IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,350,579
Granted Patent B2
US 12,350,579 · App. 17/994,619 · Granted Jul 8, 2025

Card shooter device and method

Inventor: Yasushi Shigeta (Shiga, JP)
Assignee: ANGEL GROUP CO., LTD.
A63F1/14A63F1/18A63F2009/2419A63F2250/58
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,350,579
App. No.
17/994,619
Granted
Jul 8, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A card shoe apparatus including a card housing unit for housing a plurality of cards; an opening in the card housing unit for manually withdrawing the cards one by one from the card housing unit in a card reading direction; a card reading unit that reads information on the cards as the cards are manually withdrawn from the card housing unit in the card reading direction; a control unit that stores rules of a card game and determines the results of the card game based on the information read by the card reading unit and the rules of the card game; an optical device that detects movements of the cards relative to the card reading direction; and a card entry/exit restriction unit provided in the opening. The card entry/exit restriction unit restricts the entry or exit of any of the cards when the cards are improperly withdrawn from the opening.

Claims (14)

1. A method of using a card shoe apparatus that includes a card housing that houses a plurality of cards, the card shoe apparatus having (i) a guide unit in which the cards are manually moved, and (ii) an opening through which the cards are manually drawn one by one, the method comprising:

reading, by a card reader controlled by a processor, information of the cards which are sequentially taken out from the card shoe apparatus to a game table;

storing, by the processor, information of the cards resulting from the reading into a memory;

judging, by the processor, whether a card game has been ended based on the stored information of the cards;

sensing, by an optical device, movement of each of the cards manually drawn from the card shoe apparatus along a dealing direction;

detecting, by the processor, an inappropriate attempt to manually draw a card from the opening to prevent an impermissible drawing after the card game ends; and

outputting a signal of a result of the detection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the card shoe apparatus further has (iii) a lock member selectively restricting manual movement of the cards in the guide unit near the opening, the method further comprising:

based on the signal of the result of detection, controlling the lock member to restrict the manual movement of the card.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

based on the information of the cards read by the card reader, controlling the lock member to restrict the manual movement of the card.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the information of the cards includes a code on each of the cards, wherein the code indicates at least one of a number and a suit of the card.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising comparing the code with a predetermined code stored in the memory.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the information of the cards includes an authenticity determination code on each of the cards.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 28, 2022
From: SHIGETA, YASUSHI
To: ANGEL PLAYING CARDS CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 061888/0857 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Nov 28, 2022
From: ANGEL PLAYING CARDS CO., LTD.
To: ANGEL GROUP CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 061997/0959 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 16730176 · Dec 30, 2019
Continuation 15465444 · Mar 21, 2017
Continuation 14621099 · Feb 12, 2015
Continuation 14419605
Related Publication 20230087190A1 · Mar 23, 2023
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