Patent ID: 8291252

Claim:
A multi-station gaming machine comprising: a master gaming controller; a power supply; a memory; and a plurality of peripheral devices, wherein: each peripheral device is configured to perform one or more operations, each operation including one or more tasks, the peripheral devices are electrically connected with the power supply and with the master gaming controller, the memory stores one or more peripheral device current profiles, each peripheral device current profile contains time data and current data, the time data indicates time intervals when current usage is constant within an operational time of a peripheral device, the current data indicates a current usage of the peripheral device during the time intervals, and the memory also stores software for controlling the master gaming controller to: receive a first command to start a first peripheral device of the plurality of peripheral devices, receive a second command to start a second peripheral device of the plurality of peripheral devices, determine, when the first command and the second command are received simultaneously, whether an upper threshold current limit of the power supply will be exceeded by providing power from the power supply to the first peripheral device, the second peripheral device, and any other peripheral devices receiving power from the power supply when the first command and the second command are received, reference priority data for the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device, the priority data specific to the peripheral devices and stored in the current profiles of the peripheral devices, determine which of the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device is a higher priority peripheral device and which is a lower priority peripheral device with respect to each other based on the priority data, start the higher-priority peripheral device when the upper threshold current limit of the power supply will not be exceeded when the higher-priority peripheral device is started, and start the lower-priority peripheral device after the higher-priority device when the upper threshold current limit of the power supply will not be exceeded when the lower-priority peripheral device is started.