US 11,967,200 B2
Chip tracking system
Martin S. Lyons, Henderson, NV (US); and Rolland Steil, Las Vegas, NV (US)
Assigned to LNW Gaming, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (US)
Filed by LNW Gaming, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (US)
Filed on Jan. 12, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/574,290.
Prior Publication US 2023/0237868 A1, Jul. 27, 2023
Int. Cl. G07F 17/32 (2006.01)
CPC G07F 17/322 (2013.01) [G07F 17/3232 (2013.01); G07F 17/3241 (2013.01); G07F 17/3248 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
a light-diffusion box;
a chip tray positioned above the light-diffusion box, wherein an underside of the chip tray has a transparent portion for at least one column of the chip tray;
a range imaging device positioned at a top of the at least one column of the chip tray;
one or more image sensors positioned with a viewing perspective of the transparent portion of the underside of the chip tray; and
a tracking controller configured to perform operations that cause the apparatus to
illuminate the light-diffusion box with diffused light, wherein the diffused light shines through the transparent portion of the chip tray and illuminates the edge of one or more chips in a chip stack visible via the transparent portion;
capture, via the one or more image sensors in response to illumination of the light-diffusion box, an image of the edge of the one or more chips;
associate, in response to electronic analysis of the image via a neural network model, a color pattern on the edge of the one or more chips with a denomination value for the chip stack;
determine, using the range imaging device, a height of the chip stack; and
compute a monetary value of the chip stack based on the denomination value, the height of the chip stack, and a known edge thickness of one of the one or more chips.