Method and apparatus for monitoring casinos and gaming

Abstract

A system automatically monitors playing and wagering of a game, including the gaming habits of players and the performance of employees at least partially by tracking the movement of chips bearing identifiers. A chip tray reader images the contents of a chip tray, while a table reader images chips on the gaming table. Chip identifiers may be associated with customer or player identifiers, the customer's or player's names may or may not be known. The system detects customer or player behavior such as prohibited playing and wagering patterns, and determines the win/loss percentage of the players and the dealer, as well as a number of other statistically relevant measures. The measurements provide automated security and real-time accounting. The measurements also provide a basis for automatically allocating complimentary player benefits.

1 . A card deck reader, comprising: 
 a housing having a cradle sized to receive a plurality of playing cards; and    a reading head positioned in the housing to read a respective machine-readable symbol on each of at least two of the playing cards while the at least two of the playing cards remain in the cradle and before a first one of the at least two playing cards is removed from the cradle.    
   
   
       2 . The card deck reader of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a drive mechanism coupled to the reading head to move the reading head with respect to the playing cards.    
   
   
       3 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the reading head is an area imager having a field-of-view covering a machine-readable symbol bearing portion of at least two of the playing cards when the playing cards are received in the housing.  
   
   
       4 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the reading head includes at least one linear optical sensor.  
   
   
       5 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the housing includes a base to support the housing on a gaming table when in use and a sloped card support surface, the card support surface forming an angle with respect to the base of the housing to expose a machine-readable symbol bearing portion carried on an edge of each of the plurality of playing cards received in the housing and supported by the card support surface.  
   
   
       6 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the cradle includes a card support surface that is sloped with respect to a gravitational axis when in use to expose a portion of a surface of each of the plurality of cards when the plurality of playing cards are received in the housing.  
   
   
       7 . The card deck reader of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a light source received in the housing and positioned to illuminate at least a portion of a respective surface of each of at least two playing cards when the playing cards are received in the housing.    
   
   
       8 . The card deck reader of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a decoder coupled to the reading head to receive and decode a signal from the reading head corresponding to a number of the machine-readable symbols read from the playing cards.    
   
   
       9 . The card deck reader of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a microprocessor coupled to the reading head to receive a signal from the reading head corresponding to a number of the machine-readable symbols read from the playing cards; and    a memory coupled to the microprocessor to provide instructions thereto, the memory including instructions that cause the microprocessor to decode the signal from the reading head and to verify that the plurality of playing cards is complete and contains no substituted playing cards.    
   
   
       10 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the reading head has a field-of-view, and further comprising: 
 a motor coupled to drive the field-of-view of the reading head with respect to the playing cards.    
   
   
       11 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the reading head has a field-of-view, and further comprising: 
 a motor operable to drive the field-of-view of the reading head across at least an information bearing portion of each of the playing cards before a first playing card is removed from the cradle.    
   
   
       12 . The card deck reader of  claim 1  wherein the reading head comprises: 
 a two-dimensional array reading head positioned in the housing to read a respective symbol on each of a number of the playing cards before a first one of the playing cards is removed from the cradle.    
   
   
       13 . A method of automatically reading playing cards, comprising: 
 positioning a plurality of playing cards in a cradle located in a housing to expose a machine-readable symbol carrying portion of each of at least two of the playing cards;    automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from the machine-readable symbol carrying portion of each of at least two of the playing cards in the plurality of playing cards while the at least two of the playing cards are supported on the cradle and before a first one of the playing cards is removed from the housing to establish a playing card order; and    removing the plurality of playing cards from the housing such that each of the playing cards retains an order with respect to the other playing cards in the plurality of playing cards corresponding to an order in which the machine-readable symbols were read.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 decoding each of the read machine-readable symbols.    
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 for each of the playing cards, decoding a respective one of the read machine-readable symbols only if the playing card is dealt.    
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes reading a bar code symbol carried by the playing card.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes reading at least one of a respective unique serial number carried by each of the playing cards.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes reading a card rank and a suit from a face of the playing card.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes scanning the respective machine-readable symbol from each of the at least two playing cards.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes imaging the respective machine-readable symbol from each of the at least two playing cards.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 13  wherein automatically reading a respective machine-readable symbol from each of at least two of the playing cards includes moving a reading head with respect to the plurality of playing cards.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 13  wherein manually removing the plurality of playing cards from the housing includes manually removing all of the playing cards in the plurality of playing cards as a single stack.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 for each of the read playing cards, determining at least one of a rank and a suit for the playing card from the read machine-readable symbol after the playing card has been dealt.