Systems, methods, and devices for monitoring card games, such as Baccarat

• US 8,485,907 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2010
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Soltys, Richard, Huizinga, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOSSER, ROBERT E
• Application Number:
  US12/768,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20100207324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,176 Days
• Field of Search: 273/148.R, 273/148.B, 273/149.R, 273/292, 273/293, 273/296, 463/1, 463/47, 463/48
• US Class Current: 463/47
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/10 Card holders
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/18 Score computers; Miscellaneous indicators time-testing devices G07C
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/001 Bridge or baccarat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/0491 having markings on the rear face or reverse side
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00164 Casino tables
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/242 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/58 Antifraud or preventing misuse
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3232 wherein the operator is informed
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

Gaming systems, methods, and devices for determining or verifying the outcome of a card game, for example the card game of Baccarat. The systems, methods, and devices can be used in conjunction with the card game to enhance security by optically imaging the hands of playing cards dealt or by optically reading a set of cards to determine the outcome of each game that can be played from that set of cards. The playing cards each have at least one encoded symbol comprised of machine-readable indicia. The gaming system can include a card shoe-reader alone, a card shoe-reader in combination with at least one card hand-reader, or various other embodiments to include other devices such as a discard reader or a bet recognition device. The optically imaged playing cards can be processed within a computing system to allow the authentication of the playing cards.

Claims

1. A card hand-reader to read identifying data from each of a number of dealt playing cards forming a hand, wherein the number of dealt playing 1 cards are part of a deck of playing cards that includes more than the number of dealt playing cards, the card hand-reader comprising:

a frame sized to receive a respective portion of three playing cards forming a hand and arranged to expose to a game participant a respective face carrying a respective human-readable symbol of each playing card received therein; and

at least one optical sensor providing a field of view encompassing an area sufficient to image a respective machine-readable symbol bearing portion of each of the playing cards received in the frame.

2. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the frame is configured to receive the respective portion of a first one and at least a second one of the playing cards received therein arranged in an overlapping side-by-side relationship.

3. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the frame is configured to receive the respective portion of a first one and at least a second one of the playing cards received therein arranged in a non-overlapping side-by-side relation.

4. The card hand-reader of claim 1, further comprising:

a first optical element positioned to reflect an image of the respective machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a first one of the playing cards received therein along a first optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

5. The card hand-reader of claim 4, further comprising:

a second optical element positioned to reflect an image of the respective machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a second one of the playing cards received therein along a second optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

6. The card hand-reader of claim 5, further comprising:

a third optical element positioned to reflect an image of the respective machine-readable symbol bearing portion of a third one of the playing cards received therein along a third optical path toward the at least one optical sensor.

7. The card hand-reader of claim 1, further comprising:

a prism assembly positioned to reflect images received from the respective playing cards toward the at least one optical sensor; and

at least one reflector positioned along one of the optical paths between the prism assembly and the optical sensor.

8. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the at least one optical sensor comprises three distinct optical sensor arrays, each of the optical sensor arrays positioned along a respective optical path from the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of respective ones of the three playing cards.

9. The card hand-reader claim 1 wherein the at least one optical sensor comprises a single physical optical sensor array divided into three logical optical sensor array portions, each of the logical optical sensor array portions positioned along a respective optical path from the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of respective ones of the three playing cards.

10. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the optical sensor comprises an array of at least one charge-coupled (CCD) device.

11. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the optical sensor comprises an array of at least one CMOS device.

12. The card hand-reader of claim 1 wherein the optical sensor comprises at least one of a one-dimensional array of optical sensors and a two-dimensional array of optical sensors.

13. The card hand-reader of claim 1, further comprising:

a switch positioned to be activated by the insertion of at least one of the playing cards into the card hand-reader, the switch communicatively coupled with the optical sensor to capture an image of the machine-readable symbol bearing portions of the playing cards.

14. The card hand-reader of claim 1, further comprising:

an illumination source positioned to illuminate machine-readable symbol bearing portions of the playing cards when inserted into the frame; and

a switch positioned to be activated by the insertion of at least one of the playing cards, the switch operatively coupled to activate the illumination source.

15. A method of operating a card identification system that determines an outcome of at least one card game, the at least one card game to be comprised of at least two hands of playing cards selected from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

prior to dealing any playing card in a set of playing cards from which at least two hands of playing cards will be dealt in a round of a card game, determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected;

evaluating by the card identification system the not yet dealt playing card sequence to determine an outcome of the at least one card game based at least on a set of card game rules and a dealing sequence that corresponds to at least a portion of the not yet dealt playing card sequence, the outcome of the at least one card game being determined for the at least one card game at any time before any playing card of the set of playing cards is dealt, but after the not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards is determined; and

activating an indicator, the indicator broadcasts information indicative of which one of the at least two hands of playing cards selected from the set of playing cards comprises a winning hand or whether the at least two hands of playing cards are a tie.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

allowing a number of wagering participants to place wagers on the outcome of the card game;

removing the playing cards comprising the card game from the set of playing cards according to the dealing sequence and the card game rules;

determining the outcome of the at least one card game by visual verification of the at least two hands of playing cards; and

independently verifying the outcome determined by visual verification of the at least two hands of playing cards with the provided indication.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected comprises reading the set of playing cards in a card shoe-reader after a number of burn cards are removed from the card-shoe reader.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one card game is two or more card games, and wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected comprises reading the set of playing cards in a card shoe-reader before a number of burn cards are removed from the card-shoe reader.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected includes determining how many burn cards will be removed from the set of playing cards.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one card game is two or more card games, and wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected comprises determining a respective identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards before a card shoe-reader holding the set of playing cards is placed on the gaming table.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected comprises determining a respective identity of each of the playing cards in the set of playing cards by a card shoe-reader holding the set of playing cards after the card shoe-reader is placed on the gaming table.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected comprises one of optically imaging and optically scanning a respective encoded symbol from each playing card comprising the set of playing cards.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

displaying human-readable symbols representative of at least a face value of each of the playing cards comprising the at least two hands of playing cards.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected includes reading a respective machine-readable symbol from a respective portion of a respective backside of each of the respective playing cards of the set of playing cards.

25. The method of claim 15 wherein determining by the card identification system a not yet dealt playing card sequence of the set of playing cards from which the at least two hands of playing cards will be selected includes reading a respective machine-readable symbol from a respective portion of a respective front side of each of the respective playing cards of the set of playing cards.

26. A method of operating a card identification system that determines an outcome of a card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

determining by the card identification system a card sequence of at least four playing cards, but less than the entire set, within the set of playing cards from which the card game will be played prior to dealing any one of the at least four playing cards;

evaluating the card sequence by the card identification system to determine the outcome of the card game based on a set of card game rules and a dealing sequence, the outcome of the card game being determined for the card game at any time before any playing card of the set of playing cards is dealt, but after the card sequence of the set of playing cards is determined; and

activating an indicator after the card sequence is evaluated by the card identification system to determine the outcome of the card game and after at least the four playing cards, but not more than six cards, are removed from a card shoe-reader to assemble a first hand and a second hand, each hand having at least two playing cards, the indicator broadcasts information indicative of which one of the hands selected from the set of playing cards comprises a winning hand or whether the hands are a tie.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein determining by the card identification system a card sequence from the at least four playing cards comprises optically imaging the at least four playing cards in the card shoe-reader.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein determining by the card identification system a card sequence from the at least four playing cards includes determining how many burn cards will be removed from the set of playing cards.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein determining by the card identification system a card sequence of the at least four playing cards in a set of playing cards comprises determining an identity of each of the imaged playing cards before the card shoe-reader is placed on the gaming table.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein determining by the card identification system a card sequence of the at least four playing cards in a set of playing cards comprises determining an identity of each of the imaged playing cards after the card shoe-reader is placed on the gaming table.

31. A method of determining an outcome of at least one card game, the card game being selectable from a set of playing cards, the method comprising:

providing the set of playing cards to a gaming table;

dealing a number of playing cards necessary to comprise at least two complete playing hands for the selected card game based on a set of card game rules;

positioning each of the number of dealt playing cards comprising the respective playing hands into at least one card hand-reader;

reading a respective machine-readable indicia from each of the dealt playing cards positioned within the card hand-reader with a playing card reader while the dealt playing cards are positioned within the card hand-reader;

computationally evaluating the respective machine-readable indicia from each of the playing cards to determine the outcome of the card game based on the set of rules and independent of knowledge of a dealing sequence; and

verifying that the outcome of the card game as determined by the card hand-reader corresponds to the outcome of the card game upon visually totaling the playing cards making up the respective playing hands.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein providing the set of playing cards to a gaming table includes optically reading the set of playing cards within a card shoe-reader.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein dealing a number of cards necessary to comprise at least two complete playing hands includes dealing a Banker'"'"'s hand and a Player'"'"'s hand, each hand having at least two, but not more than three cards.

34. The method of claim 31 wherein positioning each of the number of cards comprising the respective playing hands into at least one card hand-reader further includes triggering the card hand-reader to read the machine-readable indicia on the respective playing cards.

35. The method of claim 31 wherein reading a machine-readable indicia from each of the playing cards positioned within the card hand-reader includes directing an optical image of the machine-readable indicia to a camera.

36. The method of claim 31 wherein computationally evaluating the machine-readable indicia from each of the playing cards to determine the outcome of the card game based on the set of rules includes computationally decoding the indicia to determine a rank of each of the playing cards.