Systems, methods and articles to facilitate playing card games
First Claim
1. A playing card handling system, comprising:
- a playing card input receiver;
a playing card output receiver;
at least one playing card transport path extending between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver;
a first intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the first intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together;
a second intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the second intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together; and
a control subsystem configured to allocate a plurality of playing cards from the input playing card receiver between at least the first intermediary and the second intermediary playing card receivers based on an order in which the playing cards will be arranged at the playing card output receiver.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Playing cards from the input playing card receiver are allocated or directed between at least the first intermediary and the second intermediary playing card receivers based on an order in which the playing cards will be arranged at the playing card output receiver. The second intermediary playing card receiver may comprise an endless array of playing card receiving compartments mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis. The first intermediary playing card receiver may comprise an annular array of playing card receiving compartments mounted pivotal movement about a second horizontal axis. The first intermediary playing card receiver may comprise a diagonal array of playing card receiving compartments mounted translation along a vertical axis.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A playing card handling system, comprising:
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a playing card input receiver; a playing card output receiver; at least one playing card transport path extending between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver; a first intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the first intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together; a second intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the second intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together; and a control subsystem configured to allocate a plurality of playing cards from the input playing card receiver between at least the first intermediary and the second intermediary playing card receivers based on an order in which the playing cards will be arranged at the playing card output receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A playing card handling system, comprising:
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a playing card input receiver; a playing card output receiver; at least one playing card transport path extending between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver; a first intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the first intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement as a first unit; a second intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the second intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together as a second unit; and a control subsystem configured to direct playing cards to the card receiving compartments of a selected one of at least the first and the second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of operating a playing card handling system, the method comprising:
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automatically determining an identity of each of a plurality of playing cards; and
allocating a plurality of playing cards from an input playing card receiver between at least a first intermediary and a second intermediary playing card receivers based on an order in which the playing cards will be arranged at a playing card output receiver, the first intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together and the second intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together;pseudo-randomly generating a sequence of virtual playing card values; and
segmenting the pseudo-randomly generated sequence of virtual playing card values into at least two subsets, and wherein allocating a plurality of playing cards between at least a first intermediary and a second intermediary playing card receivers comprises allocating each of a number of playing cards identified by an initial one of the subsets of virtual playing card values to respective playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver and allocating each of a number of the virtual playing card values identified by remaining ones of the subsets of virtual playing card values to the first intermediary playing card receiver. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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31. A method of operating a playing card handling system, the method comprising:
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automatically determining an identity of each of a plurality of playing cards; allocating a plurality of playing cards from an input playing card receiver between at least a first intermediary and a second intermediary playing card receivers based on an order in which the playing cards will be arranged at a playing card output receiver, the first intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together and the second intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together;
pseudo-randomly generating a sequence of virtual playing card values that define the order; andsegmenting the pseudo-randomly generated sequence of virtual playing card values into at least two subsets, and wherein allocating a plurality of playing cards between at least a first intermediary and a second intermediary playing card receivers comprises allocating each of a number of playing cards identified by an initial one of the subsets of virtual playing card values to respective card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver and allocating each of a number of playing cards identified by a plurality of remaining ones of the subsets of virtual playing card values to respective ones of the playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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37. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for causing a processor to operate a playing card handling system, by:
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directing playing cards to a selected one of at least a first and a second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system the first intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together and the second intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together; delivering the playing card from the playing card handling system; and moving some of the playing cards to the second intermediary playing card receiver from the first intermediary playing card receiver, as the first intermediary playing card receiver becomes depleted based on at least in part on at least a portion of the determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for causing a processor to operate a playing card handling system, by:
directing playing cards to a selected one of at least a first and a second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system the first intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together and the second intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together, wherein the directing playing cards to a selected one of at least the first and the second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system comprises directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a first portion of a pseudo-random sequence of virtual playing card values to the playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver, and directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a second portion of the pseudo-random sequence of playing card values to the playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver.
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41. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for causing a processor to operate a playing card handling system, by:
directing playing cards to a selected one of at least a first and a second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system the first intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together and the second intermediary playing card receiver having a plurality of playing card receiving compartments physically coupled for movement together, wherein the directing playing cards to a selected one of at least the first and the second intermediary playing card receivers based at least in part on at least a portion of a determined sequence of playing cards that are to be delivered from the playing card handling system comprises directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a first portion of a pseudo-random sequence of virtual playing card values to the playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver, directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a second portion of the pseudo-random sequence of virtual playing card values to a first one of the playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver, directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a third portion of the pseudo-random sequence of virtual playing card values to a second one of the playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver, and directing playing cards identified by virtual playing card values in a fourth portion of the pseudo-random sequence of virtual playing card values to a third one of the playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver.
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42. A playing card handling system, comprising:
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a playing card input receiver; a playing card output receiver; at least one playing card transport path extending between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver; a first intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the first intermediary playing card receiver comprising a plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the first intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for movement together; a second intermediary playing card receiver disposed between the playing card input receiver and the playing card output receiver in the at least one playing card transport path, the second intermediary playing card receiver comprising an endless array of plurality of playing card receiving compartments, the plurality of playing card receiving compartments of the second intermediary playing card receiver physically coupled for pivotal movement together about a first horizontal axis; and a control subsystem configured to allocate a plurality of playing cards to the first and the second intermediary playing card receivers and to the playing card output receiver. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification