Patent ID: 7993194

Claim:
A method of dynamically linking hardware to a gaming machine, wherein the gaming machine includes a resource manager, and wherein the resource manager includes a jurisdictional table and stores allowable hardware drivers and software versions for a jurisdiction in which the gaming machine is located, the method comprising: scanning said gaming machine for a presence of attached gaming devices having input/output capabilities (“attached I/O devices”); ascertaining whether the attached I/O devices are hardware devices having driver identification, or software devices having version identification; storing the presence of I/O devices in the resource manager; determining whether each of the attached I/O devices requires an upgraded hardware driver based on the driver identification, or an upgraded software version based on the version identification; in response to determining that an upgraded hardware driver or software version is required, downloading the upgraded hardware driver or software version from a remote computer over a communications link; referencing the jurisdictional table from the resource manager to determine whether the downloaded hardware driver or software version is allowable; in response to determining that the downloaded hardware driver or software version is allowable, loading the hardware driver or software version; configuring the resource manager based on the presence of the attached I/O devices; loading a plurality of control tasks into the resource manager; and allowing game play on the gaming machine.