EP2613298A1 - Präsentationssystem für ein Echtzeit-Kartenereignis - Google Patents

Präsentationssystem für ein Echtzeit-Kartenereignis Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2613298A1
EP2613298A1 EP13150373.2A EP13150373A EP2613298A1 EP 2613298 A1 EP2613298 A1 EP 2613298A1 EP 13150373 A EP13150373 A EP 13150373A EP 2613298 A1 EP2613298 A1 EP 2613298A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
cards
game
card
play
marking
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP13150373.2A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Sami Vilpas
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
MORTALCINE Oy
Original Assignee
MORTALCINE Oy
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by MORTALCINE Oy filed Critical MORTALCINE Oy
Publication of EP2613298A1 publication Critical patent/EP2613298A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F1/00—Card games
    • A63F1/06—Card games appurtenances
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/32—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for games, toys, sports, or amusements
    • G07F17/3202—Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
    • G07F17/3216—Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
    • G07F17/322—Casino tables, e.g. tables having integrated screens, chip detection means
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/32—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for games, toys, sports, or amusements
    • G07F17/3286—Type of games
    • G07F17/3293—Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to a system and method for tracking the distribution of cards during the play of a game. Furthermore, there are described herein embodiments for utilizing the tracking data for presenting the play of the game on one or more remote displays.
  • Games of chance and card games such as poker and black jack are becoming ever more popular spectator events.
  • a game such as black jack the majority of cards are face-up and therefore easily captured by television cameras located above the playing surface.
  • black jack the majority of cards are face-up and therefore easily captured by television cameras located above the playing surface.
  • a similar implementation is to put a small camera in to the cushion/bumper around the rim of the table at each player station. Once the player has been dealt their cards they are supposed to turn up at least the corners of their cards so that the camera in the cushion can record their cards.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for tracking the distribution of cards during the play of a game.
  • An aspect of certain embodiments of the present invention is to track the distribution of cards to players by using a reader, e.g. a camera, barcode reader, RFID reader, etc., to determine the distribution of cards as they are dealt by a dealer.
  • a reader e.g. a camera, barcode reader, RFID reader, etc.
  • a reader located under, or substantially under, the playing surface of a table, such as a poker table.
  • the reader is capable of reading at least one marking on each card being used during the game.
  • a marking can be, for example, the card identifier (e.g. K or 10 ), a barcode and/or QR-code printed and/or affixed to the face of a card, an RFID-chip and/or conductive code printed and/or affixed to the face and/or under the face of a card, or the like.
  • the reader is located at, or substantially near a location under where a dealer will normally deal the cards during the game.
  • the reader is then connected to a control unit which, according to certain embodiments of the present invention, is capable of logging the read markers as well as the time at which the marker was read.
  • the control unit is further capable of determining the card associated with the read marker.
  • the control unit, or an additional unit downstream from the control unit, can, for example, then determine which cards have been dealt, to whom they have been dealt and therefore virtually recreate at least the whole cards held at the table at any given time.
  • Certain embodiments of the present invention therefore provide a less complex and therefore less expensive alternative to placing a camera at each player position. Additionally, as the cards are read as they are dealt there is little or no possibility for players to purposefully or inadvertently hide some or all of their whole cards from presentation to spectators.
  • Embodiments of systems according to the present invention include components selected from; a playing table, one or more readers, one or more sets of playing cards, one or more operator input devices, a control unit, one or more servers or additional control and/or processing units, and transmission unit.
  • readers are, but not limited to, e.g. a camera, barcode reader, RFID reader, etc.
  • the reader is preferably configured to read one or more markings present on the face of a playing card or within a playing card.
  • a control unit is preferably adapted to process data from the reader in order to virtually reconstruct at least a portion of the game play.
  • the control unit is preferable further adapted to process request and data entered by one or more operator input devices.
  • the control unit can be, for example a simple computer, tablet computer, CPU, server, or portion thereof.
  • the control unit can have one or more processors, fixed permanent or temporary computer readable memories, removable computer readable memories, input devices, network connections, or other standard computing modules.
  • the control unit can have previously stored thereon one or more sets of computer readable data or instructions for facilitating the present invention as described below.
  • An operator input device can be, for example, a touch screen located at or near a dealer position of the table. Such an operator input device can allow a dealer to input information such as the occurrence of a full or partial misdeal, an exposed card, an addition, subtraction or movement of one or more players to/from the table, etc.
  • an operator input device can be located at a remote monitoring location in order to reduce the burden on the dealer. Said remote operator input device could be a touch screen or keyboard connected to the control unit.
  • the control unit, or subsequently connected processing unit can be equipped with, or in connection with, a transmission unit. Said transmission unit therefore capable of transmitting said information to a remote location for presentation.
  • the system need not include the table itself, for example in the case that the remaining portions of the system are transported to and from different tournament sites and installed/re-installed on different tables, the table may be an integral portion of the system.
  • the discussion and examples provided herein revolve mostly around different forms of poker played on a standard 9 or 10 person poker table, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the utility for use of a system in accordance with the present invention for other games and on other tables.
  • each table should have a playing surface for playing said game.
  • Figure 1 shows an example 10 of a table 12 utilizing the present system.
  • the example 10 shows a dealer in the middle of dealing whole cards to a plurality of players in the format of Hold'em poker. As can be seen in the figure, the dealer holds the deck of cards in his left hand and passes the card over a covered opening in the table 14 before dispersing the card to the intended player.
  • FIG. 2 shows an example 20 of the table 12 from a side angle.
  • a camera 16 is mounted below the playing surface of the table.
  • the camera 16 is then connected to a control unit 18.
  • Said control unit 18 is further connected to a presentation display 22.
  • the camera 16 is able to record images of the cards being dealt by recording through the opening 14 in the table above.
  • the opening can be covered with a transparent, or at least partially transparent material. Examples of some materials which can be suitable are glass, Plexiglas or other translucent plastic material. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize countless alternative suitable materials which allow a camera to record images of the markings on the cards dealt above.
  • the reader does not need an optically clear line of sight to the cards.
  • the reader can be located behind one or more non-transparent/non-translucent materials. Based on the technology of the particular reader being utilized it may be necessary or preferable to at least partially modify a portion of the table to facilitate clear and accurate reading of the markings on the cards by the reader.
  • the composition of the table above and/or around a reader may be altered to facilitate said reader's ability to ready the markings on the cards. If a table construction is too thick for a reader to be mounted completely under the table and effectively read said markings then some or all of the material from a desired portion of the table can be removed and/or replaced with more suitable material. Additionally, substantially all of the material can be removed, as in the case of an opening, where the opening is then covered by essentially only the playing surface, e.g. felt. Such an example can be preferential for keeping the appearance of a standard game table. However, in such examples it can be preferential to in some way mark the top of the playing surface to indicate where the reader is located below. Such marking can be in the form of a printed symbol or the like.
  • the present system may include one or more sets of cards.
  • Each set of cards may have one or more markings per card capable of being read by a reader of the system.
  • Figure 3 shows several examples of such cards.
  • the back of a card 30 is free from any type of specific identifier. Therefore, any marking of the cards should be on their fronts, as shown in examples 32A, 32B and 32C or within the card itself.
  • Example 32A shows a card which has a barcode across a portion of the face of the card.
  • 32B shows a card with a QR-code on a portion of the face of the card.
  • 32C shows an example of an RFID chip on the face of the card.
  • a marker such as the RFID tag of 32C can be affixed to the front of the card.
  • each card in the present examples 32A-C can be said to have two distinct markers.
  • a different, or the same, reader can be used to read each of the two, or more, markers. This can be used, for example, as a safe check to make sure that cards or markers have not been tampered with.
  • the reader 16 is an optical camera.
  • the cards can be as described with regards to examples 32A and 32B or may have only their standard card identifier.
  • the optical camera can then take a preferably continuous video stream of the cards being dealt by the dealer.
  • either the reader 16 or the control unit 18 can use a known method for optically determining the markings viewed by the reader 16.
  • One of such methods can be to use optical recognition software.
  • the reader 16 can also be a barcode, QR code, electromagnetic reader or the like which records data about the card being dealt and then processes the data to determine the corresponding card to the date.
  • the two readers may be arranged to accommodate both right and left handed dealers, or they may be located at a substantially different locations to best take in to consideration the capabilities of the readers and the flow of card distribution and game play.
  • a method for virtually recreating at least a portion of the play of a game is carried out with the aid of a processor.
  • the duties of said processor may be spread over several computing units. However, as described herein said duties are described with respect to being carried out primarily by the control unit.
  • the invention as such should not be limited to such an example but that the example is mearly to facilitate description of the embodiments of the invention.
  • the control unit 18, or one or more processing elements therein, are configured to register that a marking on at least one card has been read by the reader 16. Data relating to the read marking can then be stored in a database, or other nonvolatile memory, of, or in communication with, the control unit. Additionally, it can be preferable that a time stamp is assigned, and/or logged with the data at this point.
  • the control unit should also be capable of determining if any operator input has been entered or registered which should be taken in to account in any of these steps.
  • control unit determines the particular card which corresponds to the read markings. While this can be done by the reader itself, it is often necessary to compare a determined marking to a list of associated markings and cards stored in a database, potentially on a memory of the control unit, in order to determine the corresponding card.
  • Determining the particular card which corresponds to the read marking can take any of a number of forms as described in part above.
  • the control unit can use optical recognition software stored on the control unit, or accessible by the control unit, in order to determine the marking and/or card identifier from an image captured by an optical camera.
  • Said optical recognition software, and/or a barcode reading software and/or a QR code reading software can also determine the viewed marker and then determine out right, or after consulting a list of associations, the identity of the specific card.
  • the information can be encoded, transmitted by the reader or a intermediary unit to a remote location housing a control unit and then decrypted away from the gaming table itself.
  • the control unit can determine the cards which have been dealt by the dealer and, preferably, the time or relative time at which they were dealt. The distribution of the cards can then be determined simply by knowing the number of players being dealt cards at the table, the number of cards that each player receives and which player is dealt to first. Some or all of this information can be entered via an operator input as described above. Additionally, some of this information can be determined by the control unit based on previous data and events.
  • the control unit can have an accessible memory with one or more game rules and/or game conditions stored thereon.
  • game rules are; the number of cards dealt to each player at each step of the game, the order in which cards are dealt to players, the number of cards dealt as community and/or burn cards, the order in which community and/or burn cards are dealt, etc.
  • game conditions are; the number of players starting at the table, the number of players at the table at a given time, the number and/or position of players who are at the table but not receiving cards, the position of the first person to be dealt to at the beginning of game session, the position of the first person to be dealt to at a given point in time, etc.
  • control unit When the control unit knows the first position to be dealt to and the total number of players at the table then, for example, it simply assigns the first card dealt to the first position, the second to the second position, and so on until it starts over at the first position if each position is to receive more than one card.
  • the control unit is then capable of determining when a round of cards has been completely dealt and therefore what the distribution of the cards is at the end of that dealing round. Furthermore, the control unit may determine the ending of a specific dealing round by detecting a prolonged time break after a last card is dealt.
  • the game is to be presented in real-time, or substantially in real-time.
  • the control unit can continuously send card distribution information, for example through a transmission unit, to a remote display or broadcast station.
  • the control unit can collect distribution information and send it as a packet when a round is determined to have been concluded. Said round can be a dealing round or a full hand of play.
  • the system is additionally capable of virtually reconstructing at least a portion of the game play. This is based in part on the determined distribution of the cards during the play of the game. For instance, when the control unit is privy to one or more rules of the game, such as each player receives two whole cards and then there is a burn card, followed by three flop cards, followed by a burn, followed by a turn card, followed by a last burn card and ending with a river card, then the control unit can determine based off of the timing between cards being dealt and the read markings what the card distribution and what a portion of the game play looks like. The control unit can the virtually recreate the card dealing portion of the game play for further presentation to spectators.
  • the control unit can calculate the number of cards being dealt with only a small time duration between cards and therefore determine the total amount of cards dealt during the initial deal. As the system known that each player gets two cards it can then determine the number of players remaining at the table. If the control unit knew who was dealt to first in the last round then it will know, based off of one or more additional rules, who received the first card in the present round. Therefore, for each hand it is not necessary to manually enter game conditions. The control unit then knows that if four cards are dealt after a break from the initial deal that the first card is a burn, and therefore not shown, and the next cards create the flop.
  • the system can determine that the previous hand has concluded and the newly dealt cards comprise the whole cards for the next hand. Further advantages to such a system over those with only cameras by the player stations or above the table is that a spectator can now know what the burn cards are, or potentially what the next card to come out would have been.
  • the method steps of the processor as described above with regards to the operation of the control unit may be stored as a computer program product on a transitory and/or non-transitory computer readable medium.
  • Said medium can be a fixed or removable computer readable medium accessible by one or more processors of the control unit or other processing unit.
EP13150373.2A 2012-01-06 2013-01-07 Präsentationssystem für ein Echtzeit-Kartenereignis Withdrawn EP2613298A1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

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US201261583676P 2012-01-06 2012-01-06

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2016079901A1 (en) * 2014-11-17 2016-05-26 Gridmark Inc. Optical device
EP3418988A1 (de) * 2014-01-17 2018-12-26 Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd. Kartenspielüberwachungssystem

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8894495B1 (en) 2014-01-08 2014-11-25 David Saul Vogel Multi-part system for deploying near field communications in order to facilitate the ability of a visually-impaired person to ascertain the identity of a playing card
AT519722B1 (de) 2017-02-27 2021-09-15 Revolutionary Tech Systems Ag Verfahren zur Detektion zumindest eines Jetonobjekts

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5259907A (en) * 1990-03-29 1993-11-09 Technical Systems Corp. Method of making coded playing cards having machine-readable coding
EP1903522A1 (de) * 2006-09-14 2008-03-26 Waterleaf Ltd. Online-Blackjack-Turniere mit Option zum Erwerb eines Kartenzählungsberichts
US20090048026A1 (en) * 2007-08-14 2009-02-19 French John B Smart card holder for automated gaming system and gaming cards
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Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP3418988A1 (de) * 2014-01-17 2018-12-26 Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd. Kartenspielüberwachungssystem
US11017627B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2021-05-25 Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11145158B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2021-10-12 Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11158159B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2021-10-26 Angel Group Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11410485B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2022-08-09 Angel Group Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11423733B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2022-08-23 Angel Group Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11663876B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2023-05-30 Angel Group Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
US11922757B2 (en) 2014-01-17 2024-03-05 Angel Group Co., Ltd. Card game monitoring system
WO2016079901A1 (en) * 2014-11-17 2016-05-26 Gridmark Inc. Optical device

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