JP2006068370A - Game medium lending device, and sales management system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sales management system for a game parlor which enables a third person to correctly manage sales without largely changing an existing equipment base. <P>SOLUTION: The sales management system enables a sales management server 700 arranged in a third-party organization to manage the sales of a game medium lending device 100 in a game parlor, wherein the sales management device 30 of the game medium lending device examines consistency between the amount of game balls which a game medium paying-out means 50 actually pays out, and the amount of cash which is thrown into a bill validator 10, etc., and transmits sales data with accuracy guaranteed therein to the sales management server. Transparency in the account of the game parlor is increased by allowing the third person to record and manage the correct sales amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention accurately manages the sales of game balls or medals used in these games in game stores where game machines such as pachinko machines and slot machines are installed, and illegal accounting operations such as sales tampering The present invention relates to a game medium lending device that prevents the occurrence of the trouble and a sales management system thereof.

  Conventionally, game stores that provide games using pachinko machines, slot machines, etc. have been provided with game media lending devices that lend game balls or medals to customers, and the sales of each game medium lending device are aggregated to increase the sales in the store. Recorded results. However, with this method, there is a possibility that sales data may be tampered with illegally by the store operator's arbitrary operation or malicious exploitation of store employees, and there is a lack of accounting transparency in the store. It was.

  Against this background, in recent years, a mechanism has been proposed and widely introduced by third parties (card sales and management companies) to capture sales at each gaming store, using a payment system using prepaid cards as the technical foundation. (See, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In other words, according to this mechanism, when a card sales / management company sells a prepaid card at a game store, the sales amount is captured by the merchant, and from the game store side, the actual amount of game media lent to the customer By charging the card sales / management company for the amount based on the transaction, the transaction between the two is settled. As a result, accounting for an objective and transparent game store intervening by a third party is performed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-232008 JP 2000-202144 A

  Incidentally, in such a settlement system using a conventional prepaid card, a magnetic recording type card medium is generally adopted. However, with this recording method, even if the read data cannot be analyzed, the amount data may be tampered with by simply copying and writing the data itself to another magnetic card. If the card is counterfeited, accurate sales are not only prevented, but there is a possibility that a tremendous financial damage may occur in the game store and the card sales / management company.

  Also, by adopting IC cards with active protection measures against data reading and writing instead of magnetic cards as prepaid cards, the system is made stronger against fraud such as card counterfeiting. It is possible to do. However, between the amusement store and the card sales / management company, the IC card itself is considerably more expensive than the magnetic card and requires a large investment in infrastructure development for devices that support the IC card. As a way to avoid the financial risk, it was not worth it.

  The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and is a gaming media lending apparatus that can perform accurate sales management without significantly modifying an existing equipment base, and an accurate sales system. The purpose is to provide a sales management system that makes accounting for game stores transparent by managing the records by the three parties.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a gaming medium lending device in which a customer inserts cash and pays out gaming media, and identifies the authenticity of the inserted cash, and its amount data A cash identification means for directly transmitting a payment signal including the payment management means, and a control signal for paying out a quantity of the game medium based on the amount data indicated by the payment signal transferred from the sales management means Counting the detection signals output by the payout control means, the game medium payout means for paying out the game medium in response to reception of the control signal from the payout control means, and the payout detector of the game medium payout means The actual payout number detection means for obtaining the actual payout quantity data of the game medium, the sales management means, the amount data storage means for storing the amount data indicated by the deposit signal, and the actual payout quantity data are recorded. Characterized in that it comprises a real payout quantity data storage means for.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the gaming medium lending device according to claim 1, wherein the sales management means is obtained by counting a detection signal output by a payout detector of the gaming medium payout means. Sales verification means for verifying the consistency between the actual payout quantity data of the game medium and the amount data is provided.

  The invention described in claim 3 is a game store sales management system in which sales of a game medium lending device provided in a game store are managed by a third-party management device communicably connected to the game medium lending device. The game medium lending device identifies the authenticity of the cash to be inserted and transmits the receipt signal including the amount data directly to the sales management means, and transferred from the sales management means. Payout control means for outputting a control signal for paying out a quantity of the game media based on the amount data indicated by the deposit signal, and paying out the game media in response to reception of the control signal from the payout control means. The game medium payout means, the actual payout number detection means for obtaining the actual payout quantity data of the game medium by counting the detection signals output from the payout detector of the game medium payout means, and the sales management means include: Amount data storage means for storing the amount data indicated by the entry signal, an actual amount data storage means for storing the actual amount data, and verification of consistency between the actual amount data and the amount data of the receipt signal And sales data transmitting means for transmitting at least one of the actual payout quantity data and the verification result by the sales verification means to the management device together with the sales data obtained by totaling the amount data. It is characterized by providing.

  According to the gaming medium lending device of claim 1, the sales management means is directly inputted with the deposit signal including the amount data of the cash inserted into the cash identifying means, and the amount data storage means The amount data shown is stored. The actual payout number detection means obtains the actual payout quantity data of the game medium by counting the detection signals output from the payout detector of the game medium payout means, and the actual payout quantity data storage means stores the actual payout quantity data. Remember. Thereby, the sales amount of the game medium lending device can be managed by a simplified device provided inside.

  According to the gaming medium lending device according to claim 2, the sales verifying means checks the consistency between the cash amount data input to the cash identifying means and the actual payout quantity data of the gaming medium paid out by the gaming medium paying means. Validate. As a result, the sales amount guaranteed to be accurate can be managed by a simplified device provided inside.

  According to the sales management system of claim 3, the sales management means of the game medium lending device is directly input with a payment signal including the amount data of cash input to the cash identification means, and the amount of the sales management means The data storage means stores amount data indicated by the deposit signal. The sales verification means verifies the consistency between the amount data of cash input to the cash identification means and the actual payout quantity data of the game medium paid out by the game medium payout means. The sales data transmission means transmits at least one of the actual payout quantity data and the verification result by the sales verification means to the third party management apparatus together with the sales data obtained by totaling the amount data. Thereby, a third party can record and manage the amount of sales for which accuracy is guaranteed, and the accounting at the game store can be made transparent.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately manage the sales of the game medium lending device without significantly modifying the existing equipment base in the game store, and to ensure that the sales data whose accuracy is guaranteed is a third party. Can manage accounting for gaming stores.

  Hereinafter, as a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, a game medium lending device for lending a game ball used for a pachinko machine to a customer and a sales management system for managing the sales will be described. First, FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system including a gaming machine constructed in a gaming store such as a pachinko hall. For example, each of the pachinko machines 200 is provided with a game media lending machine 100 called an interbank ball lending machine that lends a predetermined number of game balls to customers by inserting cash. The gaming machines such as the pachinko machine 200 and the gaming medium lending machine 100 are connected to a communication network 400 in the store. The router 500 functions as a data transmission relay unit that connects the in-store communication network 400 and the external communication network 600.

  Note that a hall computer that centrally manages game information of each gaming machine is provided in the management room of the gaming store, etc., but the hall computer and each gaming machine are separated from an external communication network 600 and are not shown in a separate system. Are connected to each other in the game store via the communication network.

  A sales management server 700 is installed in a data management center, which is a third party organization that collects and manages sales information of game stores, and is connected to the router 500 of each game store via an external communication network 600. The communication network 600 is preferably a dedicated line from the viewpoint of maintaining the confidentiality of the data contents. However, the communication network 600 is publicly available such as the Internet by sufficiently ensuring the safety by performing encryption processing on the transmission data. A circuit network may be used.

  Next, the game medium lending device 100 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the game medium lending device 100.

  The game medium lending device 100 discriminates the authenticity of the bill inserted by the customer (player) from the bill insertion slot into the device and the authenticity of the coin inserted from the coin insertion slot. A coin discriminator 20 is provided. When it is determined that the inserted bill is authentic, the bill validator 10 outputs a genuine note signal including the money amount information of the bill directly to the sales management device 30. Similarly, when the coin discriminator 20 determines that the inserted coin is genuine, the coin discriminator 20 directly outputs a genuine coin signal including the amount information to the sales management device 30.

  The sales management device 30 is called a security black box (BB device), and is provided in the game medium lending device 100 as a control device independent of other devices. The sales management device 30 transfers the genuine note signal output from the banknote discriminator 10 and the true coin signal output from the coin discriminator 20 to the payout control board 40 as a deposit signal.

  Further, the sales management device 30 accumulates the money amount information indicated by the genuine note signal and the genuine coin signal and stores the money amount data. For example, after the business hours of one day, the accumulated money amount data, that is, the sales data is encrypted to perform LAN control. Output to the circuit 60. The LAN control circuit 60 transmits the sales data to the sales management server 700 of the data management center, which is a third party organization, via the local and external communication networks 400 and 600.

  The game medium payout means 50 is a device that has a rotary solenoid in the payout mechanism and pays out a number of game balls corresponding to the number of rotations to a tray or the like of the pachinko machine 200. When the payout control board 40 receives the above payment signal, the payout control board 40 multiplies a predetermined conversion rate, which is the number of loans per money amount, by the amount indicated by the payment signal to determine the payout number of the game ball, and the number corresponding to the payout number Only a payout control signal for driving and controlling the rotary solenoid is output to the game medium payout means 50. Thereby, a number of game balls according to the amount of cash inserted by the customer are lent out. Although not shown, a payout detector 51 formed of, for example, a photosensor is provided in the payout passage of the game medium payout means 50, and a game ball paid out by the game medium payout means 50 is detected. The payout detector 51 outputs a payout detection signal directly to the sales management device 30 every time a game ball is detected.

  Further, the payout control board 40 receives payout detection signals (count signals) transferred from the sales management device 30 and counts the signals, thereby giving payout result data indicating the number of game balls paid out by the game medium payout means 50. The request is transmitted to the sales management apparatus 30.

  Next, the sales management device (BB device) 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the sales management device 30. The sales management device 30 is formed on the basis of a microcomputer including an MPU, ROM, RAM, etc., but the components such as the circuit board, MPU, ROM, etc. including the device main body are once removed from a predetermined position. Is formed as a so-called tamper-proof device that cannot be rearranged. In addition, the sales management device 30 does not accept any external control signal (command) unless a predetermined communication procedure (protocol) is established, and does not transmit / receive data to / from any non-default external device. By doing so, unauthorized operation of data in the sales management device 30 is prevented and its confidentiality is ensured.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the sales management device 30 functions as a relay board for a genuine note signal from the banknote discriminator 10 and a genuine coin signal from the coin discriminator 20, and these input receipt signals are sent out to the payout control board 40. Forward to. The decoding circuit 33 decodes the money amount data from the input payment signal and outputs the money amount data to the money amount / payout data storage means 31 and the sales verification means 32. The amount / payout data storage means 31 integrates the amount data and stores it in the RAM.

  Further, the sales management device 30 transfers a payout detection signal from the payout detector 51 of the game medium payout means 50 to the payout control board 40. The count circuit 35 provided in the sales management device 30 obtains the quantity of game media actually paid out by counting the payout detection signal from the payout detector 51, and uses this as actual payout quantity data as sales verification means 32. Output to. Further, the actual payout quantity data is output to the amount / payout data storage means 31 and stored.

  As described above, the sales verification unit 32 inputs the amount data from the decoding circuit 33, the actual amount data from the count circuit 35, and the payout result data calculated by the payout control board 40 via the payout data receiving unit 36. Here, the payout data receiving means 36 sends out an output request signal of payout result data to the payout control board 40 when the sales management device 30 receives a deposit signal from the banknote discriminator 10 or the coin discriminator 20. Thereafter, reception of payout result data output from the payout control board 40 for a predetermined time until the game ball is paid out is permitted.

  In addition, the sales verification unit 32 checks the above-described amount data, the actual paid-out quantity data, and the paid-out result data, and determines the consistency between them. That is, whether or not the actual payout quantity data matches the payout result data, and the actual payout number indicated by the actual payout quantity data is calculated by adding a predetermined conversion rate (the number of game balls per unit amount) to the input amount indicated by the amount data. Check whether it matches the figure multiplied by the number of loans. Then, the verification result is stored in a flag (storage area) assigned to a predetermined address such as a RAM.

  For example, the sales data transmitting unit 34 adds and stores the sales data for the one business day accumulated and stored in the amount / payout data storage unit 31 in response to the occurrence of a timer interruption set at the end of the day. The payout quantity data is taken in, and the information including the result of the verification related to the sales performed by the sales verification unit 32 is encrypted using a public encryption key that can be decrypted only by the sales management server 700 of the data management center. Then, an electronic signature is generated from the data management center using a secret encryption key assigned only to the sales management device 30 in advance, and is attached to the encrypted sales data including the verification result described above. The data is transmitted to the sales management server 700 via the communication networks 400 and 600. The reason why the electronic signature is attached to the sales data is to prove that the sales data is genuine sales data by the game medium lending device 100, and to distinguish and eliminate impersonation data by other impersonators.

  In addition, the sales management apparatus 30 transmits the actual payout quantity data together with the sales data to the sales management server 700, so that the sales management server 700 verifies the consistency between the sales data of the same store and the actual payout quantity data. It is possible to audit whether there is fraud in a game store.

  The sales management server 700 records and manages sales data with guaranteed accuracy transmitted by each game medium lending device 100 of the game store. The third party organization records and manages the sales information of the game store, thereby making the accounting at the game store transparent. Such sales data can also be used as evidence data when the game store reports sales accounting to the tax office or the like.

  According to the game medium lending device of this embodiment and the sales management system including the same, the deposit signal including the money amount information input to the bill discriminator 10 and the coin discriminator 20 is independent of other devices. Since the sales information is directly input to the sales management device 30, the sales management device 30 manages accurate sales that do not allow the monetary information to be falsified.

  In addition, the third party records and manages the sales data whose accuracy is guaranteed by the sales verification means 32, so that the accounting at the game store can be made transparent.

  In addition, since such a sales management system functions only by additionally installing a sales management device (BB device) 30 in an existing daitama ball lending machine, for example, the equipment base in a game store should be introduced without significant modification. Is possible. In addition, the operation cost in sales management can be kept low.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system according to an embodiment that is constructed in a game store such as a pachinko hall. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the game medium lending device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the sales management device provided in the game medium lending device according to the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... bill discriminator, 20 ... coin discriminator, 30 ... sales management device,
31 ... Amount / payment data storage means 32 ... Sales verification means,
33 ... Decoding circuit, 34 ... Sales data transmission means, 35 ... Count circuit,
36 ... Dispensing data receiving means,
40. Dispensing control board,
50: Game medium payout means 51: Payout detector,
60 ... LAN control circuit,
100: Game media lending device, 200: Pachinko machine,
300 ... Hall computer, 400 ... Communication network,
500 ... router, 600 ... external communication network,
700 ... Sales management server

Claims (3)

A game media lending device in which a customer inserts cash and pays out game media,
A cash identification means for identifying the authenticity of the cash to be inserted and sending a receipt signal including the amount data directly to the sales management means;
A payout control means for outputting a control signal for paying out a quantity of the game medium based on the money amount data indicated by the payment signal transferred from the sales management means;
Game medium payout means for paying out the game medium in response to reception of the control signal from the payout control means;
An actual payout number detecting means for obtaining actual payout quantity data of the game medium by counting detection signals output from the payout detector of the game medium payout means;
In the sales management means, amount data storage means for storing amount data indicated by the deposit signal;
A game medium lending device comprising actual payout quantity data storage means for storing the actual payout quantity data.   The sales management means includes a sales verification means for verifying the consistency between the actual payout quantity data of the game medium obtained by counting the detection signals output by the payout detector of the game medium payout means and the amount data. The game medium lending device according to claim 1, further comprising: A game store sales management system for managing sales of a game medium lending device provided in a game store by a third-party management device that is communicably connected to the game medium lending device,
In the game medium lending device, a cash identifying means for identifying the authenticity of the inserted cash and directly transmitting a payment signal including the amount data to the sales management means,
A payout control means for outputting a control signal for paying out a quantity of the game medium based on the money amount data indicated by the payment signal transferred from the sales management means;
Game medium payout means for paying out the game medium in response to reception of the control signal from the payout control means;
An actual payout number detecting means for obtaining actual payout quantity data of the game medium by counting detection signals output from the payout detector of the game medium payout means;
In the sales management means, amount data storage means for storing amount data indicated by the deposit signal;
Actual paid quantity data storage means for storing the actual paid quantity data;
Sales verification means for verifying the consistency between the actual amount data and the amount data of the deposit signal;
And sales data transmission means for transmitting to the management device at least one of the actual payout quantity data and the verification result by the sales verification means together with the sales data obtained by totaling the amount data. Sales management system for amusement stores.

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