Card shuffler
First Claim
1. A card shuffler comprising:
- (a) a base;
(b) a deck-crib supported by said base and capable of containing a plurality of cards;
(c) a dealing rack defining a plurality of single-card receptacles and located adjacent to and aligned with said deck-crib;
(d) a card shield movable in a track located alongside said dealing rack, between a first position and a second position, said dealing rack including a latch operable selectively to engage said card shield and thereby to move said card shield along with said dealing rack between said first and second positions when said latch is engaged;
(e) a card mover associated with the deck-crib and operable to move a single card from said deck-crib to a selected one of said plurality of single-card receptacles;
(f) a motor associated with said base and arranged to move said dealing rack relative to said deck-crib; and
(g) a controller arranged to;
(i) randomly select an empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles of said dealing rack;
(ii) thereafter cause said motor to move said dealing rack to place said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles into alignment with said card mover;
(iii) thereafter cause said card mover to move a single card from said deck-crib into said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles; and
(iv) thereafter repeat steps (i), (ii), and (iii) until said deck-crib has been emptied of cards.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A card shuffler that moves cards one-at-a-time from the bottom of a deck in a deck-crib to randomly designated single-card receptacles in a dealing rack. The dealing rack is moved by a motor to align a receptacle, randomly selected from among remaining empty receptacles, with an outfeed slot of the deck-crib to receive each card to be moved from the deck-crib. A space is provided in the dealing rack where a dealer'"'"'s hand can reach cards and remove them from the dealing rack. A controller can cause the dealing rack to move so as to allow a selected number of cards to be removed by the dealer for a player hand or a dealer hand. A card reader may be included, and positions in the dealing rack of cards identified by the card reader can be stored in memory in the controller.
254 Citations
64 Claims
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1. A card shuffler comprising:
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(a) a base; (b) a deck-crib supported by said base and capable of containing a plurality of cards; (c) a dealing rack defining a plurality of single-card receptacles and located adjacent to and aligned with said deck-crib; (d) a card shield movable in a track located alongside said dealing rack, between a first position and a second position, said dealing rack including a latch operable selectively to engage said card shield and thereby to move said card shield along with said dealing rack between said first and second positions when said latch is engaged; (e) a card mover associated with the deck-crib and operable to move a single card from said deck-crib to a selected one of said plurality of single-card receptacles; (f) a motor associated with said base and arranged to move said dealing rack relative to said deck-crib; and (g) a controller arranged to; (i) randomly select an empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles of said dealing rack; (ii) thereafter cause said motor to move said dealing rack to place said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles into alignment with said card mover; (iii) thereafter cause said card mover to move a single card from said deck-crib into said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles; and (iv) thereafter repeat steps (i), (ii), and (iii) until said deck-crib has been emptied of cards. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A card shuffler comprising:
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(a) a base; (b) a deck-crib supported by said base and capable of containing a plurality of cards; (c) a dealing rack defining a plurality of single-card receptacles and located adjacent to and aligned with said deck-crib; (d) a card mover associated with the deck-crib and operable to move a single card from said deck-crib to a selected one of said plurality of single-card receptacles; (e) a blocking wall located on and extending upward from said base, adjacent a side of said dealing rack spaced apart from and facing away from said card mover; (f) a motor associated with said base and arranged to move said dealing rack relative to said deck-crib; and (g) a controller arranged to; (i) randomly select an empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles of said dealing rack; (ii) thereafter cause said motor to move said dealing rack to place said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles into alignment with said card mover; (iii) thereafter cause said card mover to move a single card from said deck-crib into said randomly selected empty one of said plurality of single-card receptacles; and (iv) thereafter repeat steps (i), (ii), and (iii) until said deck-crib has been emptied of cards; and
wherein(h) said dealing rack is movable to a position with respect to said blocking wall in which at least one of said single-card receptacles is exposed beyond a margin of said blocking wall, and wherein said shuffler includes a sensor located adjacent said blocking wall and aligned with respect to an intended position of one of said at least one of said single-card receptacles exposed beyond said margin, so as to determine that all of said at least one single-card receptacles are empty of cards and to provide a corresponding signal to said controller. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A card shuffler comprising:
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(a) a base; (b) a deck-crib supported on said base and capable of containing a plurality of cards; (c) a dealing rack located adjacent to and aligned with said deck-crib and defining a plurality of single-card receptacles arrayed closely adjacent to and parallel with one another; (d) a card mover associated with the deck-crib and operable to move each of a plurality of cards separately and serially from said deck-crib to respective selected ones of said plurality of single-card receptacles; (e) a motor arranged to move said dealing rack relative to said deck-crib so as to place serially each selected one of said plurality of single-card receptacles into alignment with said card mover; (f) a blocking wall mounted on said base and extending alongside a side of said dealing rack opposite from and spaced apart from said deck-crib when said dealing rack is in a first position; and (g) a controller arranged to cause said motor in response to a predetermined condition to move said dealing rack to a second position in which at least one of said plurality of single-card receptacles is exposed beyond a margin of said blocking wall, thereby permitting every card held in said exposed at least one of said single-card receptacles to be removed therefrom by being moved over said margin of said blocking wall, while said blocking wall prevents removal of any card from any of said receptacles not exposed beyond said margin of said blocking wall. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52)
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53. A method of dealing a plurality of playing cards comprising:
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(a) placing a plurality of playing cards into a dealing rack including a plurality of single-card receptacles stacked adjacent one another in a fixed array arranged so that said playing cards are parallel with each other; (b) placing said dealing rack into a first position alongside a blocking wall adjacent a card removal side of said dealing rack; (c) in response to a predetermined condition automatically moving said dealing rack a distance relative to said blocking wall determined by a controller and thereby exposing a first selected number of single-card receptacles beyond a margin of said blocking wall, thereby creating an open path along said margin of said blocking wall for removal of a first selected number of said cards from said dealing rack; (d) removing said first selected number of said cards from said exposed single-card receptacles as a group of said cards; (e) thereafter sensing and automatically communicating electrically to said controller that it is appropriate to move the dealing rack to expose additional ones of said a single-card receptacles beyond said margin of said blocking wall; (f) in response thereto, moving said dealing rack a further distance relative to said blocking wall and thereby exposing a selected number of additional ones of said plurality of single-card receptacles beyond said margin of said blocking wall; and (g) thereafter repeating steps (d) through (f) until a desired number of groups of said cards have been removed from said dealing rack. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A method of preparing to deal a plurality of playing cards, comprising:
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(a) placing a plurality of playing cards into a dealing rack including a plurality of single-card receptacles stacked adjacent one another in a fixed array arranged so that said playing cards are parallel with each other; (b) placing said dealing rack into a first position alongside a blocking wall adjacent a card removal side of said dealing rack; (c) in response to a first signal provided to a controller, moving said dealing rack relative to said blocking wall and thereby exposing a plurality of single-card receptacles beyond a margin of said blocking wall, thereby creating an open path along said margin of said blocking wall for removal of playing cards from said plurality of exposed single-card receptacles; (d) in response to a second signal provided to said controller at a time selected during said step of moving said dealing rack, stopping movement of said dealing rack; (e) thereupon removing all cards simultaneously from all of said single-card receptacles exposed beyond said margin of said blocking wall as a first cut portion; (f) in response thereto, moving said dealing rack a further distance relative to said blocking wall and thereby exposing all remaining ones of said plurality of single-card receptacles beyond said margin of said blocking wall; and (g) thereafter removing all cards simultaneously from said remaining ones of said plurality of single-card receptacles as a last cut portion. - View Dependent Claims (64)
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Specification