Station for reading and/or writing in electronic gaming chips

• US 20040229682A1
• Filed: 08/01/2003
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gaming Partners International Corporation
• Original Assignee: Etablissements Bourgogne et Grasset SA (Gaming Partners International Corporation)
• Inventors: Gelinotte, Emmanuel
• Granted Patent: US 7,883,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10336 the antenna being of the near field type, inductive coil
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements

Abstract

Station for reading and/or writing in a memory of a token having an electronic circuit, wherein the station includes a token storing system. An antenna arrangement includes first and second antennas. At least one of the first and second antennas include antenna loops that are disposed adjacently and at least partly superposed on each other so as to define an enlarged reading and/or writing area in which transmission quality is substantially homogeneous. A communication unit is adapted to exchange information with the memory via the antenna arrangement when the token is arranged in the token storing system in an orientation that allows for communication. This abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

Claims

1-17. -17. (Canceled).

18. A station for reading and/or writing in a memory of a token having an electronic circuit, said station comprising:

a token storing system;

an antenna arrangement comprising first and second antennas;

at least one of the first and second antennas comprising antenna loops disposed adjacently and being at least partly superposed on each other so as to define an enlarged reading and/or writing area in which transmission quality is substantially homogeneous; and

a communication unit adapted to exchange information with the memory via the antenna arrangement when said token is arranged in the token storing system in an orientation that allows for communication.

19. The station of claim 18, wherein the token comprises a gaming chip.

20. The station of claim 18, wherein the first and second antennas each comprise respective first and second loops.

21. The station of claim 18, wherein the first and second antennas each comprise an upper loop and a lower loop at least partly superposed on each other and electrically connected in parallel.

22. The station of claim 21, wherein each upper loop and each lower loop lie in two substantially parallel planes and face each other.

23. The station of claim 18, further comprising at least one area of overlap between the antenna loops.

24. The station of claim 18, wherein at least one of the first and second antennas includes a plurality of contiguous superposed turns.

25. The station of claim 24, wherein said plurality of contiguous superposed turns are superposed to a height in the range of between 4 mm and 10 mm.

26. The station of claim 18, wherein the token storage system comprises a storage tray.

27. The station of claim 18, wherein the token storage system comprises substantially parallel upper and lower walls serving as supports for the first and second antennas.

28. The station of claim 27, wherein the first and second antennas are arranged to allow the communication unit to exchange said information with said token regardless of a position of said token in the token storage system and provided that said token is substantially parallel to said upper and lower walls.

29. The station of claim 18, wherein the first and second antennas respectively comprise first and second antenna loops having areas of overlap.

30. The station of claim 29, wherein the token storage system comprises substantially parallel upper and lower walls serving as supports for the first and second loops.

31. The station of claim 18, wherein said communication unit includes a chip discriminating system.

32. The station of claim 18, wherein said communication unit includes a duplicate elimination system.

33. The station of claim 18, wherein said communication unit includes a chip discriminator.

34. The station of claim 18, wherein said communication unit includes a duplicate eliminator.

35. The station of claim 18, wherein said communication unit includes a system for sequential selection of said first and second antennas.

36. The station of claim 18, wherein at least one of said first and second antennas is electrically connected to said communication unit via a phase difference adjusting device.

37. The station of claim 36, wherein the phase difference adjusting device provides adjustment between an electrical voltage at terminals of said first and second antennas and an electrical current flowing in said first and second antennas.

38. The station of claim 36, wherein the phase difference adjusting device is electrically connected to terminals of said antenna arrangement in an immediate vicinity thereof.

39. The station of claim 18, further comprising at least one of a gaming table, a change table, a cash table, and a chip sorting device.

40. The station of claim 39, further comprising a plurality of antennas partially or wholly integrated into at least one of the gaming table, the change table, the cash table, and the chip sorting device.

41. The station of claim 18, wherein the token storage system comprises one of a portable storage device, a removable storage device, a chip rack, a mobile tray, and a box.

42. The station of claim 41, further comprising a plurality of antennas partially or wholly integrated into at least one of the portable storage device, the removable storage device, the chip rack, the mobile tray, and the box.

44. A method of making the station of claim 18, the method comprising:

wiring said station;

electrically coupling said first and second antennas to the communication unit; and

adjusting a phase difference between an electrical voltage at terminals of said first antenna and an electrical current flowing in said first antenna to a predetermined value; and

adjusting a phase difference between an electrical voltage at terminals of said second antenna and an electrical current flowing in said second antenna to a predetermined value.

43. An antenna arrangement for a token storage device, comprising:

first and second antennas;

at least one of the first and second antennas comprising antenna loops that are disposed adjacently and being at least partly superposed on each other so as to define an enlarged reading and/or writing area in which transmission quality is substantially homogeneous,

wherein the antenna arrangement is adapted to exchange information with a memory of a token when said token is arranged in the token storing device in an orientation that allows for communication.

45. The combination of a communication unit and a storage device having a token storing area defined by walls for storing tokens having an electronic circuit, said combination comprising:

an antenna arrangement coupled to at least one of the walls; and

the communication device being connectable to the antenna arrangement and being adapted to exchange information with the tokens via the antenna arrangement when said tokens are arranged in the storing device in an orientation that allows for communication.

46. The combination of claim 45, wherein the antenna arrangement comprises first and second antennas.

47. The combination of claim 46, wherein at least one of the first and second antennas comprise antenna loops that are disposed adjacently and are at least partly superposed on each other so as to define an enlarged reading and/or writing area in which transmission quality is substantially homogeneous.

48. The combination of claim 46, wherein the first and second antennas are arranged on different parallel walls.

49. The combination of claim 46, wherein the storage device comprises a tray and a lid and wherein the first and second antennas are respectively arranged on the lid and the tray.

50. The combination of claim 45, wherein the communication device comprises multiplexing circuit, an electronic read/write circuit and a processor.

51. The combination of claim 45, wherein the antenna arrangement comprises a plurality of antenna loops having areas of overlap.

52. A method of providing communication between tokens and the storage device of claim 45, the method comprising:

arranging the tokens in the storage device; and

providing communication between the tokens and the communication device via the antenna arrangement.