US 20030052449A1
(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2003/0052449 Al
Grauzer et al. (43) Pub. Date: Mar. 20,2003
(54) DEVICE AND METHOD FOR
CONTINUOUSLY SHUFFLING AND
MONITORING CARDS
(76) Inventors: Attila Grauzer, Las Vegas, NV (US);
Feraidoon Bourbour, Minneapolis,
MN (US); James Phillip Helgesen,
Eden Prairie, MN (US); Troy D.
Nelson, Big Lake, MN (US); Robert J.
Rynda, Las Vegas, NV (US); Paul K.
Scheper, Eden Prairie, MN (US);
James Bernard Stasson, Chanhassen,
MN (US); Ronald R. Swanson,
Watertown, MN (US)
Correspondence Address:
MARK A. LITMAN & ASSOCIATES, PA.
York Business Center
Suite 205
3209 W. 76th St.
Edina, MN 55435 (US)
(21) Appl. No.: 10/285,973
(22) Filed: Oct. 31, 2002
Related U.S. Application Data
(63) Continuation ol application No. 09/690,051, filed on Oct. 16, 2000, which is a continuation-in-part ol application No. 09/060,598, filed on Apr. 15, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,254,096.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for moving playing cards Irom a first group ol cards into a second group ol cards, wherein the second group ol cards is randomly arranged or shuffled. The apparatus comprises a card receiver for receiving the first group ol cards, a single stack ol card-receiving compartments generally adjacent to the card receiver, the stack generally vertically movable, an elevator for moving the stack, a card-moving mechanism between the card receiver and the stack for moving cards one at a time into a selected one ol the compartments, another card moving mechanism for moving cards Irom one ol the compartments to a second card receiver and a microprocessor that controls the card-moving mechanisms and the elevator. A count ol cards within specified areas ol the card handling system is maintained and card handling is halted and all cards counted by adding a count ol all cards not within the specified areas to the total ol cards counted within the specified areas.
