarded at  334  to the network  306 . 
     The server  308  receives the inbound packet  334  on which it executes the transaction, as shown at  336 . At the conclusion of process  336 , the server generates and returns an outbound communication packet  338  that is forwarded to the network  306 . Upon successful receipt of the packet  338 , the terminal  304  executes process  340  and examines the server acknowledge signal  341 . Upon successful identification of the server acknowledge signal, the terminal issues a receipt  342  to the user  302  or alternatively displays the receipt. 
     Should a duplicate server outbound packet be received by the terminal, because for example of excessive time delay in the communication link which triggered the terminal to initiate a retry, the duplicate or duplicate packets are simply ignored. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a proven acknowledgment model  400  used for the conventional secure online transactional business. Error recovery is not shown; however, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the “retry” principles illustrated in  FIG. 3  are immediately applicable. Each individual terminal transaction commit is completed when a “server acknowledgment” is received from the central server. On the other side, the server  408  needs be informed that the terminal  404  has indeed received its acknowledgment. For this, a “terminal acknowledgment” is sent to the central server  408  together with the next terminal transaction commit. A special end-of-session transaction (user generated or automatically generated) is forwarded by the terminal  404 , at the end of the day for example, to resolve the ambiguity if or when the terminal  404  no longer sends normal transaction commits. 
       FIG. 4  shows three successive normal terminal transaction cycles ( 1 )  413 , ( 2 )  431 , ( 3 )  451 , followed by an end-of-session ( 4 )  471  cycle. The arrow  410  indicates the passage of time. 
     Cycle ( 1 ) for the first transaction is exactly as described in  FIG. 2 . The user or an automated process initiates the transaction at  412 , after which the terminal executes a process  414  concluded by the forwarding of a communication (transaction) packet  416  to the network  406 . The communication packet is received by the server  408  at  418 , whereupon the server  408  executes transaction # 1 , as shown at reference  420 . The server  408  sends an acknowledgment S-Ack# 1   422  through network  406 , as shown at  424 . The terminal  404  then receives the S-Ack# 1  at  426 . The “S” in S-Ack means that it is a “server” acknowledgment. The terminal  404  may then print or otherwise provide the user  402  with a receipt of the completed transaction, as shown at  428 . 
     In cycle ( 2 ), a second transaction  430  is initiated by the user  402 . The terminal  404  executes process  432  in which it assembles the transaction packet for the second transaction  430  with the addition of a terminal acknowledgment T-Ack# 1   433  for the first transaction  412 . The letter “T” in T-Ack means that it is a “terminal” acknowledgment. The terminal acknowledgment T-Ack# 1  is simply to inform the server  408  that transaction cycle ( 1 ) did indeed complete successfully, meaning that the terminal did successfully print or display receipt# 1 , as shown at  448 . The transaction packet for the second transaction is forwarded at  434  through the network  406  and received by the server  408 , as shown at  436 . T-Ack# 1  is received by the server  408  at  438 , and the server  408  executes transaction # 2 , as shown at reference  440 . The server  408  send an acknowledgment S-Ack# 2   442  through the network  406 , as shown at  444 . The terminal  404  then receives the S-Ack# 2  at  446 . The terminal  404  may then print or otherwise provide the user  402  with a receipt of the completed transaction, as shown at  448 . 
     It is to be noted that a terminal acknowledgment to inform the server of the success of the previous terminal transaction is differed until the next transaction cycle. This way, we do not end up in an endless train of “acknowledging-the-acknowledge” that would rapidly jam the network. However, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that a predetermined timeout may be set to let the terminal return the terminal acknowledgment signal to the server after a predetermined time, in case there is a long period of user inactivity at the terminal. 
     In cycle ( 3 ), a third transaction  450  is initiated by the user  402 . The terminal  404  executes process  452  in which it assembles the transaction packet for the third transaction  450  with the addition of a terminal acknowledgment T-Ack# 2   453  for the second transaction  430 . The terminal acknowledgment T-Ack# 2  informs the server  408  that transaction cycle ( 2 ) did indeed complete successfully, meaning that the terminal did successfully print or display receipt# 2 , as shown at  448 . The transaction packet for the third transaction is forwarded at  454  through the network  406 , and received by the server  408  at  456 . T-Ack# 2  is received by the server  408  at  458 , and the server  408  executes transaction # 3 , as shown at reference  460 . The server  408  send an acknowledgment S-Ack# 3   462  through the network  406 , as shown at  464 . The terminal  404  then receives the S-Ack# 3  at  466 . The terminal  404  may then print or otherwise provide the user  402  with a receipt of the completed transaction, as shown at  468 . 
     In cycle ( 4 ), a special end-of-session transaction  470  (user generated or automatically generated) is forwarded at  472  by the terminal  404  through the network  406  as shown at  474  to the central server  408 , as shown at  476 . At  478 , T-Ack# 3  is received by the server  408 , as is the end-of-session transaction, as shown at  480 . The purpose of the special end-of-session transaction  470  is simply to inform the server  408  that, at the previous cycle, receipt# 3   468  has been successfully printed or viewed. Upon examination of T-Ack# 3  at  478 , the central server  408  executes an End-Of-Session process as shown at  480  that brings to an end the acceptance of further transaction commits from the terminal at  404 . The server returns an S-EOS signal at  482  through the network  406  to the terminal  404 , as shown at  486 . The terminal  404  then prints, displays or otherwise provides an End-Of-Session message  488  to the user  402 . 
     Although the server will not be immediately informed that the terminal has successfully completed the printing or displaying of the End-Of-Session message  488 , it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that a terminal acknowledgment may be received at a later time, for example the next day when the user logs-in again at the terminal to commence transactional activity. In this manner, the server will clear the doubts on whether or not the terminal has successfully completed the End-Of-Session cycle the previous day. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a conventional Internet commerce topology  500  for PC users, mobile users and home users. The web farm and relational database server are not shown for simplicity. In the case of, for example, merchant sites such as Amazon.com, a large number of home users  502  and mobile users  504  are connected to a web server  506  via the Internet  508 . Home users  502  may typically make a purchase using a home PC  516  or a TV Internet appliance such as WebTV  518 , for example. Mobile users  504  may make purchases via a WAP enable telephone  520 , a palmtop device  522 , a laptop or other mobile computer  524 , for example. 
     These very high traffic sites rely on the pervasive three-tier model: web page server farm, clustered database server and web browser user interaction (the web farm and relational database server are not shown for simplicity). The transactional operations such as adding an item to a shopping cart and proceeding with credit card payment may take on the order of seconds to complete. During heavy traffic, the response time deteriorate rapidly. Transactional data travel via complex paths with multiple speed-optimization caches, via executing machines selected by cookie driven session state management, via imposing clusters, via hugely complex databases; consequently, zero-loss of data integrity is difficult to guarantee under all possible failure modes. Occasional loss of data integrity is not critical for an online merchant as manual procedures may be applied to resolve customers&#39; complaints. In addition, malicious intrusion, virus contamination and distributed denial of service are a permanent threat. 
     Internet technologies have matured and are relatively simple to implement; solutions can be rapidly developed. Some startup companies are now attempting to apply the experience acquired in developing merchant Internet sites to gaming sites such as offshore Internet gaming sites, for example. Evidently, these gaming operations are not regulated and it is not known how these systems perform in comparison with conventional gaming systems such as online state lotteries and online casino slots. Lately, some companies have proposed offshore Internet gaming systems for use in casino and national video lotteries. Disaster tolerance with no interruption of service and zero-loss of data integrity is not even considered. 
     Although the use of conventional Internet server technology is tempting, it is clear that the Internet server technology is unproven. Moreover, due to the hidden complexity of Internet server technology, it is immensely difficult to reassure game regulators. In addition, gaining laboratories that test and certify gaming systems for compliance with stringent data integrity principles would need to invest considerably in educating their engineers in such technologies. 
     Consequently, the major drawback of such “all-Internet” topologies is the inability to support fast and trusted transactional applications that require a turn around time at server of less than 100 milliseconds and with a traffic load of tens of thousand of transactions per seconds. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a topology  600  that merges Internet technology with dialup transactional techniques, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the rich content to be displayed to the users  606 ,  614  is handled by the web server  602  while the transactional traffic is handled via fast dialup access. The advantage of using the dialup access is that the telephone network is capable of simultaneously and reliably handling a huge number of user connections, especially if the connection time is limited to a few seconds only. Moreover, the transactional server  624  is designed in accordance with the conventional secure online transactional principles discussed above. This fast dialup approach in combination with a moderately scaled-up transactional server, may offer transactional performance of one million transactions per second, as shown at  634 . This order of performance may be required when considering interactive TV applications whereby tens of millions of viewers may wish to participate in an instant voting or instant purchase while they watch an event on TV. The sluggishness of the web page update does not jeopardize the user instant voting or purchase experience. For instant purchasing, the interactive TV operator may use the 1-click model of Amazon.com, for example, whereby the user&#39;s payment means have been pre-approved. 
     The mobile users  606  using such devices as shown at  608 ,  610  and  612 , the home users  614  using such devices as shown at  616  and  618  and web server  602  are connected to the Internet  604  and may operate as described relative to  FIG. 5 . In addition to Internet access  620 ,  622 , home users  614  are be able to link-up to a transactional server  624  with direct dial-up  628   630 ,  626 ,  632 . With such a topology, home users  614  route the transactional traffic through the dialup network to the transactional server  624  assuming a fast dialup technique holding the line for a few seconds only (fast dialup described herein below); consequently, a performance in the order of, for example, about 1 million transactions per second is easily achievable, as suggested at  634 . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a model  700  for a fast dialup establishment, a transaction commit, a server acknowledge, and then the release of the line. Arrow  716  indicates the passage of time. With adequately tuned communicating equipment, a fast dialup transaction cycle may be performed in less than one second. For this, the transactional terminal  704  may be a home PC  616 , a game appliance  616 , an Internet appliance  616  or a TV appliance  618  that is equipped with a telephone modem  706 . The central server  714  interfaces to the dialup network  708 ,  710  via a Remote Access Server (RAS)  712 . The RAS  712  is equipped with a large number of modems capable of interfacing with the PCs&#39; modem or TV Appliances&#39; modem. The fast dialup transaction cycle may be carried out as follows: the user  702  initiates a transaction at  718 , the terminal  704  executes the transaction initiation process at  720 , and controls its modem  706  to dial-up  722  the RAS  712 . Once the link is established, the terminal  704  delivers the transaction packet(s) to the network  710 , as shown at  724 . The packet(s) transits at  726  through the network  710  and is delivered to the RAS  712 . The RAS then dispatches the packet(s) to the server  714 , as shown at  728 . The server  714  executes the transaction as shown at  730  and returns an acknowledgment S-ACK at  731  that is forwarded back to the terminal  704  via the path  732 ,  734 ,  736 ,  738  and  740 . As soon as the terminal  704  has examined the server acknowledgment S-ACK, it may send a command  744  to the modem  706  to hang-up the line, as shown at  746 . The transaction receipt may then be displayed or printed for the user  702 , as shown at  742 . 
     For example, the Nortel CVX 1800 Access Server and the Cisco AS5850 Access Server are each capable of holding 2688 modem connections per chassis. Four (4) Nortel CVX 1800 chassis can fit in a standard 42U rack/bay and three (3) Cisco AS5850 chassis can fit in a standard 42U rack/bay. Assuming 4 chassis per bay, 100 bays (or 400 RAS chassis, or a total of 1,075,200 dialup interfaces) and a fast dialup time of 1 second, a total of approximately 1,000,000 transactions can be made every second. These bays may be geographically distributed in order to balance the traffic produced by the geographically dispersed TV viewers or users. This amount of equipment is not unreasonable to achieve such high transactional performance. In comparison, the Google™ search engine relies on over 15,000 servers or 180 bays (80 hundred servers per bay) in order to provide an under 1 second “Read-Only” service at a maximum of 1,000 queries per second. 
     Moreover, Nortel CVX 1800, Cisco AS5850 or equivalent remote access equipment are universally used by all telecom providers. This remote access equipment may communicate with a central transactional server via high-speed links. Consequently, a very large-scale fast dialup transactional capture system may be implemented in a relatively straightforward manner. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the transactional engine plug-in  800  that supports the transactional traffic between the user web browser session and the central transactional server. Browser plug-ins are custom developed applications that obey a predefined web browser Application Program Interface (API) to make specific services available when the user interacts with the web browser  802 . Examples of commonly available plug-ins include the Flash player  804  from Macromedia, the Acrobat PDF reader  806  from Adobe, the media player plug-in from Microsoft  808 , the AltemaTIFF plug-in  810  from Medical Informatics Engineering allowing, for example, viewing of USPTO patent pages provided in the TIFF format. These plug-ins are usually downloaded when the user navigates on the Internet using the web browser  802 . For security reasons, the user is usually asked to authorize or deny the download and installation of such plug-in. Code signing or authenticode technology may be used to identify the software provider. 
     The transaction engine plug-in  812  is an object of this invention in that it allows carrying out fast dialup transaction cycles independently of the web server that is serving the web browser pages. When the user presses the submit button in his browser, the transaction engine plug-in  812  takes over the processing. Later in this document, another exemplary implementation of the transaction engine plug-in  812  will be described, which makes use of UDP protocol to perform the transaction cycle. 
       FIG. 9  is a flowchart  900  illustrating a transaction commit via dialup while the user is engaged in a web browser session. It is to be noted that if the user Internet link is already used by the web browser session (user telephone line), this link may be cut to enable fast dialup access directly to the central transactional server and transaction commit. When the transaction is completed, which may only take a few seconds, the Internet link may be re-established with the original web browser session. 
     Hereafter is an example of a transaction commit via dialup whereby a user makes a purchase. It is assumed that the user&#39;s PC or TV appliance (thereafter the terminal) is equipped with a dialup modem connected to the telephone line. The purchase may be, for example, an item to be delivered, a service or a vote. The flowchart begins at  902 . Typically, a user engages into a web browser session at  908  after connection to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) at  904  and connection to a web server at  906 . Should the user find something of interest to purchase as suggested by the YES branch  914  at  910 , the user may enter his or her choices  916 , enter the payment details (could be a 1-click model) at  918  and then press the submit button  920 , as suggested by YES branch  924 . If the user has not decided to purchase anything (or enter a vote, for example), he or she may continue to browse, as shown at  912 . If the user does not press the submit button at  920 , as suggested by the NO branch  922 , the user may continue to browse and may be returned to  908 . 
     If it is determined at  926  that the connection to the ISP is via the modem  928  (that is, not thought xDSL or cable modem), the transaction engine plug-in  812  may cut the communication with the ISP by hanging-up the line at  930 , as shown by YES branch  928 . If it is determined that the connection to the ISP is via a broadband connection (e.g., xDSL or cable modem), the NO branch  932  is taken and the terminal initiates a fast dialup at  934  to connect to the transactional server  714  (or TSP Transaction Service Provider). Once the link is established, the terminal sends the transaction packet(s), as shown at  936 . Upon acknowledgement from the server at  938 , the terminal may proceed through YES branch  948  and cut the communication with the transaction service provider (TSP) at  950  by hanging the telephone line and may then print or display a transaction receipt  952 . Should an acknowledgement from the server not be received at  940  after a time-out  946  (NO branch  940 ), the terminal will return to step  938  (NO branch  944  until the expiration of a predetermined time out  942 . When the time out  942  elapses (YES branch  946 ), the terminal may return to step  936  to retry sending the transaction. Finally, the transaction engine plug-in  812  re-establishes connection with the ISP at  954  (if link was cut at  930 ) and relinquishes control to the web browser, as shown at  956 . 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a model  1000  that merges of web services and secure online transactional services, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Transaction services offered by the transactional server  1002  for conventional transactional business users  1008  is via private network  1010  while transaction services for mobile  1012  and home users  1014  is via fast dial-up  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 ,  1030 ,  1018 , and  1020 . Web page services are provided for mobile  1012  and home users  1014  via the Internet  1016  and the web server  1004 . The web server  1004  and the transactional server  1002  are synchronized via a fast dedicated link  1006 . 
       FIG. 11  illustrates a model  1100  for the merging of web services and Internet routed transactional services, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Transactional services (the solid links  1120 ,  1122 ,  1124 ,  1126 ) for transactional business users  1118  and transaction services (the solid links  1132 ,  1138 , 1144 ,  1152 ,  1158 ) for mobile  1128  and home  1148  users are via a transaction tunnel through the Internet  1108 . Transactional server  1102  is at IP address IP 1 , referenced at  1112 . Rich web page content updates for mobile  1128  and home  1148  users may be carried out via conventional TCP/IP and HTTP protocols, for example (as indicated by the dotted links  1134   1140   1146   1154   1160   1114 ) controlled by the web server  1104  at IP address IP 2 , referenced at  1116 . 
     The transactional tunnel referred to above may be as described in commonly assigned Large Scale Controlled and Secure Data Downloading—Application Ser. No. 60/332,522 and PCT/US02/37529 filed Nov. 22, 2002. The transaction tunnel may use the UDP protocol. The transaction tunnel may also be a secure tunnel such as VPN or IPSec. The web server and the transactional server may be synchronized via a fast dedicated link  1106 . 
       FIG. 12  shows an “N”-Transaction Model  1200 —Nominal Mode, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As show therein, a terminal  1204  commits simultaneously a transaction to several geographically spaced central servers. For simplicity, the diagram shows the exemplary case for 3-servers/3-transactions. Error recovery (retry model) is not shown in case of a failure anywhere outside the terminal boundary. However, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that extension to N-servers/N-transactions is straightforward subsequent to examining the diagram and the associated detailed description. In the same manner, implementing the “One” transaction model depicted in  FIG. 2 , the Retry model depicted in  FIG. 3  and the Acknowledgment model shown in  FIG. 4  is also straightforward. 
     The transaction cycle may proceed as follows. Arrow  1209  indicates the passage of time. Upon a user  1202  initializing a transaction  1216 , the terminal  1204  executes the process  1218  to prepare a transactional packet and duplicates the prepared transactional packet into 3 separate packets Xa  1220 , Ya  1222  and Za  1224 . The Xa packet is destined for server X  1210 , Ya is destined for Server Y  1212  and packet Za is destined for server Z  1214 . As a whole, the three packets are identical except for the destination address and for the forwarding of previous acknowledge signals to/from the servers. Each of the three transaction packets Xb  1226 , Yb  1228  and Zb  1230  travels through the network  1206  and is delivered as inbound packet to the respective servers X  1210 , Y  1212  and Z  1214 . Each server receives the inbound packets at  1232 ,  1234  and  1236 . After examination of the inbound packet for integrity and correctness of the originating terminal source address, each server executes the same transaction on the received inbound packets at  1238 ,  1240 ,  1242  and upon completion, returns an outbound packet Xd  1244 , Yd  1246  and Zd  1248  each destined to the originating terminal  1204 . 
     The receipt is printed (or viewed) at  1258  immediately upon receiving an acknowledgement from any one of the three servers. Upon receiving a first outbound packet (containing a server acknowledgment) from one of the three server X, Y or Z (Xe  1250  in this diagram), containing acknowledgment of server X at  1252 , the terminal  1204  views or print a receipt  1258 . The terminal may also take note of the arrival of the acknowledgments  1254  and  1256  from servers Y and Z. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates at  1300  the case wherein one of the paths between the terminals and the servers experiences a failure and shows that such failure does not have an impact upon the transaction cycle. The unsuccessful arrival after a predetermined time-out of an acknowledgment from the X server is simply noted in a failure log by the terminal re-synchronization application. Arrow  1309  represents the passage of time. 
     The transaction cycle is identical to that described relative to  FIG. 12 , except that in the illustrative transaction of  FIG. 13 , the terminal transaction packet Xb  1326  never reaches server X  1310 . Upon a user  1302  initializing a transaction  1316 , the terminal  1304  executes the process  1318  to prepare a transactional packet and duplicates the prepared transactional packet into three separate packets Xa  1320 , Ya  1322  and Za  1324 . The Xa packet is destined for server X  1310 , Ya is destined for server Y  1312  and packet Za is destined for server Z  1314 . Overall, the three packets are identical except for the destination address and for the forwarding of previous acknowledge signals to/from the servers. 
     In  FIG. 13 , either the packet Xb got lost as suggested at  1328  during its transit via the network  1306  or the server X is unavailable as shown at  1334 . The exact location of or the reason for the failure  1311  is unimportant. The two inbound packets Yb  1330  and Zb  1332  are received by the servers Y and Z at  1336  and  1338 . Transactions on the received inbound packets are then carried out at  1340 ,  1342  by the two servers Y and Z, and outbound packets Yd  1344  and Zd  1346  are returned to the terminal  1304 . 
     The receipt is printed (or viewed) at  1354  immediately upon receiving an acknowledgement from any one of the two operational servers Y or Z. Upon receiving a first outbound packet (containing a server acknowledgment) from one of the two server Y or Z (Ye at  1348  in this diagram), containing acknowledgment from server Y at  1350 , the terminal  1304  views or print a receipt at  1354 . The terminal  1304  takes note of the arrival of acknowledgment  1352  from server Z, and after a predetermined timeout, takes note that no acknowledgment has been received from server X  1310  for the current transaction cycle and that server X may not have received the transactional packet Xb sent by the terminal  1304 . The terminal may simply keep a log of the identifier for the missing transaction acknowledgment. That the server X may not have received the transactional packet sent by the terminal and thus may lack data will be remedied in a synchronization operation at a later stage. 
     Consequently, in the above-described transaction cycle, the failure to communicate with one of the three servers has no impact for a user carrying out a normal transaction operation. The terminal is an active participant in the resynchronization subsequent to a failure in a transactional path. 
     It will be also appreciated by those of skill in the art that the illustrated transaction processing may readily be extended to N-servers/N-transactions. In the same manner, implementing the “One” transaction model depicted in  FIG. 2 , the Retry model depicted in  FIG. 3  and the Acknowledgment model depicted in  FIG. 4  is also straightforward. 
     This N-servers/N-transactions model whereby servers are separated by a significant distance has the advantage of providing extreme resilience for non-stop disaster tolerance. 
       FIG. 14  illustrates at  1400  the construction of a synchronization log by an operational server in the case of failure of another server or failure of its network path with the terminals. For simplicity, the diagram of  FIG. 14  shows the case for two-servers/two-transactions. Error recovery (retry model) is not shown in case of a failure anywhere outside the terminal boundary. Arrow  1410  indicates the passage of time. 
     Transaction cycle ( 1 )  1415  is identical to the transaction cycle illustrated in  FIG. 13 , apart from the fact that only a two-transaction model is shown and server Z together with its associated data path to and from the terminal is ignored. Upon a user  1402  initializing a transaction  1416 , the terminal  1404  executes the process  1418  to prepare a transactional packet and at duplicates the prepared transactional packet into two separate packets X 1   a  at  1420  and Y 1   a  at  1422 . The X 1   a  packet is destined for server X  1412  and Y 1   a  is destined for server Y  1414 . Overall, the two packets are identical except for the destination address and for the forwarding of previous acknowledge signals to/from the servers. 
     In  FIG. 14 , either the packet X 1   b    1424  got lost as suggested at  1426  during its transit via the network  1406  or the server X is unavailable as shown at  1430 . The exact location of or the reason for the failure  1426  is unimportant. The inbound packet Y 1   b    1428  is received by the server Y at  1432 . A transaction on the received inbound packet is then carried out by server Y at  1432  and an outbound packet Y 1   d    1436  is returned to the terminal  1404 . Upon receiving outbound packet (containing a server acknowledgment) Y 1   e  at  1438  from server Y, the terminal  1404  views or print a receipt at  1442 . 
     The terminal  1404  has-taken note of the arrival of acknowledgment S-ACK Y 1   1440  from server Y, and after a predetermined timeout, takes note that no acknowledgment has been received from server X for the transaction cycle ( 1 ) and that in consequence, server X may be lacking the transactional packet for cycle ( 1 ) sent by the terminal  1404 . 
     In transaction cycle ( 2 )  1443 , user  1402  initializes transaction # 2  at  1444  and the terminal  1404  executes the process  1446  to prepare a transactional packet and at  1446  duplicates the prepared transactional packet into two separate packets X 2   a  at  1450  and Y 2   a  at  1452 . The X 2   a  packet is destined for server X  1412  and packet Y 2   a  is destined for server Y  1414 . Overall, the two packets are identical except for the destination address and for the forwarding of previous acknowledge signals to/from the servers. As shown in  FIG. 14 , a NO S-ACK X 1  (information to the effect that no Acknowledgment from server X was received in previous transaction cycle) is added to the transaction packet  1446 , as shown at  1448 . 
     In  FIG. 14 , either the packet X 2   b    1454  got lost as suggested at  1456  during its transit through the network  1406  or the server X is still unavailable, as shown at  1413 . The exact location of or the reason for the failure  1456  is unimportant. The inbound packet Y 2   b    1458  is received by the server Y at  1462 . A transaction on the received inbound packet Y 2   c  is then carried out by server Y at  1464 . Upon receipt and examination of the received inbound packet at  1462  by server Y  1414 , the SYNC Y 2   d  and NO S-ACK X 1   1468  information is forwarded at  1466  to the synchronization engine  1409  Y  1415  located at server Y, is received by the synchronization engine  1409  at  1470 . The synchronization engine of server Y  1415  keeps a log of the identifiers of all the missing transactions that were not received by server X  1412 , as shown at  1472  and then generates an acknowledgment signal SYNC Y 2   f  ACK SYNC X 1   1474  to confirm that the logging has been successful and sends the acknowledgment back to the terminal  1404  through the network  1406 , as shown at  1476 . The terminal  1404  received the acknowledgment at  1478 , including the SYNC Y 2   f  ACK SYNC X 1  information at  1480 . Resynchronization of the data-lacking server X  1412  is discussed below. A receipt may then be provided to the user  1402 , as shown at  1482 . 
     It will be also appreciated by those of skill in the art that extending the model detailed herein relative to  FIG. 14  to N-servers/N-transactions is straightforward. In the same manner, the “One” transaction model depicted in  FIG. 2 , the Retry model depicted in  FIG. 3  and the Acknowledgment model depicted in  FIG. 4  may also be readily implemented. Such an N-servers/N-transactions model whereby servers are separated by a significant distance has the advantage of providing extreme resilience for non-stop disaster tolerance. 
       FIG. 15  illustrates at  1500  the manner in which how two transactions may be committed to two geographically dispersed servers, and how the two central servers may be resynchronized following a failure in the transaction path. The synchronization engines use the synchronization log established by the terminal that noted the missing server acknowledgments. As shown therein, terminals  1502 ,  1504 ,  1506 ,  1508 ,  1510 ,  1512  and  1514  are coupled to the network  1520  via communication paths  1522 ,  1524 ,  1526 ,  1528 ,  1530 ,  1532  and  1534 , respectively. The communication paths from the network  1520  to the server X  1516  and to the server Y  1518  are shown at  1536  and  1538 , respectively. 
       FIG. 15  shows the N-transaction cycle as expressed in  FIGS. 12 ,  13  and  14  from a different perspective. In the case of a two-servers/two-transactions model, a terminal  1506  may forward a transaction packet Tx  1542  to the central server X  1516  via the network path  1540  that transits through the (e.g., Internet) network path  1526   1520   1536 , as a UDP (User Datagram Protocol, a transport layer protocol optimized for small data packets and used by real time applications) packet, for example. In the same manner, the terminal  1506  may forward a transaction packet Ty  1548  to central server Y  1518  via the network path  1544  that transits through the network  1526 ,  1520 ,  1538 , as a UDP packet, for example. 
     Synchronization engine  1550  located at server X  1516  and synchronization engine  1552  located at server Y  1518  may communicate with one another via a synchronization link  1554 , or alternatively, via another predetermined network connection. Whenever one of the synchronization engines starts building a synchronization log as a result of a terminal notification to do so, for example as shown in  FIG. 14  in which server X is unreachable by the terminal  1404 , server Y contacts server X through the synchronization link  1554 . If server X is operational, server Y forwards all the transactional information from the terminal that server X has not received because of failure. As a result, server X now contains the same terminal transactional data as server Y. On the other hand, if server X is still not operational, server Y  1518  keeps retrying until the resynchronization of server X  1516  is completed. Once the resynchronization is completed, the overall system resilience is returned to its nominal availability, and any of the servers or associated link with the terminal may fail without causing any interruption of service at the terminal. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the topology shown in  FIG. 15  may readily be extended to the N-servers/N-transactions case. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates load replication at  1600  in the case of a two-transaction model and two-POPs (Point Of Presence). Depending on the wide area communications means made available by the network or Internet service provider, a preferred network topology such as depicted in diagram  1600  may be proposed such as to offer excellent resilience in case of a severe failure of part of the network while all the servers are kept in reach of the terminals.  FIG. 16  illustrates the case wherein there is no failure.  FIG. 17  illustrates what happens when the network behind a POP is inoperative. 
     Thanks to the N-transaction model, each terminal may be configured to send a duplicate transaction commit to any central server in accordance with a destination address determined by a network management unit (for example  2114  in  FIG. 21 ). In addition, the terminal may be given a predetermined POP (Point Of Presence) to connect to in order to access the network. As instructed by the network management unit, the terminal may, for load balancing reason or because of network failure, connect to another POP at any time. POPs usually connect to a network backbone such as the Internet backbone. The central servers may connect directly to the backbone or via a POP or a plurality of POPs. 
     In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to  FIG. 16 , in which specific exemplary embodiments are shown. The network management unit has configured the network segment # 1   1601  such that 50% of the terminals  1604 ,  1606 ,  1608 ,  1612 ,  1614  and  1616  are connected to POP # 1   1620  and has configured the network segment # 2   1611  the other 50% of terminals (which may be or include gaming machines (GM), for example)  1604 ,  1606 ,  1608 ,  1612 ,  1614  and  1616  to POP # 2   1622 . To give an order of magnitude, consider a total number of 100,000 terminals geographically distributed over a large state such as Texas. Therefore, each POP handles the traffic coming from 50,000 terminals or 50% of the overall terminal connections and data traffic. However, by network design, each POP is preferably capable of handling double this capacity. That is, each POP is preferably capable of handing all of the connections and traffic from all 100,000 terminals. 
     As shown in  FIG. 16 , central server X  1624  receives the transaction packets X  1650 ,  1654 ,  1658  (the solid links) from network segment # 1   1601  via POP # 1   1620  and link  1628  (50% of the overall traffic, as shown at  1630 ) as well as the transaction packets X  1662 ,  1666 ,  1670  (the solid links) from network segment # 2   1612  via POP # 2   1622  and link  1636  (the other 50% of the overall traffic, as shown at  1638 ). Consequently, central server X receives 100% of the transaction traffic generated by all the terminals (network segment # 1   1601 +segment # 2   1602 ), as shown at  1644 . 
     In the a similar manner, central server Y  1626  receives the transaction packets Y  1652 ,  1656 ,  1660  (the dotted links) from network segment # 1   1601  via POP # 1   1620  and link  1632  (50% of the overall traffic, as shown at  1634 ) as well as the transaction packets Y  1664 ,  1668 ,  1672  (the dotted links) from network segment # 2   1602  via POP # 2   1622  and link  1640  (the other 50% of the overall traffic, as shown at  1642 ). Consequently, central server Y receives 100% of the transaction traffic generated by all the GM terminals from network segment # 1   1601  and network segment # 2   1602 . Communication link  1648  enables the servers  1624 ,  1626  to be resynchronized in accordance with the model shown in  FIG. 15  should a terminal or a plurality of terminals detect missing server acknowledgments. 
     In a geographically dispersed network of gaming machines, there is usually a plurality of POPs that are sufficiently separated such that the failure of a network path via a POP does not affect the network path via another POP. Moreover, one or several of the sites may be located in a different country. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the network architecture shown in  FIG. 16  may be readily scaled up to N-servers/N-transactions. 
       FIG. 17  shows the network  1600  of  FIG. 16  in the case of a load failover. Should POP # 1   1620  fail, the configuration shown in  FIG. 17  applies. POP # 1   1620  is inoperative as shown at  1621 . According to an embodiment of the present invention, under predetermined instructions by the network management unit, the entirety of the transaction traffic that would otherwise be routed to POP # 1   1620  from network segment # 1   1601  is transferred to the other POP # 2   1622 , which then receives 100% of all of the transaction traffic from the terminals or gaming machines GM in network segments  1601  and  1602 . As detailed below, under such a configuration, each of the servers  1624  and  1626  continues to receive 100% of the traffic generated by all the terminals. 
     Indeed, the terminals in network segment # 1   1601 , upon detection that network communication via POP # 1   1620  is inoperative as suggested at  1621 , will re-establish a communication link with the network  1623  by accessing the POP # 2   1622 . Consequently, 100% of the transaction traffic from all the terminals is routed via POP # 2   1622 . Central server X  1624  and central server Y  1626  each receive 100% (as shown at  1638  and  1642 ) of the terminal transaction respectively via link  1636  and via link  1640 . Transaction traffic channeled to server X  1624  originates from the X transaction packets  1650 ,  1654 ,  1658 ,  1662 ,  1666  and  1670  (the solid links), and transaction traffic channeled to server Y  1626  originates from the Y transaction packets  1652 ,  1656 ,  1660 ,  1664 ,  1668  and  1672  (the dotted links). 
     It will be appreciated that extending the topology shown in  FIG. 17  to a topology wherein a plurality of POPs are accessible by terminals is straightforward to those of skill in the art. In that case, the network management unit would predetermine a suitable strategy for terminals whose POP fails to call an alternate POP. 
       FIG. 18  is an overview of a network topology  1800  and a system architecture of a universal game server  1802 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The universal game server  1802  is also referred to herein as central server  1802  herein. A second central server or N central servers may be located at geographically distant locations for disaster tolerance. Such second or N central servers, according to an embodiment of the present invention operate synchronously in accordance with the synchronization principles described above, and a link between the central servers  1802  allows for resynchronization. The central servers  1802  may be located in different states or different countries. Operating the transactional terminals, the network and the central servers is commonly referred as “the operations”, and the contractor that run the operations, the “the operator”. 
     The central server  1802  may include three main elements; namely, (a) the trusted transactional cache  1822 , (b) the business server  1828  and (c) the logistic support server  1826 . At least one of the N central servers shall have all three elements  1822 ,  1828  and  1826 ; other servers need only include element the trusted transactional cache  1822  to provide synchronized disaster tolerance capability. A large storage capacity Storage Area Network (SAN)  1834  may also be provided. A single business server  1828  for the entire operations may be located at a central place, and the logistic support server  1826  for the entire operations may be located at another central place. All three elements may be located at a same site to minimize operational costs, but this is not a technical requirement. The business server  1828  and the logistics support server  1826  may be coupled to one another via a Local Area Network (LAN) connection  1832 . 
     The central server  1802  may be configured to connect to a wide variety of terminal transaction devices such PCs  1806 , Mobile/Handheld PCs  1808 , WAP phones  1810 , Interactive TVs  1812 , Lottery Terminals  1814 , Retail terminals  1816 , Public Kiosks  1818 , and any other kinds of transactional devices  1820 . These devices may run any type of operation systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, Macintosh, Pocket PC, Symbian, real-time kernels and custom operating systems or equivalent. These terminals may connect to a private or public network  1804  and may connect to the central server  1802  via a least two links, one link  1824  that connects to the trusted transactional cache  1822  and one link  1825  that connects to the logistic support server  1826 . 
       FIG. 19  illustrates a portion  1900  of the system shown in  FIG. 18 , and shows the top-level architecture of the trusted transactional cache  1822 . The trusted transactional cache  1822  or TTC is also referred to herein as “VeriCache™”. VeriCache™  1822  is an important part of the central server  1802  in that it provides fundamental services required for handling game transactions; namely, data integrity, transparency, security and guaranteed response time. The combination of these four factors characterizes the trust in the “trusted transactional cache”  1822 . This trust is achieved thanks to the proprietary (necessary for audit purposes) developed software code that is kept in its simplest possible form. Complex third party software such as hugely complex relational databases and web server technologies is, therefore, disfavored. For data management, for example for defining, querying and updating the attributes of the transaction terminals (say 1 million terminals and/or users), a simple and very efficient in-memory flat database technique may advantageously be used. 
     It is important to note that the trusted transactional cache  1822  is indeed a “cache”. That is, the trusted transactional cache  1822  provides real-time temporary storage for raw data and is optimized for simplicity, data integrity, transparency, security and performance. Data manipulation is kept to a strict minimum. The transactional information (inbound and outbound) is stored in several places using a synchronized persistent storage technique such that any system failure does not result in any data loss, thus insuring what may accurately be termed “zero-loss data integrity”. Disaster tolerance with zero-loss data integrity in case of a major disaster striking a central center  1802  is provided by one or more geographically remote synchronized central servers as described previously. All the data processed by the trusted transactional cache is made available to the business server  1828  (see also  FIG. 20 ) via a “one-way” link shown in  FIGS. 18 and 19  at reference  1930 . This one-way link is conceptually represented by the diode symbol. The one-way function may be provided by proprietarily developed software (preferred as source code may be totally audited) or by a trusted firewall configured to ensure only a one-way traffic. That is, the trusted transactional cache  1822  is preferably configured such that it cannot receive external data via the link  1930 , nor can it allow any access such as remote logging. 
     The entire trusted transactional cache  1822  should preferably reside in a secure room fitted with transparent glass walls, video surveillance, biometric access and no permanent user console access. Control may only be via the user console located inside the room. 
     The transaction engine  1908  and the audit log  1910  are the most sensitive and most trusted elements of the trusted transactional cache  1822 . The transaction engine  1908  receives an inbound transaction payload from a remote terminal and returns an outbound transaction payload to be forwarded back to the originating terminal. The inbound transaction payload (or inbound game payload or inbound payload) may be defined as the minimal set of information that is required to compose a valid game transaction, such as the terminal ID, user ID (optionally), transaction GUID (global unique identifier), terminal originating/return address (optionally), the game ID, the game bet (player&#39;s selected numbers or symbols), amount wagered (optionally), data integrity coding and a number of acknowledgement signals. Some of the data, for example the optional data, may be derived at the TTC  1822  through a database look-up, thus the payload may be kept very small. For example, an inbound payload for a comprehensive lottery slip scanned at a terminal may be no larger than about 80 bytes. The payload as defined here corresponds to the ISO Layer 7 application layer in that it does not comprise any layer element for forwarding the packet through the network. 
     Similarly, the outbound transaction payload (or outbound game payload or outbound payload) may be defined as the minimal set of information that is required to compose a valid game transaction return, such as the transaction GUID, the amount won, data integrity coding and a number of acknowledgement signals. For example, an outbound payload packet for a lottery terminal may be no larger than 50 bytes. The exact composition of the inbound and outbound payload packets vary according to the types of game available, the regulatory requirements and the game model (deferred-draw or instant-draw, for example). 
     A transaction packet from a terminal is forwarded to the Front End  1918  in the TTC  1822  via a network  1804  and either the synchronization engine  1928  (such as shown at  1550  and  1552  in  FIG. 15 ) or a remote access server (RAS)  1920 . Depending on the type of network access, the link may be through the RAS  1920  or directly to the Frond End  1918 . The Front End  1918  may be configured to strip the inbound packet in order to only deliver the inbound game payload to the transaction engine  1908 . After processing the inbound payload, the transaction engine  1908  logs the details of the transaction including the relevant inbound payload and outbound payload to a trusted audit log  1910 . An outbound payload packet may be returned to the originating terminal to acknowledge the successful processing of the transaction by the central server  1802  only if a log for that transaction has been physically written in at least two separate persistent storage units, to ensure disaster-proof fault tolerance. In this manner, the sudden failure of one storage element, of other elements in the TTC  1822 , or of the entire TTC system  1822  will not compromise data integrity. In case of a disaster whereby the entire TTC  1822  cannot be returned to an operational state, a distant central server  1802  (in the N-transaction model) processing the same transaction will ensure the integrity of the terminal transaction. Furthermore, the trusted audit log  1910  is preferably controlled by a read-only mechanism whereby the information is logged sequentially and can never be modified nor erased. 
     The trusted audit log  1910  may be periodically dumped or backed-up onto write-once media such as CD-ROMs. Preferably, backing up the trusted audit log  1910  is carried out using a robotic CD-ROM or DVD duplicators, such as available from Rimage Corp (www.rimage.com), for example. As a result, no human is required to penetrate the secure room in which the TTC  1822  is located to perform multiple copies on multiple brands of media and print the identification labels. Moreover, a ramp is preferably added that guides the finished CD-ROM or DVD directly into a fireproof safe. Such fireproof safe with automatic entry of the written CD-ROM or DVD is named a vault  FIG. 19 . The TTC  1822  may be coupled to or include one or several vaults  1912 ,  1914 ,  1916  whereby a given vault or vaults may be assigned to a given game event (or events) or for a game jurisdiction (or jurisdiction). Procedures for physical access to and removal of the recorded audit logs stored in the vaults  1912 ,  1914 ,  1916  are in accordance with stringent requirements as mandated by regulators. 
     The trusted audit log  1910  is preferably recorded in a simple data format that may be easily audited by the regulators or their assigns using a third party utility. Preferably, entries in the trusted audit log  1910  are made in the text format, whereby an auditor may examine part or the entire log or perform a search using a standard text editor or word processor. All of the information contained in the trusted audit log  1910  may be forwarded to the business server  1828  for automatic financial reconciliation or import into a relational database for data mining. 
     In the case wherein the central server  1802  is configured to handle transactions for games following the central instant-draw model, whereby the outcome of a game waged by a player at a terminal is determined immediately and the amount won (if any) is returned in the outbound game payload, one or a plurality of random number generators (RNG)  1922 ,  1924 ,  1926  may be added to the TTC  1822 , preferably inside the secure room. The outcome for each game transaction together with the number(s) drawn by a RNG is immediately recorded in the trusted audit log  1910  following the same “fault tolerant persistent synchronized storage” principles detailed above. 
       FIG. 20  illustrates a portion  2000  of the system shown in  FIG. 18  and illustrates the top-level architecture of the Business Server (BS)  1828 . The BS  1828  receives a copy of all the information handled by the TTC  1822  that is relevant to the conduct of the game business via the link  1830 . The information is provided asynchronously, that is, it is derived from the trusted audit log  1910  in a low priority optimized format such that the ability of the TTC  1822  to service a very large number of terminals is not impacted. The data transfer from the TTC  1822  may be effectively carried out in batch, with a time delay typically not exceeding one or two minutes from the real event that caused the generation of the information. The received data may be imported into a traditional information-processing environment comprising commercial database packages (relational, object oriented or other type) and/or other custom modules. The BS  1828  may include an activity monitoring module  2006  that reflects in near real-time the overall and detailed business/game activity of the operations, an activity control module  2008  for real-time configuration of the various game events; a game management module  2010  for configuring the various game parameters in accordance with a strategy or regulatory requirements, analyze the performance metrics of the system and dynamically adjust configuration with the analysis outcome in a close loop fashion; an activity reporting module  2012  that mines the database and prepare graphical reports in a format such that managers can readily understand the dynamics of the operations in order to make the necessary optimization to maximize revenues; and a bookkeeping/financial module  2014  that complies with applicable tax laws and game regulations. The business server  1828  is preferably equipped with a firewall (not shown in  FIG. 20 ). 
     Standard business IT security procedures may be applied to the business server  1828  such that the users thereof are provided the most flexible and most efficient tools to manipulate the data to conduct the game business. For example, standard database access control is sufficient. Should a doubt be raised regarding the veracity or integrity of a given transaction, the CD-ROM produced by the Trusted Audit Log  1910  may be examined for comparison and for determining the cause for the discrepancy (procedural error, data corruption or fraud, for example). All of the LSS data (described below) may be centrally stored in the Storage Area Network  2024 . 
       FIG. 20  illustrates a portion  2100  of the system shown in  FIG. 18  and illustrates the top-level architecture of the Logistic Support Server  1826 . The Logistic Support Server or LSS  1826  supports all the information technology tasks in a large scale gaming operation that are not handled by the trusted transaction cache  1822  and the business server  1828 . Microsoft Encarta® Reference Library  2003  defines “Logistics” as: involving complicated organization, involving the planning and management of any complex task. If the “Support” attribute is added to form “Logistics Support”, it is clear that the role of the Logistic Support Server  1826  is important. 
     According to embodiments of the present invention, the LLS  1826  may be a single server or an aggregate of servers located at one site or across several distributed sites. The LLS  1826  preferably takes advantage of all current Internet and Intranet technology advances such as for example available from Microsoft, Windows 2003, Internet Information Server IIS6, web farms load balancing, Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, SQL Server relational databases, Clustering, XML, InfoPath, SOAP, Biztalk, Office, Project, SharePoint Portal Server (collaborative technology), Exchange email server, Mobile Information server, SQL Server Notification Services Notification server, System Management Server (SMS), Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), Visual Studio and Software Update Services (SUS). 
     The business server  1828  communicates with the Internet  1804  via for example a comprehensive firewall infrastructure such as Microsoft ISA Server enterprise security firewall (not shown in  FIG. 21  for simplicity). The LSS  1826  may comprise a web server farm  2110  containing a large number of Internet servers in order to deliver the numerous services of the LLS  1826  to users and systems of the game operations over the Internet and Intranet. A number of web servers may be delivering the rich page content to the terminals while the transactions are routed to the trusted transaction cache  1822  in accordance with the principles detailed above relative to  FIG. 11  and below relative to  FIG. 22 . The LSS  1826  communicates with the business server  1828  via the network link  1832 . 
     The LSS  1826  may also include a call center help desk  2112  constructed using the latest Internet telephony, email, alert notification services, subscription notification services and collaborative technology in order to provide automated and/or human support to users and players. As shown, the LSS  1826  may comprise a network management unit  2114  that monitors and controls the entire or portion of the communication network between the terminals and the central server(s)  1802 . The LSS  1826  may comprise a maintenance management unit  2116  that manages the deployment and maintenance of all the terminals, servers and communication equipment. In addition, service vehicle fleet management may be provided using tracking GPS devices and web map services such as Maporama.com and Microsoft MapPoint, for example. In addition, the LSS  1826  may include a comprehensive software development and upgrade unit  2118  for producing managed software code, certifying code in accordance with applicable game regulations and downloading game code as well as system and utilities updates. Indeed, the software development and upgrade unit may be distributed geographically in accordance with the localization of the developers and various software support personnel. The LSS  1826  may also include other computer infrastructure  2120  for supporting the game operations that are channeled via the web server farm  2110 . All of the LLS data may be centrally stored in the SAN  1834 . 
       FIG. 22  illustrates the top-level architecture  2200  of the personality front end (PFE)  1918 . As can be seen in  FIG. 18 , the PFE  1918  is part of the trusted transaction cache  1822 . The PFE  1918  may be configured to intercept all the transaction traffic with the terminals via the network  1804  through link  1824 . Link  1824  may comprise a variety of network protocols such private  2210 , X25  2222 , dial-in  2230  and the Internet  2242 , for example. The PFE may also be configured to intercept traffic through links configured for other protocols, as will occur to those of skill in this art. Each network may require a specific network interface equipment  2212 ,  2224 ,  2232 ,  2244  for allowing interfacing with the PFE  1918  via a standard local area network such as Ethernet. 
     The role of the PFE  1918  is to extract the inbound game payload (application layer 7) from the inbound network communication packet sent by the terminal that is received at the central server  1802 , and to stuff the outbound game payload (application layer 7) into the outbound network communication packet sent back to the terminal. The inbound game payload is destined to the transaction engine  1908  and the outbound game payload is produced by the transaction engine  1908 . Such architecture allows the transaction engine  1908  to be unaffected by the type of communication protocol employed by the terminal to communicate with the central server  1802 . If the transaction information produced and understood by the terminal is specific, the PFE  1918  trans-codes the differences such that the transaction engine  1908  may treat the transaction information as generic. Consequently, the transaction engine  1908  is kept unaware of the “personality” of the transaction terminals. Such architecture whereby the personality of the transaction terminals filtered is advantageous as it prevents making unnecessary changes to the highly optimized yet simple transaction engine  1908  and the trusted audit log  1910 ; consequently, maximum trust is retained. 
     For game transaction terminals that communicate via the private network  2210 , the native transactional separator or filter  2214  handles (for both inbound as well as outbound traffic), the peculiarity of the proprietary private communication protocol. The filter  2214  is linked to the payload separator or transcoder  2216  that adapting the transaction packet format on the link  2220  such that it complies with the generic format supported by the native transaction engine  1908 . For game transaction terminals that communicate via the X25 network  2222 , the Dial-in X25 packets separator or filter  2226  handles for both inbound and outbound traffic, the peculiarities of the X25 communication protocol. The filter  2226  is linked to the payload separator or transcoder  2228  that further adapts the transaction packet format on the link  2206  such it complies with the generic format supported by the native transaction engine  1908 . For game transaction terminals that communicate via the dial-in network  2230 , the dial-in UDP packets separator or filter  2234  handle, for both inbound and outbound traffic, the peculiarity of the dial-in communication protocol. Here, it is assumed that the protocol used is the UDP protocol, although other protocols may be implemented. The filter  2234  is linked to the payload separator or transcoder  2238  that further adapts the transaction packet format on the link  2240  such that it complies with the generic format supported by the native transaction engine  1908 . For game transaction terminals that communicate via the Internet  2242 , the Internet UDP packets separator or filter  2246  the peculiarity of the Internet communication protocol for both inbound and outbound traffic. Here, it is also assumed that the protocol used is the UDP protocol, although other protocols may be utilized. The filter  2246  is linked to the payload separator or transcoder  2248  that further adapts the transaction packet format on the link  2250  such that it complies with the generic format supported by the native transaction engine  1908 . 
     The array of filters and transcoders existing in the PFE  1918  constitutes a formidable firewall; no unidentified or unauthorized packet may transit inbound past the PFE  1918 . Indeed, sophisticated intrusion analysis techniques (including forwarding of the traffic to an off-site security specialist such as counterpane.com) may be employed to track down the origin of any anomaly or fraud. 
     The N-Transaction/N-Server model described herein is well adapted to the deferred-draw as well as to the immediate-draw gaming model. Deferred-draw refers to games whereby the player wager is placed at a given instant in time, and the draw occurs at a later point in time. Traditional slip-scan lottery and sport betting (where legal) are examples of deferred-draw whereby the player buys his wager several days before the draw or the event that determines the outcome; the draw or event may be shown life on TV. Disaster tolerance for differed-draw is essential so as not to loose the record of the player&#39;s wager to allow the player to claim or verify winnings. This is especially important in jurisdictions having regulations that mandate on-line storage of transactions for 6 or even 12 months. The N-Transaction/N-Server model is ideally adapted in the case of a lottery run in a developing country whereby the network infrastructure, power infrastructure or political maneuvers is unpredictable; having a remote transaction server in another stable country avoids the risk of compromising the data integrity of the gaming system. 
     In the case of the immediate-draw gaming model, the embodiments of the present invention may be configured under the control of the network management unit  2114  to simplify the network traffic. With the immediate-draw model whereby the outcome is determined immediately (e.g., using RNG at the central server, or using a RNG locally at the transaction terminal as is the case with casino gaming machines) before the transaction receipt is returned to the user/player at the terminal, there is no requirement to safely keep historical transaction data for an extended period of time. The players know immediately (within seconds) whether they have won or lost. Therefore, for immediate-draw, geographically dispersed load balancing present a simplified configuration alternative to the N-Transaction/N-Server model. 
       FIG. 23  at  2300  illustrates a two-site geographically dispersed load-balancing configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, assuming here that the network  2322  is the Internet. The same configuration would be applicable to non-Internet networks. In the configuration, two geographically separated trusted transactional caches TTC-A  2344  and TTC-B  2348  are connected to the Internet  2322  via respectively link  2346  and link  2350 . TTC-A  2344  comprises a random number generator RNG-A  2362  that determines the instant draw for this TTC, and TTC-B  2348  comprises a random number generator RNG-B  2366  that determines the instant game draw for this TTC. Outcome Engine  2364  computes the outcome of the game transactions for terminals (e.g., gaming machines (GM)  2302 ,  2304 ,  2306 ,  2308 ,  2310 ,  2312 ,  2314 ,  2316 ,  2318  and  2320 ) connected to TTC-A  2344  and Outcome Engine  2368  computes the outcome of the game transactions for terminals connected to TTC-B  2348 . 
     In the diagram, the Internet  2322  assumes multiple POPs (Points Of Presence)  2358  that may be accessible by the terminals for optimal network resilience or spread of data traffic under the instructions set by the Network Management unit  2114 . The terminals  2302 ,  2304 ,  2306 ,  2308 ,  2310 ,  2312 ,  2314 ,  2316 ,  2318  and  2320  are configured to send one transaction to a selected TTC, such as TTC-A  2344  or TTC-B  2348 . In the exemplary case illustrated in  FIG. 23 , terminals  2302 ,  2306 ,  2310 ,  2314  and  2318  communicate with TTC-A  2344  via links  2324 ,  2328 ,  2332   2336  and  2340 , respectively (the black links), and terminals  2304 ,  2308 ,  2312 ,  2316  and  2320  communicate with TTC-B  2348  via links  2326 ,  2330 ,  2334 ,  2338  and  2342 , respectively (the white links). In the illustrative case of  FIG. 23 , therefore, 50% of the terminals communicate with TTC-A  2344  and 50% of the terminals communicate with TTC-B  2348 . A single transaction to only one predetermined TTC  2344 ,  2348  is used. Consequently, each TTC  2344 ,  2348  independently handles 50% of the transaction traffic. Accordingly, TTC-A  2344  handles 50% of the traffic as shown at  2352  via link  2346  and TTC-B  2348  handles 50% of the traffic as shown at  2354  via link  2350 . The business server  1828  may retrieve the transaction logs of both TTCs  2344  and  2348 ; therefore, the entire game business may be managed. One of the TTCs may be located in a different country. It is to be noted that a unique national access number may be called that will establish a link via an available operative POP, and transparently load balance regional data traffic in the communication network. 
       FIG. 24  at  2400  illustrates the two-site geographically dispersed load-balancing configuration of  FIG. 23  and illustrates the failover in the case wherein one of the TTCs becomes inoperative or unreachable (thus 0% of the traffic is carried on link  2350 , as indicated at  2454 ). In this illustrative failure scenario, the terminals that initially attempted to connect to the failed TTC-B  2348  re-attempt connection to the other remaining operational TTC-A  2344  via available operational POPs. Consequently, the entire 100% (as indicated at  2452 ) transaction traffic is forwarded via link  2346  via the black links  2324 ,  2326 ,  2328 ,  2330 ,  2332 ,  2334 ,  2336 ,  2338 ,  2340  and  2342 . As TTC-A  2344  executes the immediate-draw thanks to RNG-A  2362  and calculates the outcome using the outcome engine  2364 , the non-accessibility to the raw transaction historical data does not impact the game operations for the terminals that were previously connected to the failed TTC-B  2348 . Historical business data has been retrieved by the business server  1828  while TTC-B  2348  was in operation. Therefore, only a few seconds of historical data may be unavailable. The business server is coupled to the TTCs  2344 ,  2348  via the links  2380  and  2382 . 
       FIG. 25  illustrates at  2500  a three-site geographically dispersed load balancing, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown,  FIG. 25  is an extension of the two-site geographically dispersed load balancing described in  FIG. 23  by the addition of TTC-C  2570 . TTC-C  2570  includes a RNG  2580 , an outcome engine  2582  and is coupled to the business server  1828  via a link  2584 . Here, the transaction load is balanced over three TTCs  2344 ,  2570  and  2348 , each handling about 33% of the transactional traffic of the terminals  2302 ,  2304 ,  2306 ,  2308 ,  2310 ,  2312 ,  2314 ,  2316 ,  2318  and  2320 , as shown at  2552 ,  2574  and  2554 . As shown, TTC-A  2344  handles the transactional traffic routed over the black links  2524 ,  2530 ,  2536  and  2542 , TTC-B  2548  handles the transactional traffic routed over the white links  2526 ,  2532  and  2538  and TTC-C  2370  handles the operational traffic routed over the thin links  2528 ,  2534  and  2540 . One or more of the TTCs may be geographically dispersed, such as located in different areas, states or countries, for example. 
       FIG. 26  illustrates at  2500  the three-site geographically dispersed load-balancing model shown in  FIG. 25  and illustrates the failover when one of the TTCs of the system is inoperative or otherwise unreachable. For example, when TTC-C  2570  is unreachable or inoperative, the terminals previously connected to TTC-C will attempt to contact an alternative TTC (TTC-A  2344  or TTC-B  2348  in this case) in accordance with a predetermined connection contingency strategy defined by the network management unit. Here, the failover strategy for one failed TTC results in the two other TTCs  2344 ,  2348  each taking 50% of the transaction traffic load as shown at  2652  and  2654  while the traffic load for TTC-C  2570  is reduced to zero, as shown at  2674 . Should a second TTC also fail, the remaining TTC will take 100% of the load as described relative  FIG. 24 . It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that extension to a N-Sites geographically dispersed load balancing topology is straightforward. 
     Random Game Number Generator 
     The purpose of random game number generation is to produce unpredictable and unrepeatable game numbers (or symbols), which are in turn applied to a software game outcome module that determines the amount won (or lost) in accordance with applicable game regulation and a pay table. The amount won (or lost) is called the game outcome; however, the game outcome may also refer to simply the random game numbers (or symbols). Hereunder, we refer to game outcome for either case. 
     Good random number generation is vital for producing game outcome. These random numbers are typically provided by special algorithms called pseudo random number generators (PRNGs) in software or specialized hardware random number generators (RNGs). Pseudo random number generators (PRNGs) are software algorithms that take a random seed and generate streams of random bits that are normalized to produce random game numbers (or symbols). Generating a seed that cannot be predicted or repeated is especially important in gaming. There are a number of sources for unrepeatable seeds. The best source may be a hardware noise generator. One such implementation interfaces is with Intel Corporation&#39;s Random Number Generator. Other seed-gathering methods involve tracking mouse movement or timing keystrokes, system time, or processor-elapsed time. There may be other schemes that do not depend on someone entering a value from the keyboard. 
     Once the PRNG is seeded, it can produce a sequence of random bits or bytes; these bytes are “more random” and are generated more quickly than the seed, typically hundred thousand times faster than a hardware random number generator. 
     For example, the RSA Crypto-C software security component http://www.rsasecuritv.com/products/bsafe/cryptoc.html includes PRNGs that are designed to ensure good algorithmic properties. 
     The hardware-based Intel Random Number Generator included in the Intel® 8XX series of PC motherboard chipsets is a good option that enables game application to get the high-quality, high-entropy bits that are needed. Information on Intel RNG may be found at http://www.intel.com/design/security/rng/rngppr.htm. 
     The Intel Random Number Generator is a dedicated hardware component that harnesses thermal noise to generate random and non-deterministic values. The generator is free running, accumulating random bits of data until a 32-bit buffer is filled. In addition, the bits supplied to the application have been mixed with a SHA1 hash function for added security under extreme conditions of voltage and temperature. The bits the Intel RNG supplies have been whitened by the hardware; that is, a post-processing algorithm has been applied to reduce patterns in the hardware bits and make them less predictable. The advantage of performing whitening in software as well as hardware is that an attacker must modify the hardware and the software to make the Hardware RNG leak secret information. 
     The Intel RNG generates the seed bits needed to produce high quality non-predictable game outcomes. In a few milliseconds, the Intel RNG can produce all the random bits needed to seed a game application. This is significantly faster than the software mechanisms for gathering unpredictable bits. Software mechanisms can take as long as ten seconds to gather a seed and often require user input (for example, via the mouse or keyboard). 
     The present universal game RNG, according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured to interface with a hardware random number generator, to seed a PRNG, to record a trusted log and to produce on-demand random game numbers at a significantly high rate. 
       FIG. 27  illustrates the universal game RNG  2700  configured for gaming applications, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The universal RNG  2702  comprises both hardware and software components. The hardware component may include a hardware-based RNG  2704  such as, for example, the Intel® 82802 firmware hub (in fact, random number generation is one of the functions of the Intel® 82802). Alternatively, the hardware-based RNG may be a function directly that may be directly integrated into future generation secure processors from, for example, Intel® and AMD® or other motherboard chipsets as required for compliance with (for example) Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), formerly referred under the code name “Palladium”. Alternatively still, the hardware RNG of the present embodiment may be or include any other type of solid state device embedded on the motherboard, mounted on the motherboard, plugged into the motherboard or inserted into a slot or interface, including a secure smart card or similar secure smart devices. The hardware RNG may also be a quantum-effect RNG interfaced to the motherboard, for example. 
     The hardware RNG  2704  may be controlled by a specific software driver  2708  such as the Intel Security Driver, for example, in order to securely capture random binary seeds  2706  generated by the hardware RNG  2704 . These captured seeds may then be securely delivered by the security driver  2708  as shown at  2710  to an application level such as an Intel Interface software module  2712 , for example. The rate of seed delivery may be controlled by a seed timer  2714 . For example, seeds may 64 bytes long, and the seed rate may be configurable from 1 to 100 per second. Preferably, seeds may be generated continuously, even when there is no demand for the seeds at the interface  2732 . 
     A pseudo-random number generator  2720  such as, for example, the RSA Crypto-C RNG component is therefore seeded by truly random seeds  2716  produced at a predetermined rate under the control of the seed timer  2714 . A trusted log  2718  may log securely the random seeds  2716 , for subsequent audit. 
     High quality random binary numbers  2722  may now be produced at a very high rate. A Game Result Assembler software module  2724  converts the random binary numbers into “ranging” random numbers, that is, random decimal numbers ranging between two predetermined values such as 1 and 80 for keno games, without introducing unacceptable coloration, that is, output random numbers no longer having a white distribution because of the unused numbers (dropped numbers). For example, for generating random numbers within an exemplary range of 1 to 80, an 8-bit random blob ranging 0 to 255 is used wherein number 0 and numbers 81 to 255 are thrown away, which process may introduce distortions in the random distribution. Appropriate techniques are applied to minimize coloration. The “ranging” random numbers are commonly named and referred to as the game numbers. For games using symbols, a mapping of the ranging random numbers to a predetermined set of symbols may simply be carried out. 
     The Game Result Assembler software module  2724  also responds to demands made at  2732  by the client gaming application, that is, game random numbers may be produced “on order” for each client application. The order may include the combination of random ranging game numbers required for a given game draw. 
     A very fast trusted log  2728  may securely log the high rate random numbers  2726  for subsequent audit. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the trusted log  2728  need not continuously record the high-rate random numbers generated by the pseudo random generator  2720 , as these random numbers may be reproduced by retrieving the input random seeds  27216  (which are written to the trusted log  2718  at a lower rate than random numbers would be written to the trusted log  2728 ) from the trusted log  2718  and feeding them back to the pseudo random generator  2720 . 
     A secure interface  2730  module may provide the necessary level of security when delivering the random game numbers to client applications. Typically greater than 200,000 numbers per second are generated on a 750 MHz single processor Pentium-class machine. This high rate enables the delivery of unique game random numbers for each individual game played on the gaming machines, which offers a substantial improvement compared to conventional batch RNG processes such as described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,328 entitled “Cashless Computerized Video Game System and Method” and assigned to Oneida Indian Nations. 
     Advantageously, the present universal game RNG may be incorporated into a central server system described herein and/or into each gaming machine described herein. In the case wherein the universal game RNG is incorporated into a central server, the universal game RNG may be included within a PC based workstation, server or motherboard comprising the necessary hardware-based RNG (or equivalent hardware RNG integrated into future generation secure processors such as from Intel and AMD, or other motherboard chipsets as required for compliance with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), or other standard) and the other associated software modules as detailed in  FIG. 27 . The universal game RNG may communicate with the other elements of the present trusted transactional cache, as shown in  FIG. 19 . There may be several universal gaming RNGs, as suggested by reference numerals  1922 ,  1924  and  1926 . 
     In the case wherein the present RNG is integration into each gaming machine, the motherboard of the computer controlling the gaming machine may advantageously be a PC motherboard fitted with a Intel 82802 firmware hub providing hardware RNG or equivalent hardware RNG integrated into future generation secure processors such as from Intel® and AMD®, or other motherboard chipsets as required for compliance with Microsoft Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) or other standard. 
     Advantageously both the server(s) and gaming machines may make use of the same hardware RNG device such that both types universal RNGs are identical (software is identical). In one case, the present universal game RNG may be configured to produce hundreds of thousands of random game numbers per second, and in the other case only one game random number every few seconds. Consequently, the trust associated with the game RNG in the gaming machine that may deliver top winnings of $100 is the same as the trust associated with the game RNG in the central server that may deliver top winnings of $100 million, the later being subjected to intense quality monitoring and security audits. Consequently, again, an estate of 10,000 gaming machines each having a local universal RNG may have the same trust as an estate of 10,000 gaming machine wherein the universal RNG is located at the central site. 
       FIG. 28  illustrates at  2800  the localized and/or centralized uses of the present universal RNG. Universal game RNGs such as shown and described relative to  FIG. 27  may be incorporated within the gaming machines  2810 ,  2814 ,  2818  and  2822 , as shown at  2808 ,  2812 ,  2816  and  2820 . The Universal Game RNGs  2808 ,  2812 ,  2816  and  2820  are preferably identical, or at least using a compatible hardware random number generators and associated hardware interface software, such that they may be considered functionally identical. Alternatively, or in addition to the Universal Game RNGs  2808 ,  2812 ,  2816  and  2820  incorporated within the gaming machines, one or more Universal Game RNG may be incorporated within the central server system  2802  to provide unique random numbers to each of the gaming machines. 
     The use of the localized game RNG (i.e., within the gaming machines) or of the centralized game RNG (i.e., within a central game server system) is dictated essentially by applicable game regulations. Considering the universal game server and the network connected gaming machines, whenever permitted, a selected set of games may obtain random game numbers from the localized game RNG, and another selected set of games may obtain random game numbers from the centralized game RNG. Similarly, a selected set of game terminals may obtain its random game numbers from the localized game RNG for all the games that it executes, and another selected set of game terminals may obtain its random game numbers from the centralized game RNG for all the games that it executes. Whenever local game regulations allow some flexibility in the choice of the source of the random numbers, the game operator may choose either a centralized source of game RNG or a localized source of game RNG, in accordance with given strategies, policies or other considerations. 
     CONCLUSIONS 
     The present document has set forth the fundamentals of conventional secure on-line game transaction topology, payload protocol and audit transaction log. These fundamentals are preferably retained in any new gaming system to provide stability, performance, transparency and data integrity. 
     Disclosed herein are embodiments of a universal game server capable of supporting large scale game operations comprising a wide variety and a very large number of game terminals remotely geographically located (region-wide, state-wide, country-wide and worldwide). The concepts of disaster tolerance, either using the N-transaction model or using the N-server geographic load balancing as applied to embodiments of the present invention have been presented in detail, including failover and re-synchronization. The personality front end has been described that filters the “personality” of the terminals such that the highly optimized and trusted transaction engine and its trusted audit log are not impacted, irrespective of the terminals connected thereto. Also disclosed herein is the topology of systems for providing games that appear in a traditional web browser but for which the secure game transaction commit is done by a transaction engine plug-in that sends the transaction to a trusted transaction cache using UDP (for example) packets. The transaction engine plug-in may also support the N-transaction model or may use the N-server geographic load balancing model. The role of the terminal has been highlighted (applicable also to the web browser plug-in) and disclosed as being an active participant in the availability of the overall game system. That is, in the case of the N-transaction model, the terminal will actively contribute to the building of a synchronization log such that the failed trusted transaction cache may be rapidly synchronized upon returning to its operational state. 
     Concerning the generation of random game outcomes, an embodiment of a universal game RNG is presented herewith that may be used unchanged within the gaming machines or at the central game server. The advantage is that each gaming machine may benefit of a game RNG having the same level trust as the highly audited very high volume central based game RNG, and consequently, that level of trust is inherited for the operation of the entire estate of a very large number of geographically or locally distributed gaming machines having the local game RNG. 
     Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention.