Patent ID: 7862434

Claim:
A system for counting and identifying a plurality of gaming chips having a programmable RFID device embedded therein, the programmable RFID device having unique authentication data disposed therein, the system comprising: a tray structure defining a plurality of predetermined chip positions within a multi-dimensional grid, the tray structure being configured to carry the plurality of gaming chips such that each of the plurality of gaming chips are substantially disposed in a corresponding one of the plurality of predetermined chip positions within the multi-dimensional grid; an optical sensing assembly configured to optically scan each of the plurality of predetermined chip positions to detect the presence of a gaming chip in each of the plurality of predetermined chip positions if present therein and generate a count corresponding to a number of detected gaming chips; and an RFID reader assembly configured to interrogate the plurality of gaming chips disposed in the tray structure and generate a list of authenticated gaming chips, the RFID reader assembly further generating a system status based on a comparison of the list of authenticated gaming chips relative to the number of detected gaming chips counted by the optical sensing assembly.