Intelligent baccarat shoe

• US 7,434,805 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2004
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Grauzer, Attila, Schubert, Oliver M., Costello, Christopher, Lovgren, Douglas K., Lopez, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau; Ronald
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARPER, TRAMAR YONG
• Application Number:
  US10/958,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20050062227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 273/149.00R
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2457 Display screens, e.g. monitors, video displays
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

A playing card delivery shoe is used in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat. The 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. There is a communication link between the playing card reading sensors and a processor, and the processor analyzes said data according to rules of play of the game of baccarat and determines results of play for a round of play of baccarat based upon said data, the processor transmitting displayable information from the processor to a display device.

Claims

1. A casino table card game playing system comprising a display screen and a playing card delivery shoe for use in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat from which delivery shoe cards may be dealt, the delivery shoe comprising:

a) an area for receiving a first set of playing cards useful in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat;

b) a 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 playing cards and moved to the playing card staging area;

c) s 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 a delivery end 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) at least one playing card reading sensor that reads 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;

wherein there is a communication link between the at least one playing card reading sensor and a processor, which the processor analyzes data from the at least one sensor according to rules of play of the game of baccarat and determines results including cumulative rank of each player'"'"'s hand and dealer'"'"'s hand and wins and losses of play for a round of play of baccarat based upon data from the at least one sensor, the processor being communicatively linked to the display screen to provide image information to be displayed on the display screen.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one card but less then an entire deck of cards is present in the staging area.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein from 1 to 2 cards are present in the staging area.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein results of play for a round of play of baccarat are determined before delivery of playing cards to players, the determination based upon a specific set of rules applied by software to said data from the at least one sensor, and information relating to cards dealt in a round of play are displayed on the display screen after or during physical delivery of cards at least to player positions.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the data determines whether a cut card is present.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein at least one of the following types of information is displayed:

player hand count, banker hand count, game instructions, historical play information, player hand win, banker hand win, ties and promotional information.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least playing card value data is read in the device before the playing card is being removed from the storage device and said data from the at least one sensor is processed by the processor and stored by said processor and displayed on the display screen during play of each hand of baccarat.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor communicatively linked with the display screen has been configured before play of a round of baccarat to display at least some historical events of game play at a particular casino table.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor communicatively linked with the display screen receives information from the delivery shoe relating to at least card rank and provides the display screen with card rank display information for playing cards dealt during a round of play of baccarat.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein a cumulative count of hand values is displayed on the display screen.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein a cumulative count of hand values is displayed on the display screen.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein a section of the display screen provides streaming video unrelated to immediate play of the casino table card game.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein dealer directions are provided to the screen by the processor at least regarding to steps selected from the group consisting of a) to which hand a next card is to be delivered, b) a Natural hand occurring, and c) a hand upon which winning or tying event has occurred.

14. A baccarat gaming system comprising a processor, a display panel in communication link with the processor and a card storage shoe for use in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat in communication link with the processor, the card storage shoe comprising a first card infeed area within the card storage shoe where an approximately vertical set of playing cards can be seated, the first card infeed area including a playing card moving element that moves one playing card at-a-time from the approximately vertical set of playing cards, a second area within the card storage shoe comprising an automatic mechanical transporting system for horizontally transporting individual ones of playing cards from the first card infeed area to a third playing card delivery area within the card storage shoe, wherein the second area comprises a playing card reading system that reads at least value of the individual playing cards before the playing cards become stationary in a third playing card delivery area, and the value of playing cards read is used by the processor to determine expected results including cumulative rank of each player'"'"'s hand and dealer'"'"'s hand and wins and losses in play of a round of baccarat.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein results of play for a round of play of baccarat are determined before delivery of playing cards to players, the determination based upon a specific set of rules applied by software to said data from the at least one sensor, and information relating to cards dealt in a round of play are displayed on the display screen after or during physical delivery of cards at least to player positions.

16. The shoe of claim 14 wherein the second area is defined by a buffer area present between the playing card infeed area and the playing card delivery area and at least some playing cards remain stationary for a time in the buffer area before being delivered to the playing card delivery area and only one playing card may be present in the playing card buffer area at any time.

17. The shoe of claim 16 wherein playing cards are read in the shoe as they enter the playing card buffer area or when the playing cords are within the playing card buffer area.

18. The shoe of claim 14 wherein there is a communication link between the at least one playing card reading sensor and a processor, which processor analyzes said data from the at least one sensor according to rules of play of the game of baccarat and determines results of play for a round of play of baccarat based upon said data from the at least one sensor and provides image data to be displayed on the display screen relating to at least one of status of game play and results of game play.

19. A method of providing cards to a dealer in the casino table card game of baccarat for manual delivery of the cards by a dealer from an automatic card delivery device comprising:

placing a set of cards within a first card infeed area within a card delivery device;

mechanically moving cards in the order in which cards are removed from the set of cards from the set of cards from the first card infeed area to a second card delivery area within the card delivery device where at least some cards become stationary;

receiving and reading in a third area within the card delivery device individual cards for at least value after the cards are removed from the card infeed area and before the cards become stationary in the second card delivery area;

wherein there is a communication link between the at least one card reading sensor in the card delivery device and a processor, which the processor analyzes said data from the at least one sensor according to rules of play of the game of baccarat and determines results including cumulative rank of each player'"'"'s hand and dealer'"'"'s hand and wins and losses of play for a round of play of baccarat based upon said data from the at least one sensor and transmitting displayable information from the processor to a display device at the casino table.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the displayable information comprises at least one of card values dealt, cumulative count of hands, history of game results, dealer required activity, and present genie results.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein visible information is displayed on the display screen to indicate specific activities required to be performed by the dealer.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein hand count information from the processor is displayed on the display screen.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the hand count information is displayed on a delayed basis after cards have been delivered face down to a player hand position and a banker hand position.

24. A card delivery shoe for use in the play of baccarat at a casino table, the shoe having a storage end and a delivery end, the shoe storing a first set of cards in the storage end and allowing manual removal of cards from the delivery end, at least one first sensor in the delivery end that senses when a card is absent from the delivery end and sends a signal to a motor that a card is to be delivered to the delivery end, at least one card reading sensor, and a motor that mechanically delivers a card to the delivery end of the shoe, wherein there is a communication link between the card reading sensors and a processor, which the processor analyzes data from the at least one sensor according to rules of play of the game of baccarat and determines results including cumulative rank of each player'"'"'s hand and dealer'"'"'s hand and wins and losses of play for a round of play of baccarat based upon data from the at least one sensor, the processor transmitting displayable information from the processor to a display device at the casino table, wherein the at least one sensor reads card values in the card delivery shoe before a card that is read is stationery in the card delivery end.

25. The shoe of claim 24 wherein a card position sensor is present that triggers operation of the card reading sensors so tat discontinuous signals of cards are provided by the card reading sensors.