JP6426819B2 - Gaming machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine.

  Conventionally, a game called pachislot having a plurality of reels on each surface of which a plurality of symbols are arranged, a start switch, a stop switch, a stepping motor provided corresponding to each reel, and a control unit The machine is known. The start switch detects that the start lever has been operated by the player after game media such as medals have been inserted into the gaming machine (hereinafter, also referred to as "start operation"), and starts rotating all reels. Output the required signal. The stop switch detects that the player has pressed a stop button provided corresponding to each reel (hereinafter also referred to as “stop operation”), and outputs a signal requesting stop of rotation of the corresponding reel. Do. The stepping motor transmits the driving force to the corresponding reel. Further, the control unit controls the operation of the stepping motor based on the signals output by the start switch and the stop switch, and performs the rotation operation and the stop operation of each reel.

  In such a gaming machine, when the start operation is detected, lottery processing using random numbers (hereinafter referred to as "internal lottery processing") is performed on the program, and the result of the lottery (hereinafter referred to as "internal winning combination") Stop the rotation of the reel based on the timing of the stop operation). Then, when the rotation of all the reels is stopped and the combination of symbols relating to the establishment of the winning is displayed, a bonus corresponding to the combination of the symbols is given to the player.

  Further, such a gaming machine is provided with a medal selector for detecting a medal inserted at the tip of the medal insertion slot. Also, for this medal selector, a medal (illegal medal) which is not a proper medal (regular medal) is inserted into the medal insertion slot, or an instrument is inserted into the medal insertion slot, and the regular medal Countermeasures have been taken against fraudulent acts in which a game is performed with a false recognition as being inserted.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, two proximity sensors for detecting medals are provided in the medal passage, and it is determined whether or not the game medal has passed through the medal passage based on the output of each proximity sensor. A slot machine is described which detects fraudulent activity in which instruments such as bodies are used.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for determining whether an object is correct by image processing, and Patent Document 3 discloses a technique related to matching of images.

JP 2002-342814 A Patent No. 5317250 JP, 2013-73333, A

  However, in the slot machine described in Patent Document 1, medals are inserted by inserting a fraudulent device of various shapes other than a plate-like body into the medal insertion slot and operating the counting function of the medal selector illegally. It is not possible to detect fraudulent acts that appear to be taking a large number of credits or fraudulent acts performed using fraudulent medals.

  For example, in the slot machine, when the rental unit price to be lent in the slot machine where the slot machine is installed is different, only the color and the mark (pattern) of the medal of 20 yen per sheet and the medal of 1 sheet of 5 have the same diameter. In the game arcade, there are people who perform illegal games such as using the medals acquired by the low bet gaming machine (so-called 5 slot) in a normal gaming machine (so-called 20 slot) without being able to determine the Damage has occurred.

  Further, in the slot machine described in Patent Document 1, it is attached to the medal lent out in the hall where the gaming machine is installed, the medal lent out in another hall, and the gaming machine purchased in the second-hand machine dealer If the same medals or counterfeit medals (including a device that appears to be medals) have the same diameter and differ only in color or marking (pattern), they can not be determined. For this reason, it has been difficult to detect (detect) an illegal act of playing a game using a medal (illegal medal) other than a regular medal.

  Furthermore, the image processing device described in Patent Document 2 and the image matching device of Patent Document 3 can not promptly cope with a situation unique to a slot machine or the like. That is, in the slot machine, the medal is shot by the imaging device while the medals inserted one after another are rotated, and as a result, the respective medals are picked up at various angles, and the template image is simply selected. And can not be adjusted individually.

  Therefore, in the fraud determination in the prior art, such as the slot machine described in Patent Document 1, the image processing apparatus described in Patent Document 2, and the image matching apparatus of Patent Document 3, various frauds described above are It can not respond, and the effect is limited.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to detect an illegal act of playing a game by misidentifying that a legitimate gaming medium is used in a gaming machine. It is in providing a gaming machine.

In order to achieve the above object, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An insertion slot (eg, medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (eg, medal 410);
And gaming medium detection means (for example, a medal selector 401 including a camera unit 409) for detecting gaming media inserted from the insertion slot,
The gaming medium detection means
A game medium passage unit (for example, a medal rail 411) which is a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 409) for imaging a passing object which is an object passing through the passage;
A game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit) that determines whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 462B) obtained through the imaging unit. Control LSI included in the camera unit 409),
The gaming medium determination means
An extraction unit (for example, an extraction unit 464) for extracting an area (for example, a medal area 473) in which the game medium appears from an image related to the image data;
In an image according to the image data, a characteristic local region (for example, a local region 473a,
Specifying means (for example, specifying portion 465) for specifying the local region 473b);
Fitting means (for example, fitting unit 466) for fitting an ellipse based on the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and generating ellipse information on the ellipse as a feature indicating the feature of the image according to the image data When,
Corresponds to the image of the game medium included in the image data by comparing the feature generated in the fitting means with a standard feature (for example, the standard feature 467A) indicating the feature of the regular game medium A determination unit (for example, determination unit 467) for determining whether or not the game medium to be played is legitimate.
The center position of the ellipse is determined based on an average value of the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and the major and minor axes of the ellipse have lengths of a plurality of pixels forming the local region. A game machine characterized in that it is determined based on an average value of positions, and the ellipse is fitted to the local area in a manner surrounding the local area.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, the elliptical feature of the ellipse fitted with the feature amount of the image of the game medium relating to the image data and the feature amount of the image relating to the regular game medium so as to surround the characteristic local region. The authenticity of the game medium is judged by comparing these. As a result, the feature amount can be acquired more easily, and the authenticity of the game medium can be determined simply and accurately.

Further, to achieve the above object, the second embodiment of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An insertion slot (eg, medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (eg, medal 410);
Gaming medium detection means (for example, a medal selector 401 including a camera unit 409) for detecting gaming media inserted from the insertion slot;
Start operation detection means (for example, a start switch 79 for detecting an operation of the start lever 23) for detecting a start operation by the player based on the detection of the game medium by the game medium detection means;
Internal winning combination determining means (for example, main control circuit 91 performing internal lottery processing) which determines an internal winning combination with a predetermined probability based on detection of the starting operation by the start operation detecting means;
In the display means constituted by a plurality of display rows (for example, reels 3L, 3C, 3R displayed on the reel display window 4) the symbols necessary for the game based on the detection of the start operation by the start operation detection means Variation display control means (for example, a stepping motor provided corresponding to each reel) for controlling to perform variation display;
Stop operation detection means for detecting a stop operation by the player (for example, a stop switch for detecting that each stop button 19L, 19C, 19R is pressed by the player);
Stop control means (for example, main control circuit 91 performing reel stop control) for stopping variable display of the symbol based on the determination result of the internal winning combination determination means and detection of the stop operation by the stop operation detection means; ,
A predetermined benefit (for example, medal payout) is given based on the symbol combination displayed along the winning determination line extending over the plurality of display rows by stopping the variable display in the plurality of display rows A gaming machine provided with a privilege giving means (for example, a main control circuit 91);
The gaming medium detection means
A game medium passage unit (for example, a medal rail 411) which is a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 409) for imaging a passing object which is an object passing through the passage;
A game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit) that determines whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 462B) obtained through the imaging unit. Control LSI included in the camera unit 409),
The gaming medium determination means
Configured as an LSI dedicated to image processing control,
An extraction unit (for example, an extraction unit 464) for extracting an area (for example, a medal area 473) in which the game medium appears from an image related to the image data;
In an image according to the image data, a characteristic local region (for example, a local region 473a,
Specifying means (for example, specifying portion 465) for specifying the local region 473b);
Fitting means (for example, a fitting unit 466) for fitting an ellipse to the local region and generating ellipse information on the ellipse as a feature indicating the feature of the image according to the image data;
Corresponds to the image of the game medium included in the image data by comparing the feature generated in the fitting means with a standard feature (for example, the standard feature 467A) indicating the feature of the regular game medium And a determination unit (for example, determination unit 467) for determining whether or not the game medium to be played is legitimate.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, the feature amount of the image of the game medium relating to the image data and the feature amount of the image relating to the regular game medium are represented by ellipse information of an ellipse fitted to the characteristic local region. The authenticity of the game medium is judged by comparing these. As a result, the feature amount can be acquired more easily, and the authenticity of the game medium can be determined simply and accurately.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the gaming machine to falsely recognize that a regular game medium is used.

It is an explanatory view explaining a functional flow in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view showing an example of appearance composition in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is an internal structure in the game machine of 1st Embodiment of this invention, and is a perspective view of the state which closed the middle door. It is an internal structure in the game machine of 1st Embodiment of this invention, and is a perspective view of the state which opened the middle door. It is an explanatory view showing the inside of the cabinet in the game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is an explanatory view showing the back side of a front door in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is the perspective view which looked at the medal selector in the game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention from the slanting back of a game machine. It is an exploded view of a medal selector in a gaming machine of a first embodiment of the present invention. It is the perspective view which looked at the medal selector in the game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention from the slanting front of a game machine. It is a perspective view of the select plate of the medal selector in the game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the path | route of a medal | token in case the medal | token selector in the game machine of 1st Embodiment of invention guides a medal | token to a hopper apparatus. It is a figure which shows the path | route of a medal in case the medal selector in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the invention guides a medal to a medal shoot. It is a block diagram showing a control system in a gaming machine of a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of composition of a main control circuit in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of composition of a sub control circuit in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of circuit composition of a medal selector in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of circuit composition of control LSI in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram of the camera unit in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the regular medal used for the game machine of 1st Embodiment of this invention, A shows one side of a regular medal, and B is a figure which shows the image data of a regular medal. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation (synthesis | combination) of the gradient average image data regarding the regular medal used for the game machine of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the regular medal discrimination | determination process of control LSI in the game machine of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of one side of an irregular medal, and the image data of an irregular medal. It is a figure which shows the example of one side of an irregular medal, the image data of an irregular medal, and the gradient average image data of an irregular medal. It is a functional block diagram of the camera unit in the gaming machine of the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the captured image in the game machine of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of a characteristic image generation part in more detail. It is a figure showing typically an example of a medal field. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external shape template typically. It is a figure for demonstrating template matching. It is a figure for demonstrating the extraction process of a medal | token area | region. It is a figure which shows an example of an edge image typically. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a rotation synthetic | combination image. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a template characteristic image. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a characteristic image. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a characteristic image. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a characteristic image. It is a figure for demonstrating the production | generation method of a characteristic image. It is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in a gaming machine of a third embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the captured image in the game machine of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing typically an example of a medal field. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external shape template typically. It is a figure for demonstrating template matching. It is a figure for demonstrating the extraction process of a medal | token area | region. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the local area | region specified in a medal | token area | region. It is a figure which shows an example of the ellipse fitted with respect to a local area | region. It is a figure which shows an example of a rotation ellipse. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a determination part. It is a figure which shows a mode that a spheroid and a standard ellipse are similar. It is a figure for demonstrating the method to acquire the position of a spheroid. It is a figure which shows an example of the standard ellipse fitted by the local area | region. It is a figure which shows an example of the object ellipse fitted by the local area | region. It is a figure which shows a mode that a medal | token area | region is divided | segmented concentrically. It is a figure which shows a mode that a local area | region is divided | segmented into several division area. It is a figure which shows a mode that a local area | region is divided | segmented into several division area. It is a figure which shows a mode that several ellipse is each fitted with respect to several division area of a local area. It is a figure which shows a mode that several ellipse is each fitted with respect to several division area of a local area. It is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in a gaming machine of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the captured image in the game machine of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing typically an example of a medal field. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external shape template typically. It is a figure for demonstrating template matching. It is a figure for demonstrating the extraction process of a medal | token area | region. It is a flow chart which shows operation of a field division part. It is a figure which shows an expression which calculates | requires an entropy of an example of a brightness | luminance histogram in a medal | token area | region, and a brightness | luminance histogram. It is a figure which shows a mode that a medal | token area | region is divided | segmented. It is a figure which shows a mode that a division | segmentation area | region is further divided | segmented, and the Formula which calculates | requires the entropy of a brightness | luminance histogram. It is a figure which shows an example of several uniform division | segmentation area | regions produced | generated by an area | region division part. It is a figure which shows an example of the two-dimensional histogram of magnitude | size information and distance information. It is a figure which shows an example of the one-dimensional histogram of magnitude | size information. It is a figure which shows the several medal | token area | region where the rotation angles of a medal | token mutually differ. It is a figure which shows a mode that the center of a medal | token area | region has shifted | deviated from the center of the medal | token reflected to the said medal | token area | region. It is a figure which shows the token area | region where a standard feature-value is acquired. It is a figure which shows the relationship of a 1st determination evaluation value and a 2nd determination evaluation value.

<< First Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachislot machine which is a gaming machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Function flow>
First, referring to FIG. 1, the functional flow of the pachislot machine will be described. In the pachislot machine of the present embodiment, medals are used as game media for playing a game. Note that all the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the pachislot machine and applied, and can be applied to other game machines (for example, pachinko machines and the like) other than the pachislot machine. Further, as the game medium, in addition to the medals, coins, game balls, game point data or tokens, etc. can also be targeted.

  At the start of the game, when a player inserts a medal and the start lever is operated, one value (hereinafter, a random value) is extracted from random numbers in a predetermined numerical range (for example, 0 to 65535). Be done.

  The internal lottery means performs lottery based on the extracted random number value to determine an internal winning combination. The internal lottery means is carried by a main control circuit described later. By the determination of the internal winning combination, a combination of symbols permitting display along the later-described winning determination line is determined. In addition, as a classification of combination of the symbol, it is something which relates to the “prize” to which the player is given a privilege such as payout of medals, operation of replay, activation of bonus, etc. Is provided.

  In addition, when the start lever is operated, rotation of the plurality of reels is performed. Thereafter, when the player presses the stop button corresponding to the predetermined reel, the reel stop control means performs control to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel based on the internal winning combination and the timing when the stop button is pressed. Do. The reel stop control means is carried by a main control circuit described later.

  In the pachi slot, basically, control is performed to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel within a specified time (190 msec or 75 msec) after the stop button is pressed. In the present embodiment, the number of symbols moving with the rotation of the reel within this prescribed time is referred to as the “number of sliding symbols”. If the prescribed period is 190 msec, the maximum number of sliding symbols is determined to be four symbols, and if the prescribed period is 75 msec, the maximum number of sliding symbols is determined to be one symbol.

  When an internal winning combination that permits combination display of symbols relating to winning is determined, the reel stop control means normally determines that a combination of symbols has a winning determination line within a prescribed time of 190 msec (for four symbols of symbols). Stop the rotation of the reel so that it is displayed as much as possible. In addition, the reel stop control means specifies, for example, for one or more reels, at the time of operation of a bonus bonus (CB) which is a second kind special character and a middle bonus (MB) for operating CB continuously. The rotation of the reel is stopped so that the combination of the symbols is displayed as much as possible along the winning determination line within a time of 75 msec (for one symbol). Furthermore, the reel stop control means uses various prescribed times corresponding to the game state to rotate the reel so that the combination of symbols whose display is not permitted by the internal winning combination is not displayed along the winning determination line. Stop it.

  Thus, when the rotations of the plurality of reels are all stopped, the prize determination means determines whether or not the combination of the symbols displayed along the prize determination line relates to a prize. The winning determination means is carried by a main control circuit described later. When it is determined by the winning determination means that the winning is determined, a bonus such as medal payout is given to the player. In pachislot, the above series of flows are performed as one game.

  Moreover, in the pachislot, in the above-described series of flows, display of an image performed by a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, output of light performed by various lamps, output of sound performed by a speaker, or a combination thereof is used. Various effects are performed.

  When the start lever is operated, a random number for presentation (hereinafter, random number for presentation) is extracted separately from the random number used to determine the internal winning combination described above. When the effect random number value is extracted, the effect content determination means determines by lottery the one to be executed this time out of a plurality of types of effect content associated with the internal winning combination. The effect content determination means is carried by a sub control circuit described later.

  When the contents of the effect are determined, the effect executing means interlocks with respective triggers such as the start of the rotation of the reels, the stop of the rotations of the respective reels, the determination of the presence or absence of a prize, etc. Thus, in Pachislot, the player has an opportunity or opportunity to know the determined internal winning combination (in other words, the combination of the symbols to be aimed) by executing the presentation content associated with the internal winning combination. Thus, the player's interest can be improved.

<Structure of Pachislot>
Next, the structure of the pachi slot 1 according to one embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Appearance structure]
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external structure of the pachi slot 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the pachi slot 1 includes an exterior body 2. The exterior body 2 has a cabinet 2a that accommodates a hopper device 51 described later, a medal auxiliary storage 52 and the like (see FIG. 5), and a front door 2b attached to the cabinet 2a so as to be able to open and close. Handles 7 are provided on both side surfaces of the cabinet 2a (only the handle 7 on one side is shown in FIG. 2). The handle 7 is a concave portion which is used when carrying the pachislot 1.

  Inside the exterior body 2, three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are provided side by side. Hereinafter, the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R will be referred to as a left reel 3L, a middle reel 3C, and a right reel 3R, respectively. Each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R has a cylindrical reel body and a translucent sheet material mounted on the peripheral surface of the reel body. On the surface of the sheet material, a plurality of (for example, 20) designs are drawn at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction.

  The front door 2 b includes a door body 9, a front panel 10, and a liquid crystal display device 11 showing one specific example of the display device.

  The door body 9 is attached to the cabinet 2a using a hinge (not shown), and opens and closes the opening of the cabinet 2a. The hinge is provided at the left end of the door body 9 when the door body 9 is viewed from the front of the pachi slot 1. The liquid crystal display device 11 is attached to the top of the door body 9. The liquid crystal display device 11 includes a display unit (display screen) 11 a, and the liquid crystal display device 11 is used to execute effects by displaying an image.

  The front panel 10 is disposed so as to overlap the display unit 11 a side of the liquid crystal display device 11, and is formed in a frame shape having a panel opening 10 a that exposes the display unit 11 a of the liquid crystal display device 11. The front panel 10 is provided with a lamp group 18. The lamp group 18 is configured of an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or the like, and lights and extinguishes light in a pattern corresponding to the contents of effects.

  A pedestal 12 is formed at the center of the front door 2b. The pedestal portion 12 is provided with a symbol display area 4 and various devices to be operated by the player.

  The symbol display area 4 is disposed on the front side overlapping the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R when viewed from the front, and is provided corresponding to the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R. The symbol display area 4 serves as a display window, and is configured to be able to transmit the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R provided behind it. Hereinafter, the symbol display area 4 is referred to as a reel display window 4.

  When rotation of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R provided behind the reel display window 4 is stopped, the upper, middle, and lower stages within the frame of the plural types of symbols of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R are stopped. One symbol (3 in total) is displayed in each area of. In the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not a pseudo line constituted by combining any one of three predetermined areas among the upper, middle and lower regions of the reel display window 4 is to be won or not. It defines as a line (winning determination line) which becomes.

  The reel display window 4 is formed by a frame member 13 provided on the pedestal 12. The frame member 13 has a reel display window 4, an information display window 14, and a stop button mounting portion 15.

  The information display window 14 is provided continuously to the lower part of the reel display window 4 and opens upward. That is, the reel display window 4 and the information display window 14 are formed as one continuous opening. The information display window 14 and the reel display window 4 are covered by a transparent window cover 16.

  The window cover 16 is disposed on the inner surface side of the frame member 13 and can not be removed from the front surface side of the front door 2b. Further, the frame member 13 has a sheet placement portion 17 facing the opening of the information display window 14 with the window cover 16 interposed therebetween. Then, between the sheet placement unit 17 and the window cover 16, a sheet member (information sheet) in which information about the game is described is disposed. Therefore, the information sheet is covered by the window cover 16 having a smooth surface without unevenness and gaps.

  The window cover 16 constituting the mounting portion of the information sheet can not be removed from the front side of the front door 2b, and is a smooth surface without unevenness or gaps. Access to the inside of can be prevented.

  The stop button attachment portion 15 is provided below the information display window 14 and is formed in a plane facing the front. The stop button attaching portion 15 is provided with a through hole through which the stop buttons 19L, 19C, 19R penetrate. The stop button 19L, 19C, 19R is associated with each of the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R, and is provided to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel. Hereinafter, the stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R will be referred to as the left stop button 19L, the middle stop button 19C, and the right stop button 19R, respectively.

  The stop buttons 19L, 19C, 19R show examples of various devices to be operated by the player. Further, the pedestal portion 12 is provided with a medal insertion slot 21, a BET button 22, and a start lever 23 as various devices to be operated by the player.

  The medal insertion slot 21 is provided to receive medals dropped from the outside by the player. The medals accepted in the medal insertion slot 21 will be inserted into one game with a predetermined number (for example, 3 sheets) as the upper limit, and the amount exceeding the specified number will be deposited inside the pachislot 1 It becomes possible (so-called credit function).

  The BET button 22 is provided to determine the number of medals to be inserted into one game from the medals deposited inside the pachislot 1. The start lever 23 is provided to start the rotation of all the reels (3L, 3C, 3R).

  Further, on the left side of the reel display window 4 when the front door 2b is viewed from the front, a 7-segment display 24 formed of a 7-segment LED (Light Emitting Diode) is provided. The 7-segment display 24 digitally displays information such as the number of medals to be paid out to the player as a bonus (hereinafter, the number of payouts) and the number of medals deposited inside the pachislot (hereinafter, the number of credits). .

  A settlement button 27 is provided on the left side of the pedestal 12 when the front door 2 b is viewed from the front. The settlement button 27 is provided for pulling out (discharging) to the outside deposited inside the pachislot 1. A waist panel unit 31 is provided below the pedestal 12. The waist panel unit 31 has a decorative panel on which an arbitrary image is drawn and a light source for emitting light for illuminating the decorative panel from the back side.

  Below the lumbar panel unit 31, a medal payout port 32, speaker holes 33L and 33R, and a medal tray unit 34 are provided. The medal payout opening 32 guides a medal discharged from a medal selector 201 described later and a medal discharged by the driving of a hopper device 51 described later to the outside. The medals discharged from the medal payout opening 32 are stored in the medal tray unit 34. The speaker holes 33L and 33R are provided to output sounds such as sound effects and music according to the contents of the effect.

[Internal structure]
3 and 4 are perspective views showing the internal structure of the pachi slot 1. In FIG. 3, the front door 2b is opened, and the middle door 41 provided on the back side of the front door 2b is closed with respect to the front door 2b. Moreover, in FIG. 4, the front door 2b is open | released and the state which the middle door 41 opened with respect to the front door 2b is shown. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the inside of the cabinet 2a. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the back side of the front door 2b.

  The cabinet 2a has a top plate 20a, a bottom plate 20b, left and right side plates 20c and 20d, and a back plate 20e (see FIG. 5). The cabinet side speaker 42 is arrange | positioned by the upper side inside cabinet 2a. The cabinet-side speaker 42 is attached to the back plate 20e of the cabinet 2a via the mounting brackets 43L and 43R. The cabinet side speaker 42 is, for example, a speaker for outputting sound effects.

  The cabinet side relay board 44 is disposed on the left side of the cabinet side speaker 42 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The cabinet side relay board 44 is attached to the left side plate 20c of the cabinet 2a. The cabinet-side relay board 44 includes a main control board 71 (see FIG. 13), which will be described later, attached to the middle door 41 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage switch (not shown), and medal payout. Relay the wiring connecting the count switch (not shown).

  At a central portion inside the cabinet 2a, an amplifier substrate 45 for controlling the output of sound from the cabinet side speaker 42 is disposed. The amplifier substrate 45 is attached to a mounting shelf 46 fixed to the left and right side plates 20c, 20d.

  Further, when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, an external concentrated terminal plate 47 is disposed on the right side of the amplifier substrate 45 (see FIG. 5). The external concentrated terminal plate 47 is attached to the right side plate 20d of the cabinet 2a. The external concentrated terminal plate 47 is provided to output signals such as a medal insertion signal, a medal payout signal, and a security signal to the outside of the pachi-slot 1.

  The sub power supply 48 is disposed on the left side of the amplifier substrate 45 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The sub power supply device 48 is attached to the left side plate 20c of the cabinet 2a. The sub power supply device 48 supplies the power of the AC voltage 100 V to the power supply device 53 described later. Further, the power of AC voltage 100 V is converted to the power of DC voltage and supplied to the amplifier substrate 45.

  On the lower side inside the cabinet 2a, a medal payout device (hereinafter, a hopper device) 51, a medal auxiliary storage 52, and a power supply 53 are disposed.

  The hopper device 51 is attached to the central portion of the bottom plate 20b in the cabinet 2a. This hopper device 51 can accommodate a large amount of medals, and has a structure capable of discharging them one by one. For example, when the settlement button 27 (see FIG. 2) is pressed to settle the medals deposited inside the pachislot, the hopper device 51 discharges the accommodated medals by the number of credits. The medals paid out by the hopper device 51 are discharged from the medal payout opening 32 (see FIG. 2).

  The medal auxiliary storage 52 stores the medals overflowing from the hopper device 51. The medal auxiliary storage 52 is disposed on the right side of the hopper device 51 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The medal auxiliary storage 52 is engaged with the bottom plate 20b of the cabinet 2a, and is configured to be removable from the bottom plate 20b.

  The power supply device 53 is disposed on the left side of the hopper device 51 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, and is attached to the left side plate 20c. The power supply device 53 includes a power switch 53a and a power substrate 53b (see FIG. 13). The power supply device 53 converts the power of the AC voltage 100 V supplied from the sub power supply device 48 into the power of the required DC voltage at each part, and supplies the converted power to each part.

  As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, the middle door 41 is disposed at the center of the back of the front door 2b, and is configured to be able to open and close the reel display window 4 (see FIG. 4) from the back. Door stoppers 41a, 41b and 41c are provided at the upper and lower portions of the middle door 41, respectively. The door stoppers 41a, 41b, 41c fix (prohibit) the opening operation of the middle door 41 in a state in which the reel display window 4 is closed from the back side. That is, in order to open the middle door 41, it is necessary to rotate the door stoppers 41a, 41b and 41c to release the fixation of the middle door 41.

  On the middle door 41, a main control board case 55 housing a main control board 71 (see FIG. 13) and three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are attached. A stepping motor is connected to the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R via gears having a predetermined speed reduction ratio.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the main control board case 55 is provided with a setting key type switch 56. The setting key type switch 56 is used when changing the setting of the pachi slot 1 or confirming the setting of the pachi slot 1. In the present embodiment, a main control board unit is configured by the main control board case 55 and the main control board 71 housed in the main control board case 55.

  The main control board 71 housed in the main control board case 55 constitutes a main control circuit 91 (see FIG. 14) described later. The main control circuit 91 is a circuit for controlling the main flow of the game in the pachislot 1 such as determination of internal winning combination, rotation and stop of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R, and determination of presence or absence of a prize. The specific configuration of the main control circuit 91 will be described later.

  Above the middle door 41, a sub control board case 57 accommodating the sub control board 72 (see FIG. 13) is disposed, and above the sub control board case 57, a center speaker 58 is disposed. The sub control board 72 housed in the sub control board case 57 constitutes a sub control circuit 101 (see FIG. 15). The sub control circuit 101 is a circuit that controls execution of effects by displaying a video or the like. The specific configuration of the sub control circuit 101 will be described later.

  When the front door 2b is viewed from the back side, a sub relay board 61 is disposed on the right side of the sub control board case 57. The sub relay board 61 relays a wire connecting the sub control board 72 and the main control board 71. In addition, it is a board which relays the wiring connecting the sub control board 72 and the board disposed around the sub control board 72. In addition, as a board | substrate arrange | positioned around the sub control board 72, LED board 62A, 62B, 62C mentioned later is mentioned.

  The LED substrates 62A, 62B, and 62C are disposed on both sides of the sub control substrate case 57 as viewed from the rear surface side of the front door 2b. These LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C are a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) 85 (see FIG. 13) showing one specific example of the light source according to the effects executed by the control of the sub control circuit 101 (see FIG. ) To light and display a blinking pattern. The pachi slot 1 of the present embodiment is provided with a plurality of LED substrates in addition to the LED substrates 62A, 62B, and 62C.

  Below the sub relay board 61, a 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 is disposed. The 24h door opening and closing monitoring unit 63 stores the history of the opening and closing of the middle door 41. When the middle door 41 is opened, a signal for displaying an error on the liquid crystal display device 11 is output to the sub control board 72 (sub control circuit 101).

  Below the middle door 41, a board speaker 64 and lower speakers 65L and 65R are disposed. The board speaker 64 faces the waist panel unit 31 (see FIG. 2), and the lower speakers 65L and 65R face the speaker holes 33L and 33R (see FIG. 2).

  A medal selector 201, a medal chute 202, and a door open / close monitoring switch 67 are disposed above the lower speaker 65L. The medal selector 201 is a device that determines whether or not the material, shape, and the like of the medal are appropriate, and guides the medal inserted into the medal insertion slot 21 to the hopper device 51 via the slope 203 or the medal Guide to the chute 202. The specific configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described later.

  The medal chute 202 is a substantially Y-shaped tubular member, and guides the medal guided by the medal selector 201 and the medal discharged from the hopper device 51 to the medal payout port 32 (see FIG. 2).

  The door open / close monitoring switch 67 is disposed on the left side of the medal selector 201 when the front door 2b is viewed from the back side. The door open / close monitoring switch 67 outputs a security signal for notifying the opening / closing of the front door 2 b to the outside of the pachi slot 1.

  A door relay terminal plate 68 is disposed below the reel display window 4 and in an area opened and closed by the middle door 41 (see FIG. 4). The door relay terminal board 68 includes the main control board 71 (see FIG. 13) in the main control board case 55, various buttons and switches, the sub control board 72 (see FIG. 13), the medal selector 201 and the game operation display board It is a board which relays wiring with 81 (refer to FIG. 13). Examples of the various buttons and switches include a BET button 22, a settlement button 27, a door open / close monitoring switch 67, a BET switch 77 described later, and a start switch 79.

<Configuration of medal selector>
Next, the specific configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 12. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the medal selector 201 as viewed obliquely from the rear of the pachi-slot 1. FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the medal selector 201. As shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the medal selector 201 as viewed obliquely from the front of the pachislot 1. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a select plate 207 of the medal selector 201 described later. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a path of medals when the medal selector 201 guides the medals to the hopper device 51. As shown in FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the path of the medal when the medal selector 201 guides the medal to the medal shoot 202. In addition, arrow X shown to FIGS. 7-12 shows the left-right direction of pachi-slot 1, arrow Y shows the front-back direction of pachi-slot 1, and arrow Z shows an up-down direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the medal selector 201 includes a base plate portion 204, a sub plate 205, a cancel shooter 206, a select plate 207, a medal solenoid 208 (see FIG. 9), and a camera unit 209. Is equipped.

  The base plate portion 204 is a substantially plate-like member that constitutes the outer frame casing of the medal selector 201, and is molded such that both ends in the left-right direction of the pachi slot 1 are bent rearward of the pachi slot 1. The base plate portion 204 has a rear surface 204b which is one plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the pachi slot 1 and a front surface 204a (see FIG. 9) which is the other plane. A medal rail 210 is formed in a substantially L shape on the rear surface 204 b so as to be recessed forward of the pachi slot 1. A plurality of protrusions are formed on the surface of the medal rail 210.

  At an upper end portion of the base plate portion 204, a medal inlet portion 211 for receiving a medal inserted from the medal insertion slot 21 (see FIG. 2) is provided. The medals inserted into the medal selector 201 from the medal entrance portion 211 move downward from above along the medal rails 210. At the lower part of the base plate portion 204, a medal outlet portion 204c (see FIG. 8) is provided. The medals moved in the medal selector 201 are discharged from the medal outlet portion 204c and accommodated in the hopper device 51 through the slope 203 (see FIG. 4).

  A central hole 212 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed at a substantially intermediate position of the medal rail 210, and an end of the medal pressure 213 (see FIG. 8) is exposed from the central hole 212. As shown in FIG. 9, the medal pressure 213 is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 214 provided on the front surface 204 a of the base plate portion 204. A coil spring 215 is attached to the shaft portion 214, and the medal pressure 213 is biased by the coil spring 215 so that the medal pressure 213 protrudes from the central hole 212.

  As shown in FIG. 9, a magnet 217 is provided on the front surface 204 a of the base plate portion 204. The magnet 217 attracts (magnetizes) an illegal medal which is not a proper material among the medals moving on the medal rail 210.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, an upper exposure hole 219 is formed in a substantially central portion of the downstream region of the medal rail 210 so as to penetrate in the front-rear direction and expose a rear end portion of an after medal pressure 218 described later. . In the lower part of the downstream region of the medal rail 210, a lower exposure hole 220 is formed which penetrates in the front-rear direction and exposes a medal stopper portion 227 described later of the select plate 207.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the after medal pressure 218 is pivotally supported by the front surface 204 a of the base plate portion 204. When the front end of the after medal pressure 218 is pushed to the rear of the pachi slot 1 by the medal solenoid 208, the after medal pressure 218 rotates and the rear end of the after medal pressure 218 is from the upper exposed hole 219 (see FIG. 8). Exposed.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the cancel shooter 206 is a substantially plate-like member, and is molded such that both ends in the left-right direction of the pachi slot 1 are bent in front of the pachi slot 1. The cancel shooter 206 is detachably fixed to the base plate portion 204 and covers the lower portion of the base plate portion 204 from the rear. The cancel shooter 206 guides the medals discharged without the medal outlet portion 204c to the medal shoot 202 (see FIG. 4). At an upper portion of a substantially central portion in the left-right direction of the cancel shooter 206, a cut-out portion 206a cut out in a substantially rectangular shape is formed below.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the sub plate 205 is a plate-like member that covers the medal rail 210 from the rear. The sub plate 205 has a flat plate-like main body portion 221 and a shaft portion 222 provided on the upper portion of the main body portion 221. A through hole 221 a penetrating in the front-rear direction is provided in a substantially central portion of the main body portion 221, and a downstream region is exposed from a substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 from the through hole 221 a.

  The shaft portion 222 is supported by the base plate portion 204, and the sub plate 205 is attached to the base plate portion 204 rotatably around the shaft portion 222. A coil spring 223 is attached to the shaft portion 222. Under normal conditions, the sub plate 205 is pressed against the base plate portion 204 by the biasing force of the coil spring 223. At this time, a space through which the medal can pass is formed between the sub plate 205 and the upper portion of the medal rail 210 covered by the sub plate 205. That is, the sub plate 205 functions as a guide plate for passing the medals.

  Here, for example, when a medal clogging occurs in the medal selector 201, the sub plate 205 can be rotated against the biasing force of the coil spring 223 to eliminate the medal clogging.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the select plate 207 is a member for guiding a medal moving in a substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 not covered by the sub plate 205. As shown in FIG. 10, in the select plate 207, a pair of bearing portions formed by bending the substantially trapezoidal plate-like plate main body 224 and both lateral end portions of the plate main body 224 to the front of the pachi slot 1 225, and. Further, at the upper portion of the plate main body 224, a flange portion 226 formed by bending the pachi slot 1 forward and bending its rear end upward is formed. Further, on one of the bearing portions 225, a medal stopper portion 227 extending downward is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the plate main body 224 faces the substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 not covered by the sub plate 205 in the front-rear direction of the pachi slot 1.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the select plate 207 is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 228 provided on the front surface 204 a of the base plate portion 204. The shaft portion 228 is provided with a coil spring 229 and biases the flange portion 226 to the front of the pachi slot 1. The flange portion 226 is in contact with one end of the medal solenoid 208. When the medal solenoid 208 is in the ON state, the flange portion 226 is pressed by one end of the medal solenoid 208 and moves to the rear of the pachi slot 1 against the biasing force of the coil spring 229. The rotational position of the select plate 207 at this time is referred to as a “guide position”. The distance between the plate body 224 of the select plate 207 at the guide position and the medal rail 210 is set to a predetermined distance that can guide the hopper device 51 without discharging the medal to the cancel shooter 206 side. Also, at this time, the medal stopper portion 227 does not protrude from the lower exposure hole 220 (see FIG. 8).

  Further, when the medal solenoid 208 is in the OFF state, the flange portion 226 is released from the pressure of the medal solenoid 208 and moved to the front of the pachi slot 1 by the biasing force of the coil spring 229. The rotation position of the select plate 207 at this time is referred to as a "discharge position". The distance between the plate body 224 of the select plate 207 at the ejection position and the medal rail 210 is set to be longer than a predetermined distance. At this time, it is pressed by the flange portion 226 moving forward of the pachi slot 1, and one end of the medal solenoid 208 moves forward of the pachi slot 1. Along with this, the other end of the medal solenoid 208 moves to the rear of the pachi slot 1 and presses the front end of the after medal pressure 218. As a result, the after medal pressure 218 rotates, and the rear end of the after medal pressure 218 is exposed from the upper exposure hole 219 (see FIG. 8).

  The medal stopper portion 227 does not protrude from the lower exposure hole 220 (see FIG. 8) when the select plate 207 is in the guide position, and protrudes from the lower exposure hole 220 when in the discharging position.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 satisfies the standard size, the select plate 207 at the guide position contacts the upper portion of the moving medal, and the medal exits the medal outlet portion 204c (see FIG. 8). Guide to). The medal, when being guided by the select plate 207, pushes the medal pressure 213 to the front of the pachi slot 1. In FIG. 11, the sub plate 205 of the medal selector 201 and the cancel shooter 206 are not shown.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 12, in the select plate 207 at the discharge position, the distance between the plate body 224 and the medal rail 210 is large even when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 satisfies the standard dimensions. Therefore, the medal can not be guided to the medal exit portion 204c (see FIG. 8). Further, the medal is pushed out to the medal pressure 213, the after medal pressure 218 projecting from the upper exposure hole 219, or the medal stopper portion 227 projecting from the lower exposure hole 220, and discharged toward the cancel shooter 206. In FIG. 12, as in FIG. 11, the sub plate 205 of the medal selector 201 and the cancel shooter 206 are not shown.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the select plate 207 is usually positioned at the guide position, but under a predetermined condition (for example, when the specified number of medals are inserted, when an error occurs, when the game starts, etc.) It is positioned.

  Further, when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 has a diameter smaller than the standard size, the medal is not guided by the select plate 207 even when the select plate 207 is at the guide position, and is pushed out by the medal pressure 213 and the cancel shooter 206 Discharged toward the

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the camera unit 209 is composed of a first substrate 230 and a second substrate 231, and is a unit that determines whether an object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal or not. It is. The first substrate 230 is provided with a CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) and an LED 233 (see FIG. 16). The second substrate 231 is provided with a control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) communicably and controllably connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. The first substrate 230 and the second substrate 231 are connected by a connector (not shown) of a B-to-B (Board-to-Board) type, and legs 235 provided at the corners of the respective substrates 230 and 231. It is fixed. The specific configuration of the circuit of the camera unit 209 will be described later. Also, in the present embodiment, the aspect in which the camera unit 209 is configured by the two substrates 230 and 231 has been described, but instead of this, the camera unit is a single substrate provided with a CMOS image sensor 232, an LED 233 and a control LSI 234. May be configured.

  The camera unit 209 is fixed by screwing the first substrate 230 in a screw hole 206 b provided around the notch 206 a at the top of the cancel shooter 206. The CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) is provided at a substantially central portion of the first substrate 230. The CMOS image sensor 232 captures a medal moving on the medal rail 210, and outputs image data of the captured medal to the control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16). The LED 233 (see FIG. 16) emits surface light around the CMOS image sensor 232 and applies light to the medal moving on the medal rail 210. The control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) determines whether the object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal based on the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs the determination result. In the present embodiment, the mode is described in which the camera unit 209 is fixed to the cancel shooter 206 by screwing in the screw holes 206b formed around the notch 206a, but the fixing mode of the camera unit is limited to this. I will not. For example, a mounting rail is provided between the first substrate 230 and the second substrate 231, and a recess is provided in the upper portion of the cancel shooter 206, and the mounting rail is fitted in the recess. May be fixed with screws or an adhesive.

<Pachislo Circuit Configuration>
Next, the configuration of the circuit included in the pachi slot 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 20. First, an overview of the entire circuit provided in the pachi slot 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the entire circuit provided in the pachi slot 1.

  The pachi slot 1 has a main control board 71 disposed in the middle door 41 and a sub control board 72 disposed in the front door 2b. The main control board 71 includes a reel relay terminal board 74, a setting key type switch 56, an external concentrated terminal board 47, a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage switch 75, and a power supply board 53b of the power supply device 53. It is connected. The setting key type switch 56, the external concentrated terminal plate 47, the hopper device 51 and the medal auxiliary storage switch 75 are connected to the main control board 71 via the cabinet side relay board 44. The external concentrated terminal plate 47 and the hopper device 51 have been described above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  The reel relay terminal board 74 is disposed inside the reel bodies of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R. The reel relay terminal board 74 is electrically connected to stepping motors (not shown) of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R, and relays signals outputted from the main control board 71 to the stepping motor.

  The medal auxiliary storage switch 75 penetrates a switch through hole (not shown) of the medal auxiliary storage 52. The medal auxiliary storage switch 75 detects whether the medal auxiliary storage 52 is full of medals.

  A power switch 53 a is connected to the power supply substrate 53 b of the power supply device 53. The power switch 53a is turned on when the necessary power is supplied to the pachi slot 1.

  Further, on the main control board 71, via the door relay terminal board 68, the medal selector 201, the door open / close monitoring switch 67, the BET switch 77, the settlement switch 78, the start switch 79, the stop switch board 80, and the game operation display board 81 And the sub relay board 61 are connected. The door open / close monitoring switch 67 and the sub relay board 61 have been described above, so the description will be omitted. The circuit configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described later.

  The BET switch 77 detects that the BET button 22 has been pressed by the player. The settlement switch 78 detects that the settlement button 27 has been pressed by the player. The start switch 79 detects that the player has operated the start lever 23 (start operation).

  The stop switch board 80 is a board that constitutes a circuit for stopping a rotating reel and a circuit for displaying a stoppable reel by an LED or the like. The stop switch substrate 80 is provided with a stop switch. The stop switch detects that each stop button 19L, 19C, 19R has been pressed by the player (stop operation).

  The game operation display board 81 displays the number of inserted medals on the 7-segment display 24 when the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are able to rotate and replay is performed when accepting the insertion of medals. It is a substrate for A 7-segment display 24 and an LED 82 are connected to the game operation display board 81. The LED 82 lights, for example, a mark indicating the start of a game, a mark to be played again, and the like.

  The sub control board 72 is connected to the main control board 71 via the door relay terminal plate 68 and the sub relay board 61. A sound I / O substrate 84 and LED substrates 62A, 62B, 62C, and 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 are connected to the sub control substrate 72 via the sub relay substrate 61. The LED substrate 62A, 62B, 62C, and 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 has been described above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  The sound I / O substrate 84 outputs sound to speakers (not shown) provided on the center speaker 58, the board speaker 64, the lower speakers 65L and 65R, and the front door 2b.

  Further, a ROM cartridge substrate 86 and a liquid crystal relay substrate 87 are connected to the sub control substrate 72. The ROM cartridge substrate 86 and the liquid crystal relay substrate 87 are accommodated in the sub control substrate case 57 together with the sub control substrate 72. The ROM cartridge substrate 86 is a substrate for managing effect image (video), sound, LED substrates 62A and 62B and other LED substrates (not shown), and communication data. The liquid crystal relay substrate 87 is a substrate for relaying a wire connecting the sub control substrate 72 and the liquid crystal display device 11.

[Main control circuit]
Next, the main control circuit 91 configured by the main control board 71 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the main control circuit 91 of the pachi-slot 1.

  The main control circuit 91 mainly includes a microcomputer 92 installed on the main control board 71. The microcomputer 92 includes a main CPU 93, a main ROM 94 and a main RAM 95. The main CPU 93 and the above-described hopper device 51 constitute a gaming medium payout device of the present invention.

  The main ROM 94 is used to transmit various control commands (commands) to the control program (for example, a program for executing the above-mentioned internal lottery process) executed by the main CPU 93, the data table, and the sub control circuit 101. Data etc. are stored. The main RAM 95 is provided with a storage area for storing various data such as an internal winning combination determined by the execution of the control program.

  To the main CPU 93, a clock pulse generation circuit 96, a frequency divider 97, a random number generator 98 and a sampling circuit 99 are connected. Clock pulse generation circuit 96 and frequency divider 97 generate clock pulses. The main CPU 93 executes the control program based on the generated clock pulse. The random number generator 98 generates a predetermined range of random numbers (e.g., 0 to 65535). The sampling circuit 99 extracts one value from the generated random numbers.

  The main CPU 93 counts the number of times the pulse is output to the stepping motor of each reel 3L, 3C, 3R after detecting the reel index. Thus, the main CPU 93 manages the rotation angles of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R (mainly, how many reels have been rotated). The reel index is information indicating that the reel has made one rotation. The reel index is provided at, for example, an optical sensor having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and at a predetermined position of each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R, and rotation of each reel 3L, 3C, 3R Detection is performed by a reel position detection unit (not shown) provided with a detection piece interposed therebetween.

  Here, management of the rotation angles of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R will be specifically described. The number of pulses output to the stepping motor is counted by a pulse counter provided in the main RAM 95. Then, each time the pulse counter counts the output of a predetermined number of times (for example, 16 times) necessary for the rotation of one symbol, the symbol counter provided in the main RAM 95 is incremented by one. A symbol counter is provided according to each reel 3L, 3C, 3R. The value of the symbol counter is cleared when a reel index is detected by a reel position detection unit (not shown).

  That is, in the present embodiment, by managing the symbol counter, it is managed to manage how many symbols have been rotated since the reel index was detected. Therefore, the position of each symbol of each reel 3L, 3C, 3R is detected based on the position where the reel index is detected.

  As described above, when the maximum number of sliding symbols is determined to be four symbols, the symbols of the left reel 3L in the middle of the reel display window 4 and its four when the left stop button 19L is pressed Each symbol within the range to the previous symbol is a symbol that can be stopped at the middle of the reel display window 4.

[Sub control circuit]
Next, the sub control circuit 101 configured by the sub control substrate 72 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the sub control circuit 101 of the pachislot 1.

  The sub control circuit 101 is electrically connected to the main control circuit 91, and performs processing such as determination and execution of effects based on commands transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The sub control circuit 101 basically includes a sub CPU 102, a sub RAM 103, a rendering processor 104, a drawing RAM 105, and a driver 106.

  The sub CPU 102 controls the output of video, sound and light according to the control program stored in the ROM cartridge substrate 86 in response to the command transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The ROM cartridge substrate 86 basically includes a program storage area and a data storage area.

  The program storage area stores a control program to be executed by the sub CPU 102. For example, in the control program, a main board communication task for controlling communication with the main control circuit 91, and a random number value for effect extraction, and an effect registration task for determining and registering effect contents (effect data) Is included. In addition, a drawing control task that controls the display of an image by the liquid crystal display device 11 (see FIG. 2) based on the determined effect content, a lamp control task that controls the light output by a light source such as an LED 85, , An audio control task for controlling the output of sound from a speaker such as 65R, and the like.

  The data storage area includes a storage area for storing various data tables, a storage area for storing effect data constituting each effect content, and a storage area for storing animation data relating to creation of a video. Also, a storage area for storing sound data relating to BGM and sound effects, a storage area for storing lamp data relating to a light on / off pattern, and the like are included.

  The sub RAM 103 is provided with a storage area for registering the determined effect contents and effect data, and a storage area for storing various data such as an internal winning combination transmitted from the main control circuit 91.

  The sub CPU 102, the rendering processor 104, the drawing RAM (including the frame buffer) 105, and the driver 106 create an image according to the animation data specified by the effect content, and cause the liquid crystal display device 11 to display the created image.

  Further, the sub CPU 102 causes the speakers such as the speakers 58, 64, 65L and 65R to output the sound such as BGM according to the sound data designated by the contents of the effect. Further, the sub CPU 102 controls lighting and extinguishing of the light source such as the LED 85 in accordance with the lamp data designated by the contents of the effect.

<Circuit configuration of medal selector>
Next, the circuit configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the medal selector 201. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the medal selector 201 includes a camera unit 209 and a medal solenoid 208. In addition, the medal selector 201 is connected to the main control board 71 via the door relay terminal plate 68. That is, the medal selector 201 is electrically connected to the main control circuit 91. Therefore, the main control circuit 91 can set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the ON state or the OFF state.

  The camera unit 209 includes a control LSI 234, a CMOS image sensor 232, and an LED 233. The control LSI 234 of the camera unit 209 is configured as an LSI dedicated to image processing control, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. It is done. The control LSI 234 controls the light emission of the LED 233. Further, the control LSI 234 determines whether or not the insertion is a regular medal based on the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs the determination result to the main control board 71 via the door relay terminal board 68. . In the present embodiment, the CMOS image sensor 232 employed is a CMOS image sensor having a resolution of 648 × 488 pixels and a frame rate of 240 fps (Frames Per Second), but is limited to such an image sensor It does not have to be done (imaging devices other than CMOS may also be used). In addition, light emitting devices other than LEDs can also be used.

[Circuit configuration of control LSI]
Next, the circuit configuration of the control LSI 234 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the control LSI 234. As shown in FIG. FIG. 18 is a functional block diagram of the camera unit 209 including the control LSI 234, FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining regular medals, FIG. 19A shows one surface of regular medals, and FIG. 19B is an image of regular medals. Data is shown. FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining generation (composition) of gradient average image data related to a regular medal. The camera unit 209 includes a light emitting unit made of an LED or the like, but the illustration thereof is omitted in FIG.

  The control LSI 234 includes a host controller 241, an image recognition DSP (digital signal processor) circuit 242, a static random access memory (SRAM) 243, a flash memory 244, an image signal processing (ISP) circuit 245, and a medal counting circuit 246. The control LSI 234 further includes a color recognition circuit 247, a fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and a GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output) 250. The devices forming the control LSI 234 are mutually connected via a bus, and in the control LSI 234 of this embodiment, AXI (Advanced eXtensible Interface) is adopted as a protocol of the bus.

  Further, the control LSI 234 includes an ISI (Image Sensor Interface) circuit 251. The ISI circuit 251 is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the ISP circuit. The ISI circuit 251 converts the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232 according to the low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) method into an RGB Bayer image, and outputs the RGB Bayer image to the ISP circuit 245.

  Here, the CMOS image sensor 232 and the ISI circuit 251 (and the host controller 241 that controls the ISI circuit 251) correspond to the imaging unit 261 shown in FIG. The captured image 262 is sent from the imaging unit 261 to a conversion unit 263 described later (in this example, the captured image 262 is an RGB Bayer image output from the ISI circuit 251).

  When the ISP circuit 245 receives the RGB Bayer image from the ISI circuit 251, it outputs a VSYNC (Vertical Synchronization) interrupt signal to the host controller 241. The ISP circuit 245 also performs conversion processing to convert the RGB Bayer image output from the ISI circuit 251 into various formats. In the conversion process, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into Y (the luminance of each pixel), and stores the converted image data in the SRAM 243. Further, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to the YUV color space, and outputs data related to the luminance in the YUV image data to the medal counting circuit 246. Further, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into image data (HSV image data) corresponding to the HSV color space, and outputs data related to the hue and saturation in the HSV image data to the color recognition circuit 247.

  Here, a part of the ISP circuit 245 (at least a processing function unit for converting an RGB Bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to a YUV color space) and a host controller 241 for controlling the same are shown in FIG. The conversion unit 263 of

  The medal counting circuit 246 performs a counting process based on the data related to the luminance output from the ISP circuit 245. In the counting process, the medal counting circuit 246 compares data relating to the brightness of the counting area which is a predetermined area in the image with the count threshold, and determines whether the medal has passed by the background difference method. The count threshold is a threshold that is predetermined based on data relating to the brightness of the count area in the image of a regular medal. The medal counting circuit 246 determines that the medal has passed if the difference is small, and determines that the medal has not passed (the one other than the medal has passed) if the difference is large. Then, the medal counting circuit 246 stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. Although the count area can be arbitrarily set according to the medal used by Pachi-Slot 1 as a regular medal, it is preferable to set it as an area so that the rotation angle of the medal does not greatly affect the difference in luminance. For example, in the case of using a regular medal 280 having the same stamp (pattern) on both sides as shown in FIG. 19A, in the image data 282 of this regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19B), one of the regular medals in the area The position (area 283 in FIG. 19B) is set as the count area so that the marking (pattern) applied to the face does not change depending on the rotation angle of the medal, that is, the rotation angle of the medal does not significantly affect the luminance difference. Is preferred. Further, the narrower the range of the count area, the faster the count process can be.

  The color recognition circuit 247 performs color determination processing based on the hue and saturation data output from the ISP circuit 245. In the color determination process, the color recognition circuit 247 first expresses the integrated value of data relating to hue and saturation near the center of the image data as a vector (performs vector conversion), and calculates the vector angle in three-dimensional space Do. Next, the color recognition circuit 247 compares the calculated angle of the vector with a predetermined color threshold to determine whether it matches the color of the regular medal. The predetermined threshold value is a threshold value that is predetermined based on the angle of the vector calculated by the same method as the process described above for the image data related to the regular medal (for example, 3 for the regular medal to be compared) Within ± 10 degrees of the angle on the individual coordinates (XYZ) of the vector in dimensional space). Then, the color recognition circuit 247 stores the determination result in the SRAM 243.

  The fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 acquires image data obtained by Y (brightness of each pixel) converted of the RGB Bayer image from the SRAM 243 and performs fisheye correction processing. In the fisheye correction process, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 performs fisheye correction on the acquired image data to create reduced image data reduced to 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8. Then, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243.

  The fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 and the host controller 241 that controls the same are included in the conversion unit 263 of FIG.

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires reduced image data (in the present embodiment, reduced image data reduced to 1⁄4) from the SRAM 243 and performs preprocessing. In preprocessing, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 converts the acquired reduced image data into edge image data through a non-linear diffusion filter, and stores the edge image data in the SRAM 243.

  Here, a part of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (a processing function unit that converts the above-described acquired reduced image data into edge image data through a non-linear diffusion filter) and a host controller 241 that controls this are shown in FIG. It is included in the conversion unit 263.

  The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs rotation integration processing to create gradient average image data. In the rotation integration process, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 acquires edge image data from the SRAM 243, and generates the acquired edge image data (for example, image data 282 shown in FIG. 19B) by, for example, rotating by 1 degree. Image data for 360 degrees is integrated (superimposed) to generate gradient average image data. The gradient average image data generated by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is stored in the SRAM 243. As an example in which gradient average image data is generated (combined), gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 shown in FIG. 19A is shown in FIG. The gradient average image data 285 is image data in which edge image data in the shape of “A” is integrated while being rotated by, for example, 360 degrees (that is, integrated 360 times). Here, this is simplified. It shall be shown. The processing function unit of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 that generates the gradient average image data and the host controller 241 that controls the same correspond to the feature image generation unit 264 in FIG. 18.

  Further, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs a marking determination process of determining whether the marking (pattern) of the medal matches the marking of the regular medal. In the marking determination process, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires, from the SRAM 243, the gradient average image data created by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 in the rotation integration process. Next, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 obtains the obtained gradient average image data and template data for marking determination processing (for example, gradient average image data of regular medals stored in the SRAM 243 or flash memory 244 prepared in advance). Calculate the difference of Then, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 determines whether the marking of the medal matches the marking of the regular medal based on the calculated difference value and the threshold value for marking determination, and stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. . For example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 compares the luminance at each pixel of the acquired gradient average image data and the template data, and determines whether or not they match (in the case of multiple gradations, whether the difference is within a predetermined range). If there are a certain number or more of matching pixels (the difference is within a predetermined range), it is determined that the marking (pattern) of the medal matches the marking of the regular medal, and if the number of matching pixels does not reach the fixed number, the marking of the medal is marked It is determined that the (pattern) does not match the marking of the regular medal. The processing function unit related to the marking determination processing of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 for controlling the same correspond to the determination unit 265 shown in FIG. 18 and the template data is template data 267. Corresponds to

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 that perform the above-described marking determination process and the like operate according to a program (sequence program), and these programs are stored in, for example, the SRAM 243 and the flash memory 244. The template data is stored, for example, in the SRAM 243.

  The host controller 241 controls each device, that is, the medal count circuit 246, the color recognition circuit 247, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and the GPIO 250. Further, the host controller 241 outputs a signal relating to the lighting instruction or the light-off instruction to the LED 233 via the GPIO 250. Further, the host controller 241 outputs, through the GPIO 250, the determination result related to the count processing stored in the SRAM 243, the determination result related to the color determination processing, and the determination result related to the marking determination processing. Note that the GPIO 250 that outputs the determination result related to the color determination processing or the marking determination processing described above and the host controller 241 that controls this correspond to the input / output unit 266 shown in FIG. 18, and the determination result is the determination of FIG. It corresponds to the result 268.

  The flash memory 244 stores parameters and data (including the above-described template data) that the host controller 241, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 use for various processes.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 21, a process performed by control LSI 234 for determining whether an object moving on medal rail 210 is a regular medal (hereinafter, may be referred to as “regular medal determination process”) Will be explained.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a regular medal discrimination process of the control LSI 234. FIG. 21 shows the relationship of processing in each device constituting the control LSI 234 in chronological order, and in the portion of a relatively thick line in the vertical line extending below each device name, various processing described by that device is performed. Indicates that it is in the state of In addition, broken arrows extending from the line corresponding to each device to a vertical line extending below “IN” in the host controller indicate an interrupt signal output from each device to the host controller 241. A broken arrow extending from a vertical line extending below “OUT” in the host controller to a line corresponding to each device indicates a signal output from the host controller 241 to each device. Also, solid arrows between the vertical line extending below “IN” and the vertical line extending below “OUT” in the host controller indicate interrupt signals detected by the host controller 241 and the host controller 241. It shows the correspondence with the output signal. FIG. 21 shows a regular medal discrimination process in the case where six medals are successively inserted into the medal insertion slot 21 (see FIG. 2). In addition, in order to clarify the number of medals related to the number of medals, numbers representing the order of medal placement are attached to the beginning of the code attached to each signal. For example, the VSYNC interrupt signal output to the host controller 241 from the later-described ISP circuit 245 pertaining to the first medal is assigned the code “1IH”, and the same VSYNC interrupt pertaining to the second medal is attached. The signal is labeled "2IH".

  First, when the CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 17) captures an object (the first medal in this example) moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs image data to the control LSI 234, the ISP circuit 245 generates an ISI circuit. Image data is acquired (received) via 251 and a VSYNC (Vertical Synchronization) interrupt signal is output to the host controller 241 (1IH). Also, the ISP circuit 245 performs conversion processing for converting an RGB Bayer image into various formats. Then, the converted image data and the hue, saturation, and luminance data relating to the image data are output to the SRAM 243, the medal count circuit 246, and the color recognition circuit 247. The detailed description of the conversion process is omitted because it has been described above.

  The color recognition circuit 247 performs color determination processing when data is received from the ISP circuit 245, stores the determination result in the SRAM 243, and outputs a color determination interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1CH). The detailed description of the color determination process is omitted because it is described above.

  When the medal count circuit 246 receives data from the ISP circuit 245, the medal count circuit 246 performs count processing, stores the determination result in the SRAM 243, and outputs a medal count interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1 MH). The detailed description of the counting process is omitted because it is described above.

  When detecting the color determination interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the color determination process from the SRAM 243 and outputs the determination result to the assigned port of the GPIO 250 (1HG1). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the color determination process to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250.

  When the host controller 241 detects a count interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the count processing from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the assigned PORT of the GPIO 250 (1HG2). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the count process to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250. When the determination result of the count process is “the medal has passed”, the main control circuit 91 sets the number of inserted medals to the value of the inserted number counter, which is a counter provided for the main CPU 93 to count. Add one. When the value of the insertion number counter is the maximum value (for example, 3), the number of medals being credited is incremented by one to the value of the credit counter which is a counter provided for the main CPU 93 to count. When the credit counter has the maximum value (for example, 50), the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the OFF state. As a result, the select plate 207 is positioned at the "discharge position", and the medal inserted after the credit counter reaches the maximum value is guided to the medal chute 202 and discharged from the medal payout opening 32 to the medal tray unit 34. In the present embodiment, when the value of the insertion number counter is a prescribed value (for example, 2 or 3), when the start lever is operated, the main CPU 93 performs the above-mentioned internal lottery processing.

  When the image data converted by the ISP circuit 245 is stored in the SRAM 243, the fish-eye correction scaler circuit 248 performs fish-eye correction processing, stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and causes the host controller 241 to finish reduction. Send a built-in signal (1SH). The detailed description of the fisheye correction process is omitted because it has been described above.

  Between the output (1HG2) of the determination result of the count processing by the host controller 241 to GPIO 250 and the transmission of the reduction end interrupt signal by the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 (1SH), the second image by the ISP circuit 245 The output (2IH) of the VSYNC interrupt signal related to the medal is generated. However, since the storage area of the SRAM 243 is individually set in order to store the determination results of various processes (counting process, color determination process, marking determination process, etc.) related to each medal, overwriting of data does not occur.

  When the host controller 241 detects the reduction end signal, it refers to the SRAM 243, and the determination result of the count processing is “the medal has passed”, and the determination result of the color determination processing “the color of the regular medal matches” And instructs the image recognition DSP circuit 242 to start preprocessing (1HD).

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs preprocessing in accordance with an instruction from the host controller 241, stores edge image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs a preprocessing end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH1). The detailed description of the pre-processing is omitted because it is described above.

  When the host controller 241 detects the preprocessing completion interrupt signal, it instructs the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 to start the rotation integration process (1HA).

  The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs rotation integration processing according to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores gradient average image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs an integration end interrupt signal to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (1AD). The detailed description of the rotation integration process is omitted because it has been described above.

  When detecting the integration end interrupt signal, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires gradient average image data stored in the SRAM 243, performs marking determination processing, and stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. Then, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 outputs a marking determination end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH2).

  When the host controller 241 detects the marking determination end interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the marking determination processing stored in the SRAM 243, and outputs the determination result to the allocation port of GPIO (1HG3). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the marking determination process to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250.

  As shown in FIG. 21, in the present embodiment, the preprocessing and marking determination process by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the rotation integration process by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 take a relatively long time. Therefore, when medals are continuously inserted, the host controller 241 detects whether or not the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is in processing (busy state) when detecting the reduction end signal. When none of the processes is being performed, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 instructs the start of the pre-processing and the marking determination process and the rotation integration process of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, when the host controller 241 detects reduction end signals (2SH and 3SH) related to the second and third medals, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition Since the accelerator circuit 249 is in processing (busy state), the host controller 241 does not issue the start instruction. Therefore, for the second and third medals, the count process and the color determination process are performed, but the marking determination process is not performed. On the other hand, when the host controller 241 detects a reduction signal (4SH) related to the fourth medal, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are not in processing (busy state). Therefore, the count process, the color determination process, and the marking determination process are performed for the fourth medal.

  In addition, by speeding up pre-processing and marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and rotation integration processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, count processing, color determination processing, and marking determination processing are performed for all medals inserted. It may be performed.

  Various signals relating to the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth medals shown in FIG. 21 (the beginning of the code is “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, The respective signals “6” are the same as the various signals (the beginning of the code is “1”) relating to the above-described first medal differing only in the leading number, and therefore detailed description will be omitted. The processing timing of each device in the regular medal discrimination processing of the control LSI 234 shown in FIG. 21 is merely an example. The regular medal determination process may be performed at various processing timings in accordance with the processing capability of each device, the process content, and the process procedure.

<Function>
In the pachislot 1 of the present embodiment, the control LSI 234 of the medal selector 201 performs regular medal determination processing including color determination processing, count processing, and marking determination processing. When an unauthorized device that is not a medal moves on the medal rail 210, it is determined in the color determination process that "does not match the color of a regular medal", and in the count process, it is determined that "a medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the pachislot 1 to be falsely recognized as using a regular medal.

  Further, on the medal rail 210, the illegal medal 290 shown in FIG. 22A (the medal having the same diameter and the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) and having a different marking (pattern) on the surface of the medal) has moved In the case of the color determination process, it is determined that "the color of the regular medal matches". However, in the counting process, the markings (patterns) in the counting area (area 293 surrounded by the dotted line) of the image data 292 of the illegal medal shown in FIG. 22B and the counting areas of the image data of regular medals (indicated by the dotted line in FIG. Since the marking (pattern) in the enclosed region 283) is significantly different, it is determined that "the medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the pachislot 1 to be falsely recognized as using a regular medal.

  In addition, on the medal rail 210, the illegal medal 295 shown in FIG. 23A (same medal with the same diameter and the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) and other medals different only in the marking (pattern) applied on the surface of the medal) If it has moved, it is determined in the color determination process that “the color of the regular medal matches”. In addition, in the counting process, markings (patterns) in the counting area (area 298 surrounded by a dotted line) of the image data 297 of the illegal medal shown in FIG. 23B and counting areas of the image data of regular medals (indicated by dotted line in FIG. Since the difference from the marking (pattern) in the enclosed area 283) is small, it is determined that "the medal has passed". However, in the marking determination process, the gradient average image data 299 of this incorrect medal and the gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 20) shown in FIG. 23C are largely different. It is determined that "does not match the marking on the medal". Therefore, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the pachislot 1 to be falsely recognized as using a regular medal.

  In addition, on the medal rail 210, medals of the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) and the different diameter (a diameter slightly smaller or larger than the regular medal and which can be guided by the select plate 207) are moved. In the case of the color determination process, it is determined that "the color of the regular medal matches". However, in the image data of this medal, if this medal is slightly smaller than the diameter of the regular medal and there is a border between the outer edge of the medal and the background in the count area, "the medal has not passed" It is determined that Also, even if it is determined that "the medal has passed" in the counting process, the gradient average image data of this medal and the gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 (figure in FIG. (See 20). Therefore, in the marking determination process, it is determined that "the marking (pattern) of the medal does not match the marking of the regular medal". Therefore, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the pachislot 1 to be falsely recognized as using a regular medal.

  When a medal having the same diameter and different color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) moves on the medal rail 210, it is determined in the color determination process that "the color of the regular medal does not match". Therefore, it is possible to detect an illegal act of playing a game by causing the pachislot 1 to be falsely recognized as using a regular medal.

  Further, the control LSI 234 outputs the determination result of the color determination process, the count process, and the marking determination process to the main control circuit 91 including the main control board 71 via the GPIO. Therefore, it is possible to cause the main control circuit 91 to perform various processing when there is an illegal activity. Here, with various processing when there is an illegal activity, for example, the main control circuit 91 forcibly interrupts the game and notifies that there is an illegal activity through the sub control circuit 101 (for example, , And displays on the liquid crystal display device 11 that a fraud has occurred.

  In addition, when an illegal activity is detected based on the determination result of the color determination process and the count process, the main control circuit 91 may set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the OFF state. As a result, the select plate 207 is positioned at the “discharge position”, so that the incorrect medal can be guided to the medal chute 202 and discharged from the medal payout opening 32. The main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 set to the OFF state by the color judgment processing and the detection of the fraudulent action by the counting process to the ON state after guiding the fraudulent medals related to the fraudulent action to the medal chute 202. May be

  In addition, also in the case where an injustice is detected by the marking determination process, the main control circuit 91 may set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the OFF state. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, a VSYNC interrupt signal (4IH) relating to the fourth medal is output from the ISP circuit 245 to the main control circuit 91, and then the VSYNC interrupt relating to the fifth medal is output. Before the signal (5IH) is output, the determination result of the marking determination process related to the first medal is output to the main control circuit (1HG3). Therefore, when the illegal medals are continuously inserted, the illegal medals inserted on the fifth and subsequent frames can be guided to the medal chute 202 and discharged from the medal payout opening 32. By this, it is possible to suppress the spread of damage caused by fraud. In the case where it is possible to detect injustice by the marking determination processing before the medals captured by the camera unit 209 pass over the after medal pressure 218 or the medal stopper portion 227 by speeding up the marking determination processing, When the main control circuit 91 immediately sets the medal solenoid 208 to the OFF state, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of damage due to a fraud. Further, the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 set to the OFF state by the detection of the fraudulent action by the marking determination processing, and the determination result of the next marking determination processing indicates “the marking (pattern of medals matches the marking of regular medals) If it is "Yes", it may be set to the ON state. As a result, since the illegal medal is accidentally mixed in, the player inserts the illegal medal without intending to make an illegal act, and when the medal solenoid 208 is set to the OFF state and becomes impossible to play, the player is authorized. The game can be resumed by inserting a medal.

Modification of First Embodiment
As described above, the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described including its effects. However, the gaming machine of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention described in the claims.

  For example, in the above description, an example is described in which the same marking (pattern) is applied on both sides as game media, but in place of this, different markings on one side and the other side of the medal are used. You may use the medal provided. In this case, data relating to each surface of the medal may be prepared in advance as data relating to the threshold value in the count processing, the color determination processing, and the marking determination processing.

  In addition, as a method of setting data related to the threshold, a period during which a certain unit game period (for example, 100 games) is a collection period of data related to the threshold is captured by the camera unit 209 during this unit game period. A method of setting based on the image data of the selected medal may be adopted.

  In the gaming machine according to the first embodiment described above, determination of medals and the like is possible by each processing of image conversion and image recognition performed based on a captured image acquired by the imaging unit 261 including the CMOS image sensor 232 etc. Therefore, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of medals and the like. Further, since the control LSI 234 of the camera unit 209 is configured as an ASIC or the like, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Furthermore, since the control LSI 234 is provided in a packaged state such as an ASIC or the like, it is possible to infringe external fraudulent activity (for example, invalidate the regular medal discrimination process or steal the processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process And can have a significant advantage in terms of security.

<< Second Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachi-slot machine which is a gaming machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The pachislot 300, which is a gaming machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention, has the above-described first embodiment regarding the functional flow, the pachislot structure, the configuration of the medal selector, the circuit configuration of the pachislot, and the circuit configuration of the medal selector. It is the same as Pachislot 1 which is a gaming machine according to the present invention. In the following, the normal medal discrimination process executed by the pachislot machine 1 which is the gaming machine according to the first embodiment will be described more specifically, and a new method of the regular medal discrimination process will be described.

  As described above, the pachislot 300 which is the gaming machine according to the second embodiment includes the control LSI 334 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 309 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and further, a medal selector 301 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) including the camera unit 309 is provided. . FIG. 24 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 309, and substantially has the same configuration as that shown in the functional block diagram of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 24, the camera unit 309 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 361, a conversion unit 363, a feature image generation unit 364, a determination unit 365, and an input / output unit 366. Although the camera unit 309 includes a light emitting unit made of an LED or the like, illustration thereof is omitted in FIG.

  The imaging unit 361 includes a CMOS image sensor 332 (for example, corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 332 (if necessary, predetermined) Convert) to output as a captured image 362A.

  A conversion unit 363 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts a captured image 362A input from the imaging unit 361 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the captured image It outputs as a captured image 362B.

  A feature image generation unit 364 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is a feature image showing the feature of the medal 310 based on the captured image 362B in which the medal 310 is captured. Generate 362C. Based on the characteristic image 362C generated by the characteristic image generation unit 364, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 (that is, the medal 310 corresponding to the image of the medal 310 included in the pickup image 362C) shown in the pickup image 362B is regular. It is determined whether or not it is one, and the determination result 368 is output via the input / output unit 366 (for example, corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment).

  A determination unit 365 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) includes a feature image 362C generated from the captured image 362B by the feature image generation unit 364 and a template showing features of regular medals. The data (template characteristic image) 367 is compared, and based on the comparison result, it is determined whether or not the medal 310 related to the captured image 362B is normal.

  FIG. 25 is a view schematically showing an example of a captured image 362A obtained by the imaging unit 361. As shown in FIG. The captured image 362A illustrated in FIG. 25 includes an image of the captured medal 310. In addition, a medal rail 311 which is a background is captured, and the image is included in a captured image 362A. In addition, although the medal rail 311 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the above-mentioned 1st Embodiment, the shape of a rail is simplified and shown here.

  On one main surface 310a of the medal 310, for example, a pattern of an alphabet "A" is shown. Although this shows the pattern of a regular medal, it may be patterns other than this. Moreover, a pattern may be given to both main surfaces of a regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 310 moves on the medal rail 311 while rotating around the rotation axis along the thickness direction, which passes through the centers of both its main surfaces. Then, the imaging unit 361 images the medal 310 from the one main surface 310 a side of the medal 310. Therefore, the captured image 362A includes the image of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310. Further, in the present embodiment, the captured image 362A generated by the imaging unit 361 is a color image, but may be a gray scale image.

  FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the configuration of the feature image generation unit 364. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 26, the feature image generation unit 364 includes a first image generation unit 370 and a second image generation unit 380. The first image generation unit 370 generates a first image 374 indicating the medal 310 based on the captured image 362B. The second image generation unit 380 is configured to generate at least a part of a rotation composite image obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image 374 generated by the first image generation unit 370 as a feature image 362 C (second image Generate as).

  The first image generation unit 370 includes an extraction unit 371 and an edge image generation unit 372. The extraction unit 371 extracts a medal area 373 in which the medal 310 is indicated from the captured image 362B. The edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 to generate an edge image (first image 374).

<Flow of Regular Medal Discrimination Processing>
Next, a series of operations of the regular medal discrimination process performed by the camera unit 309 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when the captured image 362A is input from the imaging unit 361, the conversion unit 363 converts the captured image 362A from a color image to a grayscale image, and sets a captured image 362B obtained by the conversion as a processing target.

  Next, the extraction unit 371 extracts a medal area 373 in which the medal 310 is captured from the captured image 362B to be processed. Thereafter, the edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 and generates an edge image as a first image 374 indicating the medal 310. Next, the second image generation unit 380 is characterized by at least a part of a rotation synthesized image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the edge image (first image 374) generated by the edge image generation unit 372 It is generated as an image 362C.

  Next, the determination unit 365 compares the feature image 362C generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the feature image included in the template data 367, and based on the comparison result, the captured image 362B to be processed is It is determined whether or not the displayed medal 310 is a legitimate one. In other words, the determination unit 365 determines whether the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362A generated by the imaging unit 261 is normal based on the comparison result of the feature image 362C and the feature image included in the template data 367. It is determined whether or not. Then, the determination unit 365 sets the determination result 368 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 366 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, the main control circuit forcibly interrupts the game, as in the gaming machine of the first embodiment, when the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362A is not a legitimate one, and the sub control circuit (first It is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act via the sub control circuit 101 in the gaming machine of the embodiment. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display that is a liquid crystal display device.

  After that, when the new captured image 362A is input, the determination unit 365 performs the above-described normal medal determination process with the captured image 362B obtained from the captured image 362A as a new processing target. Thereafter, the determination unit 365 performs the same operation each time the captured image 362A is input.

<Detailed explanation of each component>
Next, the operations of the extraction unit 371 of the first image generation unit 370, the edge image generation unit 372, the second image generation unit 380, and the determination unit 365 will be described in more detail.

[Extraction unit]
FIG. 27 is a view schematically showing an example of the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 from the captured image 362B. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 310 is circular. In this first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 362B to generate an edge image. As a method of generating an edge image, for example, the Sobel method, Laplacian method, Canny method or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. For example, Hough transform is used as a method of extracting a circular area. Then, the circular area in the captured image 362 B present at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is taken as a medal area 373.

  Another method is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using the background subtraction method and labeling. In this second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 362B and the background image (an image showing only the background of the captured image 362B) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. Ru. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, in the binary background difference image, a partial area in the captured image 362 B present at the same position as the position of the connection area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling is set as a medal area 373.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B by a method different from the above two methods. The operation of the extraction unit 371 according to the present embodiment will be described below. Note that the extraction unit 371 may extract the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 371 generates a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 362B and the background image 375 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 362B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 28 is a view schematically showing the background image 375, and FIG. 29 is a view schematically showing the binary background difference image 376. As shown in FIG. In the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 29 and later-described drawings in the present embodiment, the area (high luminance area) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 375 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 371 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 376 using the binary outer shape template 377 indicating the outer shape of the medal 310. That is, the extraction unit 371 specifies where in the background difference image 376, a region similar to the outline template 377 exists. In other words, the extraction unit 371 specifies where in the background difference image 376, a region that matches the outer shape of the medal 310 indicated by the outer shape template 377 exists. FIG. 30 schematically shows the outer shape template 377. As shown in FIG. The external shape template 377 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  In template matching, as illustrated in FIG. 31, the extraction unit 371 moves the outline template 377 little by little (for example, by one pixel) on the background difference image 376 in the raster scan direction. In other words, the extraction unit 371 raster scans the outline template 377 on the background difference image 376. At this time, at each position of the outline template 377, the extraction unit 371 generates an AND image of the outline template 377 and the partial region of the background difference image 376 overlapping it. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 371 selects the background difference image 376 of the outline template 377 used to generate the AND image with the largest number of pixels (high luminance pixels) having a pixel value of “1” among the plurality of generated AND images. Identify the top position. This position is a position where an area similar to the outline template 377 exists in the background difference image 376.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 32, the extraction unit 371 extracts a partial area 378 in the captured image 362B present at the same position as the specified position as the medal area 373. In other words, the extraction unit 371 extracts a partial area 378 in the captured image 362 B overlapping with the outer shape template 377 as the medal area 373 when the outer shape template 377 is disposed at the same position as the specified position. . At this time, in the partial area 378, a medal area 373 may be used in which the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 377 on the partial area 378 is zero. The medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 is a gray scale image. In the present embodiment, the external shape of the medal region 373 is a square, but may be another shape such as a circle.

[Edge image generation unit]
The edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 using, for example, the Sobel method, Laplacian method, Canny method or the like to obtain an edge image (first image 374). Generate In the present embodiment, the edge image generation unit 372 uses, for example, the Sobel method whose processing is light. The edge image is a binary image. FIG. 33 schematically shows an edge image.

[Second image generation unit]
The second image generation unit 380 sets at least a part of a rotationally synthesized image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 generated by the edge image generation unit 372 as the characteristic image 362C. Generate In the present embodiment, for example, the second image generation unit 380 generates, as a feature image 362 C, a rotationally synthesized image in which a plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 are synthesized. Here, the rotation of the first image (edge image) 374 includes the case where the rotation angle is 0 °. Hereinafter, a method of generating the rotationally synthesized image will be described.

  FIG. 34 is a diagram for describing a method in which the second image generation unit 380 generates a rotational composite image 379. The second image generation unit 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by a predetermined angle α to generate a plurality of rotated images 374a as shown in FIG. Here, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by a predetermined angle α until the total rotation angle becomes (360 ° −α). In the present embodiment, the second image generator 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by, for example, 2 ° each (α = 2 °) to generate 180 rotated images 374a. In addition, the above-mentioned angle α can be adjusted to various angles, such as 1 ° and 4 °, for example.

  Then, the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes the plurality of generated rotational images 374a to generate a rotational composite image 381. Specifically, the second image generation unit 380 makes the centers of the plurality of rotated images 374a coincide and averages them, and sets an averaged image obtained thereby as a rotationally synthesized image 381. The second image generation unit 380 uses the generated rotational composite image 381 as a feature image 362C indicating the feature of the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362B.

  When the second image generation unit 380 combines a plurality of rotated images 374a, a rotated image 374a having a total rotation angle of 0 ° in each of the rotated images 374a (that is, a first image which is not rotated ( An area outside the outline of the edge image 374) is not used. Therefore, the rotated composite image 381 is a grayscale image of the same size as the first image (edge image) 374.

  As described above, the imaging unit 361 images the rotating medal 310, and generates a captured image 362A in which the medal 310 appears. Therefore, the rotation angle of the medal 310 (the rotation angle of the pattern attached to the medal 310) of the captured image 362B generated by the conversion unit 363 is not always the same. On the other hand, since the rotational composite image 381 is a composite of a plurality of rotational images 374a obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 showing the medal 310 of the captured image 362B, the medal of the captured image 362B Even if there is variation in the rotation angle of 310, if the medal 310 is normal, the rotation composite image 381 obtained from the captured image 362B hardly changes. Therefore, it can be said that the rotation composite image 381 is a feature image 362C that is not susceptible to the rotation angle of the medal 310 of the captured image 362B and that shows the feature of the medal 310.

[Determination unit]
The determination unit 365 compares the rotated composite image 381 (feature image 362C) generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the feature image of the template data 267 indicating the feature of the regular medal 310, and based on the comparison result It is determined whether the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B is normal. A characteristic image 362 C (rotation of the characteristic image of the regular medal 310 generated by the characteristic image generation unit 364 in the same manner as described above from the captured image 362 B including the image of the regular medal 310 as the feature image of the template data 267 A composite image 381) is used.

  A medal 310 can be inserted into the gaming machine to obtain a feature image of the template data 367. For example, a captured image 362B in which the inserted regular medal 310 is captured is generated, and this captured image 362B is referred to as a "standard image 391". Next, based on the standard image 391, the feature image generation unit 364 generates a feature image 362C (rotation composite image 381) indicating the features of the regular medal 310 included in the standard image 391. This feature image 362C is called "standard feature image 392". In the present embodiment, the standard feature image 392 is a feature image of the template data 367. Such template data 367 is stored in the SRAM or the like of the camera unit 309 as described above. Hereinafter, in order to distinguish the feature image 362 C (feature image 362 C generated to determine the regular medals) generated while the gaming machine is in service from the standard feature image 392, “target feature image 362 C” There is.

  The determining unit 365 compares, for example, the degree of similarity (degree of difference) between the rotation synthesized image 381 (target feature image 362C) and the feature image of the template data 367. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 365 uses, for example, SAD (Sum of Absolute Difference) as a value indicating the degree of similarity. A large SAD means low similarity, and a small SAD means high similarity. As the value indicating the similarity, another value such as sum of squared difference (SSD) or normalized correlation coefficient (NCC) may be used.

  When the degree of similarity between the rotation composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is high, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B is normal, and the degree of similarity is If it is low, it is determined that the medals 310 included in the captured image 362B are not normal. Specifically, when the SAD between the rotation composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is equal to or less than the threshold value, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 of the captured image 362B is normal. If the SAD is larger than the threshold, it is determined that the medal 310 of the captured image 362B is not normal. Then, the determination unit 365 outputs the determination result 368.

  The threshold value used by the determination unit 365 is determined, for example, by using a plurality of medals 310. Specifically, when the gaming machine is not in operation, a plurality of regular medals are sequentially inserted into the gaming machine. Then, a plurality of captured images 362 B in which a plurality of inserted regular medals are captured are generated. The determination unit 365 obtains, for each of the plurality of generated captured images 362 B, an SAD between the rotation composite image 381 generated from the captured image 362 B by the feature image generation unit 364 and the feature image of the template data 367. Then, the maximum value among the plurality of SADs determined by the determination unit 365 is determined as the threshold value. The determined threshold value is stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Such determination of the threshold value by the gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Also, the threshold may be determined in advance by the gaming machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  When the type of the token 310 is changed by determining the threshold value used in the determination unit 365 in this manner, the token 310 after the change is inserted into the gaming machine not in operation. As a result, the threshold value corresponding to the post-change medal 310 is determined. Therefore, even when the type of the medal 310 is changed, it can be appropriately determined whether the medal 310 inserted into the gaming machine is normal or not.

  In the above example, although the binary first image (edge image) 374 is input to the second image generation unit 380 as the first image 374 indicating the medal 310 of the captured image 362 B, the medal of the grayscale image is An image indicating the area 373 may be input to the second image generation unit 380 as a first image. In this case, a rotation composite image obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the medal region 373 is used as the feature image 362C.

  As described above, in the pachislot machine 300, which is a gaming machine according to the second embodiment, at least a rotation composite image 381 obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 showing the medal 310. A part is generated as a second image (feature image 362C). The characteristic image 362C is not susceptible to the rotation angle of the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B. Therefore, even if the rotation angle (rotational attitude) of the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B varies, the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B using the feature image 362C (target feature image 362C, standard feature image 392). It is possible to more accurately determine whether or not is correct, and the determination accuracy is improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the binary edge image is used as the first image 374, the brightness of the imaging area in the imaging unit 361 is compared with the case where the medal area 373 of the grayscale image is used as the first image 374. It is possible to suppress the first image 374 from being affected by the change in height. Therefore, it is possible to suppress that the characteristic image 362C is affected by the change in brightness of the imaging region in which the medal 310 is imaged, and as a result, the determination accuracy of the regular medal is improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using template matching, the above-described first extraction method in which Hough transform is used, and labeling are used. The extraction process is simplified compared to the second extraction method.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 365 compares the feature image 362C generated from the captured image 362B with the feature image of the template data 367 using SAD or the like, and based on the comparison result, the captured image 362B is compared. The determination process is simplified because it is determined whether or not the medal 310 pertaining to is a legitimate one.

Modification of Second Embodiment
Various modified examples will be described below.

[Modification 1]
In the above example, the standard feature image 392 is adopted as the feature image of the template data 367 to be compared with the target feature image 362C, but from a plurality of captured images 362A in which a plurality of different regular medals 310 are captured. A composite image obtained by combining a plurality of standard feature images 392 generated respectively may be used as a feature image of the template data 367.

  FIG. 35 is a diagram for describing a method of generating a feature image of template data 367 according to the present modification. In the example of FIG. 35, four standard feature images 392 respectively generated from the captured image 362B in which four different regular medals 310 different from each other are captured are used for generating the template data 367. Here, when each of the main surfaces of one medal 310 has a pattern different from each other, these can be individually used as a standard feature image 392 to generate template data 367.

  In this modification, when the template data 367 is generated, a plurality of regular medals 310 are sequentially inserted into the gaming machine when the gaming machine is not in operation. Then, a plurality of captured images 362A in which a plurality of regular medals 310 inserted into the gaming machine are captured are generated. The feature image generation unit 364 generates a standard feature image 392 based on the captured image 362A for each of the generated captured images 362A. Next, the feature image generation unit 364 combines a plurality of generated standard feature images 392 and sets a composite image 382 (see FIG. 35) obtained thereby as a feature image of the template data 367. For example, the feature image generation unit 364 adds and averages a plurality of standard feature images 392, and sets the obtained average image (composite image 382) as a feature image of the template data 367.

  The generation of the template data 367 by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the template data 367 may be generated in advance by a gaming machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  Thus, the standard feature image 392 is used as the template data 367 as it is, by using the composite image 382 combining the plurality of standard feature images 392 respectively indicating the features of the different normal medals 310 as the feature image of the template data 367. Compared to the case, the individual difference of the regular medal 310 can suppress the influence exerted on the regular medal discrimination processing. In addition, even when the distance between the medal 310 and the imaging device (for example, a CMOS image sensor) of the imaging unit 361 varies when the imaging unit 361 images the medal 310, the influence of this on the regular medal discrimination processing is This can be suppressed, and the accuracy of the regular medal discrimination processing is improved.

  Also, unlike the present example, when the first image 374 indicating the regular medal 310 is used as the standard feature image 392 as it is, when combining a plurality of standard feature images 392, the plurality of standard feature images 392 It is necessary to align the orientations of the plurality of standard feature images 392 such that the rotation angles (rotational attitudes) of the plurality of regular medals 310 included in each match.

  On the other hand, in the present modification, since the rotation composite image 381 obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image 374 indicating the regular medal 310 is used as the standard feature image 392, When combining the plurality of standard feature images 392, the orientations of the plurality of standard feature images 392 need not be aligned. Therefore, the process of generating the feature image of the template data 367 is simplified.

  If there is a large scratch on the regular medal 310 used to generate the feature image of the template data 367, even if the template data 367 is generated by combining a plurality of standard feature images 392, the effect of the scratch is Appears in the template data 367, and the accuracy of the regular medal discrimination processing may be degraded.

  Therefore, when there are pixel values extremely different from other pixel values in the pixel values of the plurality of pixels at the same position, which are respectively included in the plurality of standard feature images 392 respectively indicating the features of the plurality of normal medals 310 Alternatively, a feature image of the template data 367 may be generated without using the standard feature image 392 including pixels having extremely different pixel values. As a result, it is possible to suppress that the standard feature image 392 showing the feature related to the regular medal 310 having a large scratch is used for generating the feature image of the template data 367. Therefore, it can suppress that the precision of a regular medal distinction processing degrades.

[Modification 2]
In the above example, the second image generation unit 380 sets the rotated composite image 381 combining the plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image 374 indicating the medal 310 as the characteristic image 362 C, but the rotated composite image 381 is A portion of the image may be used as the feature image 362C. Hereinafter, a part of the rotation composite image 381 which is the feature image 362C will be referred to as a “feature portion region 383”.

  FIG. 36 is a diagram showing an example in which the characteristic partial region 383 which is a part of the rotational composite image 381 is a characteristic image 362C. In the example shown in FIG. 36, in the rectangular rotation composite image 381, a rectangular partial region extending from the center 381c to the upper side 381B is taken as a feature partial region 383. In the example of the feature portion region 383 shown in FIG. 36, a plurality of pixels are included in each of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The shape of the feature portion region 383 may be other than a rectangle.

  The second image generation unit 380 generates a rotation composite image 381 based on, for example, the first image 374 indicating the medal 310, and then extracts the feature image 362 C by extracting the feature partial region 383 from the rotation composite image 381. Generate

  The second image generation unit 380 can also generate the feature image 362 C without generating the rotation composite image 381. FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining the method. As shown in FIG. 37, the second image generation unit 380 sets an extraction window 384 for the first image 374 generated by the first image generation unit 370, and the partial region 385 in the extraction window 384 (the 1) extract a partial region of the image 374). The extraction window 384 has, for example, the same size as the feature portion region 383 shown in FIG. Further, the extraction window 384 is set to the same position as the position (see FIG. 36) of the feature partial region 383 to be generated in the first image 374 in the rotational composite image 381. The partial area 385 extracted here is referred to as "reference partial area 385A".

  Next, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle β around the center 374c of the first image 374 and extracts the partial region 385 in the extraction window 384 at each rotation angle. Here, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle β around the center 374 c of the first image 374 until the total rotation angle becomes (360 ° −β). β may be set to various angles, but in this example is 2 °. Then, the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes the obtained plurality of partial regions 385 to generate a synthesized image. At this time, in the plurality of partial areas 385 obtained, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the partial areas 385 other than the reference partial area 385A so as to match the outer shape of the reference partial area 385A. A plurality of partial areas 385 are synthesized. The second image generation unit 380 generates a composite image of the plurality of partial regions 385, for example, by averaging the plurality of partial regions 385 obtained to generate an addition average image. This addition average image (composite image) corresponds to the characteristic partial region 383 shown in FIG.

  Thus, the number of pixels of the feature image 362C is reduced by using a part of the rotation composite image 381 as the feature image 362C. Therefore, the process in the determination unit 365 using the feature image 362C is simplified.

  In addition, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle, extracts the partial region 385 in the extraction window 384 at each rotation angle, and combines the plurality of partial regions 385 obtained. When generating the feature image 362C, the number of pixels of the image handled when generating the feature image 362C is reduced, so the process of generating the feature image 362C is simplified.

  Note that which part of the rotation composite image 381 is to be used as the feature part area 383 is determined based on the position of the pattern shown on the regular medal 310 or the like. That is, it is preferable to set a part of the rotation composite image 381 in the feature partial region 383 so that the features of the medal 310 appear sufficiently in the feature partial region 383.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 25, when the pattern of the regular medal 310 is present almost all over the one main surface 310a of the medal 310, the center 381c in the rotational composite image 381 as in this example. It is desirable to set the feature portion region 383 so as to reach from the side to the side 381 B (see FIG. 36).

  Further, when the pattern of the medal 310 is present only at the peripheral end of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310, as shown in FIG. Good.

  When the pattern of the medal 310 is present over substantially the entire surface of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310, it may be a linear feature portion area 383 as shown in FIG. In the feature portion region 383 shown in FIG. 39, although a plurality of pixels are included in the vertical direction, only one pixel is included in the horizontal direction.

<< Third Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachi-slot machine which is a gaming machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The pachi slot 400 which is a gaming machine according to the third embodiment of the present invention has the above-described first embodiment regarding the functional flow, the pachi slot structure, the configuration of the medal selector, the circuit configuration of the pachi slot and the circuit configuration of the medal selector. It is the same as Pachislot 1 which is a gaming machine according to the present invention. In the following, a regular medal discrimination process executed by the pachislot machine 400 which is a gaming machine according to the third embodiment will be described.

  As described above, the pachislot 400, which is the gaming machine according to the third embodiment, includes the control LSI 434 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 409 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and further, a medal selector 401 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) including the camera unit 409 is provided. . FIG. 40 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 409. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 40, a camera unit 409 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 461, a conversion unit 463, a extraction unit 464, a specification unit 465, a fitting unit 466, a determination unit 467, and an input / output unit 468. There is. Although the camera unit 409 includes a light emitting unit made of an LED or the like, illustration thereof is omitted in FIG.

  The imaging unit 461 includes a CMOS image sensor 432 (for example, corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 432 (if necessary, predetermined) Convert) to output as a captured image 462A.

  A conversion unit 463 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts a captured image 462A input from the imaging unit 461 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the captured image It outputs as a captured image 462B.

  The extraction unit 464 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) extracts a medal area (target object area) 473 in which the medal 410 is captured from the captured image 462B.

  The identifying unit 465 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) identifies a characteristic local region (partial region) in the medal region 473. In other words, the specifying unit 465 specifies a meaningful local area in the medal area 473. The processing in this identification unit 465 is called "segmentation". Hereinafter, the term “local area” simply means the characteristic local area specified by the specifying unit 465 in the medal area 473.

  The fitting unit 466 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) fits an ellipse to the local region specified by the specifying unit 465. In the present specification, "elliptical" is a concept including a circle (perfect circle).

  The determination unit 467 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) extracts the ellipse information on the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 into the feature of the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B. It is assumed that the feature amount to be shown. In the present embodiment, for example, position information and shape information of the ellipse are adopted as the ellipse information on the ellipse. However, such ellipse information is only an example, and the present invention is not limited to such information. Then, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B is normal based on such a feature amount, and the determination result 469 is input to the input / output unit 468 (for example, Output via the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment). In the present embodiment, the determination unit 467 compares the feature obtained from the captured image 462B with the standard feature (reference feature) 467A indicating the feature of the regular medal 410, and based on the comparison result, It is determined whether or not the medal 410 related to the captured image 462B is normal. The standard feature amount 467A can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  FIG. 41 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a captured image 462A obtained by the imaging unit 461. The captured image 462A shown in FIG. 41 includes an image of the captured medal 410. Further, in the captured image 462A, a medal rail 411 which is a background is captured. The medal rail 411 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the above-described first embodiment, but here, the shape of the rail is shown in a simplified manner.

  On the one main surface 410a of the medal 410, for example, the pattern of the alphabet "A" and the pattern of the alphabet "B" are shown. Although this shows the pattern of a regular medal, it may be patterns other than this. Moreover, a pattern may be given to both main surfaces of a regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 410 moves on the medal rail 411 while rotating around the rotation axis along the thickness direction, which passes through the centers of both its main surfaces. Then, the imaging unit 461 images the medal 410 from the one main surface 410 a side of the medal 410. Therefore, the captured image 462A includes the image of the one main surface 410a of the medal 410. Further, in the present embodiment, the captured image 462A generated by the imaging unit 461 is a color image, but may be a gray scale image.

<Flow of Regular Medal Discrimination Processing>
Next, a series of operations of the regular medal discrimination process performed by the camera unit 409 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when the captured image 462A is input from the imaging unit 461, the conversion unit 463 converts the captured image 462A from a color image to a grayscale image, and sets a captured image 462B obtained as a result to be processed.

  Next, the extraction unit 471 extracts a medal region 473 in which the medal 410 appears from the captured image 462B to be processed. Thereafter, in the identifying unit 465, a local region is identified in the medal region 473 extracted by the extracting unit 471. Next, in the fitting unit 466, an ellipse is fitted to the local region specified by the specifying unit 465.

  Next, the determination unit 467 sets the ellipse information on the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 as the feature amount. Then, the determination unit 467 compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount 467A, and determines whether the medal 410 of the captured image 462B is normal based on the comparison result. Then, the determination unit 467 sends the determination result 469 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 468 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, the main control circuit forcibly suspends the game in the same manner as the gaming machine of the first embodiment when the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462A is not a legitimate one, and the sub control circuit (first It is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act via the sub control circuit 101 in the gaming machine of the embodiment. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display that is a liquid crystal display device.

  After that, when the new captured image 462A is input, the determination unit 467 executes the above-described normal medal determination process with the captured image 462B obtained from the captured image 462A as a new processing target. Thereafter, the determination unit 467 performs the same operation each time the captured image 462A is input.

<Detailed explanation of each component>
The operations of the extraction unit 464, the identification unit 465, the fitting unit 466, and the determination unit 467 will be described in more detail below.

[Extraction unit]
FIG. 42 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the medal region 473 extracted by the extraction unit 464 from the captured image 462B. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 410 is circular. In the first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 462B to generate an edge image. As a method of generating an edge image, for example, the Sobel method, Laplacian method, Canny method or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. For example, Hough transform is used as a method of extracting a circular area. Then, a circular area in the captured image 462 B present at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is taken as a medal area 473.

  Another method is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 473 from the captured image 462 B using the background subtraction method and labeling. In this second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 462B and the background image (an image showing only the background of the captured image 462B) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. Ru. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, in the binary background difference image, a partial area in the captured image 462 B present at the same position as the position of the connected area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling is set as a medal area 473.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 464 extracts the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B by a method different from the above two methods. The operation of the extraction unit 464 according to the present embodiment will be described below. The extraction unit 464 may extract the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 464 generates a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 462B and the background image 475 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 462B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 43 is a view schematically showing the background image 475, and FIG. 44 is a view schematically showing the binary background difference image 476. As shown in FIG. In the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 44 and later-described drawings in the present embodiment, the area (high luminance area) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 475 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 464 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 476 using the binary outer shape template 477 indicating the outer shape of the medal 410. That is, the extraction unit 464 specifies where in the background difference image 476, a region similar to the outline template 477 exists. In other words, the extraction unit 464 specifies where in the background difference image 476, a region that matches the outer shape of the medal 410 indicated by the outer shape template 477 exists. FIG. 45 is a view schematically showing the outer shape template 477. As shown in FIG. The outer shape template 477 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  In template matching, as illustrated in FIG. 46, the extraction unit 464 moves the outline template 477 little by little (for example, by one pixel) on the background difference image 476 in the raster scan direction. In other words, the extraction unit 464 raster-scans the outline template 477 on the background difference image 476. At this time, at each position of the outline template 477, the extraction unit 464 generates an AND image of the outline template 477 and the partial region of the background difference image 476 overlapping it. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. The extraction unit 464 then selects the background difference image 476 of the outline template 477 used to generate the AND image with the largest number of pixels (high luminance pixels) having a pixel value of “1” among the generated plurality of AND images. Identify the top position. This position is a position where a region similar to the outline template 477 exists in the background difference image 476.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 47, the extraction unit 464 extracts a partial area 478 in the captured image 462B present at the same position as the specified position as the medal area 473. In other words, the extraction unit 464 extracts a partial area 478 in the captured image 462 B overlapping with the outer shape template 477 as the medal area 473 when the outer shape template 477 is disposed at the same position as the specified position. . At this time, in the partial area 478, a medal area 473 may be used in which the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 477 is zero. The medal region 473 extracted by the extraction unit 464 is a grayscale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 473 is a square, but may be another shape such as a circle.

[Specific part]
The identifying unit 465 identifies a local region in the medal region 473 extracted by the extracting unit 464 using, for example, MSER (Maximally Stable Extremal Regions). The identifying unit 465 may identify the local region by a method other than MSER.

  When identifying a local region using MSER, the identifying unit 465 first binarizes the medal region 473. At this time, the specifying unit 465 binarizes the medal region 473 while changing the threshold value used for binarization. As a result, different threshold values are used to obtain a plurality of binarized images binarized. Next, the specifying unit 465 specifies a partial region (a block of a plurality of pixels) in which pixel values do not change among the plurality of binarized images obtained. In other words, the specifying unit 465 specifies, in the obtained plurality of binarized images, a partial region in which the pixel value is stable among the plurality of binarized images. Then, the specifying unit 465 sets a partial area in the medal area 473 present at the same position as the position of the specified partial area in the binarized image as a local area. As a result, the specifying unit 465 specifies a partial area having uniform pixel values in the medal area 473 as a meaningful area.

  In the present embodiment, in the medal area 473 including the medal 410, an area in which the pattern attached to the medal 410 appears is specified as the local area. FIG. 48 schematically shows local regions 473a and 473b identified in the medal region 473 including the medal 410. As shown in FIG. The local area 473 a is an area in the medal area 473 in which the pattern of “A” attached to the regular medal 410 is displayed. The local area 473 b is an area in the medal area 473 in which the pattern of “B” attached to the regular medal 410 appears. In the medal area 473 in which the regular medal 410 appears, an area in which the pattern of “A” attached to the regular medal 410 appears and an area in which the pattern of “B” attached to the regular medal 410 appears separately Identified as a local region.

  As described above, when there are a plurality of feature portions independent of each other in the medal region 473, the plurality of feature portions are respectively identified as different local regions.

[Fitting section]
The fitting unit 466 fits an ellipse to the local region identified by the identifying unit 465. When a plurality of local regions are specified by the specifying unit 465, the fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the plurality of local regions. FIG. 49 is a diagram showing how the ellipses 481a and 481b are respectively fitted to the local regions 473a and 473b shown in FIG. Below, an example of the method of fitting an ellipse with respect to a local area | region is demonstrated.

  The fitting unit 466 generates positional information and shape information of an ellipse to be fitted to the local region based on the positions of the plurality of pixels constituting the local region included in the medal region 473. In the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 obtains the center position of the ellipse fitted to the local region as position information of the ellipse. Also, the fitting unit 466 obtains the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the ellipse as shape information of the ellipse.

  The fitting unit 466 calculates an average value of positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and sets the average value as a center position of an ellipse fitted to the local region. That is, the fitting unit 466 calculates an average value of x and y coordinates of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and the x and y coordinates of the center of an ellipse fitting the average value to the local region. I assume. Also, the fitting unit 466 obtains the covariance matrix about the x coordinate and y coordinate of the pixel in the local region using the x coordinate and y coordinate of the plurality of pixels forming the local region. Then, the fitting unit 466 obtains two eigenvalues of the obtained covariance matrix. The fitting unit 466 obtains the lengths of the major and minor axes of the ellipse fitted to the local region from the two eigenvalues. Thereby, the position and the shape of the ellipse fitting to the local region are determined, and the ellipse is fitted to the local region. When the two eigenvalues obtained by the fitting unit 466 have the same value, the ellipse fitted to the local region is a perfect circle.

[Determination unit]
The determination unit 467 sets the position information and shape information of the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 as feature amounts, and compares the feature amounts with the standard feature amount 567A. Specifically, the determining unit 467 sets the center position of the ellipse, the length of the major axis, and the length of the minor axis obtained by the fitting unit 466 as the feature amount, and compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount 467A. . Then, based on the comparison result, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B is normal.

  The standard feature amount 467A includes standard ellipse information. For generation of the standard feature amount 467A, a captured image 462B in which a regular medal 410 is captured is used. The method of generating the standard feature quantity 467A will be described below.

  When the gaming machine (pachislot 400) is not in operation, a regular medal 410 is inserted into the gaming machine to obtain the standard feature value 467A. The imaging unit 461 and the conversion unit 463 in the camera unit 409 of the gaming machine according to the present embodiment generate a captured image 462 B in which the inserted regular medal 410 is captured. Then, the extraction unit 464 extracts the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B in the same manner as described above, and the identification unit 465 identifies a local region in the medal region 473. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 49 described above, two local areas 473a and 473b are identified in the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 appears. The fitting unit 466 fits the plurality of ellipses to the plurality of local regions 473 a and 473 b specified by the specifying unit 465. Thus, an ellipse obtained from the captured image 462 B in which the regular medal 410 appears is called a “standard ellipse”. In the present embodiment, the ellipse information on the standard ellipse is the standard ellipse information. The standard ellipse information includes position information and shape information of the standard ellipse. Specifically, the standard ellipse information includes the center position of the standard ellipse, the major axis length, and the minor axis length. In the present embodiment, a plurality of standard ellipses can be obtained from the captured image 462B including the captured image of the regular medal 410, so a plurality of standard ellipse information corresponding to each of the plurality of standard ellipses is obtained in the standard feature amount 467A. Is included. The standard feature amount 467A generated when the gaming machine is not in operation can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  The acquisition of the standard feature amount 467A by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. In addition, the standard feature amount 467A may be acquired in advance by a gaming machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  Thereafter, in order to distinguish the ellipse obtained from the fitting unit 466 when the gaming machine is in operation (the ellipse obtained from the captured image 462 B on which the medal 410 to be subjected to the discrimination process is captured) from the standard ellipse. Sometimes called an "object ellipse".

  Here, when the feature quantity consisting of the ellipse information related to the target ellipse is similar to the standard feature quantity 467A, it can be considered that the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B and the feature of the regular medal 410 are similar. . Therefore, in this case, it can be determined that the medal 410 related to the captured image 462B is normal.

  On the other hand, when the feature quantity consisting of the ellipse information on the target ellipse is not similar to the standard feature quantity 467A, it may be considered that the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not similar to the feature of the regular medal 410. In this case, it seems that there is no problem in this case if it is determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are not legitimate. However, if it is determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462 B are not normal only when the feature consisting of the ellipse information related to the target ellipse and the standard feature 467 A are not similar, There is a possibility that the regular medals 410 shown in 462 B may be erroneously determined to be non-regular. This point will be described below.

  In the present embodiment, the imaging unit 461 captures an image of the rotating medal 410, and generates a captured image 462A in which the medal 410 appears. Therefore, the rotation angle of the medal 410 (the rotation angle of the pattern attached to the medal 410) shown in the captured image 462B generated by the conversion unit 463 is not always the same. Therefore, the ellipse information on the target ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 appears is not always the same. As a result, even if the regular medal 410 appears in the captured image 462B, the feature quantity composed of the ellipse information related to the target ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B may not be similar to the standard feature quantity 467A. Therefore, when it is determined that the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B is not normal if the feature including the ellipse information related to the target ellipse is not similar to the standard feature 467A, the normal included in the captured image 462B. There is a possibility that the medals 410 may be erroneously determined to be non-genuine.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 467 determines a plurality of target ellipses fitted to the local area included in the medal area 473, and relates to a plurality of spheroids obtained by rotating around the center of the medal area 473. Get spheroid information of Then, the determination unit 467 sets the acquired plurality of pieces of spheroid information as feature amounts, and compares the feature amounts with the standard feature amount. When a plurality of local regions are specified in the medal region 473, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information are generated for each of the plurality of local regions, and each piece of spheroid information is used as a feature amount.

  Here, it is assumed that the plurality of spheroids also include a target ellipse with a rotation angle of 0 °. That is, the plurality of spheroids also include the ellipse itself fitted to the local region. Therefore, the plurality of spheroid information includes ellipse information on the target ellipse. The object ellipse with a rotation angle of 0 ° can also be said to be a object ellipse with a rotation angle of 360 °.

  FIG. 50 is a view exemplifying a part of the plurality of spheroids 483 obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. In FIG. 50, three spheroids 483 including a target ellipse 482 are shown (in this example, the target ellipse 482 is also shown as one of the spheroids 483). In FIG. 50, the center 482c of the object ellipse 482 and the center 483c of each spheroid 483 are shown.

  In this manner, the medals rotated by the plurality of pieces of spheroid information on a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse, which are obtained by being rotated by the target ellipse around the center 473 c of the medal region 473 Even when 410 is imaged, it can be appropriately determined whether or not the medals 410 shown in the imaged image 462B are legitimate. The operation of the determination unit 467 will be described in detail below. Hereinafter, the feature amount used by the determination unit 467 when the gaming machine is in actual operation may be referred to as a “target feature amount” to distinguish it from the standard feature amount.

  FIG. 51 is a flowchart showing the operation of the determination unit 467. When the fitting unit 466 fits an ellipse to a local region included in the medal region 473, as shown in FIG. 51, in step S21, the determination unit 467 acquires spheroid information. The spheroid information acquired here is the ellipse information on the target ellipse with a rotation angle of 0 °, that is, the ellipse information of the ellipse itself acquired by the fitting unit 466. When a plurality of target ellipses are obtained in the fitting unit 466, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information corresponding to the plurality of target ellipses are obtained. At step S21, at least one spheroid information is acquired. Note that, in this example, two ellipses are obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 appears, so two pieces of rotation ellipse information are obtained in step S21.

  Next, in step S22, the determination unit 467 sets at least one piece of spheroid information acquired in step S21 as a target feature amount, and obtains an evaluation value indicating the degree to which the target feature amount and the standard feature amount are similar. Specifically, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not standard ellipse information similar to at least one spheroid information forming the target feature quantity is included in the standard feature quantity. Then, the determination unit 467 obtains an evaluation value corresponding to the number of pieces of spheroid information determined to contain similar information in the standard feature amount. Specifically, the determination unit 467 determines the evaluation value α using Equation 1 below.

α = N1 / N2 (Equation 1)
Here, N1 indicates the number of pieces of spheroid information included in the target feature amount that is determined to include similar information in the standard feature amount. N2 indicates the total number of standard ellipse information included in the standard feature value. In the present embodiment, N2 = 2.

  In the present embodiment, the spheroid information included in the target feature amount includes the center position of the spheroid, the length of the major axis, and the length of the minor axis. For example, the determination unit 467 determines that the distance between the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the center position of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is a predetermined value or less, and the length of the major axis of the spheroid And the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and the absolute value of the difference between the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the length of the minor axis of the standard ellipse is predetermined If the value is smaller than the value, it is determined that the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar. When the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar to each other, as shown in FIG. 52, the position and shape of the spheroid 483 corresponding to the spheroid information and the standard ellipse 484 corresponding to the standard ellipse information Similar in

  When the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α using Equation 1, the rotation ellipse (rotation ellipse corresponding to the rotation ellipse information acquired in step S21) in the latest step S21 is (360 ° −) in step S23. β) It is determined whether or not it is a rotated object ellipse. If the determination unit 467 determines that the spheroid in step S21 is not the target ellipse rotated by (360 ° −β), the determiner 467 executes step S21 again to acquire spheroid information. Here, the determination unit 467 is a rotation related to the rotation ellipse obtained by rotating the rotation ellipse corresponding to the rotation ellipse information acquired in the previous step S 21 by a predetermined angle β around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. Acquires ellipse information. If the spheroid at the previous step S21 is, for example, a target ellipse rotated by β, it is obtained by rotating the target ellipse by 2β around the center 473c of the medal region 473 at the current step S21. The spheroid information on the spheroid being taken is obtained. β is, for example, 1 ° or 2 °.

  When a plurality of pieces of spheroid information are obtained in the previous step S 21, the determination unit 467 determines that the plurality of spheroids corresponding to the plurality of pieces of the spheroid information are around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. A plurality of pieces of spheroid information about a plurality of spheroids obtained by being rotated by a predetermined angle β are acquired.

  When at least one piece of spheroid information is acquired in step S22, the determination unit 467 executes step S23 again to determine the degree to which the target feature quantity consisting of the at least one piece of spheroid information and the standard feature quantity are similar. An evaluation value α to be shown is obtained using Expression 1. Thereafter, step S23 is executed again.

  When determining in step S23 that the spheroid in the most recent step S21 is a target ellipse rotated by (360 ° −β) in step S23, the determination unit 467 executes step S24. In step S24, the determination unit 467 determines whether the maximum value among the plurality of obtained evaluation values α is equal to or greater than a threshold. If the maximum value is equal to or greater than the threshold value, that is, if the target feature amount and the standard feature amount used to obtain the maximum value are similar to each other, the determination unit 467 appears in the captured image 462B. It is determined that the medal 410 is regular. On the other hand, when the maximum value is less than the threshold value, that is, all of the plurality of target feature amounts used when determining the plurality of evaluation values α are not similar to the standard feature amount. In this case, it is determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are not legitimate. The threshold used in step S24 is set to, for example, "1".

  In the above example, when the maximum value among the plurality of evaluation values α thus obtained is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the determination unit 467 determines that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a legitimate one. However, when there are a predetermined number or more of evaluation values α equal to or more than the threshold value, it may be determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are normal. When the evaluation value α equal to or more than the threshold value does not exist by a predetermined number or more, it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a normal one.

  Also, the evaluation value α may be N1. In this case, the threshold value used in step S24 is set to "2", for example.

<Method of acquiring spheroid information>
For example, two methods can be considered as a method of acquiring spheroid information in step S21. In the first method, the determination unit 467 actually rotates the target ellipse 482 around the center 473 c of the medal region 473 in the medal region 473 as shown in FIG. Generate 483 Then, the determination unit 467 obtains the position of the center 483c of the generated spheroid 483, the length of the major axis, and the length of the minor axis, and uses them as the spheroid information on the spheroid 483. The determination unit 467 generates a plurality of pieces of spheroid information by changing a predetermined angle.

  In the second method, the determination unit 467 acquires rotation ellipse information without actually rotating the object ellipse. Specifically, determination unit 467 finds rotation ellipse information of a rotation ellipse obtained by rotating target ellipse 482 around center 473 c of medal region 473 by a predetermined angle (β, 2 β, 3 β, etc.) In this case, as shown in FIG. 53, the virtual point P present at the position of the center 482c of the target ellipse 482, which is included in the ellipse information related to the target ellipse 482, is predetermined around the center 473c of the medal region 473. Rotate by an angle. Then, the determination unit 467 sets the position of the virtual point P ′ after rotation as the position of the center of the spheroid included in the spheroid information. The determination unit 467 determines the positions of the centers of the plurality of spheroids obtained by rotating the target ellipse around the center 473 c of the medal region 473 by changing the predetermined angle.

  Further, in the second method, the determination unit 467 rotates the length of the major axis and the minor axis of the target ellipse included in the ellipse information on the target ellipse around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. The lengths of the major and minor axes of the plurality of spheroids obtained by

  Thus, in the second method, the virtual point P present at the position indicated by the position information of the target ellipse 482 is rotated around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. Then, by setting the plurality of positions of the virtual point P 'after rotation obtained thereby to the positions of the plurality of spheroids, position information of the plurality of spheroids is acquired. Further, by setting the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the target ellipse as the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the plurality of spheroids, shape information of the plurality of spheroids is acquired. Therefore, compared to the first method of acquiring a plurality of pieces of spheroid information by actually rotating the target ellipse, the second method can easily acquire a plurality of pieces of spheroid information.

  In the above example, the major axis length and the minor axis length of the ellipse are adopted as the shape information of the ellipse included in the ellipse information serving as the feature amount, but the ellipse is used instead. Long and short axis ratios may be employed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the ellipse information on the ellipse fitted to the characteristic local region in the medal region 473 is used as the feature amount indicating the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B. Therefore, compared with the case where feature quantities such as Scale Invariant Feature Transformation (SIFT) and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF) are obtained from partial images in an ellipse in the medal region 473, the feature quantities are easily obtained. be able to. Therefore, it can be easily determined whether the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are legitimate.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information about a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse, which are obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 around the center 473 c of the medal region 473, are used as feature amounts. Therefore, even when the rotating medal 410 is imaged, it can be appropriately determined whether the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is legitimate.

<Modification of Third Embodiment>
Hereinafter, various modifications of the present embodiment will be described.

[Modification 1]
When only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medals 410 and the non-regular medals 410, it can not be correctly determined whether the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are regular or not. there is a possibility. Hereinafter, this point will be described.

  FIG. 54 is a diagram showing an example of a standard ellipse 482A set for the local area 491A specified in the medal area 473A obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 appears. FIG. 55 is a diagram showing an example of the target ellipse 482B set for the local region 491B specified in the medal region 473B obtained from the captured image 462B in which the non-regular medal 410 is shown.

  In the example of FIGS. 54 and 55, only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medals 410 and the non-regular medals 410. Specifically, the regular medal 410 has a pattern of a large alphabet “A”, and the non-regular medal 410 has a pattern of a large alphabet “S”.

  As shown in FIG. 54, one standard ellipse 482A is obtained from the captured image 462B in which the correct medal 410 with only one large continuous pattern is shown. Further, as shown in FIG. 55, one target ellipse 482B is obtained from the captured image 462B in which the non-normal medal 410 is reflected, to which only one large continuous pattern is attached.

  As shown in FIG. 54, when only one large continuous pattern is attached to the regular medal 410, the central position of the standard ellipse 482A is close to the central position of the medal region 473A, The shape of the standard ellipse 482A is close to a perfect circle. In addition, as shown in FIG. 55, the center position of the target ellipse 482B acquired from the captured image 462B in which the non-normal medal 410 with only one large continuous pattern appears is the center position of the center of the medal region 473A. It is close to the position and its shape is close to a perfect circle. Therefore, a plurality of spheroids related to a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse 482 B, obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 B acquired from the captured image 462 B in which the non-normal medal 410 appears, around the center of the medal region 473 B The information is likely to include information similar to the standard ellipse information on the standard ellipse 482A. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the determination unit 467 can not correctly determine whether the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are legitimate.

  So, in this modification, even if only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410, the accuracy of the true / false determination of the medal 410 can be determined. Make it possible to improve.

  The fitting unit 466 according to the present variation divides the medal region 473 concentrically to divide the local region included in the medal region 473 into a plurality of divided regions independent of each other. Then, the fitting unit 466 fits the plurality of ellipses to the plurality of divided regions obtained. When a plurality of local areas are specified in the medal area 473, each of the plurality of local areas is divided into a plurality of divided areas, and an ellipse is fitted to each divided area.

  FIG. 56 is a view showing how the medal region 473 is divided concentrically by the fitting unit 466. As shown in FIG. In the medal area 473 shown in FIG. 56, only the outer shape of the medal 410 is shown for convenience of explanation.

  In the example shown in FIG. 56, the medal region 473 is concentrically divided by two circles 492a and 492b having different radii, which constitute the concentric circle 492. Thereby, the medal region 473 is divided into three partial regions 493a to 493c. Partial region 493 a is a region inside circle 492 a in medal region 473. The partial area 493 b is an area outside the circle 492 a and inside the circle 492 b in the medal area 473. The partial area 493 c is an area outside the circle 492 b and inside the circle 492 c in the medal area 473.

  Here, assuming that the outer shape of the medal 410 reflected in the medal area 473 is a circle 492c, the radii of the circles 492a, 492b, and 492c increase in this order. And the ratio of the radii of the circles 492a, 492b, 492c is 1: 2: 3. In the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 divides the medal region 473 concentrically so that the ratio of the radii of the plurality of circles 492a, 492b, and 492c is always 1: 2: 3. That is, in the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 sets a plurality of circles 492a including the outer shape of the medal 410 shown in the medal region 473 among the plurality of medal regions 473 extracted by the extraction unit 464 from the plurality of captured images 462B. Each of the plurality of medal areas 473 is divided concentrically so that the ratio of the radius of 492b and 492c is constant (1: 2: 3). The ratio of the radii of the plurality of circles 492a, 492b, and 492c may be other than 1: 2: 3. When the medal region 473 is extracted by the first extraction method or the second extraction method described above, the outer shape of the medal region 473 becomes the outer shape of the medal 410 shown in the medal region 473.

  FIG. 57 is a diagram showing how the medal region 473A shown in FIG. 54 is divided concentrically. FIG. 58 is a diagram showing how the medal region 473B shown in FIG. 55 is divided concentrically. As shown in FIG. 57, by dividing the medal area 473A concentrically, the local area 491A included in the medal area 473A is divided into a plurality of divided areas 491A1, 491A2, 491A3 and 491A4 independent of each other. . Further, as shown in FIG. 58, local area 491 B included in medal area 473 B is divided into a plurality of divided areas 491 B 1, 491 B 2, 491 B 3 independent of each other by dividing medal area 473 B concentrically. .

  57. In FIG. 57, hatching is provided in divided areas 491A1, 491A2, 491A3, 491A4 for the sake of convenience so that local region 491A is divided into a plurality of divided areas 491A1, 491A2, 491A3, 491A4 for the sake of simplicity. It is shown. Similarly, in FIG. 58, hatching is shown in divided regions 491 B1, 491 B2 and 491 B3 for the sake of convenience so that local region 491 B is divided into a plurality of divided regions 491 B1, 491 B2 and 491 B3 for the sake of simplicity. There is.

  When the local area included in the medal area 473 is divided into a plurality of divided areas, the fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the plurality of divided areas. FIG. 59 is a diagram showing how a plurality of ellipses 494A1, 494A2, 494A3 and 494A4 are respectively fitted to the plurality of divided areas 491A1, 491A2, 491A3 and 491A4 shown in FIG. 60 shows how a plurality of ellipses 494B1, 494B2 and 494B3 are respectively fitted to the plurality of divided areas 491B1, 491B2 and 491B3 shown in FIG. Each of the plurality of ellipses 494A1, 494A2, 494A3 and 494A4 is a standard ellipse.

  As shown in FIG. 59 and FIG. 60, a plurality of ellipses composed of a plurality of ellipses 494A1 to 494A4 obtained from the medal region 473A where the regular medal 410 appears, and a plurality of medals obtained from the medal region 473B where the non-normal medal 410 appears The ellipse group consisting of the ellipses 494B1 to 494B3 differs greatly in the number, position, and shape of the ellipses. Therefore, the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462 B can be obtained by using a plurality of pieces of ellipse information related to a plurality of target ellipses obtained as in the present modification from the medal region 473 extracted from the captured image 462 B as feature amounts. It can be more accurately determined whether or not it is legitimate.

  When a plurality of local regions are specified in the medal region 473, each of the plurality of local regions is divided into a plurality of divided regions. Therefore, a plurality of ellipses are obtained for each of the plurality of local regions. In the present variation, the fitting unit 466 obtains a plurality of ellipses regardless of the number of local regions specified in the medal region 473.

  Similarly to the above, the determination unit 467 according to the present modification determines whether the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are legitimate. The operation of the determination unit 467 according to the present modification will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 51 again.

  When a plurality of target ellipses are obtained in the fitting unit 466, as shown in FIG. 51, in step S21, the determination unit 467 obtains a plurality of pieces of spheroid information respectively corresponding to the plurality of target ellipses. The plurality of pieces of spheroid information acquired here are pieces of ellipse information on a plurality of object ellipses whose rotation angle is 0 °, that is, pieces of ellipse information on a plurality of object ellipses themselves acquired by the fitting unit 466. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 59, four ellipses are obtained from the medal area 473 (the medal area 473 A shown in FIG. 59) in which the regular medal 410 appears. In this case, four rotations are performed in step S21. Ellipse information is obtained.

  Next, in step S22, the determination unit 467 sets the plurality of pieces of spheroid information acquired in step S21 as the target feature amount, and the evaluation value α indicating the degree of similarity between the target feature amount and the standard feature amount Ask using. In this modification, N2 in equation 1 is "4".

  When the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α using Equation 1, it is determined in step S23 whether or not the plurality of spheroids at the most recent step S21 are a plurality of target ellipses rotated by (360 ° −β), respectively. Determine If the determination in step S23 is No, the determination unit 467 executes step S21 again to acquire a plurality of pieces of spheroid information. Here, the determination unit 467 is obtained by rotating the plurality of spheroids corresponding to the plurality of pieces of spheroid information acquired in the previous step S 21 by a predetermined angle β around the center 473 c of the medal region 473. Acquire a plurality of spheroid information on a plurality of spheroids. In the case where the plurality of spheroids at the previous step S21 are, for example, a plurality of target ellipses rotated by β, the plurality of target ellipses are 2β around the center 473c of the medal region 473 in the current step S21. A plurality of pieces of spheroid information about a plurality of spheroids obtained by being rotated are obtained.

  When a plurality of pieces of spheroid information are acquired in step S22, the determination unit 467 executes step S23 again to evaluate that the target feature quantity composed of the plurality of pieces of the spheroid information and the standard feature quantity are similar. The value α is determined using Equation 1. Thereafter, step S23 is executed again.

  If the determination in step S23 is YES, the determination unit 467 determines in step S24 whether or not the maximum value among the obtained plurality of evaluation values is equal to or greater than a threshold. If the maximum value is equal to or greater than the threshold value, that is, if the target feature amount and the standard feature amount used to obtain the maximum value are similar to each other, the determination unit 467 appears in the captured image 462B. It is determined that the medal 410 is regular. On the other hand, when the maximum value is less than the threshold value, that is, all of the plurality of target feature amounts used when determining the plurality of evaluation values α are not similar to the standard feature amount. In this case, it is determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are not correct. In the present modification, the threshold value used in step S24 is set to, for example, "0.75" or "1".

  As described above, in the present modification, the token region 473 is concentrically divided, whereby the local region included in the medal region 473 is divided into a plurality of divided regions, and the plurality of divided regions is divided into a plurality of divided regions. Ellipses are fitted respectively. Then, a plurality of pieces of ellipse information related to the plurality of ellipses are used as feature amounts. Therefore, as shown in the above-mentioned FIG. 54, FIG. 55, etc., even if only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410, the regular It can suppress that the feature-value and standard feature-value which were acquired from the captured image 462B in which the medal 410 which is not is reflected is similar. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 can be improved.

  In addition, when the imaging unit 461 captures the medal 410, the captured image, for example, when the distance between the medal 410 and the CMOS image sensor (corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the camera unit 209 in the first embodiment) varies. The medal 410 appears large or small at 462 B, and the size of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462 B varies. As a result, the size of the local area in the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 appears is dispersed. In such a case, regardless of the size of the outer shape of the medal 410 shown in the medal area 473, if the radius of the circles 492a and 492b (see FIG. 56) set in the medal area 473 is constant, the medal area 473 In accordance with the size of the external shape of the regular medal 410 shown in (the size of the local area in the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 appears), the division mode of the local area included in the medal area 473 varies. Therefore, the positions and shapes of a plurality of ellipses acquired from the medal area 473 in which the regular medal 410 appears are dispersed, and as a result, the feature values acquired from the medal area 473 in which the regular medal 410 appears are dispersed. The authenticity determination of the reflected medal 410 may not be performed correctly.

  On the other hand, in the present modification, the plurality of circles 492a and 492b including the outer shape of the medal 410 indicated by the medal region 473 among the plurality of medal regions 473 extracted by the extraction unit 464 from the plurality of captured images 462B. The plurality of medal areas 473 are concentrically divided such that the ratio of the radii 492c is constant. Therefore, even if the size of the outer shape of the medal 410 included in the captured image 462 B varies (even if the size of the local area in the medal area 473 where the medal 410 appears), the medal 410 appears It is possible to suppress variation in the division mode of the local region included in the medal region 473. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the dispersion of the positions and the shapes of the plurality of ellipses acquired from the medal region 473 in which the medal 410 appears. As a result, the variation in the feature amount acquired from the medal region 473 in which the medal 410 appears is suppressed, and the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 in the captured image 462B is further improved.

[Modification 2]
The present modification is different from the above-described first modification in how to obtain the evaluation value α. That is, in the present modification, the operation in step S22 described above is different from that of the first modification. When determining the evaluation value α, the determination unit 467 according to the present variation determines the position of the spheroid corresponding to the spheroid information (included in the target feature amount) that is determined to include similar standard ellipse information in the standard feature amount. Weight according to The present modification will be described in detail below.

  In this modification, as in the first modification, the determination unit 467 determines, in step S22 described above, standard ellipse information similar to the rotation ellipse information for each of the plurality of rotation ellipse information forming the target feature amount, It is determined whether or not it is included in the standard feature amount. Then, the determination unit 467 gives a partial evaluation value to the spheroid information (hereinafter, may be referred to as “similar spheroid information”) that is determined to include similar standard ellipse information in the standard feature amount. Here, the determination unit 467 weights the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information.

  How to specifically weight the partial evaluation value in accordance with the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is determined in accordance with the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern on the regular medal 410. As shown in FIG. 54 described above, the pattern is attached to the one main surface 410 a so that the center of the pattern of the alphabet “A” is positioned near the center of the one main surface 410 a of the regular medal 410 If it is present, the characteristic portion of the pattern is located near the center of the one main surface 410a. In such a case, the determination unit 467 increases the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information as the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is closer to the center 473 c of the medal area 473. For example, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the innermost partial region 493a (see FIG. 56) of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 sets the partial spheroid information to the similar spheroid information. Assign an evaluation value of "1.5". In addition, when the central position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the partial region 493 b of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1” to the similar spheroid information. . Then, if the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the outermost partial region 493 c of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 determines that the partial spheroid value “0. Give "5".

  When the determination unit 467 gives a partial evaluation value to each piece of similar spheroid information included in the target feature amount, the determination unit 467 obtains a total N11 of the provided partial evaluation values. Then, the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α using Equation 2 below.

α = N11 / N12 (Equation 2)
Here, N12 indicates the total sum of partial evaluation values when partial evaluation values are given to each of a plurality of pieces of standard ellipse information constituting the standard feature value in the same manner as described above. For example, in the example of FIG. 59, N12 = 1.5 + 3 × 1 = 4.5.

  When the characteristic portion of the pattern attached to the one main surface 410a is located at the peripheral end of the one main surface 410a of the regular medal 410, the determination unit 467 corresponds to the similar rotational ellipse information. As the position of the spheroid is farther from the center 473c of the medal region 473, the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information may be increased. For example, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is present in the outermost partial region 493 c of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 sets the partial evaluation value “1. Give "5". In addition, when the central position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the partial region 493 b of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1” to the similar spheroid information. . Then, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is present in the innermost partial region 493a of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 sets the partial evaluation value “0. Give "5". The method of weighting the partial evaluation value is not limited to this.

  In this manner, when the determination unit 467 determines the evaluation value α, the accuracy of the true / false determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462 B by weighting according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information. Will be further improved. For example, in the case of weighting according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information based on the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410 as described above, in the medal region 473, The evaluation value α can be increased when the spheroid information on the spheroid existing at the position corresponding to the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410 is similar to the standard ellipse information. That is, when a local area of the medal area 473 includes a portion similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410, the evaluation value α can be increased. When the local area of the medal region 473 includes a portion similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410, the possibility that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is regular is high. Thus, by increasing the evaluation value α in this case, it can be more accurately determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are correct. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

  When determining the evaluation value α, the determination unit 467 may perform weighting in accordance with the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information. For example, as shown in FIG. 59, among the plurality of standard ellipses 494A1 to 494A4 set in the local area 491A of the medal area 473A where the regular medal 410 appears, the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410 When the standard ellipse 494A1 present at the position corresponding to is larger than the other standard ellipses 494A2 to 494A4, the determination unit 467 gives the similar spheroid information to the similar spheroid information as the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger. Increase the partial evaluation value. As an example, if the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger than the reference size, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1.5” to the similar spheroid information. Then, if the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is equal to or smaller than the reference size, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “0.5” to the similar spheroid information.

  Whether or not the size of the spheroid is larger than the reference size can be determined based on the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid. For example, if the value obtained by multiplying the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid is larger than the reference value, it is determined that the size of the spheroid is larger than the reference size. On the other hand, if the value obtained by multiplying the lengths of the major axis and minor axis of the spheroid is equal to or less than the reference value, it is determined that the size of the spheroid is equal to or less than the reference size.

  As described above, when the determination unit 467 determines the evaluation value α, the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462 B is performed even when weighting is performed according to the size of the rotation ellipse corresponding to the similar rotation ellipse information. Accuracy is further improved. For example, as described above, among the plurality of standard ellipses obtained from the medal region 473 in which the regular medal 410 appears, the standard ellipse present at the position corresponding to the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410 When weighting is performed according to the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information based on the size, the local area of the medal area 473 is similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern with the regular medal 410 When a part is included, the evaluation value α can be increased. Therefore, it can be more accurately determined that the medals 410 shown in the captured image 462B are legitimate. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

  Further, how to specifically weight the partial evaluation value may be determined by learning. In other words, the result of the ellipse fitting for a plurality of divided areas constituting the local area of the medal area 473 in which the regular medal 410 appears (the elliptic fitting result for the regular medal 410) and the medal area 473 in which the non-normal medal 410 appears. The method of weighting may be determined based on the result of the fitting of the ellipses to the plurality of divided regions constituting the local region (the result of the ellipse fitting for the non-normal medal 410).

  For example, in the ellipse fitting result for the non-regular medal 410, an ellipse located at the peripheral end of the medal region 473 is obtained, but for the elliptical fitting result for the regular medal 410, the position is at the peripheral edge of the medal region 473. Consider the case where you do not get an ellipse. In this case, when the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is present at the peripheral end of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 compares the position with the other part, as compared to the case where the position exists. Reduce the partial evaluation value given to the spheroid information.

  Also, for example, it is assumed that a large ellipse is obtained in the ellipse fitting result for the non-normal medal 410, but a large ellipse is not obtained in the ellipse fitting result for the normal medal 410. In this case, when the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger than the reference size, the determination unit 467 gives a portion to the similar spheroid information as compared with the case of the reference size or less. Decrease the evaluation value.

  Thus, by determining the weighting method by learning, the accuracy of the true / false determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

[Modification 3]
In the above example, the ellipse information (rotation ellipse information) used by the determination unit 467 includes position information and shape information of an ellipse (rotation ellipse), but either position information or shape information of the ellipse is used. Only may be included. In addition, the ellipse information may include inclination information of the ellipse. That is, the ellipse information used by the determination unit 467 may include at least one of ellipse position information, shape information, and tilt information.

  The fitting unit 466 can generate, based on the positions of a plurality of pixels forming a local area included in the medal area 473, inclination information of an ellipse fitted to the local area. Specifically, the fitting unit 466 obtains the covariance matrix for the x-coordinate and y-coordinate of the pixel in the local region using the x-coordinate and y-coordinate of the plurality of pixels constituting the local region. . Then, the fitting unit 466 obtains two eigenvectors of the obtained covariance matrix. One of the two eigenvectors indicates the direction in which the major axis of the ellipse extends, and the other eigenvector indicates the direction in which the minor axis of the ellipse extends. Therefore, it can be said that each of the two eigenvectors indicates the inclination of the ellipse. The fitting unit 466 sets one of the two eigenvectors of the covariance matrix as inclination information of an ellipse fitted to the local region.

  When the spheroid information includes only the center position of the spheroid, the determination unit 467 determines the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the standard included in the standard ellipse information in step S22 described above. When the distance to the center position of the ellipse is equal to or less than a predetermined value, it is determined that the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

  In the case where the length of the major axis and the length of the minor axis of the spheroid are included in the spheroid information, the determination unit 467 determines the major axis of the spheroid included in the spheroid information in step S22 described above. The absolute value of the difference between the length of the main ellipse and the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the length of the minor axis of the standard ellipse If the absolute value of the difference between the two is smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

  When the spheroid information includes only the center position and the eigenvector of the spheroid, the determination unit 467 includes the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information in step S22 described above. When the distance from the center position of the standard ellipse to be measured is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the angle formed by the eigenvector included in the spheroid information and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is less than a predetermined value It is determined that the ellipse information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

  When the spheroid information includes only the length of the major axis, the length of the minor axis, and the eigenvector of the spheroid in the spheroid information, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not the spheroid included in the spheroid information in step S22 described above. The absolute value of the difference between the length of the major axis and the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the minor axis of the standard ellipse When the absolute value of the difference from the length is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the angle formed by the eigenvector included in the spheroid information and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is less than a prescribed value And the standard ellipse information are determined to be similar.

  Then, when the spheroid information includes the center position of the spheroid, the length of the major axis, the length of the minor axis, and the eigenvector, the determination unit 467 includes the spheroid information in the above-described step S22. The distance between the center position of the spheroid to be measured and the center position of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the major axis of the spheroid and the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse The absolute value of the difference is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and the absolute value of the difference between the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the length of the minor axis of the standard ellipse is less than or equal to the prescribed value, and included in the spheroid information If the angle formed by the eigenvector and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, it is determined that the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

<< 4th Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachi-slot machine which is a gaming machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The pachislot machine 500 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is the first embodiment described above with regard to the functional flow, the pachislot structure, the configuration of the medal selector, the circuit configuration of the pachislot and the circuit configuration of the medal selector. It is the same as the pachislot 1 which is a gaming machine according to. In the following, a regular medal discrimination process executed by the pachi-slot machine 500 which is a gaming machine according to the fourth embodiment will be described.

  As described above, the pachislot 500 which is the gaming machine according to the fourth embodiment includes the control LSI 534 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 509 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and further, a medal selector 501 including the camera unit 509 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 for the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided. . FIG. 61 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 509. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 61, a camera unit 509 according to this embodiment includes an imaging unit 561, a conversion unit 563, an extraction unit 564, a region division unit 565, a feature amount acquisition unit 566, a determination unit 567, and an input / output unit 568. Is equipped. The camera unit 509 includes a light emitting unit made of an LED or the like, but the illustration thereof is omitted in FIG.

  The imaging unit 561 includes a CMOS image sensor 532 (for example, corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 532 (if necessary, predetermined) Convert) to output as a captured image 562A.

  A conversion unit 563 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts a captured image 562A input from the imaging unit 561 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the captured image It outputs as a captured image 562B.

  The extraction unit 564 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) extracts a medal region (target object region) 573 in which the medal 510 is captured from the captured image 562B.

  The area division unit 565 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) performs area division on the medal area 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564. Here, the area division is a process of dividing the medal area 573 into a plurality of divided areas each having a uniform luminance. In other words, the area division is processing for dividing the medal area 573 into a plurality of divided areas each having a uniform feature.

  The feature amount acquiring unit 566 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is included in the captured image 562B based on the plurality of divided areas generated by the area dividing unit 565. A feature amount indicating the feature of the image of the medal 510 is acquired.

  The determination unit 567 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the like of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) corrects the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566. It is judged whether or not it is one of those, and the judgment result 569 is outputted through the input / output unit 568 (for example, corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment). In other words, based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566, the determination unit 567 determines whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562A is normal, and outputs the determination result 569. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 567 compares the feature obtained from the captured image 562B with the standard feature (reference feature) 567A indicating the feature of the regular medal 510, and based on the comparison result, It is determined whether or not the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate. The standard feature amount 567A can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  FIG. 62 is a view schematically showing an example of a captured image 562A obtained by the imaging unit 561. As shown in FIG. The captured image 562A shown in FIG. 62 includes an image of the captured medal 510. Further, in the captured image 562A, a medal rail 511 which is a background is captured. The medal rail 511 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the above-described first embodiment, but here, the shape of the rail is shown in a simplified manner.

  On the one main surface 510a of the medal 510, for example, the pattern of the alphabet "A" is shown. Although this shows the pattern of a regular medal, it may be patterns other than this. Moreover, a pattern may be given to both main surfaces of a regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 510 moves on the medal rail 511 while rotating around the rotation axis along the thickness direction passing through the centers of the two main surfaces. Then, the imaging unit 561 captures an image of the medal 510 from the side of the one main surface 510a of the medal 510. Therefore, the captured image 562A includes the image of the one main surface 510a of the medal 510. Further, in the present embodiment, the captured image 562A generated by the imaging unit 561 is a color image, but may be a gray scale image.

<Flow of Regular Medal Discrimination Processing>
Next, a series of operations of the regular medal discrimination process performed by the camera unit 509 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when the captured image 562A is input from the imaging unit 561, the converted image 562A is converted from a color image to a grayscale image in the conversion unit 563, and the captured image 562B obtained thereby is set as a processing target.

  Next, the extraction unit 564 extracts a medal region 573 in which the medal 510 appears from the captured image 562B to be processed. Thereafter, area division is performed on the medal area 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 in the area division unit 565. Next, based on the plurality of divided areas generated by the area dividing unit 565, the feature quantity acquiring unit 566 acquires a feature quantity indicating the feature of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B.

  Next, based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566, the determination unit 567 determines whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate. Then, the determination unit 567 sends the determination result 569 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 568 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, the main control circuit forcibly suspends the game in the same manner as the gaming machine of the first embodiment when the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462A is not a legitimate one, and the sub control circuit (first It is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act via the sub control circuit 101 in the gaming machine of the embodiment. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display that is a liquid crystal display device.

  Thereafter, when a new captured image 562A is input, the determination unit 567 executes the above-described normal medal plagiarization processing with the captured image 562B obtained from the captured image 562A as a new processing target. Thereafter, determination unit 567 performs the same operation each time captured image 562A is input.

<Detailed explanation of each component>
The operations of the extraction unit 564, the area division unit 565, the feature amount acquisition unit 566, and the determination unit 567 will be described in more detail below.

[Extraction unit]
FIG. 63 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the medal region 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 from the captured image 562B. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 510 is circular. In the first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 562B to generate an edge image. As a method of generating an edge image, for example, the Sobel method, Laplacian method, Canny method or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. For example, Hough transform is used as a method of extracting a circular area. Then, the circular area in the captured image 562 B present at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is taken as a medal area 573.

  Another method is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B using the background subtraction method and the labeling. In this second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 562B and the background image (an image showing only the background of the captured image 562B) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. Ru. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, in the binary background difference image, a partial area in the captured image 562 B present at the same position as the position of the connected area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling is set as a medal area 573.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 564 extracts the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B by a method different from the above two methods. The operation of the extraction unit 564 according to the present embodiment will be described below. The extraction unit 564 may extract the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 564 generates a background difference image indicating the difference between the captured image 562B and the background image 575 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 562B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 64 is a view schematically showing the background image 575, and FIG. 65 is a view schematically showing the binary background difference image 576. As shown in FIG. In the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 65 and later-described drawings in the present embodiment, a region (high luminance region) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 575 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 564 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 576 using the binary outer shape template 577 indicating the outer shape of the medal 510. That is, the extraction unit 564 specifies where the region similar to the outline template 577 exists in the background difference image 576. In other words, the extraction unit 564 specifies where in the background difference image 576, a region that matches the outer shape of the medal 510 indicated by the outer shape template 577 exists. FIG. 66 schematically shows the outer shape template 577. As shown in FIG. The outer shape template 577 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like. The outer shape of the outer shape template 577 is, for example, a square.

  In template matching, as illustrated in FIG. 67, the extraction unit 564 moves the outline template 577 little by little (for example, by one pixel) on the background difference image 576 in the raster scan direction. In other words, the extraction unit 564 raster scans the outline template 577 on the background difference image 576. At this time, the extraction unit 564 generates an AND image of the outer shape template 577 and the partial region of the background difference image 576 overlapping the outer shape template 577 at each position of the outer shape template 577. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 564 selects the background difference image 576 of the outline template 577 used to generate the AND image having the largest number of pixels (high luminance pixels) having a pixel value of “1” among the plurality of generated AND images. Identify the top position. This position is a position where an area similar to the outline template 577 exists in the background difference image 576.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 68, the extraction unit 564 extracts a partial area 578 in the captured image 562B present at the same position as the specified position as a medal area 573. In other words, the extraction unit 564 extracts a partial region 578 in the captured image 562B overlapping with the outer shape template 577 as the medal region 573 when the outer shape template 577 is disposed at the same position as the specified position. . At this time, in the partial area 578, a medal area 573 may be used in which the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 577 is zero. The medal region 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 is a gray scale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 573 is a square, but may be another shape such as a circle.

[Area division unit]
In the present embodiment, the region division unit 565 performs region division on the medal region 573 using the entropy of the luminance histogram. The area division unit 565 repeatedly performs a process of further dividing the divided area into a plurality of divided areas when the entropy of the luminance histogram in the divided area of the medal area 573 is equal to or more than the threshold.

  FIG. 69 is a flowchart showing the operation of the area division unit 565. As shown in FIG. 69, in step S31, the area division unit 565 determines a threshold value used in area division. Specifically, the area division unit 565 obtains a luminance histogram for the entire medal area 573. Then, the region division unit 565 obtains the entropy of the obtained brightness histogram. Then, the region division unit 565 determines a threshold based on the obtained entropy.

  FIG. 70A is a diagram showing an example of the luminance histogram 590 in the entire medal medal region 573. As shown in FIG. The luminance histogram 590 shows the distribution of luminance of a plurality of pixels constituting the medal region 573. The horizontal axis of FIG. 70A indicates the luminance. The vertical axis in FIG. 70A indicates the number of pixels having the luminance indicated by the horizontal axis, that is, the frequency in the medal region 573. In the present embodiment, the luminance of a pixel is expressed by, for example, 8 bits, and takes a value of “0” to “255” in decimal notation.

  The region division unit 565 obtains the entropy EA of the luminance histogram 590 using Expression 3 shown in FIG. 70B.

Here, PAi in the equation 3 indicates the appearance probability of the luminance “i” in the medal area 573. The appearance probability PAi is expressed by Equation 4 below using the number KAi of pixels whose luminance is “i” in the medal region 573 and the total number KAtotal of pixels in the medal region 573.
PAi = KAi / KAtotal (Equation 4)

  For example, if it is assumed that KAtotal = 1000 and the number KA255 of pixels whose luminance is “255” in the medal area 573 = 10, then PA255 = 10/1000.

  Entropy EA indicates the degree of variation of the distribution of the luminance histogram 590. When the entropy EA is large, it can be said that the distribution of the luminance histogram 590 is dispersed. That is, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the medal region 573 is large. On the other hand, when the entropy EA is small, it can be said that the distribution of the luminance histogram 590 is biased. That is, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the medal region 573 is small.

When the region division unit 565 obtains the entropy EA, the region division unit 565 uses the following equation 5 to obtain the threshold value T used in the region division.
T = EA × α (Equation 5)

  Here, α in Expression 5 is an adjustment parameter for adjusting the division mode of the medal area 573, and 0 <α <1. As α becomes smaller, the threshold T becomes smaller, which makes it easier for the medal region 573 to be divided in area division. Further, the value of α can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like. In the present embodiment, the value of α is determined in advance by experiment or the like so that the authenticity determination of the medal 510 can be appropriately performed.

  After determining the threshold value T in step S31, the area division unit 565 initially divides the medal area 573 in step S32. Here, the medal area 573 is divided into four as shown in FIG. 71, for example. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 71, the medal region 573 is equally divided into four square divided regions 580 in a matrix. The area division unit 565 does not use the entropy of the luminance histogram when initially dividing the medal area 573.

  Next, in step S33, the area division unit 565 determines a divided area 580 to be processed. In step S33 immediately after step S32, the divided areas 580 obtained in step S32 are processed.

  Next, in step S34, the region division unit 565 obtains the entropy of the luminance histogram for each of the processing target divided regions 580 determined in step S33. Specifically, the region division unit 565 first obtains a luminance histogram of the processing target divided region 580. The luminance histogram of the divided area 580 shows, for example, the distribution of luminance of a plurality of pixels constituting the divided area 580 shown in FIG. 72A. Then, the region division unit 565 obtains the entropy EB of the luminance histogram of the divided region 580 to be processed using Equation 6 shown in FIG. 72B.

Here, PBi in Equation 6 indicates the appearance probability of the luminance “i” in the divided area 580. The appearance probability PBi is expressed by the following Expression 7 using the number KBi of pixels whose luminance is “i” in the divided region 580 and the total number KBtotal of the pixels in the divided region 580.
PBi = KBi / KBtotal (Equation 7)

  When the entropy EB for the divided area 580 is large, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the divided area 580 is large. On the other hand, when the entropy EB of the divided area 580 is small, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the divided area 580 is small.

  When step S34 is executed, in step S35, the region dividing unit 565 has a processing target divided region 580 having an entropy EB equal to or greater than the threshold value T in the processing target divided region 580 determined in step S33. It is determined whether or not. If the region dividing unit 565 determines that there is a processing target divided region 580 having the entropy EB equal to or greater than the threshold T in step S35, the processing target divided region 580 having the entropy EB equal to the threshold T or more in step S36. Further divide As described above, when the entropy EB of the divided area 580 is large, it can be said that the dispersion of the luminance in the divided area 580 is large. It can be said that the 580 is further divided. In other words, the region division unit 565 further divides the processing target divided region 580 whose features are not uniform. In step S36, similarly to step S32, the divided area 580 to be processed whose entropy EB is equal to or greater than the threshold value T is further equally divided into four square divided areas 581 in a matrix. FIG. 72A is a diagram showing how the upper left divided area 580 of the four divided areas 580 obtained by the initial division in step S32 is further divided into four divided areas 581.

  When step S36 is executed, the area division unit 565 executes step S33 again to newly determine the divided area 581 to be processed. In step S33 immediately after step S36, a divided area 581 which is the new divided area 581 obtained in step S36 and is larger than a predetermined size is to be processed. Thereafter, the region division unit 565 similarly executes step S34 and subsequent steps.

  In step S35, when the area dividing unit 565 determines that there is no divided area 581 to be processed whose entropy EB is equal to or greater than the threshold value T, the area dividing unit 565 ends the area division on the medal area 573.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area (for example, divided area 580 or divided area 581) is equal to or larger than the threshold, the area dividing unit 565 further The medal area 573 is divided into a plurality of divided areas each having a small entropy EB in each process (for example, in the example of FIG. 71, the medal area 573 is divided into four divided areas 580 in order to repeatedly perform the process of dividing into divided areas). In the example of FIG. 72A, the divided area 580 is divided into four divided areas 581). In other words, medal region 573 is divided into a plurality of divided regions each having a uniform luminance.

  FIG. 73 is a diagram showing an outline of how the medal region 573 is divided into a plurality of divided regions 582 having uniform luminance in each of the medal regions 573. In FIG. 73, the divided area is shown as a divided area 582 regardless of its size (that is, regardless of how many times area division has been performed). In the medal area 573, since the luminance varies in the area including the outline of the pattern of the medal 510, as shown in FIG. 73, the vicinity of the outline of the pattern of the medal 510 is finely divided in the medal area 573. Similarly, in the medal area 573, in the area including the outer shape of the medal 510, since the luminance varies, in the medal area 573, the outer shape of the medal 510 is finely divided as shown in FIG.

  As such, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the process of repeatedly dividing the divided area into a plurality of divided areas is repeatedly performed. The outline of the pattern of is finely divided. Therefore, it can be said that the plurality of divided areas 582 generated by performing the area division on the medal area 573 indicate the features of the medal 510. Hereinafter, the divided area 582 may be referred to as “uniform divided area 582”.

  In the above example, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area is equal to or more than the threshold value, the divided area is further divided into a plurality of divided areas, but the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area is The subregion may be further divided into a plurality of subregions if is larger than the threshold. Further, in the above example, the divided area is divided into four, but the number of divisions of the divided area may be other than this.

[Feature acquisition unit]
In the present embodiment, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 includes size information indicating the size of the uniform divided area 582 for each of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565; The distance information indicating the distance from the center to the uniformly divided area 582 is acquired. Then, the feature amount acquisition unit 566 acquires the medal feature amount based on the size information and the distance information of each uniform division area 582. In the present embodiment, the feature amount acquisition unit 566 generates a two-dimensional histogram of size information and distance information of the uniform division area 582, and sets the two-dimensional histogram as a medal feature amount.

  As the size information of the uniform division area 582, for example, the length in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction of the uniform division area 582 is employed. In the present embodiment, since the uniform division area 582 is a square, the lengths in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the uniform division area 582 are the same. Further, as distance information on the uniform divided area 582, for example, a distance from the center of the medal area 573 to the center of the uniform divided area 582 is employed. In addition, the length of the diagonal of the uniform division area 582 may be adopted as the size information of the uniform division area 582.

  The feature amount acquiring unit 566 sets, for each uniform division area 582, size information and distance information of the uniform division area 582 as a pair of information pairs, for example, an SRAM (camera unit according to the first embodiment). (Corresponding to the SRAM 243) and the like. Then, the feature acquisition unit 566 generates a frequency distribution of combinations of size information and distance information based on a plurality of information pairs respectively corresponding to the plurality of uniform division areas 582 generated by the area division unit 565. Generate a two-dimensional histogram showing Hereinafter, the two-dimensional histogram may be referred to as “two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591”.

  FIG. 74 is a diagram showing an example of the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591. The first axis along the x-axis direction in FIG. 74 indicates size information, and the second axis along the y-axis direction in FIG. 74 indicates distance information. Then, the third axis along the z-axis direction in FIG. 74 is magnitude information having a value indicated on the first axis and distance information having a value indicated on the second axis in a plurality of information pairs. Shows the frequency of combination with. That is, the third axis in FIG. 74 is a combination of magnitude information having a value indicated on the first axis and distance information having a value indicated on the second axis in a plurality of information pairs. Indicates whether it exists.

  For example, when there are eight combinations of size information a1 and distance information b1 in a plurality of information pairs, size information a1 indicated on the first axis and distance information b1 indicated on the second axis The frequency at the corresponding bin is "8". When there are three combinations of size information a5 and distance information b3 in a plurality of information pairs, size information a5 indicated on the first axis and distance information b3 indicated on the second axis The frequency at the corresponding bin is "3".

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 of the size information and distance information of the uniformly divided area 582 in the medal area 573 is used as the medal feature quantity.

[Determination unit]
The determination unit 567 compares the medal feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566 with the standard feature amount indicating the feature of the regular medal 510, and based on the comparison result, the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is It is determined whether it is a legitimate one. As a standard feature quantity, a two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 is used in the same manner as described above from a captured image 562B in which a regular medal 510 appears. Hereinafter, the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B in which the regular medals 510 appear will be referred to as a "standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A".

  When the gaming machine is not in operation, a regular medal 510 is inserted into the gaming machine to obtain a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A (standard feature value). The conversion unit 563 generates a captured image 562B in which the inserted regular medals 510 appear. This captured image 562B is referred to as a "standard captured image 562C". The extraction unit 564 generates a medal region 573 in which the regular medal 510 appears from the standard captured image 562C, and the region division unit 565 performs region division on the medal region 573. Then, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A (standard feature amount) based on the plurality of uniform division areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565. The standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A generated in this manner can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  The acquisition of the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A may be obtained in advance by a gaming machine or another device, and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  On the other hand, in the gaming machine in operation, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature acquisition unit 566 with the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A stored in the SRAM or the like. Based on the comparison result, it is determined whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature amount acquisition unit 566 and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A by calculating the degree of similarity. As a value indicating the degree of similarity, for example, Bhattacharyya distance is used. A large Bhattacharyya distance means low similarity, and a small Bhattacharyya distance means high similarity. Other values may be used as values indicating similarity.

  Here, when the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is high, the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are regular medals. Probability is high. Therefore, as for the value indicating the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A, such as Bhattacharyya distance, the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is normal It can be said that it is an evaluation value that indicates the certainty of being. In other words, it can be said that the value indicating the degree of similarity is an evaluation value indicating the possibility that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate. Hereinafter, the evaluation value is referred to as a “determination evaluation value”.

  In the present embodiment, when the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature acquisition unit 566 and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is high, the determination unit 567 sets the captured image 562B as When it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the figure are normal ones, and the degree of similarity is low, it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are not regular ones. More specifically, when the determination unit 567 determines that the Bhattachmentya distance between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature acquisition unit 566 and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is equal to or less than the threshold value. When it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal ones, and it is larger than the threshold, it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are not regular ones. In other words, when the determination evaluation value generated based on the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 obtained from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is equal to or less than the threshold value, the determination unit 567 When it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal ones, and it is larger than the threshold, it is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are not regular ones. Then, the determination unit 567 outputs the determination result 569.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the threshold value T used when dividing the medal region 573 is determined based on the medal region 573. Therefore, the medal region 573 in which the medal 510 appears can be appropriately divided into a plurality of uniform division areas 582 according to the medal 510. Therefore, compared with the case where the threshold value T is determined in advance, it is possible to acquire a medal feature value which appropriately indicates the feature of the medal 510 shown in the medal region 573. As a result, the determination accuracy at the time of determining whether the medal 510 is a regular one is improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the medal feature value is acquired based on the plurality of uniform division areas 582, size information and distance information on the uniform division area 582 are used. Therefore, compared with the case where the pixel value of each pixel of the uniform division area 582 is used to acquire the medal feature quantity, the medal feature quantity can be easily acquired. Therefore, it can be easily determined whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the captured image 562B is a captured image obtained by capturing an image of the rotating medal 510, the rotational attitude (rotational angle) of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is always the same. It does not have to be. Therefore, the rotational posture of the medals 510 shown in the medal area 573 is not always the same. On the other hand, the size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582 obtained from the medal area 573 are information that does not change even if the uniform divided area 582 rotates around the center of the medal area 573. Therefore, even if the rotational posture of the medals 510 shown in the medal area 573 varies, if the medals 510 are regular, the size information and distance information of the uniform divided area 582 obtained from the medal area 573 vary. Hateful. Therefore, it can be said that each of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided area 582 is information that is not easily influenced by the rotation attitude of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B. In the present embodiment, since the medal feature amount is acquired based on the information that is not easily influenced by the rotational posture of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B, the captured image 562B is obtained by capturing the rotating medal 510. Even in the case of the captured image, it is possible to suppress that the regular medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are erroneously determined not to be correct.

Modification of Fourth Embodiment
Hereinafter, various modifications of the present embodiment will be described.

[Modification 1 (Medal Feature Value Acquisition Method)]
In the above example, the feature amount acquisition unit 566 acquires the medal feature amount based on both the size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582, but the size information of the uniform divided area 582; The token feature may be acquired based on one of the distance information and the distance information. For example, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 may acquire the medal feature amount based on the size information of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565. In this case, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates, for example, a one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of size information of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565, and medals the one-dimensional histogram 592. It is a feature amount. FIG. 75 is a diagram showing an example of a one-dimensional histogram 592 showing the distribution of size information of the uniform divided area 582. As shown in FIG. The horizontal axis in FIG. 75 indicates size information. The vertical axis in FIG. 75 indicates the number of uniform divided areas 582 having size information indicated by the horizontal axis, that is, the frequency in the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565.

  When the one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of size information of the uniform divided area 582 is regarded as the medal feature quantity, the feature quantity acquisition unit 566 can recognize the regular medal 510 when the gaming machine is not in operation. A one-dimensional histogram (standard one-dimensional histogram 592A) of the size information of the uniform divided area 582, which is similarly generated from the captured image 562B in which the Then, the determination unit 567 compares the one-dimensional histogram 592 generated by the feature acquisition unit 566 with the standard one-dimensional histogram 592A, as in the case where the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 is used, and the comparison result. It is determined whether or not the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate based on the above.

  The generation of the standard one-dimensional histogram 592A by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, a standard one-dimensional histogram 592A may be generated in advance by a game machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each game machine.

  When the feature amount acquiring unit 566 acquires the medal feature amount based on the distance information of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565, the distance of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 is A one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of information is generated, and the one-dimensional histogram 592 is used as a medal feature quantity.

  As described above, even in the case where the medal feature amount is acquired based on either one of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided area 582, the pixel value of each pixel of the uniformly divided area 582 is obtained. The medal feature quantity can be easily obtained as compared with the case where the token feature quantity is obtained based on the above. Therefore, it can be easily determined whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate.

  Further, each of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided area 582 is information that is not easily influenced by the rotational attitude of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B, so in the present modification as well, in the captured image 562B. It is possible to suppress false determination that the regular medals 510 shown are not regular.

[Modification 2 (true / false determination using a plurality of standard feature quantities)]
As described above, although the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided area 582 is information that is not easily influenced by the rotational attitude of the medal 510 shown in the medal area 573, the rotational attitude of the medal 510 shown in the medal area 573. It fluctuates somewhat under the influence of This point will be described in detail below.

  For example, consider four medal areas 573A to 573D in which regular medals 510 appear as shown in FIG. In the following description, it is assumed that the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A is stored in the SRAM or the like as a standard feature quantity. Hereinafter, the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573A may be referred to as “a plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A”.

  The rotation angle of the medal 510B shown in the medal area 573B is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise around its center. The rotation angle of the medal 510C shown in the medal area 573C is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated 180 degrees counterclockwise around its center. The rotation angle of the medal 510D shown in the medal area 573D is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated 270 ° counterclockwise around its center.

  In the above example, when the divided area of the medal area 573 is further divided, it is equally divided into four square divided areas in a matrix. Therefore, the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573B rotates the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A obtained from the medal area 573A by 90 ° counterclockwise around the center of the medal area 573A. Match the ones. Similarly, a plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573C corresponds to a plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A rotated 180 degrees counterclockwise around the center of the medal area 573A. A plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573D corresponds to a plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A rotated 270 ° counterclockwise around the center of the medal area 573A. Therefore, the size information and distance information of the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A, the size information and distance information of the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573B, and the plurality obtained from the medal area 573C. The size information and distance information of the uniformly divided area 582, and the size information and distance information of the plurality of uniformly divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573D match each other. Therefore, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573B, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573C, and the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573D are medal feature quantities obtained from the medal area 573A. That is, they match the standard feature quantities.

  Thus, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in a certain medal area 573 X is (90 × N) ° around the center of the regular medal 510 A shown in the medal area 573 A where the standard feature is acquired. A plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X are divided into a plurality of standard uniform divisions when they coincide with the rotation angle of the regular medal 510A when rotated counterclockwise). This corresponds to region 582A rotated counterclockwise by (90 × N) ° around the center of medal region 573A. Therefore, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573X matches the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A. That is, the token feature obtained from the token area 573X matches the standard feature stored in the SRAM or the like. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately determine that the medals 510 shown in the medal area 573X are legitimate.

  On the other hand, when the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in a certain medal area 573X rotates the regular medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A around its center by (90 × N) ° counterclockwise, If it does not coincide with the rotation angle of the medal 510, the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X is a rotation angle of the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A around the center of the medal area 573A. Even if it is rotated, the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A may not match. In other words, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510A when the regular medal 510A is rotated counterclockwise (γ ≠ 90 × N, that is, γ is a value other than a multiple of 90) around its center. In the case where the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X are rotated at any rotation angle around the center of the medal area 573A. , And may not match the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A. Therefore, the size information and distance information of the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X may not match the size information and distance information of the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A. Therefore, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573X may not match the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A. That is, the token feature obtained from the token area 573X may not match the standard feature stored in the SRAM or the like. As a result, the medals 510 appearing in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be legitimate. In particular, when the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X rotates the regular medal 510A reflected in the medal area 573A around its center by (90 × N + 45) ° counterclockwise, the regular medal 510A In this case, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal region 573X may greatly differ from the standard feature quantity when the rotation angle of the medal area coincides with the rotation angle of Therefore, in this case, there is a high possibility that the medals 510 shown in the medal area 573 are not properly determined to be correct.

  The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in a certain medal area 573X is a regular medal when the regular medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated around its center by (90 × N) ° counterclockwise. As to how much the token feature obtained from the token area 573X deviates with respect to the token feature obtained from the token area 573A when the rotation angle does not match the rotation angle of 510A, It finely depends on whether the medal area 573X is divided. When the medal area 573X is finely divided in area division, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573X largely deviates from the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A.

  Thus, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in a certain medal area 573 X is (90 × N) ° counterclockwise around the center of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573 A where the standard feature value is acquired. When the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 does not match the rotation angle of the regular medal 510, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal region 573X may be different from the standard feature quantity. Therefore, the medals 510 appearing in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be legitimate. Therefore, in the case of the medal determination process, not only one type of standard feature amount acquired from the medal area 573X in which the regular medal 510 appears but also the regular medal 510 in the medal area 573X The standard feature value acquired from the medal region 573 in which the regular medal 510 having a rotation angle not coincident with the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 when rotated counterclockwise by 90 × N) ° is also used Is desirable.

  Also, the explanation so far using FIG. 76 is the premise that the center of the medal area 573 coincides with the center of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573. However, depending on the extraction accuracy of the medal region 573 in the extraction unit 564, the center of the medal region 573 may not coincide with the center of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573. FIG. 77 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which the center 573c of the medal area 573 and the center 510c of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573 do not match.

  When the center 573c of the medal area 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 does not coincide with the center 510c of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in a certain medal area 573X is If the rotation angle of the regular medals 510 shown in the medal area 573 X is different from the rotation angle of the regular medals 510 shown in the medal area 573 A from the medal area 573 X from the medal area 573 X The plurality of uniform division regions 582 obtained are the same as the plurality of standard uniform division regions 582A regardless of the rotation angle of the plurality of standard uniform division regions 582A around the center of the medal region 573A. It may not match. Therefore, in this case, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573 X is the case where the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573 A is rotated by 90.degree. N counterclockwise around its center. Even when the rotation angle of the regular medals 510 matches, the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X surround the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A around the center of the medal area 573A ( 90 x N) ° may not match what was rotated counterclockwise. Therefore, the size information and distance information of the plurality of uniform division areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X may not match the size information and distance information of the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A. Therefore, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573X may not match the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A, that is, the standard feature quantity.

  As described above, when the center 573c of the medal region 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 does not coincide with the center 510c of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573X, the rotation of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573X If the angle is different from the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573A from which the standard feature value is acquired, the medal will be the medal regardless of the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573X. There is a possibility that the token feature obtained from the area 573X may be different from the standard feature. Therefore, the medals 510 appearing in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be legitimate. Therefore, in the case of the medal determination process, not only one type of standard feature amount acquired from the medal area 573 in which the regular medal 510 appears, but also a rotation angle different from the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 in the medal area 573 It is desirable that a standard feature value acquired from the medal region 573 in which the regular medal 510 having the symbol is displayed is also used.

  In view of the above points, in the present modification, in the medal determination process, instead of using one type of standard feature amount, a plurality of medal areas 573 in which the rotation angles of the regular medals 510 shown in them are different from each other Using a plurality of standard feature quantities respectively generated based on. The determination unit 567 compares the medal feature obtained from the captured image 562B with each of a plurality of types of standard feature stored in an SRAM or the like, and based on the comparison result, the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is It is determined whether or not it is a legitimate one.

  In this modification, four types of standard feature quantities are used. The four types of standard feature quantities are respectively generated based on four medal areas 573R, 573α, 573β and 573γ in which the rotation angles of the regular medals 510 shown in them are different from each other. FIG. 78 is a diagram showing an example of the medal region 573R, 573α, 573β, 573γ. The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573α is the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573R when the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573R rotates 45 ° counterclockwise around its center. Match with The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573β is the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573R when the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573R rotates 90 ° counterclockwise around its center. Match with The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573γ is the same as that of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573R when the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573R rotates counterclockwise about its center by 135 °. Match the rotation angle.

  In the present modification, the medal regions 573α, 573β, 573γ are generated based on the medal region 573R. Hereinafter, the medal area 573R will be referred to as a “reference medal area 573R”. The medal region 573α is an image in which the image 584R of the regular medal 510 appearing on the reference medal region 573R is rotated 45 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R. The medal region 573β is an image in which the image 584R of the regular medal 510 appearing on the reference medal region 573R is rotated 90 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R. The medal area 573γ is an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 appearing in the reference medal area 573R 135 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal area 573R.

  In order to generate a plurality of types of standard feature amounts, when the gaming machine is not in actual operation, a regular medal 510 is inserted into the gaming machine. The conversion unit 563 generates a standard captured image 562 C in which the inserted regular medals 510 appear. The extraction unit 564 extracts a reference medal area 573R in which the regular medal 510 appears from the standard captured image 562C, and the area division section 565 performs area division on the reference medal area 573R. Then, the feature acquisition unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniform division areas 582 generated by the area division unit 565. Thereby, based on the reference medal region 573R, one type of standard feature value, that is, one type of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is generated.

  The generation of the standard feature amount by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Also, the standard feature amount may be generated in advance by a gaming machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  The extraction unit 564 generates medal areas 573α, 23β, and 23γ based on the reference medal area 573R. The extraction unit 564 sets an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal area 573R as the medal area 573α in the reference medal area 573R. In addition, the extraction unit 564 rotates the image 584R of the regular medal 510 in the reference medal area 573R 90 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal area 573R with the medal area 573β. Do. The extracting unit 564 then rotates the image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal area 573R in the reference medal area 573R with the medal area 573γ. Do.

  When the medal region 573α, 573β, 573γ is generated in the extraction unit 564, the region division unit 565 performs region division on the medal region 573α, 573β, 573γ. The feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area division of the medal area 573α in the area dividing unit 565. In addition, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area division of the medal area 573β in the area dividing unit 565. Then, the feature amount acquisition unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniform division areas 582 generated by the area division with respect to the medal area 573γ in the area division unit 565. As a result, three types of standard feature quantities, that is, three types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histograms 591A are generated based on the medal regions 573α, 573β, and 573γ.

  A plurality of types of standard feature quantities (standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A) generated as described above may be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like. Can.

  In the gaming machine in operation, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B with each of a plurality of types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A stored in an SRAM or the like. . Specifically, the determination unit 567 performs, for each of the plurality of types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histograms 591A stored in the SRAM etc., the two-dimensional evaluation generated from the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A and the captured image 562B. The Bhattacharyya distance to the value histogram 591 is determined. Then, the determination unit 567 sets the minimum value among the plurality of obtained Bhattacharyya distances as a determination evaluation value. Then, the determination unit 567 determines that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is normal if the determination evaluation value is less than or equal to the threshold, and captures an image if the medal is larger than the threshold. It is determined that the medals 510 shown in the image 562B are not normal.

  As described above, in the medal determination processing according to the present modification, a plurality of types of standard feature quantities generated based on a plurality of images in which the rotation angles of the regular medals 510 shown in them are different from each other are used. Regardless of the rotation angle of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B, it can be appropriately determined whether the medal 510 is legitimate or not. Therefore, the determination accuracy is improved.

  Although four types of standard feature quantities are used in the above example, the number of types of standard feature quantities is not limited to this. Further, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in each of the plurality of images (plurality of medal regions 573) for which the plurality of types of standard feature quantities are generated is not limited to the above rotation angle.

[Modification 3 (true / false determination using a plurality of determination methods])
In the medal determination process, the determination method described above and the other determination methods may be used in combination to determine whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate. As another determination method of whether or not the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate, for example, a template matching method using an image of a legitimate medal as a template image can be considered. In this template matching method, it is determined whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate by specifying whether there is an image similar to the template image in the captured image 562B. Below, in the medal determination process, the case where the above-mentioned determination method and the template matching method are used in combination will be described. A matching method other than the template matching method may be used.

  Also in the template matching method, similarly to the above-described determination method, a determination evaluation value (also referred to as an “output value”) indicating the probability that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are legitimate is generated. In the template matching method, in the captured image 562B in which the medal 510 appears, a region most similar to the template image is specified, and a value indicating the degree of similarity between the region and the template image is used as a determination evaluation value. Hereinafter, the determination evaluation value obtained by the processing described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. 61 is referred to as “first determination evaluation value EV1”, and the determination evaluation value obtained by the template matching method is “second determination evaluation value EV2 I call it ". Here, the smaller the value of the second determination evaluation value EV2, the higher the possibility that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are correct.

When the first determination evaluation value EV1 is determined for the captured image 562B and the second determination evaluation value EV2 is determined (using the template matching method), the determination unit 567 calculates the overall evaluation value using Equation 8 below. Determine EV0.
EV0 = z1 × EV1 + z2 × EV2 (Equation 8)

  In equation 8, z1 and z2 are constants. As shown in Equation 8, the comprehensive evaluation value EV0 is a small value when both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small.

  When comprehensive evaluation value EV0 is equal to or smaller than threshold th0, determination unit 567 determines that medals 510 shown in captured image 562B are normal. On the other hand, when overall evaluation value EV0 is larger than threshold value th0, determination unit 567 determines that medals 510 shown in captured image 562B are not normal. The threshold th0 and the constants z1 and z2 can be stored, for example, in an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Here, the captured image 562B in which the regular medal 510 appears is referred to as “positive captured image 562B1”, and the captured image 562B in which the false medal 510 (non-regular medal 510) appears is referred to as “negative captured image 562B2”. The threshold th0 and the constants z1 and z2 are the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the plurality of positive captured images 562B1, and the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the first for the plurality of negative captured images 562B2. It can be determined based on the judgment evaluation value EV2. The method of determining the threshold th0 and the constants z1 and z2 will be described below.

  FIG. 79 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for each of the plurality of positive captured images 562B1 and the plurality of negative captured images 562B2. The x-axis shown in FIG. 79 indicates the second determination evaluation value EV2. The y-axis shown in FIG. 79 indicates the first determination evaluation value EV1 of the captured image 562B for which the second determination evaluation value EV2 shown on the x-axis is obtained. Further, black triangles in FIG. 79 indicate the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the positive captured image 562B1, and white circles in FIG. 79 indicate the first determination evaluation value EV1 for the negative captured image 562B2 and A second determination evaluation value EV2 is shown. Hereinafter, the pair of the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for the captured image 562B may be referred to as an “evaluation value pair”. FIG. 79 shows an evaluation value scatter diagram 593 showing the distribution of evaluation value pairs of a plurality of captured images 562B.

  In this example, when the first determination evaluation value EV1 is small, there is a high possibility that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal. When the second determination evaluation value EV2 is small, there is a high possibility that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal. Therefore, in the evaluation value scatter diagram 593 shown in FIG. 79, a black triangle indicating the evaluation value pair of the positive captured image 562B1 is an area where both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small, ie, the lower left corner concentrate.

  As in the above example, when the authenticity determination of the medal 510 is performed only by determining whether or not the first determination evaluation value EV1 is equal to or less than the threshold value th1, the first determination evaluation value EV1 is small. With regard to the negative captured image 562B2 in which the second determination evaluation value EV2 becomes large, it is erroneously determined that the medals 510 appearing thereon are correct. In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593 shown in FIG. 79, a negative pickup image for which an evaluation value pair indicated by a straight line 595 along the x axis indicating the threshold value th1 and indicated by a white circle below it is determined. The medals 510 shown in 562B2 are erroneously determined to be legitimate. In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, in the straight line 594 along the x-axis direction, the distribution of the evaluation value pair (black triangle) of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pair (white circle) of the negative captured image 562B2 are appropriately determined. It is difficult to separate.

  Further, in the case where the authenticity of the medal 510 is determined only by determining whether the second determination evaluation value EV2 is equal to or less than the threshold value th2, the second determination evaluation value EV2 becomes smaller but the first determination evaluation value With regard to the negative captured image 562 B 2 in which EV 1 becomes large, it is erroneously determined that the medal 510 shown in that is correct. In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593 shown in FIG. 79, a negative pickup image 562 B2 for which an evaluation value pair indicated by a straight line 595 along the y axis indicating the threshold value th2 and a white circle to the left thereof is obtained. It is erroneously determined that the medals 510 shown in FIG. In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, it is difficult to properly separate the distribution of the evaluation value pair of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pair of the negative captured image 562B2 in the straight line 595 along the y-axis direction.

In this modification, when the gaming machine is not in operation, a plurality of regular medals 510 and a plurality of medals 510 which are incorrect medals are inserted into the gaming machine, and a plurality of positive captured images 562B1 and a plurality of negative images An evaluation value pair is determined for each of the images 562B2. Then, in the evaluation value scatter diagram 593 in which a plurality of evaluation value pairs are shown, a separation straight line 596 in which the distribution of the evaluation value pairs of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pairs of the negative captured image 562B2 are separated (see FIG. 79) An expression representing) is obtained. The separation line 596 can be expressed by the following equation 9. In addition, A1, A2, B of Formula 9 is a constant.
y =-(A1 / A2) x + B (Equation 9)

  In addition, acquisition of an evaluation value pair by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the evaluation value pair may be obtained in advance by a gaming machine or another device, and may be stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, the line on the separation straight line 596 and the area below it are areas where both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small. Therefore, when the evaluation value pair determined for the captured image 562B is shown in the evaluation value scatter chart 593, when the position of the evaluation value pair is on the line of the separation straight line 596 or lower than that, imaging is performed. It can be considered that the medals 510 shown in the image 562B are legitimate.

In the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, the line on the separation straight line 596 and the area below it are represented by the following Expression 10.
y ≦ − (A1 / A2) x + B (Equation 10)

Further, Equation 10 can be transformed into Equation 11 below.
A1x + A2y ≦ A2 × B (Equation 11)

  When the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for the captured image 562B are substituted for x and y in Equation 11, when Expression 11 is satisfied, the image is captured in the captured image 562B. The medals 510 can be considered to be legitimate.

  For example, constants A1 and A2 of Expression 9 and constants z1 and z2 of Expression 8 are stored in the SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment). The constants A1 and A2 of the equation 9 may be stored as the constants z1 and z2 of the equation 8, respectively. Also, “A2 × B” may be stored as the threshold th0.

  The determination unit 567 uses the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the captured image 562B and the constants z1 and z2 stored in the SRAM or the like to calculate the comprehensive evaluation value EV0 for the captured image 562B. Ask. Then, the determination unit 567 determines that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal if the calculated comprehensive evaluation value EV0 is equal to or less than the threshold th0, and if larger than the threshold th0, It is determined that the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are not normal. Thereby, the authenticity determination of the medal 510 can be performed more correctly.

  The expression 9 may be manually calculated by a person who saw the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, or a support computer based on the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 by a predetermined computer device. It may be determined using a machine learning function such as a machine. In the latter case, the gaming machine in which the machine learning function is implemented may obtain Expression 9.

  As described above, in this modification, it is determined whether the medals 510 shown in the captured image 562B are normal or not based on a plurality of determination evaluation values obtained by different determination methods. It can be improved.

1,300,400,500 Pachislot 3L Left Reel 3C Middle Reel 3R Right Reel 4 Reel Display Window 21 Medal Entry Window 23 Start Lever 32 Medal Payout 51 Hopper Device 71 Main Control Board 72 Sub Control Board 79 Start Switch 80 Stop Switch Board 91 main control circuit 101 sub control circuit 201 medal selector 202 medal chute 203 slope 204 base plate part 205 sub plate 206 cancel shooter 207 select plate 208 medal solenoid 209 camera unit 210 medal rail 211 medal entrance 212 central hole 213 medal pressure 217 magnet 218 after medal pressure 227 medal stopper portion 230 first substrate 231 second substrate 232 CMOS image sensor 2 3 LED
234 Control LSI
235 legs 241 host controller 242 image recognition DSP circuit 243 SRAM
244 flash memory 245 ISP circuit 246 medal count circuit 247 color recognition circuit 248 fisheye correction scaler circuit 249 image recognition accelerator circuit 250 GPIO
251 ISI circuit 266 input / output unit 268 determination result 310, 410, 510 medal 361 imaging unit 362A, 362B captured image 362C feature image 363 conversion unit 364 feature image generation unit 365 determination unit 366 input / output unit 367 template data 368 determination result 371 extraction Unit 372 Edge image generation unit 374 First image 380 Second image generation unit 461 Imaging unit 462A, 462B Captured image 463 Conversion unit 464 Extraction unit 465 Identification unit 466 Determination unit 467 Determination unit 467A Standard feature value 468 Input / output unit 469 Determination result 561 imaging unit 562A, 562B captured image 563 conversion unit 564 extraction unit 565 region division unit 566 feature amount acquisition unit 567 determination unit 567A standard feature amount 568 input / output unit 569 determination result

Claims (1)

An insertion slot for inserting game media,
Game medium detection means for detecting game medium inserted from the insertion port;
The gaming medium detection means
A game medium passage unit which is a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object which is an object passing through the passage;
Game medium determination means for determining whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data obtained through the imaging means;
The gaming medium determination means
Extracting means for extracting an area where the game medium appears from an image relating to the image data;
Specifying means for specifying a characteristic local region in an image according to the image data;
Fitting means for fitting an ellipse based on the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and generating ellipse information on the ellipse as a feature indicating the feature of the image according to the image data;
The game media corresponding to the image of the game medium included in the image data is legitimate by comparing the feature quantity generated in the fitting means with a standard feature quantity indicating the feature of the regular game medium And determining means for determining whether there is any
The center position of the ellipse is determined based on an average value of the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and the major and minor axes of the ellipse have lengths of a plurality of pixels forming the local region. A game machine characterized in that it is determined based on an average value of positions, and the ellipse is fitted to the local area in a manner surrounding the local area.

Images