Chip Tracking System Using Opposing Viewpoint Image Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gaming systems struggle to accurately track the value of physical gaming chips, particularly in casino environments where chips are thin and stacked closely, leading to misidentification and lost revenue.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with image sensors positioned on either side of chip trays, capturing images of chip stacks from opposing viewpoints, and using machine learning models to analyze chip-edge features for accurate value detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single camera is used to capture chip stacks, then the system complexity is reduced, but the measurement precision of chip values deteriorates due to insufficient image detail
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a single viewpoint to multiple viewpoints by positioning cameras at different locations (e.g., above and below the chip tray, or at angled positions). This dimensional change allows the system to capture chip edge features from multiple angles, improving measurement precision without requiring a single complex multi-functional camera, thus resolving the contradiction between system complexity and measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the imaging function into separate camera units positioned at different locations, each capturing specific portions of chip stacks from different perspectives. This segmentation allows each camera to be simple and dedicated, while the combined information from multiple segmented views achieves high measurement precision for chip value identification.
2Quantity of substance
If chips are stacked closely to maximize tray capacity, then the quantity of chips that can be tracked increases, but the measurement precision of individual chip values deteriorates due to insufficient detail in images
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing multiple viewing dimensions (multiple camera positions), the system can resolve the ambiguity created by closely stacked chips. Each camera captures edge features from a different angle, allowing the system to distinguish between adjacent chips even when they are closely stacked, thus maintaining measurement precision while increasing tray capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs asymmetric camera positioning (e.g., one camera above and one below the tray, or at different heights and angles) to create non-symmetric viewing perspectives. This asymmetry allows the system to differentiate between chips based on their edge features as seen from different angles, enabling accurate identification even in closely stacked configurations.
3Productivity
If automated image analysis is used to track chip values, then the productivity of the tracking system increases, but the reliability of chip value identification deteriorates due to insufficient image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances the reliability of automated analysis by providing multiple dimensional views of chip stacks through strategically positioned cameras. This allows the automated analysis system to process high-quality images from multiple angles, maintaining both high productivity through automation and high reliability through improved image quality and cross-validation from multiple perspectives.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus having a chip tray with image sensors that have opposing viewpoints. The image sensors can capture, from the opposing viewpoints, image data of a chip stack of gaming chips positioned in a slot of the chip tray. The apparatus can determine, via analysis of the image data from the opposing viewpoints and in response analysis of chip-edge features of each gaming chip in the chip stack via a machine learning model, a value of each gaming chip in the chip stack. In one example, the analysis of the image data from the opposing viewpoints includes inverse transformation of the image data from the opposing viewpoints. The apparatus can further electronically present information associated with detection of the value of each gaming chip in the chip stack.