PLAYBRIDGE Dealer4 User manual

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Dealer4 Card Recognize Problems Manual ver: 1.0
1Dealer4 Card Optical Recognition S stem ......................................2
2Recognition operation and errors ..................................................2
2.1 Card Recognize Error ..............................................................................2
2.2 Duplicate Card Error...............................................................................7
3What to do if Errors persist............................................................8
Version information:
Ver 1.0: First issue : 07/04/2008
Further information:
Terry Collier, 1 St Andrew’s House, St Andrew’s Park, Soham, Cambs. CB7 5GY, England
Email: terr[email protected] • Web: www.playbridgedealer4.com
About PlayBridgeDealer 4
Technical Specification:
PlayBridgeDealer4 is constructed to provide long and reliable operation, with a stainless steel
chassis, direct drive brushless motors, powerful 200MHz DSP processor and full control of card
movement to eliminate the production of inaccurate boards.
One of the main features of PlayBridgeDealer4 is the Optical Card Recognition System, removing
the need for expensive bar-coded or specially marked cards. The OCRS uses a video camera and a
DSP processor to analyze the image of a card (number and suit), prior to directing it to the correct
dealing gate.
PlayBridgeDealer4 is primarily designed to be used with plastic Dealing Boards and whilst we
recommend the use of these boards as the simplest and fastest way of preparing boards, we are
aware the many clubs have stocks of usable closed boards or wallets. Due to this and the unique
design of PlayBridgeDealer4, we provide a special Dealing Platform to use in place of the opening
board, allowing the manual transfer of cards to wallets or closed boards.
PlayBridgeDealer4 comes with Windows XP/ Windows Vista compatible software. The software
controls the machine and allows board information generation, storing and printing. The
PlayBridgeDealer4 software can also read various file formats (bri/dge/bre/dup/pbn) providing easy
interface to third party Bridge Dealing/Analyzing software like DealMaster Pro and downloadable
dealing data.
Time of dealing 1 board: - 6 seconds
Dealing capability: - 250 boards per hour
Card dimensions: - max: 91.0mm x 59.0mm min: 85.0mm x 54.0mm
Dimension: - 375mm x 175mm x 160mm
Weight: - 7.5kg
Power usage: - average during dealing – 20W, max – 57W
Power supply: - input (mains) 100-240V 50-60Hz,
- output (machine connection) 19V/3ADC

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1Dealer4 Card Optical Recognition S stem
The Dealer4 uses an Optical ecognition System to recognize card symbols and suits to direct cards into
the right pocket. O S consists of a small Video Camera which captures a picture of the card, LED
illumination, and a build in DSP processor with recognition software.
2Recognition operation and errors
The ecognition System is design to correctly recognize a card in the most cases. However in some
particular situations Dealer4 cannot correctly recognize a card. In such cases Card ecognize Errors or
Duplicate Card Errors are reported. In normal conditions these errors should not happen more
frequently then 1 per 100 boards dealt. Next paragraphs described possible error reasons and the
actions that should be taken:
2.1 Card Recognize Error
Card ecognize Error (Error codes 26 – 53) is reported when the Dealer4 cannot recognize the card. This
error can be caused by following reasons:
1. Card in the hopper is inserted reversel (face up)
everse the card and try to recognize it again (click “Continue” or press STA T key on the front of the
machine).
2. JOKER is mixed into deck
Video Camera
LED
s for
illumination

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Take out JOKE card and continue dealing (click “Continue” or press STA T key on the front of the
machine).
3. S mbol or suit on the card is damaged or there are e.g. pen marks on the card:
Sample of such cards are shown below:
Such damages can make card recognition impossible – this problem can be solved by rotating the card in
the Feeder by 180deg so the machine will try to read symbols on the opposite corner (hopefully without
damage) and continue dealing or discard such damaged deck.
4. Non supported foreign cards are used.
Current version of the Dealer4 Firmware (version 2.25) recognizes standard cards with symbols AKQJ and
German cards with symbols AKDB. Other national cards like French, Dutch etc are planned to be added in
the near future.
5. S mbols or suit on the card are non standard.
Card symbols and suits are different from deck to deck. Dealer4 recognizes most of them but there is
possibility that someone will use cards with the symbols or suits fonts which cannot be correctly
recognized. As an example please look on the picture below:
Suit damaged
Pen marks

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Symbol 4 on this card is non standard. It has open line on the top of the symbol. Ace has serif on the top
of the symbol. These particular symbols were added to the software (Ace in version 2.16, four in version
2.24) but similar example may exist in another decks.
In such cases if dealing such card is required please send couple of decks to the Service Centre and
support for the new symbols will be added. Because of the software developing and testing process it
can takes up to a couple of months.
6. There are lines or other card pictures too close to the card s mbol or suit.
Example of such cases is shown below:
The first example (Queen of Diamond) is already support in the software (only in specific cases it can
these causes a ecognition Error). Second example (4 of Hearts) is not supported yet and can create
ecognize Errors.
In such cases rotating card by 180 deg usually solve the problem. If the problem persists please send
couple of decks to the Service Centre and support for such cases will be added if possible. Because of the
software developing and testing process it can takes up to a couple of months.
7. S mbols or suits on the card are too small or too big or positions of the s mbol are non standards.
Camera used in the Dealer4 has limited view window and resolution so too small or big symbols cannot
be recognized. If symbols are bigger or smaller then normal – some O S parameters can be adjusted (see
Frame to close to the symbol or suit
Big Heart too close to the suit symbol

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chapter 3) and such symbols can be recognized but if the sizes are below camera resolution or bigger
than the view window - such cards cannot be used. Picture below show example of the card with too big
symbol (capture in “Maintenance” function of the Dealer4 software):
8. Machine is operating in too bright external light
Dealer4 is designed to operate in the normal ambient light condition. It can be operate in the darkness
but cannot in the direct sun light or another strong light source like table lamp sitting directly above the
machine. Apart from possible gate errors strong external light can cause problems with card recognition.
Typical symptom of the too strong light is very dark card picture captured on the “Maintenance” function
of the PC software:

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9. Camera lens or illumination LEDs are dirt .
Dirty camera lens also can cause problems with card recognition. The picture below shows an example
of the capture picture with dust covering part of the lens however in most cases effect of the dirty lens
cannot be easy seen on the captured picture. It is better to look on the lens and clean it if required.
For cleaning instruction refer to “Dealer4 Cleaning Manual”.
10. There are incorrect settings on the ORS parameters.
In the “Maintenance” window there are few parameters which can affect recognition of the card:

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These parameters should not be altered in normal use of the machine. In some specific situations such as
when using cards with non standard symbol sizes or position, it maybe be required to change some
values. Please refer to chapter 3 for more information.
2.2 Duplicate Card Error
Duplicate Card Error (Error 54) is a more complex situation. There are two possible cases:
1. Genuine Duplicate Card Error
Genuine Duplicate Card Error happens when two the same cards exist in the same deck. Also if deck has
missing card – Dealer4 will try to deal card from the next deck (which always sits on the top of the actual
dealing deck) and report it as a Duplicate Card Error.
To check such situation it is required to look which card is in the Feeder and check if this card was dealt.
Dealing always completed decks will avoid this type of error.
2. Duplicate Card Error caused b incorrect card recognition.
If any condition described in chapter 2.1 exists and the Dealer4 cannot correctly recognize the card, it
usually reports “Card ecognize Error”. But sometimes instead reporting this error Dealer4 can
O C parameters

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recognize such card as another one. As example – nine of club from chapter 2.1 point 3 – will be
recognized as nine of hearts instead of nine of clubs. There are two possibilities:
- current card is recognized correctly and one of the previous card was recognized as the current one.
- previous cards are ok but the current card is recognized as one of the previous cards.
First case happened more frequently then second because in second case Dealer4 knows that is
something wrong and tries different settings to recognize correctly.
First action should be the same as in point 1 – check if it is a Genuine Error – if it is not - try to redeal the
deck rotated by 180 deg. Also it is good idea to put the card which caused the error as a first one to be
dealt (on the bottom of the deck). If problem still persist see chapter 3 for more information.
3What to do if Errors persist
When “Card ecognize Error” or “Duplicate Card Error” happens more frequently than once per 100
decks dealt some conditions described in the chapter 2.1 exist. In most cases it is possible to eliminate
them by taking correct action described in chapter 2.1 but sometimes help from the Service Centre will
be helpful or required. This is especially applicable when O S parameters need to be altered or support
for non standard cards need to be added. In such cases information about recognized process need to be
send to the Service Centre. To do this
- please makes notes on which decks on which card “Card ecognition Error” or non genuine “Duplicate
Card Error” happened
- capture data from the machine. It is good idea to do it immediately after a “Card ecognition Error”
happens. When error message is displayed click “Cancel” and go to the “Maintenance” tab. The following
window will appear:

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First Check “Camera LEDs” to turn on illumination LEDs and “Camera Power” to turn on to the video
camera, then click on “Capture” and “Show”. A picture of the card should appear in the capture window.
Then click “ ecognize”. If recognition is successful the text OK should appear in the “Error:” text box and
“Card:” and “Suit:” information should be displayed. In case of the error – number of it will appear in the
“Error:” text box. Finally click “Draw frames” – it will draw red rectangular frames around symbol and
suit. It works only when recognize is correct.
When capturing problematic card it is good idea to try clicking “ ecognize” until an error appears or card
is read incorrectly. This gives the most valuable information for analyzing.
Next step is to send this window to the Service Centre. To do please take following action:
- press Alt key on the keyboard and while holding it down press PrtSc key. This will copy picture of the
current window into clipart.
- open MS Word, click on “File – New” to create new document, click “”Edit – Paste” to paste capture
picture into document. Then click “File – Save” to save document to a known location. (Another
programs instead of MS Word can be used for this process e.g. Paint, Photoshop, etc.)
- attach this file to the email and sent to service centre (check email address of the service centre on
www.dealer4.com in the Contact section or send to [email protected]
It is recommended to capture few pictures and include as much additional information as possible.
In most cases based on the information sent, the Service Centre can diagnose the problem and
recommend correct action.
First
–
check these boxes
Second
–
click on “Capture”
Third
–
click on “Show”
Fourth
–
click on “ ecognize”
Fifth
–
clic
k on “Draw frames”