JP2003210822A - Inter-machine unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent medals being put out from an inter-machine unit from overflowing from a medal storage unit of a slot machine. <P>SOLUTION: A nozzle 5 guides medals which are put out from a medal- putting out device 16 to the medal storage unit 7 of the slot machine 6. At the distal end of such a nozzle 5, a medal sensor 25 which measures a distance to a medal directly below, which is stored in the medal storage unit 7 is provided. Based on the distance information obtained by the medal sensor 25, a control unit 21 judges whether a medal-putting out motion at the medal-putting out device 16 is performed or not. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used by being installed and used on the side of a gaming machine in which a medal is used as a game medium in a game arcade, and pays out a predetermined number of medals when a value-added medium is inserted. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bench machine provided with a gutter-shaped nozzle for guiding medals paid out from the main body of the bench machine to a predetermined medal storage portion of a gaming machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a game arcade, a so-called stand machine is provided beside a gaming machine called a slot machine, which lends out medals, which are gaming media of the slot machine, when a value-added medium is inserted. ing. The value-added medium is a banknote, a coin, a prepaid card, an IC card, a credit card, or the like, and is a value medium necessary for a player to purchase a medal or borrow a medal. Banknotes are generally used as a value-added medium used in the current game arcades, and banknotes are used as an example of the value-added medium in the following description.

When a player inserts a predetermined amount of banknotes into a banknote slot of a stand machine installed on the side of a slot machine, a predetermined number of medals are correspondingly output from the medal payout slot of the stand machine. Be paid out. By placing the stand machine on the side of the slot machine, the player does not have to stand up
Since it becomes possible to play a game in the slot machine using the medals paid out from the machine, it is possible to shorten the time during which the player interrupts the game. In other words, by installing the stand machine on the side of the slot machine, the player will not lose interest in borrowing medals. Also,
For the operator of the game arcade, by installing the machine between the slot machines on the side of the slot machine, the increase in the number of games played per hour by the player leads to an increase in profit.

Many of the conventional token dispensers are provided with a tray for receiving the dispensed medals, and the dispensed medals are stored in the tray. In this case, the player has to take out the medals stored in the tray by hand and transfer them to the portion for storing medals provided in the slot machine in which he / she plays the game. To solve this problem, a gutter-shaped nozzle is provided at the medal payout opening of the stand machine to guide the medals paid out from the main body of the stand machine to the medal storage section of the slot machine. .

[0005]

However, in the case of the stand machine provided with the gutter-shaped nozzle for guiding the paid-out medals to the medal storage part of the slot machine as described above, the medal storage part has been conventionally used. The medals were paid out regardless of the amount of medals stored in. That is, due to the player's carelessness, medals are paid out in excess of the amount of medals that can be stored in the medal storage unit, and the medals that have been paid out and guided to the medal storage unit overflow from the medal storage unit. There was a drawback.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and detects the amount of medals stored in a predetermined medal storage portion of a slot machine, and the detected amount of medals is It is an object of the present invention to provide a bench machine in which medals are not paid out when the amount of medals set to prevent medals from overflowing from the medal storage unit is exceeded.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the inter-mounting machine of the present invention is installed and used on the side of a gaming machine using a medal as a gaming medium, and a value-added medium is thrown in. According to this, a main body having a medal payout mechanism for paying out a predetermined number of medals, and a gutter-shaped nozzle for guiding the medals paid out from the main body to a predetermined medal storage portion of the gaming machine, A detection means for detecting the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion and a payout operation of medals according to the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion detected by the detection means. It is characterized in that it is provided with a control means for controlling whether or not.

Further, it is preferable that the detecting means is provided at a tip portion of the nozzle or, alternatively, at a medal storing portion.

Further, when the control means detects that the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion exceeds the amount defined as the upper limit value during the medal payout operation, It is preferable that the payout of medals is stopped even if the number of paid-out medals has not reached the predetermined number corresponding to the added value-added medium.

Further, the control means is stored in the medal storage portion when the payout of medals is stopped while the predetermined number of medals corresponding to the inserted value-added medium are being paid out. When the detecting means detects that the amount of medals is below the amount set as the lower limit, it is preferable to automatically restart the payout of medals.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The appearance of a bench machine using the present invention is shown in FIGS. A turning hole 4 is provided so as to protrude from the front surface of the main body 3 of the inter-mounting machine 2, and a gutter-shaped nozzle 5 is supported inside the turning hole 4 so as to be rotatable in a substantially horizontal direction. The nozzle 5 projects downward from the main body with a sufficient inclination so that the medal slides down the inside of the gutter. Stand machine 2
In the game arcade, as shown in FIG. 1, the game machine is installed beside the slot machine 6. The medals paid out from the stand machine 2 slide down inside the nozzle 5 and fall into the medal storage portion 7 of the slot machine 6 through a hole 26 (shown in FIG. 3) provided at the bottom of the tip of the nozzle 5. . 1 and 2, the position at which the nozzle 5 is supported by the main body 3 is
It is aligned with the position of the medal storage unit 7 of the slot machine 6, and is not necessarily limited to this position. For example, when the position of the medal storage portion is lower than that in FIG. 1, the position at which the nozzle is supported by the main body is also lower than that in FIG. 1 so that the medal can be guided to the medal storage portion. . Furthermore, the position of the banknote insertion port, which will be described later, and the like may be appropriately determined according to the position of the nozzle.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the external appearance and internal structure of the main body 3 of the bench machine 2. An opening / closing door 12 having a bill insertion slot 11 for inserting a predetermined bill, for example, a 1,000-yen bill, is provided in the lower front portion of the main body 3. The opening / closing door 12 is locked by a lock 13 so that it cannot be easily opened and closed. Inside the main body 3 and at the rear of the bill slot 11,
A bill validator 14 having a space for storing bills inserted from the bill slot 11 is provided. The bill validator 14 discriminates the authenticity of the inserted bill and the denomination, and when the valid bill is identified, the bill is taken into the inside and the control unit 21 indicates that the valid bill has been inserted.
As an electric signal. When an invalid bill is identified, the bill is returned from the bill slot 11. The bills stored in the bill validator 14 can be taken out by opening the opening / closing door 12. In addition, when the automatic bill collecting device is connected from the outside, the bill taken into the bill identifying device 14 is carried out to the outside and is stored outside. Therefore, the opening / closing door 12 does not have to be opened to take out the bill. good.

Inside the main body 3 and at the rear of the turning hole 4,
A medal payout device 16 integrated with the medal storage unit 15 is provided. When the medal payout device 16 is instructed by the control unit 21 to pay out medals by an electric signal, the medal payout device 16 pays out the medals to the upper end portion of the nozzle 5. The control unit 21 issues a medal payout instruction to the medal payout device 16 so that a predetermined number of medals corresponding to the bills inserted into the bill insertion slot 11 are paid out. Correspondence between the inserted bills and the number of payouts,
For example, it may be appropriately determined that 50 medals are paid out in response to the insertion of one thousand yen bill. The supply of medals to the medal storage unit 15 is performed by opening the medal supply door 18 with the lock 17. Further, the panel door 20 with the lock 19 provided with the turning hole 4 protruding therefrom is detachable from the main body 3, and when performing maintenance of the medal payout device 16 or the like,
The lock of the lock 19 is released, and the panel door 20 together with the nozzle 5 is released.
Can be removed from the body. When an automatic replenishing device for replenishing medals is connected to the medal storage unit 15 from the outside, it is not necessary to open the medal replenishing door 18 to replenish medals.

When a non-banknote is used as the value-added medium, an identifying device suitable for the value medium may be provided instead of the bill identifying device 14. For example,
When an IC card is used, a device for identifying whether or not the IC card is valid and appropriately rewriting the recorded information in the IC card may be provided in the main body of the bench machine.

The control unit 21 is disposed below the inside of the main body 3. The control unit 21 is connected to other devices such as the bill validator 14, the medal payout device 16, and a medal sensor 25 (shown in FIG. 3) described later to control a series of medal payout operations and to lower the front surface of the main body 3. It has a function of controlling the display operation of the medal lending availability, the number of medals paid out, and the like on the display unit 22 provided in.

As shown in FIG. 3, at the tip of the nozzle 5, a medal sensor 25 for detecting the amount of medals stored in the medal storage section 7 and a medal guided by the nozzle 5 are dropped. A hole 26 is provided to allow it. Note that all hatched parts in FIG. 3 represent medals. The medal sensor 25 measures the distance from the medal sensor 25 itself to the medal immediately below which is stored in the medal storage unit 7, and information on the measured distance is input to the control unit 21 as an electric signal. The control unit 21 estimates the amount of medals stored in the storage unit 7 based on the input distance information. That is, the medal sensor 25 serves as a detection unit that detects the amount of medals stored in the storage unit 7. The medal sensor 25 may be any one as long as it can measure the distance from the medal sensor 25 itself to the medal immediately below stored in the medal storage portion 7, and a magnetic one, an ultrasonic one, or the like is appropriately used. Good.

FIG. 4 shows a control block diagram of the machine-to-machine 2.
The control unit 21 includes a CPU 30, a ROM 31, and a RAM 32. The CPU 30 controls each device according to a program stored in the ROM 31, and the RAM 32 is used for control such as the number of medals to be paid out according to the inserted bills. It stores various setting values and data required for operation. Control unit 21
Is input from the bill validator 14 with information that a valid bill has been inserted and the denomination of the bill, and
From the medal sensor 25, information regarding the distance from the medal sensor 25 itself to the medal immediately below stored in the medal storage portion 7 is input. Based on the input information, the CPU 30 refers to the data stored in the RAM 32 and outputs a signal for paying out medals to the medal payout device 16. Further, the CPU 30 has a display unit 22.
It also controls the display operation in.

The flow of control performed by the control unit 21 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a valid bill is inserted into the bill validator 14, it is first determined whether or not a predetermined number of medals corresponding to the inserted bill have been paid out. Immediately after a banknote has been inserted, and if the number of paid-out medals has not reached the predetermined number, then the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 is set to the preset upper limit value. Medal sensor 25
Confirm based on information from. When the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 does not exceed the preset upper limit value, one medal is paid out from the medal payout device 16. When the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 exceeds the preset upper limit value, the medal payout operation is stopped. While the medal payout operation is stopped, when the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 decreases and falls below a preset lower limit value, the control unit 21 receives information from the medal sensor 25. Then, it is detected that the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 is below the lower limit value, and the medal payout operation is restarted.

The number of medals to be paid out according to the inserted bills, and the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the amount of medals stored in the medal storage section 7 may be set appropriately. For example, the number of medals to be paid out is 50 medals for one thousand-yen bill, the maximum amount of medals that can be stored in the medal storage unit 7 is 100, and the upper limit value for stopping the payout of medals is 80. Set the number of sheets to 30 and set the lower limit to restart payout of medals.
In this setting, if one thousand-yen bill is inserted while 50 medals are stored in the medal storage unit 7 under this setting, 30 medals are paid out from the medal payout device 16. Since the amount of medals stored in the storage unit 7 becomes the upper limit value, the medal payout operation is stopped while leaving 20 medals to be paid out.
The amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit 7 decreases as the game of the slot machine is played, the medal payout operation is restarted when the number of medals reaches 30, and the remaining 20 medals are paid out. The payout operation ends.

In the above embodiment, the medal sensor, which is a detection means for detecting the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion, is provided at the tip of the nozzle. Even if it is provided, the same effect can be obtained. FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram when the medal sensor is provided in the medal storage unit. It should be noted that all hatched parts in FIG. 6 represent medals. The medal storage unit 7 is provided with an upper limit detection medal sensor 35 that stops the medal payout operation and a lower limit detection medal sensor 36 that restarts the medal payout operation. The upper limit detection medal sensor 35 and the lower limit detection medal sensor 36 are only required to be capable of detecting that the height at which the medals are stacked is the position of the sensor, those utilizing light transmission and reflection, magnetic It is sufficient to appropriately use the one using the. Upper limit detection medal sensor 35 and lower limit detection medal sensor 3
Similarly to the medal sensor 25, the electric signal from 6 is input to the control unit 21 of the inter-machine machine 2, and the control unit 21 controls the payout of medals based on the input electric signal. In addition, the upper limit detection medal sensor 35 and the lower limit detection medal sensor 3
The connection between the control unit 6 and the control unit 21 can be made by a direct connection with a signal cable or a communication connection by radio waves.

When the slot machine has a function of measuring the amount of medals stored in the medal storage section, the slot machine functions as a detection means by communicating with the slot machine. You may use it.

[0022]

As described above, according to the machine of the present invention, the amount of medals stored in the predetermined medal storage portion of the slot machine is detected, and it is predicted that medals will overflow from the medal storage portion. Since the medals are not paid out when possible, it is possible to prevent the medals paid out from the machine from overflowing from the medal storage section.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an appearance when a bench machine using the present invention is installed on a side of a slot machine.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a bench machine using the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode of a medal sensor.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of a bench machine using the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a medal payout operation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode of a medal sensor according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Two-machine 3 body 5 nozzles 6 slot machines 7 medal storage section 11 banknote slot 14 Banknote identification device 16 medal payout device 21 Control unit 25 medal sensor 30 CPU 35 Medal sensor for upper limit detection 36 Lower limit detection medal sensor

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Susumu Iman             1-14-17 Higashi Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Olympia (72) Inventor Kenji Kishi             1-14-17 Higashi Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Olympia (72) Inventor Yoshimune Sekine             1-14-17 Higashi Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Olympia F term (reference) 2C088 BC72 BC73 BC77 EA41 EA48

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A main body having a medal payout mechanism, which is installed and used on the side of a game machine using a medal as a game medium and pays out a predetermined number of medals when a value-added medium is inserted, and the main body. In the inter-machine with a trough-shaped nozzle that guides the medals paid out from the game machine to a predetermined medal storage portion, a detection means for detecting the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion, And a control unit for controlling whether or not to perform a payout operation of medals according to the amount of medals stored in the medal storage unit detected by the detection unit. . 2. The inter-mounting machine according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means is provided at a tip portion of the nozzle. 3. The bench machine according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means is provided in the medal storage section. 4. The control means, when the detection means detects that the amount of medals stored in the medal storage portion exceeds an amount defined as an upper limit value during a medal payout operation. 4. The payout of medals is stopped even if the number of paid-out medals has not reached the predetermined number according to the added value-added medium. Stand machine. 5. The control means is stored in the medal storage portion when the payout of medals is stopped while a predetermined number of medals corresponding to the inserted value-added medium are being paid out. The machine according to claim 4, wherein when the detection means detects that the amount of medals is below the lower limit value, the payout of medals is automatically restarted.