JP2004201744A - Ball put-out device of game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve quality reliability by making a ball put-out / ball discharge operation appropriate. <P>SOLUTION: In the ball put-out device of a game machine, a selection means 31 monitors the ball put-out operation and the ball discharge operation in a put-out mechanism 4 accompanying power supply, and the actuator 16 of the put-out mechanism 4 does not perform the ball discharge operation even when a ball discharge switch 20 is depressed during the ball put-out operation. When the ball discharge is operated except during the ball put-out operation, in the case that the ball discharge switch 20 is depressed, by a ball discharge processing means 32, the actuator 16 performs the ball discharge operation first regardless of a detection state from a ball run-out detector 5, and then when the ball running-out detector 5 detects a ball running-out state, the actuator 16 performs the ball discharge operation for a prescribed time and driving is stopped. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ball dispensing device that performs a ball dispensing operation of dispensing a ball of a gaming machine to a player side and a ball removing operation of discharging the ball to a game store by an actuator.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A conventional ball dispensing device of a pachinko machine is configured to rotate a sprocket disposed at an intersection of a three-forked road in a dispensing mechanism provided on the back side of a pachinko machine in one direction by an actuator such as a step motor, thereby obtaining one of the three forked roads. The ball is dispensed from the back side of the pachinko machine to the front tray of the pachinko machine using the passage and another passage, and the sprocket is rotated in the other direction by an actuator, thereby performing the above-described operation. Using one of the aisles and the other of the other aisles, the ball is removed from the back of the pachinko machine into a game machine installation facility called a pachinko machine island where the pachinko machine is installed. On the other hand, an out-of-ball detector is provided in one passage upstream of the sprocket to detect a ball presence state and a ball out state. Are (e.g., Patent Document 1; see 2).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2000-262700 A (FIG. 3)
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A-10-15187 (Page 1, Abstract, Page 5, Paragraph No. 0020, FIGS. 3 and 4)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the ball-pulling operation, the operator inserts an operation rod such as a wire from the operation hole provided on the front of the pachinko machine at the front side of the pachinko machine, and operates the ball-pulling switch through the ball-pulling lever. Or, by directly operating the ball removal switch, the actuator is driven to rotate in the ball removal operation direction, while a ball out detector is provided in one passage upstream of the sprocket. Have been. For this reason, in order to extract the ball remaining in the path from the position near the downstream side of the ball-out detector to the sprocket, a predetermined time after the ball-out detector detects the ball-out state and the ball is completely removed, It is also conceivable to reduce the power consumption by stopping the rotation drive of the actuator in the ball-drawing operation direction. However, if the out-of-ball detector detects the out-of-ball condition when the out-of-ball switch is operated, the out-of-ball operation will not be performed even if the off-ball switch is operated and the ball is turned on, and the out-of-ball operation will not be performed. Since the ball remaining in the passage from the position near the downstream side of the detector to the sprocket cannot be extracted, it is difficult to employ it at once.
[0005]
Therefore, the present invention provides a ball dispensing device for a gaming machine, which can improve the quality reliability by optimizing the ball dispensing and ball removing operations.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the present invention, a ball dispensing operation of dispensing a ball by a dispensing body to a player side and a ball removing operation of discharging a ball to a game store are performed by an actuator, and a ball presence state and a ball out state are detected. In a ball dispensing device of a gaming machine in which a ball out detector is provided in a passage upstream of the payout body and a ball removal switch for outputting a ball removal instruction is operably provided on the gaming machine frame from the front side, an actuator is electrically operated. Means for controlling the ball control operation to control the ball removal operation during the ball dispensing operation and permitting the ball removal operation during the ball dispensing non-operation. Ball removal processing means for stopping the ball removal operation of the actuator after a predetermined time from the ball failure state detection from the ball failure detector after ignoring the detected detection state and causing the actuator to perform the ball removal operation. , Ball dispensing operation Oite, even if the on-operation is a sphere disconnect switch from the front side of the gaming machine people, because they do not migrate to the ball 抜動 operation, it is possible to improve the quality and reliability prohibits the sphere 抜動 work in the dispensing operation. In addition, when a person turns on the ball removal switch from the front side of the gaming machine when the ball is not being paid out, the ball removal processing means causes the actuator to be turned off even if the ball is already out of ball or in the ball presence state. Since the ball is removed, the ball remaining in the passage between the position near the downstream side of the installation position of the ball-out detector and the sprocket can be appropriately extracted to the game machine installation equipment. Further, in the present invention, if the dispensing body is formed by a sprocket arranged at the intersection of a three-way, and the actuator is constituted by a single step motor that rotationally drives the sprocket, the ball dispensing operation and the ball removing operation are performed. Can be easily switched.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
1 and 2 show an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a ball payout device of a pachinko machine 1, and FIG. 2 shows a control processing procedure. The payout device of the pachinko machine 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The ball-out detector 5 on the back side of the pachinko machine 1 pays out the maximum set prize ball number in a single ball payout operation to the passage 12 upstream of the sprocket 15 of the payout mechanism 4 on the back side of the pachinko machine 1. The required sphere is provided at a position set as being present. Therefore, if the ball-out detector 5 outputs a ball-present signal (ON signal) indicating a ball-present state in which a ball has been detected to the control device 2, the control device 2 receives the ball-present signal and outputs a ball-disabled state. Is determined. When the ball-out detector 5 outputs a ball-out signal (OFF signal) indicating a ball-out state in which no ball is detected to the control device 2, the control device 2 enters the ball-out prohibition state by inputting the ball-out signal. Is determined. The pachinko machine 1 is provided with a ball removing operation hole 18 on the front surface, and a person presses the operation rod 19 from the front side of the pachinko machine 1 and presses a button 21 of a ball removing switch 20 installed inside the pachinko machine 1 from the ball removing operation hole 18. When operated, the ball removal switch 20 outputs a ball removal signal (ON signal) indicating a ball removal instruction to the control device 2. When the pressing operation on the button 21 is released, the ball removal switch 20 outputs to the control device 2 an off signal indicating that there is no ball removal instruction meaning that the output of the ball removal signal is stopped.
[0008]
On the other hand, in the pachinko machine 1, the control device 2 on the back side is activated by power supply, the balls are stored in the tank 3 on the back side of the pachinko machine 1, and the ball existence detector 5 detects a ball presence signal to the control device 2. In the state where the ball is put into the saucer 6 on the front side of the pachinko machine 1 and the ball firing operation mechanism 7 called a handle grip on the front side of the pachinko machine 1 is operated by the player, the operation amount is reduced. In response, the ball launching mechanism 8 inside the pachinko machine 1 launches the balls supplied from the tray 6 one by one toward the game area of the game board 9 which is the main game body inside the pachinko machine 1.
[0009]
A ball from the game area of the game board 9 wins one of the plurality of winning parts 10 arranged in the game area, and the winning ball detector 11 that detects the winning ball outputs a winning signal to the control device 2. . The control device 2 identifies the winning signal from the winning ball detector 11 corresponding to the winning component 10 based on the difference in the position of the input port, and then the three passages 12; 13 of the payout mechanism 4; Dispensing control is performed on an actuator 16 such as a step motor connected to a sprocket 15 disposed at the intersection of a three-way intersection consisting of fourteen. As a result, the payout mechanism 4 pays out balls having cash properties to the saucer 6 as a prize for the result of the game of winning, as the sprocket 15 is driven for ball payout (rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow X1). The sprocket 15 is a payout body provided with a plurality of ball receiving portions that are recessed so as to be able to store one ball in the direction of the center of rotation from the circumferential surface of the rotating body at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
[0010]
Along with the start of the ball dispensing operation in the dispensing mechanism 4, in the process in which the ball from the tank 3 moves from one passage 12 to another passage 13 in the three-way, the counting detector 17 of the dispensing mechanism 4 controls the passage 13. A passing ball is detected and a count signal is output to the control device 2. The control device 2 counts up the count signal, and counts down the set number of payouts when the detected number of detected payouts matches the set number of payouts to be paid out for the prize, or with the count signal, and counts down the countdown value. When “0” becomes “0”, the actuator 16 is controlled to stop.
[0011]
Particularly, in the case of the present embodiment, in the ball removing operation, there is no ball required to pay out the maximum set number of prize balls in one ball discharging operation in the passage 12 on the upstream side of the sprocket 15 of the payout mechanism 4. Therefore, even in a state in which the ball-out detector 5 outputs a ball-out signal to the control device 2, the ball 12 in the passage 12 between the position near the downstream side of the installation position of the ball-out detector 5 and the sprocket 15. It is important to properly extract the remaining balls to the gaming machine installation equipment.
[0012]
In order to achieve this, the control device 2 includes a selection means 31 and a ball removal processing means 32 embodied by the microcomputer operating by a program stored in the ROM. In FIG. 2, Step 102 shows the processing performed by the selecting means 31, and Steps 105-110 show the processing performed by the ball removing processing means 32. Step 101 is a general process of the gaming machine. In step 101, a ball payout operation based on a prize, a ball payout operation in response to a lending request from the between-table ball lending machine 23, and the like are performed. In step 102, since the ball dispensing operation and the ball removing operation do not interfere with each other (because the ball dispensing operation and the ball removing operation do not operate at the same time), the actuator 16 is moved in the arrow X1 direction. When the number of payouts to be paid out for a prize is stored in a memory such as a RAM and the remaining number is left, the unpaid ball lending from the inter-ball ball rental machine 23 is stored in a memory such as a RAM. During a ball payout operation such as when the set lending number to be paid out is stored and remains, a ball-pulling-out operation prohibition process that does not receive an ON signal from the ball-pulling-out switch 20 is executed. Further, when the actuator 16 is not driven to rotate in any of the directions of the arrow X1 and the arrow X2, when the set number of payouts to be paid out for a prize is stored in a memory such as a RAM and there is no remaining, the RAM is used. When the ball is not being paid out, such as when the set lending number to be paid out for the unpaid ball lending from the inter-ball ball lending machine 23 is not stored and remains, the ON signal from the ball removal switch 20 is output. The process of permitting the ball to be removed is executed.
[0013]
In addition, when the ball removing operation is permitted by the selecting means 31 (YES in step 103), the ball removing processing means 32 determines whether or not a ball removing signal has been input from the ball removing switch 20 to the control device 2 in step 104. It is determined whether or not the ball removal signal has not been input, so that the determination in step 104 is NO, and the process returns to step 101. If the ball removal signal has been input, step 104 has been determined as YES. Is set (stored) in the RAM for causing the ball to be removed for a predetermined time. During this predetermined time, even when the ball-out detector 5 is outputting a ball-out signal to the control device 2, the sprocket 15 is driven out of the ball by the actuator 16 (rotationally driven in the direction of arrow X2). A ball remaining in the passage 12 between the sprocket 15 and a downstream proximity position of the detector 5 and the sprocket 15 passes from one passage 12 via another passage 14 to the game machine installation equipment (not shown). Is the time required to be discharged to
[0014]
After that, in step 106, the ball drive of the actuator 16 is started. Subsequently, in step 107, it is determined whether or not a ball-out signal has been input from the ball-out detector 5 to the control device 2. If the ball-out signal has not been input, step 107 is NO and the process returns to step 106. If the ball-out signal has been input, the timer is decremented in step 108, and it is determined in step 109 whether or not the set time obtained by the subtraction processing by this timer has reached "0". Since the answer to step 109 is YES and the actuator 16 has been driven to remove the ball for a predetermined time after the ball has run out, the ball removing operation of the actuator 16 is stopped at step 110.
[0015]
In short, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, since the control device 2 includes the selection unit 31 and the ball removal processing unit 32, the selection unit 31 performs the ball payout operation and the ball removal operation in the payout mechanism 4 in accordance with the power supply. During the ball dispensing operation of the dispensing mechanism 4, a person removes the ball by operating the ball removing operation hole provided on the front of the pachinko machine 1 since the actuator 16 of the dispensing mechanism 4 does not perform the ball removing operation. Even if the operation rod 19 such as a wire is inserted from 18 and the ball removal switch 20 is turned on, the payout mechanism 4 does not shift to the ball removal operation. Therefore, the ball withdrawal operation during the payout mechanism 4 in the payout mechanism 4 is prohibited, and the quality reliability can be improved.
[0016]
In particular, during the ball removing operation that is not being performed during the ball dispensing operation, when the ball removing switch 20 is pressed, the ball removing processing means 32 causes the ball removing processing unit 32 to detect the state of the ball missing detector 5 (from the ball missing detector 5). (Either the ball presence signal or the ball out signal is input to the control device 2), first, the actuator 16 performs the ball removal operation and a timer is set. Then, when the ball out detector 5 detects the ball out state, The timer is decremented, and the ball removing operation by the actuator 16 ends when the timer expires (a predetermined time has elapsed). Therefore, the ball remaining in the passage 12 between the position near the downstream side of the installation position of the ball out detector 5 and the sprocket 15 can be appropriately extracted to the game machine installation equipment. Then, since the driving of the actuator 16 is stopped when the time is up, power consumption for driving the actuator 16 can be reduced.
[0017]
Since the actuator 16 is constituted by a single step motor that rotationally drives the sprocket 15 disposed at the intersection of the three-way intersection, the step motor rotates forward (rotation in the direction of arrow X1) and reverse (rotation in the direction of arrow X2). Thus, switching between the ball payout operation and the ball removal operation can be easily performed.
[0018]
Although illustration is omitted, a sprocket 15 is provided so as to rotate together with the sprocket 15, and the claw operated by the actuator 16 by the electromagnetic solenoid engages with the sprocket to stop the ball dispensing. Is released from the ratchet and starts ball payout, while the passage 12 includes a switching passage on the upstream side (the side of the tank 3) of a portion where the ball is entangled with the sprocket 15, and the switching passage has the structure described above. The present invention can be similarly applied if the actuator is operated by another actuator using an electromagnetic solenoid, and the actuator is controlled by the control device 2 triggered by the ON operation of the ball release switch 20. In this case, the upper end of the switching passage is rotatably connected to the passage 12 by a shaft, and when the switching passage is moved to the ball removal side by the actuator, the lower end of the switching passage is directed to the gaming machine installation equipment, As a result, the ball on the tank 3 side is discharged from the passage 12 to the game machine installation equipment via the switching passage. When the switching passage is moved to the ball payout side by the actuator, the lower end of the switching passage is directed to the passage 13, and as a result, the ball on the tank 3 side is paid out from the passage 12 to the receiving tray 6 via the passage 13. . In this case, the passage 14 in FIG. 1 is in a closed form so that the ball does not go. Further, the present invention can be applied to a slot machine using a ball as a game medium.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a ball payout device of a pachinko machine according to one embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 pachinko machine, 2 control device, 4 payout mechanism, 12 passages, 13 passages,
14 passages, 15 sprockets, 16 actuators, 17 counting detectors,
18 ball removal operation hole, 19 operation stick, 20 ball removal switch, 31 selection means,
32 Ball removal processing means.

Claims (2)

The ball dispensing operation of dispensing the ball by the dispensing body to the player side and the ball removing operation of discharging the ball to the game store are performed by an actuator. In a ball dispensing device of a gaming machine, which is provided in a passage on the upstream side and outputs a ball removing instruction and is provided with a ball removing switch operable from the front side in a gaming machine frame, a control device for electrically controlling an actuator. A selection means for prohibiting the ball-pulling operation during the ball-dispensing operation and permitting the ball-pulling operation during the ball-pulling-out operation, and ignoring the detection state input to the control device from the ball-out detector if there is a ball-pulling instruction. Ball removal processing means for stopping the ball removal operation of the actuator after a predetermined time from the detection of the ball failure state from the ball failure detector after the actuator has performed the ball removal operation. Dispensing device. 2. The ball dispensing device for a gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the dispensing body is formed by a sprocket disposed at an intersection of a three-way, and the actuator is constituted by one step motor for driving the sprocket to rotate.

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