Card-handling device and method of operation

• US 9,700,785 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2016
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Mahoney, Daniel J., Baker, Thompson A., Blad, Steven J., Hessing, Lynn C.
• Primary Examiner(s): CUFF, MICHAEL A
• Application Number:
  US15/097,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20160236067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 455 Days
• Field of Search: 463 12, 463 42, 273149 R
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/12 Card shufflers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/14 Card dealers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00164 Casino tables
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2404 Keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/285 Photographs
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/58 Antifraud or preventing misuse
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

The present invention features a playing card shuffling device, which through the use of a small image capturing means, captures an image of a face value of each card and stores the image in memory. This image is sorted in the format of a bitmap image. An operator of the device would be able to recall, through the use of a keypad, the images of the cards that comprised individual hands in the previous game. This feature allows for verification of a winning hand after a game has been completed. Thereby, a quick recheck of hands before playing a winning hand is performed. The face value of each card is determined by character recognition software. These card values would be stored in memory for archival access for use in monitoring the randomness of the game and determining the number of winnings hands.

Claims

1. A card-handling device, comprising:

a card shuffler configured to randomize an order of playing cards;

a card output configured to present a group of cards at a time from the card shuffler for removal from the card-handling device;

an image capturer positioned and configured to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card processed by the card shuffler, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;

a processor and a memory operatively connected to the processor, the processor and memory configured to receive the image data from the image capturing device and store the image data in the memory, the processor and memory configured to track and store the assignment of cards output from the card-handling device to a given hand; and

a display operatively connected to the processor and the memory, the display configured to display card location and hand location information concurrently during delivery and historical card and hand location information upon request.

2. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display card location and hand location information for each participating player during delivery and throughout a round of play.

3. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the display comprises at least one of a liquid crystal display (LCD), a vacuum fluorescent display, a flat panel display, and a segmented light-emitting diode (LED) display.

4. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the image capturer comprises at least one of a digital camera, a charge-coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, a digital video camera, and an analog camera.

5. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to transform image data received from the image capturer into a bitmap, automatically determine rank and suit information from the bitmap, and store the rank and suit information in the memory.

6. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display an error condition when the card-handling device experiences at least one of a malfunction of the card-handling device, a mis-shuffle, a jam in the card shuffler, a failure in the electronics, and an unexpected number of cards remaining in the card shuffler.

7. The card-handling device of claim 1, further comprising a keypad operatively connected to the processor, the keypad configured to receive user input to initiate at least the request to display historical card and hand location information on the display.

8. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the card-handling device is configured to selectively operate in a continuous mode in which cards received by the card shuffler are randomized and output as sub-groups, such that one or more cards remain in the card shuffler following output, or in a batch mode in which cards received by the card shuffler are randomized and output as a set, such that the card shuffler is free of cards following output.

9. The card-handling device of claim 8, wherein the card-handling device is configured to switch between the continuous mode and the batch mode in response to user input.

10. The card-handling device of claim 8, wherein the card-handling device is configured to receive a number of players participating in a game as a user input and to automatically output a corresponding number of cards or hands when the card-handling device is in the continuous mode.

11. A method of operating a card-handling device, comprising:

processing playing cards with a card shuffler to randomize an order thereof;

capturing image data of at least a portion of each playing card processed by the card shuffler with an image capturer, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;

receiving the image data from the image capturing device with a processor configured to receive the image data from the image capturing device and storing the image data in associated memory, the processor configured to track and store the assignment of cards output from the card-handling device to a given hand in the memory;

presenting a group of cards at a time from the card shuffler for delivery from the card-handling device; and

displaying on a display, card location and hand location information concurrently during delivery from the card-handling device and displaying historical card and hand location information upon request.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying card location and hand location information for each participating player during delivery and throughout a round of play.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein displaying on a display comprises displaying on at least one of a liquid crystal display (LCD), a vacuum fluorescent display, a flat panel display, and a segmented light-emitting diode (LED) display.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein capturing image data with an image capturer comprises capturing image data with at least one of a digital camera, a charge-coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, a digital video camera, and an analog camera.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising, with the processor, transforming the image data received from the image capturer into a bitmap, automatically determining rank and suit information from the bitmap, and storing the rank and suit information in the memory.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying, with the display, an error condition when the card-handling device experiences at least one of a malfunction of the card-handling device, a mis-shuffle, a jam in the card shuffler, a failure in the electronics, and an unexpected number of cards remaining in the card shuffler.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising using a keypad to receive user input to initiate at least the request to display historical card and hand location information on the display.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising selectively operating the card-handling device in a continuous mode in which cards received by the card shuffler are randomized and output as sub-groups, such that one or more cards remain in the card shuffler following output, or in a batch mode in which cards received by the card shuffler are randomized and output as a set, such that the card shuffler is free of cards following output.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising switching the card-handling device between the continuous mode and the batch mode in response to user input.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising, when the card-handling device is in the continuous mode, inputting by a user to the card-handling device a number of players participating in a game and automatically outputting a corresponding number of cards.