Method, apparatus and article for evaluating card games, such as blackjack
First Claim
1. A method of evaluating card games, the method comprising:
- automatically determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game having a plurality of players;
for each player, generating a plurality of working solutions representing possible outcomes of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on the determined sequence of the set of playing cards; and
for each player, reducing the plurality of working solutions to a final solution representing a valid outcome of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on identities of playing cards that have been discarded during the card game.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system reads an identifier from a hand of cards to identify the cards. For example, the system can read an identifier from a pair of cards forming the initial hand in blackjack, where the one card is face up and the other card is face down. The system determines the value of a hand of cards form the read identifiers. For example, the system can determine a value of an initial hand of two cards in blackjack, while only one card is face up. The system can inform a dealer of the value, or status based on value, of the hand. The system can determine whether cards forming a hand of cards are authentic by validating the cards based on the read identifier. The system can determine if the cards forming the hand of cards are in an expected sequence based on knowledge of the initial sequence of cards in a deck. A decision tree to validate the results of the card game can be created to provide possible solutions or outcomes for each hand, and then, invalid solutions can be eliminated from the decision tree based on known card identities, rules of the game, possible outcomes of other player hands, and other information.
155 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of evaluating card games, the method comprising:
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automatically determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game having a plurality of players;
for each player, generating a plurality of working solutions representing possible outcomes of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on the determined sequence of the set of playing cards; and
for each player, reducing the plurality of working solutions to a final solution representing a valid outcome of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on identities of playing cards that have been discarded during the card game. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of evaluating card games, the method comprising:
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determining a number of players in a card game and initial cards dealt to each player to form player hands;
gathering information relating to a timing of events in the card game, using information associated with rules of the card game and with the determined initial cards, to possibly complete some player hands;
generating a decision tree having possible outcomes of player hands, using information derived from an initial sequence of cards in the card game to generate the possible outcomes in the decision tree; and
comparing identities of discarded cards with the possible outcomes in the decision tree, and validating an outcome of a player hand if the discarded cards corroborate that outcome. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of evaluating card games, the method comprising:
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based on determined information, generating a decision tree having a plurality of branches, each branch of the decision tree corresponding to a possible outcome of a player hand of a card game; and
using information derived from playing cards discarded during the card game and based on possible outcomes of a subsequent player hand, reducing the decision tree to a set of branches, each branch having a valid outcome of a player hand that is previous to the subsequent player hand. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method of evaluating card games, the method comprising:
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automatically determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game;
automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s initial hand;
determining a number of players in the card game in addition to the dealer;
determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming each player'"'"'s initial hand using the automatically determined sequence of the set of playing cards;
for each player'"'"'s hand, generating a plurality of working solutions representing a possible outcome of the player'"'"'s hand; and
for each player'"'"'s hand, reducing the plurality of working solutions to a final solution representing a valid outcome of the player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on identities of cards that have been discarded during the card game. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. An article of manufacture, comprising:
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a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a processor to evaluate a card game, by;
automatically determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game having a plurality of players;
for each player, generating a plurality of working solutions representing possible outcomes of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on the determined sequence of the set of playing cards; and
for each player, reducing the plurality of working solutions to a final solution representing a valid outcome of that player'"'"'s hand, based at least in part on identities of playing cards that have been discarded during the card game. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A system, comprising:
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a means for generating a decision tree having a plurality of branches, each branch of the decision tree corresponding to a possible outcome of a player hand of a card game, based on determined information; and
a means for reducing the decision tree to a set of branches, each branch having a valid outcome of a player hand that is previous to the subsequent player hand, by using information derived from playing cards discarded during the card game and based on possible outcomes of a subsequent player hand. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A system, comprising:
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a card deck reader to read identifying information from a number of playing cards forming a deck of playing cards;
a dealer hand reader to read identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;
a discard card reader to read identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s complete hand and a player'"'"'s complete hand; and
at least one processor coupled to receive the read identifying information from the card deck reader, the dealer hand reader and the discard card reader and programmed to process the read identifying information to;
generate a decision tree having possible outcomes of player hands, via use of information derived from an initial sequence of cards read by the card deck reader, to generate the possible outcomes in the decision tree; and
compare identities of discarded cards with the possible outcomes in the decision tree, and validate an outcome of a player hand if the discarded cards read by the discard card reader corroborate that outcome. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification