Image capturing card shuffler
First Claim
1. A card shuffling apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
a card input receptacle on the housing adapted to receive at least one deck of un-shuffled playing cards;
a shuffling mechanism supported by the housing and adapted to receive cards from said card input receptacle and for shuffling the cards;
a controller for controlling the operation of the shuffler, image capturing and display functions;
a card output bin;
card moving apparatus disposed within the housing configured for mechanically engaging an individual card from the cards shuffled by the shuffling mechanism and transporting plural cards individually within the housing from the shuffling mechanism to the card output bin to form a hand;
an image capturing device disposed within said housing for capturing image data of each individual card being transported by the card moving apparatus; and
a display mounted to the housing, wherein the display is capable of displaying a player hand image of the cards in a player hand, the player hand image comprising an image representing each card being transported.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention features a playing card shuffling device, which through the use of a small image capturing means, captures an image of the face value of each card and stores the image in memory. This image is sorted in the format of a bitmap image. The operator of the machine would be able to recall through the use of a keypad, the images of the cards that comprised the individual hands in the previous game. This feature allows for verification of a winning hand after a game has been completed. Thereby, a quick recheck of hands before playing a winning hand is performed. The face value of each card is determined by character recognition software. These card values would be stored in memory for archival access for use in monitoring the randomness of the game and determining the number of winnings hands.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A card shuffling apparatus comprising:
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a housing; a card input receptacle on the housing adapted to receive at least one deck of un-shuffled playing cards; a shuffling mechanism supported by the housing and adapted to receive cards from said card input receptacle and for shuffling the cards; a controller for controlling the operation of the shuffler, image capturing and display functions; a card output bin; card moving apparatus disposed within the housing configured for mechanically engaging an individual card from the cards shuffled by the shuffling mechanism and transporting plural cards individually within the housing from the shuffling mechanism to the card output bin to form a hand; an image capturing device disposed within said housing for capturing image data of each individual card being transported by the card moving apparatus; and a display mounted to the housing, wherein the display is capable of displaying a player hand image of the cards in a player hand, the player hand image comprising an image representing each card being transported. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of shuffling playing cards for card games said method comprising the steps of:
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a) placing un-shuffled cards into a card input receptacle of an automatic card shuffler for handling playing cards; b) activating the card shuffler such that the cards are shuffled within the automatic card shuffler; c) individually moving playing cards one at a time within the automatic card shuffler from the shuffled cards to a card output bin operatively associated with the automatic card shuffler until a hand of cards is formed; d) capturing image data of each card as the card is being moved within the automatic card shuffler; and e) displaying an image of a formed hand on a display associated with the shuffler, the player hand image comprising an image representing each card being transported. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification