Generalised Object Detection and Semantic Analysis: Casino Example using   Matlab
  Matlab version 7.1 had been used to detect playing cards on a Casino table and the suits and ranks of these cards had been identified. The process gives an example of an application of computer vision to a problem where rectangular objects are to be detected and the information content of the objects are extracted out. In the case of playing cards, it is the suit and rank of each card. The image processing system is done in two passes. Pass 1 detects rectangular shapes and template matched with a template of the left and right edges of the cards. Pass 2 extracts the suit and rank of the cards by matching the top left portion of the card that contains both rank and suit information, with stored templates of ranks and suits of the playing cards using a series of if-then statements. 
Othman Ahmad
cs.CV