Apparatus, system, method, and computer-readable medium for casino card handling with multiple hand recall feature

• US 8,777,710 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Grauzer, Attila, Bourbour, Feraidoon, Yoseloff, Mark L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US13/311,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20120074646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 273/149.R, 463/12, 463/13
• US Class Current: 463/12
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/005 Poker
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/322 Casino tables, e.g. tables having integrated screens, chip detection means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/00 ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 999/99 dummy group

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for detecting, storing, and retrieving information about the composition of present and past hands of cards in a casino table game. The method includes causing a card-handling device to substantially automatically generate a plurality of hands wherein each hand includes one or more cards. Card information is identified that includes a rank and a suit of each card as each card moves through the card-handling device. A play history is maintained of a card composition of more than one round wherein the card composition of each round includes the cards in each hand of each round. The card information of at least one hand from at least one round may be displayed.

Claims

1. A secure card game monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a card infeed tray;

a card output tray;

a card-handling system configured to deliver randomized sets of cards as a group to the card output tray;

a control system configured to control operation of the apparatus;

memory associated with the control system;

a card recognition system in communication with the control system and the memory, the card-recognition system configured to automatically read card information and store the card information in the memory, the card information including rank and suit information;

an input device in communication with the control system; and

an authorization element configured to limit user access to data stored in the memory of the control system.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authorization element comprises a card reader system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authorization element is selected from the group consisting of a retina scanner, an RFID scanner, a card reader, and a fingerprint scanner.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the card-handling system comprises a plurality of compartments, each compartment configured to receive cards.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system is configured to store historical card set and round of play information in the memory for up to a predetermined number of completed rounds.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the historical card set and round of play information includes at least one of type of game, player position, card rank and suit of each card in each player'"'"'s hand, betting information for each player, anticipated payout for each player based on game rules.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authorization element is configured to limit user access to player hand data stored in the memory.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authorization element is configured to limit user access to winning player hand data stored in the memory.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system includes at least one processor programmed to control the card-recognition system and the memory to keep track of the card information for each card and to keep track of hand information for where each card is located during handling by the card-handling system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor includes:

a first processor programmed to control the card-reading system and the memory to keep track of the card information for each card; and

a second processor programmed to control the card-reading system and the memory to keep track of the hand information for where each card is located during handling by the card-handling system.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the control system is configured to associate the card information and the hand information.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to limit user access to data stored in the memory by requiring a user to input a password that is used in association with the authorization element.

13. A method of providing cards during a casino table game play, the method comprising:

controlling a card-handling device to handle a deck of cards and deliver randomized sets of cards as a group to an card output tray;

identifying hand information for the randomized sets of cards; and

controlling a card-recognition system to identify card information as cards from the deck of cards move through the card-handling device, the card information including rank and suit information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving a user input through an input device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising limiting user access to data stored in the memory with an authorization element.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising associating the card information and the hand information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein associating the card information and the hand information occurs during a time that is selected from the group consisting of:

after the randomized sets of cards are completely formed within the card-handling device;

as the randomized sets of cards are removed from the card-handling device;

after an individual randomized set of cards is dealt to a player; and

after all randomized cards are dealt to all players of a round.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein associating the card information and the hand information is performed only for randomized sets of cards that are used in a round and not for unused cards in the round.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein storing the card information and storing the hand information are performed by separate processes.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising storing historical card set and round of play information in the memory for up to a predetermined number of completed rounds.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising sending historical card set and round of play information to an external computer for completed rounds that are older than the predetermined number of completed rounds.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein controlling a card-handling device to handle a deck of cards and deliver randomized sets of cards as a group to an card output tray includes randomly inserting the cards as groups into internal compartments of the card-handling device.

23. The method of claim 13, further comprising automatically displaying a winning hand and corresponding payout for a round of the casino table game.

24. A card game monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a card-handling device configured to;

randomize and dispense cards during a casino table game play; and

form a plurality of groups of cards, each group comprising a hand for a player position;

a card recognition system configured to recognize card information including a rank and a suit of each card while each card is under control of the card-handling device;

a control system comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the control system is configured to;

control the card-handling device; and

receive the card information for each card from the card recognition system; and

a display in communication with the control system and configured to display the card information corresponding to the hand information of at least one hand.

25. The card game monitoring apparatus of claim 24, wherein the card-handling device is further configured to form a hand in an internal compartment prior to being ejected from the card-handling device.

26. The card game monitoring apparatus of claim 25, wherein the card recognition system includes a device configured to sense card rank and suit information from each card as the card passes from an infeed tray to the internal compartment of the card-handling device.

27. The card game monitoring apparatus of claim 25, wherein the control system is further configured to electronically generate the card information comprising a hand prior to the card-handling device forming the hand in the internal compartment.

28. The card game monitoring apparatus of claim 24, wherein the display is further configured to automatically display game result information including a winning hand and corresponding payout.

29. A card game monitoring system, comprising:

a card-handling device configured to randomize and dispense a plurality of groups of cards during a casino table game play, the card-handling device comprising;

a card recognition system configured to recognize card information including a rank and a suit of each card while each card is under control of the card-handling device; and

at least one processor programmed to receive the card information for each card from the card recognition system and determine card hand information comprising the cards in each group of cards used as hands in a current round;

an object recognition device configured to identify at least one betting object indicating at least one active player position for the current round; and

a table manager comprising a computer and configured to;

receive position information about at least one active player position from the object recognition device;

receive the card information from the card-handling device; and

analyze the card information and the position information to display the card hand information for the at least one active player position; and

a display configured to display the card hand information.

30. A method of providing cards during a casino table game play, the method comprising:

causing a card-handling device to substantially automatically generate a plurality of groups of cards for a plurality of hands corresponding to a plurality of player positions;

identifying card information including a rank and a suit of each card as each card moves through the card-handling device;

identifying hand information for the cards in each group of a round of a casino table game;

associating the hand information with the card information of the round; and

displaying the card information corresponding to the hand information of at least one hand from the round.

31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more computers, perform the acts comprising:

causing a card-handling device to substantially automatically generate a plurality of at least partial hands for at least one active player for a current round;

identifying card information including a rank and a suit of each card as each card moves through the card-handling device;

identifying a betting object indicating at least one active player for a current round; and

displaying the card information of at least one at least partial hand from the current round.

32. A system for delivering cards to a casino game, comprising:

a gaming table with a plurality of player areas, each player area of the plurality equipped with a sensor to detect an active player position;

a shuffler configured to form and deliver hands of cards as a group of cards; and

a processor programmed to direct the shuffler to deliver only a number of hands corresponding to a number of active player positions, as well as a dealer hand or common card positions when required by a rule of the casino game.