US 11,344,795 B2Granted

Tracking playing cards during game play using RFID tags

AssigneeThe Pokémon Company International, Inc.

InventorPaul Earl Grimes

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Abstract

A system having a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag reader and a camera to map playing cards to RFID tag values. Each card is inserted into a sleeve that has an RFID tag. During or after insertion of a card into a sleeve, the camera captures an image of the card and the RFID reader captures an RFID tag value for the sleeve. The identity of the card is then determined from the captured image and mapped to the RFID tag value. This mapping information is generated for each card-sleeve pair in a card deck and utilized to track the movement of the cards during game play. The RFID tag value of each card-sleeve pair in the card deck is captured before and after a player draws a card from the deck. The missing RFID tag values are compared to the mapping information to identify which cards where drawn by the player.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A system, comprising:

a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag reader;
a plurality of playing-card sleeves having RFID tags affixed thereto;
a plurality of playing cards having one card within each respective sleeve;
a camera that captures images of a plurality of playing cards;
and
a computing device that includes:
a memory that stores computing instructions and card deck mapping information for a deck of playing cards that includes a plurality of pairs of a card and a sleeve for that card;
and
a processor that executes the computer instructions to:
prior to playing a game with the deck of playing cards:
capture, via the camera, a first image of a first playing card of the plurality of playing cards in association with the first playing card being inserted into a first sleeve of the plurality of playing-card sleeves to make a first card-sleeve pair of the plurality of card-sleeve pairs in the deck of playing cards prior to playing a game;
capture, via the RFID tag reader, a first radio-frequency-identification-tag value from a first RFID tag affixed to the first sleeve;
determine an identification of the first playing card based on the first image;
generate a first mapping for the first card-sleeve pair between the identification of the first playing card and the first radio-frequency-identification-tag value for the first sleeve;
and
store the first mapping in the card deck mapping information in the memory;
during playing of the game:
capture, via the RFID tag reader, a first set of RFID tag values from a first set of radio-frequency-identification tags affixed to a first set of card-sleeve pairs from the plurality of card-sleeve pairs in the deck of playing cards;
capture, via the RFID tag reader after at least one card-sleeve pair is removed from the deck of playing cards, a second set of RFID tag values from a second set of radio-frequency-identification tags affixed to a second set of card-sleeve pairs from the plurality of card-sleeve pairs in the deck of playing cards;
determine a third set of RFID tag values based on a comparison between the first set and the second set of RFID tag values;
determine an identification of at least one playing card of the at least one card-sleeve pairs based on the card deck mapping information and the third set of RFID tag values;
generate strategy information for the game based on the at least one identified playing card;
capture, via the camera, an image of a playing card that is played or discarded during the game;
identify the played or discarded card based on the image;
and
modify the strategy information for the game based on the played or discarded card.

23 more elements

A method, comprising:

inserting a playing card of a plurality of playing cards into a respective sleeve of a plurality of sleeves to create a plurality of card-sleeve pairs in a deck prior to playing a card game;
capturing an image of each respective playing card of the plurality of playing cards in association with the respective card being inserted into the respective sleeve of the plurality of sleeves;
determining an identification of each respective card of the plurality of playing cards based on the image of the respective cards;
modifying an RFID tag value of each respective RFID tag affixed to each respective sleeve in association with the respective card being inserted into the respective sleeve based on the identification of each respective card;
capturing, prior to at least one card-sleeve pair being removed from the deck, a first set of modified RFID tag values of the cards in the deck;
removing at least one card-sleeve pair from the deck;
capturing, after at least one card-sleeve pair is removed from the deck during the playing of the card game, a second set of modified RFID tag values of the cards in the deck;
and
determining an identification of at least one card that has been removed from the deck based on at least one modified RFID tag value being in the first set of modified RFID tag values but not in the second set of modified RFID tag values.

6 more elements

A computing device, comprising:

a memory that stores computing instructions and card deck mapping information that maps a respective radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag value of each of a plurality of radio-frequency-identification tags to an associated playing card of a plurality of playing cards;
and
a processor that executes the computer instructions to:
obtain a first set of RFID tag values from a first set of radio-frequency-identification tags of the plurality of radio-frequency-identification tags associated with a first set of cards of the plurality of cards;
obtain a second set of RFID tag values from a second set of radio-frequency-identification tags of the plurality of radio-frequency-identification tags associated with a second set of cards of the plurality of cards in response to at least one card being removed from the first set of cards;
determine a third set of RFID tag values based on a comparison between the first set and the second set of RFID tag values;
determine an identification of at least one card that is associated with the third set of RFID tag values based on the card deck mapping information;
obtain a RFID tag value from a radio-frequency-identification tag associated with a card that is played or discarded during playing of a card game;
identify the played or discarded card based on the RFID tag value and the card deck mapping information;
and
generate strategy information for the card game based on the played or discarded card.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/839,766Filed 3 Apr 2020 · us provisional application
Priority: 4 Apr 2019
Published: US 2020/0316481 A18 Oct 2020
Granted: 31 May 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

A63F 1/18
Card game appurtenances: scoring or registering devices; Indicators
A63F 13/213
Characterised by their sensors, purposes or types: comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells
A63F 1/00
Card games
A63F 1/02
Card games: cards; Special shapes of cards