Patent · US Expired

Smart discard rack for playing cards

US7278923B2 · kind B2 · utility

135Cited by
36References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 17, 2003
Grant dateOct 9, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 9, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA63F1/12
  • WIPO fieldFurniture, games
  • WIPO sectorOther fields

Abstract

A discard rack moves and reads suit and rank of individual cards. The cards are provided to a card in-feed area and moved to a card collection area. Both suit and rank of each card is read in the card in-feed area or between the card in-feed area and the card collection area. The discard rack comprises a) a card in-feed area with card moving elements that move only a bottom card from a set of cards in the card in-feed area, b) a card collection area that receives cards from the card moving area in the same sense as cards are received in the card in-feed area, c) an image capture device that captures data from a card while the card is between the card in-feed area and the card collection area, d) preferably a communication port to send out captured data to a processor, and e) an elevator that lowers to maintain a level at which cards are received in the card collection area.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.