Patent Grant
12311255
The present invention is related to the field of automatic electromechanical shuffling machines which are used by casinos to speed up the rate of play of dealer-hosted card games. More particularly, the invention relates to shuffling machines which automatically deliver playing cards to a conventional table-mounted shoe. The invention also relates to shuffling devices which utilize interrogation sensors to recognize marks and or indicia on playing cards for security purposes during shuffling operations for the purpose of maintaining card deck integrity.
Card games such as Blackjack are major attractions in casinos because they are relatively easy to play and allow wagering to various degrees of risk. A single deck or multiple decks of 52 playing cards are often used in these games, which must be periodically shuffled to effect randomness of the rank and suit of the individual cards within each deck. It is to the advantage of the casino to reduce the time that a dealer handles and shuffles playing cards between games, thereby increasing revenues. Casinos thus use automatic shuffling machines to speed up the rate of play at gaming tables, retaining the interest of the players and sustaining the rate of play.
The prior art teaches that automatic shuffling machines have traditionally utilized image sensors to ensure the integrity of a card deck by sensing and tracking the identity of every card within a deck during the shuffling process. Contact Image Sensors (CIS) were invented in the 1970's for use in facsimile machines and have since been adopted for image sensing in various shuffling machines. Similarly, CMOS image sensors invented for use in digital cameras and scanners have also been adopted in the shuffler art. Numerous prior art references teach optical recognition devices that read identification marks and/or indica on each card to verify that the deck is complete and does not contain extraneous cards. Automatic shuffling machines verify that each and every card of each suit is included as required by the game being played, and that there exists no missing or extraneous cards resulting from machine malfunction or cheating.
For example, prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,122 (Roblejo '122) appears to have pioneered the use of optical recognition sensors that are utilized to verify card deck composition. The Roblejo '122 embodiment is reproduced in FIG. 1 and discloses an automatic shuffler that utilizes an optical card reader 2044 which reads rank and suit of individual cards before they are moved from an unshuffled input stack 2042 to its randomizing mechanism. The role of the optical recognition device is to verify the composition and completeness of a set of playing cards prior to randomizing. Referring to FIG. 1, Roblejo '122 explains that an apparatus 2040 has a control means 2041, an input means for receiving playing cards onto an input stack holder 2042, and buffer means having a plurality of slots for temporarily holding cards, illustrated as a wheel 2043 (carousel) having a plurality of slots 2048. The apparatus additionally possesses identification means for reading indicia, illustrated as bar code reader 2044 to determine identity of playing cards which can be specially marked with bar codes or other coded information. Alternatively, the cards can be unmarked.
Roblejo '122 also disclosed the use of the apparatus as a card deck verification apparatus, independent of its functions as a card shuffler.
A myriad of subsequent prior art disclosures have described card shufflers which employ inspection stations. An audible or visual signal is usually made to alert the operator when a card fails the inspection criteria. However, much of the prior art is silent or indefinite regarding the destiny of a card that fails the inspection criteria and thereafter is entrapped within the apparatus. Moreover, such a faulty card by definition creates a faulty deck which is also entrapped within the apparatus. The destiny of the faulty card and/or the faulty deck is seldom addressed in the prior art. This is also the case with Roblejo '122. Since Roblejo '122 does not teach an alternate card path, one of ordinary skill can only assume that the faulty card must be transported into one of the compartments of its carousel. Thereafter, the shuffling operation must be aborted and the carousel must be unloaded compartment by compartment to remove the faulty deck. Alternately, the shuffler must just cease the randomizing operation upon identifying a faulty card.
An excerpted illustration from prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,894 (Purton '894) is shown in FIG. 2 and teaches alternative configurations of a digital camera (commonly known as a CMOS camera) arranged to inspect rank and suit of each card as a machine passes each card from one stack to another. Cards from a card stack 2000 on platform 2001 are fed from the bottom of the stack via a drive roll 2002 to pinch rolls 2007, which facilitate movement to card stack 2005. In one embodiment the cards of card stack 2000 are face down and a first camera 2003 reads the face of the cards within the card stack 2000 via a window 2004 of the platform 2001. Alternatively, digital camera 2006 can be mounted below the pinch rolls 2007 such that a face of the card can be read between the card stacks 2000 and 2005. In another embodiment, a camera 2006 is above the pinch rolls 2007 to read any cards that are face up between card stacks 2000 and 2005. Purton does not teach an alternate card path for those cards that fail its inspection criteria.
Purton '894 states:
In the case of flipped cards, prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,908 (Stardust '908) teaches that it resolves flipped cards by physically flipping them within its apparatus. Flipped cards are those cards whose face (indicia surface) reside in a direction contacting the face direction of its neighbors within a stack. The Stardust '908 disclosure explains the use of optical recognition for inspecting decks of playing cards by utilizing a scanner or digital camera to scan one card indicia at a time. Stardust '908 explains that images taken by cameras are supplied to a comparison circuit in the control processor which compares these images with stored images of a corresponding deck of cards to determine which card and what color card is detected by the camera or cameras. A digital camera or scanner can be used according to the disclosure.
Stardust '908 however fails to teach any physical structure or practicable embodiments for its invention, but instead describes the apparatus abstractly in terms of block diagrams and symbol diagrams. The Stardust '908 specification refers to Stardust '908 FIG. 5 and Stardust '908 FIG. 6 as the embodiments of the invention, but those figures are merely block diagrams. For example, Stardust '908 explains that flipped cards can be identified at its inspection station and thereafter flipped by a “digital imaging station/flipper 116”. However, “digital imaging station/flipper 116” is shown only as a rectangle in a block diagram within the Stardust '908 disclosure. An illustration of an embodiment of a card flipping mechanism which could be practiced by one of ordinary skill appears nowhere in the Stardust '908 disclosure. The card flipping mechanism is instead described indefinitely as a “means for flipping the playing card”:
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,127 (Johnson '127) discloses a collating apparatus for providing sorted and/or shuffled decks of playing cards which utilizes a CCD digital camera. Johnson '127 discloses that the camera is utilized to read the rank and suit of a deck of cards as each card passes by a scanning station. The camera described in Johnson '127 is model EB100/E-6 made by EverFocus® Electronics, which is a 492×510 pixel CMOS camera. Johnson '127 states:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,893 (Hill '893) discloses an optical sensor used to scan the rank and suit of a playing card as a dealer removes each playing card from a card dispensing shoe. Verification is achieved by comparing bit maps from the sensor to bit maps that are stored in memory. Hill '893 states:
Even with optical card recognition and verification means, mechanical shuffling machines are not infallible, and suffer from various errors caused by several sources including cheating, lost cards, flipped cards, contamination, bent cards and covertly inserted cards. The verification is useful however, because it can prevent further play with a card deck that suffers from various illicit conditions. For example, prior art U.S. Pat. No. 11,376,489 (Scheper '489) discloses the problem of the shuffler encountering lost cards or flipped cards. Scheper '489 explains:
The problem of flipped cards has been addressed in several prior art disclosures. U.S. Pat. No. 11,173,383 (Krenn '383) discloses the problems imposed by flipped cards in automatic shufflers, wherein the indicia face of the playing card faces upward rather than downward. Krenn '383 states:
Shufflers that utilize narrow combs or carousels are particularly problematic when encountering flipped cards because the deck that remains embedded within the shuffler after identifying an unreadable card may need to be purged. U.S. Pat. No. 10,668,361 (Stasson '361) describes an automatic card shuffler which ceases operation in the event of failed verification, thus delaying casino play, but does not explain the disposition or destiny of the remaining deck whose cards remain trapped within the elevator comb, which is shown in FIG. 3. Stasson '361 states:
An exemplary shuffler disclosure is U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,918 (Johnson '918) which explains a carousel shuffler with an optical recognition device and a control panel that notifies the dealer when a faulty card is identified and may also reject individual faulty cards. Johnson '918 states:
Johnson '918 distinguishes itself from others by the faulty card reject mechanism. However, Johnson '918 fails to provide an embodiment for its “electromechanical device or air blast means”. The Johnson disclosure furthermore makes no attempt to explain the destiny of the resulting faulty card that is removed by the “electromechanical device or air blast means”.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,898,837 (Krenn '837) discloses a highly complex compartment-type shuffler that utilizes a carousel as shown in FIG. 5. The apparatus can randomize a single 52-card deck of standard playing cards and includes a “defect detection system”. The “defect detection system” includes an optical card recognition sensor that can identify rank and suit of each individual card, allowing the controller to thereafter utilize an output mechanism to divert faulty cards to a temporary storage compartment. The defective cards include cards whose “rank and suit cannot be determined, is marked, or otherwise adulterated”. In one embodiment, the temporary storage compartment is referred to as “a vault”.
Referring to FIG. 5, Krenn '837 discloses a device having an unshuffled card input area 830 for receiving a stack of unshuffled cards, a carousel 850, and card output mechanisms 866 and 868. Individual cards 870 are moved from the input area 830 past a “defect detection mechanism” 840 by feed rolls 860. Cards which are considered faulty are diverted to the vault 810 and non-faulty cards are directed into the carousel 850 where they are randomized by disgorging cards from the carousel compartments in a random order.
The “vault” 810 is a “removable rectangular prism and sized to hold bulk quantities of bent, folded, creased, kinked, and/or frayed cards in the compartment for subsequent removal, inspection, recycling, repurposing, or any combination of these”. Although not specifically mentioned, one of ordinary skill will understand that the unreadable cards must also be diverted to the removeable vault. Nowhere in the disclosure do the inventors explain what action is taken by the apparatus after a faulty card has been detected and diverted to the isolation vault, leaving a partially shuffled deck trapped within the carousel. The process of diverting just one faulty card to an inaccessible compartment in itself creates an unusable deck which requires unloading from the carousel.
It can be observed that compartment-type shufflers (carousel or moving comb) require laborious, time-consuming activity to be unloaded when a faulty card is identified. In contrast, batch shufflers which handle discrete decks can be unloaded more quickly. U.S. Pat. No. 10,022,617 (Stasson '617) discloses a batch shuffler apparatus described as a “shuffling and verifying apparatus” which discloses an optical recognition device called an IDC (“image data-taking component”) which is intended to read rank and suit of cards. Stasson '617 states:
Nowhere in Stasson '617 do the inventors explain what action is taken by the apparatus when a faulty card has been detected. Since the apparatus has but one card deck output tray, it is clear that the faulty deck must be raised to that output tray and thereafter manually removed by the dealer when a faulty card is detected. Alternatively, a dealer in collusion with a cheating player may simply continue the card game with the faulty card.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,532,272 (Bourbour) also describes a batch shuffling apparatus. The specification explains:
Bourbour '272 did not disclose a means for the apparatus to automatically unload a faulty deck of cards. Instead, the apparatus is only capable of elevating the faulty deck to the card deck output tray where it must be manually removed by the dealer. Bourbour '272 thus suffers from the same limitation as the Stasson '617 described above. Since the elevator of the randomizer mechanism is used to hold the faulty deck in its output tray, the apparatus cannot continue the processing (shuffling & verification) of the deck until that faulty card is found and manually removed. The casino game may therefore be stopped until a new deck is inserted into the apparatus and thereafter shuffled, causing interruption of the casino game. Furthermore, that apparatus is subject to dealer-player collusion because the dealer is responsible for manually removing a faulty card.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 11,376,489 (Scheper '489) teaches a complex shuffling device which uses multiple elevators and a carousel as shown in FIG. 4. Scheper '489 teaches that unreadable cards are moved to a dedicated compartment within its carousel.
Referring to FIG. 4, Scheper '489 discloses a shuffling device that is embedded into a casino table and having a top surface 884 “that may be substantially co-planar with the table surface”. Card input area 890 is attached to an elevator 890 which moves cards from an upper loading position to a lower feeding position where cards are individually transported past a card imaging system within the transport mechanism 888. Cards are thereafter directed into a compartment of the carousel 886, where one particular compartment is dedicated for receiving unreadable cards.
The unreadable cards in the dedicated carousel compartment are then unloaded after the properly shuffled and verified cards are unloaded, and can then be examined by the machine operator.
Although Scheper '489 teaches the separation and isolation of flipped cards, it does not provide a means for an operator to access those problematic cards such that the flipped cards can be remediated during an ongoing shuffling operation.
Recent U.S. Pat. No. 11,577,151 (Helsen '951) discloses a continuous shuffler that can move problematic cards in a reverse direction along its card path back to its card infeed tray after interrogation at an inspection station. The disclosure explains that the device will signal an error condition to the device operator and cease the ongoing randomizing operation. Card movement from the infeed tray is disabled and the shuffling operation cannot commence until the operator takes action to inspect the problematic card and restart the operation.
Improved reliability is achieved in the card handling device being described herein by implementing a unique randomizing mechanism which avoids the jamming problems associated with narrow slotted compartments that result from warped cards or bent cards. FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 12 and 16 all show exemplary shufflers having such narrow slotted compartments. The problem of narrow slots is discussed within the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 11,338,194 (Helgesen '194) which can be understood by observing FIG. 3. Helgesen '194 explains:
A more reliable randomizing mechanism was taught by prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,085 (Johnson '085), which discloses a randomizing apparatus that is devoid of narrow-slotted combs, racks and compartments. As shown herein as FIG. 6, Johnson discloses a shuffling apparatus which possesses a “main shuffling chamber” 2200. A mechanical gripping member 2208 is attached to a mechanical gripping arm 2206 which can move vertically to random positions in chamber 2200 as commanded by a microprocessor. The arm 2206 grips and the lifts substack 2202 at random positions which enables the insertion of an individual card 2210 from a secondary deck (unshuffled deck) 2212. The separating mechanism creates an opening between two sub-stacks 2202 and 2204, which allows the insertion of card 2210 from the secondary stack 2212 into the receiving stack at the opening. Johnson '085 simulates the well-known action that a dealer utilizes to manually insert a “cut card” into a deck as illustrated herein as FIG. 7.
The Johnson Method as shown in FIG. 6 illustrating Johnson '085 can be further understood from FIGS. 8A and 8B where a generic gripper arm is labeled 640. The gripper arm is mounted to an elevator which positions the arm at random vertical planes adjacent to the card stack 620 as shown in FIG. 8A. Referring to FIG. 8B, the gripper arm thereafter grasps a portion of the card stack 620U and lifts it upward, creating an opening to insert a playing card 626. The gripper arm thereafter lowers the upper stack onto the lower stack. The cycle is repeated until the desired number of cards are inserted randomly into the accumulated randomized stack 620.
Subsequent prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,982 (Grauzer '982) also adopted a gripper mechanism. Whereas Johnson '085 has elevated the gripper to select a subset of cards, Grauzer '982 discloses that the gripper is held stationary, while the platform below is vertically lowered away from the gripper. Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, Grauzer '982 mounted the gripper arm 640 in a vertically stationary position and instead moved the card stack 620 with the elevator. After splitting the stack 620, the sub-stack 620L was lowered to create the opening for inserting card 626. After insertion, the lower substack 620L was thereafter raised to abut against the upper sub-stack 620U and the gripper was released. As compared to Johnson '085, Grauzer '982 lowered the lower sub-stack 620L rather than raising the upper sub-stack 620U as was taught by Johnson '085. Both prior art disclosures taught the advantages of avoiding narrow-slotted elevators or carousels.
One way to sustain rate of table play in a casino is for the dealer to utilize a “two-deck rotation” where one set of cards may undergo a shuffling cycle while another group is being utilized in a table game. Shuffling machines which facilitate the “two-deck rotation” usually possess an unshuffled card input portal and a shuffled card output portal and are physically located near the casino table. Such a prior art example is shown in FIG. 10 as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,982 (Grauzer '982), where the recess 2026 is a card receiving area for receiving unshuffled cards, and the recess 2032 is a shuffled card return area. Stacks of unshuffled cards are released into the mechanism below the recess 2026 where they are randomly rearranged and thereafter raised to the recess 2032 by elevator surface 2014. Shuffling of another unshuffled deck (or decks) is able to commence only after the newly-shuffled deck (or decks) are removed from the elevator surface 2014 by the dealer.
While the shuffling machine is shuffling the previously “played” deck (or decks), the dealer uses a newly-shuffled deck (or decks) to execute the game with the players. When that deck (or decks) are reasonably depleted, the dealer can then return that deck (or decks) to the shuffling machine and fetch a newly-shuffled deck (or decks) from that machine, such that there is relatively little interruption in play. While the game is being played with one deck (or decks), a newly-shuffled deck (or decks) are being made ready within the automatic shuffler.
Following a shuffling cycle, a dealer removes the shuffled cards from the discharge portal 2032 and moves them to a card delivery shoe that is located on the casino table. A conventional delivery shoe 2070 is shown in FIG. 11 wherein a plurality of cards 2074 are stored and wherein a dealer may withdraw each card 2079 rapidly with a downward motion along the surface of an angular draw plate 2072 in the direction of arrow 2078 by swiping his/her finger through finger opening 2076. A wedge-shaped member (not shown) resides behind the card stack 2074 and pushes the stack toward the inner surface of the draw plate 2072. The rendering in FIG. 12 is made directly from a CAD (computer-aided design) model of a commercially available shoe having a capacity of four decks.
The dealer also has a card discharge rack on the casino table where he/she deposits cards that have already been utilized in a card game. The dealer moves those cards from the discharge rack to the unshuffled card input portal of the automatic shuffler when it is appropriate to initiate a new shuffling cycle.
A natural convenience goal for an automatic shuffler is to integrate the card delivery shoe within the shuffling device such that the shoe functions as the output portal. Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 9,370,710 B2 teaches such a configuration as shown in FIG. 12. This patent was issued in June of 2016 to Attila Grauzer et al (Grauzer '710) and disclosed a shuffler having a linear stack of compartments. This device discloses a shoe positioned on its mounting surface. Cards are moved from the input portal 2053 into compartments 2054 where they are accumulated into substacks. Substacks within each compartment 2054 are thereafter individually pushed into the shoe 2057 by a motorized pusher 2052 which is driven by motor 2056 and sprocket 2055. FIG. 13 illustrates a view of device 2050 with its casing covers as they would appear on a casino table. Since the card delivery shoe must reside upon the table surface, this configuration results in a rather large device which rests obtrusively upon a casino table surface.
A goal of several prior art automatic shufflers is to position the shuffling device below the casino table surface so as to make the device unobtrusive. FIG. 14 is excerpted from prior art US patent Application US2020/0171375 A1 which was filed in December 2018 by inventor Mark Alan Litman (Litman '375). The Litman '375 disclosure teaches that a “hand-forming” shuffling device may be embedded within a housing or table such that the uppermost casing surface 940 resides flush with the table surface. A “hand-forming” shuffler discharges pre-formed hands to a discharge portal where a device operator may issue each hand to a player. An elevator 930 is described for receiving shuffled cards in the Litman '375 disclosure. The elevator appears to be functionally equivalent to a container for temporarily storing stacks of shuffled cards. In one embodiment, the elevator 930 is removed from the device manually using a handle 918. In another embodiment, undisclosed mechanical means are used to lift the elevator housing. The disclosure explains;
By embedding the “hand-forming” shuffling device within a table, Litman '375 teaches that the cards located at the base of the elevator 924 are not accessible to the device operator, with the consequence that hands formed by the shuffler cannot be sequentially delivered to the players as they are delivered to a delivery tray. The disclosure fails to teach any mechanism for sequentially moving individual substacks of cards to a delivery tray or delivery shoe that is accessible at the casino table surface.
Less obtrusive integrated shoe shufflers configure the card delivery shoe upon the casino table surface as an integral part of the shuffling device with the randomizing mechanisms residing below the table surface. FIG. 15 is excerpted from prior art U.S. Pat. No. 10,814,212 B2 to Ernest Blaha (Blaha '212) which was granted in October of 2020. This configuration allows the card delivery shoe 2102 to reside upon the surface of table 2128 at an elevation above a carousel 2104 whose housing is mounted upon the edge of table 2128, allowing the randomizing mechanism to reside unobtrusively at an elevation below the table surface. Unshuffled cards are placed into a rotatable magazine 2114 which rotates about pivot 2110 in the direction of arrow 2112 to a closed position shown as 2120. When in the closed position, transport rolls 2108 move cards from the magazine into the carousel 2104. Cards are removed from the carousel at a different station by a pusher 2105 (not described) and transported into the shoe 2102 by rolls 2116 and rolls 2118. The physical location of an operator control panel is not disclosed, although the disclosure explains that the control system “may include one or more displays” (Blaha '212 14:17-18).
The configuration illustrated in FIG. 15 is however not convenient for a dealer operating multi-round game such as Blackjack because the cards must be loaded into the shuffler at an elevation below the table. This requires the task of opening and closing a magazine door 2114 at the end of each round of play. The disclosure also describes a multi-compartment carousel 2104 having forty-three compartments (Blaha '212 7:57). As with other carousel configurations, a device with forty-three compartments cannot be made nearly as compact as the device being claimed herein. Moreover, carousel devices require motorized pusher mechanisms (sometimes called “packers”) to push the cards into the carousel slots, and motorized extractor mechanisms to remove cards from the carousel slots. These motorized mechanisms add extra manufacturing cost.
FIG. 16 shows another shuffling device having a large carousel. This figure is reproduced from prior art U.S. Pat. No. 10,632,363 B2 which was granted to inventor Peter Krenn in April 2020 (Krenn '363). This disclosure describes a large carousel 2144 with thirty-nine compartments and a rather complex overall structure which may be mounted upon the edge of a casino table 2142. The discharge portal 2138 is described in the disclosure as a “substantially flat card output area” and label 2134 is described as the “card intake area”. This configuration achieves the advantage of locating the discharge portal and input portal adjacent to each other at the surface of a casino table, but however locates the control panel remotely on an angular housing surface.
Krenn '363 lacks a conventional card delivery shoe having a supply of cards for quick removal. Krenn '363 instead describes a discharge portal having a “substantially flat card shoe” (Krenn 363 4:47-48). Since the shoe can accommodate only one card at a time, individual cards must be transported one at a time to the “substantially flat draw surface” (Krenn '363 Abstract) after having been separated from a substack located at an elevation below the shoe. A second card cannot be elevated to the “flat draw surface” until a first card has been removed from that surface.
One goal of the SECURE SHUFFLER WITH SHOE described herein is to introduce a more competitive integrated shoe shuffler than those which are referenced in the above prior art, by achieving discernable manufacturing cost reductions. In comparison to compartment shufflers, the card handling device within this disclosure achieves these manufacturing cost reduction goals by eliminating the need for motorized pusher and packer mechanisms and eliminating the complexity, manufacturing cost and bulk of a carousel, thus achieving an integrated shoe shuffler that requires less parts, is more compact and is more economical to manufacture than the referenced prior art. For example, many prior art shuffler devices require six or more motors. The card handling device described herein requires only four motors.
A second goal of the SECURE SHUFFLER WITH SHOE is to achieve a compact integrated shuffling device having a multi-card shoe which can reside unobtrusively on or near a casino table in a convenient location adjacent to the poker chip tray. The bezel portion of the device herein achieves this goal by providing a conventional multi-card delivery shoe at the surface of a table which is continuously and automatically loaded by a unique shoe loading mechanism. The conventional shoe is located closely proximate of the input portal and control panel, thus achieving convenience and economy of the dealer's motions. Up to four decks may be randomized and verified by an inspection station within the card handling device prior to initiating a card game.
A third goal of the SECURE SHUFFLER WITH SHOE is to disclose a simple reliable mechanical shuffler that can overcome the problems that prevent sustaining continuous game play when faced with the detection of an unreadable card, such as a flipped card, where a flipped card is defined as a card whose face (surface having rank and suit indica) is oriented in the opposite direction as intended. What is needed is a reliable, simple and compact card handling device and method that allows an operator to optionally remedy flipped cards on the fly without stopping or interrupting the ongoing shuffling operation, thus facilitating continuous play at a casino table with securely interrogated cards.
The device and method of an embodiment of the present invention utilizes an automatic shuffling apparatus which includes one card input portal and two discharge portals. The first discharge portal comprises a conventional shoe that receives a continuous supply of randomized cards for use in a subsequent card game. The second discharge portal receives a faulty card (unexpected or unreadable card) from within the device immediately after it passes an optical reading station. In the often encountered case that the card is unrecognized merely because it is flipped, the device operator may immediately re-insert the card into the input portal in a proper orientation without interrupting the ongoing shuffling operation, thereby avoiding the need to delay or abort the shuffling operation.
The device is particularly useful for speeding up dealer hosted card games where a dealer issues randomized (shuffled) cards one-by-one from a shoe. One exemplary use of the device is for assisting a dealer in executing rounds of Double-Deck Blackjack where two decks are mixed together, shuffled and thereafter issued face down to each player from a shoe.
The unique features, compact delivery shoe, and cost efficiency advantages of the SECURE SHUFFLER WITH SHOE will become better understood with reference to the descriptions, drawings and claims which are presented below.
A casino-grade card handling device for automatically shuffling and verifying one or more card decks simultaneously is described. A conventional multi-card shoe functions as a first discharge portal and resides unobtrusively upon a casino table surface while the bulk of the randomizing portion of the device resides below the table surface. A second discharge portal resides below the table surface and functions to receive individual faulty cards which fail to pass a microcontroller's inspection criteria. The microcontroller utilizes an interrogation sensor to decide the destination of each card, whereupon appropriately identified cards are accumulated and moved to the first discharge portal and “faulty cards” are immediately discharged to the second discharge portal.
For purposes of this explanation, the term “unshuffled deck or decks” is defined as a deck or decks of cards in need of being shuffled (randomized) and verified. The term “accumulated randomized stack” is defined as a stack of cards that has been transformed from an “unshuffled deck or decks” into a randomized stack by a randomizing mechanism. Each and every card in the “accumulated randomized stack” is supported by an adjacent card with the exception of the bottommost card. The term “substack” is defined as a stack of cards having more than two cards but less than a 52 card deck. In one embodiment herein, cards are moved into the shoe in substacks each comprising 18 cards.
The term “verification sensor” is defined as a sensor that can interrogate a playing card for interpretation by a microcontroller. In one form, a verification sensor may merely detect a mark or indicia on a card as it moves along a card path such that the microcontroller can confirm that the card belongs to a set. In more sophisticated forms, a verification sensor may take the form of a miniature camera that can photograph the indicia's of a passing card such that a microcontroller can interpret its suit and rank as is known in the art. The definition of a “fault criteria” is the criteria used by a microcontroller to determine the suitability of a card after interpreting the “verification sensor”. In its simplest form, a “fault criteria” may be the number of cards that have passed the “verification” sensor within a given operational span.
The definition of an “unexpected card” is a card that is detectable by the interrogation sensor but does not belong to a set. An “unreadable card” is a card whose expected indicia or mark cannot be read by the interrogation sensor. Cards having indicia's obscured by food or drink residue are examples of unreadable cards. Cards that have been “flipped” such that their identifying indicia faces away from the sensor are further examples of unreadable cards. Flipped cards result from failures by a dealer to arrange each card in front-face to back-face orientation after sweeping spent cards from the table. Flipped cards are the most commonly encountered cause of unreadable card problems. “Faulty cards” include “unexpected cards”, “unreadable cards”, and “flipped cards”.
“Faulty cards” which constitute fault criteria trigger the microcontroller in the device described herein to immediately discharge such cards to the second discharge portal. A “verified group” is a group of one or more decks that have passed through the card handling device while avoiding the microcontroller's fault criteria after interrogation by the “verification sensor”. Similarly, the microcontroller identifies a “randomized accumulated stack” as a plurality of cards that have been shuffled and successfully avoided the microcontroller's “fault criteria” after interrogation by the “verification sensor”.
It is understood that the “fault criteria” utilized by the microcontroller in the card handling device described herein can be adjusted according to the sophistication of its “verification sensor”, where the sophistication of that sensor is a designer's choice from amongst the many types of optical interrogation sensors that are known in the art.
Card input portal 90 is designed to receive and hold multiple decks of unshuffled cards. Upon the command of a dealer or upon a sensor condition, those cards are transported individually into a randomizing chamber wherein each card is placed into a random position in an accumulating stack of cards that are supported upon an elevator. One side frame and some support bracketry have been made transparent in
A multi-card shoe 72 comprises the first discharge portal, having the function of receiving a continuous supply of randomized (shuffled) cards from the randomizing chamber below. When the randomizing mechanism has accumulated a stack of randomized cards, the elevator raises that stack to the upper region of the randomizer housing. A shuttle mechanism thereafter skims substacks of randomized cards from the elevator and into the shoe cavity. A plurality of cards are continuously maintained within the shoe, which is automatically refilled as conditioned by a sensor which counts cards that have been removed from the shoe.
The device is designed to be embedded within a casino table surface or an adjacent stand and possesses a bezel mounting surface indicated by surface 83 which functions as the device mounting surface. When embedded, only the bezel 80 is visible above the table surface and the bulk of the device resides below the bezel, thus assuring that the device is an unobtrusive occupant of the casino table surface.
The anatomy of the device 100 is briefly explained by the section view shown
The input portal 90 is shown near the top left of the view. Feed rolls 162, 166 and 164 are utilized to move individual cards past an interrogation sensor 142A, and additional feed rolls 168 and 169 move individual cards into the randomizer chamber 186. The housing 133 possess four walls which contain card decks with slight clearance around the periphery, thus forming the randomizing chamber 186. After the deck is randomized and successfully verified, an elevator surface 308 lifts the accumulated randomized stack to the upper region of the randomizer chamber whereupon a shuttle 492 skims a substack from the accumulated randomized stack and moves it into the shoe 72. In the event that an individual card is found to be faulty after interrogation by sensor 142A, the microcontroller moves that card to surface 309 of the elevator. The faulty card is thereafter lowered to an elevation where it is discharged along discharge track 700 to the discharge tray 142.
A more detailed explanation can be observed from
Referring to
The randomizing cycle will be explained below. After the randomizing cycle is completed the elevator 307 will raise the accumulated randomized stack to the upper region of the randomizing chamber 186 as shown in
The randomizing chamber 186 in
The elevator carriage 308 moves vertically by motion of a lead screw 304 which is driven by step motor 312. The carriage 308 supports card stacks as they are moved vertically within the randomizing chamber 186 while the support arms 309A and 309B are designed to support a single faulty card. The arms 308A and 308B and the arms 309A 309B penetrates the randomizing chamber 186 through access slots 337 (see
The orientation of an accumulated randomized stack 620 is shown mounted upon the first support arms when in transit upon the elevator carriage 308 in
As shown in
A faulty card may reside in the discharge tray 142 while the randomization cycle continues. In the case that the faulty card is a flipped card, the dealer may visually identify the flipped card, remove it from the tray 142 and re-insert that card with proper orientation into input portal 90. Other faulty cards may be treated according to rules established by individual casinos.
The randomizing cycle comprises a series of motions performed by the device to sort the individual cards into a randomly arranged stack within the chamber 186. The randomizing cycle will automatically start when the dealer activates the “Shuffle” command as long as sensor 129 detects the presence of a card. Individual cards that avoid the microcontroller's fault criteria are inserted into a growing randomized card stack designated as the accumulated randomized stack.
The randomizing mechanism of the present invention is devoid of narrow slots, carousels, combs, racks, or ejector blades that are previously known to be vulnerable to jamming in other prior art devices that use narrow slotted combs or carousels. Referring to
The randomizing method utilized herein also emulates the motion of a human dealer when cutting a card into a card deck as shown in prior art
The complete gripper assembly 200 is shown in
The elevator assembly 300 is used to position a card stack relative to the gripper mechanism 200, in order to allow the gripper assembly 200 to split the card stack into two sub-stacks, 620U, 620L. The orientation between the elevated, upper sub-stack 620U, the gripper assembly 200, the lower sub-stack 620L, and the elevator assembly 300 is shown in
The purpose of the cam 220 shown in
The previously described grasp-elevate-insert-release cycle is repeated for each of the cards in the input portal 90 until all cards have been transferred to the card stack 620 in the randomizing chamber 186. The accumulated randomized stack 620 thus begins with one card and builds until the input portal 90 is empty. The randomizing cycle will automatically start when the dealer activates a “Shuffle” command on the touch screen as long as sensor 129 detects the presence of a card in the input portal 90. Each new card is inserted into the accumulated randomized stack 620 at randomly chosen elevated positions by the microcontroller, which utilizes a random number generating algorithm to determine the height of each plane between two adjacent cards within the receiving accumulated randomized stack 620. Random number generating algorithms are known in the art as RNG's. The RNG of card device 100 insures that each card is inserted into the accumulated randomized stack 620 at a random position.
Termination of the randomizing cycle is detected by the microcontroller via sensor 129 (see
The elevator assembly 300 and the gripper mechanism 200 are removed in
After completion of the shuffling operation, the microcontroller moves the accumulated randomized stack 620 to the position shown in
In
The microcontroller keeps a continuous count of the number of cards within the shoe. A sensor 731 is utilized to detect each card as it is removed from the shoe by a dealer as shown in
One of ordinary skill, having designer's choice, may choose to utilize different forms of actuators and transport components than those described herein. Other forms of transport components, including cables, gears, chains and other types of belts may be substituted for those described herein. Other types of motors and solenoids are also logical substitutions and other types of sensors may be implemented as is well known in the art. The device may be configured to utilize more or less cards in each substack and the device may be configured to hold more or less cards total cards. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention herein described are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18446139 | Aug 2023 | US |
| Child | 18967498 | US |
