Patent ID: 7677969

Claim:
A gaming machine comprising: a bill acceptor configured to receive bills tendered, the bill acceptor comprising a sensor configured to evaluate each received bill and to output a signal indicative of one of an acceptance and a rejection of the received bill; an annunciator having an array of illuminating elements configured to be illuminated in first, second, and third illuminating patterns, the first illuminating pattern being different from the second illuminating pattern, the second illuminating pattern being different from the third illuminating pattern, and the first illuminating pattern being different from the third illuminating pattern; and a controller having a first counter and a second counter, the controller configured to increment the first counter on each occurrence of an acceptance signal, increment the second counter on each occurrence of a rejection signal, determine a bill acceptance rate based upon a ratio of a count of the first counter to a sum comprising respective counts of the first and second counters, detect a malfunction of the bill acceptor based upon the bill acceptance rate, sequentially energize the array of illuminating elements in the first, second, and third patterns repetitively to indicate that a malfunction of the bill acceptor has not been detected, and sequentially energize the array of illuminating elements in the first, second, third, and second patterns repetitively to indicate a malfunction of the bill acceptor has been detected.