JP2002325890A - Game medium lending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game medium lending machine in which no game medium blocks a supplying route thereof. SOLUTION: This game medium lending machine is equipped with a game medium feeding mechanism 21 to feed game media stored in the game medium lending machine one by one, a guide member 12 supported movable between guide positions a, b, c to accept game media fed by the game medium feeding mechanism 21 and to guide the game media into a tray 16 of a game machine 2 and a non-guide position d, a position detecting means 28 to detect on which position of positions a, b, c the guide member positions, and a control means 18 to accept feeding of game media by the game medium feeding mechanism 21 under the condition that the position detecting means 28 detects that the guide member 12 positions on a guide position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game medium lending machine which is arranged adjacent to a game machine and lends a game medium based on the insertion of cash or a recording medium on which predetermined information is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a game machine such as a game machine using medals as a game medium, a medal lending machine is provided adjacent to the gaming machine, and medals thrown out from the medal lending machine are stored in a tray of the gaming machine. There is provided a guide member (nozzle member) for projecting the light to the outside.

The guide member can rotate between a predetermined position where the tip is located above the tray and a retreat position where the guide member is retracted from the predetermined position so that the front surface of the gaming machine can be opened and maintenance can be performed. (For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-30923
No. 9).

In the prior art described in the above-mentioned publication, when the guide member is located at a predetermined position where medals can be inserted into the receiving tray, the inside of the guide member and the supply passage on the medal lending machine side are connected to each other. When the guide member is turned to the retracted position, the connection end of the guide member protrudes to block the supply passage, so that medals are not discharged to the outside (see FIG. 7 (C) of the publication). .

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, even if the guide member is not located at a predetermined position and the supply passage is shielded, the medal feeding mechanism in the medal lending machine operates. Can be continued, so that the payout of medals is continued. The medals paid out in this way are:
With the shielding position of the guide member at the top, it stays in the guide member and the supply passage.

As a result, the medals are jammed in the supply passage, so that the medals are engaged with each other and cannot be returned even if the guide member is returned to a predetermined position, or the medals cannot be paid out. There is a problem that it takes a lot of trouble and time to solve the problem and to return.

[0007] In an extreme case, there is a possibility that the guide member and the feeding mechanism may be damaged by the pushing force of the medals being fed one after another.

If the feeding force is reduced to prevent the medals from being bitten or the guide member and the feeding mechanism from being damaged, the feeding of the medals is stopped even by a slight resistance, and mechanical down frequently occurs. It is not realistic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and when a guide member is not located at a predetermined position, a game medium such as a medal is jammed, and the guide member and That is, the peripheral members are not damaged.

[0010]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a game medium is rented out based on a cash medium or a recording medium on which predetermined information is recorded, which is disposed adjacent to a game machine. In the game medium lending machine, a game medium payout mechanism for feeding out the game media stored in the game medium lending machine one by one, and the game medium fed out by the payout mechanism is received and the game medium is placed in a tray of the game machine. A guiding member movably supported between a guiding position for guiding and a non-guiding position, position detecting means for detecting that the guiding member is located at the guiding position, and the guiding member being located at the guiding position. Control means for permitting the feeding of the game medium by the game medium feeding mechanism on condition that the position detecting means detects the position. And wherein the door.

[0011] As a result, the game medium feeding mechanism is not operated unless the position detecting means detects that the guide member is located at the guide position.
The game medium does not jam on the supply passage side.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided position detecting means for detecting that the guide member is located at the non-guide position.
When the position detecting means detects that the guide member is located at the non-guide position, the feeding of the game medium feeding mechanism is prohibited.

In this case, if the position detecting means detects that the guide member is located at the non-guide position, the game medium feeding mechanism is not operated, so that the game medium does not jam on the supply passage side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when an instruction to eject a game medium is issued in a state where the guide member is not located at the guide position, a notifying means for notifying the user of the instruction is provided. When the game medium feeding instruction is issued even though the game medium is not located at the position, the notification means (lighting of a lamp, sounding of an alarm, display, etc.) can be notified to the customer.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state in which a game medium lending machine 1 according to the present invention is provided for each of the game machines 2 and 2. The game medium lending machine 1 lends medals as game media. (Hereinafter referred to as a medal lending machine), and a pachislot machine is shown as the gaming machine 2.

The medal lending machine 1 has a vertically long flat machine frame 3 having substantially the same height as the gaming machine 2, and a bill insertion slot 5, an operation button 6, a buzzer 7 (notifying means), A display unit 8, a medal replenishment door 9, a lock 10 for the door 9, and a nozzle mechanism 11 are arranged in this order, and a guide member 12 for guiding a medal to be thrown is rotatable in a horizontal plane on the nozzle mechanism 11. It is supported by. The gaming machine 1 (pachi-slot machine) has a gaming surface 13,
A game button 14, a medal insertion slot 15, and a tray 16 are provided.

In the inside of the medal lending machine 1, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a bill inserted from the bill insertion slot 5 is identified. 17, a control unit 18 located thereunder, a medal tank unit 19 provided inside the medal replenishment door 9, a medal hopper 20, and a medal payout mechanism 21 below the medal hopper 20 for feeding out medals. The medals fed from the medal feeding mechanism 21 are sent to the nozzle mechanism 11 through a medal supply passage 22, and the medals M are thrown out into the tray 16 of the gaming machine 2 through the guide member 12. ing.

In the illustrated embodiment, the medal feeding mechanism 21 comprises a rotating disk 23 rotatably provided at the lower bottom of the medal hopper 20 and a motor 24 for rotating the rotating disk 23 as shown in FIG. The medal M on the rotating disk 23 is sent out to the supply passage 22 one by one. This feeding mechanism 21 includes:
As usual, there are provided a full detection sensor for detecting the fullness of medals in the medal hopper 20, and an empty detection sensor (both not shown) for detecting the empty state.
The medal feeding mechanism 21 may be based on a belt system or the like instead of the rotating disk 23.

The medal supply passage 22 is provided with a counting sensor S for counting the number of payout medals M.

The nozzle mechanism 11 is provided on the front panel 3 of the machine frame 3.
a receiving base 25 fixed to the a. The receiving base 25 has a hollow interior and communicates with the end of the supply passage 22 through a chute member 26 and a guide member 26a.

A substantially cylindrical rotating portion 12a at the base of the guide member 12 is inserted into the receiving table 25, and the upper and lower central portions thereof can be rotated on the receiving table 25 by shafts 27, 27 in a horizontal plane. It is supported by.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide member 12 is a square pipe having a substantially L-shape in plan view. The guide member 12 has a tip 12b on the tray 16 of the gaming machine 2 as shown in FIG. (A), (b), and (c), and the non-guide shown in (d), which is turned and retracted to the front side so as not to be obstructed when opening the front of the gaming machine 2 during maintenance or the like. The position can be taken.

The reason that the guide member 12 can take the positions of (a) to (c) is that the receiving position of the tray 16 is slightly different depending on the gaming machine 2, so that it can be adapted to the position. That's why.

The rotating part 12a at the base of the guide member 12
The guide member 12 has a notch 12c formed by cutting out a side surface facing the chute member 26 over a required angle range. Is the chute member 26
It is designed to be in communication with the medal supply passage on the side.

The receiving table 25 is provided with a position detecting means 28 for detecting the rotational position of the guide member 12. In the illustrated embodiment, the position detecting means 28 includes a micro switch 29 and a protruding switch operating piece 30 protruding from the base of the guide member 12 as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. The relationship between the two is that when the guide member 12 is at any of the guide positions (a), (b), and (c), the micro switch 29 is turned off, and when the guide member 12 is at the non-guide position (d), the micro switch is turned off. 29 is turned on.

The contents of the control are such that the position detecting means 28 detects that the guide member 12 is located at any of the guide positions (a) to (c). , The motor 24 of the medal feeding mechanism 12 can be driven, and a predetermined number of medals M are thrown out based on the instruction to feed the medals M. 21. The motor 24 is disabled. In the above, the position detecting means 28 may detect that the guide member 12 is located at the non-guide position (d).

On the other hand, when the guide member 12 is located at the non-guide position (d), a notifying means (buzzer 7 in the illustrated example) for issuing an alarm when a medal lending instruction is issued is provided. To let you know.
However, in addition to the buzzer 7, the notification means may be a lamp display, a combination of a buzzer and a lamp display, or the like. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 indicates a power supply unit.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram. The control unit 18 receives a deposit signal from the bill discriminating and storing unit 17 and a medal ejection instruction by the operation button 6, and displays the contents thereof on the display unit 8.
And a detection signal from the position detecting means 28, and based on them, controls the operation of the medal feeding mechanism 21.

Next, a specific medal lending operation will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

In the lending standby state, the bill insertion slot 5
When the banknotes are inserted, lending of the medals M is started.

First, it is checked whether or not a bill has been inserted.
(Step S₁), When bills are inserted
It is checked whether the bill is a proper bill (step
S ₂). The banknote recognition and storage unit 17 stores 1,000 yen banknotes and 2,000
Judges banknotes as appropriate banknotes, other banknotes of denomination, false
It is determined that the banknotes and unidentifiable banknotes are not appropriate banknotes. paper
When a start is made without a bill inserted,
Encourage input.

[0033] When it is determined that the an appropriate bill in step _{S 2,} the guide member 12 is guide position (a) ~ (c)
Whether located is checked (step S _3). When it is determined that the inserted bill is not a proper bill, the bill is returned from the bill insertion slot 5 and the next bill is awaited.

If the banknotes are returned three times for the same reason, it is determined that there is a high possibility that the wrongdoing has been performed, and the staff is notified via the communication unit 32 and the central management unit 33 to check by the staff. Prompted (error handling).

[0035] a micro-switch 29 is OFF when the guiding member 12 in the step _{S 3} is located at the guide position (a) ~ (c), the rotary disk 23 of the medal feeding mechanism 21 is driven, the medal M Is carried out (step S ₄ ). The guide member 12 is in the guide position (a)-
When the switch is not located at (c), the micro switch 29 is ON, and the buzzer 7 as a notification means sounds and notifies the user (error processing).

Error cancellation ((a) of guide member 12-
(C) returning process to the position) is made, checking whether the error reset has been completed (step S _5),
If the release process has been performed, the process proceeds to step S _4, prompting again releasing process if it is not canceled.

The number of medals M fed out one by one by the rotation of the rotary disk 23 is counted by the counting sensor S when passing through the supply passage 22 (step S ₆ ). Here, if the medal M is not advanced even though the rotating disk 23 is driven to rotate, the communication unit 32
Then, the person in charge is notified to the person in charge through the central management device 33, the person in charge of the check is prompted, and error processing is performed.

The medal M which has been normally fed is supplied from the supply passage 22 to the chute member 26, the rotating portion 12a, the guide member 1
After that, the game machine 2 is thrown into the tray 16 of the gaming machine 2. Medal M
Feeding number of sheets is counted up by the counting sensor S each time is fed out (step S _7). Next, medal M
Count value is a predetermined value (50 pieces for 1,000 yen, 100 for 2,000 yen)
Is checked (step S ₈ ).
Rotation of the rotary disk 23 reaches the predetermined value is stopped is feeding medal M is stopped (Step S _9), 1 single loan operation is completed. Jam or medals such as breaking of the medal M when the count value does not reach the predetermined value is step S ₆
Is checked, and if there is no abnormality, the feeding operation is continued. When an error occurs, processing according to the content of the error is performed (error processing).

When one lending operation is completed, an empty check in the medal hopper 20 is performed (step S ₁₁ ). When an empty is detected, the call lamp 4 flashes and a corresponding error coat is displayed on the display unit 8 to urge the attendant to supply medals (error processing). In this case, the medal supply door 9 is opened to supply medals into the medal hopper 20.

In the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which medals are lent out by bills. However, a type using a prepaid card can be used. In this case, it is possible to cope with this by providing a card processing unit instead of the banknote recognition unit, and it is also possible to use a type in which both the banknote and the card can be used.

Further, the present invention is also applicable to a type corresponding to a medal for saving medals in which a rental is performed using a membership card and a personal identification number (in this case, a numeric keypad is separately provided). In that case,
A card processing unit for processing a membership card and a numeric keypad for inputting a personal identification number are provided.

Further, the position detecting means 28 of the guide member 12 is not limited to the one based on ON / OFF of the micro switch 29, but may be based on another sensor such as detecting a light shielding plate attached to the guide member 12 with an optical sensor. It may be. Although the case where the game medium is a medal has been described, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where the game medium is other than a medal.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the guide member for ejecting the game medium from the game medium lending machine to the tray of the game machine is not located at the guide position for the tray, the game medium is played. The feeding mechanism is not operated and the feeding of the game media is not performed.Therefore, there is no trouble that the game media gets stuck or bite in the supply path, and the trouble and time required for maintenance are unnecessary. In addition, damage to the supply system of the game medium can be eliminated at the same time.

In addition, to prevent trouble such as "how many cards have been received or not received" between the shop and the customer caused by the conventional technique in which the flow of the game media is stopped while the game media is being paid out. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a usage example of a game medium lending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an internal mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of the same.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a position of the guide member and a position detecting unit.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 game media lending machine (medal lending machine) 2 gaming machine (pachislot machine) 3 machine frame 11 nozzle mechanism 12 guide member 16 saucer 20 medal hopper 21 medal feeding mechanism 22 medal supply passage 23 rotating disk 25 cradle 26 shoot member 28 position detection Means 29 Micro switch 30 Switch actuating piece S Count sensor M Medal

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C005 HB06 2C088 BB21 BC73 BC74 BC79 CA27 3E044 AA05 BA02 BA06 CA01 CC02 CC03 CC06 DB05 DD05 EB09 3E048 AA03 BA07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A game medium lending machine which is arranged adjacent to a game machine and lends a game medium based on an input of a recording medium on which cash or predetermined information is recorded, wherein the game is stored in the game medium lending machine. A game medium feeding mechanism for feeding out the medium one by one, and a game medium which is fed by the feeding mechanism and which can be moved between a guide position and a non-guide position for guiding the game medium into the tray of the gaming machine. A supported guide member, and position detection means for detecting that the guide member is located at the guide position,
Control means for permitting the feeding of the game medium by the game medium feeding mechanism on condition that the position detecting means detects that the guide member is located at the guiding position. Game media rental machine. 2. A game medium lending machine which is arranged adjacent to a game machine and lends a game medium based on an input of a recording medium on which cash or predetermined information is recorded, wherein the game is stored in the game medium lending machine. A game medium feeding mechanism for feeding out the medium one by one; a game medium fed out by the feeding mechanism; and a game medium that can be moved between a guide position and a non-guide position for guiding the game medium into a tray of the gaming machine. A supported guide member, position detecting means for detecting that the guide member is located at the non-guide position, and the position detecting means detecting that the guide member is located at the non-guide position. Control means for prohibiting the payout of the game medium by the game medium payout mechanism on condition that the game medium is supplied. 3. The game medium according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying means for notifying when a game medium ejection instruction is issued in a state where the guide member is not located at the guide position. Rental machine.