MACHINE HAVING A CARD PROCESSING ASSEMBLY

• US 20110233273A1
• Filed: 06/09/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Hedrick, Joseph R., Crivelli, Franco, Wells, William R., Meyerhofer, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,210,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 13/12 specially adapted for small cards, envelopes, or the like , e.g. credit cards, cut visiting cards
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/32 using thermal heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/35 Thermal printing on id card
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

A machine having a card processing assembly. The card processing assembly has a card drive and a heating device. The heating device is operable to cause a human-readable symbol to be viewable on a data card.

Claims

1. A card processing assembly including:

a data card acceptor configured to accept a plurality of data cards;

a card drive configured to transport the data cards;

at least one card magazine configured to store a plurality of the data cards;

at least one processor; and

a memory device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the data card acceptor, the card drive, and the at least one card magazine to;

(a) receive one of the data cards through the data card acceptor,

(b) determine whether to escrow the received data card, and

(c) when the determination is to escrow the received data card, transport the received data card to a data card escrow location.

2. The card processing assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) determine whether the received data card is damaged such that the received data card is no longer operable with the card processing assembly, and

(b) when the received data card is damaged such that the received data card is no longer operable with the card processing assembly, determine to escrow the received data card.

3. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which includes a security feature reader configured to read a security feature included in the data cards, and wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) cause the security feature reader to read the security feature of the received data card, and

(b) when the security feature of the received data card is unreadable, determine to escrow the received data card.

4. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which includes a security feature reader configured to read a security feature included in the received data card, and wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) cause the security feature reader to read the security feature of the received data card, and

(b) when the read security feature of the received data card is associated with a card escrow identifier, determine to escrow the received data card.

5. The card processing assembly of claim 1, wherein the data cards are rewritable data cards that are rewritable a predetermined quantity of times, and wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) determine a quantity of times the received data card has been rewritten, and

(b) when the received data card has been rewritten at least the predetermined quantity of times, determine to escrow the received data card.

6. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which includes a print head configured to print indicia onto the data cards and an optical scanner configured to read any indicia printed on the data cards, and wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) cause the print head to print designated indicia onto the received data card,

(b) cause the optical scanner to read the indicia printed on the received data card by the print head, and

(c) when the printed indicia does not match the designated indicia, determine to escrow the received data card.

7. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which includes a plurality of card magazines, wherein a first one of the card magazines is configured to store a first plurality of the data cards and a second one of the card magazines is configured to store a second plurality of the data cards, the data cards of the first plurality and the data cards of the second plurality being different, and the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, after receiving a card exchange input:

(a) when the received data card is one of the first plurality of the data cards, determine to escrow the received data card and cause the at least one card drive to transport one of the second plurality of the data cards stored in the second one of the card magazines from the second one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution, and

(b) when the received data card is one of the second plurality of the data cards, determine to escrow the received data card and cause the at least one card drive to transport one of the first plurality of the data cards stored in the first one of the card magazines from the first one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution.

8. The card processing assembly of claim 7, wherein:

(a) when the received data card is one of the first plurality of the data cards, the data card escrow location is the first one of the card magazines, and

(b) when the received data card is one of the second plurality of the data cards, the data card escrow location is the second one of the card magazines.

9. The card processing assembly of claim 1, wherein the data card escrow location is the at least one card magazine.

10. The card processing assembly of claim 1, wherein the at least one card magazine includes a magazine card drive, and the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, after the processor has determined to escrow the received data card, cause at least one of the card drive and the magazine card drive to transport the received data card to the data card escrow location.

11. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which includes a plurality of card magazines, and wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the data card acceptor, the card drive, and the card magazines to, when the at least one processor determines to escrow the received data card, transport one of the data cards stored in one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution after transporting the received data card to the data card escrow location.

12. The card processing assembly of claim 1, which is included in a gaming device configured to operate a game upon a wager.

13. A method of operating a card processing assembly, said method including:

causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions stored in at least one memory device to operate with a data card acceptor to receive one of a plurality of data cards through the data card acceptor;

causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine whether to escrow the received data card; and

causing the at least one processor to, when the determination is to escrow the received data card, operate with a card drive to transport the received data card to a data card escrow location.

14. The method of claim 13, which includes:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine whether the received data card is damaged such that the received data card is no longer operable with the card processing assembly, and

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the received data card is damaged such that the received data card is no longer operable with the card processing assembly, determine to escrow the received data card.

15. The method of claim 13, which includes:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with a security feature reader to read a security feature of the received data card, and

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the security feature of the received data card is unreadable, determine to escrow the received data card.

16. The method of claim 13, which includes:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with a security feature reader to read a security feature of the received data card, and

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the read security feature of the received data card is associated with a card escrow identifier, determine to escrow the received data card.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the data cards are rewritable data cards that are rewritable a predetermined quantity of times, and which includes:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine a quantity of times the received data card has been rewritten, and

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the received data card has been rewritten at least the predetermined quantity of times, determine to escrow the received data card.

18. The method of claim 13, which includes:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with a print head to print designated indicia onto the received data card,

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with an optical scanner to read the indicia printed on the received data card by the print head, and

(c) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the printed indicia does not match the designated indicia, determine to escrow the received data card.

19. The method of claim 13, which includes, after receiving a card exchange input:

(a) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the received data card is one of a first plurality of the data cards;

(i) determine to escrow the received data card, and

(ii) operate with the at least one card drive to transport one of a second plurality of the data cards stored in a second one of a plurality of card magazines from the second one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution, and

(b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, when the received data card is one of the second plurality of the data cards;

(i) determine to escrow the received data card, and

(ii) operate with the at least one card drive to transport one of the first plurality of the data cards stored in a first one of the card magazines from the first one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution, wherein the data cards of the first plurality and the data cards of the second plurality are different.

20. The method of claim 19, which includes:

(a) when the received data card is one of the first plurality of the data cards and the determination is to escrow the received data card, causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the card drive to transport the received data card to the first one of the card magazines for escrow, and

(b) when the received data card is one of the second plurality of the data cards and the determination is to escrow the received data card, causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the card drive to transport the received data card to the second one of the card magazines for escrow.

21. The method of claim 20, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the card drive to, when the determination is to escrow the received data card, transport the received data card to a card magazine for escrow.

22. The method of claim 13, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the card drive and at least one card magazine including a magazine card drive to, when the processor has determined to escrow the received data card, cause at least one of the card drive and the at least one magazine card drive to transport the received data card to the data card escrow location.

23. The method of claim 13, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the data card acceptor, the card drive, and a plurality of card magazines storing a plurality of the data cards to, when the at least one processor determines to escrow the received data card, transport one of the data cards stored in one of the card magazines to the data card acceptor for distribution after transporting the received data card to the data card escrow location.

24. The method of claim 13, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with an external device to receive additional instructions and store the received additional instructions in the at least one memory device.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein the card processing assembly is included in a gaming device.