Patent ID: 7702950

Claim:
A method of securely executing a software program in a gaming machine, the gaming machine including a counter, the method comprising the steps of: providing a table and storing therein a plurality of secret keys and timeout values; executing the software program in the gaming machine; retrieving a selected timeout value and a selected secret key from the table; setting the counter to the retrieved timeout value and starting the counter; receiving a secret key from the software program; determining whether the secret key retrieved from the table matches the secret key received from the software program and if so, resetting the counter and returning to the executing step; terminating an execution of the software program if the counter indicates that the timeout value has been exceeded or if the secret key retrieved from the table does not match the secret key received from the software program, and carrying out a) a soft reboot of the gaming machine and a restart of the software program and if the restart in step a) fails, carrying out b) a hardware reset of the gaming machine and a restart of the software program, and if the restart in step b) fails, carrying out c) a power-off of the gaming machine and, after a predetermined delay, a power-on of the gaming machine and a restart of the software program.