Patent Publication Number: US-2006009292-A1

Title: Electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to an electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly, and more particularly to an electric gambling machine that is able to deal real cards to a player, and allows the player to select at discretion one or more of many card dealing mechanisms of the machine to deal cards and the sheets of cards to be dealt, so that the suits and pips of cards are not completely controlled by a computer program, making the game fair to play.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      There are a lot of games using pokers, such as show-hand, blackjack, baccarat, etc. Different games using pokers as a tool are usually included in international famous casinos. In these international famous casinos, most games using pokers have professional dealers to deal the cards. Moreover, since not all countries or areas have such high-class casinos, and not all people have the ability to play in such casinos, there have been developed various kinds of electric gambling machines related to poker games for poker-lovers to play.  
      For the currently available electric poker-related gambling machines, the way to deal cards is to show the dealt cards on a screen, instead of sending out real cards from the machine to the player. And, the cards are dealt in rules and sequences completely under control of a computer program. Therefore, the players would doubt the fairness of these games. Since there is currently not any electric poker-related gambling machine that deals cards randomly, players could do nothing but tolerate the gambling machines using computer program to control the dealing of cards.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A primary object of the present invention is to provide an electric gambling machine dealing cards randomly, particularly an electric gambling machine that directly sends out real pokers to a player, and allows a player to select at his own discretion one or more of many dealing mechanisms of the machine to deal cards and the sheets of cards to be dealt, so as to ensure the fairness of the game with the gambling machine.  
      The electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to the present invention mainly includes a game unit and a dealing unit having at least two card dealing mechanisms. The game unit and the dealing unit are connected via connecting lines to allow the player to select one or more card dealing mechanisms to deal cards via control of select buttons on the game unit. Therefore, the cards can be dealt randomly without being completely controlled by a computer program.  
      The electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to the present invention may further includes an optic reader in each card dealing mechanism for reading out identifying barcodes on each card to verify the suit and pips of the card. The readout is also shown on a screen on the game unit.  
      The electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to the present invention may further includes a stamper in each card dealing mechanism for stamping on each card a code of verifying each game before the card is sent out from the machine to the player. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a dealing unit of the electric gambling machine of  FIG. 1  with an upper cover removed therefrom;  
       FIG. 3  is a sectioned side view showing a card dealing mechanism and a card supplying mechanism inside the dealing unit of  FIG. 2 ; and  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of an electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1  that is a perspective view of an electric gambling machine for dealing cards randomly according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the gambling machine includes a game unit  1  and a dealing unit  2  that are mechanically and electrically connected to each other via connecting means. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the game unit  1  is modified and improved from a currently commercially available electric gambling machine for poker games. The game unit  1  is of a type adapted to control the operation of the dealing unit  2 , and includes more than one select button  10 , and a screen  11 . The select buttons  10  are used to start, play, and display results of a game, and to control the dealing unit  2  to deal and supply cards.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the dealing unit  2  mainly includes at least one card dealing mechanism  3 , and a card supplying mechanism  4  corresponding to each card dealing mechanism  3  to supply cards to the latter. The card dealing mechanism  3  accepts signals from the select buttons  10  on the game unit  1  controlled by a player, and deals cards according to the player&#39;s selection. That is, a player may select a specific card dealing mechanism  3  via the select buttons  10  on the game unit  1 , and specify the sheets of cards to be dealt by the specific card dealing mechanism  3 . For example, in a five-card game, the player may select five different card dealing mechanisms  3  to each deal one card, or select less than five card dealing mechanisms  3  to deal total five cards. In this manner, variable results may be obtained. The more the card dealing mechanisms are provided in the machine, the more variable results can be obtained. Therefore, in implementation of the present invention, it is better to have more than two card dealing mechanisms  3 , so as to increase the probability of selecting cards randomly.  
      The card dealing mechanism  3  mainly includes a card cartridge  30 , a transfer roller set  31 , and a transfer rail  32 . The transfer roller set  31  guides cards in the card cartridge  30  into the transfer rail  32 , along which cards are moved to an outer side of the dealing unit  3  one by one. The transfer roller set  31  includes a feed roller  311  for bringing a card into the transfer rail  32 , a transfer roller  312  for constantly moving a card forward, and a plurality of deal rollers  313  provided at an outer end  321  of the transfer rail  32 . The feed roller  311  and the transfer roller  312  are rotated synchronously. However, the deal rollers  313  start rotating synchronously only when a card reaches at the outer end  321  of the transfer rail  32 , so as to guide the card out of the transfer rail  32 .  
      The card dealing mechanism  3  also includes an optic reader  34  and a stamper  35 . The optic reader  34  reads barcodes printed on each card passing through the transfer rail  32  to verify pips and suit on the card. Any readout of the optic reader  34  is transmitted to a memory in the game unit  1 , and displayed on the screen  11  at the same time the card is dealt. The stamper  35  stamps on the card to be dealt next time an identifying code for verifying the specific game to avoid any dispute between the player and the gambling machine owner. To ensure reading of the barcodes on each card, it is possible to provide two optic readers  34  in each card dealing mechanism  3 . The same one stamper  35  may be used for different card dealing mechanisms  3 . In this case, the stamper  35  is mounted on two horizontal guide bars  36 ,  36  to translate between the card dealing mechanisms  3  and stamp identification codes on cards to be dealt by all card dealing mechanisms  3 .  
      The card supplying mechanism  4  is provided behind the card dealing mechanism  3 , and includes a card storage  40 , a card pusher  41 , and a card supplier  42 . The card storage  40  is a storing space for stacking cards  50  therein. The card pusher  41  is located below the card storage  40  to support the cards  50  thereon. When the card pusher  41  is moved upward, cards  50  are sent to the card supplier  42  above the card storage  40 . The card supplier  42  includes a scraper  421  fixedly connected to a rack  422 . A gear  423  brings the rack  422  to move and thereby causes the scraper  421  to push one card into the card cartridge  30  of the card dealing mechanism  3 . The card pusher  41  is elevated and lowered through meshing of racks  43  with gears  44 . The card supplying mechanism  4  and the card dealing mechanism  3  may be provided in one-to-one correspondence, as shown in the embodiment of  FIG. 2 . Alternatively, one card supplying mechanism  4  may be provided against two or more card dealing mechanisms  3  to supply cards. In the latter case, the card supplying mechanism  4  must be able to translate between the card dealing mechanisms  3 .  
      The game unit  1  and the dealing unit  2  are electrically connected to one another using a power cord (not shown) and a signal transmitting line (not shown) to achieve power supply and signal transmission, respectively. Since this part is a known art and not a technical feature of the present invention, it is not discussed in details herein. In the above-described embodiment, the game unit  1  and the dealing unit  2  are provided in one-to-one correspondence. However, in actual application of the present invention, one dealing unit  2  may be provided against two or more game units  1 , as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
      With the dealing unit  2  of the present invention, the way of dealing cards can be decided at a player&#39;s discretion without being completely controlled by a computer program, making the game fair to play. Moreover, the card dealt by the dealing unit  2  can be compared and checked with that shown on the screen  11  of the game unit  1  to ensure the game is fair without cheating.  
      The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.