Amusement devices: games – Chance devices – Rotating disk
Patent
1996-10-24
1998-11-17
Layno, Benjamin H.
Amusement devices: games
Chance devices
Rotating disk
273142D, 273142E, 463 17, A63F 502
Patent
active
058365834
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a detection system for detecting the position of an object on a movable member. It has particular but non-exclusive application to the detection of the position of a ball in a moving roulette wheel.
BACKGROUND ART
Systems to detect the position of the ball in a moving roulette wheel are used both to illuminate a display to indicate the winning number to the punters and to collect information for statistical processing. The latter enables the casino to check that the wheel and its croupier are operating fairly and without bias.
In one conventional detection system three infra-red lasers are used, two of which are aimed at the numbers region of a roulette wheel and one of which is aimed at the ball pockets. Another system uses broad area infra-red irradiation with triple focused optics and sensors on the same regions. Both of these systems then detect infra-red radiation which has been reflected by the roulette wheel and the ball in order to determine the direction of rotation of the wheel and its angular velocity, to detect the ball, and to identify in which pocket of the wheel the ball is in when it has come to rest. A third system uses an infra-red emitter and sensor to detect the ball but detects the angular position of the rotating cylinder of the wheel by means of a detector mounted under the cylinder. The wheel below the cylinder is drilled and a plate with a printed bar code is attached to the underneath surface of the cylinder so that it can be viewed by the detector. This can introduce bias into the rotation of the cylinder.
One disadvantage of all these systems is that the infra-red emitters and the detectors must of necessity be firmly attached to the wheel, typically by screws or bolts. This involves damage to the roulette wheel itself, which is undesirable from an aesthetic standpoint and makes it difficult to move the wheel, which is usually turned periodically to prevent uneven wear of both the bearings and the static wheel rim. In addition, all of these systems require precise adjustment and must be set up by a skilled person with special equipment and tools who can ensure that the infra-red emitters and detectors are orientated correctly.
A fourth conventional system uses a CCTV camera or CCD array with suitable optics, arranged so as to view the interior of the wheel, together with appropriate image processing. This system is a passive system as it does not emit any radiation and it avoids damage to the wheel. However, the image processing techniques involved are of inherently low physical precision. Whereas the first two systems utilise a static reference point on the rim of the wheel in association with a rotating cylinder, this technique sees in effect a static cylinder and moves a virtual reference point around it.
All four systems described above face several severe difficulties.
The light signals reflected from both the numbers region of a wheel and the ball are typically diffuse in nature and thus weak relative to the general illumination of the wheel. Furthermore the reflectivity of these components and materials is not controlled within the infra-red spectrum. It is fallacy to assume that because something is reflective in the visible spectrum it is reflective in the infra-red also: it is often the opposite of what one might intuit. Plastics are commonly transparent to the near infra-red irrespective of their apparent colour to the human eye; equally some plastics and dyes are absorbent within this spectral region and thus appear black to a sensor. There is usually a difference in the level of the reflected component but this is uncontrolled, accidental and typically small in magnitude. Any reliance on infra-red irradiation, though it can be used to some effect at sufficiently high power levels, is fraught with uncertainty and inherently unpredictable in its performance on roulette wheels of arbitrary and uncontrolled manufacture.
A roulette table overall is typically illuminated by spotlights of arbitrarily high power and orien
REFERENCES:
patent: 4396193 (1983-08-01), Reinhardt
patent: 4730108 (1988-03-01), Rodal et al.
patent: 4732385 (1988-03-01), Castellanos
patent: 4869505 (1989-09-01), Manabe
Layno Benjamin H.
Technical Casino Services Ltd.
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