Gaming object recognition

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for identifying and tracking gaming objects. The system comprises an overhead camera for capturing an image the table, a detection module for detecting a feature of the object on the image, a search module for extracting a region of interest of the image that describes the object from the feature, a search module for extracting a region of interest of the image that describes the object from the feature, a feature space module for transforming a feature space of the region of interest to obtain a transformed region of interest, and an identity module comprising a statistical classifier trained to recognize the object from the transformed region. The search module is able to extract a region of interest of an image from any detected feature indicative of its position. The system may be operated in conjunction with a card reader to provide two different sets of playing card data to a tracking module, which may reconcile the provided data in order to detect inconsistencies with respect to playing cards dealt on the table.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION [0001] The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent applications No. 60 / 676,936, filed May 3, 2005; 60 / 693,406, filed Jun. 24, 2005; 60 / 723,481 filed Oct. 5 2005, 60 / 723,452 filed Oct. 5 2005, 60 / 736,334 filed Nov. 15 2005, 60 / 760,365 filed Jan. 20 2005 and 60 / 771,058 filed Feb. 8, 2006.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Casinos propose a wide variety of gambling activities to accommodate players and their preferences. Some of those activities reward strategic thinking while others are impartial, but each one of them obeys a strict set of rules that favours the casino over its clients. [0003] The success of a casino relies partially on the efficiency and consistency with which those rules are applied by the dealer. A pair of slow dealing hands or an undeserved payout may have substantial consequences on profitability. [0004] Another critical factor is the consistency with which those rules are respected by the player. Large sums of money t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] It would be desirable to be provided with a system for recognizing playing cards positioned on a game table in an accurate and efficient manner.

Problems solved by technology

A pair of slow dealing hands or an undeserved payout may have substantial consequences on profitability.

Again, an undetected card switch or complicity between a dealer and a player may be highly detrimental to profitability.

Initially, the task was performed manually, a solution that was both expensive and inefficient.

Such recognition is particularly challenging when the card corner or the central region of a playing card is undetectable within an overhead image of a card hand, or more generally, within that of an amalgam of overlapping objects.

Current solutions for achieving such recognition bear various weaknesses, especially when confronted to those particular situations.

While such a method is practical for recognizing a solitary playing card, or at least one that is not significantly overlapped by other objects, it may not be applicable in cases where the corner or central region of the card is undetectable due to the presence of overlapping objects.

It also does not provide a method of distinguishing face cards.

Furthermore, it does not provide a method of extracting a region of interest encompassing a card identifying symbol when only a partial card edge is available or when card corners are not available.

This approach of determining a rotation angle is not appropriate for overlapping cards forming a card hand.

This approach of pip counting will not be feasible when a card is significantly overlapped by another object.

A possible disadvantage of trying to directly recognize images of a symbol using a neural network is that it may have insufficient recognition accuracy especially under conditions of stress such as image rotation, noise, insufficient resolution and lighting variations.

One disadvantage of their implementation is that such cards are more expensive than normal playing cards.

Furthermore, adhering casinos would be restricted to dealing such special playing cards instead of those of their liking.

However, such detection is yet to be entirely automated and seamless as it requires some form of human intervention.

One disadvantage of this system is that it requires the use of bar-coded cards and barcode readers to be present in the playing area.

The presence of such devices in the playing area may be intrusive to players.

Furthermore, dealers may need to be trained to use the special devices and therefore the system does not appear to be seamless or natural to the existing playing environment.

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