Gaming token tray employing ultrasonic token counting

• US 5,742,656 A
• Filed: 03/21/1996
• Issued: 04/21/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Woodhaven Venture Partners I S.P.L.P.
• Original Assignee: Casino Software Corporation of America
• Inventors: Clark, Paul H., Starzinger, Carey W., Wong, Barry H., Mikulak, James K.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUBIN, MARGARET R
• Application Number:
  US08/621,186
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 377/7
• US Class Current: 377/7
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 11/0051 Indicators of values, e.g. score counters
• CPC Class Codes: G06M 1/108 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06M 9/00 Counting of objects in a stack thereof

Abstract

A chip (12) counter (10) employs an ultrasonic distance measuring system (40) to determine the number of chips in a stack (54, 56) in a chip tray (16) channel (14). A computer (32) initially stores an average chip thickness (T) and receives distance data from the ultrasonic distance measuring system indicative of a first distance (D₁) to the bottom of an empty channel. To count chips, the computer repeatedly receives data from the ultrasonic distance measuring system indicative of a second distance (D₂) to the top of the stack of chips in the channel. The computer subtracts the second distance from the first distance to determine a height of the stack of chips and then divides the height by the average chip thickness to provide a continuous count of the number of chips in the channel. In a multichannel chip tray, each channel has a distance measuring transducer, and a multiplexer (28) scans all the transducers to provide the computer with second distance data for all channels in the chip tray.

Claims

1. A method for counting a number of gaming tokens in stacks of gaming tokens, the gaming tokens having a thickness, the method comprising:

providing multiple open gaming token troughs each having a longitudinal axis and first and second ends;

mounting an ultrasonic distance measuring transducer adjacent to the first end of each trough and orienting the ultrasonic distance measuring transducers to measure distances substantially along the longitudinal axis of each trough, each transducer having a beam substantially confined within its associated trough;

connecting each ultrasonic distance measuring transducer to a distance measurement system that is connected to a computer;

measuring a first distance D₁ between at least one ultrasonic distance measuring transducer and the second end of the associated trough;

storing D₁ and the thickness in the computer;

loading the stacks of gaming tokens in the troughs and against the second ends of the troughs;

measuring second distances D₂ between the ultrasonic distance measuring transducer and a nearest gaming token in each of the stacks of gaming tokens; and

calculating in the computer the number of gaming tokens in each of the stacks of gaming tokens by employing data generated in the measuring and storing steps.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the calculating step comprises subtracting in the computer second distances D₂ from D₁ to determine heights H of each of the stacks of gaming tokens, and dividing in the computer heights H by T to determine the number of gaming tokens in each of the stacks of gaming tokens.

3. The method of claim 1 further including correcting second distances D₂ for a temperature sensed in proximity to the troughs.

4. The method of claim 1 further including providing a multiplexer in the distance measuring system adapted to sequentially carry out the measuring second distances step for the stacks of gaming tokens in the troughs.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the measuring a first distance D₁ step is carried out by the distance measurement system.

6. An apparatus for counting a number of gaming tokens in multiple stacks of gaming tokens, the gaming tokens each having a thickness, comprising:

multiple open gaming token troughs each having a longitudinal axis and first and second ends, each of the troughs securing a stack of gaming tokens against the second end;

an ultrasonic distance measuring transducer mounted adjacent to the first end of each trough and oriented such that each ultrasonic distance measuring transducer measures distances substantially along the longitudinal axis of its associated trough, each transducer having a beam width confined substantially within its associated trough; and

a distance measurement system connected to the ultrasonic distance measuring transducers and to a computer for determining heights of the stacks of gaming tokens in the troughs and thereby the numbers of gaming tokens in the stacks.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the second ends of the troughs are elevationally lower than the first ends of the troughs.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 further including a temperature sensor and a digital thermometer for temperature correcting data employed by the computer to determine the heights of the stacks of gaming tokens.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 in which each of the gaming tokens has a thickness that ranges from about 3 millimeters to about 3.3 millimeters.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the number of gaming tokens in each of the stacks of gaming tokens ranges from zero to about 75 gaming tokens.

11. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the distance measurement system includes a multiplexer that samples the ultrasonic distance measuring transducers mounted adjacent to the first ends of each of the troughs such that the computer determines a height for each stack of gaming tokens in each trough and thereby the number of gaming tokens in each stack.

12. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the multiple gaming token troughs number about 12 troughs.

13. A method for counting a number of gaming tokens in a stack of gaming tokens, the gaming tokens having a thickness, comprising:

providing at least one substantially tubular gaming token channel having a longitudinal axis and first and second ends;

mounting an ultrasonic distance measuring transducer adjacent to the first end of each channel and orienting the ultrasonic distance measuring transducer to measure distances substantially along the longitudinal axis of the channel;

connecting each ultrasonic distance measuring transducer to a distance measurement system that is connected to a computer;

measuring a first distance D₁ between at least one ultrasonic distance measuring transducer and the second end of the associated channel;

storing D₁ and the thickness in the computer;

loading the stack of gaming tokens in the channel and against the second end of the channel;

measuring a second distance D₂ between the ultrasonic distance measuring transducer and a nearest gaming token in the stack of gaming tokens;

correcting the second distance D₂ for a temperature sensed in proximity to the channel; and

calculating in the computer the number of gaming tokens in the stack of gaming tokens by employing data generated in the measuring, correcting, and storing steps.

14. An apparatus for counting a number of gaming tokens in a stack of gaming tokens, the gaming tokens each having a thickness, comprising:

a substantially tubular gaming token channel having a longitudinal axis and first and second ends, the gaming token channel securing the stack of gaming tokens against the second end;

an ultrasonic distance measuring transducer mounted adjacent to the first end of the channel and oriented such that the ultrasonic distance measuring transducer measures distances substantially along the longitudinal axis of the channel;

a distance measurement system connected to the ultrasonic distance measuring transducer and to a computer for determining a height of the stack of gaming tokens in the channel and thereby the number of gaming tokens in the stack; and

a temperature sensor and a digital thermometer for temperature correcting data employed by the computer to determine the height of the stack of gaming tokens.