JP2001353265A - Game machine with auxiliary power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine with auxiliary power supplies, enabling a player to resume a game smoothly at the recovery of the power supplies after power breakdown (power failure), while minimizing his/her disadvantages. SOLUTION: Individual auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52 each comprising capacitors are provided for RAMs 11 to 51 build into a plurality of control devices such as a main control device 10, a dispense control device 20, a symbol display device 30, a lamp display device 40 and a sound control device 50, all of which constitute the game machine. A longer effective time may be set for the auxiliary power supply 12 of the main control device 10 than for the auxiliary power supplies 22 to 52 for the other control devices 20 to 50.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gaming machine, and more particularly to a gaming machine, in which a game ball is fired into a game area with a controllable strength to cause a player to enter a winning opening or a starting opening, thereby forming a predetermined winning ball. The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine that receives a payout and plays a game.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine, there are various kinds of game machines depending on the launch of a game ball, the winning state of a winning opening or a starting opening, or the operation of a symbol display device which fluctuates due to a winning in a starting opening. Visual indications and sounds, such as display devices (display panels) or display lamps (light emitting diodes), are generated. In addition, a predetermined prize ball is paid out to the player by winning the game ball. Further, when the symbol display device becomes a "big hit", a special winning opening is opened, and a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds) or a predetermined number (for example, 10) of game balls is won in the specific area. Until it is in a state advantageous to the player. The operation of each part of such a gaming machine is controlled by a main controller, a lamp controller, a voice controller, a payout controller, and the like, which are formed on a plurality of substrates in the gaming machine. Some or all of the plurality of control devices, including the main control device, include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) for controlling. Further, a power supply device is provided, and supplies an operating voltage required by each of these control devices and the like.

[0003] However, there is a case where the power is cut off (power failure) due to an accident or carelessness. Such a power off
Generally, since the power is cut off within a few minutes to one hour, when the power is cut off, the player usually waits for the power to return, and when the power returns, the game is usually resumed. When the power is restored, the various control devices described above are reset and the game is restarted from the initial state.If the game is played in the advantageous game state described above when the power is turned off, or before the payout device completes the payout of the prize ball, If the power is turned off, it is significantly disadvantageous for the player. Therefore, a memory (for example, RAM ::
A gaming machine that stores and retains a state before power-off in a random access memory), reads out and reproduces such a stored gaming state from memory when power is restored, and resumes the game, is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-85421. It is disclosed in gazettes and the like.

[0004] When the power is cut off due to a power failure or the like, an auxiliary power supply for supplying the auxiliary power to maintain the stored contents of the above-mentioned memory is a microcontroller mounted on a main control board on which a main control device for performing main control is formed. The auxiliary power supply is common (that is, one) to a backup terminal of a computer (microcomputer) and a backup terminal of a microcomputer mounted on a payout control board on which a payout control device for performing payout control is formed.

[0005]

However, when the conventional common auxiliary power supply as described above is used, the capacity of the common auxiliary power supply (for example, when a charging capacitor is used) is considered in consideration of the total current consumption of each control board. Must be set. There is inevitably a variation in accuracy in the components of the auxiliary power supply that is mass-produced. Therefore, when the current consumption of each control board is summed up, there is a problem that the error of the backup time becomes large for each gaming machine. Further, when the common auxiliary power supply is discharged, there is a problem that information stored in all control boards is lost. Therefore, the present invention has been conceived for the purpose of solving or reducing such a problem of the related art.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of controls having a memory for storing and holding the contents of game information by supplying power from an auxiliary power supply comprising a charging capacitor when the power is turned off. In a gaming machine including a device, the auxiliary power source is provided separately for a plurality of control devices.

According to a preferred embodiment of the gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply of the present invention, the plurality of auxiliary power supplies are mounted on a power supply board on which a power supply for supplying operating voltages of various control devices is formed. The plurality of auxiliary power supplies are individually mounted on boards forming various control devices. Further, among the auxiliary power supplies, the auxiliary power supply of the main control device that controls at least the main game is set to a capacity that is valid for a longer time than the auxiliary power supplies for other control devices.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction and operation of a preferred embodiment of a gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device of a preferred embodiment of a gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention. This gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply includes a main control device 10, a payout control device 20, a symbol control device 30, a lamp control device 40, a voice control device 50, and a power supply device for supplying a necessary operating voltage to each of these control devices 10 to 50. The power supply device 60 includes a voltage detection device 70 that detects a power cut (power failure) of the power supply device 60. Also,
Each of the above-described control devices 10 to 50 includes RAMs (random access memories) 11, 21, 31, 41 and 51, which are storage elements, and auxiliary power supplies 12, 22, 32, 42 and 52, respectively.
Although not shown, each of these control devices 10 to 50 is a CPU.
(Central processing unit).

Next, the function of each component shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 will be described. The main controller 10 is a main part of the gaming machine that sends control commands to the controllers 20 to 50 and controls the operation of the entire gaming machine. The payout control device 20 is configured to allow the game ball to pass through a specific area when the game ball wins the winning opening or the starting opening or when the special winning opening is opened.
The payout of paying out a predetermined number of prize balls from a payout device (not shown) to the player is controlled. Also, the symbol control device
30 controls the fluctuation of symbols displayed in, for example, three symbol display areas of a symbol display device (not shown), for example, by randomly selecting a predetermined random number when the game ball wins the starting port. I do. Based on the control result, “big hit” or “missing” is determined with a predetermined probability. The opening and closing of the special winning opening and the like are controlled by the stop symbol of the symbol display device. The lamp control device 40 turns on, off, and blinks a large number of display lamps (eg, LEDs) disposed on the game board of the gaming machine.
Control is performed in a predetermined pattern. The sound control device 50 generates various complicated sounds from one or more speakers or the like attached to the gaming machine according to the gaming state of the gaming machine. By controlling these symbol display devices, various display lamps, speakers and the like, the interest of the player is enhanced visually and audibly.

The power supply device 60 is an AC / DC converter for converting, for example, AC 24 V obtained by stepping down a commercial power supply into three different DC voltages of, for example, 32 V, 12 V and 5 V. Since such a power supply device 60 may be an existing power supply device, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here. In a specific example, the main controller 10 and the payout controller 20 are supplied with three kinds of voltages of 32V, 12V and 5V. Other control devices 30 to 50 include, for example, 12 V and 5
V are supplied. On the other hand, the voltage detector 70
Is a well-known voltage detection device that monitors the operation of the power supply device 60 and detects the disconnection of the power supply by comparing one of the output voltages of the power supply device 60, for example, a 5V power supply voltage with a reference voltage. I do.

Each of the RAMs 11 to 51 of each of the control devices 10 to 50 is constituted by, for example, a MOS transistor integrated circuit (IC) and has a predetermined memory capacity D determined according to the amount of control information.
RAM (Dynamic RAM) and low power consumption. Further, the auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52 of the respective control devices 10 to 50 can be constituted by capacitors of a predetermined capacity charged by, for example, a 5V power supply. That is, since the power consumption of the RAMs 11 to 51 is very small, when the power supply device 60 operates normally,
Is charged to a predetermined voltage (for example, 5 V). Then, when the power supply device 60 loses power, the capacitors charged to such a voltage are connected to the corresponding RAMs 12 to 52 via discharge resistors, so that the corresponding RAMs 12 to 52 are backed up by the discharge current of the capacitors.

Next, the operation of the gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply having the configuration shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 will be described. When the power of the power supply device 60 is turned off, a “sub-reset signal” is transmitted from the voltage detection device 70 to the symbol control device 30, the lamp control device 40, and the voice control device 50. As a result, the symbol control device 30, the lamp control device 40, and the voice control device 50 are immediately put into the “reset state”. At the same time, an NMI signal is generated and Tnm
Continue for i period. Main controller 10 and payout controller 20
Turns off the motor and the solenoid of the gaming machine in the Tnmi period by the NMI signal, and terminates the backup processing such as prohibiting access to the RAMs 11 to 51.

Thereafter, when the NMI signal is released, a "system reset signal" is transmitted from the power supply device 60, and the main control device 10 and the payout control device 20 are reset. At this time, the discharge current of the capacitors of the auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52 is supplied to the RAMs 11 to 51 or the microcomputer for backup, and the stored contents thereof are maintained.

Here, a mass-produced capacitor inevitably has a tolerance or variation. If the power of a plurality of gaming machines is cut off at the same time due to a power failure or the like, a difference occurs in the backup time. When the backup is performed by one common capacitor, the variation increases. However, when an individual backup capacitor is used for each control device, the variation can be reduced. Then, when the power supply is restored during the period when the backup is valid with the auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52 using these capacitors, the game can be restarted based on the contents stored in the RAMs 11 to 51.

Further, the capacitor serving as the auxiliary power supply 12 provided for the main control device 10 has a longer backup time when the power is turned off than the capacitor serving as the auxiliary power supply 22 provided for the payout control device 20. It is preferable to set the capacitance of the capacitor. In this case, for example, even if the power is turned off during the payout of the prize ball and the discharge current of the capacitor serving as the auxiliary power supply 22 provided for the payout control device 20 disappears, the auxiliary control device provided for the main control device 10 is used. If the power supply is restored when the capacitor as the power supply 12 is in an effective state, based on the payout information stored in the RAM 11 of the main control device 10,
If the payout control command is transmitted to the payout control device 20, it is possible to restart the payout from the state in the middle of the payout when the power is turned off.

The preferred embodiment of the gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention has been described above in detail. However, such an embodiment is merely an example of the present invention and does not limit the present invention in any way. Without departing from the spirit of the invention,
Those skilled in the art will readily understand that various modifications can be made depending on the specific application. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the auxiliary power supply is provided in each control device. However, as long as the auxiliary power supply of each control device is provided individually for each control device, the auxiliary power supply may be provided in the power supply device regardless of the arrangement location. Alternatively, the power supply device may be arranged on a power supply board on which the power supply device is mounted. For example, as shown in the block diagram of FIG.
Auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52 for a plurality of control devices 10 to 50 are mounted together on a power supply board on which 60 is formed. When the power-off is detected by the voltage detection device 70, the auxiliary power supplies 12 to 52
The RAMs 11 to 51 of the corresponding control devices 10 to 50 are backed up. Note that, for convenience, the components shown in FIG.
The same reference numerals are used for the components shown in FIG.

[0018]

As will be understood from the above description, according to the gaming machine with auxiliary power supply of the present invention, the following practically significant effects can be obtained. By providing individual auxiliary power supplies for the control devices constituting the gaming machine, it is sufficient to set the capacitance of the capacitors constituting the auxiliary power supply in consideration of the current consumption required for each control device. Variations in components such as capacitors to be mass-produced are borne by individual control devices, so that it is possible to minimize the difference in backup time between gaming machines. Also, even if the auxiliary power supply provided for one control board becomes invalid for some reason,
The RAMs of the other control circuits are not initialized. Further, by making the valid time of the auxiliary power supply provided for the main control device longer than the valid time of the auxiliary power supply of the other control device, even if the auxiliary power supply of the other control device becomes invalid, the main control device If the auxiliary power supply is valid, the game can be restarted with the disadvantage of the player after the return of the power supply to a minimum.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preferred embodiment of a gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment of a gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Main controller 20 Payout controller 30 Symbol controller 40 Lamp controller 50 Voice controller 60 Power supply 70 Voltage detector 11-51 Storage device (RAM) 12-52 Auxiliary power supply (charge capacitor)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply including a plurality of control devices having a memory for storing and holding the contents of game information by supplying power from an auxiliary power supply consisting of a charging capacitor when the power supply is turned off. A gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply, provided separately for the plurality of control devices. 2. The game with an auxiliary power supply according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of auxiliary power supplies are mounted collectively on a power supply board forming a power supply for supplying operating voltages of the various control devices. Machine. 3. The gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of auxiliary power supplies are individually mounted on a substrate forming the control device. 4. An auxiliary power source of a main game control device for controlling at least a main game among the auxiliary power sources is set to a capacity that is valid for a longer time than an auxiliary power source for another control device. 4. The gaming machine with an auxiliary power supply according to 2 or 3.