Card reading shoe with card stop feature and systems utilizing the same

• US 8,490,973 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2008
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoseloff, Mark L., Grauzer, Attila, Jackson, James P., Wadds, Nathan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): HARPER, TRAMAR YONG
• Application Number:
  US12/291,909
• Publication Number:
  US 20090140492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 273148 R-149 R, 463 11- 12
• US Class Current: 273/149.R
• 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 semi-automatic gaming table system comprises: a gaming table surface, at least one playing card delivery device, the playing card delivery device comprising a card storage area, an internal processor, a card-moving system, a delivery end and a card-imaging system, and a plurality of electronic player interfaces mounted in the gaming table surface that communicate with a game controller, wherein the game controller is programmed to communicate with the internal processor and the player interfaces, to detect at least one condition and respond by instructing the card-handling system to stop delivering cards to the delivery end. A method of monitoring play of a casino card game comprises: a player electronically making a wager on a semi-automatic gaming system, a dealer dealing physical cards to each player from a card-handling device, automatically sensing a rank and/or suit of cards being delivered, automatically determining a number of cards dealt to each player, and, when a predetermined condition is sensed, directing a card-handling device to cease moving cards to a delivery end, wherein one card is available for removal until the condition is cleared.

Claims

1. A semi-automatic gaming table system comprising:

a gaming table surface;

at least one playing card delivery device comprising a card storage area, an internal processor, a card-moving system, a delivery end and a card-imaging system;

a plurality of electronic player interfaces mounted in the gaming table surface; and

a game controller programmed to communicate with the internal processor and the plurality of electronic player interfaces, to detect at least one condition and respond by instructing the at least one playing card delivery device to stop delivery of cards to the delivery end, wherein the game controller is programmed to instruct the at least one playing card delivery device to resume delivery of cards to the delivery end upon receipt of a signal from a user input.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication between the game controller and the plurality of electronic player interfaces is bi-directional.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication between the game controller and the internal processor is bi-directional.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein when the at least one condition is a misdeal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is programmed to generate an alert signal in response to the at least one condition.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the alert signal is selected from the group consisting of an audible alarm and a visual alarm.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition is a misdeal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the card-moving system of the playing card delivery device comprises:

a first card-moving system for moving cards from the card storage area to the card-imaging system; and

a second card-moving system for moving cards from the card-imaging system to the delivery end, wherein the delivery end comprises a slot for manual removal of individual cards, and wherein the internal processor is programmed to disable the second card-moving system when the at least one condition is detected.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises at least one of a user interface mounted to at least one of the gaming table and the at least one playing card delivery device, a dealer interface mounted to at least one of the gaming table and the at least one playing card delivery device, and a dealer swipe mounted to at least one of the gaming table and the at least one playing card delivery device for clearing the at least one condition.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an overhead camera imaging system for identifying rank and/or suit of cards, wherein a signal from the overhead camera imaging system is generated and sent to the game controller.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic player interfaces are configured to enable electronic wagering.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic player interfaces are configured to enable input of game play decisions.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein game play decisions are selected from the group consisting of:

making a game wager, making a side bet wager, determining wager amount, calling for a hit card, discarding a card, standing, using at least one common card, switching cards, determining a rank and/or suit of a wild card, setting a hand, folding, taking insurance, splitting pairs, doubling down, checking, raising, rolling dice, replacing a hand, completing a partial hand, and surrendering cards.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one condition is selected from the group consisting of dealing a playing card erroneously face up, dealing a playing card to a wrong player position, removing a card from the at least one playing card delivery device without the system directing a dealer to remove a card, dealing a card in a face-up orientation, dealing a card that was not read by the card-imaging system, a door of the at least one playing card delivery device being open, a player hitting a reportable bonus hand, a player buying in or buying out, and dealing a wrong number of playing cards.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one playing card delivery device is configured to deliver physical cards.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal from the user input comprises at least one of a “

continue”

command and a “

clear”

command.

17. A method of administering play of a casino card game using a card-handling device, comprising:

dealing physical cards from a card-handling device to at least one hand position;

using the card-handling device to automatically sensing sense a rank and/or suit of the physical cards being dealt from the card-handling device to the at least one hand position;

using the card-handling device to automatically determine a number of physical cards dealt from the card-handling device to the at least one hand position and, when a predetermined condition is sensed, directing the card-handling device to cease moving physical cards to a delivery end thereof; and

using the card-handling device to cease movement of physical cards to the delivery end of the card-handling device in response to directing the card-handling device, wherein one physical card is disposed at the delivery end and is available for removal from the delivery end of the card-handling device after the predetermined condition is sensed and prior to clearance of the predetermined condition.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising directing the card-handling device to resume moving physical cards to the delivery end thereof responsive to the predetermined condition being cleared.

19. A game play monitoring system, comprising:

a card-dispensing shoe, wherein the card-dispensing shoe comprises a storage area for holding a group of cards, a card output end a card staging area between the storage area and the card output end, a card-reading system, a card-moving system configured to move cards individually from the storage area through the card staging area to the card output end, and at least one processor, wherein the card output end is configured for manual removal of individual cards; and

wherein the at least one processor is programmed to recognize and respond to at least one predetermined condition, and when a signal is received indicative of the at least one predetermined condition, the at least one processor is programmed to instruct the card-moving system to stop moving cards individually through the card staging area to the card output end, and after receiving a signal from a user input, the at least one processor is programmed to instruct the card-moving system to resume moving cards individually through the card staging area to the card output end.

20. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the at least one predetermined condition is selected from the group consisting of:

a back door of the card-dispensing shoe being open, an inaccurate card count, excess cards dealt, a deficiency of cards, an unrecognized card, and a misdeal.

21. The game play monitoring system of claim 20, wherein the card-dispensing shoe further comprises a door and a magnetic sensor configured to sense opening of the door, and wherein the at least one predetermined condition comprises the door being open.

22. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to not instruct the card-moving system to stop moving cards to the card output end during initial configuration even if the at least one predetermined condition is present.

23. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein in response to sensing the at least one predetermined condition, a signal indicative of an alert is generated.

24. The game play monitoring system of claim 23, wherein the signal indicative of an alert comprises a sound.

25. The game play monitoring system of claim 23, wherein the signal indicative of an alert comprises a visual alert.

26. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the user input is selected from the group consisting of:

a continue button positioned to be pressed by a player, a continue button positioned to be pressed by a dealer, a dealer swipe for swiping an authorization card, and combinations thereof.

27. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the card-dispensing shoe comprises a door configured to be opened with a programmable key.

28. The game play monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to transmit the signal indicative of the at least one predetermined condition to an external processor.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor of the card-dispensing shoe is programmed to instruct the card-moving system to stop moving cards in response to receiving a signal from the external processor.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is internal to the card-dispensing shoe.

31. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is external to the card-dispensing shoe.

32. A game play monitoring system, comprising:

a card-handling device, comprising a storage area for holding a group of cards, a card-reading system, a card staging area, a card-moving system configured to move cards individually through the card staging area, a card output end, a display, a user interface associated with the display and at least one processor, wherein the card output end is configured for manual removal of individual cards, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to stop the card-moving system from moving cards individually through the card staging area upon sensing improper removal of a card from the card output end, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to display at least a “

burn”

card selection on the display and wherein the at least one processor is programmed to respond to a burn command input on the user interface by disregarding the burn card in determining game outcome and causing the card-moving system to resume moving cards.

33. The game play monitoring system of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor comprises a processor internal to the card-handling device and the processor is programmed with game rules for baccarat.

34. The game play monitoring system of claim 32, wherein the card-handling device is selected from the group consisting of a shoe and a shuffler.

35. The game play monitoring system of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to display a “

play”

card command on the display, and the user interface provides a selection between “

burn” and

“

play.”