JP2007301405A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine which realizes a smooth pattern movement operation. <P>SOLUTION: This game machine comprises a pattern control board 3 for realizing pattern performance by plotting one or more sprites on a liquid crystal display DISP, based on a control command received from a lamp control board 2. The pattern control board 3 is sectionally composed of a one-chip microcomputer 10 and a graphic controller 12. The one-chip microcomputer determines a display mode of each sprite, based on the control command received from the lamp control board 2. The graphic controller 12 allows an operating parameter for specifying the display mode to be written into its instruction table TBL, and realizes the plotting operation of the liquid crystal display, based on the written operating parameter. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine, an arrangement ball machine, a sparrow ball game machine, and a revolving game machine, and more particularly to a gaming machine that realizes a smooth symbol variation operation.

  A gaming machine is generally composed of a plurality of circuit boards separated by function, and the plurality of circuit boards operate synchronously based on control commands, thereby realizing a complex gaming operation as a whole. Such a gaming machine is generally composed of a main control board that outputs a control command and a plurality of sub-control boards that operate based on the control command from the main control board.

Each sub-control board is equipped with, for example, a computer circuit that realizes lamp effects, sound effects, and symbol effects. Display patterns such as a liquid crystal display are synchronized with the blinking operation of the illumination lamp and effect music. The player's interest is intrigued by appropriately fluctuating operation (for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 2574057

  However, in the circuit described in Patent Document 1, the game CPU and the display CPU are connected via the I / O port, and the processing of data transmission / reception is complicated, so that a series of symbol effects are complicated and sophisticated. Can not do it. A player expects a more interesting effect on the gaming machine, and in order to appropriately respond to such a demand, it is necessary to employ a circuit configuration that smoothly realizes a complex and advanced symbol effect.

  In addition, in the game hall, there is a considerable noise environment due to the fact that a large number of gaming machines are arranged close to each other. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, no noise countermeasures are taken, and the data is garbled. An unreasonable design effect may occur due to the above, and may cause distrust to the player.

  For example, if a place where the stop symbol “7, 6, 7” should be aligned with the stop symbol is displayed as “7, 7, 7” as a result of garbled data, The game in the disengaged state progresses despite the display of the state, and troubles between the player and the game hall are inevitable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a gaming machine that has no problem even if a series of symbol effects are complicated and advanced. It is another object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine with sufficient noise countermeasures.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a symbol control that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. A first circuit that determines a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter that specifies the display mode is the gaming machine. Based on the operation parameters written by the first circuit, and divided into a second circuit that realizes the drawing operation of the display device, the second circuit has a basic shape of each sprite. A first memory to be stored; a second memory to receive an operation parameter write process by the first circuit; and an image to be drawn on the display device in accordance with the contents of the first memory and the second memory And an image generating unit that generates.

  Sprite means a group of graphic data that determines one unit such as characters and decorative characters that appear in design effects. In the present specification, sprites are used to mean the characters and decorative characters themselves. There is also. The display mode of each sprite means, for example, the display position, display posture (including inclination), and deformation state of an image such as a character. In addition, the first memory that stores the basic shape of each sprite includes the case where the basic shape is stored as compressed data, but the first memory is typically a non-volatile memory. Further, the present invention is suitably applied to a ball game machine and a revolving game machine. The above points are the same for the other inventions.

  The invention according to claim 2 is a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. The symbol control unit includes a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. And a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device on the basis of the written operation parameter, and the first circuit obtains a control command from another control unit. The command reception process activated by the display device and the unit frame rendering process by the display device are executed each time, and the control command acquired by the command reception process and the acquired control Based on the elapsed time of a series of symbols effect operation specified by the command, and a write process for writing a predetermined operating parameters to the second circuit.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the write process is started based on an interrupt signal supplied from the second circuit. The command reception process is preferably started based on an interrupt signal supplied from another control unit.

  The invention according to claim 5 is a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit, Based on the written operation parameter, it is divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device, and the second circuit is a computer circuit configured by a single IC, An interface unit for receiving data from an external memory for storing a basic shape of the sprite, an internal memory for receiving an operation parameter writing process by the first circuit, and the external memory; Serial and includes therein a generator for generating an image to be rendered on the display device in accordance with the contents of the internal memory.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. The symbol control unit includes a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. And a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device on the basis of the written operation parameter, and the first circuit obtains a control command from another control unit. Executed each time the command reception process activated by the display device and the drawing process of the unit frame by the display device are finished, the display device is substantially deactivated, and the next display screen is generated. After returning the display device to the operating state, and a screen update processing for drawing the generated display screen.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit, Based on the written operation parameters, it is divided into a second circuit that realizes the drawing operation of the display device, and the control command specifies a series of symbol effect contents consistent with other effect operations The effect information to be performed and a plurality of symbol information to be stopped and displayed at the delimiter timing of a series of symbol effects are specified.

  The invention according to claim 8 is a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that realizes a symbol effect operation by drawing one or more sprites on a display device based on a control command received from another control unit. The symbol control unit includes a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. And a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device on the basis of the written operation parameter, and the first circuit obtains a control command from another control unit. An information storage for storing the command reception process activated at the time and the effect information and the symbol information specified by the acquired control command together with inspection data related to these information And management, and a test process for testing the validity of the presentation information and the pattern information by the check data.

  In each of the above inventions, it is preferable that the first circuit determines a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit and an elapsed time from the start of the rendering operation. The operation parameters preferably include the coordinate position of each sprite. In each of the above inventions, the second circuit draws the symbol display device based on the operation parameters written by the first circuit and data related to the basic shape of each sprite stored in the nonvolatile memory. It is common to realize the operation.

  In addition, the gaming machine according to each of the above inventions includes a main control unit that mainly controls gaming operations, a first sub-control unit that realizes individual operations based on control commands received from the main control unit, and the first And a second sub-control unit that realizes individual operations based on a control command received from one sub-control unit, wherein the first sub-control unit is based on a control command received from the main control unit Typically, there is a case where a control command for production operation is generated or selected and transmitted to the second sub-control unit. On the other hand, the first sub-control unit typically transfers the control command received from the main control unit to the second sub-control unit as it is.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a main control unit that mainly controls gaming operations, a first sub control unit that realizes individual operations based on control commands received from the main control unit, and the first sub And a second sub control unit that realizes individual operations based on a control command received from the control unit. The second sub control unit includes a control command received from the first sub control unit. A symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on the display device to realize a symbol effect operation, and the symbol control unit is based on a control command received from the first sub-control unit. The first circuit for determining the display mode of each sprite and the operation parameter for specifying the display mode are written by the first circuit, and the drawing operation of the display device is realized based on the written operation parameter. Do Is constructed is classified into two circuits.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a gaming machine that has no problem even if a series of symbol effects are complicated and advanced. In addition, according to the present invention, a gaming machine with effective noise countermeasures can be realized.

  Hereinafter, the gaming machine of the present invention will be described in more detail based on examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a pachinko machine according to an embodiment.

  The illustrated pachinko machine has a main control board 1 for centrally controlling gaming operations, a lamp control board 2 for driving lamps based on a control command CMD1 received from the main control board 1, and a lamp control board 2 The symbol control board 3 for changing the characters and symbols of the liquid crystal display DISP based on the control command CMD2, the voice control board 4 for driving the speaker SP based on the control command CMD3 received from the lamp control board 2, and the main control Based on the control command CMD4 received from the board 1, the payout control board 5 for driving the payout motor M1 to pay out the game ball, the launch control board 6 for driving the launch motor M2 to launch the game ball, The power supply board 7 that supplies a DC voltage is mainly configured.

  The main control board 1, the lamp control board 2, the symbol control board 3, the voice control board 4, and the payout control board 5 are each composed of a computer circuit having a CPU (specifically, a one-chip microcomputer). The lamp control board 2 and the payout control board 5 perform a lamp effect and a game ball payout operation based on the control commands CMD1 and CMD4 transmitted from the main control board 1, respectively. On the other hand, the symbol control board 3 and the voice control board 4 execute a symbol effect and a voice effect based on the control commands CMD2 and CMD3 transmitted from the lamp control board 2, respectively.

  Here, the control commands CMD2 and CMD3 given from the lamp control board 2 to the symbol control board 3 and the voice control board 4 include a variation pattern number command for specifically specifying the effect contents. By operating 3 and 4 with the variation pattern number given from the lamp control board 2, the lamp effect, the symbol effect, and the sound effect are all executed in synchronization.

  By the way, the lamp control board 2 generates another control command through a case where the control command CMD1 received from the main control board 1 is transferred as it is, and a lottery process based on the control command CMD1 received from the main control board 1. May be transmitted. The latter control command generated by the lamp control board 2 specifically specifies the contents of the symbol effect and the sound effect, and the effect contents are precisely synchronized with the lamp effect as described above. It has become.

  On the other hand, the former control command transferred as it is from the lamp control board 2 to the design control board 3 includes a first design designation command for specifying a special design that stops at the first digit and a special design that stops at the second digit. A second symbol designation command to be identified and a third symbol designation command to identify a special symbol to be stopped at the third digit are included.

  Here, the special symbol is a symbol that means that if all three symbols are in a big hit state, if the gaming machine is in such a big hit state, it is very easy to pay out a large amount of game balls. It is like that. It is typical to stop the 3rd symbol from the 1st symbol to the left / middle / right, but when the left and right symbols match, a stage action called reach action is started and the player expects While arousing a feeling, the symbol at the central position continues to move further.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the symbol control board 3. The symbol control board 3 of this embodiment is drawn on a one-chip microcomputer 10 that receives a control command CMD2 from the lamp control board 2, a control ROM 11 that stores a control program executed by the one-chip microcomputer 10, and a liquid crystal display DISP. A graphic controller (specifically, a VDP: Video Display Processor) 12 that receives information on sprites received from the one-chip microcomputer 10 and generates a drawing signal, and pattern data of each sprite that can be drawn on the liquid crystal display DISP The CGROM 13 is configured.

  Here, the sprite is a general term for one unit of graphic data that can be arbitrarily moved independently of other images on the liquid crystal display DISP. In this embodiment, decorative characters “1” to “9” are used. And other effect characters are specified. The background image is also composed of sprites.

  As shown in the figure, the one-chip microcomputer 10 receives a control command CMD2 from the lamp control board 2 at an input port and receives a strobe signal STB from the lamp control board 2 at an interrupt terminal IRQ1. When the strobe signal STB becomes active, the interrupt processing program stored in the control ROM 11 is activated, and the control command CMD2 is acquired by the one-chip microcomputer 10.

  Further, the interrupt terminal IRQ0 of the one-chip microcomputer 10 receives the interrupt signal INT output from the graphic controller 12, and interrupts for drawing every 1/60 seconds when drawing of one frame of the liquid crystal display DISP is completed. The processing program is started. The drawing interrupt processing program stored in the control ROM 11 writes the necessary data in the instruction data table TBL for determining the drawing position of each sprite, so that the position of each sprite to be drawn next, The deformed shape is specified.

  The instruction data table TBL of the graphic controller 12 functions as a peripheral device (memory) that can be connected to the external bus of the one-chip microcomputer 10, and can be directly accessed by being positioned in the memory map of the one-chip microcomputer 10. (Direct mapping). In addition, although it is possible to perform addressing indirectly via a built-in register of the graphic controller 12 (indirect mapping), in any case, the graphic controller 12 is not involved in the writing process. Input processing is not executed for the one-chip microcomputer 10.

  In this way, the graphic controller 12 only reads the data of the instruction data table TBL, reads the pattern data of a specific sprite from the CGROM 13 based on the instruction data stored in the instruction table TBL, and places it at the specified position. Data calculation processing is performed to draw each sprite with the specified deformed shape. In the case of this embodiment, the result of the data calculation is converted into an analog signal and output as an R, G, B image signal to the liquid crystal display DISP.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the graphic controller 12 in more detail. As shown in the figure, the graphic controller 12 includes a CPU interface unit 14 that receives data from the one-chip microcomputer 10, a pattern memory interface unit 15 that receives sprite pattern data from the CGROM 13, an instruction data table TBL, and a frame buffer ( SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) 16 used as a memory area for holding graphic image data, a sprite surface generation unit 17 for generating graphic image data, and a compressed data expansion unit that functions when compressed data is received from the CGROM 13 18, an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) 19 functioning as a work area of the compressed data decompression unit 18, and a sprite surface generation unit 17. It comprises a DAC 20 that DA converts graphic image data, and a controller unit CTL that outputs a synchronization signal of the liquid crystal display DISP.

  The CGROM 13 stores image data of each sprite. FIG. 4 exemplifies a sprite composed of 16 × 16 dots (pixels). Color information is defined for each pixel divided into 16 × 16. In the illustrated example, a dot with a color number of 00H, a dot with a color number of 02H, and a dot with a color number of 01H are appropriately set. In combination, the specific symbol “7” is realized.

  In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, n sprites (# 1 to #n) having a specific design are configured, and these sprites (##) realizing a background image (see FIG. 5). m) is drawn on the liquid crystal display DISP. The number of pixels of the background image sprite is appropriately set according to the resolution of the liquid crystal display DISP. However, if the number of pixels exceeding the resolution of the liquid crystal display DISP is set, the background image can be moved naturally up, down, left and right. Is possible.

  FIG. 6 illustrates the relationship between the instruction table TBL provided in the SDRAM 16 and sprites drawn based on the data stored in the instruction table TBL. The instruction table TBL is provided with an instruction data write area of about 16 bytes for each sprite (# 1 to #m), and the display position and the enlargement / reduction ratio of each sprite are determined by the written instruction data. It has come to be identified.

  The display position of the sprite is defined by, for example, the coordinate position (DOx, DOy) of the upper left dot of the sprite. When the sprite size is 16 × 16 dots, the sprite is displayed by the operation of the sprite surface generation unit 17. The image is drawn within a rectangular range surrounded by the upper left end (DOx, DOy) to the lower right end (DOx + 15, DOy + 15) of the sprite surface. In these operations, the frame buffer of the SDRAM 16 is used.

  As is apparent from the above description, if the one-chip microcomputer 10 performs the writing operation of the instruction table TBL and changes the display position of the sprite #n from (DOx, DOy) to (DOx + A, DOy + B), the liquid crystal display DISP Then, the sprite #n moves by + A in the X direction and + B in the Y direction.

  However, according to the resolution of the liquid crystal display DISP, what is actually displayed is limited to a rectangular range of the number of horizontal display dots HDW × the number of vertical display lines VDW. Each sprite can be freely moved on the liquid crystal display DISP.

  As described above, the one-chip microcomputer 10 can perform various symbol effects including reach effects by rewriting the contents of the instruction data table TBL with the drawing interrupt IRQ0 every 1/60 seconds. In the effect operation shown in FIG. 7, if the coordinate position of the upper left corner of the sprite of a specific symbol (such as “1” to “9”) drawn in the center of the sprite surface is increased by a predetermined value in the Y direction, The image in FIG. 7A can be changed from FIG. 7B to FIG. 7C.

  Next, the operation content of the one-chip microcomputer 10 of the symbol control board 3 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. The operation of the one-chip microcomputer 10 is activated due to a command reception interrupt routine (FIG. 8B) activated due to the strobe signal STB from the lamp control board 2 and an interrupt signal INT from the graphic controller 12. The drawing interrupt routine (FIG. 8C) and the main routine (FIG. 8A) for substantially executing a series of operations of the symbol control board 3 are configured.

  In this embodiment, the graphic controller 12 draws one frame (screen) of the liquid crystal display DISP in a time of 1/60 seconds, and synchronizes with the vertical synchronization signal every time one frame is drawn. The interrupt signal INT is output. Then, in the drawing interrupt routine, the drawing request flag FLG is set to 1 and the interruption process is finished (ST10 in FIG. 8C).

  Next, a command reception interrupt routine started due to the strobe signal STB will be described. In the command reception interrupt routine, first, the control command CMD2 is acquired from the input port of the one-chip microcomputer 10 (ST20), and the acquired control command CMD2 is stored in a reception buffer having a ring buffer structure (ST21). Then, the ring buffer pointer is cyclically increased to designate the next storage position, and the process is terminated (ST22).

  The control command stored in this way is read in the command analysis process (ST4) of the main routine, and then the pointer value of the ring buffer is returned to the original value. In the case of the present embodiment, the control command received by the symbol control board 3 (specifically, the one-chip microcomputer 10) includes a variation pattern number command that specifically specifies the symbol effect and the left position of the liquid crystal display DISP. Includes a first symbol designating command that identifies a symbol that stops at the center position, a second symbol designating command that identifies a symbol that stops at the center position, and a third symbol designating command that identifies a symbol that stops at the right position. .

  In the case of the present embodiment, the variation pattern of the display symbol is roughly divided into a hit variation pattern that finally ends in the big hit state and a deviant variation pattern that finally ends in the off state. There is a production with a reach action like 7 and a production without it. When the main control board 1 or the lamp control board 2 selects a variation pattern with a reach action, the stop symbols specified by the first symbol designation command and the third symbol designation command naturally match. On the other hand, when the main control board 1 or the lamp control board 2 selects the hit variation pattern, all three stop symbols specified by the first symbol designating command to the third symbol designating command match.

  Also, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 9A, the control command for specifying the design effect is: variation pattern number command → first digit stop symbol designation command → second digit stop symbol designation command → third digit stop symbol A variation stop command is transmitted from the lamp control board 2 to the symbol control board 3 at the timing when all the rendering operations are completed. Note that FIG. 9 is a time chart for explaining the rendering operation when a deviation variation pattern with reach action is selected.

  The design operation on the symbol control board 3 shown in FIG. 9B will be described. The symbol control board 3 starts the symbol variation operation of the liquid crystal display DISP at the timing (T1) when the variation pattern number command is received. The left symbol is stopped at timing T2. The left symbol to be stopped here is the symbol already specified by the first digit stop symbol designation command, and is the specific symbol “7” in the embodiment of FIG.

  Next, the right symbol is stopped at timing T3. This stop symbol is a symbol that has already been specified by the third digit stop symbol designation command, and is the specific symbol “7” in the embodiment of FIG. Thereafter, after an appropriate reach action is performed, the central symbol is stopped at timing T4, and the symbol variation operation is completely terminated at timing T5 when a variation stop command is received. The symbol to be stopped at the center position is a symbol already specified by the second-digit stop symbol designation command, and is a special symbol other than “7” in this example describing the deviation variation pattern.

  Next, the main routine shown in FIG. In the main routine, first, initialization processing is executed for the one-chip microcomputer 10 and others (ST1). Next, whether or not there is a drawing request is checked based on the value of the drawing request flag FLG, and control command data matching processing is executed until the drawing request flag FLG becomes 1 (ST2, ST3). As described above, the drawing request flag FLG is set every 1/60 seconds in synchronization with the vertical synchronizing signal of the liquid crystal display DISP in the drawing interrupt routine.

  The matching process is a process for preventing an unreasonable symbol effect, and the left and right symbols become inconsistent due to a garbled bit of the data stored in the memory (RAM), such as “7 ↓ 6”. It is prevented that the reach action is executed in a state that is difficult. Also, an unreasonable situation such as “787” in which a big hit state is caused despite the disagreement of the stop symbols is prevented.

  In this embodiment, in order to execute the matching processing exhibiting such an effect, it is extracted from the variation pattern number command, the first digit stop symbol designation command, the second digit stop symbol designation command, and the third digit stop symbol designation command. “Variation pattern number”, “left symbol”, “middle symbol”, and “right symbol” are stored in the effect parameter storage areas CMD, CPY1, and CPY2 together with these checksum values SUM in the command analysis process of step ST4. ing. The values in the effect parameter backup areas CPY1 and CPY2 are obtained by copying the values in the effect parameter storage area CMD.

  Then, in the matching process in step ST2, as shown in FIG. 10, first, 8-bit addition is performed on the four pieces of data in the effect parameter storage area CMD (assuming that each is 8-bit data), and the 8-bit addition is performed. The result is compared with the SUM value already stored in the effect parameter storage area CMD. As long as there is no bit corruption due to noise or the like, the two data should match, but if they match, the 5-byte data in the CMD area is copied to the backup areas CPY1 and CPY2 of the production parameters, and the process is completed.

  On the other hand, if the checksum processing in the effect parameter storage area CMD has failed, next, 8-bit addition is performed on the four data in the backup area CPY1, and the result of the 8-bit addition is already stored in the backup area CPY1. Compare with the SUM value. If the two data match, the 5-byte data in the backup area CPY1 is copied to the effect parameter storage area CMD and the backup area CPY2, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if the checksum processing in the backup area CPY1 also fails, 8-bit addition is performed on the four data in the backup area CPY2, and the result of the 8-bit addition is the SUM value already stored in the backup area CPY2. Compare with If the two data match, the 5-byte data in the CPY2 area is copied to the effect parameter storage area CMD and the backup area CPY1, and the process ends. It should be noted that, in the case of an extreme abnormality where all the checksum processing fails, other error processing is expected to work, so the processing ends without doing anything here.

  In this way, in this embodiment, the variation pattern number and the validity of the left / middle / right stop symbols are repeatedly checked, and if abnormalities are detected, the backed up valid data is used. Unreasonable design effects will not occur.

  If the matching process (ST2) as described above is repeated, the drawing request flag FLG is eventually set to 1 (ST3 is Yes). In this case, the drawing request flag FLG is reset and the step is performed. The process proceeds to ST4. As described above, in this embodiment, since the drawing request flag FLG is set to 1 in synchronization with the vertical synchronization signal, the processes in steps ST4 to ST8 are executed every time drawing on the liquid crystal display DISP is completed. Will be.

  In the command analysis process of step ST4, an unprocessed control command is read from the reception buffer having the ring buffer configuration, and a process corresponding to the control command is performed. For example, if any of “variation pattern number”, “first digit stop symbol”, “second digit stop symbol”, or “third digit stop symbol” is specified by the control command, the alignment in step ST2 In order to make the processing effective, the specified effect parameter is written in the corresponding area of the storage area CMD, and the SUM value is recalculated and rewritten.

  Then, the 5-byte data in the storage area CMD is copied to the backup areas CPY1, CPY2. The “first-digit stop symbol”, “second-digit stop symbol”, and “third-digit stop symbol” stored in this way are read prior to the timings T2, T3, and T4 shown in FIG. In order to stop display on the liquid crystal display DISP, necessary data is written in the instruction table TBL of the graphic controller 12 in the drawing process of step ST6.

  Further, if a new variation pattern number command is received, the necessary preparation operation is performed such as specifying the contents of the effect by this variation pattern number and starting the timing operation of the management timer for managing the effect time. Hereinafter, the case where the symbol variation operation specified by the variation pattern number is started or sustained will be mainly described, but the same operation can be performed even when the stationary symbol is continuously drawn before the variation pattern number command is received. is there.

  When the command analysis processing in step ST4 is completed, it is necessary to execute the symbol variation operation based on the variation pattern number instructed from the lamp control board 2, so that it is prepared in the previous interrupt processing and is currently displayed on the liquid crystal display DISP. First, the displayed image is erased (ST5). The image is erased by setting the graphic controller 12 to the display OFF state. As a result, the image signal to the liquid crystal display DISP is lost, and the screen of the liquid crystal display DISP becomes dark. The reason why such a process is provided is that if the image on the liquid crystal display DISP is displayed during the writing operation of the instruction table TBL by the one-chip microcomputer 10, the display image becomes unreasonable.

  When the process of step ST5 for erasing the image is completed, the next image to be drawn on the liquid crystal display DISP is specified according to the progress of the series of symbol effects specified by the variation pattern number, and according to the specified contents. The contents of the instruction table TBL of the graphic controller 12 are rewritten.

  For example, if moving from the state of FIG. 7B to the state of FIG. 7C, a group of special symbols (1... 6, 7,...) Arranged at the center position. , The coordinate position of the upper left corner is increased by a predetermined value in the Y direction. Further, the color of the sprite is changed as necessary, and deformation processing such as enlargement / reduction is performed. These processes are realized by writing predetermined operation parameters in the area assigned for each sprite number in the instruction table TBL. The operation parameters include, for example, the coordinate value of the upper left corner of each sprite, the enlargement / reduction ratio, the presence / absence of symbol rotation, and the like.

  When the rewriting process of the instruction table TBL is completed as described above, the liquid crystal display is set to the ON state (ST7). Then, according to the rewritten operation parameter of the instruction table TBL, the pattern data of the corresponding sprite is read from the CGROM 13, and after being subjected to necessary deformation processing, it is arranged at the designated coordinate position and written into the frame buffer. It is. Then, since the analog-converted image signal RGB is sent to the liquid crystal display, an image different from the previous image is displayed on the liquid crystal display DISP and the changing operation is realized.

  Thereafter, after outputting a necessary signal to the external terminal for the inspection engine (ST8), the process returns to the process of step ST2, and waits for the next drawing interrupt to occur while repeating the alignment process. As a result, the image constructed this time is displayed on the liquid crystal display DISP as a still image for 1/60 second, and is rewritten to another still image by the next interruption process. Before the symbol change operation is started, still images may be continuously displayed on the liquid crystal display DISP. In such a case, the operation parameter rewriting operation is skipped in the process of step ST6. .

  Although the symbol control board 3 according to the embodiment has been specifically described above, the specific description content does not particularly limit the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the matching process has been described based on the flowchart of FIG. 10, but can be appropriately changed as long as irrational data can be excluded. Further, in the embodiment, the validity is confirmed by checksum for the four data of the variation pattern number, the left stop symbol, the middle stop symbol, and the right stop symbol, but other parity check is added or CRC (Cyclic) is confirmed. A determination process using a Redundancy Check) code or the like may be used.

  In the case of the embodiment, the main control unit and the sub control are executed by the CPU mounted on the main control board 1 and the sub control board (the lamp control board 2, the symbol control board 3, the voice control board 4, and the payout control board 5). However, it is not always necessary to separately configure each control board, and it may be combined appropriately.

  In the above embodiment, the lamp control board 2 and the payout control board 5 function as the first sub-control unit, and the symbol control board 3 functions as the second sub-control unit. Of course, the arrangement positions of the board and the voice control board may be appropriately changed, and all or a part of each control board may be combined to form a single board.

  Finally, a pachinko machine to which the present invention is preferably applied will be described for confirmation. FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the pachinko machine 22 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 13 is a side view of the pachinko machine 22. A plurality of pachinko machines 21 are arranged in the length direction of the island structure of the pachinko hall while being electrically connected to the card-type ball lending machine 22.

  The illustrated pachinko machine 21 includes a rectangular frame-shaped wooden outer frame 23 that is detachably mounted on an island structure, and a front frame 24 that is pivotably mounted via a hinge H fixed to the outer frame 23. It consists of A game board 25 is detachably attached to the front frame 24 from the back side, and a glass door 26 and a front plate 27 are pivotally attached to the front side so as to be freely opened and closed.

  The front plate 27 is provided with an upper plate 28 for storing game balls for launch. A lower plate 29 for storing game balls overflowing from or extracted from the upper plate 28 and a launch handle 30 are disposed below the front frame 24. And are provided. The launch handle 30 is interlocked with the launch motor, and a game ball is launched by a hitting bar 31 that operates in accordance with the rotation angle of the launch handle.

  On the right side of the upper plate 28, an operation panel 32 for lending the ball to the card-type ball lending machine 22 is provided, and on this operation panel 32, a card remaining amount display unit 32a for displaying the remaining amount of the card with a three-digit number. A ball lending switch 32b for instructing lending of game balls for a predetermined amount, and a return switch 32c for instructing to return the card at the end of the game. On the upper part of the glass door 26, a big hit LED lamp P1 indicating a big hit state is arranged. In addition, in the vicinity of the big hit LED lamp P1, abnormality notification LED lamps P2 and P3 are provided to indicate a replenishment state or a full state of the lower plate.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the game board 25 is provided with a guide rail 33 formed of a metal outer rail and an inner rail in an annular shape, and a liquid crystal color display DISP is provided at the approximate center of the game area 25a inside. Has been placed. In addition, at a suitable place in the game area 25a, a symbol start opening 35, a big winning opening 36, a plurality of normal winning openings 37 (four on the right and left of the big winning opening 36), and a gate 38 which is two passage openings are arranged. Has been. Each of these winning openings 35 to 38 has a detection switch inside, and can detect the passage of a game ball.

  The liquid crystal display DISP is a device that variably displays a specific symbol related to a big hit state and displays a background image and various characters in an animated manner. This liquid crystal display DISP has special symbol display portions Da to Dc in the center portion and a normal symbol display portion 39 in the upper right portion. The normal symbol display unit 39 displays a normal symbol. When a game ball that has passed through the gate 38 is detected, the displayed normal symbol fluctuates for a predetermined time, and a lottery is drawn at the time the game ball passes through the gate 38. The stop symbol determined by the random number for lottery is displayed and stopped.

  The symbol start opening 35 is opened and closed by an electric tulip having a pair of left and right opening and closing claws 35a, and when the stop symbol after the fluctuation of the normal symbol display unit 39 hits and the symbol is displayed, the opening and closing claw 35a is kept at a predetermined time. Only to be released. When a game ball wins the symbol start opening 35, the display symbols of the special symbol display portions Da to Dc change for a predetermined time, and are determined based on a lottery result corresponding to the winning timing of the game ball to the symbol start opening 35. Stop at the stop symbol pattern.

  The special winning opening 36 is controlled to be opened and closed by an opening / closing plate 36a that can be opened forward. When the stop symbol after the symbol variation of the special symbol display portions Da to Dc is a winning symbol such as “777”, “big hit” is obtained. A special game is started and the opening / closing plate 36a is opened. There is a specific area 36b inside the big winning opening 36, and when the winning ball passes through the specific area 36b, a special game advantageous to the player is continued.

  After the opening / closing plate 36a of the big winning opening 36 is opened, the opening / closing plate 36a is closed when a predetermined time elapses or when a predetermined number (for example, 10) of game balls wins. At this time, if the game ball does not pass through the specific area 36b, the special game ends, but if it passes through the specific area 36b, the special game is continued up to, for example, 15 times, which is advantageous to the player. To be controlled. Furthermore, when the stop symbol after the change is a certain symbol of the special symbols (hereinafter referred to as a specific symbol), a privilege of shifting to a high probability state is given after the special game ends.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the pachinko machine which concerns on an Example. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a symbol control board. 2 illustrates an internal configuration of a graphic controller of a symbol control board. It is drawing explaining the structure of a sprite. This is an example of a background image in a design effect. It is drawing explaining the relationship between the instruction | indication table TBL and the sprite surface comprised by this. It is drawing which illustrated the reach action among design change operations. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement content of the one-chip microcomputer of a symbol control board. It is a time chart explaining a symbol variation operation. It is a flowchart explaining the content of the matching process. The storage area of the operation parameter for effecting the matching process is illustrated. It is a perspective view which shows the pachinko machine which concerns on an Example. It is a side view of the pachinko machine. It is drawing which shows the game board of the pachinko machine.

Explanation of symbols

DISP display device (liquid crystal display)
3 Design control unit (design control board)
22 game machines (ball game machines)
10 First circuit (one-chip microcomputer)
12 Second circuit (graphic controller)
13 First memory (CGROM)
TBL second memory (SDRAM: instruction table)
17 Image generator (sprite surface generator)

Claims (12)

Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Based on the loaded operation parameters, the display device is divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device.
The second circuit includes a first memory for storing a basic shape of each sprite, a second memory for receiving an operation parameter writing process by the first circuit, and the display according to contents of the first memory and the second memory. A gaming machine comprising: an image generation unit that generates an image to be drawn on the device. Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Rarely configured based on a written operation parameter and divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device, and the first circuit obtains a control command from another control unit. Command reception processing to be started,
Based on the control command acquired by the command reception process, and the elapsed time of a series of symbol effect operations specified by the acquired control command, each time the drawing process of the unit frame by the display device ends. A gaming machine comprising: a writing process for writing predetermined operating parameters into the second circuit.   The gaming machine according to claim 2, wherein the writing process is started based on an interrupt signal supplied from a second circuit.   The gaming machine according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the command reception process is started based on an interrupt signal supplied from the other control unit. Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Based on the loaded operation parameters, the display device is divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device.
The second circuit is a computer circuit composed of a single IC, and includes an interface unit that receives data from an external memory that stores the basic shape of each sprite, and operation parameter writing processing by the first circuit. A gaming machine comprising: an internal memory to receive; and a generation unit that generates an image to be drawn on the display device in accordance with the contents of the external memory and the internal memory. Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Rarely, based on the written operation parameters, and divided into a second circuit for realizing the drawing operation of the display device,
The first circuit includes a command reception process activated when a control command is acquired from another control unit;
This is executed each time the unit frame drawing process by the display device is completed, and the display device is substantially inactivated to generate the next display screen, and then the display device is returned to the operation state and generated. A gaming machine comprising a screen update process for drawing a display screen. Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Based on the loaded operation parameters, the display device is divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device.
The control command specifies effect information that specifies the contents of a series of symbol effects that are consistent with other effect operations, and a plurality of symbol information that should be stopped and displayed at the timing of a series of symbol effects. A gaming machine characterized by that. Based on a control command received from another control unit, a gaming machine including a symbol control unit that draws one or more sprites on a display device to realize a symbol effect operation,
The symbol control unit has a first circuit having a CPU for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from another control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. Rarely, based on the written operation parameters, and divided into a second circuit for realizing the drawing operation of the display device,
The first circuit includes a command reception process activated when a control command is acquired from another control unit;
Information storage processing for storing the effect information and the symbol information specified by the acquired control command together with inspection data related to these information;
A gaming machine comprising: inspection processing for inspecting validity of the effect information and the symbol information by the inspection data.   The said 1st circuit has determined the display mode of each sprite based on the control command received from the other control part, and the elapsed time from the start time of production | presentation operation | movement. Game machines.   The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the operation parameter includes a coordinate position of each sprite.   The second circuit realizes the drawing operation of the symbol display device based on the operation parameter written by the first circuit and data on the basic shape of each sprite stored in the nonvolatile memory. The gaming machine according to claim 1. A main control unit that mainly controls gaming operations, a first sub control unit that realizes individual operations based on control commands received from the main control unit, and control commands received from the first sub control unit And a second sub-control unit that realizes individual operations based on the
The second sub control unit includes a symbol control unit that renders one or more sprites on the display device to realize a symbol effect operation based on a control command received from the first sub control unit. And
The symbol control unit has a first circuit for determining a display mode of each sprite based on a control command received from the first sub-control unit, and an operation parameter for specifying the display mode is written by the first circuit. The gaming machine is configured to be divided into a second circuit that realizes a drawing operation of the display device based on the written operation parameter.