Patent Application
20080143049
This invention is directed to a device and method that allows playing cards to be read with essentially no risk of exposing them to opposing players or spectators.
A large number of card games provide that a player may view the indicia on face of his or her playing card or cards while hiding the indicia from the opponent(s). For example, these cards in various stud poker games are called the player's “hole cards”. In the popular seven-card stud game of Texas Holdem, each player has two hole cards that only the player can include with the five cards that are dealt face-up to be used by all of the players at the table with their own hole cards. It is to the players great advantage to keep the opponents and spectators from seeing his or her hole cards while the indicia is viewed first and generally repeatedly during the play of the hand. Each time the player wants to check the indicia on the face of the hole cards, the player is forced to bend the corners of the card(s) upwardly while hiding the indicia from the opponents and spectators, the latter generating the greatest risk when they are generally to the rear of the player. During the long hours of a tournament the player frequently has to bend down close to the table surface hundreds of times to see the indicia in order to hide the indicia from the opponents. The playing cards are quickly damaged by the bending increasing the chance of the cards being marked by the bend requiring that the cards be quickly taken out of service. Further, the process of bending over, peeking at the cards, rising back up, and repeating the process numerous times during the play of each hand is tiring during the long hours of duration of large tournaments.
Further, with the advent of televised poker tournaments, casinos must, if they wish to host such tournaments, modify at least one feature table with televised monitoring of the hole cards. This has entailed major construction modifications of the table with glass windows in the playing surface table-top so that video cameras from below can read the hole cards with little risk that anyone outside a closed booth can see the card indicia. This modification is quite expensive and makes the table less useful for standard play. Although the television production would be greatly enhanced if many tables were so equipped, the casinos have thus far been unwilling to modify more that a single table out of hundreds for these tournaments despite the advantages of monitoring the play with a replayable record of each hand.
United States Patent Publication 2003/0052448 A1 to Bertrand discloses a tray device to hold playing cards that includes transparent easel 16 on which the cards rest on retaining ledge 18 and mirror to allow viewing the identity of the cards without lifting them off the easel. Most importantly, the Bertrand device requires the lifting of the cards off the table surface and onto the easel. The “retaining ledge 18” prevents the cards from being slid up onto the easel without their being lifted off the table, even if the ramp were extended to the table surface. When Bertrand claims that the cards need not be lifted to be viewed, he is clearly claiming that advantage only after the cards have been lifted up and placed on the “easel portion 16”. It is noted that the Bertrand reflection is a single mirror image and is difficult to read, particularly considering the viewing angle that may too low to see over the raised padded rail on many gaming tables.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,229 to Morse discloses a card holder and viewer device that includes transparent panel 16 on which the cards rest and mirror 3 to allow viewing the identity of the cards without lifting them off the panel that is not inclined. As in the Bertrand device the cards must be lifted off the table to place them on the transparent panel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,039,102 and 5,681,039 to Miller disclose a Black Jack card reader using a single mirror 101.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,769 to Order discloses a card-dispensing device uses ramp 9 to dispense the cards only downwardly to the table surface such that the cards cannot be slid back up the ramp as the succeeding card(s) block the slot. Window 11 in the ramp is filled with prism 6 allowing the dispensing card to be read.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,791 to Bagnato, III discloses a sole of feet viewing device that includes a horizontal transparent panel on which the feet rest and mirror 42 to allow viewing the bottom of the feet. The device could not be used for playing cards without lifting them off the table to place them on the transparent panel.
United States Patent Publication 2003/0176209 to Soltys et al discloses an apparatus to read machine-readable indicia on playing cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,319 to McGovern, U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,643 to Titoff, U.S. Pat. No. 1,152,156 to Falk, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,389 to Dudley disclose reading and display devices that, along with the devices described in the patents listed hereinabove, do not meet the needs described above nor attain the objects of this invention described herein below.
It is an object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device to allowing the reading the indicia of playing cards while giving virtually no chance that opponents or spectators can determine the hidden card(s) indicia.
It is a further object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device to allowing the reading the indicia of playing cards while avoiding any bending or otherwise injuring the playing card(s).
It is an additional object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device to allow the reading the indicia of playing cards after sliding the card(s) up an inclined panel directly from a table-top playing surface.
It is a further object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device that allows the reading the hidden indicia of playing cards with minimal bending over by the player.
It is an additional object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device allowing each player to read the indicia of playing cards attaining at least some of the objects herein and adapted to be securely attached to a playing surface.
It is a further object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and a device that allows a standard gaming table to be retrofitted with minimal permanent alteration to the table to allow the card indicia of hole cards to be read with a camera without bending or lifting the cards. This retrofit of the gaming table with multiple devices of this invention provides a particularly effective support for microphones and multiple cameras on each apparatus of this invention to feed all aspects of the game to a computer for broadcast and/or monitoring the game by casino personnel.
An embodiment of the invention is a playing card viewing apparatus that includes a platform that includes a front, a rear, a bottom adapted to rest on a card playing surface, and an upper section supporting a ramp surface angled upwardly and rearwardly from the bottom, the ramp surface including a front lower edge adapted to abut the card playing surface and an upper rear corner, wherein a section of the ramp surface comprises a visual opening of sufficient shape and size to expose a corner card identification of at least one playing card lying on the ramp surface facing downwardly, and viewing means adapted to display a visual image of the corner card identification.
The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention preferably includes a visual opening proximate the upper rear corner comprising a cut-away of sufficient shape and size to expose a corner card identification of at least one playing card. The term “visual opening” is defined, as used herein, as a section of the ramp that is not visually obstructed, but may be solid as in a window of plastic or glass or may be a hole of any suitable shape. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention further preferably includes viewing means adapted to display a visual image of the corner card identification to a person viewing the apparatus from above. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention also preferably includes viewing means that is adapted to project or display a visual image of the corner card identification to a person viewing the playing card from above the rear corner. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention further preferably includes viewing means that comprise a pair of mirrors adapted by position and angles to allow an image of the corner card identification to be read by a person positioned above the apparatus. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention also preferably includes a first mirror facing frontwardly and located below and rearwardly of the cut-away section of the ramp surface and a second mirror facing rearwardly and located above the first mirror, wherein the mirrors are positioned and angled to allow an image of the corner card identification to be read by person positioned above the apparatus. The ramp surface of an embodiment of the apparatus of the invention further preferably includes a surface area of sufficient size and shape to support at least two playing cards overlapped to expose the corner card identifications of both cards in the cut-away section of the ramp surface. The ramp surface of the playing card viewing apparatus is also preferably angled upwardly and rearwardly at an angle of 25 to 35 degrees from the bottom. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention further preferably is adapted to be securely attached to a card-playing surface. The apparatus of an embodiment of the invention wherein the viewing means also preferably comprises a video camera.
The viewing means of an apparatus of an embodiment of the invention also preferably includes (1) two mirrors, examples of which are shown in
A second embodiment of the invention is a method of viewing playing cards that includes providing a playing card viewing apparatus that includes a platform that includes a front section, a rear section, a bottom adapted to rest on a card playing surface and an upper section supporting a ramp surface angled upwardly and rearwardly from the bottom, the ramp surface including a front lower edge adapted to abut the playing surface and an upper rear corner, wherein a section of the ramp surface comprises a visual opening of sufficient shape and size to expose a corner card identification of at least one playing card lying on the ramp surface facing downwardly. The apparatus further includes viewing means adapted to display a visual image of the corner card identification. The method further includes sliding a playing card facing downwardly up the ramp surface and positioning corner indicia of the card over the cut-away section.
It is preferred that the method further include providing an apparatus including viewing means adapted to display a visual image to a person viewing the playing card from above the apparatus. It is also preferred that the method further include securing the apparatus of an embodiment of the invention to a card-playing surface. It is further preferred that the method further include providing a playing card viewing apparatus for each of a multiplicity of players at a card table, wherein the viewing means of each apparatus comprising a video camera with a cable attached and adapted to transmit the visual image of the corner card identification, and feeding the cable of each apparatus through a hole in the card-playing surface and securing each apparatus to the card-playing surface of a table.
A third embodiment of the invention is a playing card viewing apparatus that includes a platform that includes a front, a rear, a bottom adapted to rest on a card playing surface, and an upper section supporting a ramp surface angled upwardly and rearwardly from the bottom, the ramp surface including a front lower edge adapted to abut the card playing surface and an upper rear corner, wherein a section of the ramp surface proximate the upper rear corner is cut-away of sufficient shape and size to expose a corner card identification of at least one playing card lying on the ramp surface facing downwardly, and viewing means adapted to display a visual image of the corner card identification.
Playing card viewing apparatus 10 is illustrated in
Apparatus 10 is shown constructed of a multiplicity of panels, made of metal or plastic, but this is not critical, necessary or even preferred. For example, the lower section of apparatus 10 is shown as a housing, but it houses nothing and acts as a platform for ramp 18. This lower section bounded by the frontward section of ramp 18, bottom panel 20, left wall panel 32, lower section 40 of right wall panel 38, lower rear section 52 of rear wall panel 50, and inclined forward section 54 of rear wall panel 50 is shown as a hollow housing, but may be a solid block of metal or plastic. Holes 24 through ramp 18 and holes 26 through bottom panel 20 open the interior of the housing to scrutiny to insure that no card, chip or other object can be hidden inside. Holes 24 and 26 are the same size and aligned to illustrate their utility if it is chosen to make the lower section a solid block and drill the holes through the block. The size and shape of the holes and the interior of the housing prevent hiding either a card or even a chip and the openings are mere assurance that there is nothing hidden inside.
The panels shown exploded in
Left edge 80 of ramp 18 is rigidly connected to sloping upper edge 33 of front section 34 of left wall panel 32 while right edge 82 of the ramp is rigidly connected to sloping upper edge 48 of front section 49 of right wall panel 38. Ramp 18 is sloped upwardly front to back at about twenty to about forty degrees, more preferably about twenty-five to about thirty-five degrees, and most preferably about thirty degrees. Transverse rear edge 84 of ramp 18 is rigidly attached to upper edge 35 of transverse rear section 36 of left wall panel 32. A cut-away or notch from ramp 18 designated 86 is cut out of the rear right corner of the ramp bounded by lengthwise edge 88 and transverse edge 90. Ramp 18 is about three and one-half inches long, which is about as long as most playing cards and three and one-quarter inches wide, while the visual opening, in this case, cut-away notch 86, is about an inch long and about ¾ to about one inch wide. With apparatus 10 it is easy to view the indicia of two overlapping playing cards at the same time. Enlarging the visual opening and the ramp width allows a greater number of cards to be viewed at the same time. For example, if the device were provided to view seven hole cards at the same time the visual opening might be about three and half inches wide. The width of ramp 18 and the mirrors would also be wider to accommodate the larger number of cards. Optical path 92 of apparatus 10 is illustrated in the diagram of
Apparatus 100 as shown in
The diagrams of
The diagram of
While this invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments disclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth and the patent is intended to include modifications and changes, which may come within and extend from the following claims.
