JP2000237385A - Signal processor for pachinko ball passing sensor and pachinko ball counting unit incorporating the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve resistance to noise (radio waves and static electricity, etc.), and to reduce processing loads in a main control part by performing a ball number counting processing for counting only normal passing balls based on signals from a pachinko ball passing sensor with a direction discrimination function on the side of a signal processor. SOLUTION: At the time of detecting rise or fall for detection signals relating to one element B of a pair of detection elements, a CPU 201 in a signal processing substrate (counting unit) 200 judges the signal level for the signals from the other detection element A. Then, in the case of judging that a pachinko ball passes through in a normal direction, one is added to the contents of a passing ball number register for storing the number of the normal passing balls of a pertinent lane and one is subtracted in the case of passing through in an opposite direction. Then, after the end of the updating processing of the passing ball register for all the lanes, the contents of the passing ball number register for the respective lanes are cumulatively added and sent out to the side of a ball counter control substrate 100 and ball number display or the like is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signal processing device for a pachinko ball passing sensor suitable for a pachinko ball counting machine or the like installed on the floor of a pachinko game hall, and a pachinko ball counting unit incorporating the device. In particular, the present invention relates to a signal processing device of a pachinko ball passing sensor in which countermeasures against fraud by a player are enhanced, and a pachinko ball counting unit incorporating the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pachinko ball counting machine of this type is generally installed on the floor of a pachinko game arcade so as to correspond to each end of an island. The structure has a housing having a hopper on its upper surface, which serves as a tray for the customer to release balls,
A ball alignment mechanism for receiving balls falling from the hopper in the housing and aligning and flowing the balls to a plurality of counting lanes leading to the ball discharge port, and passing balls provided near the end of each lane And a pachinko ball passing sensor for detecting the pachinko ball.

[0003] Explaining the electrical configuration, a ball counter control board is built in the housing. The control board includes a ball counting process, a ball returning process, a ball number displaying process, and a ball counting process.
A microcomputer (CPU) that performs communication processing with external devices and the like is mounted.

As a recent trend, as a pachinko ball passing sensor, a sensor having a direction discriminating function in which two detecting elements are arranged at a slight distance in the ball flowing direction is often adopted. This is to cope with an illegal operation of the count value by a so-called rosary. Each of the pachinko ball passing sensors and the ball counter control board are connected by a harness having signal lines corresponding to at least the number of ball counting lanes.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional pachinko ball counting machine, (1) ball passing through a signal line connecting between each pachinko ball counting sensor and the ball counting machine control board. Since the detection pulse flows, it is easy to mix a pseudo pulse by generating a strong electromagnetic wave, etc. (2) The processing load of the ball counter increases due to the increase in the number of lanes (ball passages). ) When using two detection elements to detect the direction of a ball, the processing load on the control unit side is more than doubled per lane.
(4) Since the control unit of the ball counter performs a plurality of processes other than the ball counting process, such as ball return, ball number display, and communication with an external device, the ball direction is detected with a large number of lanes. When,
That the control process of the counter itself may not be in time,
(5) As the number of lanes increases, the number of sensor cable wires increases, and the number of connectors and the required area of the control unit of the ball counter increase.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems.
The resistance to noise (radio waves, static electricity, etc.) can be improved, the processing load on the main control unit of the ball counter can be reduced, and the control board of the ball counter and individual pachinko ball passage sensors can be connected. An object of the present invention is to provide a signal processing device of a pachinko ball passing sensor capable of reducing the number of wirings, and a pachinko ball counting unit including the device.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, one or more signal input terminals to be connected to a pachinko ball passing sensor having a direction discriminating function and a data communication line are provided. The number of balls for generating data of the number of passing balls by counting only normal passing balls based on signals input from the data transmission terminals to be connected to the host controller or the like via the signal input terminals, respectively. Counting means; and data transmitting means for converting the passing ball number data generated by the ball number counting means into communication data in a predetermined format and transmitting the data to the data transmission terminal. In the signal processing device of the pachinko ball passing sensor.

According to this configuration, the ball number counting process of counting only normal passing balls based on a signal from the pachinko ball passing sensor with a direction discriminating function and generating passing ball number data involves the following. Since it is performed on the signal processing device side,
The main control unit of the pachinko ball counter can reduce the processing load by that much, and can concentrate on processes such as ball return, ball count display, and communication with external devices. In addition, signals are exchanged between the signal processing device and the main control unit of the pachinko ball counter, which is a higher-level control device thereof, through data communication, thereby improving resistance to noise (radio waves, static electricity, etc.). At the same time, even if the number of lanes increases, a fixed number of wirings is sufficient, and wiring can be reduced.

The invention described in claim 2 of the present application provides one or more signal input terminals to be connected to a pachinko ball passing sensor having a direction discriminating function, and a higher-level control device or the like via a data communication line. A data transmission terminal to be connected to, and a passing ball counting means for generating passing ball number data by counting only normal passing balls based on signals input from each of the signal input terminals, Ball flow abnormality determination means for determining abnormality of the flow of pachinko balls by illuminating a form of a signal input from each of the signal input terminals with a predetermined abnormality detection algorithm to generate abnormality determination data; and Data transmission means for converting the passing ball count data and the abnormality determination data into communication data of a predetermined format and transmitting the data to the data transmission terminal. In the signal processing unit of the pachinko ball passage sensor, characterized in that.

According to such a configuration, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the flow form of the pachinko ball passing sensor with the direction discriminating function is illuminated by a predetermined abnormality detection algorithm to determine the abnormal flow of the pachinko ball. The ball processing abnormality determination process that generates the abnormality determination data is also performed on the signal processing device side. Therefore, it is easy to incorporate the abnormality determination process according to the type of the pachinko ball passage sensor used, and security is improved. It can be further improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sealed case accommodating a circuit board on which a circuit component for realizing the signal processing device according to the first or second aspect is mounted; A pachinko ball passing sensor with one or more direction discriminating functions held in an aligned state on the outer surface of the mold case, and a signal extraction port of the pachinko ball passing sensor is opened on the case side facing the pachinko ball passing sensor. The harness that has been introduced into the case through the provided sensor connection hole and drawn out from the data transmission terminal on the circuit board is led out of the case through the harness passage hole opened in the case. A pachinko ball counting unit.

According to such a configuration, by providing a product in which the pachinko ball passage sensor and its signal processing device are integrated, the electrical and mechanical configuration of this kind of pachinko ball counter is simplified. It is possible to reduce the cost by making it possible, and since the wiring from each pachinko ball passing sensor to the signal processing device does not project outside at all,
The risk of mischief due to radio waves, static electricity, and the like is reduced accordingly, and security can be further improved.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. A pachinko ball counting machine to which the present invention is applied will be described first with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the pachinko ball counting machine, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the pachinko ball counting machine, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the ball alignment box and the counting unit. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the ball counting unit, and FIG. 5 is a side view in a mounted state showing the configuration of the ball passage sensor.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pachinko ball counting machine 1 has a counter housing 2, a ball alignment box 3 mounted in the counter housing 2, and a ball alignment box 3. And a counting unit 4 mounted on the outlet side. The counter housing 2 includes a lower base 21 on which a display unit, an operation unit, a ball counter control board, and the like are mounted, and a hopper 22 that functions as a tray for the discharged balls. The ball alignment box 3 receives the pachinko balls falling from the ball insertion port 22a of the hopper 22, and divides the pachinko balls into a plurality of (16 in the figure) counting lanes. As shown in FIG. 3, each counting lane is configured by partitioning the bottom plate of the ball alignment box 3 in parallel with the sorting rib 31. In the vicinity of the exit of each counting lane, 16 sensor head mounting positions are provided alternately at front and rear positions.
In the figure, a sensor head mounting position located forward in the ball flow direction is denoted by reference numeral 3a, and a sensor head mounting position positioned rearward is denoted by reference numeral 3b. Reference numeral 5 denotes an alignment guide plate for preventing the pachinko balls from jumping.

As shown in FIG. 3, the counting unit 4
Is a closed case 40 having an elongated rectangular shape with a shallow bottom.
And eight dual pachinko ball passing sensors (hereinafter simply referred to as dual sensors) 6 that are held in alignment with the bottom surface of the case 40. As shown in FIG. 4, the case 40 includes a case body 41 whose upper surface is openable, and a lid 4 that closes an upper surface opening of the case body 41.
And 2. The connection between the case main body 41 and the lid 42 is performed by the engagement between the locking projection 42a on the lid 42 side and the locking hole 41a on the case main body 41 side.

In the case main body 41, a signal processing board 43 on which the signal processing device of the present invention is mounted is accommodated. The connection between the signal processing board 43 and the case main body 41 is performed by screws 8. On the signal processing board 43, in addition to an IC package 43a such as a CPU constituting a signal processing device, eight sensor connectors 43b and one transmission connector 43 are provided.
c is provided.

In the bottom plate of the case body 41, eight sensor connection holes 41b are opened. The connection between the case body 41 and each of the dual sensors 6 is performed by two screws 9 respectively. At a position facing the bottom plate of the case body 41 of the dual sensor 6, a connector 6c as a signal outlet is arranged. When the dual sensor 6 is attached to the bottom plate of the case main body 41, the connector 6c of the dual sensor 6 is exposed in a sensor connection hole 41b provided in the bottom plate of the case main body 41. In this state, the dual sensor 6
Connector 6c and sensor connector 43b on the board 43
Are electrically connected through a flat cable 10. On the other hand, the transmission connector 43c on the board 43 includes:
One end of a flat cable 11 constituting the harness is connected, and the flat cable 11 is led out of the case through a harness passage hole 42b opened in the case lid 42.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the dual sensor 6 detects the passage of a pachinko ball based on the principle of a proximity sensor.
a and 6b are integrated. The two heads 6a and 6b are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other with a slight distance therebetween. As shown in FIG. 3, when the counting unit 4 is mounted on the ball alignment box 3, the front sensor head 6 a of the pair of sensor heads 6 a and 6 b is mounted on the ball alignment box 3. 3a, the sensor head 6b located at the rear is mounted at the rear mounting position 3b.
To be housed. Each of the sensor heads 6a and 6b has a tunnel-shaped hole 61 through which a pachinko ball passes. Two detection coils A and B are coaxially incorporated in the sensor heads 6a and 6b so as to surround the hole 61 with a slight shift in the flow direction of the pachinko balls. These coils A and B each function as a detection element of a proximity sensor. The case of the dual sensor 6 includes a signal processing circuit that processes signals from the pair of coils A and B and generates a binary signal corresponding to the ball passing state of each of the detection coils A and B. I have. Therefore, as will be described in detail later, the dual sensor 6 outputs two systems of ball passing detection signals corresponding to the two detection coils A and B for each of the pair of lanes.

As described above, the above-described counting unit 4 includes a sealed case 40 for accommodating a circuit board 43 on which a circuit component 43a for realizing a signal processing device (the details will be described later) is mounted. There are eight pachinko ball passing sensors (dual sensors 6) with direction discriminating functions that are held in alignment on the bottom surface of the closed case 40, and the connector 6c, which is a signal outlet of the pachinko ball passing sensor, The harness 11, which is introduced into the case 40 through the sensor connection hole 41b opened on the case side facing the case and is drawn out from the connector 43c which is a data transmission terminal on the circuit board 43, is a case cover. It is led out of the case via a harness passage hole 42b opened in the body 42. Therefore, not only the circuit components constituting the signal processing circuit, but also the signal lines from the dual sensor 6 to the circuit board 43 are all housed in the case 40, so that static electricity and electromagnetic waves are not included in the output signal of the dual sensor 6. The structure is such that fraudulent attempts to mix pseudo-pulses by use can be eliminated.

Next, an electric circuit configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit mounted on a ball counter control board built in the base unit 21 of the pachinko ball counter and a signal processing circuit mounted on a signal processing board 43 built in the counting unit 4. FIG. 7 and FIG. 7 are flowcharts showing a normal passing ball counting process executed by the CPU mounted on the signal processing board.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor clogging abnormality determination algorithm executed by the CPU, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing sensor clogging abnormality and sensor non-connection abnormality determination processing executed by the CPU, and FIG. 10 is executed by the CPU. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an internal sensor abnormality determination algorithm, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing sensor excess counting abnormality determination processing executed by the CPU, FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor backflow abnormality determination algorithm executed by the CPU, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a sensor backflow abnormality determination process executed by a CPU.

As shown in FIG. 6, a ball counter control board 100 built in the base 21 of the case 2 has a CPU 101 for controlling the entire ball counter and a ROM 102 for storing a system program. And a RAM 103 used as a working area and the like, and a base unit 2
1, a ball number display controller 104 for controlling the ball number display attached to the outer surface, an I / F unit 105 for communicating with external devices, and for controlling the operation of the ball return device. And a serial communication driver 107 for performing data communication between the ball return device control unit 106 and a signal processing device described later. The ball counter control device uses the above components 101 to 106 to return and return balls.
While performing processing such as ball count display and communication with external equipment,
It is configured to receive passing ball number data, abnormality determination data, and the like from a signal processing device described later via the serial communication driver 107 at an appropriate timing.

The general operation of this type of ball counter control device is already known in various documents, and details thereof will be left to public documents.

On the other hand, a signal processing board 200 built in the counting unit 4 includes a CPU 201 constituted by a one-chip microcomputer having a built-in ROM / RAM,
The amplifiers 202a and 202b and the comparators 203a and 203b provided corresponding to the two detection signals coming from the dual sensor 6 corresponding to the pair of detection elements A and B in each lane, and the ball counting described above. A serial communication driver 204 for performing data communication with the machine control device is mounted.

When a pair of detection elements A and B attached to each lane operate according to the principle of a so-called proximity sensor, their detection signals have already been binarized and waveform-shaped, so that the comparator 203a , 203b may not be necessary. In short, in this drawing, a transmission type ball passage sensor and a reflection type ball passage sensor are also assumed as the pair of elements A and B.

Next, the CPU 20 constituting the signal processing device
The counting process of normally passing balls executed in step 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

This processing is executed by a periodic interruption at a fixed period, which is sufficiently shorter than a ball passing under the elements A and B. When the process is started in the figure, a process of detecting the presence or absence of a rise or fall of a signal is executed for a detection signal relating to an element B which is one of a pair of detection elements A and B (step 701). As is well known, this process is performed by comparing the signal levels detected one after another.

When the rise or fall of the signal from the element B is detected, the signal level of the signal from the other detection element A is determined (step 703 or 705). Here, when the detection signal corresponding to the element B rises, the level of the detection signal from the element A being ON indicates that the pachinko ball has passed in a normal direction. On the other hand, the fact that the level of the detection signal corresponding to the element A is ON at the time of the fall of the detection signal corresponding to the element B means that the pachinko ball has passed in the direction opposite to the normal direction. Means

Therefore, when it is determined that the pachinko ball has passed in the normal direction (step 703 ON), the content of the passing ball register for storing the normal passing ball number of the lane is incremented by +1. (Step 704),
If it is determined that the pachinko ball has passed in the reverse direction (step 705 ON), the content of the passing ball number register is decremented by +1 (step 706). If no rise or fall is detected in the detection signal corresponding to the element B (no change in step 702), the contents of the passing ball number register are not changed.

When the above processing is completed for the first lane, the same processing is repeated by changing lanes one after another (step 707 NO). When the update processing of the passing ball registers has been completed for all lanes (step 707 YES), the contents of the passing ball register for each lane are cumulatively added (step 708), and then all the processing ends.

The accumulated value of the passing ball number register obtained as described above is converted into communication data of a predetermined format at an appropriate cycle (for example, 4 msec), and then transmitted to the ball counter controller via the serial communication driver 204. Sent to. The ball counter control device executes a ball number display process and the like based on the normal passing ball number data received from the signal processing device side.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the signal processing device mounted on the signal processing board 200 has one or two or more signal processing terminals (each connected to a pachinko ball sensor having a direction discriminating function). Amplifiers 202a, 2
02b) and a data transmission terminal (serial communication driver 2) to be connected via a data communication line to the ball counter control board 100, which is a higher-level control device.
No. 04) and ball number counting means for counting only normal passing balls based on signals input from the respective signal input terminals and generating passing ball number data (shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7). (Equivalent to the counting of normally passing balls)
Data transmitting means (serial communication driver 204) which converts the passing ball number data generated by the ball number counting means into communication data in a predetermined format and sends it to a data transmission terminal.
) Are provided.

Therefore, according to such a configuration, the serial communication driver 204 and the serial communication driver 107
By increasing the security by incorporating an appropriate error determination process into the serial communication between the device and the device, the reliability against unauthorized operation using electromagnetic waves or static electricity can be improved. Also, the signal processing board 200 and the ball counter control board 100
Regarding the number of signal lines between them, the number required for serial communication is sufficient regardless of the number of counting lanes to be detected, so that wiring routing between them is not complicated and wiring space is not increased.

Next, the CPU 201 of the signal processing board 200
FIG. 8 shows some examples of the ball flow abnormality determination processing executed in FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, the first ball flow abnormality determination process is performed as shown in FIG.
Description will be made with reference to FIG. This first ball flow abnormality determination processing is to determine that a ball jam abnormality has occurred in the lane or that an electrical connection failure has occurred in a sensor in the lane. Such an abnormal ball flow can be determined based on the fact that the signal pattern indicated by in FIG. 8A continues for a certain time or more (for example, three seconds or more). FIG.
In (a), "H" indicates that the element is in an ON state (passing state),
“L” means that the element is off (non-passing state). As shown in FIG. 8B, the arrangement of the pair of elements A and B is such that the element B is located forward and the element A is located backward in the ball flow direction.

FIG. 9 shows the details of the processing for judging a sensor clogging abnormality and a sensor non-connection abnormality executed by the CPU 201 of the signal processing device. This process is also executed by a periodic interruption at a fixed period, similarly to the process shown in FIG. When the process is started in the figure, it is determined whether or not the monitoring timer is running (step 90).
1) If the monitoring timer is not running (step 901 OFF), it is detected whether one of the pair of elements A and B has risen (step 902). here,
If the rising edge of the signal is not detected in any of the pair of elements A and B (NO in step 903), the process ends without performing anything, whereas if the rising edge is detected (step 903 detection of the rising edge), the blockage occurs. The monitoring timer is started (step 904), and the process ends. In the process at the time of the next interruption, since it is determined that the monitoring timer is being activated (during step 901), it is subsequently determined whether the signal relating to the element whose rising has been detected is still in the ON state ( Step 905). Here, if it is in the off state (step 905 OFF), it is determined that there is no sensor clogging or sensor disconnection and that the sensor is normal, and the clogging monitoring timer and the clogging error signal are cleared (step 907), and then the process ends. Also,
Even if the signal corresponding to the element is still in the ON state (step 905 ON), if the timer time (for example, 3 seconds) set in the monitoring timer has not elapsed (step 906 NO), no operation is performed similarly. The process ends. On the other hand, if the signal from the element is in the ON state (step 905 ON) and the timer time set in the monitoring timer has expired (step 906 time-up), sensor ball clogging abnormality or sensor failure It is determined that there is a connection abnormality, the clogging error signal is activated (step 908), and the process ends. The state of the ball jam error signal thus obtained is converted into communication data in a predetermined format at an appropriate timing, and then transmitted to the ball counter control board 100 via the serial communication driver 204. Ball counter control board 10
On the 0 side, an alarm display and an alarm sound are generated based on the received clogging error signal.

Next, a second ball flow abnormality determination process is described with reference to FIG.
0 will be described. In the second ball flow abnormality determination process, as shown in FIG. 10C, the pachinko ball flows continuously due to an internal abnormality in the sensor circuits corresponding to the pair of elements A and B, respectively. Despite this, it is determined that there is no abnormality that the level change does not occur in the signal of one system. As shown in the table of FIG. 10A, such an abnormal ball flow is generated in a signal from one element while the signal from one element is fixed at “L” or “H”. "H" as shown in 10 (b)
This can be done by determining that a certain number of pulses or "L" pulses have appeared. It should be noted that such a determination process can be performed by those skilled in the art without being shown in a flowchart, so that the illustration in the flowchart is omitted.

Next, a third ball flow abnormality determination process is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the third ball flow abnormality determination processing, a pseudo pulse is forcibly mixed in the output of the pachinko ball passage sensor due to the emission of a strong radio wave or the application of static electricity, and the number of detection pulses within a certain time abnormally increases. This is to determine the state as described above. Such a ball flow abnormality is determined by determining whether the number of pulses generated within a fixed time (for example, 1 second) in a signal from each of the pair of elements A and B has reached a set value corresponding to the time of the abnormality. The determination can be made.

In the figure, when the process is started, it is confirmed that the one second timer is not running (step 110).
(1NO), the 1 second timer is activated (step 1102), and the counter buffer is cleared (step 110).
3) Thereafter, until the 1-second timer times out (step 1104: NO), the ball counting process for the lane (step 1109) and the process of adding the count value to the counter buffer are repeated (step 111).
0). If the one-second timer times out while repeating the above (YES in step 1104), the contents of the counter buffer and the contents of the abnormality detection setting are compared (step 1105), and if the contents of the counter buffer are smaller than the abnormality detection set value. If no (step 1105 NO), the 1-second timer is restarted (step 1007) and the counter buffer clearing process (step 1108) is performed, then the ball counting process in the next cycle (step 1109) and the counter buffer of the count value are transferred to the counter buffer. Is repeated (1110).

On the other hand, when the time of the one-second timer expires (step 1104: YES), the contents of the counter buffer are compared with the abnormality detection set value (step 1105). If it is determined that it is larger than (step 11
05YES), error processing is executed, and the content of the predetermined error signal is made active (step 110).
6). Then, the content of the error detection signal is converted into communication data of a predetermined format at a predetermined cycle, and then the ball counter control board 1 is transmitted via the serial communication driver 204.
Sent to the 00 side. After that, an alarm display or an alarm sound is generated in the same manner as the above processing.

Next, the fourth ball flow abnormality determination processing is shown in FIG.
2 and FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the fourth ball flow abnormality determination process is to determine that a pachinko ball has continuously passed through the sensor head in the reverse direction. Such determination is based on the number of illegal counts detected (set) in the signals corresponding to the pair of elements A and B.
The determination can be made by determining that the backward pulse has occurred over the above.

When the processing is started in FIG. 13, the ball passing direction is determined based on two systems of detection signals corresponding to the pair of elements A and B (step 1301). If it is determined that the number of balls passing in the backward direction is determined (YES in step 1301), the content of the minus value register for counting the number of balls passing in the backward direction is +1
After the addition (step 1302), the content of the minus value register is compared with the set value (step 130).
4). If the set value is not exceeded (NO in step 1304), the process returns to the beginning again to determine the ball passing direction (step 1301). On the other hand, if the ball passing direction is determined to be the forward direction (step 1301N
O), all the contents of the minus value register are cleared (step 1303). While repeating the above,
When the content of the minus value register exceeds the set value (step 1304 YES), the content of the predetermined error signal is activated (step 1305). The content of this error signal is converted into communication data of a predetermined format at an appropriate cycle,
Is transmitted to the ball counter control board 100 via
This is used for error processing in the ball counter control device.

As described above, in the signal processing device of the pachinko ball passing sensor described above, one or two or more signals to be connected to the pachinko ball passing sensor with the direction discriminating function (corresponding to the dual sensor 6) are provided. Input terminal (corresponding to the input side of amplifiers 202a and 202b in FIG. 6)
And a data communication terminal (corresponding to the serial communication driver 204 in FIG. 6) to be connected to a host controller or the like (corresponding to the ball counter control board 100) via a data communication line.
And a passing ball counting means for counting only normal passing balls based on signals input from the respective signal input terminals and generating passing ball number data (corresponding to the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7). And a ball flow abnormality determining means for determining the abnormality of the flow of the pachinko ball and generating abnormality determination data by illuminating a form of a signal input from each of the signal input terminals with a predetermined abnormality detection algorithm (FIG. 9). , Corresponding to the processes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 and 13), and the generated passing ball count data and abnormality determination data are converted into communication data in a predetermined format and transmitted to the data transmission terminal. Data transmission means (corresponding to serial communication driver 204 in FIG. 6)
Is provided.

Therefore, the processing load on the CPU 101 mounted on the ball counter control board 100 is greatly reduced, and
101 can concentrate on service processing such as ball return processing, ball number display processing, and communication processing with an external device, while the signal processing board 200 provides highly reliable passing ball number data and abnormality determination data. Accordingly, appropriate display processing, alarm processing, and the like can be realized based on the data.

In addition, by standardizing the counting unit 4, if the version is appropriately upgraded, the function of the entire ball counting machine can be upgraded without largely changing the configuration of the ball counting machine control board. Can be.

As the abnormality determining process to be combined with the normal passing ball counting process shown in FIG. 7, all of the above-described first to fourth processes may be all or selectively combined. Further, the pachinko ball passing sensor with the direction discriminating function is not limited to the proximity sensor type, and a conventional transmission type or reflection type photoelectric sensor type can also be adopted.

[0046]

As is apparent from the above embodiments, according to the present invention, the resistance to noise (radio waves, static electricity, etc.) can be improved and the processing load on the main control unit of the ball counter can be reduced. And a signal processing device for a pachinko ball passing sensor capable of reducing the number of wires connecting the control board of the ball counting machine and individual pachinko ball passing sensors, and a pachinko ball counting unit including the same. This has the effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a pachinko ball counting machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the pachinko ball counting machine.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a relationship between a ball alignment box and a counting unit.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the counting unit.

FIG. 5 is a side view in a mounted state of the pachinko ball passing sensor with a direction discriminating function.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a circuit for mounting a ball counter control board and a signal processing board.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a normal passing ball counting process.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor clogging abnormality determination algorithm.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a sensor ball jam abnormality and sensor non-connection abnormality determination process.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an internal sensor abnormality determination algorithm.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a sensor excess counting abnormality determination process.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor backflow abnormality determination algorithm.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a sensor backflow abnormality determination process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pachinko ball counting machine 2 Pachinko ball counting machine case 3 Pachinko ball sorting box 4 Counting unit 5 Alignment guide plate 6 Dual type pachinko ball passing sensor 7 Pachinko ball 8,9 Screw 10 Flat cable 11 Flat cable (harness) 3a Forward Mounting position of side sensor head 3b Mounting position of rear sensor head 6a Front sensor head 6b Rear sensor head 6c Connector (signal output port of pachinko ball passing sensor) 21 Base part of case 22 Hopper part of case 21a Ball discharge port 22a ball insertion port 31 sorting rib 40 counting unit case 41 base portion 42 lid 41a engagement hole 41b sensor connection hole 42a locking projection 42b harness passage hole 61 pachinko ball passage hole A One of the detection elements built in the sensor head B Built in sensor head The other detection element 100 ball counter control board 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 ball number display controller 105 external I / F section 106 ball return control section 107 serial communication driver 200 signal processing board 201 CPU 202a, 202b amplifier 203a , 203b Comparator 204 Serial communication driver

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuo Kasahara 10F Hanazono Todocho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Prefecture F-term in Omron Corporation (reference) 2C088 BA13 BA90 BC68 EA45 EA46

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. One or more signal input terminals to be connected to a pachinko ball passing sensor with a direction discriminating function, and a data transmission terminal to be connected to a host controller or the like via a data communication line. A ball counting means for counting only normal passing balls based on a signal input from each of the signal input terminals to generate passing ball number data; and a passing ball number generated by the ball counting means. And a data transmission means for converting data into communication data in a predetermined format and transmitting the data to the data transmission terminal, wherein the signal processing device for a pachinko ball passing sensor is provided. 2. One or more signal input terminals to be connected to a pachinko ball passing sensor having a direction discriminating function, and a data transmission terminal to be connected to a host controller or the like via a data communication line. A passing ball number counting unit that counts only normal passing balls based on a signal input from each of the signal input terminals and generates passing ball number data, and is input from each of the signal input terminals. Ball flow abnormality determining means for determining the abnormality of the pachinko ball flow by illuminating the form of the signal with a predetermined abnormality detection algorithm and generating abnormality determination data; and determining the generated passing ball number data and abnormality determination data as predetermined. Data transmission means for converting the data into communication data in a format and transmitting the data to the data transmission terminal. The signal processing device of the sensor. 3. A sealed case accommodating a circuit board on which a circuit component for realizing the signal processing device according to claim 1 is mounted, and held in an aligned state on an outer surface of the sealed case. A pachinko ball passing sensor with one or two or more direction discriminating functions, wherein a signal output port of the pachinko ball passing sensor is provided in a case through a sensor connection hole opened on a case side facing the pachinko ball passing sensor. And the harness drawn out from the data transmission terminal on the circuit board is led out of the case through a harness passage hole formed in the case. unit.