Gaming chip having capacitive coupling and related methods

摘要

A system is disclosed for identifying and reading gaming tokens. The system includes: a plurality of gaming tokens; a playing surface including a network of conductors disposed to make electrical contact with the conductive rims of the gaming tokens; one or more transceivers disposed under the playing surface and associated with areas where the gaming tokens are placed on the playing surface; and an identification processor in communication with the transceiver to determine the denomination of the token from the data. Each transceiver is configured to transmit an electromagnetic interrogation signal to the conductive layer of a gaming token resting on the playing surface. The grounded circuit, in response to the interrogation signal, responds with data to identify the chip denomination through capacitive coupling between the conductive layer and a transceiver.

主权项

1. A system for identifying and reading gaming tokens, the system comprising:
a plurality of gaming tokens, each gaming token comprising:
a substrate having first and second faces and a perimeter;a circuit including a power source, a token processor, and a token memory disposed in the substrate, the memory configured to store data that identifies at least a denomination of the gaming token;first and second conductive layers disposed on the first and second faces respectively, anda conductive rim at the perimeter; a playing surface including a network of conductors disposed to make electrical contact with the conductive rims of a subset of the gaming tokens that rest thereon and ground the circuits of the subset of gaming tokens to energize the token processors of the subset of gaming tokens with their respective power sources; one or more transceivers disposed under the playing surface and associated with areas where the gaming tokens are placed on the playing surface, each transceiver configured to transmit an electromagnetic interrogation signal to the first or second conductive layers of the subset of gaming tokens resting on the playing surface, each grounded circuit of the subset of gaming tokens in response to the interrogation signal responding with first data to identify the denomination of the gaming token through capacitive coupling between the first or second conductive layer and at least one transceiver of the one or more transceivers; and an identification processor in communication with the at least one transceiver to determine the denomination of the gaming token from the first data.