Unique sensing system and method for reading playing cards
First Claim
1. A sensing apparatus for the determination of at least one of rank or suit of a playing card comprising:
- a line scanner capable of scanning a line crossing an area of a card representing rank and/or suit;
a card position sensor; and
a hardware component capable of receiving signals from the line imager and card position sensor, wherein the hardware component forms a vector set from the output from the imager and card position sensor, and compares the vector set to known reference vector sets to determine rank and suit of a card
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sensing system for determining the rank and suit of playing cards is disclosed. The system includes a sensing module capable of reading a line of data from a printed image, a position sensor and a hardware component that combines the signals from the sensing module and position sensor, converts the signal to binary values and compares the converted signal to stored signals. The comparisons are correlated to identify card rank and Suit. The system can be used in a playing card delivery shoe used to control the game of baccarat. The shoe may be a customary dealing shoe equipped with a sensing module, or may be a mechanized shoe. The mechanized shoe may comprise a) an area for receiving a first set of playing cards useful in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat; b) first card mover that moves playing cards from the first set to a playing card staging area wherein at least one playing card is staged in an order by which playing cards are removed from the first set of and moved to the playing card staging area; c) second playing card mover that moves playing cards from the playing card staging area to a delivery area wherein playing cards removed from the staging area to the delivery shoe are moved in the same order by which playing cards were removed from the first set of playing cards and moved to the playing card staging area; and d) playing card reading sensors that read at least one playing card value of each playing card separately after each playing card has been removed from the area for receiving the first set of playing cards and before removal from the playing card delivery area One exemplary sensing system is a CIS line scanning system with an associated card position sensor and a FPGA hardware element.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A sensing apparatus for the determination of at least one of rank or suit of a playing card comprising:
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a line scanner capable of scanning a line crossing an area of a card representing rank and/or suit;
a card position sensor; and
a hardware component capable of receiving signals from the line imager and card position sensor, wherein the hardware component forms a vector set from the output from the imager and card position sensor, and compares the vector set to known reference vector sets to determine rank and suit of a card - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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7. An apparatus for reading symbols from playing cards comprising:
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a contact image system line scanning array; and
a card motion sensor, wherein the motion sensor triggers operation of the imager to provide signals from playing card symbols passed over the image system. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for reading symbols from playing cards comprising:
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a line imager that images at spaced intervals on playing cards in at least a region of the card where suit and rank symbols are provided on the playing cards;
a card position sensor; and
a hardware component that receives data from the line imager and card position sensor and determines at least one of suit and rank of an imaged playing card.
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12. A method of identifying the rank and suit of a playing card comprising:
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automatically taking spaced line scans of rank and or suit symbols printed on a playing card to create operating signals relating to less than all of the area of the symbols; and
correlating the signals with known signals to identify the rank and suit by closest correlation of the scanned symbols and the known symbols. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A method for identifying suit and rank symbols on playing cards comprising:
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passing an area of a card bearing symbols on a playing card over a line scanner, taking at least one line scan of each symbol, providing signals from the imager, and identifying suit and rank of the playing card from the provided signals. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification