Patent ID: 7727070

Claim:
A method of transmitting a command in a gaming network, the method comprising: generating a command originating at a master server or a slave server; digitally signing the command by performing a hashing function over at least a portion of a message that includes the command to produce a message digest and passing the message digest through a digital signature algorithm to produce a digitally signed command including a current session key from a series of session keys, the current session key being associated with a current session index so that a first receiving node can determine the session key used, an updated session index being periodically broadcast in plain text over the gaming network to a plurality of receiving nodes including the first receiving node, the first receiving node periodically comparing the current session index to the updated session index, and the first receiving node requesting an updated session key when the current session index does not match the updated session index, at least two of the plurality of receiving nodes using the same series of session keys; transmitting the digitally signed command from a transmitting node at the master server or slave server to the first receiving node for verification wherein the digitally signed command from the transmitting node is subjected to the hashing function to produce a message digest, the message digest is passed through the digital signature algorithm to produce a digitally signed command at the first receiving node, and the digitally signed command at the first receiving node is compared to the digitally signed command from the transmitting mode to determine if there is a match; and performing an action at the first receiving node in response to the command only if the digitally signed command at the first receiving node matches the digitally signed command from the transmitting node.