AU606454B1 - Game system - Google Patents

Description

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77 _1 4A, AUS'T A RIA l& 606454 Form PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Short Title: Int. CI: Application Number: Lodged: 0 a0

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0 omplete Specification-Lodged: 0o. Accepted: oo C Lapsed: o 0 o Pgority: 0 0 Published: Aelated Art: 0 This document contains the amendments made undei Section 49 and is correct for printing.

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TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: KABUSHIKI KAISHA SOPHIA 201, Sakainocho 7-chome, Kiryu-shi, Gunma-ken, Japan.

Kichihei NIIYAMA Hiroshi ITO HALFORD MAXWELL, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 49 51 York Street, SYDNEY. 2000.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: GAME SYSTEM.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us Lii Kabushiki Kaisha Sophia Signature. Kichihei NIIYAMA o To: THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

la- [TITLE OF THE INVENTION] Game System [BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION] The present invention is related to a game system which uses a pinball machine, arrangement ball machine, slot machine, etc. and in particular to the effective techniques of a game system set to allow playing games 0 00 4 with a card exchanged for money.

1Reetyacr-type pinball game system using a card-form storage record has been proposed. The card system allows the players to carry a simple card, as a storage record in a pinball parlor, thereby reducing the troublesome task of carrying a larger amount of pin balls around which are easily lost.

Two broad categories of conventional card-type pinball game systems are available.

which corresponds to the quantity purchased at the time I 0 20 of card issuance is stored in memory, and the player is allowed games within the limit of the available number creased during the game is stored in the card (see Patent Journal No. 1972-4227).

In the second system, a card which records only the code No. is issued at the time of card purchase, the number of balls available is stored in a control unit the card can be inserted in the card reader of the pin ball machine to recall the number of balls stored____ in memory, thereby allowing the player to play games accordingly.

In this case, all the purchases sum is converted into balls at the time of card issuance, and the number of balls available is stored in the memory of the control unit (see Patent Journal 1986-32709 and

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-2- 1976-17106).

In these card systems, when the number of balls available stored in the card reaches zero, the player must purchase new card, but in this event, in the conventional card systems, the whole purchase sum is converted into balls. If the card can be purchased at a comparatively low price, a high priced card may be wasted.

0000 However, with a low priced card the game may be 1 0 soon over, and a pinball parlor must issue a great "00 number of cards.

0 In the card-type system, the card used as a game 0 0° 0 record might be copied and wrongfully used, causing the S0 pinball parlor to suffer a great loss. Therefore, it is necessary for an identification code to be recorded o 0 on the card's magnetic surface. Then read and checked Sfor the card to be judged genuine or not. There is a card which allocated a specific code to each player together with the identification code.

However, the information recorded on the magnetic surface is comparatively easy to copy, and it is impossible to completely prevent code plagiarism or coincidence, as is frequently observed in debit cards.

Therefore, in the conventional card system where cards are identified only by the information recorded on the card magnetic surface, there is the risk of card falsification which cannot be completely prevented.

The cards in which the number of balls available is stored are exhausted and return to zero during game (hereinafter called "return-to-zero state") cannot be used in games thereafter, but the conventional system, in which the information related to the card is recorded only on the magnetic surface, must read and check the information recorded on the magnetic surface every time in order to judge whether the card is a ~I i i I-C-iL -3return-to-zero card or effective one, leading to the inconvenience of increased loads on the controls (computer) of the terminals or control units.

[SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION] Accordingly, one of the main object of the present invention is to enable the player to enjoy games without wasting money even if comparatively high-priced cards are purchased.

Another object of the present invention is to effectively prevent the falsification of high-priced cards.

In addition the present invention can detect :0:o false cards immediately while reducing loads on a 0000 computer.

The present invention thus provides a pinball 0 game system comprising: .00.0 a card issuing machine which, upon payment by a 00a0 player, issues a card having an identification symbol; a control unit which stores the identification symbol for the card together with first credit data corresponding to the payment and second credit data 00 converted from the first credit data, allowing the oC: player to play pinball game; a pinball machine having a device for reading the identification symbol on the card and receiving transmission of the first credit data and the second credit data corresponding to the identification symbol from the control unit, converting a part of the first 00 o 30 credit data into second credit data, allowing the 0 4;player to play the pinball machine while the second credit data is other than a specific value and adjusting the second credit data according to pinballs played and bonuses awarded, and transmitting said first credit data and second credit data to the control unit; q1 RAZ.

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LL_, L__N -3aa storage settling machine having a device for reading the indentification symbol on the card and receiving transmission of the first credit data and second credit data corresponding to the identification symbol from the control unit, and a device for making payment corresponding to the first credit data and issuing a credit corresponding to the second credit data; a transmission device connecting said control unit to the card issuing machine, the pinball machine and the storage settling machine.

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0 0 0 S0o0 0 00 o 00 9000 to fi4 "-ppI

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4 connects the said storage record qjs the said pinballmachine~ said storage record settler to Consequently, the player is allowed to play games by converting into the second credit data an optional amount from the first credit data read from the identification code of the storage record. The rest of the first credit data is paid back to the player as an 0o0 10 unused sum through the settler, giving the player aso0 0 surance that he will not waste the money left in the credit card even when he purchases a high-priced o0. o storage record (card) and reducing the interruptions of games that frequently occur with a small-amount storage record.

000 What is stored in the storage record is an ideno OOtification code for recalling the credit data, and therefore, even if a card is copied, no real loss is generated.

oo 0 The present invention in the aforementioned configuration is provided with the said storage record, 00o which has a magnetic recording section that stores identification codes, genuine/false verification physical layer which recognizes whether the card is genuine, and, at least, punched holes that indicate the current state. Each reading device of the said pinball machine and settler is provided with means for reading magnetic data, inspecting the true/false indication physical layer, and detecting punched holes.

For this reason, when a card is falsified, the inspection of the genuine/false verification physical layer easily detects fraud, and the detection of punched holes determines the state, allowing an immediate detection of falsified cards and reducing the load on A 35 the computer based control unit in case of fraud.

-94 5 oor 0000 0 o 0 0 0 0 0)~ 00 0 O0 o 0 0 0 0.00 00 D 0 0 Referring now to the drawings, a standard assembly of the present invention will be described in detail hereafter.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 is a system block diagram that shows the whole configuration of the pinball machine system applied to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the card used in the 10 system according to one assembly of the invention; Fig. 2 is an explanatory drawing of a magnetic recording section of the card; Fig. 3 is a front view of a card issuing machine to be used in the system according to one assembly of the invention; Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the card reader; Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the control line of the card issuing machine; Fig. 6 is a front view of a pinball machiie; Fig. 6 is a side view of the control unit of the pinball machine; Fig. 7 is a rear view of the pinball machine; Fig. 8 is a rear view of an enclosed ball circulation device located on the rear side of the pinball machine; Fig. 9 is an enlarged view that shows in detail the ball removal section of the enclosed ball circulating device; Fig. 9 is an oblique detail view of a ball feeder of the enclosed ball circulating device; Fig. 10 is a block diagram of the control line of the whole pinball machine; Fig. 11 is a block diagram of the control unit of the pinball machine; 0 1: r 6 osse 0 0 0 o o 0-.4.0 o 0o o 00 000 0o o 0 o o o •s 0 00 00

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Fig. 12 is a front view of a settler; Fig. 13 is a block diagram of the control line of the settler; Fig. 14 is an oblique view of the overall control unit; Fig. 15 is a block diagram that shows the system configuration of the control unit itself; Fig. 16 shows the console configuration of the control unit, a plan view and a rear view; 10 Fig. 17 is an explanatory drawing showing the transfer of a card state in a pinball machine system according to one assembly of the invention; Fig. 18 is a block diagram of transmission line in the pinball machine system according to one assembly of 15 the invention; Fig. 19 is a block diagram of a control unit that controls the data transmitted and received between the terminal unit controller and the transmission network; Fig. 20 is a block diagram of NAU (network adapter unit) that controls the data transmission in the network; Fig. 21 is a flow chart that shows the first stage of genuine/false verification procedure in the card reader of the pinball machine; Fig. 22 is a flow chart that shows the second stage of genuine/false verification procedure by the magnetic data in the card reader of the pinball machine; Fig. 23 is a flow chart that shows the third stage of genuine/false verification procedure using the card No., that is identification No., by the control unit; Fig. 24 is a flow chart that shows the processing by the card reader when the "GAME OVER" switch of the pinball machine is turned on; and Fig. 25 is a flow chart that shows the processing oo0 o 0 0000 o 0 o oo o os 0 o o bo o o0 0 L0 0 0 0 oo O oo ora o o o o o ao 0 a 4, 1 7 by the card reader when the "RETURN-TO-ZERO" occurs during the game.

[DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A STANDARD ASSEMBLY] The assembly of the present invention as a pinball machine system will be described in detail hereafter.

As shown in Fig. 1, the pinball machine system as in the present invention consists of a pinball machine 100 as a game machine, a card issuing machine 200 as a 10 storage record issuing machine for issuing CD cards as a local storage record with values in order to commence games in each pinball machine, a settler 300 as a storage record settling machine for awarding balls given as a play prize and the balance of the remaining purchase sum, a control unit 400 that administers and controls centrally the above-mentioned various terminals, and a data transmission network 500 that physically connects the control unit 400 to each terminal.

These units add up to a pinball machine system as one integral unit.

This integral unit can operate only with the CD card, and only with it can the card be allowed to operate and the credit data converted. For this reason, each component of the integral unit, such as pinball machine 100, card issuing machine 200, settler 300, and controller 400, is provided with an independent card reader (in this specification, the device which writes data on the card magnetic surface is also called "card reader"), at the same time as the card information and terminal information are stored in the memory of the control unit 400 in a file form.

Next the card to be used in the system is discussed according to one standard assembly of the present invention before concrete discussion is made on each component of the said integral unit.

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8 oos oo o 0 o o 0oo 0 00000 or 0 o 0 00 •a o 0 0 a 4 I 0 0 0 The CD card used in the system according to one standard assembly of the present invention bears, as shown in Fig. 2 the information necessary for the player, such as purchase sum AM, card insertion direction DIR, issuing data DATE, and card issuing serial No. n required for the recovery of damaged card. Right above the printed section, four physical layers TFI-TF4 for the genuinity verification, which is made up with concealing material using special paint such as a 10 magnetic ink that cannot be recognized visually or a structure difficult to counterfeit such as A hologram, are provided at optimal intervals. Above the concealed part a punch hole forming the PH section, where the card state, that is, card history or transition state, 15 such as completion of issuance, recovery, play, return to zero, and completion of settlement, are recorded in a form of punched holes.

On the other hand, on the lower part of the CD card surface, a magnetic recording section MG applied with magnetic material is provided. The magnetic recording section MG is divided into five tracks as shown in fig. 2 where the fifth track contains the check bit to perform parity check on the other four bits. On the magnetic recording section MG, there is from left to right, 8-bit timing code TMS of dummy data to protect the effective data, 4-bit auxiliary data STX that indicates the start of data, 16-bit identification code DCS to show pinball parlor code, 16-bit date data DATE that indicates the card issuing date, 16-bit converted card number NO. based on the issuing serial No. n, 4-bit auxiliary data ETX to show the data end, check bit LRC to perform parity check according to data bit string from the above data STX to ETX, and 8-bit timing code TME of dummy data to protect the effective data section. Between the card i

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u i ;I -c I 1ILILI--__~~UII-.- li:ii -li-X lliilllllLl(i- i~ i -rl I C -9number NO. and auxiliary data ETX a reserve area RSV is provided for the storage of additional information other than the one specified above. The number of balls available can be recorded here.

In this way, the information recorded on the card magnetic surface according to the standard assembly of the invention consists of the identification code to 00: specify the available card space, issuing data to show card validity, card No. as an identification code 1 0 obtained by issuing the serial No. n through an apo propriate function or conversion method, check code for error detection, and purchase sum and balls available 0 0 0 0 which are not recorded. These data are designed to be o 0recalled in real time from the data file of the control unit 400 by the use of the above-mentioned card number.

00. .With this contrivance, fraud by falsifying the cards can be prevented to minimize loss. That is, even if a card is falsified the sustained loss will be only the a 00°° purchase sum and obtained balls registered in the data 00 I file, Therefore, the card are vainly falsified.

In addition, in the above assembly the genuine/ 00 false card is verified not only against the magnetic 0 4a record information recorded in the card but also by means of genuine/false the verification physical layer TF1-TR4 which is difficult to counterfeit, thus preventing effectively a misuse of the cards. Because checking of the genuine/false verification physical layer immediately detects falsified cards, it is possible to detect falsified cards faster than by sending the magnetic information to the control unit. In addition, by detecting punches made on the card by a photodetector, the card state can easily be checked without reading the available ball data from the control unit file by the use of the code recorded on the magnetic surface, thereby reducing the load on the P m il:i 1 10 0p0 o 0 04 o oo o o 0 o 00 0 00 0) 00 0 .0I 0 00a 00 0 card-reader controller or control unit applied to determine the processes corresponding to the card state.

The number of the genuine/false verification physical layer can be one.

Designing a disposable type of cards can eliminate the card recovery equipment, simplify the system, and facilitate the card control. To cut cost resulting from the disposal of cards, a standard card of 86 mm x 54 mm is employed and either paper or an equivalent material is used.

Fig. 3 shows a configuration of the said card issuing machine 200.

According to the assembly the card issuing machine 200 consists of a bank note identifier 210, a card reader 220 to print the amount corresponding to the purchase money and record the card number, a balance dispenser 230 to refund the change, various indicators 241-245, and a control unit 250 that controls the overall issuing machine 200.

For the mentioned bank note identifier 210, a bank note slot 211, purchase sum selector switches 212, and sum indicator 213 are provided on the front panel 201.

Consequently, the player at first inserts a bank note through the bank note slot 211, then the amount deposited is indicated on the sum indicator 213. Selecting and depressing a switch corresponding to the desired purchase sum of the selector switches 212 leads to the issue of a card corresponding i the desired purchase sum which is delivered through the card outlet 202 of the card reader 220. The mentioned sum selector switches 212 consist of back-lit switches, and operating the switch lights a built-in lamp corresponding to the operated switch. The accepted bank note is transferred to the bank note storage tank 214.

The card reader 220 takes out blank cards stored 0o 00ae creit data into second credit data, aiiowing tne player to play the pinball machine while the second credit data is other than a specific value and adjusting the second credit data according to pinball0 played and bonuses awarded, and transmitting adjusted /2 L

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r- 11 o 0 00 0 o 0 O o o 00 0 0 -00 O 00 0 0 0 00 0 09 00 in a card tank one by one, and prints the purchase sum, issue date and serial number n imparted by the control unit 400 on the card surface, and simultaneously records on the card magnetic recording section MG the card number and identification code (pinball parlor code) calculated by the control unit 400, then punches the "ISSUE" punch position PH 1 (see Fig. 2) and delivers if through the card outlet 202 provided on the front panel 201. The said issuing serial number n is a 10 number that the control unit 400, which receives applications for card purchase from the card issuing machine 200, determines the issuing serial number n according to the reception order for purchase applications filed from multiple card issuing machines under 15 its control and distributed it to each card issuing machine. To prevent card counterfeiting, the card magnetic surface is designed to record the code as a card number, which is obtained by operating a specified function f(n) for the said issuing serial number n or code conversion process such as a bit rearrangement.

To enable card number calculation from the said issuing serial number n, the function f(n) or code conversion procedure is given beforehand to the control program of the control unit 400 ard at the same time the inverse function or reverse conversion procedure is provided to confirm the acceptance of the card number read from the card with the issuing serial number n.

The card reader 220 of the card issuing machine is nearly similar to the card reader 180 of the pinball machine shown in Fig. 4. It will be later described in more detail but the difference lies in that the card reader 220 has a printer 809 and a recovery device 822 from the card tank in addition to the components shown in Fig. 4.

In the meantime, the balance dispenser 230 which 0112 pays back the balance when a bank note is inserted through the bank note slot 211, the purchase sum being determined by the sum selector switch 212, while the balance is computed is provided with a bank note tank 231 to store bank notes and is constructed so as to deliver the change through the change outlet 232 provided on the front panel 201.

In addition, there is on the front panel 201 of the mentioned card issuing madhine 200, a "SELLING" lamp 241 which indicates that the machine is able to o 0 issue cards, the "NOT SELLING" lamp 242 which indicates that the machine cannot issue cards, the bank note 0 6 over-filling indicator 243 which indicates that the tank 214 is full with bank notes accepted through the bank note slot 211, the card runout indicator 244 which 0 indicates that there is not more blank cards stored in 000 the card tank 221, and the bank note runout indicator 245 which indicates a shortage of bank notes stored in 00 the bank note tank of the balance dispenser.

0 o60 In order to light the corresponding indicators, by detecting the above conditions, the bank note tanks 214 00 and 231 and card tank 221 are provided with sensors 261, 262, and 263 respectively.

Furthermore, in the card issuing machine 200 according to the assembly, a machine No. setter 205 is incorporated to identify that specific issuing machine from the (several tens of) card issuing machines 200 installed in the same pinball parlor and to precisely check by means of the control unit 400 the card issuing machine that has issued a specific card, while the machine No. set by the setter 205 is sent to the control unit 400 and used to generate the transmission link during the data communication and to create the data file according to each issuing machine.

Though not limited to this, the same number as the Complete Speclticatlon Tor ne InvunuLIUl. GAME SYSTEM.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us Li I rli i 13 090 S0 C o 0 0 0 0 0 o oo o oa o a 0 0 o oa a 0oo 0 0 0 W 0 0 machine No. set by the setter 205 is displayed on the name plate 206 installed at the top of the front panel 201 of the card issuing machine.

Fig. 5 shows a control system of the card issuing machine 200 constructed as described above.

On the same figure, the designations L1-L5 are lamps built in the purchase sum selector switches 212; the lamp corresponding to the switch being turned on lights up and illuminates the operation button from the 10 back.

In this system, the magnetic head 808, transfer motor 802, punch 807, printer 809, and card dispenser 822, which compose the card reader 220, are controlled by the controller 228 (ecuivalent to the controller 188 of Fig. 4) such as a CPU (microcomputer) in accordance with the detection signals received from sensors 811- 815, the controller 228 as well as various sensors installed in the card issuing machine, bank note identifier 210, and balance dispenser 230 are designed to be controlled by the unit controller 251 in the control unit 250 consisting of a microcomputer.

The unit controller 251 controls the mentioned components and receives the card No. in order to execute the card issuing process as well as collecting the operation data and write the data in the transmission data area SDA in the unit memory 270 as a parallel communication procedure consisting of a duel input memory. The operation data written in the unit memory 270 is sent to the control unit through the data communication process with the control unit 400 via the transmission cable (network) by the transmission controller and network control apparatus (NAU) discussed later. The data transmitted from the control unit 400 is written once in the receiving data area RDA in the unit memory 270, and by reading the data of the unit I-0I

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of balls available is stored in the memory of the control unit (see Patent Journal 1986-32709 and I H 14 controller 251, the data reception is performed. In the unit memory 270, the common data area CDA is provided for storing commands and status in order to notify the corresponding controller that the data transmitted and received are present in the memory.

The controller writes the code consisting of, for instance, 010101...01 in the transmission area of the unit memory 270 when the system starts sending it periodically to the control unit for checking signs of O 10 destruction of RAM data due to noise like static elec- 0 V D 10 o: tricity and detects quickly troubles in data transmisooo sion.

o o Now referring to Fig. 6, a configuration of a pinball machine that offers actual games is discussed o 15 hereafter.

According to the assembly the pinball machine 100 consists of a game machine proper 110 and one control 0000 unit per assembly 160 that is mounted on the frame at 0 0 the top of the pinball machine and is meant for the primary processing of cards and collection of operation 0o data during the dame.

The control unit 160 is built separately from the a pinball machine proper 110 and has a card slot 161, a i, sum indicator 162 to display the value of the card, an available ball indicator 163 that displays the number of balls available to the player in digital figures, an analog indicator 164 consisting of multiple lamps arranged in line, and a clerk call switch 165 on the front surface. The indicated analog indicator 164 displays analogously the number of balls available during the game or can be used to display "BALL DELIVERY" by blinking simultaneously or alternatively.

Though not limited to these, there is installed on the front surface of the control unit 160, a "SAFE LAMP" 166 which displays the occurrence of winning check the information recorded on the magnetic surface every time in order to judge whether the card is a A 15 balls, a "PLAY" lamp 167 which shows that the machine is engages, and a speaker 168 to generate effects and warning sound, all of which are installed in a conven- Ir tional pinball machine. On the side section of the control unit 160 located in the rear of the pinball machine line a test switch 171 is installed to enable Y a game activity with the use of a test card discussed later under specific conditions where the pinball machine 100 is separated from the control unit 400, and a name plate 172 indicating the machine No. assigned to the perspective pinball machine is provided on the unit 0 0 front.

0 o In the control unit 160, a card reader 180 is o4 provided corresponding to the mentioned card slot 161, and at the rear of the machine No. name plate 172, a machine No. setting switch 173 and a unit controller 0 190 that controls the overall control unit 160 are o o installed. The unit controller 190 is connected to the control unit 150 of the pinball machine 110 by means of 0 0 S 20 a transmission line such as an optical fiber or coaxial cable and to the control unit 400 via the transmission controller and local network (transmission cable) later 06 o o discussed.

The card reader 180, the detail of which is shown in Fig. 4, has a card inlet/outlet 801 at one end (left end in the figure) and in the vicinity of the inlet/ outlet 801 a photoelectric sensor 811 is provided which detects the card top end. Next to the sensor 811, a sensor 812 is provided which determines the genuine/ false verification physical layer TF1-TF4 attached to the card. When the CD card is inserted in tihe card inlet/outlet 801 and the insertion is aknowledged by the sensor 811, a transfer motor 802 consisting of pulse motors is driven and a transfer roller 804 is rotated by a belt 803. The card is then transferred, I~LdL _i 1 o CDLII >'UJL uauaL L.U eIL control unit; 1-16- ,1JT O[ 16 while being held between the transfer roller 804 and guide roller 805, along the traveling route 806 to the card reader. The transfer motor 802 is provided with a rotation detector (sensor 5) 815 similar to the encoder that detects the rotation angle, and is stopped when the card is transferred through a specified distance.

In this event, the genuine/false verification physical layer TF1 on the card is set against the sensor 812, which verifies whether the card is genuine or not.

oso 10 According to the assembly, the card is provided with 4 f~ a genuine/false verification physical layers and is held at a position where each physical layer is set against the sensor 812 for verification.

0 I *o At the center of the card reader 180 a punched 0 00 0 0 15 hole detection sensor 813 is installed, which detects punched holes PHI1-PH5 to check the card condition.

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0 4 Next to the sensor 813 a punch 807 is installed puncho.S 0, ing holes. In the card reader 180 of a pinball machine the indicated punch 807 is driven when a game is over oo 0 of return-to-zero when the number of available balls goes to zero. A card is punched at specified punching 0\ positions PH3 and PH4.

o 0 9 t In the vicinity of the punch 807 a magnetic head 808 is installed for reading data such as the identification code recorded on the magnetic recording section MG of a card (in a card reader 220 of a card issuing machine 200 the magnetic head 808 writes identification code, etc.) At the bottom of the card reader 180, a sensor 814 is installed for detecting the end side of an inserted card. When this sensor 814 detects a card, the transfer motor 802 stops. The mentioned motor 802, punch 807, and magnetic head 808 are controlled by a controller 188 (288 for card issuing machines and 319 for settlers) consisting of a a 17 o04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o S0 oo o asa o o D o a o I o€ microcomputer according to the signal detected by the indicated sensors 811-815.

On the other hand, according to the assembly the pinball machine 110 is constructed as an enclosed machine that uses free pin balls housed in the machine and is equipped with a ball circulator 120. At the bottom of the pinball machine 110, a control knob 111 that delivers the enclosed balls to the game area one at a time, a control dial 112, and a purchase switch 113 which facilitates the game procedure using the mentioned card, "PLAY OVER" switch 114, "INTERRUPTION" switch 115 are provided. The configuration of the game area is simil.ar to that of conventional pinball machines. The purchases switch 113 is a command switch 15 to convert the amount that is borne by the card in units of, say, 200 yen, into pin balls in the premises of card insertion to the card inlet/outlet 161, and the pinballs being so converted are designated as to the balls available. The number of balls available is 20 displayed on the ball No. indicator 163 and every time the pinball is ejected by the control knob the number of balls available is decreased by one, and when a winning occurs the number of balls won is added and the total displayed. The "GAME OVER" switch 114 allows the card in use to be restituted from the control unit 160 whenever this switch is activated when the player wishes to stop playing (including the case when he wishes to move to another pinball machine) In such event, the unit controller 190 registers the number of balls available to the player (total of purchased balls and balls won) on the file of the control unit 400 and restitutes the card from the inlet/outout 161. The "INTERRUPTION" switch 115 is used to temporarily stop the game with the game machine currently in play to take a rest. Operating the switch causes the machine -CLCI-_L .i 1 detection of falsified cards and reducing the load on the computer based control unit in case of fraud.

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1 18- 0 0 0 0 00 0 Oao a c 00 oa oo 1 o, 99 o o 00 o o, o g to restitute the card temporarily and to enter the stand by state until the same card is inserted, while the machine does not accept other cards. Among the mentioned switches, the purchase switch 113 and interruption switch 115 have built in lamps. When the number of balls available reaches the lamp in the purchase switch 113 blinks and depressing the interruption switch 115 lights the built-in lamp until interruption follows.

Fig. 7 shows a configuration of the rear side of the pinball machine 110.

A prize ball collecting groove 122, which covers multiple prize ball guiding holes 121 made in the pinball game panel in accordance with the winning range 15 provided in the game area in front of the pinball game panel is installed in the rear side of the pinball panel 101. The bottom wall of the prize ball collecting groove 122 runs down toward the center and is inclined thus forming guide shelves 122a and 122b, with 20 respect to the flow bottom end to which the first guiding groove 123 is connected. Prize balls flowing into the prize ball collecting groove 122 travel on the guiding shelves 122a and 122b and join a common flow channel where they are detected by the "SAFE" sensor 25 131 while running down through the primary guiding groove 123. In accordance with the "OUT" holes 102 provided at the bottom of the game area, on the rear side of the game panel, a recovery groove 124 is installed. Recovery groove 124 is end to end with the guiding groove 123. In addition, in this assembly, the second guiding groove 125 for the recovery of prize pinballs obtained from a large-size variable prizewinning device installed in the game area is provided, while the second guiding groove 125 is end to end with the recovery groove 124. On the recovery groove 124 Fig. 11 is a block diagram of the control unit of the pinball machine; I 19 and the second guiding groove 125, the "OUT" sensor 132 and the "SAFE" sensor 133 are mounted for the detection of pinballs flowing in the respective areas.

Installation of the first guiding groove 123 and the second guiding groove 125 allows the number of balls won from the respective winning ranges to be varied, thereby offering further amusement to the player.

The confluence of the indicated grooves is connected at the connecting hole 127 to the middle of the guiding groove 126 that guides recovered pinballs to the ball ejector 111.

The indicated guiding groove 126 is connected to o the foul ball inlet 104 provided in the middle of the 04~ 15 curved guide rail 103 which guides the pinballs ejected o o by the control knob 111 to the top of the game area as shown in Fig. 8. "FOUL", "SAFE" (prize balls), and 0 "OUT" balls are all recovered by the guiding groove 126 and guided to the control knob 111. At the middle of 00 20 the guiding groove 126, a "FOUL" sensor 134 which 0 detects the pinballs recovered from the "FOUL" ball o 0 inlet 104, a ball leveling lever 105 that lines up the pinballs recovered in the guiding groove, and a ball 00 0 removal lever 106 that removes the enclosed balls to the outside are installed. The balls detected by the "FOUL" sensor 134 are subtracted from the balls ejected and the number of balls actually ejected in the game area is counted precisely. On the front end of the guide rail 103 ball discharge sensors 135 and 136 are mounted to detect the pinballs ejected from the ball dispensing control knob 111 to avoid a wrong delivery counted as ejected balls and count the delivery from the ball movement from the ball discharge sensor 135 to the ball discharge sensor 136. The ball removal lever 106 feeds pinballs to the ball delivery control knob V4 pinball machine is turned on; and Fig. 25 is a flow chart that shows the processing side while overcoming the rotation of the rotary plate 107 installed as a part of the bottom wall of the guiding groove 126. Sliding the lever 106 upward as shiown in Fig. 9 causes the rotary plate 107 to tilt downward under its own weight in order to discharge pinballs in the guiding groove 126.

On the other hand, at the bottom end of the guiding groove 126, an oscillating ball feeder 128 with a ball carrier 128a as shown in Fig. 9 is installed.

The oscillation of the ball feeder separates the pinballs in the guiding groove 126 and moves them one by a one to the delivery front end position of the guide rail 103. The ball feeder 128 tilts upward with respect to the ejector lever lila of the ball delivery o 15 control knob 111. At the boundary between the guiding 000 groove 126 and the delivery front end of the guide rail 000 103 a partition wall 109 is installed, and as the ball 0 0 feeder 128 is tilted upward, one pin ball held by the ball carrier 128a at the top end climbs over the o 20 partition wall 109 and is thereby transferred. The o a 0ball feeder 128 contains a cylindrical weight 129, with whose weight the ball feeder 128 smoothly returns to o its original position.

Fig. 10 shows the control system of the pinball.

machine.

o The controller 188 shown in Fig. 10 is the device that colitrols the transfer motor 802, magnetic head 808, and punch 807 which form the card reader 180 shown in Fig. 4. Various switches 165, 171, 173 indicators 162, 163, 164, 166, 167, and a speaker 168 installed in the controller 188 and control unit 160 are supervised by the unit controller 190 consisting of a microcomputer.

Though not limited to those, in this assembly the control unit 150 and various sensors and indicators of present invention before concrete discussion is made onA each component of the said integral unit. j

LI

21 the pinball machine 110 are connected to the indicated unit controller 190 by means of an optical-fiber cable 191. To enable the communication by an optical fiber cable, optical the multiple data links (interface) 192, 193 consisting of a parallel/serial converter that converts parallel data to and from serial data and an optical/electrical converter that converts electrical signal to and from optical. signals are installed between the unit controller 190 and the optical fiber cable 191 as well as between the optical fiber cable and the control unit 150.

00 Using an optical fiber cable 191 for data com- 0 0 munication between the unit controller 190 and the 0.

control unit 150 of the pinball machine streamlines the 15 wiring which is installed in a complicated manner in the rear side of pinball machines, thereby facilitating 00 a the maintenance and control as well as avoiding faulty o0 0 wire connections.

Fig. 11 shows the control system of the pinball 000 o 0: 20 machine 110.

00 0 The unit controller 190 con'rols through the mentioned optical multiple data link 193 and optical fiber cable 191 the indicated control unit 150, ball delivery control knob 111, purchase permission indicator lamp 113a built in the purchase switch 113, and S0o interruption indicator lamp l15a built in the intero 0o ruption switch 115, which are all installed in the driver 195. Signals from the purchase switch 113, play over switch 114, and interruption switch 115 are transmitted to the mentioned unit controller 190 via the optical multiple data link 193 and optical fiber cable 191.

The indicated control unit 150 is operated by a microcomputer, to which detection signals from the ball discharge sensors 135, 136, "SAFE" sensors 131, 133, OTA to iix, and 8-bit timing code TME of dummy data to protect the effective data section. Between the card 22 "FOUL" sensor 134, and "OUT" sensor 132 are sent.

Based on these signals, the control unit judges the prize, foul, and balls delivered and notifies the unit controller 190 of the result.

Meanwhile, the unit controller 190 calculates the operation data of the number of balls won, the number of balls, delivered number of balls available, sales amount, etc. in accordance with these detected signals related to pinballs and signals received from the purchase switch 113, generates the operation information (play condition) related to pinball machines and 0monitor information, and writes them in the transmission data area SDA of the unit memory 140 consisting of oo 00 oti dual port inputs.

o00 0o 15 The operation data written in the unit memory 140 0 is sent to the control unit through the data communica- 0 0 oOo 0 tion with control unit 400 by the transmission controller discussed later. The data sent from the control unit 400 is written once in the receiving data area RDA in the unit memory 140, and the data reception takes aplace when the unit controller 190 reads the data. For 0 at the unit memory 140, a common data area CDA is provided to contain commands or status information to notify the corresponding controller of the existence of data transmitted or received by the memory.

,Fig. 12 shows a configuration of the indicated According to the assembly the settler 300 consists of a card reader 310 that reads the card No. of the inserted DC card, a balance paying machine 320 which refunds the amount equivalent to the unused sum, a printer 330 which issues receipts indicating the number of balls available wow in the games, various indicators 340-342, and a control unit 350 that controls the whole settler 300.

;I ~17 I

~PIL.~II_--

23 0600 0 0 0000 o o o 0 0 0 o ooo oo Q o o 00 0 0. 0 0 0 o o 0 4 0 £0 4 t S(1 4 I. Li In a position corresponding to the card reader 310, a card slot 311, a ball No. indicator 312 that indicates the number of prize balls (balls available), and an amount indicator 313 that indicates the unused sum are installed on the front panel 301. When the player inserts a card through the card slot 311, the card reader 310 reads the card No. recorded on the magnetic surface of the card back side and sends it to the control unit 400, and receives the data of the card from the control unit. The unused sum is displayed by the amount indicator 313 together with the number of balls obtained which is displayed by the ball No. indicator 312, and a receipt is issued by the printer 330. The card inserted is recovered (forfeited) from 15 the card storage tank 314 after a hole is made on a specified punching position PH 5 by the punch 807 upon completion of the settlement. In this way, abuse of settled cards is prevented.

The configuration of the card reader 310 is nearly 20 identical to that of the card reader 180 of the pinball machine 110 (see Fig. The printer 330 draws out a blank sheet of paper stocked in a roll, prints the issue date, number of balls obtained, unused sum, and card history, and delivers it throuigh the receipt slit 331.

Simultaneously the amount equivalent to the unused sum is paid back by the balance paying machine (bank note dispenser) 320. The bank note dispenser 320 consists of a bank note tank 321 for the storage of bank notes and a bank note outlet 322. At the time of settlement, fractions of up to 1000 yen are refunded, therefore, a coin dispenser 326 consisting of coin tank 324 that stores coins in units of 100 yen and a coin outlet 325 is provided.

In addition, on the front panel 301 of the settler

I

,I

I ii: ii~ !?f ii ,il ;r .o 9 24 300, there is a monitor display 340, consisting of a "SETTLING" lamp 341 which indicates that the card is being settled, "NOT SETTLING" lamp that indicates inability to settle cards, "CARD OVERFLOW" lamp that indicates the tank 313 is full of cards inserted through the card slot 31.1, "NO BANK NOTE" indicator that indicates a shortage of bank notes stored in the bank note tank 321 of the bank note dispenser 320, "NO COIN" indicator that indicates a shortage of coins stored in the coin tank 324 of the coin dispenser, "NO PAPER" indicator that indicates a shortage of roll paper in the printer 330. In order to detect these .09 conditions and activate the corresponding indicating Soo lamps, the card tank 314, bank note tank 321, coin tank o 15 324, and printer 330 are provided with sensors 361, 362, 363, and 364 respectively. The coin dispenser 326 o o is equipped with a coin removal switch 327. o0 0 0" Furthermore, according to the assembly a machine No. setter 305 is mounted inside the settler 300 in 0I 20 order to differenciate the various settlers installed in a pinball parlor and to check the settler that settles a specific card in the control unit 400. The machine No. set by the setter 305 is sent to the control unit 400 and used to generate the transmission link for data communication and create a data file for each settler.

Though not limited to these, the machine number set by the setter 305 is displayed on the name plate 306 attached to the top of the front panel 301 of the settler.

Fig. 13 shows a control system of the settler 300 constructed as above.

In the figure, the items designated by the symbols Lll-L4 are lamps constituting the monitor display.

In this system, the magnetic head 808, punch 807 ii 25 and transfer mot u 802 constituting the card reader 310 are controlled by the CPU (microcomputer) operated controller 319 (equivalent to the controller 188 in Fig.

4) in accordance with the detection signals received from the various sensors 811-815. The controller 319, together with the various sensors, indicators, bank note dispenser 320, coin dispenser 326, and printer 330 mounted on the settler are controlled by the unit controller 351 in the microcomputer-operated control unit 350.

The unit controller 351 controls the indicated oo0 components, checks the card No., receives and displays 0ooo the card data, and carries out the settlement proceti oo while collecting the operation data and writing them in 0 00 15 the transmission data area SDA in the unit memory 370 oo made up with the dual memory input. The operation data o written in the unit memory 370 are sent to the control 0 0 o o unit 400 through the data communication with the control unit via the transmission cable led from the transmission controller. The data sent from the control unit is written once in the receiving data area RDA in the unit memory 370, and the data reception is o carried out when the unit controller 351 reads it. The unit memory 370 is provided with a common data area CDA that accommodates the commands and status information which notifies the corresponding controller of the existence of data transmitted and received by the memory.

In this assembly, receiving the card history data, printing them together with the time data on a receipt, and delivering the data in a form of receipt through the receipt outlet can lead the player to thinic that the settlement data in highly reliable. However, the history data covers as many as 20 games stored in the card file.

Now explanation is given of the control unit 400 data tile according to each issuing machine.

Though not limited to this, the same number as the li I JYi 26 which controls in a general manner the pinball machine 100, the card issuing machine 200, and settler 300 constructed as indicated above, collects the operation data in real time, reset the system immediately to the original data state and restarts the function of every system section when a power failure or trouble are restored, and allows the aggregation of data required for the management of a pinball parlor.

FIG. 14 schematically represents the control unit 400 and FIG. 15 system configuration of the control unit.

The control unit 400 has a nearly similar configss o o00 uration to that of a small business computer. That is, the control 400 consists of a main memory M-MEN cono0* 15 sisting of a central pruoessing unit CPU and semicon- 04 oductor memory (RAM), timer (including calendar) TMR, control box 401 storing communication control SCC, o oo etc., floppy disk storage 402 and hard disk storage 403 as auxiliary storage means provided at the top of the control box 401, printer 404 for printing the collected data, CRT indicator 405 that indicates the message and collected data, and console 406 through which the operator gives commands and set the data in the CPU.

The printer 404 is equipped with a buffer 404a for temporarily storing the print data in order to improve the output of the control unit 400.

In addition, the control unit 400 has as special devices for the pinball system, a card reader 407 that issues a test card as a means for generating the system's functions from each terminal, and auxiliary printer 408 that prints in real time the emergency information generated in the system such as "BALL DELIV- ERY" specific to pinball machines, which are all mounted at the top of the control box 401.

To protect the operation data of all the terminals ii 27 stored in volatile data state and the data of all the issued cards in case of power failure by transferring them to the hard disk storage 403, the auxiliary power supply unit 409 is installed below the mentioned control box to allow the control unit to operate for at least 10 minutes.

In this assembly, according to the present invention, the system consisting primarily of a pinball machine, card issuing machine, settler, and control unit is discussed. However, this invention can be extended to such system that the control unit 400 may further control a shop broadcasting unit, prize exoO changer, and automatic vending machine shown in broken o 0 o lines X, Y, Z in Fig. 5. Particularly, the prize exo 0 15 changer that exchanges the pinballs available for prizes may be incorporated with a system that allows a direct exchange with the use of a card without the need o 0 for the settler 300.

In addition, the console 406 constituting the control unit 400 has an independent key configuration most suited to the pinball system shown in the assembly.

FIG. 16 shows the key configuration of the console 406. FIG. 16 shows the console top, that is, panel surface, while FIG. 16 shows the console rear surface.

In FIG. 16, 421 is an "OPEN" switch which notifies the system terminals of the shop opening, 422 is a "CLOSED" switch for the shop closing. The card becomes valid at terminals from when the "OPEN" switch 421 is turned on until the "CLOSED" switch 422 is turned on.

423 is an "OVER" switch that stores the operation data of all terminals in the floppy disk storage 402 and instructs the control unit to stop the operation after the shop is closed. 424 is a card recovery switch that leads to the processing damaged cards recovery.

Iq -28- The four switches "OPEN" 421, "CLOSED" 422, "OVER" 423, and "CARD RECOVERY" 424 are especially important for this system. To prevent tempering with the switches when the system is operating, the switches are linked to the key switch 420 installed at the back (top in the figure) and cannot be turned on unless the key switch 420 is activated.

425, 426, and 427 are ten keys, return key, and delete key respectively of the same type installed in the console of standard personal computers.

428 is a "DISPLAY MENU" switch that leads to a display of data related to the cards and the operation 00 0 data of each terminal on the CRT screen of the CRT displ.ay unit 405, 429 is a "CRT CLEAR" switch that enables o 0-0 0+o 15 the CRT display unit to clear the data displayed on the CRT screen. 430 is a "PRINT MENU" switch that gives Sthe printer 404 an order to print the data related to 00 0 S2 the cards and the operation data of each terminal, 431 is a "PRINT STOP" switch that orders the printer 404 to S 20 stop printing. 432 is a "SET" switch that leads to the 00 0:setting of the No. of "BALL DELIVERY" or "BALL DELIV- ERY" mode in pinball machines, 433 is a "BALL DELIVERY RELEASE" switch which orders the pinball machine to release the "BALL DELIVERY" state, where the pinball machine has discharged all the preset prize balls and has been ordered to discontinue playing, 434 is an "EN- FORCEMENT END" switch which leads to the arrest of a D specific terminal or all terminals when normal control or data collection is prevented due to a transmission network failure or when a misuse by the player is detected, 435 is an "END RELEASED" switch that frees the terminals forcibly shutdown, 439 is a "DATE SETTING" switch. According to the assembly, in the console 406 there is a buzzer 440 that generates sound to attract the attention of the operator when an emergency such as tectdl 35 i an"ENDRELASED swtch hatfree t0 i ~lr I- -I i-;ll( i ~li~n

L--

29 "DELIVERY BALL" occurs in a pinball machine and a "BUZ- ZER STOP" switch 436 which silences the buzzer.

Among the indicated switches, switches 421-424 and 432-436 shown with double frames in the drawing are of built-in lamp type. The built-in lamps are lit while the switches are turned on and the corresponding process is carried out or the corresponding state is maintained. However, the lamp built in the "BUZZER STOP" switch 436 operates according to the buzzer, it is lit while the buzzer is sounding and goes off when the "STOP switch 436 is depressed.

Furthermore, according to the assembly, there is 0000oo on rear side of the console 406, a "TEST CARD" switch c0 o 437 which gives a test card issue command and "BUILTo 15 IN" switch 438 which sets the exchange rate for the purchase of balls, parlor code, total of terminals, and number of prize balls per one winning ball. Unlike 0 o other switches, these switches 437 and 438 are scarcely used and are important only to a specific personnel, o0 o 20 such as the manager of a pinball parlor. This is the 0 CD 06reason why these switches are mounted on the rear sur- 0 face of the console.

0 o Now, an explanation will be given for the test card use. As seen from the configuration already described, according to this assembly the pinball system o places all terminals (pinball machines, card issuing 0 00 machines, settlers, etc.) under the administration of the control unit and prepares them for a ready operation through the exchange or card No., preventing an individual terminal from operating independently. Because pinball machines are frequently used, troubles sich as ball plugging or failure of gadgets like the so-called "TULIP" a kind of loss-leading device) often occur, and the machine requires an adjustment of the intervals of interference nails in the game area in rig I1dL I I.LI It-- aitA I I

I

30 order to adjust the ball-gaining ratio. In such event, test shooting is performed after a repair or nail adjustment work, but it is quite inconvenient to start up the overall system and operate the pinball machines with purchased cards only. Therefore, this assembly is so constructed as to allow a single pinball machine to perform games with a fixed number of test balls made available by turning on the test switch 171 in the control unit 160 of the pinball machine and inserting a special test card issued by the control unit into the card inlet/outlet 161 of the control unit 160.

The card reader 407 installed in the control unit 400 has nearly the same construction as the card reader 180 of the pinball machine shown in FIG. 4. However, S 15 unlike the card issuing machine, the card reader has no oo o blank cards inside but employs a system to accept blank °cards from the outside and record a specified code, V thus it has no card storage tank. Because the test cards an recovery cards issued by the control unit 400 are not always necessary for stating the date used or 00 o card No. as required in other general cards, a printer o0)0 is not required, either. To issue a recovery card, the card is punched at a specified position PH 2 by the 0 apunch 807.

As described above, according to this assembly terminals .00, 200, 300 are all placed under the supervision of the control unit 400, and are, in principle, not operated individually unless the control unit 400 is activated. Consequently, at the start of the systems, the control unit 400 allocates settings to all the terminals to be initialized. Prior to the initialization, the control unit picks up the machine No. from each terminal and generates each transmission line to enable the data transmission. During the system operation, the control unit collects the operation data of take a rest. Operating the switch causes the machine i 31 all the terminals in real time and retains them in the main memory M-MEM.

As described above, in this assembly according to the present invention, the data amount handled by the control unit 400 becomes immense. Therefore, in the assembly, these data are pigeonholded by the file control to facilitate the processing.

The file is, in general, recorded in the main memory M-MEM, but all the files are saved in the hard disk storage 403 in case of power failure. The data file 000. related to the terminals, that is, pinball machine file (hereafter called "P-machine file"), card issuing machine file, and settler file are stored in the floppy disk storage 402 at the closing time of the parlor and 0:0 o15 used for monthly operation data aggregation.

0 s TABLE 1 shows an example of file configuration of the data controlled by the control unit 400.

0° "s-

{A

Pr n 32 TABLE 1 0 0 0 o 00 0 00 D 0 0 0 0 0 0o a Saving area Saving area File No. Creation and Updating when parlor during power is closed, failure *Entered from console 5 at the time of system introduction.

Setting file -Loaded from hard disk HDD HDD FL1 when parlor is opened.

*Updated through console by built-in switch.

Transmission -Prepared by picking up link file from terminals by line None None FL2 test.

*Prepared for every card when card is issued.

Card file F3 Card text updated when None HDD card is being used.

15 *History created when card is being used.

-machine Updated when timed fie F data is collected for FDD HDD file FL4 every second.

Card issuing *Updated when timed machine file data is collected for FDD HDD FL5 -every second.

Settler file Updated when timed FL data is collected for FDD HDD FL6 every second.

These files are, in general, recorded in the main 25 memory M-MEM, but all files are saved in the hard disk storage 403 in case of power failure. The data file related to the terminals, that is, pinball machine file (hereafter called P-machine file), card issuing machine file, and settler file are stored in the shop disk storage 402 at the closing time of and used for monthly operation data aggregation.

The setting file FL1 in the mentioned table contains the settings that vary according to the system characteristics and configuration, such as purchase ball exchange rate, parlor code, number of terminals, 0 I ii -33 number of prize balls, and limit of delivered balls (delivery balls) which are stored beforehand on a hard disk by an entry from the console at the time of system introduction. This setting file is, in general, loaded in the main memory from the hard disk HDD at the time of shop opening. The setting file FL1 may be updated from the console by depressing the built-in switch when pinball machines are updated.

TABLE 2 shows an example of setting file FL1.

0 0 o 0 0 o S 34 TABLE 2 Setting file configuration 0 0 0 0 a a 0 ao o 0 o o 0 0 0 0 o o o 0 o 0 ooo No. of Variable Setting file of Definition Save ariable byte name Purchase ball exchange 2 2 o rate Parlor code 2 c (identification code) No. of NAU units 2 o No. of pinball machines 2 o No. of card issuing 2 machines No. of settlers 2 o Head of machine No. 2 o Tail of machine No. 2 o i=l No. of main prize balls No. of sub prize 2 balls Head of machine No. 2 o Tail of machine No. 2 o i=16 No. of main prize balls 2 No. of sub prize balls 2 Head of machine No. 2 o j=l Tail of machine No. 2 o No. of limit of delivered balls Head of machine No. 2 o j=16 Tail of machine No. 2 o No. of limit of delivered balls A,

I

tr 35 Oo o 0000 0 o0 00 0o 00 0 0O 9 o 00 00 0 oo g 0 0 0 0 00 No. of Variable Setting file N Definition Save ae edbyfte name Head of machine No. 2 o k=l Tail of machine No. 2 o Delivery ball mode 2 o Head of machine No. 2 o k=16 Tail of machine No. 2 o Delivery ball mode 2 o Date 3 o 15 Total capacity: 335 bytes In the mentioned table, the purchase ball exchange rate is the number of leased balls corresponding to the purchase sum unit (say, 200 yen), that is, the number of balls available, and the number of NAU units is the 20 20 total of the network adapter units (communication control units) installed at the connections between the higher and lower networks as a data transmission system. In the table indicated with symbol the prize balls from a certain pinball machine to an another pin- 25 ball machine are set. Two kinds of prize ball numbers can be set for one machine. Moreover, as shown with 1-16, in this assembly, all the pinball machines of a pinball parlor are divided into 16 groups and two kinds of numbers of prize balls, main and sub, are de- 30 signed to be set separately for each group. However, consecutive machine Nos are given to the pinball machines with the same settings, and with the head No.

and tail No. the subject range is specified.

Moreover, in the table shown with j, the number of balls is set, while in the table limit of delivered balls is set, while in the table 36 shown with k, the "delivery ball" mode is set. The "delivery ball" mode indicates the method (operation expression) for calculating the limiting number of delivered balls; for instance, there is a mode designating "delivery ball" when the number of delivered prize balls simply reaches the limit of delivered balls or a mode designating "delivery ball" when the difference obtained from subtracting the number of shot balls from the number of delivered prize balls reaches the limit of delivered balls. Though not limited only to those, o in this assembly, as shown with j=1-16, k=1-6, the pinball machines may be divided into 16 groups and the 4 limit of delivered balls and "delivery ball" modes can o be set separately.

15 TABLE 3 shows a configuration example of trans- 0. o o mission link file FL2 which is used for data transmission.

0 0o o /4 ii i i *;i 37 TABLE 3 Transmission link file configuration NAU No.

NAU state Classification Unit No.

flag Machine No.

Serial No.

Channel No.

Monitor information 1 Data of one unit Data of 1 NAU Data of all units o o 00^ 0j 0 o,, o 00 0 qO 00 0 o 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 0 O 0 o o 0 00 oo o 00 0 Data for No. of units Data for No. of NAU

I

I

is o0 a In TABLE 3, the classification flag is a flag showing the kind of terminals: shows a pinball machine, a card issuing machine, a settler, and non-existence of a terminal. Machine No. and serial No. are No. and serial No. of terminals formed excluding and The Unit No. is each terminal's 3 No. located below one NAU (network adapter unit) irrespective of the kind of terminals, and the channel No.

is a number designated as a link of each terminal as seen from the control unit.

NAU No. and machine No. are numbers given by the setting switches (173, 205, 305, 561) as already 38 describe and discrete numbers given with figures excluding and The reason why the figures "4" and are not used is for allowing an octal expression. Now referring to the conversion table shown in TABLE 4, the machine No. expressed in decimals contains only the figures 0-7. According to this formula, the machine No. "258" is expressed as "247".

TABLE 4 0o 0 0 00 o s 0 0 0 0 0 00 S00 o 0 0 00 oo 000 0 00 0 Before conversion 0 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 After conversion 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 0 0 15 To express these in binary code by binary-coded octal, "010.100.111" is obtained. This code shows "167" in decimals and is designated as the serial No.

On the other hand, if the lower 6 bits of the indicated code is taken, regarded as code "10.0111" expressed in 20 binary-coded decimals and converted into hexadecimals we obtain "27H". This assembly designates this number as the unit No. The number combining the NAU number with the head of the unit No., that is, "NAU No. Unit is designated as the channel No. with this method, an efficient link process in agreement with the characteristics of microcomputers that process data using only the binary number system is made available where the customs of avoiding numbers and are firmly rooted, as in Finball parlors.

The said file is established for every terminal in accordance with the data given for inquiry for the unit table from the control unit after the circuit test.

TABLE 5 shows a configuration example of card file FL3. The card file FL3 contains information according to cards.

i 39 TABLE Card file configuration 00* 0 o 0 o o0 o o o 00 0 0 00 Qc 0 Q G e No. of Variable Card file Remarks bytes name Total Issue serial No. n=1...5000 T 174 Card No. f(n) 2 C CANO Balls available 2 C TAMA Sum 2 C GAKU Card state 2 C STAT Residence ter- Residence ter- 2 Serial No. C UNIT minal serial No.

Residence ter- Residence ter- 2 Machine No. C DAIB minal No.

i counter 2 C ICOU Value at the time Machine No. 2 e C iUNI of card issuance Number of At the time of balls_ card settlement At the time of i=l Cost 2 C-iGAK game interruption At the time of Time 2 C-iTIM enforcement end At the time of "BALL DELIVERY" Machine No. 2 Number of balls i=m Cost 2 Time 2 iq i r 1.: 'ir 1 In the indicated table, the card No. is a number obtained from the issue serial No. n by using the function and the card state is the information indicating the current state of the card specified by the issue serial No. and card No., which is hereafter I 40 called card text in this assembly. The card state referred to here consists of, as shown in TABLE 6, the bit showing the free state in which the card is not used in the game, bit showing that the card is used in the game, bit indicating a break in which the player temporarily leaves the pinball machine, bit showing that there has been cards completed with settlements by the settler, bit showing that the balls available and sum in the card have both reverted to zero, bit that there was more than one "BALL DELIVERY" in the past, bit showing that the card was used in the forcibly Sooo stopped pinball machine, and bit showing that the card o X o is a recovered one.

oa o 0 4 0 00 t I 7 WB~r i I.I .l -I -Y~L-IUI e 41 TABLE 6 Card state 0000 DJO0 00 00 0 0 0000 O 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0D BIT Name Description Remarks 0 14 0 13 0 12 0 11 0 0 9 0 8 0 7 FREE 1 FREE 6 PLAY 1 PLAY 5 TYUUDAN 1 BREAK 4 SEISAN 1 SETTLED (settled through settler.) 3 KIREI 1 RETURN-TO ZERO (available balls and sum become zero) 2 UCHIDOME 1 BALL DELIVERY 1 SYUURYOU 1 ENFORCEMENT END 1 0 FUKKATSU 1 RECOVERED CARD 0 REGULAR CARD Now referring to TABLE 5, the card file FL3, the residence terminal serial No. and residence terminal No. that indicate the terminal where the card is located are shown. Almost all pinball parlors do not usually use the figures and as a machine No. and therefore two kinds of terminal No. are actually assigned to one terminal.

The counter of TABLE 5 shows the number of actions which a card has made, that is, the number of times a. card has been discharged from the system of an internal unit to the outside. In accordance with this number, the card information, such as the machine No., balls available, sum, and time, that is, card history, is recorded. It is statistically known that almost all players usually play games using less than 20 pinball machines per day, and therefore, for this assembly a card is designed to record its history up to 20 However, if the card activity exceeds 20 times, the "i" L1 L~ CL J U tZ (1L 'i'i LI11ctL. eij.t the attention of the operator when an emergency such as All: 42is recorded in such a form as to update the table shown as IN such event, the counter does not count the breaks of in a play. That is, the card information is recorded in a new area during a break but when the play end switch is activated after the break is released, the card information is recorded on the same area without updating the counter, thereby matching the counter reading with the actual number of pinball machines used.

10 Referring now to FIG. 17, the counter state and o 90 o 0 action and recording of the card information on the o card file FL3 will be described in detail hereafter.

At first when a card is issued from the card issuing machine 200, the card is ejected. The card shifts 00oo$.

from NOT USED (blank) state SSO to FREE state SS1.

0 o Then, the insertion of the card in the desired pinball machine 100 causes the card to shift to the play state o00 0SS2. Here, if the balls available and the sum on the card return to zero while playing a game, the card is discharged and reverts to the RETURN-TO-ZERO state SS3.

Depressing the INTERRUPT switch 115 during a game discharges the card and reverts to the INTERRUPT state SS4, which is reset to the PLAY state SS2 by reinserting the same card. Depressing the END switch 114 to stop playing during a game discharges the card and the card reverts to the FREE state SS1. ENFORCEMENT END by CPU or BALL SHORTAGE discharges the card which reverts from the PLAY state SS2 to the FREE state SSI.

If the player brings in a FREE state card to the settler 300 and takes follows the procedure for settlement, "INVALID" is printed and the card is recovered.

The card then reverts to the SETTLEMENT END state In the system according to this assembly, it is pos- i sible for the player to go directly to the settler 300 with the card in an INTERRUPT state SS4 without U..U m le iicauiine requires an aadustment or the intervals of interference nails in the game area in I I 43 returning to a pinball machine to follow the procedure for settlement. In such event, the card reverts from the INTERRUPT state SS4 to the SETTLEMENT END state In the indicated state transition drawing, the direction indicated by an arrow marked by shows the action followed by a recording of card information on the card file FL3. The symbol XXH shown in each block shows the state expressed in hexadecimal digits (HEXA 10 expression) by the use of the code indicating the card state in TABLE 6.

Now an example of configuration of a P-machine file FL4 is shown in TABLE 7.

i j jr: p oooa So o 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 00 0 00 00 0 flu

J

ation, the control unit collects the operation data of ~irr~ ~3 44

I

o 0o 00 0 a o oo 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 o o Sooo o 0 o 00 1 TABLE 7 P-machine file configuration No. of Variable P-machine file Definition Save bytes name Total n=l n=500 56 Machine No. 2 P NUMB Serial No. 2 P SERI Channel No. 2 Address P-CHAN Monitor 2 P MON1 information 1 Monitor 2 P MON2 information 2 Operation 2 P STAT information No. of balls 4 o P TAMA delivered No. of balls 4 o P OUTT recovered_ With Difference 4 ool P SASU Symbol Balls available 2 P-MOTI (No. of balls) Unit: Sales 2 oUnit: P URIA 100 yen No. of ball 2 o P UTID delivery No. of players 2 o P_KYAK No. of purchase 2 P_KOUN Card No. 2 P CNUM Current No. of balls 2 P CTAM value Current Amount 2 uP CGAK value Current Card state 2 P CSTA value No. of main 2 P MAIN prize balls No. of sub 2 P SUBS prize balls No. of ball 2 P UMAX delivery Ball-delivery 2 P NMON mode Reverse 6 Total capacity: 56x506 28336 approx. 30K bytes oo 0 o a 0 6000 i ,I L- I L1 a 0 0000 0 0 o oo000 0000 ao o 0 00 0 0 o0 o 000 0 00 00 0 0 0 45 In the indicated table, items from Machine No. to Card State are data retained in the transmission data area, which are sampled once per second by the control 400 and recorded on file. The No. of main prize balls, No. of sub prize balls, No. of ball delivery, and ball delivery mode file FL1 shown in TABLE 18 at the time of the system start-up.

TABLE 8 and 9 show the card issuing machine file FL5 and settler file FL6 respectively.

TABLE 8 Card issuing machine file configuration No. of Variable P-.aachine file Definition Save bytes name Total n=1 n=50 15 30 Machine No. 2 H NUMB Serial No. 2 H SERI Channel No. 2 Address H-CHAN 2 Monitor H MON information 1- Monitor Monitor 2 H MON2 information 2 Operation H STAT information Amount received 4 H UKEI Deposit received 4 o H AZUK Amount paid 4 o H HARA No. of issues 2 o H HAKO Reverse 4 Total capacity: 30x50 1500 1.5K bytes 0 0 Iw v 46 1 jl i

*I

TABLE 9 Settler file configuration 0 a o 0 1 No. of Variable P-machine file Definition Save bytes name Total n=l n=10 34 Machine No. 2 S NUMB Serial No. 2 S SERI Channel No. 2 Address S CHAN Monitor 2 S MON1 information 1 2 M Monitor 2 SMON2 information 2 Operation 2 S STAT information Amount settled 4 o S GAKU Bank note amount 4 S SIHB Coin amount 4 S KOKA No. of ballsS TAMA 4 O S TAMA settled_ No. of No. of 2 O S KATS settlements- Reserve 4 0 0 0 4 q e Total capacity: 34x10 340 0.34K bytes The data items shown in TABLE 8 coincide with the data retained in the transmission data area of the card issuing machine, while those shown in TABLE 9 coincide with the data retained in the transmission area. These are sampled once per second by the control unit.

In TABLE 7 to 9, the data marked by are the data to be saved in the floppy disk when the parlor is closed.

Now we will discuss the data transmission line (local area network) that physically connects the card issuing machine 100, pin ball machine 200, settler 300 j t 47 as terminals built in the control unit 400 as indicated above that controls integrally these terminals and enables the data transmission and card operation. FIG.

18 shows a configuration of pinball game system using the hierarchical data transmission route.

This means that, 100 to 1000 units of terminals (pinball machines) are grouped, for instance, in 20 to l 40 units per every machine line in the pinball parlor, and the terminals of each group are connected to the network adapter unit (hereafter called NAU) 530 by the 0 token passage system lower network (token bus) 510 designed to exhibit a node preparation (terminal), which 00 has an access right called token that circulates at high speed on a ring network, to transmit and receive the data in a batch form.

0 A multiple number of NAU 530 that controls each low network (token bus) 510 is connected to the control 400 via a higher network 520 of CSMA/CD system.

400 The lower network 510 has a transmission rate of 2.5 Mbps (negabit/sec.), and the higher network 520 is adjusted so that it has a transmission rate of 10 Mbps, 04 while the NAU530 absorbs the difference between the two networks and works as a buffer to allow smooth data transmission, thereby reducing the load on the control 400 and enabling it to collect a great amount of operation data.

In FIG. 18, the unit indicated by symbol P is a pinball machine token as a terminal, with H as a card issuing machine, and S as a settler.

Terminals P, 11, and S are connected to the connection line led from the lower network 510 by means of the cable connection circuit 540 as shown in FIG. 3, 6, and 12. To the terminal end of each connecting cable, the control unit 160, 250, and 350 of each terminal are led. The unit indicated by symbol U in FIG. 18 is the 4 48 control unit of each terminal.

FIG. 19 shows a configuration of the control unit common to all terminals.

That is, between the uni' controller 190 (251, 351) that controls each terminal and the lower net work 510, there is installed a data transmission controller 551 that transmits and receives data without interfer- 8 ing with the operation of unit memory 170 (270, 370) and the unit controller 190 (251, 351) as a parallel 1 0 communication device, a buffer batch memory 552 that Oholds the transmission and receives the data in a batch oform in order to increase the speed of the data trans- S0 mission, a network controller 553 for the communication control which converts the transmitted parallel data into a serial data and the receiv2d serial data into a parallel data as well as establishing the transmission and reception order in the lower network (token bus) 510, a level conversion circuit 554 which converts the level of transmission and reception data signal, and a connection circuit 540 which separates and connects the transmission and reception signals. The controllers r ,551 and 553 are provided with a microcomputer, and the batch memory 552 with a dual memory input similar to the unit memory 170. However, the batch memory 552 has no common data area accommodating the commands, and the processing of the data transmission and reception made between the data transmission controller 551 and the network controller 553 is carried out directly between the controllers.

FIG. 20 shows a circuit configuration of the mentioned NAU (network adapter unit) that absorbs the data transmission between the lower network 510 and higher network 520.

The NAU 530 in this assembly is equipped with a lower network controller 533 that establishes the a 49 transmission and reception order while the serialparallel converts the data in the lower network 510, a higher network controller 537 that establishes the transmission and reception order while the serialparallel converts the data in the CSMA/CD systems higher network, and a data transmission controller 535 that controls the data transmission between these network oo. t controllers 533 and 537, Among the indicated control- 000 0 lers, the lower network controller 533 consists of a 1 0 transmission LSI special for token passage, a higher o network controller 537 and a data transmission control- °°a0 ler 535 with a general-purpose microcomputer. Between o these controllers 533 and 535 and 535 and 537, respeco tive buffer batch memories 534 and 536 are connected to 15 absorb the difference in the data transmission rate 0 o 0 0 between the lower network 510 and higher network 520.

o The batch memories 534, 536 consist of dual memory inputs and possess transmission and reception data areas.

0 o 0 0 Between the lower network controller 533 and the lower network (token bus) 510, there is a connection circuit 531 that separates and connects the transmission and 0 reception signals and a level conversion circuit 532 that converts the level of the transmission and reception data signals. In the same manner, between the higher network controller 537 and the higher network 520 a level conversion circuit 538 and a connection circuit 539 are installed.

Furthermore, in the NAU 530 of this assembly, an NAU No. setter 561 that sets the number for the identification of the NAU connected in groups, a minimum machine No. setter 562 that sets the minimum machine No.

of the terminals existing on the lower network 510 under control of each NAU 530, a No. of machine setters 563 that set the number of terminals existing on the lower network are provided. Adjustments of each setter 1 50 561-563 are entered in the data transmission controller 535 in the NAU 530, and the NAU No. is used to form the transmission link of each NAU in the higher network 520. The transmission link of each terminal in the lower network 510 is formed by the minimum machine No.

and the number of machines.

In the indicated hierachical local network 500 .oo0 (FIG. the control 400 tests the circuits through each NAU 530 and adjusts the settings for each termi- 0 nal, while during the system operation the NAU 530 col- 0 lects the operation data once per second from terminals o0 P, H, and S by using the lower network 510 and stores 0o 0 it in own memory. The stored data are recorded in the data file of the control 400 from each NAU 530 through 15 the higher network 520 once per second in response to 0 0 S° the request from the control 400.

So As discussed above, because the communication network is constructed hierarchically with the NAU 530 °o 0 used as a buffer and the higher network 520 is designed to have a transmission rate 4 times as fast as 2.5 Mbps of the lower network 510, even in a system of 100 to 1000 terminals, a large amount of operation data is collected per second in the control unit from each terminal.

Now referring to FIG. 21 through 25, an example of control procedure of a card reader of pinball machine using the card reader controller 188 is described hereafter. The flow chart shows the processing of a card provided with only one genuine/false verification physical layer.

When a card is inserted in the card slot 801 of the card reader 180 and the sensor 1 (811) detects the card, the transfer motor 802 rotates normally, and I simultaneously the delivery flag installed in the controller 188 is cleared (Step R1-R3). As the motor 802 r;;r r;i-rri-~ua i~ 51 rotates normally, the card is driven in, but in this event if the sensor 5 (815) detects a rotation of the motor 802 and detection pulses arise, the counter counts the number of pulses and the controller 188 perfcrms a rotation angle according to the counts. When the card advances to a specified position, that is, a genuine/false verification layer TFI is set against the sensor 2 (812), the motor rotation is stopped and based on the detection signal the inserted card is defined as 10 being genuine or false (step R4-R7) me If the card is found to he genuine, the motor runs normally in Step R8, and if the card is found to be false, the discharge flag is set to Step R9, and the card goes to Step R10. When the number of genuine/ false verification physical layers is four, the abovementioned Steps R5 to R8 are repeated four times, ber 0fore the card goes to Step Step RI0 checks whether the issuing punch position

PH

1 of the card is set against the sensor 3 (813) for reading. When the punch position comes to the reading position, the controller reads the signal of sensor 3 and judges there is a punched hole or not (Step RIl, R12). If there is no hole, the discharge flag is set to Step R13, if there is one, the card goes to Step R14.

Step R14 checks whether the recovery punch position PH 2 of the card is against the reading sensor 3 (813). When the punch position concords with the reading position, the controller reads the signal of sensor 3 and judges whether, there is a hole or not (Step R16) and if, no hole is found, the discharge flag is set to Step R17, and there is one, the card goes to Step R18.

Step R1B checks whether the return-to-zero punch position PH 3 of the card is against the reading sensor6 U 52- 3 (813) When the punch position concords with the reading position, the controller reads the signal of sensor 3 and judges whether there is a hole or not (Step R19, R20). If no hole is found, the discharge flag is set to Step R21, and if there is one, the card goes to Step R22.

Step R18 checks whether the return-to-zero punch position PH 4 of the card is against the reading sensor 3 (313) When the punch position concords with the reading position, the controller reads the signal. of sensor 3 and judges whether there is a hole or not (Step R19, R20). If no hole is found, the discharge 0 flag is set to Step R21, and if there is one, the card goes to Step R22.

Step R22 checks whether the settlement punch position PH 5 of the card is against the reading sensor 3 (813) When the punch position concored with the reading position, the controller reads the signal of sensor 3 and judges whether -there is a hole or not (Step R23, R24) If no hole is found, the discharge flag is set to Step R25, and if -there is one, the card goes to Step R26.

Step R26 checks whether the card matches the magnetic data reading position on the basis of the number of pulses from sensor 5, if it is negative, the card goes to Step R.29 and if it is positive, the card goes to Step R27. After the data recorded on the magnetic recording section MG (see Fig. 2 is read by the magnetic head 308, it is stored temporarily in the recorder or RAM in the controller 188 (Step R.28) and the card goes to Step R.29.

Step R.29 checks whether the sensor 4 (814) at the lower end of the card reader detects -the card edge or not. If it is negative, the card returns to Step R.4 and repeats the above procedure, and when the sensor 4t t 53 detects the card edge, the card advances to Step where the motor stops, and the card moves to the data evaluation process shown in FIG. 22.

In the above procedure, when the discharge flag is set to Step R9, R13, R17, R21, and R25, the card returns to the main flow, and as shown by symbol Z, it may move on immediately to the data evaluation process oo0a shown in FIG. 22.

During the data evaluation process shown in FIG.

10 22, Step 50 checks whether the discharge flag is set to 0 o Only when the flag is not set to the card Oo, advances to the normal data evaluation processes R51- 00ooo o R65. If the discharge flag is set to the card 0 0 moves to Step R71 and the motor is run in reverse, then the counter counts down the number of pulses of sensor 0 00 0 °o 5, and the motion of the motor 802 is stopped when the 00o0 card is reaching the discharge position while the counter is read (Step R72-R74) In this event, using the 0 0 o signal of sensor 1 as an indication, the motor may be stopped when the signal is off.

When the card moves to Step R51, the controller r' reads the magnetic data stored in Step R28 of FIG. 21 in the recording order, say, in the 4 bit unit. On the head of the stored magnetic data, dummy data is stored.

Therefore, the data read is able to read the data STX, the first effective data (Step R52) and R51 is repeated via Step R53 until the auxiliary data STX is read out. The card moves to the subsequent Step R54 when the auxiliary data STX is read out, but when the auxiliary data STX is destroyed, a positive judgement is obtained at Step R52 and therefore, if a specified number of data is read but STX does not appear. Step R53 is processed as an addition DATA NO. and the card advances to Step R71 for being dispensed.

On tb:1 other hand, when the correct auxiliary data 54 STX is read and the card moves to Step R54, the controller the subsequent magnetic judges whether the correct identification code (Step R55) is accepted. Or not, when the identification code concorde, the card advances to the subsequent Step R56, and if it does not mean, the card moves to Step R71 of the card discharge process.

Step R56 reads the subsequent magnetic data and the steps R57 check whether they agree with the preset 0 10 data. If the date concorde, the card advances to Step 0o R58, while if it does not concord, the card moves to 0oo Step R71, which is the card discharge process.

0 Step R58 reads the card No. as a subsequent mag- S netic data and Step R59 stores the card no. in an other o o 15 storage area. Then, Step R60 reads the subsequent memory magnetic data, but as it is a spare code, the card 0 reverts to Step R61 for canceling and advances to Step 00 R62. At this place, the controller reads the subse- 00 G quent magnetic data and checks whether the data con- 0 20 forms with the auxiliary data ETX of Step R63. If it r conforms, the card advances to Step R64, of if not, the card moves to Step R71 of the card delivery process.

Step R64 calculates the check code of each bit string from the data STX to EXT being read, then reads the subsequent magnetic data of the check code LRC.

Step R66 checks whether the data LRC read concords with the check code calculated at Step R64, and if it concords, the card moves to the No. evaluation process of FIG. 23, if not, the card moves to the card delivery process of Step R71.

In this way, in the flow chart shown in FIG. 22, the card is checked whether it is a genuine one or not through its data. On the other hand, in the flow chart in FIG. 21, the card is checked by the genuine/false verification physical layer on the card at Step R5-R9.

55 Therefore, fraud by copying the cards can be eliminated completely. In the flow chart of FIG. 21, in Step R10-R25, the card state is read through the punched holes PH 1

-PH

5 which determines whether the card can be used for a pinball game. This leads the invalid cards to be immediately discharged from the card reader 180 without a verification of card No. by the control unit discussed later.

Now referring to FIG. 23, the verification proce- 00400 0oooo 10 dure of the card No. by the control unit will be dis- 00 oo cussed hereafter. o 0o0 o OThe controller 188 of the card reader 180 trans- 00 o fers the card No. stored in a specified area at Step o 0 00o o R59 of the data verification process of FIG. 22 to the 15 unit controller 190 of the control unit 160 (Step Si).

The data is then (card No.) is stored in the trans- 0 mission area SDA of the unit memory 170, contained in a a 00 000 "card-in" batch that notifies the card reader of the 00 insertion of a card, and transmitted to the control 400 20 from the control unit 160 via the network 500 (Step S2) When the control 400 receives the card No., it reads the issuing serial No. n (Step S3), and using the issuing serial No. n, the control retrieves the card file FL3 (TABLE 21) (Step S4, S5) When a corresponding file is found, the control reads the file (Step S6) and determines whether the card state is "FREE" (Step S7). When the card state is not "FREE" and the file is not found at Step S5, the control transmits "NAK," negative acknowledgement in Step S10. When there is a card file and the card is in a "FREE," state i the control updates the card file in order to change the card state to "PLAY" and simultaneously writes the terminal No. of the pinball machine that sent the card No. to a specified column (Step The control sets 56 the card text (card information) to "ACK," acknowledgement and transmits (Step S9).

The control unit 160 that transmits the "card-in" receives a response from the control 400 and reads whether it is a "NAK" or "ACK" (Step Sil) when it reads "ACK," referring to the card text sent from the control, the control unit leads the indicators 162, 163 on the control unit front surface to display the unused amount and number of balls available (Step S12). The o o 10 control unit lights the lamps of the analog indicator 09 o 000 164 in a number proportional to the balls available O 0 (Step S13), then drives the ball delivery control knob 0 0 111 (Step S14). The control unit leads the pinball 0 0 o0 machine running information in the transmission area 15 SDA of the unit memory 170 to the "PLAY" state (Step and moves on to the game processing step such as 0000 the calculation of the number of balls delivered and 0 .0 000 recovered (Step S16) o o On the other hand, when the control unit receives 20 a "NAK" at Step SiI, it gives a discharge command to the controller 188 of the card reader 180 (Step S17).

When the controller 188 receives the discharge command, it carries out the card discharge process in the same manner as Step R71-R74 shown in FIG. 22, then enters the card insertion state (Step S18, S19). When it does not receive a discharge command, the controller keeps the card in the card reader 180 and other cards (Step S20) can be received.

Now, referring to FIG. 24, indicating the control procedure when the "GAME OVER" switch 114 (See Fig. 6.) provided on a pinball machine is activated.

When the "GAME OVER" switch 114 is activated and the unit controller 190 of the control unit 160 acknowledges it, the activation of the ball delivery control knob 111 is locked (Step S101, S102).

57o 0 o0 0 00 0 0 o o o0 0 O 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 o00 0 0 00 0000 00 0 000 Then, the controller changes the card state in the transmission area SDA of the unit memory to the "FREE STATE," places the card text in the "END SW" satch that activates the GAME OVER switch, and transmits to the control 400 (Step S103, S104). When the controller reads "ACK" from, the control 400, it changes the display of the ball No. indicator 163 and amount indicator 162 to (Step S105, S106). After changing the pinball machine running information in the transmission 10 area SDA of the unit memory 170, the controller gives a card discharge command to the card reader 180 (Step S107, S108). Then, the control unit 160 lights the lamp of the analog indicator 164 and displays "CUSTOMER WAIT" (Step S109).

15 On the other hand, when the control unit 188 of the card reader 180 receives the card discharge command from the control unit 160 of the above Step S108 (Step R101), the control unit 188 reverses the transfer motor 802 (Step R102). It causes the counter that counts the 20 pulses of the motor-angle-rotation detecting sensor (815) to count down the number of pulses perceived (Step R103), judges whether the card is moving towards the position of the play punched hole PH 3 of the card facing the sensor 3 (Step R104), and if so, the control unit moves to Step R105. At Step R105, the control unit stops the motor 802, and drives the punch 807 to make a hole at the play hole position PH 3 (Step R106), then reverses the motor (Step R107). It again counts down the pulses perceived by sensor 5, and when the card reaches the card delivery position, it stops the motor 802 and carries out the card delivery (Step R108, R109, R110). In this way, the card used once in a game is delivered with a hole punched at a specified position by the punch 807.

Now referring to FIG. 25, the control procedure

-I

58 where the return-to-zero occurs, when both the balls available and unused sum go to zero during a game with a pinball machine is described hereafter.

When the unit controller 190 in the control unit 160 percelves the occurrence of a return-to-zero during a game, it stops the operation of the ball delivery control knob 111 (Step S201, S202).

Then, when the card state is changed in the trans- 0oO0 mission area SDA of the unit memory 170 to a "FREE STATE," it places the card text in the "RETURN-TO-ZERO" o o0 batch that reads an occurrence of a return-to-zero and oo transmits it to the control 400 (Step S203, S204) o When the unit controller receives 'ACK" reply from o"o the control 400, it changes the display of the ball No.

o 00 indicator 163 and amount indicator 162 to (Step S205, S206). When the pinball machine running informao00o tion is changed in the transmission area SDA of the o 0 o, unit memory 170 to a "FREE STATE," the unit controller gives a card delivery command to the card reader 180 S 20 (Step S207, S208). Then, the control unit 160 lights the lamps of the analog indicator 164 and displays a "CUSTOMER WAIT" state (Step S209).

On the other hand, the control unit 188 of the card reader 180 reverses the transfer motor 802 when it receives a card discharge command from the control unit 160 as in the above Step S208 (Step R202). Then the counter that counts the pulses of the motor rotation angle detection sensor 5 (815) to counts down the number of pulses perceived (Step R203), judges whether the card is moving towards the position of the card return-to-zero hole PH4 facing the sensor 3 (Step R204), and if so, it moves on to Step R205. At Step R205, the control unit stops the motor 802, and drives the punch 807 to make a hole at the return-to-zero punching position PI-14 (Step R206), then reverses the 59 motor (Step R207). It again counts down the pulses of the sensor 5, and when the card reaches the position of the punching position PH 3 facing the sensor 3 (Step R208, R209), and if so, it moves on to Step R210.

At Step R210, the control unit stops the motor 802 and drives the punch 807 to make a hole at the punching position PH 3 (Step R211), then reverses the motor (Step R212). The control unit again counts down the pulses oooo of the sensor 5, and when the card reaches the card delivery unit, it stops the motor 802 and performs the o

O

delivery of the card (Step R213, R214, R215).

0 o0 0°o° However, when the card is discharged due to an oo 3E occurrence of a return-to-zero command, the control 0 o unit may skip the above Steps R207 to R211 and delivers 0 00 the card with a return-to-zero hole at the punching position PH 4 o, In all cases it must be understood that the assemoo° 0 0 o bly described above is merely illustrative of but one of the many possible assemblies which represent the °oo° 20 applications of the principles of the present invention. Furthermore, numerous and varied other arrangements can be readily devised by a skilled personnel in accordance with those principles without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (4)

1. 2. A pinball game system according to claim 1 -61- wherein said card contains a magnetic recording section for the storage of identification symbols and a genuine/false verification physical layer for the identification of the card genuinity.
2. 3. A pinball game system according to claim 2 wherein the card issuing machine is adapted to make holes in the card for identification of card history or state.
3. 4. A pinball game system according to claim 3 te, wherein the reading devices of the mentioned pinball t machine and settling machine read the magnetic data Sost of the card, inspect the genuine/false verification poo o' physical layer, and detect the holes.
4. 5. A pinball game system substantially as herein to described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 9th day of November, 1990. C 0 on. KABUSHIKI KAISHA SOPHIA By their Patent Attorneys o HALFORD CO. o C 0' a j