Collating and sorting apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus for automatically shuffling cards, comprising:
- a card feed station;
a multi-compartment mixing chamber, the mixing chamber having a plurality of card receiving compartments extending radially from a central rotational axis;
a horizontally disposed drive shaft;
a drive mechanism coupled to the drive shaft controlling rotation of the mixing chamber;
a microprocessor for randomly assigning cards being fed into the card receiving compartments and for controlling the operation of the card shuffler;
a card delivery tray for receiving groups of cards removed from the card receiving compartments, wherein the card delivery tray is positioned such that cards are delivered into the card receiving tray face-down;
a card feed mechanism that feeds cards individually from the card feed station into a card receiving compartment, wherein the card feed mechanism is positioned such that only card backs are in view of players and or the dealer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A card handling device having either a vertical stack of compartments or a carousel of compartments is used to receive individual cards from a card supply. The compartments may be moved relative to the card supply, preferably in two different directions, such as up and down or clockwise and counterclockwise. The card handling may include shuffling, sorting, validation, and other playing card processes.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. An apparatus for automatically shuffling cards, comprising:
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a card feed station;
a multi-compartment mixing chamber, the mixing chamber having a plurality of card receiving compartments extending radially from a central rotational axis;
a horizontally disposed drive shaft;
a drive mechanism coupled to the drive shaft controlling rotation of the mixing chamber;
a microprocessor for randomly assigning cards being fed into the card receiving compartments and for controlling the operation of the card shuffler;
a card delivery tray for receiving groups of cards removed from the card receiving compartments, wherein the card delivery tray is positioned such that cards are delivered into the card receiving tray face-down;
a card feed mechanism that feeds cards individually from the card feed station into a card receiving compartment, wherein the card feed mechanism is positioned such that only card backs are in view of players and or the dealer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 21)
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7. An apparatus for arranging playing cards in a desired order, said apparatus including:
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a housing;
a sensor to sense playing cards prior to arranging;
a playing card feeder for feeding said playing cards sequentially past the sensor;
a storage assembly having a plurality of storage locations in which playing cards may be arranged in groups in a desired order, wherein the storage assembly is adapted for relative vertical movement with respect to the playing card feeder in at least two directions during shuffling;
a selectively programmable computer coupled to said sensor and to said storage assembly to assemble in said storage assembly groups of playing cards in a desired order;
a delivery mechanism for selectively delivering playing cards located in selected storage locations of the storage assembly; and
a collector for collecting arranged groups of playing cards. - View Dependent Claims (8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50)
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9. A method for sorting a pack of playing cards, said method comprising:
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feeding individual cards from a card feeder past a sensor to determine suit and value of individual cards and transmitting sensor signal data to a computer;
computing sensor signal data for each respective card and allocating thereto a predetermined value corresponding to the order of a particular card in a sorted pack;
delivering sensed cards to a collator having an individual storage space allocated to a card of predetermined suit and value, the collator moving relatively vertically with respect to the card feeder;
indexing said collator with a delivery mechanism to deliver each said sensed card to a respective storage space of said collator; and
sequentially removing said cards from said collator to form a sorted pack of playing cards. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method of shuffling a pack of cards, said method comprising the steps of:
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feeding cards by means of a card delivery mechanism individually past a sensor to determine the presence of each card and transmitting sensor signal data to a computer;
computing sensor signal data for each respective card and allocating thereto a value generated by a random number generator corresponding to a storage space in a collator;
delivering sensed cards to a collator having a plurality of storage spaces;
indexing said collator with a card delivery mechanism to deliver each said card to the corresponding storage space of said collator, wherein relative motion between the collator and card feeder is both vertical and in at least two directions during shuffling; and
collecting cards from said collator to form a randomly ordered pack of playing cards.
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23. A card sorting device, comprising:
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a housing;
an infeed receptacle for accepting cards to be fed;
a card moving mechanism for moving cards from the infeed receptacle to a storage device;
a storage device comprising a vertical stack of a plurality of compartments for receiving cards to be sorted;
a mechanism for moving the storage device relative to the card moving mechanism to permit card placement in different compartments in the card storage device;
a card unloading device for removing cards from the compartments in the card storage device; and
a selectively programmable microprocessor for selecting a compartment in the card storage device to receive each card being moved and for changing a direction of movement of the storage device during shuffling.
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49. A card handling device, comprising:
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a housing having a forward side and a rearward side;
an infeed receptacle on the forward side of the housing for accepting cards to be fed;
a card moving mechanism for moving cards from the infeed receptacle to a storage device;
a storage device comprising a vertical stack of a plurality of compartments for receiving cards;
a mechanism for moving the storage device relative to the card moving mechanism to permit card placement in different compartments in the card storage device;
a card unloading device for removing cards from the compartments in the card storage device from the forward side of the housing; and
a selectively programmable microprocessor for selecting a compartment in the card storage device to receive each card being moved and for changing a direction of movement of the storage device during shuffling.
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51. A card handling device, comprising:
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a housing having a forward side and a rearward side;
an infeed receptacle on the forward side of the housing for accepting cards to be fed;
a card moving mechanism for moving cards from the infeed receptacle to a storage device;
a storage device comprising a carousel of a plurality of compartments for receiving cards;
a mechanism for moving the storage device relative to the card moving mechanism to permit card placement in different compartments in the card storage device;
a card unloading device for removing cards from the compartments in the card storage device from the forward side of the housing; and
a selectively programmable microprocessor for selecting a compartment in the card storage device to receive each card being moved and for changing a direction of movement of the storage device during shuffling. - View Dependent Claims (52)
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Specification