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System for billing usage of an automatic card handling device

1. 405592044 5 US 8 919 775 B2 Sheet 3 of 9 Dec 30 2014 U S Patent Ee TINGOW cle SISONDVIA 62 NOLLO313G NOLLVOINDnIWWOO OS WOLSNI FINGOW DIA US 8 919 775 B2 Sheet 4 of 9 Dec 30 2014 U S Patent 9EL 914 ejnpojw JOSUOS ble US 8 919 775 B2 Sheet 5 of 9 Dec 30 2014 U S Patent S Did SIIALO 891 puso comes t9L ver PHOM 91 US 8 919 775 B2 Sheet 6 of 9 Dec 30 2014 U S Patent 995 79 VOGS vo6s ici uogejs dojeiado 851 29 U S Patent Dec 30 2014 Sheet 7 of 9 US 8 919 775 B2 Dive Communication Report 704 Unit Device Generator 706 707 712 Memory Maintenance di Error Module Data Module 708 744 702 Shuffler Communication Processor Unit 734 Mechanics 736 746 Processor I O I O 744 Device Camera 740 preg 747 Memory 748 Memory 741 738 Shuffler 731 Card Handling Device 730 rio T U S Patent Dec 30 2014 Sheet 8 of 9 US 8 919 775 B2 Collect Shuffler Data 802 Send Data 804
2. Receive Data 806 Prepare Reports 808 Send data related to reports 810 FIG 8 U S Patent Dec 30 2014 Sheet 9 of 9 US 8 919 775 B2 Request Data 901 Collect Shuffler Data 902 Send Data 904 Receive Data 906 Prepare Reports 908 Send data related to reports 910 FIG 9 US 8 919 775 B2 1 SYSTEM FOR BILLING USAGE OF AN AUTOMATIC CARD HANDLING DEVICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation in part of U S patent application Ser No 11 558 818 filed on Nov 10 2006 which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference This application is related to U S patent application Ser No 11 558 810 filed Nov 10 2006 titled Casino Table Game Monitoring System now abandoned U S patent application Ser No 11 558 817 filed Nov 10 2006 titled Method and Apparatus Providing Gaming Table with RFID Antennas and Shielding now abandoned and U S patent application Ser No 11 558 823 filed Nov 10 2006 titled Casino Card Shoes Systems and Methods for a No Peek Feature now abandoned the content of each of which are all hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates generally to playing card handling devices and more specifically to apparatuses comprising an automatic card handling device for use in a cellular network BACKGROUND Card handling devic
3. means that the types of events that are to be reported to a central location using networked connections in one embodiment a cellular connection occurs sooner than the regularly timed sending of data and has been selected in some manner so the card handling device can determine algorithmically that the data is to be sent In one embodiment the card handling device is programmed so that when it detects fault interrupts or log entries that indicate a failure mode the data indicating those conditions is sent as soon as technically feasible Other events may be selectably program mable to send during the regular data sending periods or earlier In addition to events that do or might indicate a failure of some kind other reportable events that may be sent as soon as possible after detection may be events that indicate an improper use by the user of the device For example if the card handling device is licensed to the user for specific loca tions and the device detects using GPS or cellular tower location technologies that it has been moved to unlicensed location a report may be sent as soon as technically practi cable Other disallowed uses such as certain games may also trigger the sending of data soon as soon as technically prac ticable after detection Failure or unauthorized use may also be detected by data module 702 when it cannot communicate with any particular card handling device 730 If a regularly scheduled report does
4. 818 filed on Nov 10 2006 now Pat No 8 616 552 An automatic card handling device having a card handling device that includes a controller the card handling device 51 Int CI configured for shuffling an input set of cards and delivering an A63F 1 12 2006 01 output set of cards resulting from the shuffling and a com A63F 1 14 2006 01 munication module operably coupled to the controller GO6F 17 00 2006 01 wherein the communication module is configured for sending GO6F 19 00 2011 01 and receiving information related to operation of the card G07F 17 32 2006 01 handling device across a communication port configured for A63F 9 24 2006 01 operable coupling to a cellular network wherein the infor 52 U S CI mation related to the operation of the automatic card handling CPC us A63F 1 12 2013 01 A63F 2009 2411 device includes information about the use of the card han 2013 01 A63F 1 14 2013 01 G07F 17 3234 2013 01 607 17 32 2013 01 GO7F 17 3293 2013 01 GO7F 17 3225 2013 01 273 149 463 25 463 42 dling device and wherein a factor in a usage fee for the card handling device is use ofthe card handling device 16 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets Communication Unit Processor m 706 vo Device 707 US 8 919 775 B2 Page2 56 References Cited 6 520 857 B2 2 2003 Soltys et al 6 527 271 B2 3 2003 Soltys et al U S PATEN
5. not arrive at data module 702 when expected that indicates the deviceis unable to communicate due to device failure due to a networking failure due to communications being pur posefully blocked being in an unauthorized location that has no network capabilities or other failures Data module 702 may be programmed to re try communications with card handling device 730 for a predetermined number of tries and or over a predetermined time period after which it gen erates a report or alarm An example of an alarm may be a report indicating it is of high importance highlighting of the event on a user interface lights sounds vibration etc or other means indicating that the event requires attention by associated personnel Note that the re try settings including but not limited to attempts to establish communicate and or attempts over a time period may be quite short or small by human standards such as micro or milliseconds for example and may be dependent on the device its location the local infrastructure and other factors In one embodiment the parameters associated with detection of a communica tions fault or non responsive card handling device will be settable selectable at the location of data module 702 The data module receives 806 the information The infor mation can be stored in memory 708 or a memory device external not shown to the data module 702 The report generator 712 analyzes the data and prepares report
6. work etc Communication links 290 and 296 may comprise any form of wireless or wired connections or any combination thereof The operation of card handling device 150 depicted in FIG 4 will now be described As a set of input cards is placed into US 8 919 775 B2 7 card handling device 150 shuffler controller 156 15 config ured to shuffle the input set of cards and sensor module 214 captures image information about each card either before during or after the shuffling process The image information is sent to the card recognition module 154 where the detection module 219 see FIG 3 a processes the image information for each card to determine the rank and suit of each card The image information may be transformed into a rank and suit by an image recognition process of the rank and suit designa tions on each card As explained earlier the image recogni tion process may be performed as software firmware operat ing on the microcontroller 222 or may be performed by custom logic within the custom module 228 see FIGS 3 a 3 c Card recognition module 154 may be configured to operate in multiple modes and may be capable of automati cally switching between multiple modes without powering offor rebooting By way ofexample card recognition module 154 may be configured to operate in a set up mode a run mode or a service mode In addition to shuffling and verifying the contents of an input set of cards card handling device 150 m
7. 162 across local pit network 170A 170B and or equivalently over a cellular net work or combination thereof As such a device operator located within operator station 500 may simultaneously monitor and control each card handling device 160A 160B of each local pit network 170A 170B The operational data transmitted from each card handling device 160A 160B and received at server 162 may be viewed by a device operator stored mined assembled and or simultaneously viewed by service center 168 when each device uses its cellular connec tion not shown in FIG 6 Additionally the operational data may be transmitted to a computer cell phone or like data receiving device belonging to casino personnel Communi cation links 296 494 590 592 594A and 594B may com prise any form of wireless or wired connections or any com bination thereof Additionally the card handling device 160 160 may be configured to receive information comprising messages and instructions such as work commands or a self diagnosis request from a device operator located within operator station 500 or over its cellular connection As such in addition to monitoring multiple card handling devices 160A 160B a device operator located within operator station 500 may con trol multiple card handling devices 160A 160B at any given time Additionally a technician located at a remote location such as service center 168 may perform troubleshooting routines or install softwar
8. 5 2005 Grauzer et al 2011 0165936 A1 7 2011 Kerr 2005 0110210 Al 5 2005 Soltys et al 2011 0172008 A1 7 2011 Alderucci 2005 0113171 Al 5 2005 Hodgson 2011 0183748 Al 7 2011 Wilson et al 2005 0137005 6 2005 Soltys et al 2011 0230268 Al 9 2011 Williams 2005 0192092 Al 9 2005 Breckner et al 2011 0269529 A1 11 2011 Baerlocher 2005 0242500 1 11 2005 Downs III 2011 0287829 1 11 2011 Clarkson et al 2005 0272501 12 2005 Tran et al 2012 0015724 A1 1 2012 Ocko et al 2005 0288083 Al 12 2005 Downs 2012 0015725 1 1 2012 Ocko et al 2005 0288086 Al 12 2005 Schubert et al 2012 0015743 Al 1 2012 Lam etal 2006 0063577 Al 3 2006 Downs et al 2012 0015747 A1 1 2012 Ocko et al 2006 0183540 1 9 2006 Grauzer et al 2012 0021835 1 1 2012 Keller et al 2006 0189381 Al 8 2006 Daniel et al 2012 0034977 Al 2 2012 Kammler 2006 0199649 1 9 2006 Soltys et al 2006 0205508 Al 9 2006 Green FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 2006 0252521 Al 11 2006 Gururajan et al 2006 0252554 Al 11 2006 Gururajan et al WO WO 2004 112923 A1 12 2004 2007 0072677 Al 3 2007 Lavoie et al WO 2008 005286 A2 1 2008 2007 0184905 1 8 2007 Gatto et al OTHER PUBLICATIONS 2007 0197294 AI 8 2007 Gong 2007 0197298 Al 8 2007 Rowe PCT International Search Report for PCT US2007 022894 dated 2007 0202941 Al 8 2007 Miltenberger et al und 5008 Ai pa Cae i 1 a al Shuffle Master Gaming Service Manual ACE Single Deck Card 2008 0039192 Al 2 2008 Laut Shuf
9. 782 B2 8 2004 Runyon et al 5 669 816 A 9 1997 Garczynski et al 6 834 251 BI 12 2004 Fletcher 5 676 372 10 1997 Sines et al 6 848 616 B2 2 2005 Tsirline et al 5 681 039 A 10 1997 Miller 6 848 994 2 2005 Knust et al 5 707 286 1 1998 Carlson 6 857 961 B2 2 2005 Soltys et al 5 707 287 1 1998 McCrea Jr 6 893 347 5 2005 Zilliacus et al 5 722 893 3 1998 Hill et al 6 899 628 B2 5 2005 Leen et al 5 735 525 A 4 1998 McCrea Jr 6 964 612 B2 11 2005 Soltys et al 5 735 742 4 1998 French 7 011 309 B2 3 2006 Soltys et al 5 743 798 4 1998 Adams et al 7 029 009 B2 4 2006 Grauzer et al 5 770 533 6 1998 Franchi 7 036 818 B2 5 2006 Grauzer et al 5 712 505 6 1998 Garczynski et al 7 059 602 B2 6 2006 Grauzer et al 5 779 546 7 1998 Meissner et al 7 073 791 B2 7 2006 Grauzer et al 5 781 647 7 1998 Fishbine et al 7 084 769 B2 8 2006 Bauer et al 5 911 626 A 6 1999 McCrea Jr 7 106 201 B2 9 2006 Tuttle 5 919 090 A 7 1999 Mothwurf 7 113 094 B2 9 2006 Garber et al 5 941 769 A 8 1999 Order 7 114 718 B2 10 2006 Grauzer et al 5 985305 A 11 1999 Peery et al 7 128 652 BI 10 2006 Lavoie et al 5 989 122 11 1999 Roblejo 7 186 181 B2 3 2007 Rowe 6 019 368 A 2 2000 Sines et al 7 203 841 B2 4 2007 Jackson et al 6 039 650 A 3 2000 Hill 7 297 062 B2 11 2007 Gatto et al 6 068 258 A 5 2000 Breeding et al 273 149 R 7 300 056 B2 11 2007 Gioia et al 6 069 564 A 5 2000 Hatano et al 7 303 473 12 2007 Rowe
10. Other data contained in an email text message orthe like may comprise information identifying the location ofthe card handling device 160 the name and location ofthe casino and directions to the casino as well as the casino pit where the card handling device 160 resides Card handling device 160 may also be configured upon diagnosing a prob lem to transmit an alert or a request across network 136 to server 162 or to transmit an alert over a public cellular network to a preselected destination including a central server at a casino operator s property and or a server at the card device manufacturer s location Further server 162 may forward the alert or request to operator station 500 casino personnel or to service center 168 Card handling device 160 may also be configured to gen erate a report comprising a description of the location and relative performance of all the operational elements of card handling device 160 The generated report may then be trans mitted electronically over network 136 to server 162 and or to a server using a public cellular telephony connection Server 162 may also forward the report to service center 168 orto acomputer cell phoneor any other data receiving device belonging to a device technician or casino personnel Upon receipt of a generated report casino personnel or a device technician can quickly locate the corresponding card han dling device 160 and thereafter may address current prob lems
11. card handling device smart shuffler if the device is shuffler data The data may be collected formatted and or sent as a result of an internal request as well Internal requests may be of any form including time based and or timer based requests based on the occurrence or recognition ofa specified set of detected or reported error conditions and or sent inter nally as specifically requested by other internal modules BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is an illustration of one embodiment of an automatic smart card handling device FIG 2 is a block diagram of an automatic card handling device operably coupled to a local network FIGS 3 a through 3 c are block diagrams of an embodi ment of an automatic card handling device FIG 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an auto matic card handing device operably coupled to a local net work FIG 5 is a block diagram of a network of an embodiment of an automatic card handling devices in accordance FIG 6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a network of automatic card handling devices FIG 7 15 an illustration of an environment in which embodiments may operate US 8 919 775 B2 3 FIG 8 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with an embodiment and FIG 9 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with an embodiment The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustration only One skilled in the art who also has the benefit
12. of current players game play player same as game play but the charge rate includes an adder for each player game ses sion a game session is a sequence of game plays where each game play is the same game and the time interval between each game play is short seconds not minutes or hours game session average player count same as game ses sion coupled with an adder for each additional player where the number of players is averaged over a game session card count deck check etc Some embodiments may include the ability to not only charge for each type of use event but further to combine or periodically total charges based on multiple types of use events that occur in one billing period The data module can also receive maintenance and or mechanical information about the automatic card handling device internals to prepare a report alert alarm and or other notification based on the information In some embodiments the data module receives information from internal compo nents In other embodiments the data module may periodi cally collect information using polling methods flushing specified error or status buffers or other methods and collect and format the data for transmission The data may be collected formatted and sent as a result of a request for the information received at the data module from an external source typically a centralized server used to access and in some embodiments further process the
13. or future problems that may eventually exist in the corresponding card handling device 160 The report could generate a repair request a preventative maintenance request could identify the card handling device 160 as requiring a software upgrade etc Additionally the card handling device 160 may be config uredto receive information comprising messages and instruc tions such as work commands or a self diagnosis request from a device operator located within operator station 500 a service center 168 or directly to an individual card device over its own public cellular telephony connection As such in addition to monitoring multiple card handling devices 160 a device operator located within operator station 500 may con trol multiple card handling devices 160 at any given time US 8 919 775 B2 9 Additionally a technician located at a remote location such as service center 168 may perform troubleshooting routines or install software or firmware upgrades and patches on card handling devices 160 by using public cellular telephony com munication links As described above card handling device 160 may be configured to operate in multiple modes and may be capable ofautomatically switching between modes without powering off or rebooting As such a device operator may simulta neously control multiple card handling devices 160 by chang ing the operation mode of a card handling device 160 and thereafter running programs on sending data
14. requests or sending work commands to the card handling device 160 By way ofexample and not limitation a device operator or owner remotely located from any card device 160 may using each card device s cellular connectivity switch any particular card handling device 160 to a service mode and request a self diagnosis conduct troubleshooting routines or install soft ware updates and patches Additionally card handling device 160 may upon receiving an input set of cards automatically switch to a set up mode and activate a calibration check in order to verify proper calibration before switching to a run mode to thereafter shuffle and or verify the input set of cards FIG 6 illustrates another embodiment comprising a net work of card handling devices 160A networked together according to a common trait such as physical location and or game type For example only a network of card handling devices 160A located on a single casino floor or within a limited area of a single casino floor may be networked together Likewise for example a network of card handling devices 160A pertaining to a specific game type such as blackjack may be networked together Each card handling device 160A in a similar network is operably coupled by communication link 590A to a local pit network 170A which may correspond to as described above the location or the game type of the card handling device 160A Each local pit network 170A is in turn operably connecte
15. should be replaced For example different components sub components mechanisms of the card handling device 730 US 8 919 775 B2 13 can wear at different rates depending on how the shuffler 731 is used In one example card handling devices 730 perform different tasks and therefore the use of various sub compo nents differ depending upon the game being played Accord ingly the wear rate of some sub components can vary based on the game being performed by the card handling device 730 The maintenance error module 714 or the card handling device 730 or a processor coupled thereto can keep track of the usage of various components sub components ofthe card handling device 730 and identify when such a component sub component is approaching an end of life usage param eter The maintenance error module 714 can also identify when a component of the card handling device 730 has broken and needs repair or when the card handling device 730 is other wise not operating properly e g when the rate of erroneous shuffles exceeds a threshold The maintenance error module 714 may be able to anticipate a failure based on improper operation and can send a message informing the recipient that maintenance should be done this message can be prior to the failure of the card handling device 730 In some embodiments and as described in greater detail below the data module 702 receives information from the card handling device 730 as a result of a req
16. thereafter transmit and receive information over the net work The custom module 228 may include logic configured for performing the functions of the communication module 146 the detection module 219 and the diagnosis module 212 By way of example and not limitation the custom module 228 may be implemented as a custom application specific inte grated circuit ASIC a field programmable gate array FPGA one or more programmable logic devices PLDs and similar devices for implementing custom logic as are known to those of ordinary skill in the art In another embodiment of card handling device 150 card recognition module 154 may comprise as illustrated in FIG 3 a microcontroller 222 operably coupled to a memory module 224 Microcontroller 222 may be configured to per form the functions of the communication module 146 the detection module 219 and the diagnosis module 212 see FIG 3 a As such microcontroller 222 may be configured to establish communication with a network and transmit and receive information over the network by employing software or firmware stored on memory module 224 Of course many microcontrollers suitable for the card recognition module 154 may include memory as part of the microcontroller 222 Therefore a memory module 224 external to the microcon troller 222 may not be necessary In another embodiment card recognition module 154 may include a hardware communication module 226 In this configurat
17. 4 Computer 134 may be any operable implementa tion including but not limited to a chip or chipset that sup ports public cellular communications capabilities One example is Qualcomm s Snapdragon series of chips other manufacturers such as Intel also sell chips that enable public cellular telephony communications Other embodiments may include several components of which a subset may be the QUALCOMMQ or INTEL chips already mentioned Shuffler 132 may include a shuffler controller 140 and a camera processor 144 operably coupled to camera 142 Shuf fler controller 140 and camera processor 144 are both oper ably coupled to computer 134 by connections 292 and 294 respectively Computer 134 may comprise a communication module 146 and a communication port 148 configured for operable coupling to network 136 via communication link 290 Computer 134 may also be operably coupled to printer 138 via communication link 296 or via network 136 Network 136 may comprise a local network or a wide area network such as the Internet cellular phone network or some combination of networks Communication links 290 and 296 may comprise any form of wireless or wired connections or any combination thereof By way of example and not limita tion communication links 290 and 296 may be comprised of serial data links parallel data links USB Ethernet a Wide Area Network WAN a Local Area Network LAN infra red communication IEEE 802 16 or WiMax IEE
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20. E 802 11a b g n p Wi Fi and in particular for one embodi ment any public cellular phone network including but not limited to GSM CDMA 3G or 3GPP Long Term Evolution LTE communication etc It is envisioned that other com munications technologies especially those used for public telephony can also be used as they are developed in the future As described in more detail below communication module 146 may be configured to establish communication with net work 136 and thereafter send and receive information to and from network 136 across communication port 148 In some embodiments communication module 146 and memory 800 reside within the shuffler 132 in others the communication module 146 and memory 800 may be in a separate enclosure In all embodiments communication module 146 is in operable communication with shuffler con troller 140 In some embodiments other modules or compo nents of the shuffler 132 may also be in communication with communication module 146 in addition to the shuffler con troller 140 In one embodiment upon shuffler 132 receiving an input set of cards shuffler controller 140 is configured to count the cards and as the cards are being counted camera 142 is configured to take a picture of at least a portion of each US 8 919 775 B2 5 counted card Thereafter data representing pictures and card count are sent to computer 134 which iterates through the pictures and extracts the card value fro
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22. US008919775B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 919 775 B2 Wadds et al 45 Date of Patent Dec 30 2014 54 SYSTEM FOR BILLING USAGE OF AN 58 Field of Classification Search AUTOMATIC CARD HANDLING DEVICE USDC 463 11 13 16 25 29 40 43 273 149R 71 Applicant as Gaming Inc Las Vegas NV See application file for complete search history 72 Inventors Nathan Wadds Las Vegas NV US 56 References Cited Colin Helsen Henderson NV US U S PATENT DOCUMENTS Zbigniew Czyzewski Henderson NV uS US James Helgesen Eden Prairie 3 810 627 A 5 1974 Levy MN US Russ Marsden Las Vegas 3 909 002 9 1975 Levy NV US Continued 73 Assignee m Gaming Inc Las Vegas NV FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS ERRE 4 EP 1502631 AI 2 2005 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this WO NUUS 3 1997 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days Continued This patent is subject to a terminal dis OTHER PUBLICATIONS International Search Report for International Application No PCT 21 Appl 13 632 875 US07 23168 dated Sep 12 2008 3 pages 22 Filed Oct 1 2012 Continued 65 Prior Publication Data b Primary Examiner Milap Shah 2013 74 Attorney Agent or Firm TraskBritt Philip J Anderson Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation i f application No 11 558 818 Pa 2 ontinuation in part of application No
23. ay at any time while powered on establish communication with network 136 Thereafter card handling device 150 may transmit the results of the shuffling and verification processes or any other data relating to the card handling device 150 such as diag nostic messages identity messages simple or complex usage data and location messages over network 136 to server 162 see FIGS 5 and 6 Furthermore card recognition module 154 may be configured to send information comprising the shuffling maintenance information power operational infor mation and card verification results to a printer 138 by way of communication link 296 Printer 138 may be configured to upon receipt of the information print a label or other report with information such as verification results that can then be affixed to the output set of cards FIG 5 illustrates an embodiment comprising a network of card handling devices 160 Card handling devices 160 may be located on a casino floor adjacent a playing table or in a back room location offthe casino floor and may be comprised ofeither card handling device 130 described in FIG 2 or card handling device 150 described in FIGS 3 a 3 c and 4 Each card handling device 160 is operably coupled to a network 136 over corresponding communication links 290 Network 136 may be operably coupled via communication link 490 to a server 162 located within operator station 500 which is a computerized machine control system Operat
24. c images and or data Computing device 741 may be a part of shuffler 731 or may be a device separate from the card handling device 730 for example In an embodiment computing device 741 includes a communication unit 746 that communicates with network 720 via communication link 751 The network 720 also com municates with data module 702 via communication link 752 Network 720 be any network e g LAN WAN e g the Internet public cellular network etc The communication links 751 752 can be wireless wired or a combination thereof for example In an embodiment the communication units 706 746 can communicate using one or more of follow ing communications methods cellular protocols e g GSM Global System for Mobile Communications TDMA etc infrared communication IEEE 802 11a b g n p communication 3 G communication 3GPP Long Term Evo lution LTE IEEE 802 16 or WiMax communication or other radio frequency communication It is envisioned that other protocols communication methods can be used Although only one card handling device 730 is illustrated in FIG 7 in some embodiments multiple card handling devices 730 communicate with data module 702 In an embodiment each card handling device 730 can communi cate directly with the data module for example via network 720 In one example multiple card handling devices 730 include communication units 746 that have a cellular modem to enable communication with
25. chitecture a reduced instruction set computer RISC architecture or an architec ture implementing a combination of instruction sets Although only a single processor is shown multiple proces sors may be included The processors 734 744 704 comprise an arithmetic logic unit a microprocessor a general purpose computer or some other information appliance equipped to transmit receive and process electronic data signals from the memory 738 748 708 the input output device 737 747 707 shuffler mechanics 736 and camera 740 The memory 738 748 708 stores instructions and or data that may be executed by processor 734 744 704 The instruc tions and or data may comprise code for performing any and or all of the techniques described herein Memory 738 748 708 may be a dynamic random access memory DRAM device a static random access memory SRAM device Flash RAM non volatile storage combinations of the above or some other memory device known in the art While the memory 738 748 708 is shown on the devices 702 731 741 some of the memory can be remote e g on a separate device connected to the device or via a WAN e g a cloud based storage device Input output device 737 747 707 provides an interface configured to provide inputs send outputs to the device Input devices can enable a user the ability to provide inputs to the input output device 731 741 702 Output devices can be any device equipped to display electroni
26. collection and reporting capabilities will reflect these limitations In one embodiment such a card handling device will do no data analysis at all it will all be done at a server location or other computer that eventually receives or has access to the data At the other end of the spectrum may be multi functional card handling devices hav ing the ability to perform multiple card functions as well as support multiple card games and further having their own displays printers and other components Such sophisticated card handling devices may do some analysis of the data collected that enables them to generate locally at least one if not more of the billing reports usable by users of the device in a manner readable by humans This may include output to a printer or on a screen This enables a casino or other user of the device to track their usage current amount owed possible servicing requirements and other parameters It is expected that the most sophisticated data analysis regarding predictive failure analysis will be done centrally at least in part because more sophisticated analysis uses data from many card handling devices However some or all of the results of such analysis may be downloaded to any individual card handling devices that are sophisticated enough to use them typically in the form of what the card device may detect in terms of patterns its own data Examples of such patterns may include the occurrence of certain
27. d by communi cation link 594A to a local pit operator station 172A As illustrated in FIG 6 pit server 664A is located within pit operator station 172A Therefore any data received by pit server 664A may be accessed by a device operator within pit operator station 172A Conversely pit server 664A may be located outside of pit operator station 172A and any data received at pit server 664A may be forwarded to pit operator station 172A In addition each card handling device 160A or 160B has its own cellular phone connections over which it may communicate and be communicated to the same per sonnel just described as well as personnel associated with a lessor or owner ofthe card devices which may different than the casino operators As described above at any time while powered on each card handling device 160A located within a local pit network 170A may be configured to establish communication with local pit network 170A and transmit information relating to its operation to pit server 664A Also each card handling device 160A may be configured to receive messages or instructions from pit server 664A As such a pit operator located within pit operator station 172A may simultaneously monitor and control each card handling device 160A located in the corresponding local pit network 170A Each card han dling device 160B may be networked together and directly coupled to a local pit network 170B in a similar fashion as described above in refe
28. d from the group comprising at least one of a passage of an amount of time a time of day a predetermined schedule and a prede termined event 4 The system of claim 1 wherein the card handling usage parameters comprise at least one of a type of game a number of shuffles a number of cards shuffled a number of cards dealt number of game play events a number of game sessions within a time period and a time stamp 5 The system of claim 4 wherein a number of game play events includes a number of hands dealt 6 The system of claim 5 wherein a number of hands dealt includes hands dealt to both a player and a dealer 7 The system of claim 1 wherein the information further comprises failure information of the card handling device 8 The system of claim 7 wherein the failure information comprises data indicative of a shuffling error failure of a component of the card handling device or a component of the card handling device exceeding an end of life usage param eter 20 25 30 35 40 20 9 The system of claim 8 wherein the end of life usage parameter is based on a game type being dealt by the card handling device 10 The system of claim 7 further comprising a positioning device configured to determine a location associated with the card handling device wherein the failure information comprises an indication the location is not within an authorized location 11 The system of claim 1 wherein the usa
29. d to card handling device 130 At any time after communication has been estab lished by computer 134 communication module 146 may transmit the information through communication port 148 and across network 136 via communication link 290 As described in greater detail below the information may then be transmitted to a server 162 where the data can be viewed by a device operator stored mined or forwarded to casino per sonnel or a service center 168 see FIGS 5 and 6 Addition ally computer 134 may be configured to send information comprising the shuffling and card verification results to a printer 138 via communication link 296 Printer 138 may be configured to upon receipt of the information print a label with the verification results which may then be affixed to the output set of cards for example The printer 138 could also print a wide variety of messages such as service requests hours of operation number of batches of cards shuffled par ticular cards missing and the like FIGS 3 a through 3 c illustrate various embodiments of card handling device 150 FIG 3 a illustrates a logical par titioning of functions within the card recognition module 154 whereas FIGS 3 5 and 3 c illustrate different embodiments of physical partitioning of the card recognition module 154 Of course these partitioning solutions both logical and physical are example solutions other embodiments with dif ferent partitioning solutions are full
30. e 702 As described above the information can be sent 904 from communication unit 746 or from a separate device The data module 702 receives 906 the information The infor mation can be stored in memory 708 or a memory device external not shown to the data module 702 The data mod ule 702 can request additional information 907 in which case a request is sent to the card handling device 730 or interme diary device as described above The report generator 712 analyzes the data and prepares reports 908 identifying the data in a particular manner For example the report generator 712 can identify the number of cards shuffled by card han dling device 730 during the shift from 8 p m to 4 a m As described above the report information can be stored in memory 708 e g in a database format The report generator can send 910 data related to the reports to other computers printers devices memories In one example the usage of card handling devices 730 can be tracked to enable billing of the card handling device 730 to be based at least in part on the actual use ofthe device during the billing period As described above embodiments permit the reporting period and there fore the billing period to be of any duration US 8 919 775 B2 17 Embodiments will vary as to what and where data collec tion reporting and analysis are done In some embodiments a card handling device may be fairly simple and relatively inexpensive and its data
31. e required mainte nance reports Predictive reporting may be based in part orin whole on statistical analysis of the use data error logs inter rupt events fault reports and any and all data if available from detectors or detection circuits detection ICs type 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 of element that has the ability to log or generate data regard ing the condition of any element either itself or another element Examples of detector elements includes elements such as strain detectors or motion detectors located on or associated with mechanical components and failure detection ICs measuring various electrical electronic properties of compo nents so that anomalous events can be reported or logged Similarly detection elements may be failure detection or condition monitoring circuits contained in larger circuits reporting logging performance deviations or apparent out of spec behaviors and or any other detection elements that gen erate logs interrupts or other events This further includes firmware or software that may use algorithms coupled with input from one or more components or elements of any type mechanical elements using or interfacing to mechanical electrical mechanical optical or other elements all elec tronic elements etc to generate data or report on actual possible or predictive failure events This is by way of example only the concept covers collect
32. e upgrades and patches on card handling device 160A 160B by using an electronic commu nication link between the card handling device 160A 160B and a computer not shown or a cellular telephony link to service center 168 FIG 7 is an illustration of an environment in which embodiments may operate A card handling device 730 can be similar to the card handling device 130 described herein Card handling device 730 includes a shuffler 731 and computing device 741 the operation of which in many respects can be similar to card handling device 132 and computer 134 described herein In an embodiment the shuffler 731 includes a processor 734 shuffler mechanics 736 a camera 740 input output device 737 and memory 738 Shuffler mechanics include physical components and subcomponents of shuffler 731 Examples of such components are described herein with reference to FIG 2 for example In some embodiments the operation of the camera 740 is similar to the operation of camera 142 described herein The computing device 741 includes a processor 744 a communication unit 746 an input output device 747 and memory 748 Data module 702 includes a processor 704 US 8 919 775 B2 11 communication unit 706 input output device 707 memory 708 report generator 712 and maintenance error module 714 The processors 734 744 704 process data signals and may comprise various computing architectures such as a complex instruction set computer CISC ar
33. ed to operator station 500 As such a device operator accessing operator station 500 may receive the information and monitor the status of each card handling device 160 Upon receipt of any information server 162 may be config ured to store mine assemble or forward the information to casino personnel or to a device technician located within service center 168 For example only casino personnel or a device technician may receive the transmitted information by way ofa graphical user interface GUI comprising a visual or alerting system on a computer cell phone or other like data receiving device By way of example only card handling device 160 may be configured to transmit an email or a text message containing the operational status of card handling device 160 to server 162 or directly to a cellular phone network If transmitted to operator station 500 it may then transmit the email text message instant message and or other messaging type to service center 168 or any data receiving device belonging to casino personnel A transmitted email or text message may comprise for example information detailing whether the input set of cards has successfully passed the shuffling and verification processes If the input set of cards has failed the verification process a transmitted email or text message may contain the reasons for failure and may list the missing card or cards should the card handling device 160 detect a missing card or cards
34. er included in the automatic card handling device is a communications module that may communicate to remote computers or servers over public cellular networks The communications module is configured for sending and receiving information related to operation of the automatic card handling device across a communication port that is configured for operable coupling to a communication net work e g a cellular network Information about the auto matic card handling device e g usage information mainte 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 nance information mechanical information etc can be sent to a data module to prepare reports typically formatted data packets such as detailed usage reports that enable the auto matic card handling device to be licensed billed based on use based models rather than fixed time period models One example of a fixed time period model would be leasing a smart shuffler for month regardless of actual use For the purposes of this disclosure when a sign is used it is understood to conceptually include any recognized monetary system and its symbol including but not limited to Y F P 4 Rs X etc Examples of use based models include but are not limited to minute of powered up time card shuffled card delivered game play game play refers to a single game play sequence such as one game of blackjack from start to finish including any number
35. es used in the gaming industry are used for increasing the efficiency security and game speed in live table games such as blackjack baccarat and various forms of poker Card handling devices such as card shufflers may perform a variety of functions including randomly shuffling one or more decks of playing cards in an efficient and thor ough manner In a live table game it is important that the playing cards are shuffled in an efficient and thorough manner to prevent players from having an advantage by knowing the position of specific cards or groups of cards in the final arrangement of cards delivered in the play of the game Addi tionally it is advantageous to have the playing cards shuffled in a very short period of time in order to minimize any delay in the play of the game There is a need for methods and apparatuses to provide increased system efficiency reliability and use details of a card handling devices SUMMARY Embodiments include an automatic card handling device that in one embodiment comprises a shuffling apparatus that is configured for shuffling an input set of cards and delivering an output set of cards resulting from the shuffling The auto matic card handling device further comprises a detection module configured for recognizing a rank and suit of each card of the output set of cards The detection module recog nizes the rank and suit prior to removal of the output set of cards from the shuffling apparatus Furth
36. fler 63 pages 1998 2008 0039208 Al 2 2008 Abrink et al Shuffle Master Gaming Service Manual Let It Ride Bonus With 2008 0096656 Al 4 2008 LeMay et al Universal Keypad 112 pages 2000 Shuffle Master Inc 2008 0113700 Al 5 2008 Czyzewski et al Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for Inter 2008 0113783 Al 5 2008 Czyzewski national Application No PCT US2007 022858 mailed Apr 18 2008 0176627 Al 7 2008 Lardie 2008 5 pages Ys 2008 0234046 1 9 2008 Kinsley 463 40 Notification of Transmittal of International Preliminary Examination 2008 0234047 1 9 2008 Nguyen 463 42 Report for corresponding International Application No PCT US02 2008 0248875 Al 10 2008 Beatty 31105 filed Sep 27 2002 2009 0100409 1 4 2009 Toneguzzo PCT International Search Report and Written Opinion PCT Appli 2009 0224476 Al 9 2009 Grauzer et al cation No PCT US2013 062391 Dec 17 2013 13 pages 2009 0298577 Al 12 2009 Gagner et al 2009 0312093 1 12 2009 Walker et al 463 25 cited by examiner U S Patent Dec 30 2014 Sheet 1 of 9 US 8 919 775 B2 US 8 919 775 B2 Sheet 2 of 9 Dec 30 2014 U S Patent m P
37. ge fee is gener ated based on at least one of service events cards or decks inserted into the card handling device a number of cards dispensed a number of cards counted a number of cards sorted a number of cards or decks checked for completeness a number of individual hands dealt a type of game played a number of individual games played a number of game ses sions played and an amount of winnings detected during play 12 The system of claim 1 wherein the card handling usage parameters comprise at least one of a number of deck shuffles a number of cards shuffled and a number of inter mediate game play events 13 The system of claim 1 wherein the card handling usage parameters comprise a number of game play events that include at least one of a number of a number of cards dis pensed and a number of hands dispensed by the card handling device 14 The system of claim 1 wherein the card handling usage parameters comprise at least one of a number of game ses sions and use ofthe card handling device during a time period 15 The system of claim 1 wherein the card handling usage parameters are used to generate the usage fee based on at least one of a price per powered up time a price per card shuffled a price per card delivered a price per game play a price per game play per player a price per game session a price per game session per average player and a price per card count 16 The system ofclaim 15 wherein a p
38. he request Such data billable events and recallable events are based on the capabilities ofeach card handling device The level to which each card handling device may record data in any form is reflected in the data kept at a central location for later recall analysis and use Unsophis ticated card handling devices with limited reporting capabili ties will have equally limited data available from any back end system while sophisticated card handling devices will enable a back end system to keep far more detailed records respond to download requests for specific data and similar actions The type of data available from a sophisticated card handling device is limited only by its detectors and associated computer power Any type of data related to card usage deck usage or deck type including but not limited to the deck s manufacturer and other data deck or card count of any kind ordering in a randomized deck or partial deck data for each dealt or issued card for any event including card counting or deck determinations as well as game play events and any other type of count or event based on cards in any manner used in a card handling device is contemplated herein The collected data may be organized analyzed and reported in any manner useful for either billing meaning creating bills for payment eventually sent to the user of the device or maintenance of any type including actual and predictive failure analysis and or predictiv
39. herwise manipulated It is convenient at times principally for reasons of common usage to refer to these signals as bits values elements symbols characters terms numbers or the like Furthermore it is also convenient at times to refer to certain arrangements of steps requiring physical manipulations or transformation of physical quanti ties or representations of physical quantities as modules or code devices without loss of generality However all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely con venient labels applied to these quantities Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion it is appreciated that throughout the description discussions utilizing terms such as processing computing calculat ing determining displaying or determining or the 5 25 30 40 45 60 65 18 like refer to the action and processes ofa computer system or similar electronic computing device such as a specific com puting machine that manipulates and transforms data rep resented as physical electronic quantities within the com puter system memories or registers or other such information storage transmission or display devices Certain aspects of the embodiments include process steps and instructions described herein in the form of an algorithm Itshould be noted that the process steps and
40. ing and or using or evaluating any data from failure detection elements as imple mented in various models of card handling devices now or in the future FIG 9 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with an embodiment In contrast to the method described in FIG 8 the information sent by the card handling device 730 is in response to a request for example a request for information by the data module 702 The request can be to a single card handling device 730 multiple card handling devices 730 or to an intermediary computing device not shown which sends 904 the information In this embodiment the data module 702 requests information 901 from the card handling device 730 For example the data module 702 may request information about the number of cards shuffled by card handling device 730 inan 8 hour shift e g a period from 8 p m to 4 a m The information about card handling device 730 is collected 902 As described above the information can include usage data error data or any other data related to the card handling device 730 In an embodiment usage data can include basic data related to the type of game the number of cards shuffled number of cards dealt and a time stamp for example The information sent 904 can include more information than what was requested The information can be stored in memory 738 748 or memory in a separate device until it is sent to the data module 702 The information is sent 904 to the data modul
41. instructions ofthe embodiments can be embodied in software firmware or hardware and when embodied in software could be down loaded to reside on and be operated from different platforms used by a variety of operating systems The embodiments can also be in a computer program product which can be executed on a computing system embodiments also relate to an apparatus for perform ing the operations herein This apparatus may be specially constructed for the purposes e g a specific computer or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively acti vated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer Such a computer program may be stored in a com puter readable storage medium such as but not limited to any type of disk including floppy disks optical disks CD ROMs magnetic optical disks read only memories ROMs random access memories RAMs EPROMs EEPROMs magnetic or optical cards application specific integrated cir cuits ASICs or any type of media suitable for storing elec tronic instructions and each coupled to a computer system bus Memory can include any of the above and or other devices that can store information data programs and can be transient or non transient medium where a non transient or non transitory medium can include memory storage that stores information for more than a minimal duration Further more the computers referred to in the specification may include a single processo
42. ion the communication function may be imple mented completely in hardware or may be a combination of hardware and software functions configured to establish com munication with a network and thereafter transmit and receive information over the network Although the card recognition 154 module in the figures is shown as part of the shuffler 156 in other embodiments the card recognition module 154 may be located in an external computer that communicates with the shuffler controller In some embodiments the communication can be direct indi rect via a LAN via a WAN including public cellular net works a wired network links or any combination FIG 4 illustrates another embodiment wherein card han dling device 150 is coupled to network 136 Card handling device 150 may comprise a shuffler 156 and a card recogni tion module 154 operably coupled together by way of con nection 380 Additionally card recognition module 154 may comprise a communication module 146 and a communication port 148 directly coupled to network 136 via communication link 290 Card recognition module 154 may also be operably coupled to printer 138 via communication link 296 As described above communication module 146 may be config ured to establish communication with network 136 and there after send and receive information over network 136 which as described above may comprise a local network and or a wide area network such as the Internet public cellular net
43. iring a particular physical structure or particular partitioning between ele ments for performing the indicated functions When executed as firmware or software the instructions for performing the methods and processes described herein may be stored on a computer readable medium A computer readable medium includes but is not limited to magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives magnetic tape CDs compact discs DVDs digital versatile discs or digital video discs and semiconductor devices such as RAM DRAM ROM EPROM and Flash memory FIG 1 illustrates a card handling device 110 A top surface 112ofcard handling device 110 may comprise a flip up cover 114 which when opened exposes a card insertion area 116 and an elevator platform 118 Card insertion area 116 may be configured to receive an input set of cards to be shuffled counted and or sorted In one example card handling device 110 may be configured to receive read rank and suit sort and shuffle multiple e g up to 8 decks of cards at any one time Elevator platform 118 may be configured to raise a set of shuffled cards to a level where they can be removed by a device user after the shuffling reading and or sorting pro cesses are completed Elevator platform 118 may include a sensor 120 which detects the presence of cards or other objects located on elevator platform 118 A camera 142 or a card recognition module 146 see FIGS 2 and 3 may also be incl
44. ler the card han dling device configured to physically shuffle an input set of cards and deliver an output set of cards resulting from the shuffling a communication device operably coupled to the control ler the communication device configured to at least send US 8 919 775 B2 19 information including card handling usage parameters of the card handling device across a communication port wherein the card handling usage parameters include information about operational acts performed by the card handling device associated with physical usage ofthe card handling device in play of a game and acomputing device remote from the card handling device operably coupled to the communication port through a network the computing device configured to receive the information including the card handling usage param eters of the card handling device and configured to generate a usage fee for use of the card handling device based at least in part on the card handling usage param eters ofthe card handling device 2 The system of claim 1 wherein the communication device is further configured to receive the information from the controller and to transmit the information to the comput ing device responsive to receiving a request from the com puting device via the communication port 3 The system of claim 1 wherein the communication device is further configured to transmit the information to the computing device responsive to a trigger selecte
45. logged events during a specified time period from a component or certain data entries measurements interrupts or logs from a set of com ponents that by themselves do not raise an alarm but do raise an alarm when they occur together etc Any and all patterns determined by data analysis are conceptually included herein Reference in the specification to one embodiment or to an embodiment means that a particular feature structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least one embodiment The appearances of the phrase one embodiment or embodiment in vari ous places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of opera tions on data bits within a computer memory These algorith mic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance oftheir work to others skilled in the art An algorithm is here and generally conceived to be a self consistent sequence of steps instructions leading to a desired result The steps are those requiring physical manipu lations of physical quantities Usually though not necessarily these quantities take the form of electrical magnetic or opti cal signals capable of being stored transferred combined compared and ot
46. m the picture of each card In another embodiment the information is sent to or more computing device s across a WAN e g Inter net and or cellular network Computer 134 then generates information relating to the input set of cards by associating the value of each individual card with its counted position in the deck The card information is then used by the computer 134 to verify the contents of the deck by comparing the information relating to the input set of cards to information relating to a standard deck of cards stored in the memory 800 ofcomputer 134 Computer 134 may be configured to operate in multiple modes and may be capable of automatically switching between multiple modes without powering off or rebooting By way of example computer 134 may be config ured to operate in a set up mode ran mode ora service mode as are explained more fully below As described above card handling device 130 is configured to display on display panel 122 see FIG 1 any data per taining to the operation of card handling device 130 Card handling device 130 may be further configured to convert the aforementioned operational data into electronic data signals comprising information such as repair related data data related to current or past operation and use the serial number ofthe card handling device 130 the serial numbers of device parts physical location of card handling device 130 perfor mance usage or any other data relate
47. of this disclosure may recognize from the following discus sion that alternative embodiments of the structures and meth ods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles described herein DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure illustrates in various embodiments apparatuses and methods of operation for an automatic card handling device having cellular network capabilities this includes card handling devices that have other network inter faces having similar capabilities as public cellular networks Inthe following description circuits and functions may be shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the descriptions in unnecessary detail Conversely specific cir cuit implementations shown and described are examples only and should not be construed as the only way to implement cellular shufflers unless specified otherwise herein Addition ally block definitions and partitioning of logic between vari ous blocks illustrates one possible embodiment It may become apparent to one of skill in the art who also has the benefit of this disclosure that the embodiments disclosed may be practiced by various other partitioning solutions all of which are contemplated herein Further the term module is used herein in a non limiting sense and solely to indicate functionality of particular circuits and or assemblies within embodiments of cellular card han dling devices and is not be construed as requ
48. one or more data modules 702 via a cellular communication network 720 In another embodiment multiple card handling devices 730 can be coupled to a single device having a communication unit that is capable of connecting to network 720 In one example multiple card handling devices 730 are coupled to a device that is capable of communicating with data module 702 via a cellular communication network In some embodiments data module 702 is positioned such that communication between data module 702 and card han dling device 730 goes through network 720 Data module 702 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 includes a report generator 712 and a maintenance error mod ule 714 A feature of some embodiments is that information about the automatic card handling device 730 e g usage information maintenance information mechanical informa tion etc can be sent to data module 702 The report generator 712 prepares reports such as detailed usage reports that enable the automatic card handling device 730 to be licensed billed based on metrics such as per use per session per game play event per session per time period etc The report generator 712 receives usage information from the card handling device 730 and identifies usage based on various usage parameters Examples of such usage param eters include a number of shuffles b number of cards shuffled c number of game play events d number of game session
49. or station 500 and server 162 may be located within the casino property and may be operably coupled to printer 138 and a world wide network such as the Internet or a public cellular network 164 by communication links 296 and 163 respectively Server 162 may be located within operator station 500 as shown in FIG 5 or may be located separate from and operably coupled to operator station 500 A service center 168 which may be located either on the casino property or at a remote location may be operably coupled to server 162 across a LAN WAN and or other network 164 via communication links 494 and 163 Communication links 163 290 296 490 and 494 may comprise any form of wireless or wired connec tions or any combination thereof The operation of the network of card handling devices depicted in FIG 5 will now be described At any time while a card handling device 160 is powered on the card handling device 160 may establish communication with network 136 and thereafter transmit any information pertaining to the card handling device 160 across network 136 to server 162 As illustrated in FIGS 5 and 6 server 162 is located within operator station 500 Therefore any data received by server 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 162 may be accessed by a device operator within operator station 500 Conversely if server 162 is located outside of operator station 500 any data received at server 162 may be forward
50. played such as blackjack THREE CARD POKER etc without a signifi cant break in play For example if a card handling device 730 is used for THREE CARD POKER and is in continuous use e g shuffling and dealing cards with no more than a five minute break other break period criteria can be used for six hours then the card handling device 730 is used for blackjack then the six hours of THREE CARD POKER is one game play session parameter of use in a period can represent the total amount of usage of the card handling device 730 in a period Examples of usage are number of shuffles number of cards shuffled number of game play events and or game sessions data module 702 can identify usage over any period for a single card handling device 730 and or a collection of card handling devices 730 where the collection can be in the same area of the casino floor in the casino or in different casinos for example The information can assist in identifying trends in the amount of game plays of particular games e g THREE CARD POKER The data module 702 can also receive maintenance and or mechanical information about the automatic card handling device 730 and the maintenance error module 714 can pre pare a report alert alarm and or other notification based on the information For example the maintenance error module 714 can identify when a component sub component ofa card handling device 730 is nearing an end of life metric and
51. r or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capabil ity The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inher ently related to any particular computer or other apparatus Various general purpose systems may also be used with pro grams in accordance with the teachings herein or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the method steps The structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description herein In addition the embodiments are not described with reference to any particular programming language It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to imple ment the teachings of the embodiments as described herein and any references herein to specific languages are provided for disclosure of enablement and best mode While particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described herein it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein and that various modifications changes and variations may be made in the arrangement operation and details of the methods and apparatuses of the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments as defined in the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A system for billing usage of an automatic card handling device comprising a card handling device having a control
52. rence to each card handling device 160A alternatively each card handling device 160A may be in communication with various servers using its cellular tele phony capabilities resulting in the same functionality results as far as operators or owners of the devices are concerned In 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 such cases the hardware and software components of the operator or the card handling device owners would be com patible with cellular technology rather than say a hardwired LAN technology Further in some embodiments each card handling device will have both hardwired LAN and cellular WAN capabilities and will be configured to use each network for different or perhaps overlapping purposes as programmed by the card device programmers Card handling devices 160B may transmit and receive messages to and from pit server 664B over local pit network 170B In addition local pit networks 170A 170B may be oper ably coupled to server 162 via communication link 592 Server 162 may be operably connected to a printer 138 via communication link 296 Service center 168 may be operably coupled to server 162 across a wide area network 164 e g Internet cellular network etc via communication links 494 and 163 In addition to transmitting and receiving information to and from the pit server 664A 664B each card handling device 160A 160B may as described above transmit and receive information to and from server
53. rice per game play includes a price per hand dealt
54. rs printers devices memories In one example the usage of card handling devices 730 can be tracked to enable billing of the card handling device 730 to be based at least in part on the actual use ofthe device during the billing period As described above embodiments permit the reporting period and any associated billing period to be of any dura tion and based on any type of or combination of use In other embodiments billing amounts may include maintenance charges fees or other payable service events Types of use include but are not limited to cards or decks inserted into the card device cards dispensed cards counted cards sorted cards or decks checked for completeness individual hands dealt type of game played individual games played game sessions played directly or indirectly based on any amount of winnings detected during play including any progressive individual hand reports and game reports generated and or request for a report from a past card usage past game or past session data including individual hands previously generated past data may help a casino with a patron dispute may help witha billing dispute etc This may be downloaded to a card handling device from a central location where extended game data associated with each card handling device may be stored or otherwise provided to a user casino operator ofthe local card handling device if the device is unable to communicate or display the results oft
55. s and or e use of card handling device 730 in a time period such as an hour or a defined multiple hour period such as a 24 hour period having any start time for example The parameter of the number of shuffles can represent the number of full deck shuffles performed by the card handling device 730 When multiple decks are shuffled the parameters can reflect the total number of decks shuffled The parameter of the number of cards shuffled can represent the number of cards shuffled by the card handling device 730 In an embodi ment whena particular card is shuffled multiple times over the course of a time period the parameter is incremented each time the card is shuffled In an embodiment a card is shuffled once when the card is part ofa shuffle process in which one or more decks of cards are completely shuffled The parameter of a game play event can represent the number of completed games hands at a table For example one game play event for blackjack represents the dealing of cards between the placement of an initial bet and the final result of the hand In one embodiment if there are five players at a table the completion of one hand for all players and the dealer represents five game plays in some embodiment the dealer s hand is also counted so this represents six game plays in another embodiment this represents one game play The parameter of a game session can represent a series of game plays deals for a particular type of game
56. s 808 identifying the data in a particular manner In one embodi ment it is the report generator 712 that translates lower level data and or log entries into a form that can be used to directly generate or already is in human readable form For example the report generator 712 using the data and or log informa tion sent to it by a device can generate a use report based on the type of data provided by the device Different devices may have different types and or amounts of use data to send where the different types and amounts of data may be reflective of the sophistication of the device Embodiments include the most simple to the very sophisticated Simple devices may report relatively simple data comprised of relatively few US 8 919 775 B2 15 fields having to do with for example cards sorted cards counted cards or decks loaded and or cards dealt More sophisticated devices may include data about types of games played game hands dealt game sessions individual game play events the cards dealt to each player or location asso ciated with a real or virtual player a virtual player is a play er s location or hand that is actually being controlled by a computer and an associated relative value of each hand time stamps for each event and other more detailed information The report information can be stored in memory 708 e g in a database format The report generator can send 810 data related to the reports to other compute
57. uded within the body 124 of card handling device 110 Card handling device 110 may be located adjacent to or flush mounted into a gaming table in a casino where a live card game is taking place or may be located in a remote location off the casino floor which is inaccessible to the public Card handling device 110 may also be configured to dis play operational data relating to the device to a display panel 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 122 located on top surface 112 A casino employee using the card handling device 110 may monitor display panel 122 and view the displayed information in order to know the status of operation of the card handling device 110 Such information displayed on display panel 122 may include the number of cards present in the card handling device 110 the status of any shuffling reading or sorting operations security information relating to the card handling device 110 status relating to a card verification process or any other information about errors or the operation of card handling device 110 that would be useful to a user Buttons 113 115 located adjacent display panel 122 may be on off buttons special function buttons e g raise elevator to the card delivery position reshuffle demand security check card count demand etc and the like FIG 2 illustrates an embodiment of a card handling device 130 comprising a shuffler 132 operably connected to a com puter 13
58. uest for informa tion In other embodiments the data module 702 receives the information without a prior request either directly or indi rectly FIG 8 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with an embodiment The information about card handling device 730 is collected 802 As described above the information can include usage data error data or any other data related to the card handling device 730 For discussion purposes it can be characterized as comprising two types of data One is usage data that is data based on and or reporting the type and kinds of use the card handling device card has been put to Another is fault error and condition reporting Note that in actuality there is always some overlap between these types of data and their use For example predictive maintenance and failure reports may be generated in part or in whole based on usage data and or fault error and or condition data Billing reports which are often based on usage data may also include billable events due to failure error or predictive maintenance data that is used to generate a billable event used to generate a billing report or bill to the user ofthe card handling device 730 In an embodiment usage data can include data related to the type of game the number of cards shuffled the number of cards dealt and in one embodiment will include a time stamp for example It 15 understood that at this level what is being created are data logs
59. which are not typically in human read able form the data logs may be strings of binary digits that have assigned meanings according to a protocol a data type a data structure etc In later processing the data logs will be used to generate human readable reports and or bills The information can be stored in memory 738 748 or memory in a separate device until it is provided to the data module 702 The information 15 then sent 804 to the data module 702 As described above the information can be sent from commu nication unit 746 or from a separate device In one embodi ment the information sent is not in response to a request from the data module 702 rather it is sent on a predetermined schedule or based on a preselected event The predetermined schedule may be a regularly recurring time event such as sending all data collected every 24 hours Typically the fre quency of sending data will be selectable at the card handling device 730 and may be set remotely or by a person having the needed authorization at the device Event based sending will 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 typically be used when the card handling device 730 detects that a certain preselected type of log or interrupt event occurs When these types of events occur it has been prede termined that these events will be reported immediately or in a relatively short time frame compared to the regular reports Preselected
60. y contemplated As illustrated in the logical partitioning of FIG 3 a card handling device 150 includes a shuffler 156 and a card rec ognition module 154 Shuffler 156 includes a sensor module 214 that is operably coupled to card recognition module 154 via connection 380 and is configured for sensing image infor mation about each card included in an input set of cards The sensor module 214 may include for example a two dimen sional CMOS image sensor two dimensional charge coupled device CCD image sensor or a one dimensional line sensor as are known by those in the art Card recognition module 154 comprises a communication module 146 config ured for establishing communication with a local network or a world wide network including a public cellular network Communication module 146 may be further transmit and 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 receive information over the network Further included in card recognition module 154 is a detection module 219 con figured for verifying the contents of an input set of cards and a diagnosis module 212 configured for performing a self diagnosis on the operation of card handling device 150 as are explained more fully below FIG 3 6 illustrates a physical partitioning embodiment of card handling device 150 wherein the card recognition mod ule 154 comprises a custom module 228 including custom logic configured to establish communication with a network and

System for billing usage of an automatic card handling device

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