Card flipping device and card flipping method of poker machine

Abstract

The present invention discloses a card flipping device and a card flipping method for a poker machine. The card flipping device includes a controller, a card flipping mechanism, an identification mechanism, and a card feeding mechanism. The detection mechanism includes a detection element and a camera. A through hole is provided on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box, and the camera is installed at the through hole. The vertical distance M from the center of the through hole to the left side wall y of the card flipping box ranges as follows: the vertical distance F from the poker card symbol to its near side edge < M < the vertical distance F from the poker card symbol to its near side edge + 5 mm. The distance G from the front edge of the card flipping box is equal to the vertical distance R from the poker card symbol to its front edge. The vertical distance H from the poker cards in the card flipping box ranges as follows: 3 mm < H < 10 mm. The present invention determines whether there is a problem of overlapping cards by detecting the length of the poker cards, realizes automatic identification and processing of overlapping cards, optimizes the card flipping order, and has high efficiency in collecting poker card images and low power consumption.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of poker machines, in particular to a card turning device and a card turning method of a poker machine. Background Art

[0002] Playing cards are a popular entertainment item. After playing a round of cards, players need to sort, shuffle and deal the cards themselves. In order to save time in dealing cards, people have invented automatic card dealing machines to deal cards. For example, a patent document with publication number CN201164714Y discloses a four-mouth playing card dealing machine, which has a shuffling chamber, a shuffling differential driven by a shuffling motor is installed in the center of the shuffling chamber, and four conveyor belts connected to the card dealing mechanism are evenly distributed around it. The conveyor belts are driven by a conveying motor, and a card handling wheel is installed on one side of each conveyor belt, and a block matched with the card handling wheel is installed on the other side. The card handling wheel is installed with a spiral lever, and a counting photoeye is installed at the output end of the card dealing mechanism. When the card dealing machine is in use, the messy cards are placed face down in the shuffling chamber, and the cards are sent out from four outlets after passing through the shuffling differential, the card handling wheel and the card dealing mechanism. Although the card dealing machine basically completes the actions of shuffling and dealing cards, it still cannot avoid the need for players to collect, sort, and flip the playing cards with the front and back facing different directions, resulting in high labor intensity and long waiting time during the game.

[0003] Patent document with publication number CN107096215A discloses a poker machine and a card flipping device and a poker card sorting method thereof, and provides a mechanical structure for flipping poker cards, but does not disclose the card flipping method of the card flipping device.

[0004] The patent document with the publication number CN103055499A discloses a fully automatic poker machine, comprising: a card feed frame for placing playing cards, a card feeding mechanism for conveying playing cards is provided at the bottom of the card feed frame; a card sorting slot for vertically placing playing cards, the card sorting slot is provided with at least two card sorting components capable of relative movement so as to move playing cards so as to move them out of the card sorting slot in a manner of vertical length; a vertical card transfer device for vertically placing playing cards sent from the card feed frame in the card sorting slot; a card flipping device for flipping the front and back sides of playing cards, the card flipping device is installed at the exit side of the card sorting slot; a card dealing device installed behind the card flipping device for randomly sending playing cards to a plurality of receiving boxes; and a plurality of card lifting devices for respectively lifting playing cards in each receiving box onto the table. The poker machine uses ordinary playing cards and adopts a vertical card sorting method, which greatly improves the accuracy and efficiency of card sorting. However, the poker machine has many parts and devices, and the manufacturing cost is high.

[0005] A fully automatic poker machine is disclosed in the patent document with publication number CN102580307A, which includes a mounting base plate and a plurality of supporting legs arranged at the bottom of the mounting base plate; a card inlet for placing playing cards is arranged on the mounting base plate and is opened in a manner parallel to the table top; a shuffling and primary card separation device is arranged at one end of the card inlet and is used for initially separating disordered playing cards; a straight card and secondary card separation device is arranged at the other end of the shuffling and primary card separation device and is used for adjusting the playing cards to the same direction and separating them into single cards; a card flipping and card dealing device is arranged at the other end of the straight card and secondary card dealing device and is used for adjusting single playing cards with different front and back sides to the same direction and dealing the cards according to regulations; a card pushing device is arranged at the other end of the card flipping and card dealing device and is used for moving the dealt playing cards; and a card raising device is arranged at one side of the card pushing device and is used for raising the playing cards onto the table top. Among them, the shuffling and initial card dealing equipment realizes initial card dealing (separating the playing cards into a few cards) through the different rotation speeds of the card feeding belt and the card dealing belt; the straight and secondary card dealing equipment transports the playing cards through the secondary card dealing belt and realizes straight dealing (adjusting the playing cards to the same direction, i.e. sorting the cards) through the straight belt and the auxiliary straight belt on both sides; the card flipping equipment realizes card flipping (turning the playing cards to the required side) through the cooperation of the card flipping plate and three concave card flipping belts; the card dealing equipment realizes random card dealing (i.e. shuffling and dealing) through the cooperation of the card dealing belt and the card dealing rod; the dealt playing cards fall directly on the card pushing panel and then are pushed to the card raising panel by the card pushing rod, and the card raising equipment raises the playing cards onto the table top.

[0006] Although the above poker machines basically realize the operations of sorting, shuffling and dealing poker cards, the following problems still exist:

[0007] 1. The image acquisition efficiency is low. The camera needs to continuously capture images of the playing cards in the card box. In some poker machines, in order to ensure the accuracy of identifying the front and back of the playing cards, two or even more cameras are set up, which consumes a lot of power and generates a large number of invalid images. The configuration requirements of the image processing module are high, resulting in high production and maintenance costs.

[0008] 2. It cannot automatically identify and handle stacked cards. When stacked cards occur, the card flipping will be unstable, the card flipping efficiency will be low, and even the system will crash.

[0009] To sum up, the existing poker machine flipping device still has shortcomings in terms of poker card image acquisition accuracy, card recognition efficiency, judgment of stacking problems, power consumption and flipping stability. Therefore, it is necessary to make more refined improvements to the size, structure, etc. of the existing flipping device. Summary of the invention

[0010] To solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a card flipping device and a card flipping method for a poker machine. By setting the specific installation position of the camera, the present invention improves the recognition efficiency of the front and back sides of playing cards, and determines whether there is a problem of stacked cards by detecting the length of the playing cards, realizing the automatic recognition and processing of stacked cards, optimizing the card flipping order, and the present invention has high efficiency in collecting playing card images and low power consumption.

[0011] To achieve the above object, in one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a card flipping device for a poker machine. The card flipping device includes a controller, a card flipping mechanism, an identification mechanism, and a card feeding mechanism. The card flipping mechanism, the identification mechanism, and the card feeding mechanism are all electrically connected to the controller; the card flipping mechanism includes a card flipping seat and a card flipping box connected thereto. The card flipping box includes four side walls, namely, upper, lower, left, and right side walls. An inlet for cards is provided at the front end thereof, and an outlet for cards is provided at the rear end of the card flipping box; the card feeding mechanism includes a card running wheel and a card feeding motor drivingly connected thereto. A part of the card running wheel is embedded in the card flipping box through a gap in the middle of the wide side wall of the card flipping box. The identification mechanism includes a detection element and a camera; specifically:

[0012] The detection element includes a first photoelectric induction module. The first photoelectric induction module is arranged at the inlet for cards of the card flipping box. When the controller detects that the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, the camera is started to prepare for image acquisition;

[0013] A through hole is provided on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box. The camera is installed at the through hole. The vertical distance M from the center of the through hole to the left side wall y of the card flipping box has a value range of: the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge < M < the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge + 5 mm. The distance G from the center of the through hole to the front edge of the card flipping box = the vertical distance R from the playing card symbol to its front edge. The vertical distance H from the center of the through hole to the playing card in the card flipping box has a value range of: 3 mm < H < 10 mm.

[0014] Preferably, the camera is fixed directly above the through hole, and the vertical distance h from its lens to the through hole has a value range of: 7 mm < h < 12 mm.

[0015] Preferably, the camera is installed on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box through a camera bracket. The inside of the camera bracket is hollow and in the shape of a frustum with a narrow upper part and a wide lower part. The camera is installed at the top of the camera bracket.

[0016] Preferably, the height A of the card flipping box has a value range of: 3 mm < A < 10 mm.

[0017] Preferably, the width B of the card-flipping box satisfies the following range: the width L1 of a playing card + 1 mm < B < the width L1 of a playing card + 5 mm.

[0018] Preferably, the length C of the card-flipping box satisfies the following range: 1.1 * the length L2 of a playing card < C < 1.5 * the length L2 of a playing card.

[0019] Preferably, the detection element further includes a second photoelectric induction module, which is arranged in the direction of the card outlet on the wide side wall of the card-flipping box. The vertical distance N between the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module satisfies the following range:

[0020] the length L2 of a playing card < N < the length L2 of a playing card + 5 mm. If both the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module have circuit interruptions, there is a problem of overlapping cards.

[0021] Another aspect of the present invention provides a card-flipping method based on the above-mentioned card-flipping device of a poker machine. The method includes the following steps:

[0022] 1) When the front end of a playing card enters the card-flipping device from the card inlet of the card-flipping box, the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, and the controller starts the camera.

[0023] 2) When the symbol position of the playing card moves to directly below the camera, the camera captures the card face image of the playing card.

[0024] 3) The controller processes and identifies the card face image to determine the front and back of the playing card.

[0025] 4) If the card face orientation of the playing card is inconsistent with the expected output card face orientation, the card-flipping motor is started. After the playing card completely enters the card-flipping box, a card-flipping action is performed.

[0026] 5) The playing card is pushed to the next processing device.

[0027] Preferably, in step 1), when the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, the controller detects the length of the playing card and determines whether there is a problem of overlapping cards based on the length of the playing card.

[0028] If there is a problem of overlapping cards, the feeding motor is started to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby driving the card-running wheel to rotate and driving the playing card to retreat, and the playing card is retreated to the previous device of the card-flipping device.

[0029] Preferably, the specific method for the controller to detect the length of the playing card is as follows:

[0030] When there is only one photoelectric sensing module, the controller determines the actual length of the playing cards entering the card box according to the time when the line of the first photoelectric sensing module is interrupted and the moving speed of the playing cards. If the actual length is greater than the theoretical length of the playing cards, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

[0031] When there are two photoelectric sensing modules, if the first photoelectric sensing module located at the card inlet of the card box and the second photoelectric sensing module located at the card outlet of the card box are interrupted at the same time, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

[0032] Preferably, the method of determining the front and back of a playing card based on the card image information is as follows: an image processing module in the controller extracts information from the card image to determine whether there is a symbol; if so, it is determined to be the front side, otherwise, it is the back side.

[0033] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0034] 1) The present invention improves the accuracy of playing card image acquisition by setting the specific installation position of the camera, thereby improving the efficiency of identifying the front and back sides of playing cards. In addition, this structure also reduces the thickness of the card flipping box, so that the vibration amplitude of the playing cards in the card flipping box during the card flipping process is reduced, so that the position of the playing cards output in the card flipping device is accurate, and the connection accuracy between the card flipping device and its front (card dividing device) and rear (card dealing device) is improved, and the probability of playing card processing failures is reduced.

[0035] 2) The present invention lengthens the distance between the camera and the playing cards outside the flip box, so that images of the playing cards can be captured no matter when the camera is above the flip box or flipped under the flip box, thereby realizing the capture of images of dynamic playing cards by only one camera, thereby reducing the production and maintenance costs of the poker machine.

[0036] 3) The present invention determines whether there is a stacking problem by detecting the length of playing cards, thereby realizing automatic identification and processing of stacked cards, making the number of cards dealt more accurate and facilitating optimization of the order of turning over playing cards.

[0037] 4) The present invention is arranged to obtain card surface image information of the playing cards when the front end of the playing cards moves to the opposite side of the camera, which is beneficial to reducing the number of camera shots, reducing power consumption, and improving the accuracy of image acquisition and the efficiency of card flipping. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The drawings in the specification, which constitute a part of the present application, are used to provide a further understanding of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application and do not constitute a limitation on the present application.

[0039] Figure 1It is a desktop schematic diagram of the poker machine of the present invention (top view);

[0040] Figure 2 The structure of the poker machine of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 1 ;

[0041] Figure 3 The structure of the poker machine of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 2 ;

[0042] Figure 4 It is a three-dimensional card flipping device of the present invention. Figure 1 ;

[0043] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional card flipping device of the present invention. Figure 2 ;

[0044] Figure 6 The transmission structure of the card flipping device in the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 1 (Enter the card);

[0045] Figure 7 The transmission structure of the card flipping device in the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 2 (Play a card);

[0046] Figure 8 The transmission structure of the card flipping device in the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 3 (Enter the card);

[0047] Fig. 9 The transmission structure of the card flipping device in the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 4 (Play a card);

[0048] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the internal space of the card flipping box in the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] FIG. 11( a ) is a schematic diagram of the installation position of the camera in the first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 (side view);

[0050] FIG. 11( b ) is a diagram showing the installation position of the camera in the first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 (Looking down). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0052] It should be noted that the following detailed descriptions are illustrative and are intended to provide further explanation of the present application. Unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present application belongs.

[0053] It should be noted that the terms used herein are only for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments according to the present application. As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular form is also intended to include the plural form. In addition, it should be understood that when the terms "comprise" and / or "include" are used in this specification, it indicates the presence of features, steps, operations, devices, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0054] In addition, in the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0055] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more, unless otherwise clearly specified.

[0056] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0057] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, a first feature being "above" or "below" a second feature may include that the first and second features are in direct contact, or may include that the first and second features are not in direct contact but are in contact through another feature between them. Moreover, a first feature being "above", "above" and "above" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. A first feature being "below", "below" and "below" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly below and obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is lower in level than the second feature.

[0058] This embodiment provides a poker machine and a card flipping device and a card flipping method thereof. The technical solution of this embodiment is described in detail below:

[0059] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 The poker machine shown comprises a card feeder 2, a card sorting device 6, a card splitting device 7, a card turning device 3, a card dealing device 4 and a card raising device 5 installed on a frame table 1; a plurality of card receiving boxes in the card dealing device 4 are distributed along the same circumference, a card feed frame of the card feeder 2 for placing scattered playing cards, a card sorting device 6 for sorting the playing cards sent out by the card feeder 2 into cards with the width side forward and translated, a card splitting device 7 for separating the playing cards sent out by the card sorting device 6 into playing cards one by one and sending them to a card flipping box 309, a card flipping box 309 for identifying playing cards and turning over playing cards as needed, and a card dealing mechanism for sending playing cards from the card flipping box 309 to the card receiving box are sequentially arranged in a straight line on the diameter of the circumference of the distribution of the plurality of card receiving boxes, and a plurality of card raising devices 5 are arranged one by one with a plurality of card receiving boxes. Such a layout can not only ensure reliable coordination and continuity between the devices, but also be compact and reasonable, and have high space utilization.

[0060] in:

[0061] The specific connection relationship and installation structure of the card feeding device 2, the card sorting device 6, the card dividing device 7, the card dealing device 4 and the card raising device 5 can refer to the corresponding structure disclosed in the patent document with publication number CN106984034.

[0062] As mentioned in the background technology, the card flipping device disclosed in the patent document with publication number CN102580307A uses a card flipping plate and three card flipping belts to realize card flipping in actual use, and cannot automatically identify and process stacked cards. When stacked cards are encountered, the card flipping will be unstable, the card flipping efficiency will be low, and even the system will crash. In order to ensure the efficiency of image recognition, the camera needs to continuously capture images of the playing cards in the card flipping box, which consumes a lot of power and will produce a large number of invalid images. The configuration requirements of the image processing module are relatively high, which inevitably increases the production and maintenance costs. Based on this, the internal structure of the existing card flipping device is improved in this embodiment. Specifically:

[0063] In this embodiment, Figure 4 The card inlet 3091 of the card flipping device 3 is provided with a slope for facilitating the entry of playing cards. The card flipping box 309 is rotatably mounted on the card flipping seat through a bearing, and a turntable is fixed on the card flipping box 309, and the turntable is connected to the card flipping motor 303 through a transmission belt. Of course, in other embodiments, the above structure can also be: the turntable is connected to the card flipping motor 303 through a gear.

[0064] The specific structure of the card flipping mechanism can be found in the patent documents of publication number CN103083896A and publication number CN103041579, wherein, in the patent of publication number CN103083896A, the card flipping box is in a state of horizontal placement of the wide face under non-operating state, and it performs the action of reversing 180° or not acting according to the front and back sides of the playing cards. In the patent of publication number CN103041579, the card flipping box is in a state of vertical standing of the wide face under non-operating state, and it performs the action of rotating 90° clockwise or 90° counterclockwise according to the front and back sides of the playing cards, and after the action is completed, the card flipping box returns to its original position. In the present embodiment, the former situation is mainly described, and for the latter situation, it can be realized in other embodiments of the present invention, and since the action principle is basically the same, the former situation will not be described in detail.

[0065] In addition, the card feeding mechanism can adopt the card wheel structure disclosed in the patent document with publication number CN103083896A, or the card pushing mechanism in the form of a card pushing rocker arm disclosed in the patent document with publication number CN103041579A. This embodiment adopts the former. Figure 8 and Fig. 9 As shown, a wide gap communicating with the interior is opened on both sides of the flop box 309, so that the first card-moving wheel 316 and the second card-moving wheel 17 on both sides can extend into the flop box 309 through the wide gap, and a gap of at least the thickness of a playing card is left between the two card-moving wheels, and both card-moving wheels can extend into the flop box. Two sets of transmission mechanisms are arranged on the flop seat 301, and the two sets of transmission mechanisms correspond to the first card-moving wheel 316 and the second card-moving wheel 317 of the flop box 309 respectively. A card-delivering motor 302 is fixed on the flop seat 301. When the flop box 309 is turned over, the card-moving wheel on one side is pressed into the flop box 309, and the card-delivering motor 302 drives the card-moving wheel on one side to rotate through the transmission mechanism to deliver the playing cards.

[0066] The improved technical solution of this embodiment is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0067] The card flipping device 3 in this embodiment includes a controller, a card flipping mechanism, an identification mechanism and a card feeding mechanism, and the card flipping mechanism, the identification mechanism and the card feeding mechanism are all electrically connected to the controller;

[0068] like Figure 4 , Figure 5 and Figure 6As shown, the card flipping mechanism includes a card flipping base and a card flipping box 309 connected thereto. The card flipping box 309 has a front-to-back through gap that can place playing cards and allow the playing cards to move in and out. The front end of the card flipping box 309 is provided with a card inlet 3091, and the rear end of the card flipping box 309 is provided with a card outlet 3092. The card flipping box 309 is rotationally connected to a card flipping motor 303 installed on the card flipping base 301. A card dealing device is installed at the card outlet of the card flipping box 309 on the card flipping base 301. After the playing cards are pushed out from the card outlet 3092 of the card flipping mechanism, they enter the card dealing device, and the card dealing operation is performed by the card dealing device; The recognition mechanism includes a detection element and a recognition element. Specifically:

[0069] Figure 6 As shown in FIGS. 11(a) and 11(b), in this embodiment, the detection element includes a first photoelectric induction module 314 (in other embodiments, a second photoelectric induction module may also be included, and this situation will be introduced in detail below). The first photoelectric induction module 314 is arranged at the card inlet on the wide side wall of the card flipping box, and is used for real-time detection of the length and position of the playing cards in the card flipping box. When the controller detects a line interruption of the photoelectric induction module 314, it starts the camera 315 to prepare for image acquisition. At the same time, the controller detects the duration of the line interruption of the photoelectric induction module 314, and determines the length of the playing card in combination with the moving speed of the playing card a, and then judges whether there is a problem of overlapping cards according to the length of the playing card. To improve the accuracy of overlapping card recognition, the installation position of the camera is set as follows:

[0070] A through hole 316 is provided on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box. The value range of the vertical distance M from the center of the through hole 316 to the left side wall y of the card flipping box is: the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge < M < the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge + 5 mm. The distance G from the center of the through hole 316 to the front edge of the card flipping box = the vertical distance R from the playing card symbol to its front edge. The value range of the vertical distance H from the center of the through hole 316 to the playing card in the card flipping box is: 3 mm < H < 10 mm. The camera 315 is installed directly above the through hole on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box through a camera bracket. The inside of the camera bracket is hollow and in the shape of a frustum of a cone with a narrow upper part and a wide lower part. The camera is installed at the top of the camera bracket. To ensure that the camera can capture an effective card face image, the value range of the vertical distance h from the lens of the camera to the through hole is: 7 mm < h < 12 mm.

[0071] In this embodiment, the card flipping box is a cuboid shell with different lengths, widths and heights and through front and back, and its specifications are:

[0072] The value range of height A is: 3mm < A < 10mm. The minimum value is intended to leave necessary space for the image acquisition of the camera, and it can ensure that the playing card can smoothly enter the card flipping device after being sent out from the previous device (usually the card dealing device). The reason for setting the maximum value is that the card flipping action is generally relatively fast. To prevent the playing card from vibrating significantly in the card flipping box, which may cause the playing card after flipping to be difficult to align with the gap between the two card dealing wheels of the card dealing device.

[0073] The value range of width B is: playing card width L1 + 1mm < B < playing card width L1 + 5mm. The minimum value is set to avoid unnecessary rubbing between the playing card and the side wall of the card flipping box. The maximum value is set to prevent the playing card from tilting during the movement in the card flipping box, which may affect the card feeding order of the next device.

[0074] The value range of length C is: 1.1 * playing card length L2 < C < 1.5 * playing card length L2. The minimum value is set for two reasons. On the one hand, it is to ensure that the card flipping action is performed only after the playing card completely enters the card flipping device. On the other hand, when there are two photoelectric induction modules, it gives enough interval for judging the length. The reason for setting the maximum value is that, on the one hand, an overly long L will also cause the card flipping device to occupy a large space, which is not conducive to the miniaturization and compactness development of the poker machine. On the other hand, to improve the sorting speed of the playing cards, the unnecessary travel of the playing cards should be minimized, so the length of L is shortened.

[0075] Based on the above, the card flipping method of this embodiment is as follows:

[0076] 1) When the front end of the playing card enters the card flipping device from the card feeding port of the card flipping box, the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, and the controller starts the camera.

[0077] 2) When the symbol position of the playing card moves to directly below the camera, the camera captures the card face image of the playing card.

[0078] 3) The controller processes and identifies the card face image to judge the front and back of the playing card. Specifically: the image processing module in the controller extracts information from the card face image to judge whether there is a symbol. If there is a symbol, it is judged as the front, otherwise, it is the back.

[0079] 4) If the card face orientation of the playing card is inconsistent with the expected output card face orientation, the card flipping motor is started. When the playing card completely enters the card flipping box, the card flipping action is performed.

[0080] 5) Push the playing card to the next processing device.

[0081] In addition, in step 1), when the line of the first photoelectric sensing module is interrupted, the controller starts to detect the length of the playing cards at the same time, and determines whether there is a stacking problem according to the length of the playing cards; specifically:

[0082] The controller determines the actual length of the playing cards entering the card box according to the time when the line of the first photoelectric sensing module is interrupted and the moving speed of the playing cards. If the actual length is greater than the theoretical length of the playing cards, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

[0083] If there is a card stacking problem, the card feeding motor is started to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby driving the card moving wheel to rotate, driving the playing cards to return, and returning the playing cards to the previous device of the card flipping device.

[0084] In combination with the above technical solution, the specific action flow of this embodiment is as follows:

[0085] See also Figure 6 , playing card a enters the card flipping box 309 from the card inlet 3091, and the first photoelectric sensing module 314 has a line interruption time, the controller starts the camera 315, and starts timing at the same time to detect the specific position of the playing card in the card flipping box. When the playing card a reaches directly below the camera 315, the camera 315 collects the card surface image of the playing card a. At this time, the first card moving wheel 316 is located above the card flipping box 309, and the second card moving wheel 317 pushes the playing card a to move into the card flipping box 309. If the side of the playing card facing the camera 315 is inconsistent with the preset, then when the playing card completely enters the card flipping device and there is no problem of stacking cards, the controller starts the card flipping motor 303 to drive the card flipping box 309 to flip 180°, so that the playing card is turned over; after the flipping is completed, the card feeding motor drives the card moving wheel to drive the playing card to move toward the card outlet 3092.

[0086] The controller calculates the length of the playing card according to the time when the playing card enters the card box and the moving speed of the playing card. If the detected length of the playing card is greater than its theoretical length, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

[0087] If the controller detects that there is a card stacking problem, the card moving motor 318 rotates in the reverse direction to drive the second card moving wheel 317 that is in contact with the playing cards to rotate, and the playing cards are returned to the previous device.

[0088] like Figure 8 and Fig.10 As shown, the card outlet 3902 of the card box 309 is provided with a driving wheel 401 and a limiting wheel 402 of the card dealing device. The driving wheel 401 rotates through gear transmission, and the limiting wheel 402 is fixed and cooperates with the driving wheel to form a gap through which only one card can pass. When the cards enter the gap between the driving wheel 401 and the limiting wheel 402, if there is a phenomenon of overlapping cards, the playing cards can be separated into single pieces again to ensure the accurate number of cards dealt.

[0089] Below, taking the card flipping device needing to output playing cards face down as an example, the specific working process of the card flipping device in this embodiment is as follows:

[0090] See also Figure 6 If the playing card entering the card box is face up, the card flop motor 303 drives the card flop box 309 to rotate 180° clockwise or counterclockwise. At this time, the playing card is face down, and the rolling wheel on the downward side of the card flop box 309 will press on the two transmission wheels connected to the transmission mechanism, so that the rolling wheel is equivalent to pressing down, and the rolling wheel will drive the second card-moving wheel 317 connected thereto to press down, so that the card-moving wheel goes deep into the card box to press the playing card, and then the card-feeding motor is started, such as Fig. 9 As shown, the card feeding motor 318 drives the transmission mechanism connected thereto, and the transmission mechanisms on both sides of the card flipping box 309 are connected through a transmission shaft, so the transmission mechanisms on both sides will move simultaneously and drive the transmission wheels on both sides to rotate, wherein the two upper transmission wheels drive the rolling wheels pressed by them to rotate, and the rolling wheels drive the second card moving wheel to rotate through the central axis, and the playing cards will move forward under the action of friction and be sent out of the card outlet 3902, as shown in FIG. Figure 7 As shown, enter the next processing device.

[0091] If the playing card is face up, Fig. 9 The card feeding motor 318 drives the transmission mechanism connected thereto to rotate the first card moving wheel 316 and directly push the playing cards out of the card flipping box 309 .

[0092] In the above process, the specific method for identifying the front and back of the playing cards is as follows: the camera in the recognition mechanism collects images of the playing cards, and transmits the collected playing card images to the image processing module of the poker machine, and the image processing module recognizes the front and back of the playing cards. For details, please refer to Kou Yongjun's master's thesis entitled "Research on the Application of Image Recognition in Card Dealing Machines" published in the journal of Hunan University in 2007. In this thesis, the recognition process of playing cards includes the following steps:

[0093] 1) Image preprocessing

[0094] This process mainly includes correcting the position of the playing card image. The reason is that in the image captured by the camera in real time, the playing cards are not necessarily square. In most cases, the playing cards form a certain tilt angle with the edge of the entire image. Therefore, before the playing cards are recognized, they must be tilt corrected and positioned.

[0095] For the entire playing card recognition system, the accuracy of playing card recognition mainly depends on the tilt correction and positioning accuracy of the playing card. The shape of a playing card is a rectangle. Whether the playing card is tilted can be determined by whether the physical edge of the playing card is tilted with the edge of the image. If the physical edge of the playing card is 0 or 90 degrees with the edge of the image (flat or upright), the playing card is not tilted. Otherwise, it is tilted.

[0096] According to the characteristics of the above analysis, the tilt correction and positioning of playing cards can be achieved by combining Hough transform and edge detection:

[0097] i. Perform edge detection on playing cards;

[0098] ii. Blur the complex lines inside the playing cards;

[0099] iii. Use Hough transform to correct the tilt angle of playing cards.

[0100] In step i, the central coordinate projection method can be used to perform edge detection on the playing cards.

[0101] Specifically, for a complete image, an image of the effective area to be identified is obtained after image capture and preprocessing, and the image is vertically projected with the center coordinates to obtain a vertical projection result. Based on this, it can be obtained that the identification area should be a rectangular area determined by the lower left corner point to the upper right corner point, and the area is the overall image of the playing card.

[0102] For playing cards with regular characters, as shown in Figure 11, three parameters ρ, θ and L are introduced into the original image. The corresponding value of L (straight line length) can be accumulated through the changes of ρ and θ parameters. The tilt angle θ corresponding to the largest detected L is regarded as the tilt of the playing card. However, for J, Q, K and JOKER, due to the complexity of the pattern edges, some lines that are not the physical edges of the cards and whose lengths exceed the physical edges will be generated after Hough transform. At this time, the tilt angle θ corresponding to the line is not the real tilt angle between the card and the image.

[0103] The existence of these complex line information will have a great impact on the confirmation of the physical edge of the card. Therefore, before the Hough transform, some operations must be taken to remove these complex edge information to the greatest extent while retaining the physical edge information of the card. For example, after edge detection, the complex lines inside the card can be blurred through morphological closing operations, and then edge detection can be performed on the blurred image.

[0104] 2) Feature extraction

[0105] Since playing cards have many features, such as character features, flower shape features, pattern features, color features, etc., different playing cards have different features. According to the combination of features, 54 different playing cards can be generated. It is necessary to extract the relevant features of the playing cards to be identified. The specific extraction process is as follows:

[0106] Since the patterns inside the cards are complex and require a lot of computation, they are not used as recognition features. However, the character and flower feature structures are relatively simple and easy to operate, so the character and flower features should be extracted from the cards and the cards should be recognized with these two features.

[0107] After the tilt correction and positioning of the cards, the positions of the characters and patterns on the cards can be roughly located according to the inherent properties of the cards, and then the characters and patterns can be roughly extracted.

[0108] After extracting the approximate positions of the characters and flower shapes, the extracted images must be binarized to further extract features.

[0109] After the characters and patterns are roughly located and binarized, some very long edge information may remain. Most of this edge information comes from the pattern edges of the cards themselves or the background residue. Since most of these lines are similar in color to the characters and patterns, they will still remain after the image is binarized. This redundant edge information has a great impact on the correct extraction of features, so it is necessary to remove this interference before character segmentation.

[0110] These edge information have the characteristic of being continuous and non-jumpy, so this characteristic can be used to scan the binary image. When a line that does not jump over a certain length appears, it is regarded as interference information and removed.

[0111] In other embodiments, character recognition may also be used, as follows:

[0112] There are two types of characters in playing cards: characters and flower shapes. The characters include A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, and JOKER; and the flower shapes include spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Regardless of whether the matching method of structural features or statistical features is used, it is necessary to match with a standard symbol template library pre-stored in the system.

[0113] Structural feature matching has a higher recognition accuracy, but the amount of calculation is very large, and it is used for the recognition of symbols with complex structures; statistical feature matching has a relatively low recognition accuracy, but the amount of calculation is small, and it is suitable for the recognition of symbols with simple structures. Playing cards only have 14 characters and 4 flower symbols, and the structure is relatively simple, so statistical feature matching is selected here.

[0114] The projection is different for different symbols.

[0115] Therefore, the mean square error can be calculated by using the projection of the symbol to be recognized and the projections of each symbol in the template, and the template symbol corresponding to the minimum mean square error (i.e., the smallest deviation from the projection of the symbol to be recognized) is selected as the recognition result.

[0116] Among the symbols, since the number of information pixels of JOKER is relatively large, it is confirmed first. Before matching, the symbol is structurally dilated to a certain extent. Since JOKER has multiple characters, the number of non-zero pixels increased after dilation will be much greater than that of other playing cards. Here, a critical value is set. When the number of characteristic pixels of a playing card to be recognized is greater than this critical value, this playing card is recognized as JOKER. If it is less than the critical value, it is then matched with other templates. In this way, it is not necessary to add an extra JOKER template, and the recognition efficiency of the system is improved to a certain extent.

[0117] 3) Judgment of front and back

[0118] According to the above process, if the character features, flower shape features, pattern features, color features of the playing card, or the character or flower shape can match any template in the standard symbol template library pre-stored in the system, it is determined that the collected playing card is facing the camera frontally.

[0119] Embodiment 2:

[0120] The difference from Embodiment 1 is that the detection element further includes a second photoelectric induction module, which is arranged in the direction of the card outlet 3092 on the wide side wall of the card turning box 309. The value range of the vertical distance N between the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module is:

[0121] The length L2 of the playing card < N < the length L2 of the playing card + 5mm. If both the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module have a circuit interruption, it is determined that there is a problem of stacked cards. The principle is that when there is a problem of stacked cards, the length of the playing card is generally significantly longer than the theoretical length of the playing card. By setting the length of N within this range, when the stacked cards pass through the card turning box 309, within a certain period of time, the light paths of both the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module will be blocked by the playing cards, resulting in a circuit interruption.

[0122] The card turning method for this embodiment is as follows:

[0123] S01: When the front end of the playing card enters the card turning device from the card inlet of the card turning box, the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, and the controller starts the camera.

[0124] S02: When the symbol position of the playing card moves directly below the camera, the camera captures the image of the card face of the playing card.

[0125] S03: The controller processes and identifies the card image to determine the front and back of the playing card. Specifically, the image processing module in the controller extracts information from the card image to determine whether there are symbols. If there are symbols, it is determined to be the front side, otherwise, it is the back side.

[0126] S04: If the card face direction of the playing card is inconsistent with the card face direction that should be output, the card flipping motor is started, and when the playing card is completely entered into the card flipping box, the card flipping action is performed.

[0127] S05: Push the playing cards to the next processing device.

[0128] In step S01, the first photoelectric sensing module has a line interruption, the controller detects the length of the playing cards, and determines whether there is a card stacking problem based on the length of the playing cards; specifically, if the first photoelectric sensing module located at the card inlet of the flop box and the second photoelectric sensing module located at the card outlet of the flop box have line interruptions at the same time, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

[0129] If there is a card stacking problem, the card feeding motor is started to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby driving the card moving wheel to rotate, driving the playing cards to return, and returning the playing cards to the previous device of the card flipping device.

[0130] The above is only one embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention can be provided as methods, systems or computer program products. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware.

[0131] In addition, it should be noted that:

[0132] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "examples", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representation of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner.

[0133] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it can be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. Ordinary technicians in the field can change, modify, replace and modify the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention without departing from the principles and purpose of the present invention. Any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention are still within the scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A card flipping device for a poker machine, comprising a controller, a card flipping mechanism, an identification mechanism and a card feeding mechanism. The card flipping mechanism, the identification mechanism and the card feeding mechanism are all electrically connected to the controller; the card flipping mechanism includes a card flipping seat and a card flipping box connected thereto. The card flipping box includes four side walls, namely, an upper side wall, a lower side wall, a left side wall and a right side wall. An inlet for cards is provided at the front end thereof, and an outlet for cards is provided at the rear end of the card flipping box; the card feeding mechanism includes a card running wheel and a card feeding motor drivingly connected thereto. A part of the card running wheel is embedded in the card flipping box through a gap in the middle of the wide side wall of the card flipping box. The identification mechanism includes a detection element and a camera; characterized in that, the detection element includes a first photoelectric induction module, and the first photoelectric induction module is arranged at the card inlet of the card flipping box; a through hole is provided on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box, and the camera is installed at the through hole. The vertical distance M from the center of the through hole to the left side wall y of the card flipping box ranges as follows: the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge < M < the vertical distance F from the playing card symbol to its near side edge + 5 mm. The distance G from the center of the through hole to the front edge of the card flipping box = the vertical distance R from the playing card symbol to its front edge. The vertical distance H from the center of the through hole to the playing card in the card flipping box ranges as follows: 3 mm < H < 10 mm.

2. A card flipping device for a poker machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The camera is fixed directly above the through hole, and the vertical distance h from its lens to the through hole ranges as follows: 7 mm < h < 12 mm.

3. A card flipping device for a poker machine according to claim 2, characterized in that: The camera is installed on the upper side wall x of the card flipping box through a camera bracket. The inside of the camera bracket is hollow and in the shape of a frustum of a cone with a narrow upper part and a wide lower part, and the camera is installed at the top of the camera bracket.

4. A card flipping device for a poker machine according to claim 2, characterized in that: The height A of the card flipping box ranges as follows: 3 mm < A < 10 mm.

5. A card turning device for a poker machine according to claim 4, characterized in that: The width B of the card flipping box ranges as follows: the width L1 of the playing card + 1 mm < B < the width L1 of the playing card + 5 mm.

6. A card turning device for a poker machine according to claim 5, characterized in that: The length C of the card flipping box ranges as follows: 1.1 * the length L2 of the playing card < C < 1.5 * the length L2 of the playing card.

7. A card turning device for a poker machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The detection element further includes a second photoelectric induction module, and the second photoelectric induction module is arranged in the direction of the card outlet on the wide side wall of the card flipping box. The vertical distance N between the first photoelectric induction module and the second photoelectric induction module ranges as follows: the length L2 of the playing card < N < the length L2 of the playing card + 5 mm.

8. A card flipping method for a card flipping device of a poker machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: Including the following steps: 1) When the front end of the playing card enters the card flipping device from the card inlet of the card flipping box, the first photoelectric induction module has a circuit interruption, and the controller starts the camera; 2) When the symbol position of the playing card moves directly below the camera, the camera captures the image of the card face of the playing card; 3) The controller processes and identifies the card face image to judge the front and back of the playing card; 4) If the card face orientation of the playing card is inconsistent with the expected output card face orientation, the card flipping motor is started. After the playing card completely enters the card flipping box, a card flipping action is performed; 5) Push the playing card to the next processing device.

9. The card flipping method of a card flipping device of a poker machine according to claim 8, characterized in that: In step 1), the first photoelectric sensing module has a line interruption, and the controller detects the length of the playing cards and determines whether there is a card stacking problem based on the length of the playing cards; If there is a card stacking problem, the card feeding motor is started to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby driving the card moving wheel to rotate, driving the playing cards to return, and returning the playing cards to the previous device of the card flipping device.

10. The card turning method of the card turning device of a poker machine according to claim 9, characterized in that: The specific method for the controller to detect the length of the playing cards is: When there is only one photoelectric sensing module, the controller determines the actual length of the playing cards entering the card box according to the time when the line of the first photoelectric sensing module is interrupted and the moving speed of the playing cards. If the actual length is greater than the theoretical length of the playing cards, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem. When there are two photoelectric sensing modules, if the first photoelectric sensing module located at the card inlet of the card box and the second photoelectric sensing module located at the card outlet of the card box are interrupted at the same time, it is determined that there is a card stacking problem.

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