Gaming table activity sensing and communication matrix

Abstract

An apparatus and a method enabled by the apparatus perform a method of measuring wagering activity on a gaming table. The method comprises providing at least one grid of sensors positioned over an area defined by the surface of a gaming table to sense the presence or absence of gaming elements on the gaming table surface. The sensors sense gaming elements (e.g., playing cards, gaming chips, tokens, player cards, etc.) on the gaming table surface. Signals are sent from the sensors (preferably to a logic control device) indicating the presence or absence of the gaming elements. The logic control device sends signals to a processor in response to receiving the signals from the sensors, and the processor storing information from said signals from the logic control system indicating the presence or absence of gaming elements on the casino table surface.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The casino environment is undergoing significant changes. From a completely labor intensive environment, with live dealers, live security, and physical cards, with security provided by casino personnel, the casino is rapidly moving towards a highly automated electronic environment. Wagers on live gaming tables can be sensed, cards read, cards shuffled, hands read, commands sent from controls, component performance monitored, player activity monitored, dealer activity monitored, identification or players and dealers verified, jackpots incremented or decremented, state of the game or the state of components reported, game results determined or verified, hands verified in discard compartments, rounds of play counted, payouts calculated, a history of results displayed, and many other events and data relating to the operation of a table, pit or casino can be electronically provided. [0002] There has been some resistance to the implementation of these mo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0032] An automated casino table card game system of the present invention is capable of communicating with a local computer, a network computer, a network database, and the like. Although the examples described in this disclosure send information to a control computer prior to sending the data to an upstream database, the present invention contemplates packaging the data, date stamping the data and sending the data to a remote game controller and / or database rather than to a local controller. In this instance, the local controller would be replaced with a simple microprocessor that performed only basic functions such as date stamping the data, storing small amounts of information in memory (such as a card count, for example) and the communication hardware and software. Communications may be via TCP / IP or by other means such as WiFi, satellite systems and the like. The method of data transfer can be by any known means.

[0033] Systems of the invention may have a number of different but interrelated functions and capabilities. Among the various independent capabilities that may be available within the operation of the system may include: a) determining hand composition; b) determining player actions taken during play, such as splitting pairs, doubling down, placing an insurance bet, increasing a bet, decreasing a bet, taking hit cards and the like; c) positioning of chip reading antennae that differentiate between specific types of wagers; d) RFID antennae that operate in sequence to distinguish wagers; e) the combination of RFID antennas to determine first total bets present and additional wagers made, f) Sleeping chips that are programmed to go into a sleep mode once read in the course of a hand; and g) the combination of circuit boards to collectively identify optical position of wagers and RF reading of the value of wagers on a gaming table.

Problems solved by technology

There has been some resistance to the implementation of these more automated systems, and those reasons include the initial costs, the maintenance costs, and the perceived need for costly technical support staff to maintain the systems.

Where more sophisticated components require service, or new components are to be added to the system, the level of technical skill and the degree of complexity of the work needed to implement the addition increases dramatically.

Additionally, the down time to a table or pit that can be caused by the introduction or new components can be significant, further increasing the effective cost of the system.

The proposed systems have also been complex and sophisticated in their software and communication requirements.

At least these factors would lead to significant resistance within the industry for the installation of the more highly automated systems.

The use of playing cards provided by a live dealer has a number of associated limitations and disadvantages that have long plagued the casino industry.

Others are problems associated with the use of playing cards in particular games.

The use of playing cards at live table games typically involves several operational requirements that are time-consuming.

These manipulations take time and are not typically appreciated by either the dealer or players because they distract from the play and entertainment value of the game.

The use of physical cards also adds a regular recurring cost to play of the game in the wear on decks of cards that must be replaced every few hours.

When shuffling is needed, it involves a break in the action of the table game and consumes a significant amount of time.

Shuffling is also the most time consuming operation in preparing for the next hand.

Thus, earnings are limited by the number of hands that can be played per hour.

Accomplishing this without detracting from player enjoyment and desire to play the game is a challenging and longstanding issue with casino owners and consultants in the gaming industry.

The amount of time consumed by collecting, shuffling and dealing is also of significance in private card games because it also delays action and requires some special effort to perform.

In private games there is also some added complexity due to card players remembering or figuring out which player had previously dealt and who should now shuffle and re-deal the cards as needed.

In the gaming industry there is also a very significant amount of time and effort devoted to security issues that relate to play of the casino games.

Part of the security concerns stem from frequent attempts to cheat during play of the games.

The amount of cheating in card games is significant to the casino industry and constitutes a major security problem that has large associated losses.

The costs of efforts to deter or prevent cheating are very large and made on a daily basis.

The disadvantage of this approach is that not all cards dealt are easily imaged from a camera position above the table because some or all of the cards are not dealt face-up, or are hidden by overlying cards.

The covered cards of the players do not allow the rank, suit or order of dealt cards to be ascertained from an above-table camera or on table mounted cameras.

Even where cameras are used, their use may not be effective.

Such cameras may require time-consuming and tedious human analysis to go over the videotapes or other recordings of table action or require the use of software that is complex and imprecise.

Such human analysis is costly and cannot economically be used to routinely monitor all action in a casino card room or table game pit.

For the above reasons, the video camera monitoring techniques have found very limited effectiveness as a routine approach for identifying cheating.

There has also been relatively limited use as a serious analytical tool because of the difficulty of analysis.

Such camera surveillance techniques are of limited effectiveness as a deterrent because the analysis is completed after the player is gone from the table.

Additionally, many cheats have a working knowledge of their limitations and utilize approaches that are not easily detectable by such systems.

More routine and general screening to detect cheating has remained a difficult and continuing problem for casinos.

The most significant cost in operation gaming tables is the personnel costs.

This approach allows for electronic data acquisition, but provides a high cost solution to the problem

Images