Collating and sorting apparatus

• US 6,267,248 B1
• Filed: 09/13/1999
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Johnson, Rodney George, Piacun, Mark William
• Primary Examiner(s): Walsh, Donald P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Beauchaine, Mark J.
• Application Number:
  US09/380,943
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 209/534, 209/535, 209/552, 209/553, 209/554, 209/559, 209/560, 209/564, 209/569, 209/706, 273/149.R, 273/149.P
• US Class Current: 209/547
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers

Abstract

A collation and/or sorting apparatus for groups of articles is exemplified by a sorting and/or shuffling device for playing cards. The apparatus comprises a sensor (15) to identify articles for collation and/or sorting, feeding means to feed cards from a stack (11) past the sensor (15) to a delivery means (14) adapted to deliver cards individually to a preselected one of a storing means (24) in an indexable magazine (20). A microprocessor (16) coupled to the feed means (14), delivery means (18), sensor (15) and magazine (20) determines according to a preprogrammed routine whether cards identified by sensor (15) are collated in the magazine (20) as an ordered deck of cards or a randomly ordered or “shuffled” deck.

Claims

1. An apparatus for arranging playing cards in a desired order, said apparatus including:

a housing;

a sensor to sense playing cards prior to arranging;

a feeder for feeding said playing cards sequentially past the sensor;

a storage assembly having a plurality of storage locations in which playing cards may be arranged in groups in a desired order, wherein the storage assembly is adapted for movement in at least two directions during shuffling;

a selectively programmable computer coupled to said sensor and to said storage assembly to assemble in said storage assembly groups of playing cards in a desired order;

a delivery mechanism for selectively delivering playing cards located in selected storage locations of the storage assembly; and

a collector for collecting arranged groups of playing cards.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage assembly comprises a carousel that rotates with respect to the delivery mechanism.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage assembly comprises at least eight adjacent magazines that move vertically with respect to the delivery mechanism.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the desired order is a random order of cards.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the desired order is a preselected order of cards.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor senses only the presence of a card.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor senses the value of the card.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an optical reader.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage assembly is a vertical rack.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage assembly is a carousel.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the feeder is capable of withdrawing individual playing cards from the group of playing cards and feed individual playing cards sequentially past the sensor.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor includes means to identify the presence of a playing card.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12 wherein the sensor is adapted to identify one or more physical attributes of a playing card.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the sensor is adapted to identify indicia on a playing card.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the sensor comprises a scanning device.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein the sensor is adapted to detect electromagnetic signals reflected and/or transmitted by a playing card.

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the feeder is adapted to withdraw individual playing cards from a group of playing cards and feed said individual playing cards sequentially past the sensor.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12 wherein the feeder includes a conveyor.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the storage assembly comprises one or more storage magazines each having a plurality of storage spaces.

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein said one or more storage magazines each include a predetermined number of individual storage spaces corresponding to the number of playing cards in a pack.

21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 20 wherein individual storage spaces are selectively indexable with said delivery mechanism.

22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 21 wherein the storage assembly comprises spaced storage spaces displaceable along an upright axis relative to said delivery mechanism.

23. An apparatus as claimed in claim 21 wherein the storage assembly comprises circumferentially spaced storage spaces displaceable relative to said delivery mechanism.

24. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein said delivery assembly comprises a conveyor.

25. An apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein the delivery assembly is displaceable between adjacent storage magazines.

26. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25 including at least two delivery assemblies.

27. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein said collector is adapted to collect a collated group of playing cards.

28. An apparatus as claimed in claim 27 including respective collectors for each said storage magazine.

29. An apparatus as claimed in claim 28 wherein the collector includes a playing card extractor to assist in extraction of playing cards from respective individual storage spaces.

30. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said programmable computing means includes data memory and data storage capacity to store data relating to each individual playing card sensed by the sensor.

31. An apparatus as claimed in claim 30 including a random number generator for randomly allocating playing cards to said storage assembly.

32. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage assembly comprises a stack that moves vertically with respect to the delivery mechanism.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the delivery mechanism travels along a linear horizontal line, wherein the collector comprises at least eight adjacent magazines that rotate about an axis substantially parallel to the linear horizontal line of the delivery mechanism.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the feeder comprises a conveyor.

35. A method for sorting a pack of playing cards, said method comprising the steps of:

feeding individual cards past a sensor to determine suit and value of individual cards and transmitting sensor signal data to a computer;

computing sensor signal data for each respective card and allocating thereto a predetermined value corresponding to the order of a particular card in a sorted pack;

delivering sensed cards to a collator having an individual storage space allocated to a card of predetermined suit and value;

indexing said collator with a delivery mechanism to deliver each said sensed card to a respective storage space of said collator; and

sequentially removing said cards from said collator to form a sorted pack of playing cards.

36. A method as claimed in claim 35 wherein said pack of cards comprises one or more decks of cards.

37. A method of shuffling a pack of cards, said method comprising the steps of:

feeding cards by means of a card delivery mechanism individually past a sensor to determine the presence of each card and transmitting sensor signal data to a computer;

computing sensor signal data for each respective card and allocating thereto a value generated by a random number generator corresponding to a storage space in a collator;

delivering sensed cards to a collator having a plurality of storage spaces;

indexing said collator with a card delivery mechanism to deliver each said card to the corresponding storage space of said collator, wherein relative motion between the collator and card feeder is in at least two directions during shuffling; and

collecting cards from said collator to form a randomly ordered pack of playing cards.

38. A method as claimed in claim 37 wherein said pack comprises one or more decks of cards.

39. A method as claimed in claim 38 wherein said sensor is adapted to determine the suit and/or value of individual cards.

40. A card sorting device, comprising:

a housing;

an infeed receptacle for accepting cards to be fed;

a card moving mechanism for moving cards from the infeed receptacle to a storage device;

a storage device comprising a plurality of compartments for receiving cards to be sorted;

a mechanism for moving the storage device relative to the card moving mechanism to permit card placement in different compartments in the card storage device;

a card unloading device for removing cards from the compartments in the card storage device; and

a selectively programmable microprocessor for selecting a compartment in the card storage device to receive each card being moved and for changing a direction of movement of the storage device during shuffling.

41. The card sorting device of claim 40 further comprising a sensor for sensing cards prior to insertion into compartments in the storage device.

42. The card sorting device of claim 40 wherein the storage device is a stack of compartments.

43. The card storing device of claim 40 wherein the storage device is a carousel.

44. The card storage device of claim 40 wherein each compartment in the card storage device receives only a single card.