Card handling devices and associated methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11358051-B2
Application number	US-202016953020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2020
Priority date	Sep 19, 2014
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

A playing card handling device comprises an elevator platform configured to receive one or more cards from an input platform to form a shuffled set of cards, a card gripper positioned above the elevator platform, and configured to grip cards from the shuffled set of cards, and a processor configured to control the elevator platform to have a grip position for the card gripper to grip the shuffled set of cards, wherein the grip position is adjusted based, at least in part, on a correction value associated with a particular card insertion. A related method includes determining a grip position of an elevator platform of a card handling device based, at least in part, on a desired insertion location within a stack of shuffled cards as adjusted based on a corrective value that is different for a plurality of different insertion locations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A card handling device, comprising:
an elevator platform configured to support a group of cards;
at least one card sensor configured to detect at least one parameter usable to determine a number of cards or a height of cards on the elevator platform and to output corresponding information; and
a processor operably coupled to the elevator platform and the at least one card sensor, wherein the processor is configured to cause the elevator platform to move from one position to another position, the processor configured to automatically create and maintain a correction table comprising correction values indicating a magnitude of adjustment required to move the elevator platform from the one position to the other position depending at least in part on information received from the at least one card sensor.

2. The card handling device of claim 1 , wherein the other position is determined at least in part on a measured value in addition to the correction values maintained on the correction table.

3. The card handling device of claim 2 , wherein the measured value includes a position of the elevator platform when a top card on the elevator platform is detected by the at least one card sensor.

4. The card handling device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to adjust the correction values in the correction table during a shuffling operation, the correction values related to one or more of the number of cards or the height of cards on the elevator platform at particular positions of the elevator platform.

5. The card handling device of claim 1 , wherein the other position is determined at least in part on a number of cards remaining on the elevator platform and a number of cards suspended above the elevator platform during a card insertion operation.

6. The card handling device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one card sensor comprises a top platform card sensor configured to detect alignment of a top card of the group of cards on the elevator platform with the top platform card sensor, the processor configured to determine the height of cards on the elevator platform using the information received from the top platform card sensor.

7. The card handling device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to automatically create and maintain a deck height table to store data indicating a deck height for different numbers of cards stacked on the elevator platform.

8. A card handling device, comprising:
a support surface for supporting a group of cards within a card handling area;
at least one sensor configured to detect when a top card on the support surface is aligned with the at least one sensor, wherein a number of cards or a height of cards on the support surface is determined at least in part on the at least one sensor detecting the top card on the support surface; and
a processor operably coupled to the support surface and the at least one sensor, the processor configured to automatically record and update information received from the at least one sensor in at least one correction table comprising correction values during a card shuffling operation, wherein the processor is configured to determine a magnitude of adjustment to move the support surface from an initial position to an adjusted position based at least in part on the correction values indicating required movement to adjust the support surface from the initial position to the adjusted position for insertion of at least one card at a card insertion location.

9. The card handling device of claim 8 , wherein the adjusted position is based on individual correction values that are varied for differing card insertion locations.

10. The card handling device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one correction table is configured to store data received from monitoring a number of times a position of the support surface is adjusted for each card insertion location, the processor configured to determine the adjusted position using the data stored in the at least one correction table.

11. The card handling device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to generate positional data values for various numbers of cards on the support surface and to average the positional data values to achieve an average value for each number of cards measured.

12. The card handling device of claim 8 , wherein the correction values are maintained on a plurality of different correction tables configured to maintain the correction values for different groups of cards used by the card handling device.

13. The card handling device of claim 8 , further comprising:
a card gripper located within the card handling area, the card gripper configured to grip one or more cards to create a gap in the group of cards; and
a card insert system adjacent to the card gripper, the card insert system configured to insert the at least one card into the gap in the group of cards at each card insertion location.

14. The card handling device of claim 13 , wherein the at least one sensor is positioned below the card gripper, the processor configured to record a position of the support surface when the top card on the support surface is detected by the at least one sensor.

15. The card handling device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to dynamically adjust the correction values during the card shuffling operation by monitoring data relating to quantities and directions of re-grips for each card insertion location.

16. A method of operating a card handling device, comprising:
receiving cards on an elevator platform;
determining, with a processor, a number of cards or a height of cards on the elevator platform using information received from at least one card sensor;
determining, with the processor, an adjusted position of the elevator platform according to correction values in at least one correction table indicating a magnitude of adjustment required to move the elevator platform from a position to the adjusted position based at least in part on the information received from the at least one card sensor; and
receiving one or more additional cards on the elevator platform when the elevator platform is at the adjusted position.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the adjusted position of the elevator platform comprises generating positional data values for various numbers of cards on the elevator platform, sorting the positional data values for each number of cards, and averaging a subset of the sorted positional data values to achieve an average value for each number of cards measured.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the adjusted position of the elevator platform comprises determining a difference between a measured height of the cards on the elevator platform, as detected by the at least one card sensor, and an expected height of the cards on the elevator platform, as determined by the processor.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising adjusting the correction values with the processor during a shuffling operation if the difference between the measured height and the expected height of the cards on the elevator platform is greater than a predetermined value.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising automatically creating and maintaining a zone hit counter table configured to count a number of times each correction value is adjusted within a particular zone.

Assignees

• Sg Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Kelly James V
• Helgesen James P
• Zvercov Vladislav
• Bourbour Feraidoon
• Rynda Robert J

Classifications

• A63F1/12 Primary

  Card shufflers · CPC title

• A63F1/14

  Card dealers · CPC title

• A63F11/0002

  Dispensing or collecting devices for tokens or chips (dispensers for game pieces in chain reaction games A63F9/28; coin freed apparatus for games G07F17/32) · CPC title

• A63F1/067

  Tables or similar supporting structures · CPC title