Card-handling devices and methods of using such devices

Abstract

A card-handling device reads a suit and value of individual cards that are moved through the card-handling device. Reading of the cards is effected after the cards have been received into a card holding area and before the cards have been delivered into a card collection area from which cards are removed from the card-handling device for use. The read suit and rank are then sent to a processor, wherein the processor identifies whether any card is a card that should be rejected from the card-handling device and the card-handling device then rejecting that card from the card-handling device.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to collation and/or sorting of groups of articles. In particular, this invention relates to shuffling and sorting apparatus for providing randomly collated groups of articles and/or collated groups of articles according to a predetermined order.

The invention can be utilized to collate and sort groups of articles having distinguishing characteristics, which can be machine identified. However, it has particular relevance to shuffling and sorting playing cards and reference will be made hereinafter to such application by way of illustration of the invention.

BACKGROUND

In the gaming industry, many packs of cards are utilized and it is necessary to shuffle one or more decks of cards for game use and/or after each game to sort the cards into one or more packs for re-use either in a specific order or at least into a pack of cards, which is complete. At present, this is achieved manually.

SUMMARY

The present invention aims to provide a collation and/or sorting apparatus, which will operate efficiently and accurately.

With the foregoing in view, the invention in one aspect resides broadly in collation and/or sorting apparatus including sensor means to identify articles for collation and/or sorting; feed means for feeding the articles sequentially past the sensor means; storing means in which articles may be collated in groups in a desired order; selectively programmable computer means coupled to the sensor means and to the storing means to assemble in said storing means groups of articles in a desired order; delivery means for selectively delivering the individual articles into the storing means, and collector means for collecting collated groups of articles. The sensor means may include means to identify the presence of an article. Suitably, the sensor means includes means to identify one or more physical attributes of an article. Preferably, the sensor means includes means to identify indicia on a surface of an article.

The desired order may be a specific order of a set of articles, such as a deck of cards to be sorted into its original pack order, or it may be a random order into which a complete set of articles is delivered from a plurality of sets of randomly arranged articles. For example, the desired order may be a complete pack of playing cards sorted from holding means, which holds a plurality of randomly oriented cards forming a plurality of packs of cards. This may be achieved by identifying the individual cards by optical readers, scanners or any other means and then under control of a computer means such as a microprocessor, or placing an identified card into a specific collector means to ensure delivery of complete decks of cards in the desired order. A random number generator is used to place individual cards into random positions to ensure random delivery of one to eight or more decks of cards. In one aspect, the apparatus is adapted to provide one or more shuffled packs of cards, such as eight packs for the game of baccarat.

The storing means may have individual storing spaces for each respective article to be provided as the collated and/or sorted stack of articles. In such an arrangement, the delivery means delivers identified articles to the respective storing spaces. This may be achieved by arranging the delivery means with travel means movable along a plurality of axes, such as laterally to a column of individual storing spaces and vertically along the column of individual storing spaces.

Preferably, however, the storing means is arranged as one or more rotatable storage magazines, and the delivery means includes a delivery carriage movable to a respective magazine, and drive means for rotating each magazine to operatively align a respective storing space with the delivery carriage.

The collector means may be arranged to receive articles from the storing means as a collated group of articles. For example, the storing means may simultaneously release all the articles therein into the collector means, which may be a confining chute in which the articles settle as a group. Preferably, however, the collector means operates after a complete set of articles has been collated in the storing means and then sequentially feeds the sorted articles into one or more discrete groups.

The sensor means may be any suitable means for identifying a physical characteristic of the articles to be sorted or it may comprise sensor means for detecting and/or interpreting electromagnetic signals reflected and/or transmitted by an article.

One form of the invention is provided as a sorting apparatus for providing a pack of playing cards arranged in original deck order and includes sensor means able to identify the suit and value of individual cards; feed means for feeding the cards sequentially past the sensor means; storing means having individual storing spaces for each respective card of a deck of cards; selectively programmable computer means coupled to the sensor means and the storing means to assemble in the storing means individual cards comprising a complete deck or respective decks of cards; delivery means for delivering the identified cards, or collated decks thereof, to preselected individual storing spaces; and collector means for collecting one or more decks of cards. Another form of the invention comprises a card-shuffling device to randomly shuffle one or more decks of cards.

Preferably, the storing means is arranged as one or more rotatable magazines and the delivery means includes a delivery carriage which receives identified cards from the feed means and is movable along a horizontal drive path in front of a plurality of magazines arranged co-axially and with a common axis parallel to the horizontal drive path and which are rotatable together or independently by the computer means to operatively align a respective storing space with the delivery carriage.

The respective storing spaces may include retention means adapted to captively hold a delivered card therein.

The retention means may comprise a vacuum clamping means, but preferably, the magazine is formed as a quadrant having a lower shroud, which prevents dislodgement of the cards from the storing spaces when in an inverted position.

After collation of one or more decks, the magazine or each magazine may be rotated to sequentially engage retained cards with conveying means which conveys collated decks of cards, which sequentially come into engagement therewith into a collector means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will be made to accompanying drawings which illustrate schematically one embodiment of a playing card sorting and/or shuffling apparatus, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a shuffling apparatus; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the shuffling apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a collating apparatus 10 for providing sorted and/or shuffled decks of playing cards from a stack of cards 11, which includes holding means 12 for holding the cards in a vertical column 13 above a card feeding means 14, which feeds the lowermost card of the stack past the sensor 15, which is coupled to a microprocessor 16 to record either the presence of a card and/or the identity of a card by its suit and value. Microprocessor 16 is also coupled to drive motors 35, 36 of feeding means 14, respective drive means (not shown) for transverse movement of each delivery carriage 18, card transport drive motor 37 associated with delivery carriages 18, magazine drive motor 22 and drive motor 33 associated with unloading conveyors 31 for selective coordinated operation to collate packs of shuffled or sorted cards.

The feeding means 14 delivers each card past the sensor 15 to a selected one of a pair of delivery carriages 18. Each delivery carriage 18 is movable along a common horizontal track 19, transverse to the direction of movement of the cards from the feeding means 14, and disposed in front of a plurality of card magazines 20 arranged co-axially and with a common axis 21 parallel to the common horizontal track 19. In this embodiment, there are two banks of four magazines 20 arranged in side-by-side relationship at opposite sides of the feeding means 14.

Each bank of magazines 20 is driven by motor 22, which is suitably a reversible stepper motor, or by a motor drive and brake system to achieve selective incremental rotation of magazines 20 to align openings 23 of card storing spaces 24 with delivery carriages 18 to permit a card to be inserted into a respective storing space 24.

A lower shroud 25 extends beneath the respective banks of magazines 20 to maintain the cards in their respective individual storing spaces 24 and an upper shroud 25a terminating in outlet port 27 prevents interference with what otherwise would be exposed storing spaces 24 in the upper part of magazine 20. Shroud 25 extends from the delivery carriages 18 to an associated collecting tray 26 adapted to hold respective card packs.

As shown in FIG. 2, there are fifty-six individual storing spaces 24 arranged in an upper sector of the magazine 20 and these radiate outwardly from the axis 21 and fill the space between the outlet port 27, adjacent an unloading conveyor 31, and the output of the delivery carriages 18.

Thus, the drive motor 22 may be actuated to position any one of the fifty-six individual storing spaces 24 in operative alignment with the output of delivery carriages 18, while maintaining the rearmost storing space 24 clear of the unloading conveyor 31.

Individual motors 35 and 36 control the feeding of the cards from the column 13 and from the field of sensor 15 and, further, motors 37 on respective delivery carriages 18 control movement of the cards thereon into the storing spaces 24. A further motor, not illustrated, controls the movement of each delivery carriage 18 and may be a motor driving a transverse screw shaft coupled to the delivery carriages 18 or a belt drive or other means of driving to control transverse travel of each delivery carriage 18.

In a sorting mode, microprocessor 16, or like programmable control means 16, operates to feed cards from the column 13 sequentially past the sensor 15, which identifies each individual card and commits it to memory with an identification, such as a number, which corresponds to the sequentially identified storing spaces 24 of a particular magazine 20. More than one deck of cards can be identified and the program will select between these when sorting. Thus, when the cards are next fed from the column 13 they will be recognized and fed to a corresponding storing space 24 in a respective magazine 20.

Once a storing space 24 is filled the next card so identified will be fed to an allocated storing space 24 in the same magazine 20 unless a card of identical suit and value previously has been identified, in which case, that card is allocated to a respective storing space 24 in one of the other magazines 20. This process is repeated until all cards have been sorted and stored.

Thereafter, the magazines 20 are rotated counter-clockwise as shown toward the unloading conveyors 31 driven in unison by motor 33 until respective conveyors 31 are contacted by the first card in each magazine 20 which card thus will be discharged to the collector tray 26. Unloading conveyors 31 are narrow belts aligned with slotted apertures 32 extending radially of the respective radial walls forming storing spaces 24. The further cards in each magazine will then be sequentially discharged to the collector tray 26 to form packs of sorted cards.

At the end of sorting, if any deck of cards is incomplete or over-supplied, a warning signal will be actuated in association with that deck to indicate the incomplete or oversupplied stack of cards. By actuating a liquid crystal display (LCD) or light-emitting diode (LED) display 28, this will indicate which card is missing or over-supplied and will also then indicate any other deck which is incomplete or over-supplied. The LCD or LED display 28 may, if required, indicate the magazine location in which a card is undersupplied or oversupplied to form a complete deck.

It will be seen that the illustrated collating apparatus 10 may have eight, or more, or less magazines arranged in groups of four, or more, or less with common actuation of the unloading conveyor and separate operation of the motors, which control their pivotal positions.

In a shuffling mode for a single pack of cards, sensor 15 may, or may not, be actuated to detect the suit and value of each card. If it is not required to determine the integrity of a pack of cards other than completeness by counting the number of cards, sensor 15 may be actuable to detect only the presence of a card as it passes from feeding means 14 to delivery carriage 18.

As each card is passed beneath sensor 15, its presence is detected and microprocessor 16, using a random number generator, randomly allocates that card to a predetermined one of the fifty-six storing spaces 24 of magazine 20. Microprocessor 16 then controls drive motors 36, 37 and 22 to effect delivery of the card into the randomly predetermined storing space 24.

When the magazine 20 is full and up to fifty-six cards have been accounted for, magazine 20 is rotated counterclockwise to permit unloading conveyor 31 to discharge a pack of randomly ordered or “shuffled” cards into collector tray 26.

On the other hand, if a multiplicity of decks is to be shuffled for reuse in a game such as baccarat employing like decks of shuffled cards, it may be important to produce eight individually shuffled decks and/or to determine whether cards have been removed or added to the eight-deck stack of cards retrieved from the playing table.

In this case, sensor 15 would be operated to determine not only the presence of a card on the feeding means 14, but also the suit and value of each card to enable loading of the eight magazines 20, each with a randomly ordered or shuffled deck of cards which is otherwise complete.

It will, of course, be realized that while the above has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention, all such other modifications and variations hereto as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is herein set forth.

For example, a reject mechanism 8 may be associated with the sensor 15 to cause duplicate or oversupplied cards to be rejected before delivery by delivery carriages 18 to the magazine 20. The reject mechanism 8 may comprise an electromechanical device or air blast means coupled to the microprocessor 16.

The rotatable magazine 20 may be substituted by a vertically displaceable magazine or any other storage device having a plurality of storage spaces to receive individual cards. Similarly for other applications, the holding means 12 and feeding means 14 may be replaced by a rotary turntable having a selectively actuable finger guide to remove articles from the turntable.

It will be readily apparent to a skilled addressee that the apparatus according to the invention will have an application in the collation and packaging of cards during their manufacture to ensure the integrity of each set of cards produced.

Equally, it will be readily apparent to a skilled addressee that the invention, with suitable modifications, will have wide application in fields where sets of articles are to be collated and bundled in a predetermined order, or in a random order, or otherwise where the grouping or collation of articles by number and/or order is essential.

Such applications may include collation of book pages in the correct order with a mixture of black and white and colored pages from different printing presses; packaging of mixed sets of food items, i.e., breakfast cereal; dispensing and packaging of mixtures of pills for patients on a daily or weekly basis; sorting and packaging of eggs or fruit by size and/or color; sorting and collation of mail by zip code; sorting and collation of bank checks by payee, payer or bank; collation and sorting of bank notes by denomination, condition or integrity, or even sorting and collation of doctors' prescription forms to monitor information on patients, drug prescribed, pharmacy or prescribing doctor.

The present invention is able to collate and/or sort articles by physical attributes such as size, color, shape, mass (e.g., by load cell or the like) or surface indicia or any combination thereof.

Claims

1. A card-handling device, comprising: a card holding area configured to receive and maintain a set of cards to be input into the card-handling device in a vertically stacked configuration, such that a face of each card of the set of cards is oriented parallel to a horizontal plane;a carousel rotatable about a horizontal axis and comprising at least substantially radially extending card storage compartments, each of the card storage compartments being sized and configured to receive a card therein;a card input mechanism configured to automatically transfer cards having faces in a first orientation one by one from the card holding area in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis to card storage compartments of the carousel, the card input mechanism being laterally adjacent to the carousel; anda card output mechanism configured to automatically transfer cards from the card storage compartments of the carousel in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis to a card collector structure, the card output mechanism being located on a side of the horizontal axis of the carousel opposite the card input mechanism,wherein the carousel is rotatable about the horizontal axis such that each of the card storage compartments is orientable in a first position proximate the card input mechanism to receive a card in a respective card storage compartment with the face thereof in one of an upward and a downward orientation and a second position proximate the card output mechanism in which the face of the card transferred from the respective card storage compartment of the card storage compartments is in a second, at least substantially opposite orientation.

2. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein surfaces defining the card holding area are located to position each card in the at least substantially vertically stacked configuration in an at least substantially horizontal orientation.

3. The card-handling device of claim 1, further comprising additional carousels comprising additional at least substantially radially extending card storage compartments, the additional carousels being located along the horizontal axis between the card input mechanism and the card output mechanism, each of the additional card storage compartments being sized and configured to receive a card therein.

4. The card-handling device of claim 3, wherein the card input mechanism comprises a pair of at least substantially identical delivery carriages, each delivery carriage being laterally movable parallel the horizontal axis to selectively align with the card holding area.

5. The card-handling device of claim 1, further comprising a shroud extending underneath and proximate an outer periphery of the carousel, the shroud being positioned to maintain cards within the card storage compartments of the carousel as the carousel rotates to orient the card storage compartments.

6. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the card storage compartments occupy less than 100% of a cross-sectional area of the carousel.

7. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the card storage compartments are positioned such that, when a first card storage compartment at a first circumferential end of a grouping of the card storage compartments within the carousel is aligned with the card input mechanism, a second card storage compartment at a second, opposing circumferential end of the grouping of the card storage compartments within the carousel is distanced from the card output mechanism.

8. The card-handling device of claim 1, wherein the carousel is rotatable such that each of the card storage compartments is orientable in the second position proximate the card output mechanism in which the face of the card transferred from the respective card storage compartment into the card collector structure is oriented at an acute included angle with respect to the horizontal, the face of the card facing toward the card collector structure, the card collector structure being located below the respective card storage compartment.

9. The card-handling device of claim 1, further comprising a card-reading sensor positioned between the card holding area and the carousel, the card-reading sensor facing downward and being configured to sense at least rank and suit information from upwardly oriented faces of cards handled by the card input mechanism.

10. The card-handling device of claim 9, further comprising a microprocessor operatively connected to the card-reading sensor, the card input mechanism, the card output mechanism, and the carousel, the microprocessor being programmed to: randomly assign cards to specific card storage compartments of the carousel in a shuffling mode; andassign cards to specific card storage compartments in a predetermined order in a sorting mode.

11. A method of handling cards utilizing a card-handling device, comprising: stacking a set of cards in a card holding area in a vertically stacked configuration such that faces of cards of the set of cards face upward, the face of each card of the set of cards being oriented parallel to a horizontal plane;feeding a card of the set of cards at least substantially horizontally from the holding area to a radially extending card storage compartment of a carousel rotatable about a horizontal axis utilizing a card input mechanism, the horizontal axis extending at least substantially perpendicular to a direction of feed, the card input mechanism being laterally adjacent to the carousel;rotating the carousel about the horizontal axis to align the card storage compartment with a card output mechanism, the card output mechanism being located on a side of the horizontal axis of the carousel opposite the card input mechanism; anddischarging the card from the card storage compartment utilizing the card output mechanism with a face of the card facing at least substantially downward.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein feeding the card to the radially extending card storage compartment of the carousel comprises feeding the card to the radially extending card storage compartment of the carousel of a plurality of carousels comprising a plurality of at least substantially radially extending card storage compartments, each carousel of the plurality of carousels being located along the horizontal axis between the card input mechanism and the card output mechanism, each card storage compartment of the plurality of card storage compartments being sized and configured to receive a card therein.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising moving a pair of at least substantially identical delivery carriages of the card input mechanism laterally parallel to the horizontal axis to align a delivery carriage of the pair of delivery carriages with the card storage compartment of the plurality of card storage compartments before feeding the card to the compartment.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising retaining other cards within other card storage compartments of the carousel while rotating the carousel utilizing a shroud extending underneath and proximate an outer periphery of the carousel.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising rotating the carousel about the horizontal axis to align a first card storage compartment at a first circumferential end of a grouping of card storage compartments within the carousel with the card input mechanism while maintaining a second card storage compartment at a second, opposing circumferential end of the grouping of the card storage compartments within the carousel distanced from the card output mechanism before feeding the card of the set of cards from the holding area to the first card storage compartment.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein discharging the card from the card storage compartment utilizing the card output mechanism with the face of the card facing at least substantially downward comprises discharging the card to a card collector structure while orienting the card oriented at an acute angle with respect to horizontal and facing the face of the card toward the card collector structure, the card collector structure being located below the card output mechanism.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising sensing at least rank and suit information from an upwardly oriented face of the card utilizing a card-reading sensor located between the card holding area and the carousel while feeding the card from the holding area to the card storage compartment utilizing the card input mechanism.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising controlling the card-reading sensor, the card input mechanism, and the carousel utilizing a microprocessor operatively connected thereto, the microprocessor causing the card-reading sensor, the card input mechanism, and the carousel to randomly assign the card to a specific card storage compartment of the carousel when the card-handling device is in a shuffling mode.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising controlling the card-reading sensor, the card input mechanism, and the carousel utilizing a microprocessor operatively connected thereto, the microprocessor causing the card-reading sensor, the card input mechanism, and the carousel to assign the card and additional cards from the card holding area to specific card storage compartments in a predetermined order when the card-handling device is in a sorting mode.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising rejecting a duplicate card or an oversupplied card from the card-handling device before arrival at the carousel utilizing a reject mechanism located between the holding area and the carousel.