Card shuffler with staging area for collecting groups of cards

• US 20050104289A1
• Filed: 09/08/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Swanson, Ronald R., Bourbour, Feraidoon, Grauzer, Attila, Nelson, Troy D., Rynda, Robert J., Scheper, Paul K., Stasson, James Bernard
• Granted Patent: US 7,059,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 273/149.R
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for moving playing cards from a first group of cards into plural hands of cards, wherein each of the hands contains a random arrangement of cards. The apparatus comprises a card receiver for receiving the first group of cards, a single stack of card-receiving compartments generally adjacent to the card receiver, the stack generally vertically movable, an elevator for moving the stack, a card-moving mechanism between the card receiver and the stack, and a microprocessor that controls the card-moving mechanism and the elevator so that an individual card is moved into an identified compartment. The number of compartments receiving cards and the number of cards moved to each compartment may be selected. An apparatus for feeding cards, comprising a surface for supporting a stack of cards, a feed roller with a frictional outer surface, a drive mechanism for causing rotation of the feed roller, a pair of speed-up rollers to advance the cards out of the feed roller, and a clutch mechanism for disengaging the feed roller from the drive mechanism as the card comes into contact with the speed up rollers.

Claims

1-35. -35. (canceled)

36. A method for delivering subsets of randomly mixed cards from a first group of cards, comprising:

providing at least one first group of multiple playing cards to a playing card randomization apparatus;

forming at least one subset of randomized playing cards within the apparatus from the first group of playing cards;

delivering to a single delivery tray a first at least one subset of randomized playing cards for use in a game, the first at least one subset of randomized playing cards being delivered to the delivery tray as a whole first at least one subset of randomized playing cards;

forming at least one additional;

subset of randomized playing cards within the apparatus from remaining playing cards from the at least one first group of playing cards; and

upon manual removal of the first at least one subset of randomized playing cards from the delivery tray, delivering the at least one additional subset of randomized playing cards into the delivery tray as a second group.

40. The method of claim 36 wherein the card randomizing apparatus comprises a plurality of adjacent playing card-receiving compartments in a configuration selected from the group consisting of a carousel, a vertical mixing stack, and a fan shape.

41. The method of claim 36 wherein the first group of playing cards comprises one or more decks of playing cards.

42. The method of claim 36 wherein each individual subset of randomly mixed playing cards is delivered to the delivery tray, and wherein the delivery tray can be accessed so that playing cards in the delivery tray can be contacted by a hand of a dealer.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the total number of playing cards in at least some subsets of randomized playing cards delivered to the delivery tray consist of hands delivered from the card randomization apparatus, and the hands comprise a total number of playing cards that are less than the total number of cards in the first group of cards.

44. The method of claim 36 wherein at least one, but less than all individual subsets of randomized playing cards, is a subgroup of the first group of cards that is delivered individually to the delivery tray.

45. The method of claim 36 wherein each individual subset of randomized playing cards is formed prior to a first subset of randomized playing cards is delivered to the delivery tray.

46. The method of claim 36 wherein the first group of playing cards is a single deck of playing cards or a double deck of playing cards.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein the single deck of playing cards is selected from the group consisting of a 52 card deck, a 52 card deck with one or more jokers, and a special deck.

48. An apparatus for delivering shuffled plural hands of playing cards in a card game, comprising:

a playing card in-feed tray capable of receiving a first group of playing cards to be shuffled;

a first card moving mechanism capable of delivering playing cards from the card in-feed tray to a playing card randomization apparatus;

the card randomization apparatus having at least one staging area for receiving subsets of randomized playing cards;

a single playing card receiving tray;

a second playing card moving mechanism capable of moving a subset of randomized playing cards from the at least one staging area to the single playing card receiving tray as a second group of playing cards;

a sensing mechanism for sensing at least a presence of playing cards in the single playing card receiving tray; and

a processor programmed to control the playing card randomization apparatus and the playing card moving mechanisms so that subsets of playing cards are delivered to the single playing card receiving tray, one subset at a time.

49. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the processor is programmed to control the playing card randomization apparatus and the playing card moving mechanisms so that subsets of cards are delivered to the tray and only one subset of playing cards at a time is present in the single playing card receiving tray until a predetermined number of hands of playing cards are delivered to the single playing card receiving tray.

50. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the at least one staging area comprises a plurality of staging areas.

51. The apparatus of claim 50 wherein the plurality of staging areas comprises a group of adjacent compartments in an arrangement selected from the group consisting of a rack, a carousel and a fan.

52. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the single playing card receiving tray is of a configuration that permits manual removal of playing cards as the second group of playing cards.

53. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the sensing mechanism is an optical sensor.

54. The apparatus of claim 48 further comprising controls capable of instructing the processor to direct unloading of all playing cards in the apparatus.

55. The apparatus of claim 51 further comprising a drive mechanism capable of moving the at least one card staging area relative to a stationary card in-feed tray during shuffling.

56. The apparatus of claim 55 wherein the drive mechanism comprises a motor, a drive belt and an elevator.

57. The apparatus of claim 50 wherein a first subset of playing cards is delivered to the single playing card receiving tray automatically after shuffling all playing cards in the first group of playing cards.

58. The apparatus of claim 57 wherein additional subsets of playing cards are delivered to the single playing card receiving tray on demand.

59. The apparatus of claim 58 wherein a subset of cards is delivered to the single playing card receiving tray for each player position.

60. The apparatus of claim 58 wherein the processor contains programming so that one more subset of playing cards is delivered than is needed for each player position and the dealer position.