Patent ID: 8353759

Claim:
A gaming table comprising: an upper surface comprising a gaming chip placement area; a lower surface opposite to said upper surface; and an antenna assembly comprising: a housing coupled to one of said upper surface and said lower surface of said gaming table; an antenna coupled to said housing, said antenna configured to form an electromagnetic field that defines a zone of communication in which a gaming chip comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag can be read; a substantially-contiguous highly permeable magnetic material layer proximate said antenna, said highly permeable magnetic material layer defining an outermost boundary of the zone of communication of said antenna, such that a strength of the electromagnetic field at any region beyond the defined boundary of the zone of communication is below a threshold level for communication with an RFID gaming chip, the highly permeable magnetic material layer positioned on a surface that, when extended, traverses the upper surface of the gaming table; and a reading device coupled to said housing, wherein said RFID reading device is configured to read data transmitted by an RFID gaming chip when said RFID gaming chip is in the zone of communication.