JP2003058485A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electronic equipment capable of executing prescribed control processing corresponding only to a normal command. SOLUTION: In the electronic equipment provided with a control part for receiving a command outputted from an external device and executing prescribed control processing corresponding to the received command, the control part receives the command outputted from the external device by the previously determined number N of times (N is a natural number >=2) (steps 22, 23), executes identify discrimination processing for discriminating the identify of respective received commands (step 24) and executes prescribed control processing corresponding to respective commands when the identify of respective commands is discriminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device including a control unit that receives a command output from an external device and executes a predetermined control process according to the command.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an electronic device of this type, a display unit mounted on a game machine such as a pachinko machine and displaying various display images has been conventionally known. In this case, the gaming machine is provided with a main control unit that comprehensively controls both the game mechanism and the display unit, and the main control unit sends various commands to the display unit to change the operating state of the game mechanism. Display various display images such as corresponding animation images and still images on the display unit. The display unit also includes a display unit that displays a display image and a display control unit that generates an image signal for displaying the display image. The display control unit performs predetermined data processing in accordance with various commands transmitted from the main control unit to generate an image signal based on the image data that is the basis of the display image and outputs the image signal to the display unit. . In this case, the command transmitted from the main control unit is a mode command indicating what kind of control the command is,
The event command indicating the specific control content by the command is paired to indicate the control content for the display unit.

In this gaming machine, when the power is turned on,
First, the main control unit sequentially transmits a mode command and an event command for displaying a display image to the display control unit. At this time, the display control unit acquires the first received command as a mode command, and determines that the instruction (command) regarding the display of the display image is transmitted from the main control unit. Further, the display control unit acquires the subsequently received command as an event command and executes image processing according to the instruction content. Specifically, the display control unit sequentially generates display data by performing predetermined image processing on a plurality of image data that is the basis of the display image according to the processing content instructed by the event command. To do. Next, the display control unit generates an image signal based on the generated display data and outputs the image signal to the display unit. As a result, a display image (for example, an animation image) based on the image data is displayed on the display unit. After that, the display control unit sequentially repeats reception of both commands transmitted from the main control unit, image processing according to instruction contents of both commands, and generation and output of an image signal based on display data. To do. As a result, various display images are displayed on the display unit according to the operating state of the game mechanism.

[0004]

However, the conventional display unit has the following problems. That is, in the conventional display unit, the display control unit causes the display unit to display the display image based on the image data according to both the mode command and the event command transmitted from the main control unit. In this case, for example, before the mode command and the event command transmitted from the main control unit are received by the display control unit, either of the commands may be lost in data due to noise or the like. is there. At this time, the display control unit cannot determine whether the received command is a normal command or a command with data loss, and therefore executes the command with data loss as a normal command. As a result, there are problems that a part of the display image is not displayed, a display image different from the display image that should be originally displayed is displayed, and the entire display unit stops due to an error.

Further, the conventional display unit acquires the first received command as a mode command, and
Then, the received command is acquired as an event command. In this case, for example, when either of the two commands transmitted from the main control unit is not received by the display control unit for some reason, or when either of the commands is lost in data, the display control unit Is
The normal display of the display image cannot be continued, and the display of the display image stops due to an error. Specifically, for example, when the mode command to be received first is not received by the table control unit, or when the received mode command is data-deficient, the display control unit
Event command sent after that command,
The command received first, that is, the mode command, is acquired. In such a case, after the transmission of this event command, the display control unit acquires the mode command and the event command that are sequentially transmitted as the event command and the mode command. As a result, the display control unit cannot grasp the instruction content output by the main control unit and cannot perform image processing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a main object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device capable of executing a predetermined control process according to only a normal command. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device capable of normally receiving a command received thereafter and executing a control process when an error occurs during command reception.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic apparatus of the present invention includes a control unit for receiving a command output from an external device and executing a predetermined control process according to the received command. In the electronic device, the control unit receives the command N times (N is a natural number of 2 or more) predetermined when the command is output from the external device, and receives each command. Is executed, and the predetermined control process according to each command is executed when each command is judged to be the same.

Further, the electronic apparatus of the present invention is the electronic apparatus described above, further comprising a command storage section for temporarily storing the command, and the control section has M types (M is M to be output in a predetermined order). And sequentially executing the identity determination process each time the commands of two or more natural numbers are received, and sequentially storing any of the commands determined to be the same by the identity determination process in the command storage unit. The predetermined control process is executed when the M kinds of commands are stored in the predetermined order.

Further, in the electronic device of the present invention, in the above electronic device, the control unit receives the commands to be output in the predetermined order, and receives the commands other than the command to be output first. When the command is first received, the received command is discarded, and when the command other than the command to be output next to the command most recently stored in the command storage unit is received, the received command is received. It is characterized in that the command and all the stored commands are discarded.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of an electronic device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the configuration of the gaming machine 1 will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the game machine 1 is provided with a display unit 2, a data transfer memory 3, a main control section (outdoor device) 4 and a game mechanism (not shown). The display unit 2 corresponds to the electronic device in the present invention, and the gaming device 1
In addition to being packaged in a box shape that can be mounted on, various display images are displayed under the control of the main control unit 4. The display unit 2 includes a display unit 11, a control unit 12, a RAM 13 and a ROM 14, and is configured to be connectable to a data transfer memory 3. The display unit 11 is composed of, for example, an LCD panel capable of color display, although not particularly limited thereto. The control unit 12 reads the image data D and information about the display procedure data from the data transfer memory 3 according to various commands C transmitted from the main control unit 4, and displays various display images such as animation images and still images. An image signal S for displaying is generated.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the main controller 4
The command C transmitted from the two types of commands (a mode command Ca indicating what kind of control the command C is about and an event command Cb indicating the specific control contents of the command C) ( The M types of commands in the present invention) form a pair to indicate the control content for the display unit 2. Each of the mode command Ca and the event command Cb (hereinafter also referred to as “command Ca” and “command Cb”) is composed of 8-bit digital data, and the leading 1 bit (command type information) is “1” and It is shown whether the command is Ca or Cb depending on whether it is "0". The remaining 7 bits (command body) of the commands Ca and Cb indicate specific control contents for the display unit 2. Therefore, as will be described later, when the control unit 12 transmits the commands Ca and Cb in this order, the control unit 12 executes various control processes according to the command C including the commands Ca and Cb.

The RAM 13 corresponds to the command storage section in the present invention, and the command C transmitted from the main control section 4.
(Commands Ca and Cb), the calculation result of the control unit 12, the image data D read from the data transfer memory 3, and the like are temporarily stored. The ROM 14 stores the operation program of the control unit 12.

The data transfer memory 3 is a recording medium for transferring various data such as the image data D from the personal computer (not shown) to the display unit 2, and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM. The data transfer memory 3 is configured such that various data can be written via a ROM writer connected to a personal computer (not shown), and is detachably attached to the display unit 2. The image data D and the like are generated in advance on the personal computer. The main controller 4 controls both the game mechanism and the display unit 2 as a whole. Specifically, the main control unit 4 outputs various commands C, C, ... To the display unit 2 according to the operating state of the game mechanism, thereby displaying a display image according to the operating state of the game mechanism. Display on 2. In this case, when transmitting the command C to the display unit 2, the main control unit 4 transmits the commands Ca and Cb in order at a predetermined transmission timing. In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, detailed description of the game mechanism is omitted.

Next, the display procedure of the display image by the display unit 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the power of the game machine 1 is turned on,
The control unit 12 executes the command reception process 20 shown in FIG. In this command reception process 20, the control unit 12
Whether or not a command (command Ca, Cb) is transmitted from the main control unit 4 is constantly monitored (step 21). At this time, when the control unit 12 determines that the main control unit 4 has transmitted the command, the control unit 12 receives the command twice (an example of N times in the present invention) and outputs the variables COM1 and COM.
It is acquired as 2 (steps 22 and 23). in this case,
For example, it is preferable to receive the command twice (N times) via two different (N) receiving paths. Next, the control unit 12 acquires both commands (variables COM1, CO
It is determined whether M2) are the same as each other (identity determination processing in the present invention, step 24). At this time, when it is determined that the two commands are different from each other, the control unit 12
It is determined that there is a data loss in one of the commands acquired as the variables COM1 and COM2, both commands are discarded (step 25), and the process returns to step 21 to check whether the command is transmitted from the main control unit 4. Monitor again.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 24 that both commands are the same, the control unit 12 determines that both the commands acquired as the variables COM1 and COM2 are normally received commands. At this time, the control unit 12 determines whether the received command is the command Ca or Cb (step 26). Specifically, when the first 1 bit of the received command is "1", the received command is determined to be the command Ca, and when the first 1 bit is "0", the received command is determined to be the command Cb. . At this time, when it is determined that the received command is the command Ca, the control unit 12 determines whether the command Ca received before that time point is already stored in the RAM 13 (step 27). In the display unit 2, the control unit 12 sends a command transmitted from the main control unit 4 to the RAM 13 as described later.
The control unit 12 executes various data processes on condition that the commands Ca and Cb are stored in the RAM 13 in that order (predetermined order).

Next, when it is determined in step 27 that the command Ca is not stored in the RAM 13, the control unit 12 stores the command Ca acquired as the variables COM1 and COM2 in the RAM 13 (step 2).
8) Then, returning to step 21, the presence / absence of command transmission from the main control unit 4 is monitored again. On the other hand, when it is determined that the command Ca received before that time is stored in the RAM 13, the control unit 12 discards the command Ca stored in the RAM 13 (step 29) and then obtains the variables COM1 and COM2. Command Ca, Ca
Either of the above is stored in the RAM 13 (step 28).
In this case, the command C already stored in the RAM 13
Regarding a, originally, the command Cb transmitted after the command Ca is saved in the RAM 13, and the data processing corresponding to both commands Ca and Cb is executed. However, when it is determined in step 26 that the command Ca has been received even though the command Ca has already been stored in the RAM 13, it means that the command Cb to be subsequently transmitted cannot be received. Therefore, the command Ca already stored in the RAM 13 becomes unnecessary, so that the control unit 12 discards the command Ca and stores the newly received command Ca in the RAM 1
Save to 3. After that, the control unit 12 returns to step 21 and again monitors the presence or absence of command transmission from the main control unit 4.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 26 that the received command is the command Cb, the control unit 12
Determines whether or not the command Ca has been received before that time point and has been saved in the RAM 13 by the saving process in step 28 (step 30). At this time, RAM
When the command Ca is not stored in 13, that is, when the command Cb is first received, the control unit 1
2 cannot execute image processing according to the command Cb. For this reason, the control unit 12 discards the received command Cb (step 31) and then proceeds to step 21.
Then, the presence / absence of command transmission from the main control unit 4 is monitored again. When the command Ca is stored in the RAM 13, the control unit 12 stores the received command Cb in the RAM 13 (step 32), and then the step 2
Returning to 1, the presence / absence of command transmission from the main control unit 4 is monitored again. At this time, the control unit 12 executes a display process according to the commands Ca and Cb (command C) assuming that both commands Ca and Cb are sequentially stored in the RAM 13 and a predetermined condition is satisfied. .

Specifically, the control unit 12 determines that the command Ca stored in the RAM 13 has sent an instruction (command) relating to the display of the display image from the main control unit 4, and the instruction content of the command Cb is determined. The corresponding image processing is executed. At this time, the control unit 12 reads out the image data D necessary for displaying the display image from the data transfer memory 3 according to the processing content instructed by the command Cb, and performs the image processing on the image data D. Displaying data is generated by executing. Next, the control unit 12
The image signal S is sequentially generated based on the generated display data and output to the display unit 11. As a result, a display image (for example, an animation image) based on the image data D is displayed on the display unit 11. After that, the control unit 12 receives the commands Ca and Cb transmitted from the main control unit 4 (command receiving process 20), the image processing according to the instruction content of the command Cb, and the image signal S based on the display data. Iteratively executes the generation and output of. This allows
Various display images corresponding to the operating state of the game mechanism are displayed on the display unit 11.

Next, the command C by the display unit 2
The method of receiving a and Cb will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS.

In the display unit 2, as described above, the control unit 12 responds to both the command Ca indicating what kind of control the command is and the command Cb indicating the specific control content. Data processing for displaying the display image. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the commands Ca and Cb are normally received in this order, the control unit 12 executes data processing such as the above-described image processing according to the commands Ca and Cb. On the other hand, FIG.
As shown in, when it is determined that the command Cb is not stored in the RAM 13 in step 30 after it is determined that the command Cb is received in step 26 of the command receiving process 20 described above, that is, the command Cb is first received. When this is done, the command Ca that should be paired with the command Cb does not exist. Therefore, the control unit 12 determines that the data processing corresponding to the command Cb cannot be executed, and discards the received command Cb.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when it is determined that the command Ca is already stored in the RAM 13 in step 27 after it is determined that the command Ca is received in step 26 of the command receiving process 20, that is, , When command Ca is received continuously, R
Since there is no command Cb that should be paired with the command Ca already stored in the AM 13, the command Ca already stored in the RAM 13 is discarded and the newly received command Ca is stored in the RAM 13. After that, when the command Cb is received and stored in the RAM 13, both commands Ca and Cb are received in a predetermined order, and data corresponding to both commands Ca and Cb in the RAM 13 are regarded as satisfying a predetermined condition. Execute the process.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, when the command Ca is received three times in succession, the control section 12 receives the first received command Ca and the second received command Ca.
And the command Ca received second is discarded when the command Ca received third is received. After that, when the command Cb is received and stored in the RAM 13, the data processing corresponding to both commands Ca and Cb in the RAM 13 is executed. Therefore, for example, if the Mth command of the M kinds of commands (two kinds in this example) in one group is missing in data or cannot be received, from the first one in the group of 1 (M -1) commands up to the first (first command in case of two types) and M in the second group
It is possible to reliably prevent the execution of the control process by the combination with the M-th command of the types of commands. As a result, it is possible to surely execute the control processing according to only the M kinds of commands that should be originally combined. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, for example, commands Ca, C
When the commands Cb, Ca, and Ca are received in that order after executing the data processing according to the command received normally in the order of b, the control unit 12 does not normally receive the commands in the predetermined order. Command Ca received by
The command Cb received next to Cb and the command Ca received next are discarded, and the received command Ca is RA
Save in M13.

As described above, according to the display unit 2, the command transmitted from the main control section 4 is received twice, and it is determined whether or not both commands are the same, and it is determined that they are the same. Only then is the command treated as a normally received command. As a result, it is possible to prevent the execution of data processing according to a command in which data is lost, and to prevent an error stop due to the execution of the command, and to always display a normal display image on the display unit 11. it can. Further, according to the display unit 2, the control unit 12 executes the data processing corresponding to both commands only when the commands Ca and Cb are normally received. Therefore, even when an error occurs in command reception, the control unit 12 can accurately and surely execute image processing according to the instruction output by the main control unit 4 thereafter.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 2 that executes various image processes according to the command C output from the main control unit 4 has been described as an example, but the electronic device according to the present invention displays an image. The present invention can be applied to various electronic devices that execute predetermined control processing according to a command transmitted from an external device. Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, an example in which two types of commands Ca and Cb are received and data processing is executed has been described, but there are two types of commands.
The type is not limited, and one type may be used. The present invention can also be applied to various electronic devices that receive three or more types of commands to be transmitted in a predetermined order and execute control processing. In this case, for example, an electronic device that executes control processing according to three types of commands Ca, Cb, and Cc executes control processing on the condition that each command Ca, Cb, and Cc is received in that order. Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the example in which the received command is acquired twice and the identity of the acquired both commands is determined has been described. However, the command is obtained by the identity determination processing in the present invention. The number of operations is not limited to twice, and the command transmitted from the main control unit 4 can be acquired three times or more to determine the identity of each command.

[0028]

As described above, according to the electronic apparatus of the present invention, when the command is output from the external device, the control unit receives the command N times which is predetermined and the received commands are the same. The data processing corresponding to the command in which a data loss occurs by executing the identity determination processing for determining the sex and executing the predetermined control processing according to each command when each command is determined to be the same. The execution of
Further, it is possible to reliably prevent an error stop due to the execution of the command, and it is possible to always execute a predetermined control process according to only a normal command.

Further, according to the electronic apparatus of the present invention, the control unit sequentially receives the M kinds of commands to be output in a predetermined order, executes the identity determination processing each time, and executes the identity determination processing. An error occurred in command reception by storing one of the commands determined to be the same in the command storage unit in sequence and executing a predetermined control process when M types of commands were stored in a predetermined order. Even at this time, it is possible to accurately and surely execute the predetermined control processing according to the instruction output by the external device thereafter.

Further, according to the electronic apparatus of the present invention, when receiving the commands to be output in a predetermined order, the control unit receives the commands other than the commands to be output first when the commands are received first. By discarding the command that has been stored and discarding the command that was received when a command other than the command that should be output next to the command that was stored most recently in the command storage unit is received and all the stored commands, for example, If the M-th command of the M types of commands in group 1 is missing in terms of data, the first to (M-1) th commands in group 1 and the M types in group 2 It is possible to reliably prevent the execution of the control processing by the combination with the M-th command of the above commands. As a result, it is possible to surely execute the control processing according to only the M kinds of commands that should be originally combined.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a game device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a command C (mode command Ca and mode command C transmitted from the main control unit 4 to the display unit 2).
It is a data structure figure of a).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a command reception process 20 by the control unit 12 of the display unit 2.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reception order for a command C output from a main control unit 4 and a processing method thereof.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of another reception order for the command C output from the main control unit 4 and a processing method thereof.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of still another reception order for the command C output from the main control unit 4 and a processing method thereof.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of still another reception order for the command C output from the main control unit 4 and a processing method thereof.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of still another reception order for the command C output from the main control unit 4 and a processing method thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 gaming device 2 display unit 3 Data transfer memory 4 Main control unit 11 Display 12 Control unit 13 RAM 14 ROM 20 Command reception processing C, Ca, Cb commands D image data S image signal

Continued front page    (72) Inventor ▲ Taka ▼ Makoto Ta             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Takeaki Sueoka             8 304-1 Hirosawa-cho, Kiryu-shi, Gunma             Heiwauchi Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C088 AA36 BC60 CA30 EB55                 5B014 EA01 EA04 EB03 FA04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device comprising a control unit that receives a command output from an external device and executes a predetermined control process according to the received command, wherein the control unit is configured to operate from the external device. When the command is output, the command is given N times in advance (N is 2
The above natural number) executes an identity determination process for determining the identity of each received command, and also executes the predetermined control process corresponding to each command when the commands are determined to be the same. An electronic device characterized by: 2. A command storage unit for temporarily storing the command, wherein the control unit sequentially receives the M types of commands (M is a natural number of 2 or more) to be output in a predetermined order. The identity determination process is executed each time, any of the commands determined to be the same by the identity determination process is sequentially stored in the command storage unit, and the M types of commands are stored in the predetermined order. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined control process is executed when the electronic device is operated. 3. The control unit, when receiving each of the commands to be output in the predetermined order, receives the command other than the command to be output first when the command is received first. Discarding and discarding the received command and all the stored commands when the command other than the command to be output next to the command most recently stored in the command storage unit is received. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein: