Automated game monitoring

• US 20050272501A1
• Filed: 02/08/2005
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Image Fidelity LLC
• Original Assignee: Image Fidelity LLC
• Inventors: Banh, Nam, Tran, Louis
• Granted Patent: US 7,901,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• 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

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for monitoring players in a game, extracting player and game operator data, and processing the data. In one embodiment, the present invention captures the relevant actions and/or the results of relevant actions of one or more players and one or more game operators in game, such as a casino game. The system and methods are flexible in that they do not require special gaming pieces to collect data. Rather, the present invention is calibrated to the particular gaming pieces and environment already in used in the game. The data extracted can be processed and presented to aid in game security, player and game operator progress and history, determine trends, maximize the integrity and draw of casino games, and a wide variety of other areas. The data is generally retrieved through a series of cameras that capture images of game play from different angles.

Claims

1. A game monitoring system, comprising:

a first camera configured to capture images of a space over a game surface, the space comprising a volume encompassed by a line of sight for a focal point of the first camera to the game surface, wherein the line of sight is in a range of about forty-five degrees to ninety degrees; and

an image processing engine that retrieves information from the images.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said image processing engine is in the first camera.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said image processing engine is in a computing device connected to the camera.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more supplemental cameras, each of the one or more supplemental cameras having a line of sight to the game surface of at least thirty-five degrees from the line of sight of the first camera.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more supplemental cameras configured to capture a supplemental image, wherein the images captured by the first camera and the supplemental images are synchronized with each other.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said an image processing engine captures the images of gaming environment at more than 2 frames per second.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a digital recording device, wherein said image processing engine information is able to embed the information into the images of first camera and transmit the images and information to said digital recording device

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the event is determination of a game state by the first camera.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the event is the detection of a game piece.

27. The method of claim 10, wherein the image information includes:

a current image of a game surface within the game environment; and

a running reference image of the game surface.

8. A method for monitoring a system, comprising:

detecting an event associated with a game environment; and

capturing an image of a game environment surface from a first camera in response to detecting the event, the first camera located in a space comprising a volume encompassed by a line of sight for a focal point of the first camera to the game surface, wherein the line of sight is in a range of about forty-five degrees to ninety degrees.

11. A game monitoring system, comprising:

a first camera directed towards a game surface at a first angle from the game surface and configured to capture images of the game surface;

one or more supplemental cameras directed towards the game surface at a second angle from the game surface and configured to capture images of the game surface, the first angle and the second angle having a difference of at least forty-five degrees in a vertical plane with respect to the game surface; and

an image processing engine configured to process the images captured of the game surface by said first camera and said one or more supplemental cameras.

12. The game monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the first angle is about ninety degrees.

13. The game monitoring system of claim 11, wherein each of the one or more supplemental cameras is directed at a player area within the game surface.

14. The game monitoring system of claim 11, the image processing engine configured to recognize elements placed on the game surface.

15. The game monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the elements include a playing card.

16. The game monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the elements include a chip.

17. The game monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the image processing engine is configured to initiate a process upon detecting the occurrence of an game event.

18. The game monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the image processing engine can triangulate a position of a game element from the images captured by said first camera and said one or more plurality of cameras.

19. A method for monitoring a game, comprising:

receiving image information associated with a game environment;

processing the image information to derive game information;

determining the occurrence of an event from the game information; and

initiating an action responsive to the event.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said step of receiving includes:

receiving image information from a first camera positioned about perpendicular to a game surface within the game environment.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said step of receiving includes:

receiving image information from one or more supplemental cameras positioned outside the vertical space associated with a game surface within the game environment.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein said step of receiving includes:

receiving image information associated with the game environment during a game.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said steps of processing, determining and initiating are performed in real-time.

28. A method for recognizing an element of a game, comprising:

capturing a calibration image of the element;

storing the calibration image of the element;

associating a portion of a game surface with a region of interest in an image of the game surface; and

matching a portion of the region of interest containing the element to the calibration image of the element.

24. The method of claim 29, wherein the event is the recognition of a game element.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the action is the assertion of a state in a state machine.

26. The method of claim 29, wherein the image information includes:

an empty reference image of a game surface within the game environment; and

a stacked image of the game surface.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein capturing a calibration image includes:

capturing an empty reference image of the game surface portion associated with the region of interest;

capturing a stacked image of the game surface portion containing the element;

determining the difference of the empty reference image and the stacked reference image.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said step of matching includes:

detecting the shape of an object; and

determining the detected shape of the object is about the same as a shape of a card.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein said step of matching includes:

detecting the distance between two corners of the object; and

determining the distance between two corners of the object are about the same as a distance between two corners of a card.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein said step of matching includes:

detecting a visible pattern of an object; and

determining the detected visual pattern of the object is about the same as a stored visual pattern for a chip.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein detecting a visual pattern includes:

detecting an object having markings and a color pattern.

34. A method for processing images of a game environment, comprising:

detecting a center of mass and area of an identified pixel cluster within a region of interest, the region of interest associated with a player in a game;

associating the identified pixel cluster mass and area with a stored pixel cluster mass and area;

processing the region of interest in response to said step of associating.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein said step of processing the region of interest includes:

increasing the size of the region of interest.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein said step of processing the region of interest includes:

adjusting the position of the region of interest.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein said step of detecting includes:

detecting contour information for the identified pixel cluster, wherein said step of associating includes

associating the identified pixel cluster mass, area and contour information with a stored pixel cluster mass, area and contour information.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein contour information includes shape information of a pixel cluster.

39. A method for processing images of game environment, comprising:

capturing an image of a game environment;

dividing the image into an array of M×

N regions, each region encompassing a portion of the game environment; and

storing image calibration information for each region.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the calibration information includes card information.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the calibration information includes chip information.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the calibration information includes a binarized threshold associated with the region.

table 1a and 1b