Unique sensing system and apparatus for reading playing cards
View Patent ↗A sensing apparatus is provided for the determination of at least one of rank or suit of a playing card. The sensing apparatus includes an imaging array capable of sensing at least an area of a playing card that represents rank and or suit. A position sensor is provided for determining card position. A hardware component receives signals from the imaging array and the card position sensor. The hardware component forms a vector set from the output from the imaging array and card position sensor, and compares the vector set to known reference vector sets to determine rank and suit of a card.
1. A sensing apparatus for the determination of at least one of rank or suit of a playing card, comprising:
a card-imaging array capable of sensing at least an area of a card representing rank and/or suit;
a card position sensor; and
a hardware component capable of receiving signals from the card-imaging array and the card position sensor, wherein the hardware component forms a vector set from an output from the card-imaging array and the card position sensor, and compares the vector set to known reference vector sets to determine rank and suit of a card.
2. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein vector information is binary information.
3. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the hardware component is a FPGA.
4. The sensing of apparatus claim 1 , wherein the hardware component is an ASIC.
5. A card-dealing shoe, comprising the sensing apparatus of claim 1 .
6. The card-dealing shoe of claim 5 , wherein the card-dealing shoe comprises mechanical card-moving elements.
7. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the card-imaging array comprises a camera.
8. The sensing apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a light source to enhance the camera signal.
9. The sensing apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising a card infeed area for supporting a relatively vertical stack of cards.
10. The sensing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the camera is analog.
11. The sensing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the camera is digital.
12. The sensing apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the camera is black and white.
13. A casino table game monitoring system, comprising;
a gaming table with a gaming surface;
a card-reading shoe with the card-sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the card-reading shoe has an input/output (I/O) data port; and
a game controller, wherein the shoe is in communication with the game controller via the I/O data port.
14. A card-handling device comprising the sensing apparatus of claim 1 .
15. The card-handling device of claim 14 , wherein the card-handling device comprises a simple shoe.