JPH04212392A - Metal detecting device, memory card and pinball game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the safe-ball and the out-ball on the board surface of a pinball machine, and also, to execute its detection without the physical contact by providing a metal sensor in which a detection matrix is formed, a monitoring memory and a metallic position memory, etc. CONSTITUTION:The device is provided with a metal sensor in which a detection matrix is formed like the face, a monitoring memory for storing a monitoring position of a metal, and a metallic position memory for storing a position of a metal as coordinate data of each transmitting line and each receiving line, etc. In the metal detecting device for detecting a pinball, the detection matrix is under the control. of a CPU memory control board 172. The CPU memory control board 172 is provided with a CPU connector 46 connected to a CPU unit 30, etc., on a transmitting side, and provided with an amplifier 71 for amplifying a receiving signal from a receiving connector 55, etc., on a receiving side. In such a way, even if there is no physical contact, a metal can be detected, and the detection having durability can be executed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a metal detection device, a memory card, and a pachinko game machine, and more particularly to an apparatus for detecting the position of metal such as pachinko balls.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As a metal detection device, for example, there is a device used in a pachinko game machine to detect the passage of metal pachinko balls along the path of the pachinko game machine. For pachinko game machines, it is important to accurately understand the balls played by players, the so-called in-balls, and the balls that come out as prizes for balls that enter the safe holes. This is the most important information above.

[0003] Therefore, as a conventional technique for detecting the passage of pachinko balls in the passing path of a pachinko game machine,
There is one disclosed in Publication No.-3506.

[0004] In other words, the publication discloses that an upper sheet and a lower sheet are provided with a pair of contacts, and when a pachinko ball is placed on the upper sheet, the weight of the pachinko ball causes the contact pair to conduct, thereby detecting the pachinko ball. something is disclosed.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the above conventional technology, pachinko balls can only be detected in the flow path of the pachinko game machine, so pachinko balls cannot be detected in the safe hole or out hole on the board of the pachinko game machine. It is not possible to detect how the ball enters. Therefore, with conventional technology,
There was a problem in that it was not possible to know how the game was progressing, and there was a lack of functionality for accurate management of the pachinko game machine.

[0006] Furthermore, when using the detected pachinko ball data, if the data is processed directly by the CPU, the design of the peripheral circuitry will be determined depending on the CPU being used. can only process the data processing content according to the data processing speed of the CPU. Therefore, in order to perform more complex processing, it is necessary to replace not only the CPU but also its peripheral circuitry, which poses a problem in that it is difficult to change the data processing content.

[0007] The present invention has been made by focusing on these conventional problems, and it is possible to detect safe balls and out balls on the board of a pachinko game machine, and it is possible to detect them without physical contact. Another object of the present invention is to provide a metal detection device whose data processing contents can be easily changed, a memory card used in the metal detection device, and a pachinko game machine equipped with the metal detection device.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The gist of the present invention to achieve the above object is as follows: 1. A plurality of parallel folded transmission lines are attached to one side of a substrate, and electromagnetic characteristics change when metal approaches. A plurality of parallel folded reception lines are electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line in a cross direction and arranged on the opposite surface of the substrate to form a planar detection matrix. A transmitting circuit that sequentially transmits signals of a predetermined frequency, a receiving circuit that sequentially receives signals from each receiving line in synchronization with the transmitting circuit, a monitoring memory that stores monitoring positions of metal, and signals from the receiving circuit. A metal position memory stores the position of the metal as coordinate data of each transmission line and each reception line based on the above, and the monitoring data of the monitoring memory is read, and the coordinate data of the metal position memory is read, and the coordinate data of the metal position memory is read. and a data processing device that detects the metal by associating the data with monitoring data of the metal.

[0009] 2. The metal is a pachinko ball, and the detection data is determined by determining the number of balls to be fired provided on the board of the pachinko game machine, the position or outline of the safe hole and the out hole, and determining the number of balls placed below the line. The metal detection device according to item 1, characterized in that it includes data.

3. The data processing device has an interface section for reading the detected data, and the monitoring memory is a memory card that readably stores the detected data and is removably attached to the interface section. The metal detection device according to item 1 or 2.

[0011]4 The memory card is a mask ROM.
The metal detection device according to item 3, further comprising a one-time ROM memory IC.

5. A memory card for use in the metal detection device according to item 3 or 4, which stores the detection data in a readable manner and is removable from the interface section.

[0013] 6. A pachinko game machine characterized in that the metal detection device according to item 1, 2, 3 or 4 is provided along the board surface, and the metal is a pachinko ball.

[0014]

[Operation] When a magnetic field is generated by sequentially transmitting signals of a predetermined frequency from the transmitting circuit to multiple folded transmission lines, an electromotive force is generated in the receiving line electromagnetically coupled to the transmitting line due to mutual induction. do. At this time, when a metal such as a pachinko ball approaches the metal sensor, an eddy current is generated on the surface of the metal in a direction that cancels out the magnetic flux generated by the metal sensor. The impedance of the transmission line changes due to the influence of the eddy current, causing the current to change, and in response, the magnitude of the electromotive force in the reception line changes. The receiving circuit is synchronized with the transmitting circuit and receives signals from each receiving line.

The monitoring memory stores the monitoring position of the metal, and the metal position memory stores the monitoring position of the metal based on the signal from the receiving circuit.
The metal position in the detection matrix is stored as coordinate data of each transmission line and each reception line from the intersection position of the reception line where the reception signal changed and the transmission line that was transmitted at that time.

The data processing device reads the monitoring position data from the monitoring memory, and also reads the coordinate data from the metal position memory, and monitors and counts the metal by associating the coordinate data with the metal monitoring position data. That is, the data processing device does not directly obtain coordinate data from the receiving circuit, but reads coordinate data once stored in the metal position memory. Therefore, when performing more complicated processing, it is possible to cope with the more complicated processing by freely selecting a data processing device with a data processing speed corresponding to the processing.

Furthermore, with a memory card, monitoring points can be easily set simply by inserting it into the interface section of the data processing device, and it can be applied to other types of pachinko game machines when replacing the pachinko game machine. It is also easy to change monitoring points.

The metal detection device can track the movement of pachinko balls as changes in coordinates on the board of a pachinko game machine.
Metal sensors can be attached to important points such as out holes to monitor the progress of the game, to know the status of balls entering and exiting, to check for irregularities due to ball stopping management and fraud, and to use as data for nail adjustments, etc. You can

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 15 show a first embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a metal detection device is constructed using a metal sensor, and this is installed and applied to a pachinko game machine 10.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a detection matrix 20 constituting a metal sensor is attached along the board surface 11 of the pachinko game machine 10.

On the board 11 of the pachinko game machine 10, the inside of the guide rail 12 forms a game area, and a large number of nails 13, 13, . ... is opened, and an out hole 15 is opened at the lower end of the game area.

The front glass lid covering the board surface 11 has a double structure consisting of a front glass body 16 and an inner glass body 17.

[0024] The front of the pachinko game machine 10 is provided with a launch handle 33 for launching pachinko balls, and a ball tray 34 for receiving the balls.

As shown in FIG. 4, the plurality of transmission lines 22 are
One transmission line 22 is U-turned at the folding portion 61 to form a parallel folded shape (or loop shape), and these lines are arranged in parallel in one direction on the same plane. Similarly, the plurality of reception lines 26 are configured such that one reception line 26 is turned in a U-turn to form a parallel folded shape (or loop shape),
These are arranged in parallel in one direction on the same plane. The transmission terminal 23 and the reception terminal 27 are connected to the inner glass body (front glass) 17 when attached to a pachinko game machine.
They are concentrated at the bottom in a vertical relationship.

Each receiving line 26 is electromagnetically coupled to each transmitting line 22 and arranged in a plane parallel to each transmitting line 22 in a cross direction at right angles so that the electromagnetic characteristics change when a metal such as a pachinko ball approaches. Each transmission line 22 and each reception line 26 constitute a planar detection matrix 20.

In the front view of FIG. 4, each square portion surrounded by each intersecting transmission line 22 and each reception line 26 is a detection unit 20a, 20a, . is doing. As shown in FIG. 2, some of the detection units 20a, 20a...
This corresponds to the safe holes 14a, 14a... The detection matrix 20 is provided on an inner glass body (front glass) 17, which is the inner side of the two glass bodies that cover the board surface 11 as shown in FIG. 3 and is on the board surface side.

FIG. 5(A) shows an enlarged sectional view of the inner glass body, and FIG. 5(B) shows an enlarged view of the portion circled by a broken line in FIG. 5(A). The inner glass body 17 includes an inner protective glass plate 17a which is a protective sheet for the receiving line 26 (shown in FIG. 4).
, a receiving side glass base substrate 17b, a transmitting side glass base substrate 17c, and an outer glass plate 17d which is a protective sheet for the transmission line 22 (shown in FIG. 4). The inner glass body (front glass) 17 typically has a vertical length a of 367 mm ± 10 mm and a horizontal length b of 40 mm.
The glass substrate has a rectangular shape with a size of 5 mm±10 mm and a thickness of 3.0 to 3.5 mm. The inner protective glass plate 17a and the outer glass plate 17d are
The inner glass body 17 is shorter in vertical length than the receiving glass base substrate 17b and the transmitting glass base substrate 17c, and the lower end 17p of the inner glass body 17 is exposed.

A plurality of parallel folded receiving lines 26 are interposed between the internal protective glass plate 17a and the receiving glass base substrate 17b.
A plurality of parallel folded transmission lines 22 are sandwiched between the outer glass plate 17d and the outer glass plate 17d. Therefore, the inner glass body 17 is arranged such that the transmission line 22 is bonded to one surface of the transmission side glass base substrate 17c with a transparent adhesive layer 18a, and the outer glass plate 17d is attached thereon with a transparent adhesive layer 18b. After bonding, the reception line 26 is attached to the transparent adhesive layer 18c on the other side of the reception side glass base substrate 17b.
The internal protection glass plate 17a is bonded thereon with a transparent adhesive layer 18d, and the other surface of the transmitting glass base substrate 17c and the other surface of the receiving glass base substrate 17b are made transparent. They are bonded together using an adhesive layer 18e.

A transparent conductive film for shielding is provided on the entire surface of the outer glass plate 17d, which is the front side of the plurality of transmission lines 22. The transparent conductive film is made of indium oxide (I
．． T. O. ) or a tin oxide film.

As shown in FIG. 4, a rectangular transmitting side glass base substrate 17c has a transmitting side folded substrate 19a made of an elongated flexible printed circuit (FPC) adhered along one vertical side of the rectangular transmitting side glass base substrate 17c. An L-shaped transmission side routing board 19b, also made of a flexible board, is bonded along the opposite side and part of the bottom side. As shown in FIG. 6, the transmission-side folded board 19a has a plurality of, specifically 32, arc-shaped folded parts 61 formed in a row using a conductor pattern made of copper foil, and each Folded part 61
One end 62a of the wire 62 is connected to one end 61a by soldering using solder 63 or by welding.

FIG. 8 shows an enlarged view of the portion circled by broken lines in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of conductive patterns made of copper foil are formed on the lower end of the opposite transmitting side routing board 19b along a part of the side.
Specifically, 64 transmission terminals 23 for external connection extending in the vertical direction are formed.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the transmission terminal 23 is arranged at the lower end 17p of the inner glass body 17, and is exposed without being covered by the outer glass plate 17d. That is, the outer glass plate 17d is bonded onto the transmission line 22 excluding the transmission terminal 23 on the transmission side glass base substrate 17c. The terminal side of each transmission line 22 has a transmission terminal 23 of each transmission line 22 and a routing section 64 to each transmission terminal 23. A routing portion 64 to each transmission terminal 23 is formed on the transmission side routing board 19b by a conductor pattern, and is connected to each transmission terminal 23.
3 along the transmission side routing board 19b.

The other end 62b of the wire 62 extending from one end 61a of each folded portion 61 is soldered or soldered using solder 63 to the starting point 64a of the routing portion 64 on the corresponding terminal side to give tension to the wire 62. The wiring part 64 is connected by welding.
It is connected to the transmission terminal 23 via. Note that the routing portion 64 has two straight portions connected by an arcuate portion 64R in order to remove high frequency interference.

Similarly, the rectangular receiving side glass base substrate 17a has a receiving side folded substrate 29a glued along one side of its upper end in the lateral direction, and an elongated receiving side glass base substrate 17a is attached along a part of the side of its lower end in the lateral direction. The side routing board 29b is bonded. Similar to the transmitting side folding board 19a, the receiving side folding board 29a has a plurality of, specifically 32, conductive patterns made of copper foil.
An arc-shaped folded part 61 of the book is formed, and one end 61a of each folded part is formed.
One end 62a of the wire 62 is connected to the wire 62 by soldering using a solder 63 or by welding.

When the receiving glass base substrate 17b is bonded to the transmitting glass base substrate 17c on the lower edge of the opposite receiving side routing board 29b and along a part of the side, A plurality of, specifically 64, vertically extending receiving terminals 27 for external connection are formed by conductive patterns made of copper foil at non-opposing positions that do not overlap with each other.

As shown in FIG. 5, the receiving terminal 27 is arranged at the lower end 17p of the inner glass body 17, and is not covered by the inner protective glass plate 17a and is exposed. That is, the internal protective glass plate 17a is the receiving side glass base substrate 17b.
It is pasted on top of the receiving line 26 excluding the receiving terminal 27 at the top. The terminal side of each receiving line 26 has a receiving terminal 27 of each receiving line 26 and a routing portion 64 to each receiving terminal 27. The routing portion 64 to each receiving terminal 27 is formed on the receiving side routing board 29b by a conductor pattern, and extends from each receiving terminal 27 along the receiving side routing board 29b.

The other end 62b of the wire 62 extending from one end 61a of each folded portion 61 is soldered or soldered using solder 63 to the starting point 64a of the routing portion 64 on the corresponding terminal side, giving tension to the wire 62. The wiring part 64 is connected by welding.
It is connected to the receiving terminal 27 via.

The transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 are thus connected to each folded portion 61 formed on each folded substrate 19a, 29a.
and each routing portion 6 formed on each routing board 19b, 29b.
4, each wire 62, a transmission terminal 23 forming the end of the transmission line 22, and a reception terminal 27 forming the end of the reception line 26. In order to make the wires 62 less noticeable to the players, the surface of each wire 62 is black with a matte finish to prevent reflection of light. A pattern of the detection matrix 20 suitable for the normal pachinko game machine 10 has 32 rows of transmission lines 22, 32 columns of reception lines 26, and a total of 1024 detection units 20a. Note that in FIG. 4, patterns other than those on the outside are omitted.

The thickness of the wires constituting the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 is preferably set to a value of 25 μm to 30 μm. In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the total widths c and d of the transmitting terminal 23 and the receiving terminal 27 are 126
mm, and as shown in FIG. 6, the widths e and f of the vertically extending portions of the transmitting side folding board 19a and the transmitting side routing board 19b are each formed to be 10 mm or less.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the width g of each of the transmitting terminal 23 and the receiving terminal 27 is 1.5 mm.
It is. By setting the widths e and f of the routing portion 64 to 10 mm or less, the transmitting side folding board 19a and the transmitting side routing board 19b are hidden in the mounting frame for the inner glass body (front glass) 17 of the pachinko game machine. so that it cannot be seen from the front side where the players are.

As shown in FIG. 9, a transmitting circuit board 66a and a receiving circuit board 66b are installed at the inner lower part of the mounting frame. The receiving circuit board 66b is provided with a receiving circuit 50 that receives signals from the plurality of receiving lines 26. These substrates 66a,
On 66b, there are a transmitting connector 67a and a receiving connector 67b at positions corresponding to the transmitting terminal 23 and the receiving terminal 27.
and is provided.

The transmitting connector 67a is an edge connector for removably connecting the transmitting terminal 23 to the transmitting circuit 40 on the transmitting circuit board 66a, and the receiving connector 67b connects the receiving terminal 27 to the receiving circuit on the receiving circuit board 66b. This is an edge connector for detachably connecting to 50. That is, the transmitting connector 67a and the receiving connector 67b are provided with a groove 68 along the length of the upper part of the elongated insulator 68 along the transmitting circuit board 66a and the receiving circuit board 66b.
a is formed, and each circuit board 66a is placed at the bottom of the groove 68a.
, 66b are buried vertically in each of the substrates 66a, 66b while being insulated by the rubber base so as not to contact each other.

The transmission terminal 2 is provided in the groove 68a of each insulator 68.
3 and the inner glass body (front glass) 17 in which the reception terminal 27 is arranged can be inserted, and the transmission connector 67a is
It is connected to the transmission terminal 23 of the transmission line 22 with the inner glass body 17 sandwiched from both sides, and the reception connector 67b is connected to the reception terminal 27 of the reception line 26 in this state.

The signal processing system constituting the metal detection device for detecting pachinko balls is as shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 10 to 13. As shown in FIG. 10, the detection matrix 20 is connected to the CPU memory control board 172 via the matrix I/O transmission/reception board 171.
is under the control of CPU memory control board 17
2 constitutes a data processing device, and is capable of communicating through a communication line 179. Further, the CPU memory control board 172 is configured such that the CPU unit 30 is connected to the memory card 17.
3 has an interface section 176 for reading monitoring points from.

[0046] The memory card 173 is a memory card of a monitoring memory that readably stores the monitoring points of pachinko balls made of metal and is removably attachable to the interface section 176. The memory card 173 has a memory IC of mask ROM or one-time ROM, and this memory IC has safe holes 14a, 14a... provided on the board of the pachinko game machine 10, the ball detection position, and the out hole. 15 position data, safe holes 14a, 14a...
Also, detection algorithms for pachinko balls entering the out hole 15 are recorded as monitoring data.

An option 174 connected to the CPU memory control board 172 is a device for recording the trajectory of pachinko balls moving between the board 11 and the inner glass body 617 of the pachinko game machine 10. Option 174 can be stored in a semiconductor memory or the like, but during times when the number of players increases, the operation rate of the pachinko game machine 10 is high, so a huge amount of storage capacity is required. Since the required semiconductor memory is generally expensive or requires more space, a hard disk can also be used to record the movement of pachinko balls. The hard disk may be an optical disk, an optical/magnetic disk, an analog or digital tape recorder, a videotape, or
Any method such as directly connecting a personal computer may be used.

The recorded data is processed by a computer equipped with software for analyzing the trajectory of pachinko balls, and
You can get the data you need.

[0049] Matrix I/O transmitting/receiving board 17
1 has a transmitting circuit board 66a provided with a transmitting circuit 40 and a receiving circuit board 66b provided with a receiving circuit 50. The transmitting circuit 40 is a circuit that sequentially transmits signals of a predetermined frequency to each transmitting line 22, and the receiving circuit 50 is a circuit that sequentially receives signals from each receiving line 26 in synchronization with the transmitting circuit 40.

As shown in FIG. 11, the transmitting circuit 40 includes a transmitting connector 41, an amplifier 42 connected to the transmitting connector 41, a channel switching logic 43, and an amplifier 42.
and an analog multiplexer 44 connected to the channel switching logic 43, and a plurality of
Specifically, 32 PNP+NPN totem pole drivers 45 each connected to the transmission line 22 side of 32 circuits.
It is composed of.

As shown in FIG. 12, the channel switching logic 43 effectively utilizes the counter IC 43a and operates using two control lines, one for clock and one for reset.

As shown in FIG. 13, the receiving circuit 50 includes 32 CT transformers (current transformers) 51 each connected to the receiving line 26 side of a plurality of circuits, specifically 32 circuits, via a receiving connector 67b. , an analog multiplexer 52 connected to the CT transformer 51, and an analog multiplexer 52 connected to the CT transformer 51.
amplifier 53 and channel switching logic 5 connected to
4, and a receiving connector 55 connected to an amplifier 53 and channel switching logic 54. Therefore, the receiving circuit 50 receives signals from each receiving line 26 via each CT transformer 51.

The CT transformer 51 insulates each reception line 26 from the analog multiplexer 52 and amplifies the signal from each reception line 26 ten times. The analog multiplexer 52 sequentially receives signals from each CT transformer 51, and the amplifier 53 amplifies the signal from the analog multiplexer 52. The channel switching logic 54 is a member similar to the channel switching logic 43 of the transmitting circuit 40.

As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU memory control board 172 is connected to the CPU unit 30 on the transmitting side.
CPU connector 46 connected to
A sequence control circuit 47 that sends a transmission clock in response to a start signal from the CPU unit 30 via a bandpass filter 4 that receives a transmission clock and sends a transmission signal.
8, and an amplifier 4 that amplifies the transmission signal and sends it to the transmission connector.
9.

[0055] Also, the CPU memory control board 1
On the receiving side, 72 includes an amplifier 71 that amplifies the received signal from the receiving connector 55, a bandpass filter 72 that receives the amplified signal, a full-wave rectifier/amplifier 73 that receives the received signal from the bandpass filter 72, and a full-wave rectifier/amplifier 73 that receives the received signal from the bandpass filter 72. A two-stage low-pass filter 7 that receives the received signal from the wave rectifier/amplifier 73
4a, 74b, and an A/D converter 75 which receives the received signal from the low-pass filter 74b and sends digital data to the bidirectional RAM 76 under the control of the sequence control circuit 47; is written, the received data is written, and the CPU
CP the received data according to the read signal from the connector 46
It has a bidirectional RAM 76 that sends data to the CPU unit 30 via the U connector 46.

The bidirectional RAM 76 is a metal position memory that stores the position of a pachinko ball made of metal as coordinate data of each transmission line 22 and each reception line 26 based on the signal from the reception circuit 50. has a counter,
All processing of pachinko ball matrix data is done by the counter. Further, the CPU memory control board 172 includes a power supply unit 77.

The CPU unit 30 constitutes a data processing device, reads monitoring data from a memory card 173 which is a monitoring memory, and also reads monitoring data from a bidirectional R which is a metal position memory.
The coordinate data of AM76 is read and the coordinate data is correlated with the pachinko ball monitoring data to monitor the pachinko balls.

As the voltage waveform to the transmission line 22, a continuous sine wave centered on 0V with a frequency of 1 to 1.3 MHz is suitable.

By the way, the pachinko game machine 10 generates noise of various frequencies depending on the model. If the frequency of this noise and the transmission frequency to the detection matrix 20 match or are close to each other, the accuracy of detecting pachinko balls will deteriorate significantly. In order to eliminate the influence of this noise, for example, depending on the model of the pachinko game machine 10, several models of metal detection devices with transmission frequencies that do not match or approach the noise frequency in the 1 to 1.3 MHz frequency band may be installed. It is sufficient to prepare the metal detection device in advance, select a metal detection device with a transmission frequency suitable for the pachinko game machine 10 to be attached, and attach it to the pachinko game machine 10. According to this method, the influence of noise can be removed at low manufacturing cost, and the detection accuracy of pachinko balls can be improved. In addition, the most suitable model of metal detection device for the pachinko game machine 10 can be selected in advance. By this,
Application to the pachinko game machine 10 becomes easy.

Next, the operation will be explained. CPU unit 30
Address and control signals from the CPU
The signal is transmitted to the pachinko game machine 10 via the connector 46.

In the pachinko game machine 10, on the transmitting side, the sequence control circuit 47 receives the start signal, and the 16MH
The original clock of z is divided as necessary and a transmission clock is output. The transmission clock from the sequence control circuit 47 is waveform-shaped by a bandpass filter 48 from a digital signal to an analog signal, and then amplified by an amplifier 49 and sent to the transmission connector 41.

Furthermore, the transmission signal is amplified by an amplifier 42 in the transmission circuit 40. analog multiplexer 44
operate the totem pole drivers 45 sequentially on the channels switched by the channel switching logic 43, so that the totem pole drivers 45 operate the amplifier 4
2 is sequentially outputted to the transmission line 22 at a predetermined period (see step 91 in FIG. 14).

On the receiving side, as shown in FIG. 13, the current that is the electromagnetic characteristic value appearing in the plurality of receiving lines 26 is amplified ten times by the CT transformer 51. CT transformer 5
1, there is no need to increase the amplification degree of the amplifier on the receiving side. CT transformer 51
Insulates each reception line 26 of the detection matrix 20 constituting the metal sensor from the analog multiplexer 52 of the reception circuit 50, prevents noise from entering the reception circuit 50 from the pachinko game machine 10, and amplifies the reception signal. do.

Compared to the case where an OP amplifier is used, the CT transformer 51 can prevent the generation of noise and DC drift due to the OP amplifier itself, and can improve the detection accuracy of the received signal. The OP amplifier is generally larger than the CT transformer 51, and the OP amplifier is also larger than the CT transformer 51.
If an attempt was made to obtain the same degree of accuracy as the T-transformer 51, it would become expensive and the circuit would become complicated. On the other hand, the CT transformer 51 is smaller and has a simpler configuration than the OP amplifier, and by using the CT transformer 51 in the receiving circuit 50, the matrix I/O
The transmitter/receiver board 71 and the metal detection device can be made smaller. The matrix I/O transmission/reception board 71 has a simple configuration mainly consisting of a CT transformer 51, an analog multiplexer 52, and an amplifier 53, thereby achieving miniaturization and reducing the number of lead-out lines.

The analog multiplexer 52 switches the signals from each receiving line 26 that have passed through the CT transformer 51 using a channel switching logic 54, and sequentially outputs the signals at a predetermined period. The signal from the analog multiplexer 52 is amplified 100 times by the amplifier 53 (FIG. 14).
(see step 92).

The received signal is sent to the receiving connector 55 and the amplifier 7.
1. Amplification and detection are performed through a bandpass filter 72. The received signal from the bandpass filter 72 is an analog signal in which several cycles constitute one scan, as shown in FIG. 15(A). This analog signal undergoes waveform shaping in a full-wave rectifier/amplifier 73, as shown in FIG. 15(B).

The signal from the full-wave rectifier/amplifier 73 is
The low-pass filter 74a performs averaging through integration processing, as shown in FIG. 15(C), and the low-pass filter 74b further performs averaging, as shown in FIG. 15(D). As a result, noise is also averaged with the received signal, but the amount of noise is extremely small compared to the signal, and errors due to noise can be ignored. This is because when averaging is performed by the low-pass filters 74a and 74b, since the signal has already passed through the band-pass filter 72, there is no noise sufficient to cause an error. For this reason, the transmission frequency is
The bandpass filter 72 is selected to have a frequency that is not affected by the zero noise, but a bandpass filter 72 that is suitable for the transmission frequency is used.

Next, the received signal is sent to the A/D converter 75.
sent to. The A/D converter 75 converts the signal from the detection matrix 20 into a digital signal in predetermined bit units, such as 12 bits, and records the received data in the bidirectional RAM 76 under the control of the sequence control circuit 63 (step 14 in FIG. 93). This processing speed is
This is a high speed of 25,000 times per second. The bidirectional RAM 76 is read by the CPU according to a write signal from the sequence control circuit 63.
After recording the received data regardless of the operation of the unit 30, the address is incremented by +1 by inputting one clock (see step 94 in FIG. 14). Bidirectional RAM7
The capacity of 6 is, for example, 2048 bytes. Next, the analog multiplexer 52 of the receiving circuit 50 switches the signals from each receiving line 26 (see step 95 in FIG. 14),
The above steps are repeated 32 times depending on the 32 receiving lines 26 (see step 96 in FIG. 14). After 32 repetitions, the analog multiplexer 44 of the transmission circuit 40 switches the transmission line 22 (see step 97 in FIG. 14), and the signal processing is repeated again.

In this way, based on the signal from the receiving circuit 50, the bidirectional RAM 76 detects pachinko balls in the detection matrix 20 from the intersection position of the receiving line 26 where the received signal has changed and the transmitting line 22 that has transmitted at that time. Position each transmission line 2
2 and each receiving line 26 as coordinate data.

[0070] Furthermore, the memory card 173 is a memory IC.
The pachinko ball monitoring data is stored in the machine. Since the memory IC used in the memory card 173 is a mask ROM or one-time ROM, it has excellent data retention reliability and is inexpensive. The CPU unit 30 reads the monitoring data of the positions of the detection units 20a, 20a, etc. corresponding to important points such as the safe holes 14a, 14a, the number of fired balls, the out hole 15, etc. recorded in the memory card 173. I'm reading.

[0071] The CPU unit 30 reads the coordinate data regarding the position of the pachinko balls recorded in the bidirectional RAM 76 according to the read start signal as necessary, performs arithmetic processing, and associates the coordinate data with the monitoring data of the pachinko balls. Monitor pachinko balls. That is, the CPU unit 30 does not directly obtain the coordinate data from the receiving circuit 50, but reads the coordinate data once stored in the bidirectional RAM 76.

[0072] The CPU unit 30 repeats this process. Each circuit of the CPU memory control board 172 and C
Since the CPU unit 30 and the CPU unit 30 perform processing while ignoring each other's waiting time, the load on the CPU unit 30 is reduced and the processing speed of the CPU unit 30 can be increased. The CPU unit 30 monitors the progress of the game by monitoring the movement of pachinko balls on the board 11 of the pachinko game machine 10 as changes in coordinates. By knowing the status of balls in, the number of balls fired, balls out, etc., it is possible to manage the hitting, check for irregularities due to fraud, and use it as data for nail adjustments, etc.

[0073] When monitoring the status of pachinko balls in a new model pachinko game machine 10, the memory card 173 can be used to
You can replace the memory card accordingly. The memory card 173 is the interface unit 1 of the data processing device.
Monitoring data can be easily set by simply inserting the device into the device 76, and the monitoring data can be easily changed when applying to various types of pachinko game machines, such as when replacing pachinko game machines. The memory card 173 can be manufactured by copying one card as long as it is used in the same model of pachinko game machine 10. memory card 17
3, when performing more complicated processing, it is possible to cope with the more complicated processing by freely selecting a CPU unit with a data processing speed corresponding to the processing.

If the ball detection algorithm is simple, it is sufficient to use an inexpensive 8-bit CPU for the CPU unit 30; if a complicated algorithm is required, high-speed processing is sufficient. Therefore, it is recommended to select one that uses a 16-bit CPU. In either case, the scanning speed of the pachinko balls is not affected by the CPU because the scanning does not involve the CPU.

In this way, when a magnetic field is generated by sequentially transmitting signals of a predetermined frequency from the transmitting circuit 40 to a plurality of folded transmitting lines 22, the receiving line 26 electromagnetically coupled to the transmitting line 22 , an electromotive force is generated due to mutual induction. At this time, when a pachinko ball made of metal approaches the detection unit 20a of the detection matrix 20, an eddy current is generated on the surface of the pachinko ball in a direction that cancels out the magnetic flux produced by the detection matrix 20. The impedance of the transmission line 22 changes due to the influence of the eddy current, causing the current to change, and accordingly,
The receiving line 26 changes the magnitude of the electromotive force.

The receiving circuit 50 includes the sequence control circuit 47
It is synchronized with the transmitting circuit 40 and receives signals from each receiving line 26 via each CT transformer 51. The receiving line 26 where the received signal changed and the transmitting lines 22, 22 that transmitted at that time
... is detected by scanning, and the position of the pachinko ball in the detection matrix 20 can be determined as coordinates from the intersection position. The number of detection units 20a is 1024 in total, with 32 rows of transmitting lines 22 and 32 columns of receiving lines 26, so pachinko balls are located in which safe hole 14a of the board 11.
It can also be detected even if it passes through the out hole 15.

[0077] Since the voltage waveform to the transmission line 22 is a continuous sine wave centered at 0V, it does not generate noise like a rectangular wave and has no effect on other equipment such as the CPU unit 30. It can be prevented.

[0078] Also, the voltage waveform has a transmission frequency band of 1 to 1.
．． Since it is 3 MHz, it is possible to make the pachinko game machine 10 less susceptible to noise from peripheral devices and to increase the reaction sensitivity. Note that components that can process signals in a frequency band of 1 to 1.3 MHz are cheaper than components that can process signals in a higher frequency band.

Further, the transparent conductive film on the surface of the outer glass plate 17d has the effect of shielding the electrical influence of metals and dielectrics from the outside and increasing the reaction sensitivity to pachinko balls.

Note that in order to connect the transmitting terminal 23 and receiving terminal 27 to the transmitting connector 67a and receiving connector 67b located at the lower inside of the mounting frame with the transmitting terminal 23 and receiving terminal 27 facing downward, the weight of the inner glass body (front glass) 17 is used. In addition, the connection can be made simultaneously when the inner glass body 17 is attached to the mounting frame.

To replace or attach the inner glass body 17 provided with the detection matrix 20, the transmitting connector 67a and the receiving connector 67b are removable, and the inner glass body 17 must be removed from the transmitting circuit 40 and receiving circuit 50 of the mounting frame. Since the detection matrix 20 is easy to replace, a failed detection matrix 20 can be easily replaced, and the detection matrix 20 can also be easily attached to a pachinko game machine that is not equipped with the detection matrix 20.

Furthermore, since the folded portion 61 of the transmission line 22 and reception line 26 is formed of a conductor pattern, manufacturing of the transmission line 22 and reception line 26 is easy.
Since the routing portion 64 of the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 is formed of a conductor pattern, the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 are
6 is easy to manufacture.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that the inner glass body has a triple laminated structure of an inner protective glass plate, a glass base substrate, and an outer glass plate, and has the same members as the first embodiment. The same reference numerals are given to the members, and duplicate explanations will be omitted. FIG. 16 shows the structure of the inner glass body with the sensing matrix of the second embodiment. That is, the inner glass body 17 has a triple laminated structure of an inner protective glass plate 17a, a glass base substrate 87, and an outer glass plate 17c. The inner protective glass plate 17a is bonded thereon, a plurality of parallel folded transmission lines 22 are formed on the opposite surface of the glass base substrate 87, and the outer glass plate 17c is bonded thereon. ing.

Note that instead of patterning the transmission lines 22 and the reception lines 26 on both sides of the glass base substrate 87, they may be formed on the inner protective glass plate 17a and the outer glass plate 17c.

Furthermore, the glass base substrate 87 may be made of a plastic film in addition to glass.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that the routing board has routing parts on both sides, and the same members as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. , duplicate explanations will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 17, a rectangular transmitting side glass base substrate 17c has a transmitting side folded substrate 19a made of an elongated flexible printed circuit board (FPC) adhered along one vertical side of the rectangular transmitting side glass base substrate 17c. An L-shaped transmission side routing board 119 is bonded along the opposite side and part of the bottom side. As shown in FIG. 4, at the lower end of the transmission side routing board 119, there are a plurality of external connection boards, specifically 64, extending in the vertical direction, also made of flexible printed circuit boards, along a part of the side. A transmission terminal 23 is formed.

The routing portions 64 to each transmission terminal 23 alternately extend from each transmission terminal 23 to both sides of the transmission side routing board 119 one by one. The back side of the sending side routing board 119 of each routing section 64, that is, the sending side glass base substrate 17
The starting point 64a of the end of the routing portion 64 on the side facing c.
It is connected to the front side through a through hole 120 formed at a corresponding position on the transmission side routing board 119. Each routing section 64
The starting point 64a is connected to the other end 62b of the wire 62 extending from the one end 61a of each corresponding folded portion by soldering or welding using a solder 63 while giving tension to the wire 62.

In this embodiment, since the routing portions 64 are formed on both sides of the routing substrate 119, the glass base substrate 17c
For example, the width of the routing portion 64 extending in the vertical direction is set to about 10 m.
It can be easily shortened to less than m.

[0090] The receiving side routing board of the receiving side glass base board should also have through holes formed in the same way as the sending side routing board 119, and routing portions should be formed alternately on both sides of the receiving side routing board 119. I can do it.

Furthermore, in order to shorten the width of the routing portion, the routing portion may be provided on both sides of the routing substrate, or a plurality of routing substrates may be laminated.

In each embodiment, one or both of the folding board and the routing board may be made of a thin glass epoxy board instead of a flexible printed circuit board (FPC). Because the glass epoxy board is milky white, it is unnoticeable when in use, and is resistant to heat, which prevents it from being destroyed by heat when soldering the transmitting and receiving wires.

[0093]

According to the metal detection device, memory card, and pachinko game machine according to the present invention, metal can be detected without physical contact, and durable detection can be achieved.

In particular, in a pachinko game machine, the trajectory of pachinko balls on the board, the number of pachinko balls hit by a player,
It is now possible to easily and quickly obtain data such as the rate of balls entering the safe hole, and the details of the game can be learned remotely, making it possible to raise the level of counting control for pachinko game machines, and also improve pachinko game machines. Anyone can easily adjust the nails of a game machine.

In addition, since the data processing device does not obtain coordinate data directly from the receiving circuit, but processes the coordinate data once stored in the metal position memory, it is easy to change the data processing device. By changing the data processing device, it is easy to change the data processing content to perform more complicated processing.

[0096] Since the memory card allows monitoring data to be easily set by simply inserting it into the interface section of the data processing device, it is useful when applying it to various types of pachinko game machines, such as when replacing pachinko game machines. It is also possible to easily change monitoring data.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a receiving and transmitting circuit of a CPU memory control board according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptually exploded perspective view of a pachinko game machine and a detection matrix.

FIG. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of the pachinko game machine.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the detection matrix.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the inner glass body with the sensing matrix.

FIG. 6 is a detailed front view of the transmission line.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the transmission line showing the connection state of the wires.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged front view of the transmission terminal.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state in which the inner glass body is connected to a transmitting connector and a receiving connector.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of a metal detection device.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the transmitting circuit of the matrix I/O transmitting/receiving board.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the main parts of channel switching logic.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the receiving circuit of the matrix I/O transmitting/receiving board.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of sensing matrix scanning.

FIG. 15 is a waveform diagram showing signal processing of a received signal.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the inner glass body with the sensing matrix of the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a schematic front view of the routing board of the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

B... Pachinko ball, 10... Pachinko game machine, 11... Board surface, 13... Nail, 14a... Safe hole, 15... Out hole, 17
...Inner glass body, 19a, 29a...Folded substrate, 19b,
29b... Routing board, 20... Detection matrix, 20a... Detection unit, 22... Transmission line, 23... Transmission terminal, 26... Receiving line, 27... Receiving terminal, 30... CPU unit, 40... Transmitting circuit, 44, 52... Analog multiplexer, 47... Sequence control circuit, 50... Receiving circuit, 51... CT transformer, 53... Amplifier, 61... Turning section, 62... Wire, 64
... Routing section, 67a... Transmission connector, 67b... Reception connector, 75... A/D converter, 76... Bidirectional RAM, 1
71...Matrix I/O sending/receiving board, 172...
CPU memory control board, 173... memory card, 174... option, 175... personal computer, 176... interface unit, 179... communication line.

Claims (6)

[Claims] Claim 1: A plurality of parallel folded transmission lines are attached to one side of a substrate, and a plurality of parallel folded reception lines whose electromagnetic characteristics change due to the proximity of metal are electromagnetically connected in a direction crossing the transmission lines. a metal sensor configured to form a planar detection matrix by being combined with a receiving circuit that sequentially receives signals from the receiving lines; a monitoring memory that stores monitoring positions of the metal; and a monitoring memory that stores the position of the metal as coordinate data of each transmitting line and each receiving line based on the signal from the receiving circuit. reading the metal position memory and the monitoring data of the monitoring memory, and reading the coordinate data of the metal position memory;
A metal detection device comprising: a data processing device that detects the metal by associating the coordinate data with monitoring data of the metal. 2. The metal is a pachinko ball, and the detection data is determined based on the number of balls to be fired provided on the board of a pachinko game machine, the positions or outlines of safe holes and out holes, and the number of balls placed below the line. 2. The metal detection device according to claim 1, wherein the metal detection device includes data of . 3. The data processing device has an interface section for reading the detected data, and the monitoring memory is a memory card that stores the detected data in a readable manner and is removably attached to the interface section. The metal detection device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The metal detection device according to claim 3, wherein the memory card has a memory IC of a mask ROM or a one-time ROM. 5. A memory card for use in the metal detection device according to claim 3 or 4, which stores the detection data in a readable manner and is removable from the interface section. 6. A pachinko game machine, wherein the metal detection device according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4 is provided along a board surface, and the metal is a pachinko ball.