Method for providing set of randomly sorted cards

Abstract

There is provided a method of providing a set of randomly ordered cards, the method comprising: providing an apparatus for providing a plurality of sets of cards, distributing the cards from N card transfer units to M card storage devices, each card storage device having P compartments, whereby, in each of the M card storage devices, each card storage device has a plurality of N card transfer units; a plurality of sets of randomly ordered cards are provided through a series of steps by providing a number of identified cards from N card receiving points to each of randomly selected P compartments.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for providing multiple decks of cards, a method for providing multiple decks of cards, and a computer program product for facilitating execution of instructions by a processing circuit for performing the method of compiling multiple decks of cards. In this particular invention, the present invention generally relates to an apparatus, method, and computer program product for providing multiple decks of cards including repurposed cards. Background Art

[0002] Card games are now well known. Often the game is based on the unpredictability of the order of cards dealt or drawn from a randomly ordered deck or set of playing cards, wherein a set of playing cards comprises more than one deck of cards randomly ordered at the level of the suit.

[0003] For example, a card game is played with a set of 8 randomly ordered decks of playing cards, for a total of 416 randomly ordered cards. For some games, once a card is drawn from the set, the drawn card can no longer be used in this way, because the order in which the drawn and set aside cards are drawn can be monitored. Often used playing cards are destroyed. The longer the time between cards being drawn from a set of playing cards, and because the identity of the cards drawn from the set can be monitored, the identity of the cards still in the remainder of the set may become more predictable, and the chance that a card with a given identity is one of the subsequent cards in the set increases with each card drawn. In order to maintain the predictability of the next card drawn at a given level, the set typically includes a so-called stop card, which is inserted into the set or becomes part of the set towards the end of the set. Typically, but not necessarily, the stop card is located in the last quarter of the set. When this card is drawn from the set, the game will end immediately, or only after a small number of cards have been drawn from the set. Sometimes the game ends even before the stop card is drawn. Thus, a large number of unused cards remain in the multiple decks returned from the card game table. However, the predictability of the identity of the cards in this remainder can be very high.

[0004] Any possible source of knowledge or increased predictability of the order of the cards in the deck must be avoided.

[0005] In WO2012042823 a system for creating multiple sets of randomly ordered cards is described. This system comprises: a plurality of playing card collection devices, the plurality of playing card collection devices are used to collect playing cards, thereby providing a set of playing cards, the set of playing cards originating from a bundle of playing cards that can be randomly ordered; a plurality of playing card stockers, the plurality of playing card stockers are used to store the created multiple sets of playing cards; and a card sorting device. As long as such a card stocker does not damage a given number of cards of this rank and suit, a card identified by its rank and suit can be directed to a first card stocker. If such a card stocker does damage a given number of cards of this rank and suit, the card is directed to an adjacent second card stocker. This way of guiding cards from the supplied bundle does not significantly change the predictability of the order of cards in the created set of cards compared to the predictability of the order of cards in the bundle. Therefore, using the remainder of multiple sets of cards from a card game table with an increased predictability of the order of cards may not result in newly created multiple sets of cards having a sufficiently low predictability of the order of cards. Summary of the invention

[0006] Therefore, there still exists a need to provide a method and apparatus for recovering the remainder of multiple decks, ie, the unused or undrawn cards that are still present in the multiple decks after being returned from a card game table.

[0007] In essence, according to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of providing a set of randomly ordered cards, the method comprising:

[0008] ●Provide equipment for providing multiple decks of cards,

[0009] Distributing cards from N card transport units to M card storage devices, each card storage device having P compartments,

[0010] Thus, in each of the M card storage devices, a plurality of sets of randomly ordered cards are provided by a series of steps by providing a number of identified cards from the N card receiving points to each of the P randomly selected compartments.

[0011] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a set of randomly ordered cards. The method comprises:

[0012] ●Providing a device for providing multiple decks of cards, the device comprising

[0013] ○N card supply units, N>=1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N;

[0014] ○ M card storage devices, M>=1, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M and N+M>2;

[0015] ○ Each card storage device includes P compartments, P>1, each compartment is defined by its compartment coordinates (m, p), where 1<=p<=P; 1<+m<=M

[0016] ○NxM card receiving points, NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix in N columns of M rows,

[0017] Each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N; 1<=m<=M;

[0018] ● Distribute cards from N card transport units to M card storage devices by

[0019] o identifying each of the cards provided by one or more of the N card supply units and assigning each of the identified cards to one of the M card storage devices;

[0020] o providing each of the identified cards to a card receiving point having coordinates (In, Im), where In is the nth card transport unit of the N card transport units from which the card originates and Im is the mth card storage device of the M card storage devices to which the card is to be provided;

[0021] o For each of the N card receiving points in the M rows, stacking and moving the stacked cards provided to the N card receiving points at the Mth row to the mth card storage device;

[0022] Thus, in each of the M card storage devices, a plurality of sets of randomly ordered cards are provided through a series of steps.

[0023] I. For the case where the m-th card storage device is empty:

[0024] Ii defines the total number of cards Tm to be stored to provide a complete stack;

[0025] I.ii. randomly assigning a certain number of cards Amp to be stored in each of the P compartments of the empty card storage device, wherein the sum of the P certain numbers of cards Amp is equal to Tm;

[0026] II. randomly select a compartment from the P compartments;

[0027] III. providing a certain number of recognized cards from the N card receiving points at the mth row to the selected pth compartment;

[0028] IV. Randomly select another compartment from the P compartments, for which the number of recognized cards in this compartment is less than Amp;

[0029] V. Repeat steps III to IV until all P compartments have been provided with a number of cards equal to Amp;

[0030] VI. Remove the completed set of cards from the card storage device and repeat steps I to IV.

[0031] Before taking the next step IV, the certain number of identified cards provided from the N card receiving points at the mth row to the selected pth compartment can be a random number of cards, a fixed number of cards randomly selected each time, the number limited to a certain threshold, or unlimited as long as the number Amp is not exceeded.

[0032] According to some embodiments, M>1 and / or N>1.

[0033] The cards present in the P compartments may be stacked either randomly or so that compartment number 1 provides the bottom of the deck, the cards of compartment number 2 are stacked on the last card of compartment number 1, and so on, with the pth compartment providing the cards present at the top of the deck, with the front faces of all cards oriented away from the top of the deck.

[0034] The first card supply device can be suitable for supplying 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or even more series of cards, which may be multiple series of randomly ordered cards.Preferably, each card supply unit in N card supply units is such a unit, which is suitable for providing a series of randomly ordered cards, such as a series of cards derived from a used card box, undelivered cards still exist in the used card box, and these undelivered cards are extracted one by one from the used card box.Therefore, according to some embodiments, for the card supply device of supplying multiple series of randomly ordered cards, more than one series in the randomly ordered cards of multiple series can include the cards of use change.Alternatively, all series in the randomly ordered cards of multiple series can include the cards of use change, or all series except one series in the randomly ordered cards of multiple series can include the cards of use change.

[0035] According to some embodiments, the method may provide a set of playing cards, each set including Q decks of playing cards, which are the Tm cards.

[0036] In the context of the present invention, each deck may include multiple decks of playing cards.

[0037] Unless otherwise specified, the term "card" hereinafter may refer to playing cards, each of which can be identified by its rank and suit, or may refer to any card that can be identified by one or more identification elements and / or card identification codes and forms part of a set of cards, wherein each card includes such identification elements and / or card identification codes. A set of cards may include more than one deck of cards, such as more than one deck of playing cards. A deck is a plurality of identical or different cards that together form a card package. A deck of playing cards includes 52 different playing cards, including 13 ranks of 4 suits (hearts, diamonds (or bricks (tile)), clubs (or clover (clover)) and spades (or spears (pike))). Each suit includes A (depicting a single symbol of its suit), K, Q and J (each depicting a symbol of its suit), and ranks from 2 to 10. A set of playing cards may include more than one deck of playing cards, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 decks of playing cards, and may also include one or more special playing cards, i.e., cards with special functions in the game played with a deck of playing cards, for example, jokers, stop cards, etc.

[0038] Preferably, the playing cards are cards having a front side showing the rank and suit.

[0039] Thus, each set may have a multiple of 52 mutually different playing cards, hereinafter referred to as Q, where Q is an integer greater than 1. A group of these 52 mutually different playing cards is a deck of playing cards. Thus, each set includes Q decks, or therefore Q cards of each type of the 52 mutually different cards.

[0040] Preferably, Q is in the range of 2 to 15, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15. Most preferably, Q is in the range of 6 to 10.

[0041] According to some embodiments, identifying each card in the deck may include obtaining information about the rank and suit of the card, the method further including counting the number of cards of a given rank and suit assigned to each of the M card storage devices, and assigning the identified card to this card storage device in the card storage devices only if, for cards of this type having the identified rank and suit, the number of such cards in this card storage device in the card storage devices is less than Q.

[0042] Therefore, M times 52 counters are defined, called Qmrs. In Qmrs, m is an integer from 1 to M, r is the rank and ranges from 1 to 13, where 11 is rank "J", 12 is rank "Q", and 13 is rank "K", and s is the suit, i.e., hearts, spades, diamonds, or clubs.

[0043] After the first step is performed, the method further comprises step 1.4 of setting all counters Qmrs to zero. By counting each type of card or each type of card for each set of cards to be arranged, the set of cards will be provided with Q times 52 mutually different cards.

[0044] Since it is possible that, when identifying a card, the identified card can be assigned to more than one set of the M sets of cards being arranged, each of the M card storage devices can be assigned a priority number Rm, the priority number Rm ranges from 1 to M, each of these sets has a unique priority code Rm, and conventionally, the priority code "1" is called the highest priority and the priority code "M" is called the lowest priority.

[0045] When the identified card can be assigned to more than one of the M card storage devices being programmed, the method may include assigning the identified card to the card storage device having the highest priority number.

[0046] When starting up an apparatus for performing this method, priority numbers may be randomly assigned to the card storage devices, although preferably the first card storage device is assigned priority number "1", the second card storage device is assigned priority number "2", and so on, until the last card storage device is assigned priority number "M".

[0047] Once a set of cards is completed in a card storage device, the priority number of this empty card storage device is set to M, and all priority numbers (and therefore card storage devices) greater than the previous priority number of the completed set are reduced by 1.

[0048] According to some embodiments, the apparatus may include card recognition means for identifying a card by its rank and suit and / or one or more identification elements and / or a card identity code.

[0049] The card recognition device may recognize a card by its rank and suit and / or one or more identification elements and / or card identity and attribute this information to the card's position in a card sequence of cards from each of a plurality of series of randomly ordered cards that pass through the card recognition device. Each card that passes through the card recognition device may generate a data set that includes the card's position in the plurality of series of randomly ordered cards and the card's rank and suit and / or one or more identification elements and / or card identity.

[0050] In order to identify the cards, the card recognition device may include an optical system, for example, at least one optical system or one optical system / (i.e., each) provided multiple series of randomly ordered cards, and optionally include more than one camera / (i.e., each) optical system. The image of the front of the card captured by the camera is converted and / or analyzed so that the card identification elements or identities on the front of the card are identified. In the case of playing cards, these card identification elements may be ranks and suits. Optionally, the card recognition device obtains a card identity code that can be read on the front of the card, for example as a barcode. Optionally, the card recognition device can read the card identity code only by ultraviolet (UV) light. Therefore, the card recognition device may include an ultraviolet-sensitive camera and / or may cooperate with an ultraviolet lighting device. The card recognition device may check suspicious cards based on the read card identity code. For each card identity code read, the card identification device may check whether this card with this unique card identity code can be part of multiple series of randomly ordered cards, for example, by comparing the read card identity code with a list of allowed card identity codes stored in a database. If a card having a read card identity code may not be part of the plurality of series of randomly ordered cards, then such a card may not be part of any set of cards generated by the device. The card identification device may identify this card as a suspect card that needs to be removed from the plurality of series of randomly ordered cards. The card identification device may identify this card as a card to be removed.

[0051] The card recognition device can identify a card in the set (such as a set of playing cards to be created) that has a special function, such as a stop card. The card recognition device can identify this card as a card to be removed, or identify this card as a card to be processed as part of a set of cards in multiple sets created by the device.

[0052] According to some embodiments, the apparatus may include a defect detection device to detect defective cards. The front and back of the cards may be inspected for defects such as stains, scratches, tears, spots, etc. Cards with defects cannot be part of any set of cards generated by the apparatus and need to be removed from the multiple series of randomly ordered cards being compiled. The defect detection device may optionally provide information to the card recognition device to identify such defective cards as cards to be removed.

[0053] The defect detection device may comprise one or more optical systems, for example one optical system / (i.e. per) multiple series of randomly ordered cards, and optionally one or more cameras / (i.e. per) optical system. The images of the front and back sides captured by the one or more cameras are analyzed so that defects are identified. Possibly, the optical system of the card defect detection device or some of the cameras of the optical system may be shared with the optical system of the card recognition device. An apparatus for performing the method may comprise a card extraction device adapted to receive a card to be removed from the multiple series of randomly ordered cards.

[0054] For example, identified cards from a plurality of series of cards are assigned by the control device to one of a plurality of card storage devices.

[0055] This control device can control the execution of the movement of the movable part of the device, as well as keep track of the identity and quantity of the cards distributed to each card storage device. The control device can control and increase or reset the counter Qmrs used to count the type of cards provided to each of the M card grouping devices. The control device can even track the order in which the cards are provided to the P compartments of the M card grouping devices. Since the control unit has information about the mechanical settings of the device, such as the mutual positions of the N card supply units, the NxM card receiving points and the P compartments of the M card storage devices, and the mutual positions of the M card storage devices, the control unit can even track the order of the cards provided to each of the M card storage devices. In this way, for each set of cards being arranged, the control unit can generate a data set reflecting the order of the cards in the set of playing cards that has been arranged.

[0056] The control unit may also control the value Tm, the value of a certain number of cards Amp, the random allocation of these values ​​Amp, the random selection of the next empty compartment of the P compartments of each of the M card storage devices, the priority of the M card storage devices, any other counters used to control the execution of the method, and the identification of cards from each of the N card supply devices and the allocation of each identified card to one of the M card storage devices.

[0057] Alternatively, P may be an integer in the range of 4 to 10.

[0058] Thus P is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. For each of the M card storage devices, P may be equal or different. Optionally, although each of the card storage devices may include P compartments, the method may include the following steps: for each empty card storage device, optionally even randomly defining the number of compartments to be used for organizing the deck. The number of compartments used may be an integer between a lower threshold value Pmin and P, wherein Pmin is preferably equal to or greater than 4.

[0059] Alternatively, N may be an integer in the range of 4 to 12. Therefore, N is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12.

[0060] Preferably, all N card supply units may be card supply units which provide themselves with a series of randomly ordered cards.

[0061] Each card supply unit may include a holder for holding a card cassette and a pull-out system for pulling cards out of the card cassette. The card cassette may be a card cassette returned from a gaming table, in which the remainder of a set of cards still exists, and these remaining cards have not been extracted from these card cassettes during the game.

[0062] The pull system may include fingers that contact the back of a card in the card case and push the card down as if the card was pulled by a dealer. The fingers may grip the card, or a vacuum may be used to attach a suction cup to the back of the card.

[0063] The finger may bring the face of the card in front of a camera, which may take an image of the face of the card and even read out the rank and suit immediately. This camera may be part of a card recognition device. In the case where the card is provided with an identification code or recognition device, which may not be visible to the naked eye, the camera may also read this identification code or recognition device, and the control system may find out whether this card is expected at this position in the returned set of cards in the card box, or whether this card is marked as a potentially damaged card.

[0064] Possibly, but not necessarily, there is an additional N+1th card supply unit, which may be a unit supplying a specific kind of cards such as cut cards or the like.

[0065] This N+1th card supply unit may not include identification means and a certain number of cards provided by this card supply unit may be controlled in a different manner compared to the Nth card supply unit. As an example, when the total number of cards present, optionally randomly selected, has been allocated to the mth set of cards, one such special card is provided to this mth set of cards and thus to the mth card storage device.

[0066] According to some embodiments, M may be an integer in the range of 4 to 10. Therefore, M is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.

[0067] Preferably, there is an additional M+1th card storage device, which may be a storage device to which are allocated identified cards that cannot be allocated to any of the M card storage devices at the moment of execution of the method. Cards provided to this M+1th card storage device (referred to as overflow cards) may be recovered later and brought back in the method by one of the N card supply units.

[0068] This M+1th card storage device may not include compartments, but may be a simple box into which the overflow cards are pushed.

[0069] According to some embodiments, each of the Amps may be in the range of 0.5*Tm / P to 1.5*Tm / P.

[0070] The method according to the first aspect has several advantages. Due to the several randomly selected parameters in the method, the order of one or more sets of cards compiled in each and every card storage device without exception, and during the long-term continuous execution of the method, remains completely unpredictable. This is true even if some information about the order of the cards provided by the N card supply devices will be known.

[0071] When the system does not use such a three-step arrangement of the deck in the card storage device (using multiple P compartments), cards that appear relatively rarely in multiple series of - repursued and / or randomly ordered - cards from the N card supply devices (hereinafter referred to as scarce cards) tend to be relatively more likely to be in the top portion of the deck arranged by simply stacking the cards from the card receiving points. This may not be immediately noticeable in the first few decks arranged, but by observing the ordering of the cards drawn from these decks, it can be noticed that for the subsequent sets of cards, these "scarce" cards also seem to appear more often in the first cards drawn. Therefore, there may be predictability in the randomness of the cards in the sets of cards being arranged.

[0072] According to a second independent aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions for executing a method of controlling the arrangement of M decks of cards, wherein M>=1, when the computer program is run on a controller comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: identifying cards to be part of a deck in the M decks; assigning the identified cards to a deck in the M decks and controlling the assigned cards to be provided to the assigned decks; and controlling the arrangement of the M decks of cards by: for each deck in the M decks,

[0073] I. define the total number of cards Tm to be stored to provide a deck;

[0074] II. Define a certain number of cards Amp for P sets of cards, and the sum of P certain numbers of Amps is equal to Tm;

[0075] III. Set the value Bmp of the first card counter of each set of cards in the P set to 0;

[0076] IV. Randomly select compartment p of group P;

[0077] V. Whenever a card is provided to the pth group of cards, the value Bmp is incremented by 1;

[0078] VI. Randomly select another group from group P, and

[0079] VII. Repeat step V and step VI until all Bmp are equal to Amp.

[0080] It is clear that this computer program product can store instructions to be executed by a processing circuit, which are instructions for performing the method according to the first aspect of the invention. The features described in view of the method according to this first aspect of the invention can therefore be applied to the instructions and computer program product according to this second aspect of the invention and can be combined with them.

[0081] According to some embodiments, the instructions may further include identifying a card from one or more series of cards.

[0082] According to some embodiments, M>1. According to some embodiments, N>1.

[0083] According to some embodiments, the instructions may further include assigning the identified card from the one or more series of cards to the mth set of M sets of cards before incrementing the value Bmp by one.

[0084] The cards present in the P compartments may be stacked such that compartment number 1 provides the bottom of the deck, the cards of compartment number 2 are stacked on the last card of compartment number 1, and so on, with the Pth compartment providing the cards present at the top of the deck, with the front faces of all cards oriented away from the top of the deck.

[0085] The computer program product can identify and distribute the identified cards from N (N is a plurality of, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or even more) series of cards, which may be a series of randomly ordered cards. Preferably, each series of cards is a series of randomly ordered cards, such as a series of cards from a used card box, in which undealt cards are still present, and these undealt cards are drawn out one by one from the used card box.

[0086] Unless otherwise specified, the term "card" hereinafter may refer to playing cards, each of which can be identified by its rank and suit, or may refer to any card that can be identified by one or more identification elements and / or card identification codes and forms part of a set of cards, each of which includes such identification elements and / or card identification codes. A set of cards may include more than one deck of cards, such as more than one deck of playing cards. A deck is a plurality of identical or different cards that together form a pack of cards. A deck of playing cards includes 52 different playing cards, including 13 ranks of 4 suits (hearts, diamonds (or bricks), clubs (or clover) and spades (or spears). Each suit includes A (a single symbol depicting its suit), K, Q and J (K, Q and J are each depicted with symbols of their suit), and ranks from 2 to 10. A set of playing cards may include more than one deck of playing cards, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 decks of playing cards, and may also include one or more special playing cards, i.e., cards with special functions in the game played with a deck of playing cards, for example, jokers, stop cards, etc.

[0087] Preferably, the playing cards are cards having a front side showing the rank and suit.

[0088] Thus, each set may have a multiple of 52 mutually different playing cards, hereinafter referred to as Q, where Q is an integer greater than 1. A group of these 52 mutually different playing cards is a deck of playing cards. Thus, each set includes Q decks, or therefore Q cards of each type of the 52 mutually different cards.

[0089] Preferably, Q is in the range of 2 to 15, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15. Most preferably, Q is in the range of 6 to 10.

[0090] According to some embodiments, the instructions may be instructions for executing a method for arranging M sets of playing cards, each set of playing cards including Q decks of playing cards, the instructions including

[0091] = In the step performed between step 1 and step 2, M*52 counters Qmrs are set to 0, where 1<=m<=M, 1<=r<=13 and each r corresponds to the rank of a playing card, 1<=s<=4 and each s corresponds to the suit of a playing card,

[0092] ● During card identification, identifying the rank and suit of the card identified, and

[0093] ●When Bmp is incremented by 1, a counter Qmrs is incremented by 1, which is a counter where m corresponds to the suit to which the identified card is assigned, r corresponds to the rank of the identified card, and s corresponds to the suit of the identified card.

[0094] According to some embodiments, the identified card may be assigned to the mth suit only when the counter Qmrs is less than Q, where m corresponds to the suit, r corresponds to the rank of the identified card, and s corresponds to the suit of the identified card.

[0095] According to some embodiments, each of the M sets of cards may be provided with a priority number Rm, where m ranges from 1 to M, each of the sets of cards having a unique priority number Rm, the instructions comprising assigning the identified card to a set of cards having the highest priority in the group of sets of cards, for each of the sets of cards, the counter Qmrs is less than Q, m corresponds to the set, r corresponds to the rank of the identified card, and s corresponds to the suit of the identified card.

[0096] Since it is possible that, when identifying a card, the identified card can be assigned to more than one set of the M sets of cards being arranged, each of the M card storage devices can be assigned a priority number Rm, the priority number Rm ranges from 1 to M, each of these sets has a unique priority code Rm, and conventionally, the priority code "1" is called the highest priority and the priority code "M" is called the lowest priority.

[0097] When the identified card can be assigned to more than one of the M card storage devices being programmed, the method may include assigning the identified card to the card storage device having the highest priority number.

[0098] When starting up an apparatus for performing this method, priority numbers may be randomly assigned to the card storage devices, although preferably the first card storage device is assigned priority number "1", the second card storage device is assigned priority number "2", and so on, until the last card storage device is assigned priority number "M".

[0099] Once a set of cards is completed in a card storage device, the priority number of this empty card storage device is set to M, and all priority numbers (and therefore card storage devices) that are greater than the previous priority number of the completed set are reduced by 1.

[0100] According to some embodiments, P may be an integer in the range of 4 to 10.

[0101] Thus, P is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. For each of the M card storage devices, P may be equal or different. Optionally, although each of the card storage devices may include P compartments, the method may include the following steps: for each empty card storage device, optionally even randomly defining the number of compartments to be used for organizing the deck. The number of compartments used may be an integer between a lower threshold value Pmin and P, wherein Pmin is preferably equal to or greater than 4.

[0102] More preferably, the number N of cards of the multiple series of cards that may be randomly ordered is an integer in the range of 4 to 12. Therefore, N is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12.

[0103] According to some embodiments, M may be an integer in the range of 4 to 10. Therefore, M is preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.

[0104] According to some embodiments, each of the Amps may be in the range of 0.5*Tm / P to 1.5*Tm / P.

[0105] The computer program product according to this second aspect of the invention has the same or similar advantages as the performance of the method according to the first aspect.

[0106] According to a third independent aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing a plurality of sets of cards, the apparatus comprising

[0107] ○N card supply units, N card supply units are used to provide a series of cards, N>1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N;

[0108] ○NxM card receiving points, the NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix in M ​​rows and N columns, M>=1 and M+N>2, each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N;

[0109] 1<+m<=M, each of the card receiving points in each column of the N columns of card receiving points is suitable for receiving a card from one of the N card supply units;

[0110] ○M card storage devices, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M;

[0111] o a card conveying device for providing a card provided to each of the card receiving points in each of the M rows of card receiving points to one of the M card storage devices;

[0112] It is characterized in that the card conveying device has M card delivery points, one card delivery point for each of the M card storage devices, each of the M card storage devices includes P compartments, P>1, and for each of the M card storage devices, the card delivery point and the compartment can be positioned relative to each other to allow cards from the delivery point to be provided to each of the compartments.

[0113] Preferably, the card supply unit is adapted to provide each with a series of randomly ordered cards.

[0114] According to some embodiments, M>1. According to some embodiments, N>1.

[0115] According to some embodiments, each card storage device may comprise a row of P boxes, each box providing a compartment, the card delivery point and the compartment being positionable relative to each other by moving the card delivery point and / or the row of boxes in the direction of the row.

[0116] Preferably, a row of compartments is a row of boxes, all boxes having open sides (hereinafter referred to as front sides) parallel to each other, optionally even coplanar.Preferably, a row of compartments are substantially vertically aligned, thereby providing a pile of compartments.

[0117] It is possible that for each of the M card storage devices, the M rows of compartments are multiple rows of boxes, all of which have open sides (hereinafter referred to as front sides) parallel to each other, optionally even coplanar. The number of compartments for the M card storage devices can be all the same or different.

[0118] Therefore, the mutual positioning of the card delivery point and the compartment can be obtained by moving the card delivery point in the alignment direction of the side of the opening of the row of boxes, ie in the direction of the row.

[0119] According to some embodiments, the card delivery point and the row of boxes may be positioned relative to each other by moving the row of boxes in the direction of the row.

[0120] According to some embodiments, every two adjacent boxes may be separated by a partition wall.

[0121] This partition or dividing wall can be a common wall, one side of which provides the side of the first box, and the other side of which provides the side of the second box. When the box is oriented substantially vertically, the partition can provide the top wall of the lower part of the two walls and the bottom of the upper part of the two boxes.

[0122] According to some embodiments, the dividing walls may be removable from the row.

[0123] This is particularly beneficial when a set of cards is completed in the card storage device. By removing the dividing wall, the card packs in different boxes can be positioned one after another or on top of another card pack, and the set is physically organized and can be removed from the card storage device by simply placing the card packs together in the remaining wall structure of the box. This is particularly radical for compartments that are provided as a stack of boxes. By removing the dividing wall, the card packs in different boxes fall on each other and are used for the organized set of cards. When the cards are arranged in the compartments with their face down, the set of cards can be removed from the card storage device even when the bottom card of the set is not visible at first glance.

[0124] According to some embodiments, a row may have two outermost boxes, the first outermost box of the row of boxes having a movable wall opposite to the partition defining the box, the movable wall being movable along the length of the row in a direction toward the second side box. Optionally, the second box in the row of boxes has an open side or movable wall opposite to the partition defining the box, the movable wall of the first box being movable along the length of the row in a direction toward the second outer box at least to the position of the open side or movable wall of the second outer box. Possibly, the row is a substantially vertically oriented stack, the first outermost box being the bottom box.

[0125] When the compartments are provided with cards, with the cards facing downwards, and the set is moved upwards while being supported on the lower wall of the first outer box, the set can be removed from the card storage device with even the bottommost card in the set remaining invisible at first glance.

[0126] According to some embodiments, the card drop point and the compartment of each of the M card storage devices may be positioned relative to each other independently of another of the M card storage devices.

[0127] For each of the M card storage devices, the card transfer device can group and provide the cards provided to the corresponding delivery point of the m-th card storage device. This can be done by stacking or combing the cards on the N card receiving points in the m-th row of card receiving points in the matrix of NxM card receiving points.

[0128] The card receiving points can form a card receiving device together, and the card receiving points are distributed in a matrix shape on a substantially flat surface. Therefore, the receiving points can be organized so that N card supply units are aligned in the direction of the rows of the matrix. Possibly, each of the N card supply units has a card supply point, wherein the cards supplied by the card supply unit can be transferred to a card receiving point in the card receiving point. N card supply points can be aligned linearly in the direction of the rows of the matrix. Each column of the N columns of M card receiving points can move its card receiving point relative to the corresponding card supply point. As an example, the M card receiving points in a column of card receiving points can be moved under the corresponding card supply point, even under the card supply unit. The corresponding card supply point can transfer the cards supplied by the card supply unit to the card receiving point, which is a part of a row of card receiving points corresponding to the allocated card storage device in the M card storage devices.

[0129] Thus, each of the N columns of M card receiving points may have M positions, all aligned in the direction of the columns of the matrix-like distribution, wherein in each of these positions the card supply unit can transfer one or more cards it supplies to one of the M card receiving points of the column of M card receiving points. In one of these positions (hereinafter referred to as the basic position), a card receiving point is in its basic position when this card receiving point is aligned linearly with the placement point of a row of card receiving points to which it belongs in the matrix-like distribution.

[0130] The M card delivery points of the M card storage devices and the M rows of card receiving points can be aligned linearly in the direction of the columns of the matrix distribution. The card delivery point can be located adjacent to the Nth column of card receiving points and in front of the M card storage devices.

[0131] The card transfer device may be adapted to shift cards provided to one or more card receiving points in the mth row of card receiving points towards the mth card storage device.

[0132] As an example, each of the card receiving points is defined by two vertical upright walls having straight top edges adapted to receive cards. The top edges define a plane that is inclined relative to the vertical. Thus, the top edges slope upward from a lower end point to a higher end point toward an adjacent receiving point closer to the card storage device.

[0133] Between each two upright walls of the card receiving point, a pushing device (such as a rod or a bar or the like) can be moved in the direction from the lower end point to the upper end point. Thus, the card transfer device may include M pushing devices, each of which is adapted to push a card received by each of the N card receiving points of a row of card receiving points in the M rows to a corresponding card transfer point of a card storage device in the M card storage devices. The pushing device will move when it is present in the gap defined by the two walls of the card receiving point.

[0134] More preferably, the card transfer device may include M pushing devices, each of which is suitable for pushing the card received by the nth card receiving point of the N card receiving points to the n+1th card receiving point of the N card receiving points when moving from the first card receiving point of the N card receiving points in a row to the last card receiving point, and all the N card receiving points except the Nth card receiving point are the same, and from the Nth card receiving point to the card transfer point corresponding to the pushing device and corresponding to the card storage device. In order to achieve the pushing from one card receiving point to the adjacent card receiving point, the nth card receiving point and the n+1th card receiving point of the N card receiving points in the row must be in their basic positions. When the card receiving point does not participate in the pushing operation, the column of card receiving points to which the non-participating card receiving point belongs can move relative to the card receiving point from which the card is to be received.

[0135] More preferably, the card transport device may include M pushing devices, each of which is adapted to retract from the gap between two walls of each of the card receiving points when moving from the nth card receiving point among N card receiving points in a row of card receiving points to the first card receiving point.

[0136] Possibly, all M pushers move synchronously between the first card receiving point and the last card receiving point in a row of N card receiving points. M pushers can all be mounted on a common rod or rail, moving above or below the matrix-shaped distributed card receiving points.

[0137] According to some embodiments, the apparatus may further include a card storage emptying device adapted to remove completed sets of cards from the card storage device. The card storage emptying device may utilize a robot or automated system to move and remove sets of cards from the card storage device.

[0138] According to a fourth independent aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing a plurality of sets of cards, the apparatus comprising

[0139] ○N card supply units, N card supply units are used to provide a series of cards, N>1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N;

[0140] ○NxM card receiving points, the NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix form in M ​​rows and N columns, M>=1 and M+N>2, each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N;

[0141] 1<+m<=M, each card receiving point in each column of card receiving points in the N columns of card receiving points is suitable for receiving a card from one of the N card supply units;

[0142] ○M card storage devices, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M;

[0143] o a card conveying device for providing a card provided to each card receiving point in each row of card receiving points in the M rows of card receiving points to one of the M card storage devices;

[0144] It is characterized in that each of the N card supply units has a card supply point, and for each of the N card supply units, a column of card receiving points can be moved relative to the card supply point to allow cards from the card supply unit to be provided to each card receiving point in the column of card receiving points.

[0145] Preferably, the card supply unit is adapted to provide each with a series of randomly ordered cards.

[0146] According to some embodiments, M>1. According to some embodiments, N>1.

[0147] According to some embodiments, the card supply points may be co-linearly positioned. Optionally, the card receiving points are substantially co-planar. The card supply points may be co-linearly positioned according to lines that are parallel but not co-planar to the plane defined by the card receiving points. The plane defined by the card receiving points may be substantially horizontally oriented.

[0148] A column of card receiving points and a card supply point may be able to be positioned relative to each other by moving the card supply point above the column of card receiving points of the card supply point. Possibly, a column of card receiving points and a card supply point may be able to be positioned relative to each other by moving the column of card receiving points below the card supply point of the column of card receiving points. According to some embodiments, for each of the N card supply units, the card supply point and the card receiving point may be able to be positioned relative to each other independently of another of the N card supply units.

[0149] Obviously, the features of this fourth aspect may be combined with one or more of the features of the third aspect of the invention.

[0150] Furthermore, the device according to the third and / or fourth aspects of the invention may comprise a control unit or control means adapted to control the movement of all movable elements of the device and to ensure that the device is providing randomly ordered sets of cards. The randomly ordered sets of cards may be obtained by causing the device according to the third and / or fourth aspects to perform the method according to the first aspect of the invention and / or by including a processing circuit in the control means, the processing unit being adapted to execute instructions present on a computer program product according to the second aspect of the invention.

[0151] Thus, features of one aspect of the invention may be combined with one or more features of any other aspect of the invention.

[0152] The device according to the third aspect and / or the fourth aspect of the present invention may be used to execute the method according to the first aspect of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0153] Figure 1 A device according to the invention is schematically shown.

[0154] Figure 2 Schematically shown as Figure 1 The part of the device is the card storage device.

[0155] Figure 3a and Figure 3b Schematically shows Figure 2 Card storage device.

[0156] Figure 4 Schematically shows Figure 1 The card receiving point of the device.

[0157] In different drawings, the same reference signs refer to the same or similar features. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0158] exist Figure 1 Schematically shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus 100 for providing a plurality of sets of cards. The apparatus 100 comprises an apparatus comprising N card supply units 200, each of which is adapted to provide a series of cards, in particular a series of randomly ordered cards. In the present embodiment, seven card supply units are provided, numbered 1 to 7. The apparatus 100 further comprises eight card storage devices 300, each of which is defined by a storage device number 1 to 8. Figure 2Detail of each card storage device 300 is schematically shown in FIG. The card supply units 200 are mounted above the table-like frame 110, all aligned along a first side 111 of a substantially rectangular tabletop 112. The card storage devices are also aligned along and adjacent to a second side 113 of the tabletop 112. Side 111 and side 113 are not parallel. On the tabletop 112, fifty-six card receiving points 400 are provided, positioned in a matrix in seven columns 420 of eight rows 410; each of the eight card receiving points 400 of each of the seven columns of card receiving points is adapted to receive cards from a corresponding card supply unit. The card receiving points 400 of the multiple columns of card receiving points 420 are interconnected and can slide parallel to the tabletop in a direction 210 to and from the corresponding card supply unit 200. The multiple columns of card receiving points 420 can slide under the card supply points 202 of the card supply unit.

[0159] Each card supply unit 200 includes a holder for holding a card cassette 500, which is at least partially filled with cards, for example, the remaining undelivered cards left in the card cassette after the card cassette is used to play a card game. The card cassette is returned from the game table in this way, and the device 100 is therefore suitable for recovering the remaining cards from the used card cassette. The card supply unit 200 includes, for example, a card extraction device, which is a movable finger-shaped member 204 in the present embodiment, which can extract cards from the card cassette 500 one by one.

[0160] Cards drawn from the card box are viewed by a camera system ( Figure 1 The cards can be scanned and identified by their grade and suit and / or by an identity code (optionally only visible by ultraviolet light) present on the front of the cards. In this way, other cards can be obtained at the card supply point 202.

[0161] The identified card is assigned to the top of one of the eight card storage devices 300, and the card receiving point 400 of the column 420 is moved under the supply point 202 of the corresponding card supply device 200 so that the card receiving point 400 having the same row number as the number of the assigned card storage device is positioned under the card supply point. The card supply point now transfers the identified card to the card receiving point 400 in the vertical direction 701.

[0162] At the same time, the card transport device 600 of the apparatus moves in a direction 610 towards the card storage device 300. As will be further explained, the card push device of the card transport device 600, referred to in this embodiment as a finger 620, moves with the beam 622 moving over the card receiving points 400. The finger 620 transfers cards from one card receiving point to an adjacent card receiving point in a direction towards the card storage device 300 until one or more cards are provided to the delivery point 320 of the card storage device 300. By ensuring that during these movements of the card transport device 600, the card receiving points 400 of a column 420 are aligned with the card receiving points 400 of its adjacent columns 420, i.e., the card receiving points with the same row number are adjacent to each other, the cards provided to the delivery point are the cards assigned to the same card storage device corresponding to the card delivery point. Once the finger of the card transport device 600 has reached the card delivery point, the finger is lifted or removed from the path of the card receiving point, and the card transport device is transferred back to the position before the first column of card receiving points. The fingers are lowered again and the conveying action starts again.

[0163] During the distribution of the identified cards, the control unit can count how many cards of which rank and suit have been provided to each of the card storage devices; thus, the control unit can control the number and order of cards supplied to the card storage devices and thus also ensure that a set of cards compiled in each of the card storage devices comprises a given number of pairs of cards, making each set randomized at the level of the set. Since the control unit can always know which card of which rank and suit is at what position in the device, the control unit can generate data about the ordering of the cards in the set.

[0164] A device having these features can provide multiple (eight in this embodiment) decks of cards in random order simultaneously.

[0165] Alternatively or additionally, each card storage device 300 may be provided with a plurality of compartments 310, such as Figure 2 , Figure 3a and Figure 3b This is more clearly shown in Figure 2 , Figure 3a and Figure 3b In the embodiment of the present invention, each card storage device 300 is provided with seven compartments 310 numbered 1 to 7, with compartment 1 being located vertically at the lowest position and card box seven being the uppermost compartment. It should be understood that a different number of compartments may also be used, for example, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 compartments. The card storage device includes a moving device 312 to move the card storage device 300 upward or downward in a direction 350 relative to the card placement point. Figure 3aAs schematically shown in FIG. 1 , before transferring the cards from the card delivery point to the compartment 310, the cards at the card delivery point can be inserted into each of the compartments by moving the card storage device upward or downward. The compartment to which one or more cards at the delivery point of the card storage device are transferred can also be randomly selected. In this way, the randomness of the cards in the deck can be increased.

[0166] Once the desired number of cards is present in a set of cards provided to the card storage device, the walls 330 providing separation between adjacent compartments can be removed by the extraction device 340. Figure 3b As shown, the cards are removed from between the card stacks, for example, drawn out. Thus, the cards present in the compartments can be stacked and a complete set of cards is obtained. Figure 3b As shown, the lifting device can lift the completed set of cards upward to allow the set of cards 800 to be removed from the card storage device.

[0167] In order to further improve the unpredictability of the card sequence, especially over a longer period of time, a specific method and algorithm is therefore used to fill the compartments of each of the card storage devices in the card storage device, compared to the subsequent multiple decks provided by the device 100. First, the total number of cards Tm present in a deck arranged in the m-th card storage device is defined. This is usually a given number Q decks. Since the control unit can count the number of each type of card identified by its rank and suit for each card storage device, a series of counters Qmrs are set to 0. Subsequently, the control unit can randomly select the number of compartments to be used during the arrangement of the next deck. However, preferably, as many compartments as possible will be used, so all compartments are used. The control unit now randomly selects the number of cards to be provided to each of the used compartments, i.e. Amp, where Amp is the number of cards in the p-th compartment of the m-th card storage device. Obviously, the sum of Amp for each card storage device must be equal to Tm.

[0168] After this, the control unit randomly selects the first empty card box, that is, the first card in several cards is provided to the compartment therein.Before selecting another compartment of the card storage device, the cards of a certain number of identifications provided to the selected p compartment from the N card receiving points at the mth row are provided to the delivery point of the card storage device.By changing the compartments into which another certain number of identifications are provided, the randomness of a set of cards arranged is increased.This iteration continues until all compartments include the Amp cards.Once this point has been achieved, the cards in the compartment are stacked and arranged, thus forming the set of cards in the card storage device.The stacking in different compartments can be stacked with random ordering, or can be stacked with known fixed ordering.In the present embodiment, these stackings are combined by extracting a common wall between the compartments, thus allowing these stackings to be stacked and fall on the top of another stacking.

[0169] Instructions of a computer program product, including instructions for executing a method of controlling the arrangement of M decks of cards when the computer program is run on a controller including at least one processor, may be provided in Figures 1 to 4 The control unit of the device is operated.

[0170] The control unit may define counters and values, randomly select, assign or pick elements of the device, and control the movement of various elements of the device.

[0171] Go to Figure 4 The card receiving points 400 shown, by way of example, are each defined by two vertical upright walls 401 having straight top edges 402 adapted to receive cards 700. The top edges define a plane that is inclined relative to the uprights 701. Thus, the top edges slope upwardly from a lower end point 403 to an upper end point 404, towards an adjacent receiving point that is closer to the card re-storage device.

[0172] Between each two upright walls 401 of the card receiving point, a pushing device 620 (such as a rod or a bar or the like), optionally in the form of a finger, can be moved in the direction from the lower end point to the higher end point. Thus, each pushing device 620 is adapted to push a card 700 received by each of the N card receiving points of one of the M rows of card receiving points towards a corresponding card transfer point or drop point of one of the M card storage devices. Thus, the pushing device 620 can move while existing in a gap defined by two walls of the card receiving point.

[0173] Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the aforementioned illustrative embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented by various changes and modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are considered to be illustrative rather than restrictive in all aspects, the scope of the present invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the previous description, and therefore, all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalents of the claims are intended to be included in the scope of the present invention. In other words, it is intended to cover any and all modifications, variations or equivalents falling within the scope of the basic principles, and its basic properties are claimed in this patent application. In addition, the person reading this patent application will understand that the words "comprising" or "comprise" do not exclude other elements or steps, the words "a" or "an" do not exclude multiple, and a single element, such as a computer system, a processor or another integrated unit, can implement the functions of several devices described in the claims. Any figure mark in the claims should not be interpreted as limiting the corresponding claims involved. When used in the specification or claims, the terms "first", "second", "third", "a", "b", "c", etc. are introduced to distinguish similar elements or steps, and do not necessarily describe a sequential or temporal order. Similarly, the terms "top", "bottom", "above", "below", etc. are introduced for descriptive purposes and do not necessarily indicate relative positions. It should be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable where appropriate, and that embodiments of the present invention can operate in accordance with the present invention in other sequences or in different orientations than described or shown above.

Claims

1. A method of providing a set of randomly ordered cards, the method comprising: ● Providing a device for providing multiple decks of cards, the device comprising ○N card supply units, N>=1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N; ○ M card storage devices, M>=1, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M and N+M>2; ○ Each card storage device includes P compartments, P>1, each compartment is defined by its compartment coordinates (m, p), where 1<=p<=P; 1<+m<=M NxM card receiving points, the NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix in M ​​rows and N columns, each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N; 1<=m<=M; Distribute cards from the N card transport units to the M card storage devices by: o identifying each of the cards provided by one or more of the N card supply units and assigning each of the identified cards to one of the M card storage devices; o providing each of the identified cards to a card receiving point having coordinates (In, Im), where In is the nth card transport unit of the N card transport units from which the card originates and Im is the mth card storage device of the M card storage devices to which the card is to be provided; o For each of the N card receiving points in the M rows, stacking and moving the stacked cards provided to the N card receiving points in the Mth row to the mth card storage device; Thus, in each of the M card storage devices, a plurality of sets of randomly ordered cards are provided through a series of steps. I. For the case where the m-th card storage device is empty: Ii defines the total number of cards Tm to be stored to provide a complete stack; I.ii. randomly assigning to each of the P compartments of the empty card storage device a certain number of Amp cards to be stored in this compartment, wherein the sum of the P certain number of Amp cards is equal to Tm; II. randomly selecting a compartment from the P compartments; III. providing a certain number of recognized cards from the N card receiving points at the mth row to the selected pth compartment; IV. randomly select another compartment of the P compartments, for which the number of cards recognized in this compartment is less than Amp; V. Repeat steps III to IV until all P compartments have been provided with a number of cards equal to Amp; VI. Remove the completed set of cards from the card storage device and repeat steps I to IV.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: M>1。 3. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: N>1。 4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The method provides a set of playing cards, each set of playing cards includes Q decks of playing cards, and these Q decks of playing cards are the Tm cards.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: Each of the identified cards includes obtaining information about the rank and suit of the card, and the method further includes counting the number of cards of a given rank and suit assigned to each of the M card storage devices, and assigning the identified card to this card storage device in the card storage devices only when the number of such cards in one of the card storage devices for cards of this type with the identified rank and suit is less than Q.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: P is an integer in the range of 4 to 10.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: N is an integer in the range of 4 to 12.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: M is an integer in the range of 4 to 10.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Each of the Amps is in the range of 0.5*Tm / P to 1.5*Tm / P.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The device for providing multiple sets of cards comprises: ○N card supply units, the N card supply units are used to provide a series of cards, N>1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N; NxM card receiving points, the NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix in M ​​rows and N columns, M>=1 and M+N>2, each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N; 1<+m<=M, each of the card receiving points in each column of the N columns of card receiving points is adapted to receive a card from one of the N card supply units; ○M card storage devices, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M; o a card transfer device for providing a card provided to each card receiving point in each row of card receiving points in the M rows of card receiving points to one of the M card storage devices; It is characterized in that the card conveying device has M card delivery points, one card delivery point for each of the M card storage devices, each of the M card storage devices includes P compartments, P>1, and for each of the M card storage devices, the card delivery point and the compartment can be positioned relative to each other to allow cards from the delivery point to be provided to each of the compartments.

11. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The device for providing multiple sets of cards comprises: ○N card supply units, the N card supply units are used to provide a series of cards, N>1, each unit is defined by a card supply unit number n, where 1<=n<=N; NxM card receiving points, the NxM card receiving points are positioned in a matrix in M ​​rows and N columns, M>=1 and M+N>2, each point is defined by coordinates (n, m), where 1<=n<=N; 1<+m<=M, each card receiving point in each column of card receiving points in the N columns of card receiving points is adapted to receive a card from one of the N card supply units; ○M card storage devices, each storage device is defined by a storage device number m, where 1<=m<=M; o a card transfer device for providing a card provided to each card receiving point in each row of card receiving points in the M rows of card receiving points to one of the M card storage devices; It is characterized in that each of the N card supply units has a card supply point, and for each of the N card supply units, a column of card receiving points can be moved relative to the card supply point to allow cards from the card supply unit to be provided to each card receiving point in the column of card receiving points.

Images