Patent ID: 8858343

Claim:
A gaming chair for being positioned at a gaming machine and communicatively coupled in a network including at least one server remote from the gaming machine, said gaming chair comprising: a backrest portion having a first end and a second end; a seat portion located at the first end of the backrest portion; a network interface configured to communicatively couple to the network; a game control system, said game control system coupled to said network interface and comprising a human interface for allowing a human operator to provide inputs to the at least one server via said network interface; a media device interface configured to receive a player controlled media device; a proximity sensor; a plurality of speakers, wherein the plurality of speakers includes a left channel speaker, a right channel speaker, a center channel speaker, and a subwoofer, wherein the subwoofer is positioned within an enclosure in the seat portion, wherein the left channel speaker, the right channel speaker, and the center channel speaker are positioned at the second end of the backrest portion; a display device coupled to the backrest portion; and a processing unit coupled to said network interface, the game control system, the media device interface, the proximity sensor, the plurality of speakers, and the display device, said processing unit configured to; receive audio signals from the player controlled media device and cause the plurality of speakers to output the audio signals received from the player controlled media device; customize game play at the gaming machine according to inputs received via the game control system; control game play at the gaming machine according to inputs received via the game control system; receive at least one of audio and video related signals from said network interface, detect that a player is within a specified distance of the proximity sensor, and in response to detecting the player, cause the plurality of speakers to output audio based on the audio signals received from the network interface and cause the display device to output video based on the video signals received from the network interface, and receive inputs from said game control system and transmit the inputs to the at least one server via said network interface.