EP1952859A1

EP1952859A1 - Card shuffling apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP1952859A1
Application number: EP07001973A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Cai-Shiang Ho
Original assignee: Taiwan Fulgent Enterprise Co Ltd
Current assignee: Taiwan Fulgent Enterprise Co Ltd
Priority date: 2007-01-30
Filing date: 2007-01-30
Publication date: 2008-08-06

Abstract

A card shuffling apparatus includes an indexed wheel (14) having a plurality of card compartments and a card push arm (18), and being controllable by a control circuit and a motor (141) to rotate to a randomly determined position; a card input mechanism (11) for feeding cards of an unshuffled deck one by one into the card compartments of the indexed wheel (14); and a card output mechanism (17) with which cards pushed out of the indexed wheel (14) by the second card push arm (114) are collected and then sent out one by one until a predetermined number of cards has been sent out.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a card shuffling apparatus, and more particularly to a card shuffling apparatus that is driven by motors and gears to operate at low power consumption.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

US Patent No. 6889979 discloses a card shuffler that may replace manual shuffling and dealing in a card game and deal cards with random pips and suit markers, so as to avoid cheat at cards and increase the fun of card game. The card shuffler disclosed in US Patent No. 6889979 has some disadvantages. For example, the card shuffler is generally integrally formed with only a drivable shuffling storage means or indexed wheel detachable therefrom, and is therefore uneasy to assemble and maintain or repair; the card compartments provided on the drivable shuffling storage means has an angle of circumference, the degree of which is not an integer and would cause errors in the operation of the card shuffler when the same has been used over a long time; the card shuffler is belt-driven and requires high power consumption when it is rotated at high speed; and the card shuffler includes a large number of mechanical parts and is therefore bulky in volume and tends to fail during operation thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a card shuffling apparatus that is driven to operate by motors and gears under control of a microcomputer, so as to function at low power consumption.
To achieve the above and other objects, the card shuffling apparatus according to the present invention includes an indexed wheel having a plurality of card compartments and a card push arm, and being controllable by a control circuit and a motor to rotate to a randomly determined position; a card input mechanism for feeding cards of an unshuffled deck one by one into the card compartments of the indexed wheel; and a card output mechanism with which cards pushed out of the card compartments of the indexed wheel by the card push arm are collected and then sent out one by one until a predetermined number of cards has been sent out.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 is a phantom perspective view of a card shuffling apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a sectioned side view of the card shuffling apparatus of Fig. 1; and
Figs. 3 through 9 show the card shuffling apparatus of Fig. 1 in operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to Figs. 1 and 2 that are phantom perspective and sectioned side views, respectively, of a card shuffling apparatus 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the card shuffling apparatus 1 includes a base 19, on which an indexed wheel 14, a card input mechanism 11, and a card output mechanism 17 are mounted. The indexed wheel 14 includes a plurality of card compartments and a second card push arm 144. The indexed wheel 14 is controllable by a control circuit (not shown) and a motor 141 to rotate to a randomly determined position. Cards 2 of an unshuffled deck are input one by one via the card input mechanism 11 to the card compartments of the indexed wheel 14. Each of the card compartments may receive more than one card 2, and a maximum number of receivable cards 2 may be set for each of the card compartments. To output the cards 2, the indexed wheel 14 is controlled to rotate to a random position, and the second card push arm 144 is actuated to push all the cards 2 in one card compartment to the card output mechanism 17, which in turn outputs the cards one by one until a predetermined number of output cards is reached.
Figs. 3 through 9 show the card shuffling apparatus 1 of the present invention in operation. Please refer to Figs. 3 through 9 along with Figs. 1 and 2. For the indexed wheel 14 to rotate to a random position, first actuate the motor 141 via the control circuit (not shown), so that a gear 1431 meshes with another gear 1432 (see Fig. 2), and the gear 1432 further meshes with teeth provided on one side wheel 146 of the indexed wheel 14, and thereby drives the indexed wheel 14 to rotate to a randomposition. There are total forty (40) card compartments provided around the indexed wheel 14, so that the degree of the angle of circumference of the card compartments is an integer, which allows the indexed wheel 14 to be used over a long time without too much error. In each of the card compartments on the indexed wheel 14, there is provided a clip member. The clip member is a plate radially obliquely located in each card compartment. An elastic element is provided in each card compartment at an inner end of the clip member close to a center of the indexed wheel 14, so as to provide an elastic force to press the inner end of the clip member against an inner wall surface of the card compartment. This arrangement allows the card 2 to be stably clamped between the clip member and the inner wall surface of the card compartment.
In Figs. 2 through 9, for the purpose of clarity, there is only one single card 2 shown in the operation of the card shuffling apparatus 1. First, the card 2 is positioned on an inclined card feed plate 116. At this point, a sensor 1151 provided below the inclined card feed plate 116 senses the card 2 on the inclined card feed plate 116 and transmits a signal to the control circuit (not shown) for actuating two motors 1111, 1112 in the input mechanism 11. The actuatedmotor 1111 brings gears 1124, 1125, and 1126 (see Fig. 2) to rotate in directions as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3; and the actuated motor 1112 brings gears 1121, 1122, and 1123 (see Fig. 1) to rotate. The gear 1125 further brings a clamp roller set 1131 to rotate, the gear 1121 further brings a front roller set 1133 to rotate, the gear 1123 further brings a rear roller set 1134 to rotate, and the gear 1124 further brings a plurality of press arms 118 to rotate. The rotated press arms 118 are pressed against a bottom of the inclined card feed plate 116, such that the card 2 is pushed upward to contact with the clamp roller set 1131. With a frictional contact between the card 2 and the clamp roller set 1131 (see Fig. 3), the card 2 is moved toward the indexed wheel 14 via a card feed platform 117. A curved recess 1171 formed on a top of the card feed platform 117 below the clamp roller set 1131 allows the card 2 to smoothly change from an angular position to a horizontal position in the course of moving from the card feed plate 116 toward the indexed wheel 14, and to further contact with rollers 1132, 1133 of the front roller set. The card 2 is finally passed through the rollers 1134, 1135 of the rear roller set to partially enter into one card compartment, as shown in Fig. 4. When a sensor 1153 provided at the rear roller set detects the card 2 has left the rollers 1134, 1135 of the rear roller set, the indexed wheel 14 is controlled to rotate to a random position, and a motor 1113 of the card input mechanism 11 is actuated to drive a first card push arm 114 to push the whole card 2 into the card compartment, as shown in Fig. 5. The card input mechanism 11 further includes a sensor 1152 for ascertaining the first card push arm 114 has been moved away from the rollers 1132, 1133 of the front roller set and the rollers 1134, 1135 of the rear roller set, and then sending a signal to the control circuit, so as to allow feeding of a subsequent card 2 to the inclined card feed plate 116. With the above procedures, cards 2 of the unshuffled deck are fed one by one into randomly determined card compartments on the indexed wheel 14. As having been mentioned above, each of the card compartments may have a maximum number of receivable cards 2 determined by a computer. It is noted the whole structure of the present invention may be adjusted for the card 2 to enter the card compartment of the indexed wheel 14 with an angle from 12 to 15 degrees contained between a horizontal plane and a moving direction of the card 2.
To output the cards 2, a user may set a predetermined number of cards to be output, and the indexed wheel 14 is controlled to rotate to a randomlydeterminedposition. Please refer to Figs. 1, 2, and 6 at the same time. In addition to the second card push arm 144 provided on the side wheel 146 of the indexed wheel 14, there is still another second card push arm (not shown) provided on the other side wheel 147 of the indexed wheel 14. The two second card push arms are connected to each other via a shaft 149 (see Fig. 1). Amotor 142 (see Fig. 2) drives a gear 1433 to rotate and thereby move the second card push arm 144, so that a post 1441 eccentrically provided on the gear 1433 and sidewardly protruded into a long slot 1442 formed on the second card push arm 144 is driven to push the cards 2 from the card compartment onto a card collection plate 176. A sensor 1751 below the card collection plate 176 detects the card 2 on the card collection plate 176 and sends a signal to the control circuit, which in turn actuates motors in the card output mechanism 17, so that gears and rollers in the card output mechanism 17 are driven to rotate and thereby move the cards 2 in a direction opposite to the indexed wheel 14. The card output mechanism 17 and the card input mechanism 11 have similar structure and generally operate in the same principle, except that the card output mechanism 17 does not include the sensors 1152, 1153, the motor 1113, and the first card push arm 114. The output cards 2 are collected at a card receiving platform 177, below which a sensor 1753 is provided. When the sensor 1753 detects there is not any card 2 on the card receiving platform 177, a signal is sent to the control circuit, so that a predetermined number of cards 2 are further output from the indexed wheel 14 to the card receiving platform 177. Therefore, there are always a predetermined number of cards 2 on the card receiving platform 177 available for use at any time. A sensor 1752 is provided at a rear end of the card output mechanism 17. When the sensor 1752 detects that a card 2 has completely left the card output mechanism 17, the card output mechanism 17 is controlled to output another card 2 to the card receiving platform 177.
While only one card 2 is included in the above description of the operation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is understood all the cards 2 of an unshuffled deck may be simultaneously positioned on the card feed plate 116 of the card input mechanism 11, and the card input mechanism 11 is able to feed the whole deck of cards 2 one by one into randomly selected card compartments on the indexed wheel 14. Similarly, all the cards 2 of the shuffled deck output to the card collection plate 176 in the card output mechanism 17 may be sent to the card receiving platform 177 one by one. An indexingmechanism 148 is provided to record the angles by which the indexed wheel 14 is turned each time and other relevant parameters, so as to achieve the purposes of precisely controlling the number of cards 2 in each card compartment and so on. As can be seen from Fig. 1, the card shuffling apparatus 1 further includes a housing 18 to protect the internal structure thereof.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

A card shuffling apparatus, comprising:
an indexed wheel having a plurality of card compartments and at least one second card push arm; and the indexed wheel being controllable by a control circuit and a motor to rotate to a randomly determined position;

a card input mechanism for feeding cards of an unshuffled deck one by one into the card compartments of the indexed wheel; and

a card output mechanism for receiving cards pushed thereto by the second card push arms of the indexed wheel, and outputting the received cards one by one until a predetermined number of cards has been output for use.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the card input mechanism includes at least one motor, a first card push arm, a card feed plate, and a plurality of rollers and gears; the cards of the unshuffled deck being positioned on the card feed plate and being fed and moved toward the indexed wheel one by one via the rollers under control of the motor and gears; and cards finally moved out of the rollers of the card input mechanism being pushed by the first card push arm into one of the card compartments on the indexed wheel that has been rotated to a randomly determined position.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in claim 2,
wherein the rollers in the card input mechanism are separately grouped into a clamp roller set, a front roller set, and a rear roller set; and the card input mechanism further including a curved recess provided below the clamp roller set.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in claim 2 or 3,
wherein the card input mechanism further includes a plurality of press arms located below the card feed plate.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of claims 2 to 4,
wherein the card input mechanism further includes a sensor located below the card feed plate.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the card output mechanism includes at least one motor, a card collection plate, and a plurality of roller and gears; the at least one second card push arm of the indexed wheel pushing cards from one of the card compartments of the indexed wheel onto the card collection plate; and the cards on the card collection plate being moved via the rollers under control of the motor and gears toward a direction opposite to the indexed wheel.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in claim 6,
wherein the rollers in the card output mechanism are separately grouped into a clamp roller set, a front roller set, and a rear roller set; and the card output mechanism further including a curved recess provided below the clamp roller set.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or 7,
wherein the card output mechanism further includes a sensor located below the card collection plate.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of claims 6 to 8,
wherein the card output mechanism further includes a card receiving platform located at where the cards are finally output from the rollers of the card output mechanism, and a sensor being provided below the card receiving platform.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the indexed wheel has forty card compartments.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the cards are moved from the card input mechanism into the card compartment of the indexed wheel with an angle from 12 to 15 degrees contained between a horizontal plane and a moving direction of the cards.
The card shuffling apparatus as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein each of the card compartments of the indexed wheel has a clip member provided therein, the clip member being a plate radially obliquely located in each of the card compartments; and an elastic element being provided at an inner end of each clip member close to a center of the indexed wheel, so as to provide an elastic force to press the inner end of the clip member against an inner wall surface of the card compartment.