Systems, methods, and devices for monitoring card games, such as Baccarat

• US 20050137005A1
• Filed: 09/02/2004
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming International Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Soltys, Richard, Huizinga, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,753,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/13
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/10 Card holders
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/18 Score computers; Miscellaneous indicators time-testing devices G07C
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/001 Bridge or baccarat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/0491 having markings on the rear face or reverse side
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00164 Casino tables
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/242 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/58 Antifraud or preventing misuse
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3232 wherein the operator is informed
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

Gaming systems, methods, and devices for determining or verifying the outcome of a card game, for example the card game of Baccarat. The systems, methods, and devices can be used in conjunction with the card game to enhance security by optically imaging the hands of playing cards dealt or by optically reading a set of cards to determine the outcome of each game that can be played from that set of cards. The playing cards each have at least one encoded symbol comprised of machine-readable indicia. The gaming system can include a card shoe-reader alone, a card shoe-reader in combination with at least one card hand-reader, or various other embodiments to include other devices such as a discard reader or a bet recognition device. The optically imaged playing cards can be processed within a computing system to allow the authentication of the playing cards.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating card games played with a number of playing cards at a gaming table, the method comprising:

determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt;

automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a first hand dealt from the set of playing cards;

automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a second hand dealt from the set of playing cards;

automatically determining whether the identity of each playing card forming the first hand matches an expected identity of playing cards forming the first hand based on the starting sequence before any wagers are resolved; and

automatically determining whether the identity of each playing card forming the second hand matches an expected identity of playing cards forming the second hand based on the starting sequence before any wagers are resolved.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises determining a sequence of a number of the playing cards in a card shoe before a first one of the number of playing cards is dealt.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises determining the identity of each playing cards as the playing card is dealt from a card shoe.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises determining an identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards before a card shoe holding the set of playing cards is placed on the gaming table.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises determining an identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards after a card shoe holding the set of playing cards is placed on the gaming table.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises one of optically imaging and optically scanning an symbol from each of at least a number of the playing cards in the set of playing cards.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a first hand dealt from the set of playing cards comprises reading an symbol from each of the playing cards forming the first hand when the first hand is inserted into a playing card reader located on the gaming table and wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a second hand dealt from the set of playing cards comprises reading an symbol from each of the playing cards forming the second hand when the second hand is inserted into the playing card reader located on the gaming table.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a first hand dealt from the set of playing cards comprises reading a machine-readable symbol from each of the playing cards forming the first hand when the first hand is inserted into a first playing card reader located on the gaming table and wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a second hand dealt from the set of playing cards comprises reading a machine-readable symbol from each of the playing cards forming the second hand when the second hand is inserted into a second playing card reader located on the gaming table.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining whether the identity of each playing card forming at least one of the hands matches the expected identity of that hand based on the starting sequence before any wagers are resolved further includes making the determination before a first card is dealt.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining whether the identity of each playing card forming at least one of the hands matches the expected identity of that hand based on the starting sequence before any wagers are resolved further includes making the determination before a fourth card is dealt.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining whether the identity of each playing card forming at least one of the hands matches the expected identity of that hand based on the starting sequence before any wagers are resolved further includes making the determination before a last card is dealt.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the playing card game is baccarat and automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a first hand dealt from the set of playing cards comprises determining the identity of at least two and less than four playing cards forming the first hand.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein reading the machine-readable symbol from each of the playing cards includes reading the machine-readable symbol from a portion of a backside of each of the cards.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein reading the machine-readable symbol from each of the playing cards includes reading the machine-readable symbol from a portion of a front side of each of the cards.

15. A gaming system for managing a card game played with playing cards from a set of playing cards, the gaming system comprising:

a card shoe from which playing cards may be dealt in a determined order;

a first card hand-reader sized to receive a portion of each of at least two playing cards forming a hand of playing cards while the at least two playing cards are positioned such that at least a first human-readable symbol carried on a face of each of the playing cards is viewably exposed to a wagering participant, and to read a machine-readable identifier carried by each of the at least two playing cards while the at least two playing cards are positioned in the first card hand-reader; and

a processor communicatively coupled to receive identifying data from the first card hand reader and configured to compare an identity of each of the playing cards in the hand to an expected identity for each card in the hand based on the determined order.

16. The gaming system of claim 15 wherein the first hand reader comprises an optical reader positioned to read the machine-readable symbol carried by each of the at least two playing cards when the portion of the at least two playing cards are received in the first hand reader while another portion of the at least two playing cards including the first human-readable symbol is positioned outside of the first hand reader and is viewably exposed to one or more game participants.

17. The gaming system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to decode the machine-readable identifier.

18. The gaming system of claim 15 wherein card shoe comprises a reader to read the machine-readable identifier from each of at least a number of the playing cards in the card shoe to determine the order.

19. The gaming system of claim 15, further comprising:

a gaming table comprising a playing surface including at least a Banker wagering region, a Player wagering region, and a Tie wagering region; and

a reader to read the machine-readable identifier from each of at least a number of the playing cards in the card shoe to determine the order, the reader installed in the gaming table and complementarily detachable with the card shoe.

20. The gaming system of claim 15 wherein the first hand reader comprises an optical reader positioned and configured to simultaneously read the machine-readable symbol carried by each of the at least two playing cards when the portion of the at least two playing cards are received in the first hand reader while another portion of the at least two playing cards are positioned outside of the first hand reader to expose the first human-readable symbol to one or more game participants.

21. The gaming system of claim 15 wherein the first hand reader comprises an optical reader positioned to sequentially read the machine-readable symbol carried by each of the at least two playing cards when the portion of the at least two playing cards are received in the first hand reader while another portion of the at least two playing cards are positioned outside of the first hand reader to expose the first human-readable symbol to one or more game participants.

22. The gaming system of claim 15, further comprising:

a second card hand-reader sized to simultaneously receive a portion of each of at least two playing cards forming a hand of playing cards while the at least two playing cards are each lying flat adjacent one another to expose at least a first human-readable symbol carried on a face of each of the playing cards, and to read the machine-readable identifier carried by each of the at least two playing cards while the at least two playing cards are received in the second card hand-reader.

23. The gaming system of claim 15, further comprising:

a card discard-reader sized to receive at least two hands of playing cards collected after resolving any wagers placed on the card game.

24. The gaming system of claim 15, further comprising:

at least one bet recognition device positioned on a playing surface to acquire data from at least two wager placements.

25. A card hand-reader to read identifying data from each of a number of playing cards forming a hand, the card hand-reader comprising:

a frame sized to receive a portion of up to three playing cards forming a hand while at least a first human-readable symbol on at least two of the playing cards is exposed to a game participant; and

at least one optical sensor providing a field of view encompassing an area sufficient to image a machine-readable symbol bearing portion of the up to three playing cards when the playing cards are received in the frame.

26. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the frame sized to receive the portion of the up to three playing cards when at least two of the playing cards are in an overlapping side-by-side relationship.

27. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the frame sized to receive the portion of the up to three playing cards when at least two of the playing cards are in a non-overlapping side-by-side relation.

28. The card hand-reader of claim 25, further comprising:

a first optical element positioned to reflect an image of the machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a first one of the playing cards along a first optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

29. The card hand-reader of claim 28, further comprising:

a second optical element positioned to reflect an image of the machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a second one of the playing cards along a second optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

30. The card hand-reader of claim 29, further comprising:

a third optical element positioned to reflect an image of the machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a third one of the playing cards along a third optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

31. The card hand-reader of claim 25, further comprising:

a prism assembly positioned to reflect images received from the respective playing cards toward the at least one optical sensor; and

at least one reflector positioned along one of the optical paths between the prism assembly and the optical sensor.

32. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the at least one optical sensor comprises three distinct optical sensor arrays, each of the optical sensor arrays positioned along a respective optical path from the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of respective ones of the three playing cards.

33. The card hand-reader claim 25 wherein the at least one optical sensor comprises a single physical optical sensor array divided into three logical optical sensor array portions, each of the logical optical sensor array portions positioned along a respective optical path from the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of respective ones of the three playing cards.

34. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the optical sensor comprises an array of at least one charge-coupled (CCD) device.

35. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the optical sensor comprises an array of at least one CMOS device.

36. The card hand-reader of claim 25 wherein the optical sensor comprises at least one of a one-dimensional array of optical sensors and a two-dimensional array of optical sensors.

37. The card hand-reader of claim 25, further comprising:

a switch positioned to be activated by the insertion of at least one of the playing cards into the card hand-reader, the switch communicatively coupled with the optical sensor to capture an image of the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of the playing cards.

38. The card hand-reader of claim 25, further comprising:

an illumination source positioned to illuminate machine-readable symbol bearing portions of the playing cards when inserted into the frame; and

a switch positioned to be activated by the insertion of at least one of the playing cards, the switch operatively coupled to activate the illumination source.

39. A card identification system for evaluating an outcome of at least one card game, the card game played with a set of encoded playing cards, the system comprising:

a card shoe-reader sized to receive the set of playing cards;

an optical scanner communicatively coupled to the card shoe-reader for reading the set of encoded playing cards to determine a sequence of the set of playing cards;

a processor in communication with the card shoe-reader for evaluating the sequence of the set of playing cards based on a known dealing sequence and card game rules, the processor further configured to determine an outcome of each card game that can be played from the set of playing cards; and

an indicator in communication with the processor for indicating the outcome of the card game.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the playing cards are encoded with a machine-readable indicia.

41. The system of claim 39 wherein the sequence of the set of playing cards is determined after at least one burn card has been removed from the set of playing cards.

42. The system of claim 39 wherein the indicator is connected to the card shoe-reader.

43. The system of claim 39 wherein the card game includes a Banker'"'"'s hand and a Player'"'"'s hand, each hand having at least two cards, but not more than three cards as determined by the card game rules.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein the indicator displays the outcome of the card game of Baccarat;

the outcome being that either the Banker'"'"'s hand wins, the Player'"'"'s hand wins, or the Banker'"'"'s hand ties with the Player'"'"'s hand.

45. The system of claim 39 wherein the indicator is configured to display the outcome of the card game to at least one table participant.

46. The system of claim 39, further comprising:

at lease one card hand-reader to read identifying data from each of the cards dealt from the set of playing cards, the cards dealt from the set of playing cards forming a first hand and a second hand;

a verification means for verifying that the cards comprising the first hand and second hand are consistent with an electronically determined outcome based on data acquired from the set of playing cards within the card shoe-reader.

47. A method of determining an outcome of at least one card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

determining a card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the card game will be selected;

evaluating the card sequence to determine the outcome of the at least one card game based on a set of card game rules and a dealing sequence, the outcome being determined for the at least one card game at any time before a wager is resolved, but after the card sequence is determined from the set of playing cards; and

providing an indication as to which one of the hands selected from the set of playing cards comprises a winning hand or whether the hands are a tie.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

allowing a number of wagering participants to place wagers on the outcome of the card game;

removing the cards comprising the card game from the set of playing cards according to the dealing sequence and the card game rules;

determining the winning hand or push by visual verification; and

independently verifying the winning hand or tie hand with the provided indication.

49. The method of claim 47 wherein determining a card sequence of the set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be selected comprises reading the set of playing cards in a card shoe-reader after a number of burn cards are removed from the set.

50. The method of claim 47 wherein determining a starting sequence of the set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be dealt comprises reading the set of playing cards in a card shoe-reader before a number of burn cards are removed from the set.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein determining a card sequence of the set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be selected includes determining how many burn cards will be removed from the set of playing cards.

52. The method of claim 47 wherein determining a card sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be selected comprises determining an identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards before a card shoe-reader holding the set of playing cards is placed on the gaming table.

53. The method of claim 47 wherein determining a card sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be selected comprises determining an identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards after a card shoe-reader holding the set of playing cards is placed on the gaming table.

54. The method of claim 47 wherein determining a card sequence of the playing cards in a set of playing cards from which at least one card game will be selected comprises one of optically imaging and optically scanning an encoded symbol from each card comprising the set of playing cards.

55. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

a display means for displaying human-readable symbols representative of at least a face value of each of the cards comprising the card game.

56. The method of claim 47 wherein determining the card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the card game will be selected includes reading a machine-readable symbol from a portion of a backside of each of the cards.

57. The method of claim 47 wherein determining the card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the card game will be selected includes reading a machine-readable symbol from a portion of a front side of each of the cards.

58. A method of determining an outcome of one card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

determining a card sequence of at least four cards, but less than the entire set, within the set of playing cards from which the card game will be played;

evaluating the card sequence to determine the outcome of the card game based on a set of card game rules and a dealing sequence;

removing at least the four cards, but not more than six cards from a card shoe-reader to assemble a first hand and a second hand, each hand having at least two cards each; and

providing an indication as to which one of the hands selected from the set of playing cards comprises a winning hand or whether the hands are a tie.

59. The method of claim 58 wherein determining a card sequence from the at least four playing cards comprises optically imaging the at least four playing cards in the card shoe-reader.

60. The method of claim 58 wherein determining a card sequence from the at least four playing cards includes determining how many burn cards will be removed from the set of playing cards.

61. The method of claim 59 wherein determining a card sequence of the at least four playing cards in a set of playing cards comprises determining an identity of each of the imaged playing cards before the card shoe-reader is placed on the gaming table.

62. The method of claim 59 wherein determining a card sequence of the at least four playing cards in a set of playing cards comprises determining an identity of each of the imaged playing cards after the card shoe-reader is placed on the gaming table.

63. A method of determining an outcome of at least one card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

providing the set of playing cards to a gaming table;

dealing a number of cards necessary to comprise at least two complete playing hands for the selected card game based on a set of card game rules;

positioning each of the number of cards comprising the respective playing hands into at least one card hand-reader;

reading a machine-readable indicia from each of the playing cards positioned within the card hand-reader;

evaluating the machine-readable indicia from each of the cards to determine the outcome of the card game based on the set of rules; and

verifying that the outcome of the card game as determined by the card hand-reader corresponds to the outcome of the card game upon visually totaling the cards making up the respective playing hands.

64. The method of claim 63 wherein providing the set of playing cards to a gaming table includes optically reading the set of playing cards within a card shoe-reader.

65. The method of claim 63 wherein dealing a number of cards necessary to comprise at least two complete playing hands includes dealing a Banker'"'"'s hand and a Player'"'"'s hand, each hand having at least two, but not more than three cards.

66. The method of claim 63 wherein positioning each of the number of cards comprising the respective playing hands into at least one card hand-reader further includes triggering the card hand-reader to read the machine-readable indicia on the respective playing cards.

67. The method of claim 63 wherein reading a machine-readable indicia from each of the playing cards positioned within the card hand-reader includes directing an optical image of the machine-readable indicia to a camera.

68. The method of claim 63 wherein evaluating the machine-readable indicia from each of the cards to determine the outcome of the card game based on the set of rules includes decoding the indicia to determine a rank of each of the playing cards.

69. A means for determining an outcome of at least one card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the means comprising:

a support means for supporting the set of playing cards within a receptacle;

a reading means for reading a machine-readable symbol from a portion of at least some of the cards within the set of playing cards; and

a processing means for digitally interpreting the machine-readable symbols.

70. The means of claim 69, further comprising:

a notification means for indicating the outcome of the game.

71. The means of claim 69, further comprising:

a verification means for determining if an electrically determined outcome evaluated by the reading means is consistent with an evaluation performed by the verification means.

72. The means of claim 69 wherein the support means is a transport, sloped member configured to allow the playing cards to smoothly transition thereon.

73. The means of claim 69 wherein the reading means is a linear scanner.

74. The means of claim 69 wherein the processing means is a computer system.

75. A device for successively evaluating more than one wager placed on a gaming table, the device comprising:

a reflector rotatably coupled with the device, the reflector is configured to rotate from at least 0 to 360 degrees;

a drive for rotationally positioning the reflector;

a lens configured to receive a substantial portion of an image deflected from the reflector, the image comprised of at least a portion of at least one wagering chip; and

a processor for decoding the image received by the lens.

76. The device of claim 75, further comprising:

a sensor for illuminating the at least one wagering chip; and

an enclosure for retaining and protecting the reflector and the sensor.

77. The device of claim 75 wherein the reflector is programmably controlled to scan any wagering chips on the gaming table over a range of 0 to 270 degrees.

78. The device of claim 75 wherein the image is a two-dimensional array comprised of encoded symbologies.

79. The device of claim 75 wherein the device is substantially recessed into the gaming table.

80. The device of claim 75 wherein the image is pre-processed by a lens array enroute to the processor.