Device and method for continuously shuffling and monitoring cards

A device for delivering shuffled cards comprising:

• a card receiver for receiving at least one stack of unshuffled cards;
• a plurality of individual compartments;
• a first card mover for moving each card in the stack individually from the card receiver to a compartment;
• a second card mover for moving cards from a compartment to a second card receiver upon demand;
• and
• a processing unit programmed to control the first card mover and the second card mover, wherein the processing unit randomly assigns each card in the stack to a compartment, and controls the first card mover and the second card movers upon demand.

A method for continuously resupplying randomly arranged cards in a playing card handler comprising:

• providing a card staging area for receiving playing cards to be handled;
• providing a plurality of playing card-receiving compartments that are capable of receiving one-at-a-time more than one card into each compartment, the card staging area and the playing card-receiving compartments are relatively movable;
• providing a first playing card mover generally between the staging area and the playing card-receiving compartments and moving a playing card from the staging area into the playing card-receiving compartments;
• providing a second playing card mover for removing one or more playing cards from the playing card-receiving compartments;
• a microprocessor randomly removing one or more playing cards from the card-receiving compartments to a shuffled playing card receiving area;
• and
• a drive system responsive to the microprocessor providing relative motion between the second playing card mover and the playing card receiving compartments.

A method of delivering a continuous supply of shuffled cards on demand, apparatus comprising:

• a) providing a card shuffling chamber for randomizing cards that includes compartments for receiving random cards;
• b) a card receiver and card feed mechanism receiving and feeding unshuffled cards into the shuffling chamber;
• c) at least one sensor sensing the presence of a card as the card is being fed into the shuffling chamber;
• d) at least one sensor sensing the presence of a card as the card is being removed from the shuffling chamber;
• e) removing cards from the shuffling chamber on demand to provide a continuous supply of shuffled cards;
• f) a microprocessor receiving signals from at least sensors c) and d) and counting cards entering and being removed from the shuffling chamber and maintaining a count of cards present in the shuffling chamber so that the number of cards within the shuffling chamber is known;
• g) receiving instructions from an apparatus user to initiate a card counting process to count cards within a specified area of the apparatus, and
• h) signaling the mechanism to remove cards from the shuffling chamber by removing cards randomly from compartments in the shuffling chamber.

A method of operation of a continuous card shuffling apparatus, comprising

• providing a card receiver having a support surface for supporting a stack of cards to be randomized;
• providing a card shuffling chamber comprising a plurality of card receiving compartments, each compartment capable of receiving multiple cards;
• moving cards individually from the card receiver to a compartment in the card shuffling chamber with a first card moving mechanism;
• aligning the card moving mechanism and a selected card receiving compartment;
• a second card moving mechanism for moving cards from a card receiving compartment to a shuffled card receiver having a support surface for receiving randomly arranged cards;
• and
• a microprocessor controlling operation of the continuous card shuffling apparatus.

A method of substantially continuously resupplying randomly arranged cards, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a card receiver for receiving cards to be processed;
• providing a single stack of card-receiving compartments that are able to receive more than one card into each compartment generally adjacent to the card receiver and means for moving the stack relative to a card moving mechanism;
• providing a card-moving mechanism between the card receiver and the stack and moving cards from the card receiver to the card-receiving compartments;
• providing a second card receiver for receiving processed cards;
• providing a second card moving mechanism for moving cards from the compartments to the second card receiver;
• and
• counting each number of cards that has been moved to more than one specified area within the card handler so that the number of cards within the specified areas within the card handler is known.