Patent ID: 8061913

Claim:
A card processing assembly comprising: at least one card drive configured to be positioned within a housing of a gaming machine, the at least one card drive configured to move a plurality of data cards from one location to another location; at least one heating device configured to be positioned within the housing; at least one processor operatively coupled to the at least one card drive and the at least one heating device; and at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one card drive, the at least one heating device, and an external device to: (a) receive a signal from the external device, the external device being located outside of and separate from the housing, the signal selected from a group consisting of: a card load signal and a card unload signal; (b) receive a plurality of the data cards from the external device in response to the at least one processor receiving the card load signal; (c) control at least one function of the at least one card drive based on the received signal; and (d) cause the at least one heating device to apply heat to one of the data cards, the applied heat resulting in a human-readable symbol which is viewable on said data card.