U.S. patent application number 13/282583 was filed with the patent office on 2013-05-02 for automatic poker machine.
The applicant listed for this patent is TZU-HSIANG TSENG. Invention is credited to TZU-HSIANG TSENG.
Application Number | 20130106054 13/282583 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48171587 |
Filed Date | 2013-05-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130106054 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
TSENG; TZU-HSIANG |
May 2, 2013 |
AUTOMATIC POKER MACHINE
Abstract
An automatic poker machine includes a mechanical arm using a
suction disk for picking up a poker card, a video recognition
device adapted for recognizing the card suit and card value of the
poker card carried by the mechanical arm, a display screen for
displaying the card suit and card value of each recognized poker
card and two card shufflers alternatively used for shuffling poker
cards.
Inventors: |
TSENG; TZU-HSIANG; (TAICHUNG
CITY, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
TSENG; TZU-HSIANG |
TAICHUNG CITY |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
48171587 |
Appl. No.: |
13/282583 |
Filed: |
October 27, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/149R |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 1/12 20130101; A63F
1/14 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/149.R |
International
Class: |
A63F 1/14 20060101
A63F001/14 |
Claims
1. An automatic poker machine, comprising: a mechanical arm
comprising a suction disk for picking up a poker card; a video
recognition device adapted for recognizing the card suit and card
value of the poker card carried by said mechanical arm; a display
screen for displaying the card suit and card value of each
recognized poker card; and two card shufflers for shuffling poker
cards, each said card shuffler comprising a card-dispensing slot,
two card-collecting slots at two opposite lateral sides of said
card-dispensing slot, two card carriers respectively set in said
two card-collecting slots for holding poker cards, two presser arms
respectively pivotally disposed in said card-collecting slots above
the respective card carriers, two impression rollers respectively
pivotally mounted at respective free ends of said presser arms in
said card-collecting slots for holding poker cards on the
respective card carriers, two motor-driven card-transfer wheels
respectively controllable to transfer poker cards from said
card-collecting slots into said card-dispensing slot, and a lifting
card holder vertically movably mounted in said card-dispensing slot
and adapted for receiving poker cards transferred by one of said
motor-driven card-transfer wheels from one of said two
card-collecting slots.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to poker machines and more
particularly, to an automatic poker machine, which consists of a
mechanical arm, a card shuffle and a video recognition device for
collecting poker cards, shuffling poker cards, dispensing poker
cards, recognizing poker cards and displaying poker cards fully
automatically.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] A card game (poker game) is a game using playing cards as
the primary device with which the game is played. When playing a
card game (poker game), playing cards are distributed among players
manually by the dealer or automatically by an automatic card
dispenser. When one pack of playing cards (poker cards) is shuffled
once, the dealer needs to pick up the primarily shuffled playing
cards (poker cards) from the card shuffler and then insert the
primarily shuffled playing cards (poker cards) into the card
shuffler again for a secondary shuffling. Therefore, these card
shufflers require much labor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention has been accomplished under the
circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present
invention to provide an automatic poker machine, which can collect
playing cards, shuffle playing cards, dispense playing cards,
recognize playing cards and display playing cards fully
automatically, saving much labor and avoiding shuffling trick.
[0006] To achieve this and other objects of the present invention,
an automatic porker machine comprises a mechanical arm, a video
recognition device, a display screen, and two card shufflers. The
mechanical arm uses a suction disk for picking up a poker card. The
video recognition device is adapted for recognizing the card suit
and card value of the poker card carried by the mechanical arm. The
display screen is adapted for displaying the card suit and card
value of each recognized poker card. The two card shufflers are
alternatively used for shuffling poker cards.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an automatic poker machine
in accordance with the present invention.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a front view of a part of the present invention
illustrating the structure of one card shuffler.
[0009] FIG. 3 corresponds to FIG. 2, illustrating a status of
operation of the card shuffler.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing of the present invention,
illustrating a card-dispensing operation of the automatic poker
machine.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing of the present invention,
illustrating a card-recognition operation of the automatic poker
machine.
[0012] FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing of the present invention,
illustrating a card-collection operation of the automatic poker
machine.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0013] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, an automatic poker machine in
accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a
mechanical arm 10, a video recognition device 12, a display screen
13, and two card shufflers 20.
[0014] The mechanical arm 10 comprises a suction disk 11 for
picking up poker cards 1 individually.
[0015] Each card shuffler 20 comprises a card-dispensing slot 21,
two card-collecting slots 22 at two opposite lateral sides of the
card-dispensing slot 21, two card carriers 24 respectively set in
the two card-collecting slots 22 for holding poker cards 1, two
presser arms 25 respectively pivotally disposed in the
card-collecting slots 22 above the respective card carriers 24, two
impression rollers 26 respectively pivotally mounted at the free
ends of the presser arms 25 in the card-collecting slots 22 for
holding poker cards 1 on the respective card carriers 24, two
motor-driven card-transfer wheels 27 respectively controllable to
transfer poker cards from the card-collecting slots 22 into the
card-dispensing slot 21, and a lifting card holder 23 vertically
movably mounted in the card-dispensing slot 21 and adapted for
receiving poker cards 1 transferred by one of the motor-driven
card-transfer wheels 27 from one of the two card-collecting slots
22.
[0016] When dispensing poker cards, as shown in FIG. 4, the
mechanical arm 10 is controlled to move the suction disk 11 to the
card-dispensing slot 21 of one card shuffler 20 and then to pick up
one poker card 1 from the lifting card holder 23 for enabling the
video recognition device 12 to recognize the card suit and card
value of the poker card 1 (see FIG. 5) for display on the display
screen 13. Thereafter, the mechanical arm 10 carries the duly
displayed poker card 1 to one card-collecting slot 22 (see FIG. 6)
and then release the suction force from the suction disk 11 for
enabling the duly displayed poker card 1 to fall to the
card-collecting slot 22, finishing one cycle of card-dispensing,
card-displaying and card-collecting actions, This operation
procedure is repeated again and again until all the desired number
of poker cards has been distributed to the players. When the poker
cards in one card shuffler 20 has been dealt, the mechanical arm 10
is controllable to pick up poker cards from the other card shuffler
30. At this time, the primarily served card shuffler 20 is
controlled to shuffle porker cards for next service, Thus, when one
card shuffler 20 shufflers porker cards, the other card shuffler 20
is controlled to dispense porker cards, enabling the poker game to
be continued without interruption.
[0017] The shuffling operation and effects of the present invention
are outlined hereinafter. Collected poker cards 1 are received by
the card carriers 24 in the card-collecting slots 22. When poker
cards have been dealt, card shuffling is started. As this time, as
shown in FIG. 3, the two motor-driven card-transfer wheels 27 are
respectively controlled to transfer poker cards from the
card-collecting slots 22 into the card-dispensing slot 21, and the
lifting card holder 23 is moved vertically in the card-dispensing
slot 21 for receiving poker cards 1 transferred by the motor-driven
card-transfer wheels 27 from the two card-collecting slots 22.
Therefore, when one card shuffler 20 shufflers porker cards, the
other card shuffler 20 is controlled to dispense porker cards,
enabling the poker game to be continued without interruption.
[0018] Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been
described in detail for purposes of illustration, various
modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from
the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention
is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
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