Image capturing card shuffler

A card shuffling apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a shuffling system located within the housing, the shuffling system being configured for receiving playing cards from an input receptacle and shuffling the playing cards into a random order;
• an image capture device positioned within the housing and configured to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;
• and
• a controller located within the housing, the controller including a processor and a memory, the processor being programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to deliver packets of cards in each of a batch mode and a continuous mode, the memory being configured to store image data captured by the image capture device, wherein the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the batch mode and the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present packets consisting of fewer than all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the continuous mode.

A card shuffling apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a playing card shuffling mechanism within the housing;
• an image capturing device within the housing, the image capturing device positioned and configured to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;
• a graphics display connected to the housing configured to selectively show images corresponding to the captured image data of playing cards forming one or more previously dealt hands of playing cards;
• and
• a processor within the housing, wherein the processor is programmed to selectively operate the playing card shuffling mechanism to present all cards in the playing card shuffling mechanism for removal after randomization in a batch mode and the processor is programmed to selectively operate the playing card shuffling mechanism to present packets consisting of fewer than all cards in the playing card shuffling mechanism for removal after randomization in a continuous mode.

A card shuffling apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a shuffling system located within the housing, the shuffling system being configured for receiving playing cards from an input receptacle and shuffle the playing cards into a random order;
• an image capturing device within the housing, the image capturing device positioned and configured to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;
• and
• a controller located within the housing, the controller including a processor and a memory, the processor being programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to deliver packets of cards in each of a batch mode and a continuous shuffling mode, wherein the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the batch mode and the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present packets consisting of fewer than all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the continuous mode, the memory being configured for storing the image data of the at least a portion of each playing card.

A card shuffling apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a shuffling system located within the housing, the shuffling system being configured for receiving playing cards from an input receptacle and shuffling the playing cards into a random order;
• an image capturing device located within the housing, the image capturing device being positioned to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;
• a memory located within the housing, the memory being configured for storing the image data of the at least a portion of each playing card in the memory;
• and
• a controller located within the housing, the controller including a processor programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to deliver cards in each of a batch mode and a continuous mode, wherein the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the batch mode and the processor is programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to present packets consisting of fewer than all cards in the shuffling system for removal after randomization in the continuous mode, and to enable recall of the stored image data.

A card shuffling apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a card input receptacle connected to the housing;
• a card delivery area connected to the housing;
• a shuffling system within the housing configured to continually receive playing cards from the input receptacle and shuffle the cards into a random order;
• an image capturing device located within the housing, the image capturing device being positioned to capture image data of at least a portion of each playing card, the image data comprising at least a suit and a rank of each playing card;
• and
• a controller within the housing, the controller including a processor and a memory, the processor being programmed to selectively operate the shuffling system to deliver randomized packets of cards continually to the card delivery area, wherein fewer than all cards in a set of cards being shuffled are delivered after randomization, the memory being configured for storing the image data of the at least a portion of each playing card.