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RFID Gaming Chips and Readers
Overview
Gaming Partners International® is the result of the merger,
under the leadership of Bourgogne & Grasset® (B&G),
of The Bud Jones® Company, Inc and Paulson® Gaming
Corporation and subsidiaries, at the end of 2002. B&G,
created in 1925, specialized in designing and producing gaming
chips of very high quality and extremely counterfeit resistant
due to complex production processes and added security features.
Over the last ten years B&G™ has developed the RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification Device) chip technology that
is offered today by all brands of GPI® USA.
RFID Chips (Click
to view)
Chips are very much like banknotes but often with a much
higher face value. A chip that looks or feels or even sounds
a little different triggers checking. There are several possible
security features in the material itself, and/or in the décor.
The most sophisticated anti-counterfeiting device are the
microchips or RFID, which can be embedded in gaming chips
without modifying the other characteristics of the chips so
that dealers and players can handle them as usual. All gaming
chips supplied by GPI® USA can come with an embedded microchip.
They are called Safechip by Bourgogne et Grasset® for
B&G chips, jetons and plaques, Smartchip™ for Bud
Jones chips and Chipsoft™ for Paulson chips.
The RFID chips can be read with 100% accuracy one at a time
or much more, with the same efficiency, in stacks, boxes,
trays or on the tables with the readers made by GPI® SAS.
With proper computer programs (available from specialized
licensed companies such as MCC or Mikohn or developed by the
casinos' Information Technologies departments) the information
collected by the readers can be entered, accounted for and
processed automatically by the casino computer systems. This
opens the way to unprecedented and unmatched ways to improve
the security and the cost efficiency of the casino table management
information systems and to bring them to the same level as
the slots systems.
THE MICROCHIP
GPI® USA uses a standard microchip made by Philips adapted
to the particular casino applications requirements and called
Vegas S. The microchip Vegas S has a read and write memory
size of 256 bits and has several sections that can be configured
to meet casino applications. Key data such as casino names
and chip values are entered and sealed into the memory of
the microchip. They become read only. Nobody can change them.
This greatly increases the security of the chips but also
the security of their production, transportation and utilization.
More information such as chip specs, validation date, type
of chip or any other code can be entered when the chips are
originally programmed or later by the client in the memory
space available for the casino.
Chip memory programming is the last operation after the final
quality inspections so that only good chips are programmed
and saved in a database. All three brands use the same microchip.
The protocol of dialog between the readers and the computer
is provided. Each microchip has its own unique identification
number “burned in” by Philips. All ID numbers are
gathered in a database for each client by GPI® USA. The
microchip also has a sophisticated antenna, which enables
the chip to communicate information to readers without contact.
The longevity is the same as regular chips since there is
no battery involved. The unique aspect is that the microchips
support a special anti-collision algorithm that allows the
reading of stacks of different chips very rapidly.
THE RFID PROCESS
Readers are necessary to communicate with the RFID chips.
The GPI SAS readers are custom made for each casino and contain
an antenna, a Common Reading Unit, a power supply and connecting
cables. Communication between the microchips and the readers
is as follows:
Triggered by an input instruction, a C.P.U. makes the reader
board generate electronic signals that go to the reader antenna
to create an electro magnetic field. The embedded antenna
of each RFID chip picks up this field and transforms it into
energy to activate its integrated circuits. Readers and chips
can then exchange information using radio frequency waves.
Data (unique serial number, chip value...) can be finally
processed or fed in a database. This process provides automatic
and 100% accurate accounting of the chips.
All chip movements and transactions can be followed on the
table, from the table to the back office, and from the pit
boss to the cashier. Inventory of chips in the vault, at the
cage and at the pit boss's desk takes considerably less time.
Opening and closing floats can be read in a few seconds. GPI®
USA readers can read from several chips or a stack of 20 chips
up to a Blackjack tray float of 600, and can identify and
record 100 different gaming chips in 7 seconds.
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