(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,659,869 B1 Akamatsu (45) Date of Patent: Dec
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US006659869B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,659,869 B1 Akamatsu (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 9, 2003 (54) CARD MANUFACTURING MACHINE, A (56) References Cited CARD VENDING MACHINE, AND METHODS THEREFOR U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,513,117 A 4/1996 Small (75) Inventor: Akihiro Akamatsu, Osaka (JP) 5,687,306 A * 11/1997 Blank ....................... .. 395/135 5,873,605 A 2/1999 Kaplan (73) Assignee: Make Software Co., Ltd., Osaka (JP) 5,887,873 A * 3/1999 Freeman ................... .. 273/303 ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS patent is extended or adjusted under 35 JP 55-154063 11/1980 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. JP U5748977 3/1982 JP 3-98892 10/1991 (21) Appl. No.: 09/936,760 JP 7-56056 12/1995 PCT Filed: Mar. 15, 2000 JP 10-229535 8/1998 (22) JP B13038332 2/2000 (86) PCT No.: PCT/JP00/01562 WO A19836565 8/1998 § 371 (6X1), * cited by examiner (2), (4) Date: Sep. 17, 2001 Primary Examiner—Benj amin H. Layno (87) PCT Pub. No.: WO00/54858 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Birch, SteWart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP PCT Pub. Date: Sep. 21, 2000 (57) ABSTRACT (30) Foreign Application Priority Data A card vending machine for vending a card, responsive to Mar. 17, 1999 (JP) ......................................... .. 11/072028 the taste of a user, such as a playing card, a karuta or a tarot (51) Int. Cl.7 ............................................... .. A63F 13/00 card employed for a game synthesizes an image (300) (52) US. Cl. ....................... .. 463/31; 273/293; 273/296; obtained by photographing an object (particularly the user) 273/308; D21/378; D21/379; D21/384 and an image (100a to 100a) such as a mark of a playing (58) Field of Search ............................... .. 273/293, 292, card or a numeral and vends the same as a card. 273/296, 308; D21/378, 379, 383, 384; 463/31, 43 8 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets , I r EI ag I s i gI 100a~ I gI 1001)‘ g : 5 gI 1 gI 5 i 200a '* g g : IE z g5 r I : g: I I I I g I 1 : i s I I g I I : 1IIIllIIIIIIII'I’IIIIII’IIII’IIIIlllIl/IIIIIIIIIA U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 1 0f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 .5528 .EE 9 V mm E5_E \\\\\ \\\\\\\\\ llll'lll-lly as\ h .UHL I U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 2 0f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 A 62_EmmEo zo_Emma E5 z_8 EE U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 3 0f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 FIG. 3 INSERT CO I N SELECT DES I RED /S1O STORAGE IMAGE SELECT IMAGE /$11 STRUCTURE OF OBJECT I DISPLAY SYNTHET I C /SI2 I MAGE S13 ADJUSTMENT COMPLETED ? /SI4 STOP SYNTHESIS U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 4 6f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 FIG. 4 ROUTINE FOR SELECTING DESIRED STORAGE IMAGE $101 SELECT BACK IMAGE / I SELECT TYPE TO WHICH /SI02 CARD BELONGS 0R JOKER S103 YES NO /S104 SELECT RANK SELECT DECORATIVE /S'05 IMAGE I SELECT SYNTHESIS /S‘°6 METHOD I DISPLAY IMAGE OBTAINED /$107 BY SYNTHESIZING INDEX IMAGE AND DECORATIVE IMAGE U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 5 0f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 FIG.5 I ~ ' E,I W - I 1.7m enjoy'cblléctthib.pl_hyi - . w 20Db'-~. K 9 300 U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 6 6f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 U.S. Patent Dec. 9, 2003 Sheet 7 0f 10 US 6,659,869 B1 n 1 D d W n 2] .L unnon-a-ouunu TRUMP (nus: ' If US 6,659,869 B1 1 2 CARD MANUFACTURING MACHINE, A According to a further aspect of the present invention, a CARD VENDING MACHINE, AND card is printed by the aforementioned card vending machine. METHODS THEREFOR According to a further aspect of the present invention, a card such as a playing card, a karuta or a tarot card employed This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. for a game is characteriZed in that a labyrinthine image is §371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/JP00/015 62 printed on its back. Which has an International ?ling date of Mar. 15, 2000, According to a further aspect of the present invention, a Which designated the United States of America. card-type plaything consisting of a plurality of cards such as TECHNICAL FIELD playing cards, karuta or tarot cards employed for a game 10 includes a ?rst card having a ?rst labyrinthine image printed The present invention relates to a card manufacturing on its back and a second card having a second labyrinthine machine, a card vending machine, a card and a card-type image different from the ?rst labyrinthine image printed on plaything, and more particularly, it relates to a card manu its back. facturing machine capable of manufacturing a card desired by a user and a card vending machine as Well as a card and According to a further aspect of the present invention, a a card-type plaything having a Wide variety of games. card manufacturing method With a card manufacturing 1. Background Art machine for manufacturing a card such as a playing card, a karuta or a tarot card employed for a game comprises a In general, a card-type plaything such as a pack of playing photographing step of photographing an object and a print cards, karuta or tarot cards is formed by a number of cards ing step of printing an image obtained by the photographing of the same siZe, and game images of a made numerals, and a game image selected by a user on the card. characters, a picture etc. necessary for a game and decorative images such as colors and patterns not directly related to the Preferably, the card manufacturing method further com game and printed on each card. In order to provide such a prises a selection step of making the user select a desired card-type plaything to consumers at a loW price, the manu image from a plurality of images, for printing the image facturer must mass-produce card-type playthings consisting 25 obtained by the photographing and the selected image on the of cards on Which the same decorative images are printed. card in the printing step. The present invention aims at providing a card manufac Preferably, the printing step prints the image obtained by turing machine capable of manufacturing a card responsive photographing on one surface of the card. to the taste of a user, a card vending machine and a method, Preferably, the card includes a storage part reWritably as Well as a card and a card-type plaything having a Wide storing information, and the card manufacturing method variety of games. comprises a Writing step of Writing information in the 2. Disclosure of the Invention storage part. In order to solve the aforementioned problem, a card According to a further aspect of the present invention, a manufacturing machine for manufacturing a card such as a card vending method includes the card manufacturing playing card, a karuta or a tarot card employed for a game 35 method described in any of the above Which vends a card is provided Which comprises a photographing part for pho manufactured by the card manufacturing method upon pay tographing an object, a print part for printing an image ment of the price. obtained by the photographing and a game image necessary According to a further aspect of the present invention, a for a game selected by a user on the card according to one card is manufactured by the card manufacturing method aspect of the present invention. described in any of the above. Preferably, the card manufacturing machine further com According to a further aspect of the present invention, a prises a selection part for making the user select a desired card vending method, Which is a card vending method of image from a plurality of images, and a print part for printing vending a card such as a playing card, a karuta or a tarot card the image obtained by the photographing and the selected 45 employed for a game, comprises a printing step for printing image on the card. an image responsive to the taste of a user and a game image Preferably, the print part prints the image obtained by the selected by the user on the card. photographing on one surface of the card and prints the According to a further aspect of the present invention, a selected image on another surface of the card. card is vended by the aforementioned card vending method. Preferably, the card includes a storage part for reWritably storing information, and the card manufacturing machine BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS comprises a Write part for Writing information in the storage FIG. 1 is a typical diagram shoWing the structure of a card part. vending machine in one of embodiments of the present According to another aspect of the present invention, a invention. card vending machine comprises the card manufacturing 55 FIG. 2 is a block diagram shoWing the structure of a machine described in any of the above Which vends a card control part 5 of FIG. 1. manufactured in the card manufacturing machine upon payment of the price. FIG. 3 is a How chart shoWing operations at the time When According to still another aspect of the present invention, a user inserts a coin in the card vending machine. a card is manufactured by the card manufacturing machine FIG.