JP2009240823A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine which can prevent an erroneous start of the processing for power failure from being made by noises. <P>SOLUTION: The game machine includes a detection means 104 for outputting a power failure signal when the power failure is detected, a reception means 204 for the reception of the power failure signal outputted from the detection means 104 and a determination means 202 which determines the occurrence of the power failure from the reception of the power failure signal by the reception means 204 when received the power failure signal continuously for a prescribed period of time or exceeding it. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine provided with a power failure signal output means for detecting a power failure and outputting a power failure signal, and more particularly, to a technique for determining whether or not a power failure has occurred based on the power failure signal output by the power failure signal output means. .

In recent years, in a game machine such as a so-called pachinko machine, there is a demand to protect information stored in a storage device such as a memory when a power failure occurs during a game, and to resume the game from the state before the start of the power failure after a power failure recovery. is there. For this reason, when a power failure is detected in the gaming machine, a power failure detection circuit that outputs a power failure signal is provided, and a gaming machine that protects the storage contents of the storage device based on the power failure signal output from the power failure detection circuit has been developed. . In such a gaming machine, since it takes a certain amount of time to protect the storage contents of the storage device after detecting a power failure, the storage contents of the storage device are quickly stored based on the power failure signal output from the power failure detection circuit. It needs to be protected.
On the other hand, in general control technology, the power failure signal output from the power failure detection circuit is received by a special terminal called a non-massable interrupt terminal (hereinafter referred to as NMI terminal) provided in the CPU of the control device. When the signal is received at the NMI terminal, the control device is usually configured to immediately postpone the current processing and to perform the processing at the time of power failure (protection of the storage contents of the storage device). .

  However, a variety of electrical equipment is installed in a game store where a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine is installed, and a lot of electromagnetic noise is generated from these electrical equipment. For this reason, when the noise generated from various electrical equipment is on the transmission line connecting the power failure detection circuit and the NMI terminal, it is determined that the power failure has occurred in the control device even though the power failure has not occurred. There are times when processing is performed during a power failure.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and by determining that a power failure has occurred on the condition that the power failure signal has been continuously received, the processing at the time of the power failure is erroneously started due to noise or the like. A gaming machine that prevents this is provided.

A gaming machine according to one aspect of the present invention includes a detection unit that outputs a power failure signal when a power failure is detected, a reception unit that receives a power failure signal output from the detection unit, and the reception unit includes the power failure signal. And determining means for determining that a power failure has occurred when the power is received for a predetermined time or longer (claim 1).
In the above gaming machine, the detection means detects a power failure and outputs a power failure signal. The power failure signal output from the detection means is received by the reception means. The determining means determines that a power failure has occurred when the power failure signal received by the receiving means has continued for a predetermined time or longer. Therefore, when the receiving means receives a signal temporarily due to noise or the like, it is not determined that a power failure has occurred.

Further, in the gaming machine described in claim 1, when the electrical equipment and the storage means for storing information for controlling the electrical equipment are included, and the judgment means determines that a power failure has occurred, It is preferable that protective means for protecting the information stored in the storage means is provided.
In the pachinko machine, the power failure process for protecting the information stored in the storage means is performed only when the determination means determines that a power failure has occurred. Therefore, when the receiving means temporarily receives a signal due to noise or the like, the processing at the time of power failure is not performed, and the game is not interrupted due to noise or the like.

The front view which shows the external appearance of the 1st kind pachinko machine which concerns on one embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the structure of the control system of this invention Flow chart for explaining processing in main control unit Flow chart for explaining power failure detection processing

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a pachinko machine will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is a front view showing the appearance of the first type pachinko machine, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the pachinko machine shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is performed in each control unit. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the power failure signal detection process shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, on the game board surface 12 of the pachinko machine 10, a symbol display device 14, a first type starting port 30, a special winning opening 34, and the like are appropriately arranged.
The first type start port 30 has a start port sensor (not shown), and detects a pachinko ball that has won the first type start port 30 by the start port sensor. The special winning opening 34 has an open / close lid 36, and the open / close lid 36 is opened and closed by a solenoid (not shown) under specific conditions. The period during which the open / close lid 36 is opened ends, for example, when a predetermined number (generally 10) of pachinko balls enter the big prize opening 34 or until 30 seconds have passed since opening. To do.
The symbol display device 14 includes a symbol indicator 22 that variably displays a special symbol. The symbol indicator 22 displays a special symbol under a specific condition (for example, winning a pachinko ball to the first type starting port 30). Display fluctuation. The special symbol variably displayed on the symbol display 22 is for allowing the player to recognize the transition to a so-called special game state (a state in which the big prize opening 34 is opened) by the display mode when the variation is stopped.
A pachinko ball that has won a prize opening such as the first type starting opening 30 and the grand prize opening 34 is detected by a winning ball sensor (not shown) provided on the back side of the game board surface 12, and the back side of the game board surface 12 is also the same. Pachinko balls are paid out from a prize ball device (not shown) assembled in the. The operation of the prize ball device is controlled by a prize ball control unit described later.

  In addition to the game board surface 12 described above, the pachinko machine 10 is provided with a blood drop 40 for temporarily storing pachinko balls including prize balls and rental balls, an ashtray 42 for storing cigarette butts, and the like. Since the structure and the like of these devices are the same as those of a known pachinko machine, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the structure of the control system of the pachinko machine 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the control system of the pachinko machine 10 according to the present embodiment is connected to the power supply device 100 and the power supply device 100, and the pachinko machine is powered by the power supplied from the power supply device 100, as in the conventional pachinko machine. A control device (hereinafter referred to as a main control unit) 200 that controls the entire machine, a prize ball control unit 300 that controls the prize ball device 40 based on control information (command data) transmitted from the main control unit 200, and a main control unit A winning ball sensor 50, a start opening sensor 32, a symbol display 22, a solenoid 35 (which opens and closes the open flat cover 36 of the large winning opening 34), etc., electrically connected to 200.
The winning ball sensor 50, the start port sensor 32, the symbol display 22, the solenoid 35, and the like may be anything provided in a normal pachinko machine, and do not particularly characterize the present invention. Detailed description is omitted.

The main control unit 200 includes a CPU (processor) 202, a storage device such as a ROM 202a and a RAM 202b connected to the CPU 202, an input processing circuit 204, an output processing circuit 208, a communication control circuit 206, and the like.
The CPU 202 controls the pachinko machine 10 according to a control program stored in the ROM 202a. For example, when a winning detection signal is received from the start port sensor 32, a lottery change instruction is given to the symbol display 22, and the large winning port 34 is opened (i.e., the opening control of the open / close lid 36 by the solenoid 35) at the time of a big hit. The control program stored in the ROM 202a includes programs for realizing each process such as a power failure signal detection process and an initialization process described later.
The RAM 202b indicates that there is a high probability that the winning ball information transmitted from the winning ball sensor 50, the starting port information transmitted from the starting port sensor 32, and the special symbol displayed on the symbol display 22 will be a “hit”. Various data such as probability variation information is stored. In the present embodiment, a certain amount of charge is stored in the capacitor during energization, and when the energization is interrupted (during a power failure), a certain current flows through the RAM 202b due to the charge stored in the capacitor, The stored contents stored in the RAM 202b are held. In addition, as a method of holding the storage contents of the RAM 202b at the time of a power failure or the like, the storage contents stored in the RAM 202b can be held by using a non-volatile flash memory in the RAM 202b in addition to the method described above.
The input processing circuit 204 is a circuit that processes signals transmitted from the winning ball sensor 50, the start port sensor 32, the initialization switch 102, the power failure detection unit 106, and the like so that the CPU 202 can handle them. The output processing circuit 206 is a circuit that outputs a drive signal to the solenoid 35, and the communication control circuit 206 is a circuit for transmitting command data to the symbol display 22, the prize ball control unit 300, and the like.
The main control unit 200 is connected to a clock circuit (not shown) that defines the processing cycle of the main control unit 200.

The prize ball controller 300 receives command data (ball payout information) sent from the main controller 200 and performs a prize ball payout process for paying out a predetermined number of prize balls from the prize ball device 40. The prize ball controller 300 includes a CPU 302, a ROM 302a, a RAM 302b, a communication control circuit 303, an input processing circuit 304, an output processing circuit 306, and the like.
The CPU 302 performs prize ball payout control and the like of the prize ball device 40 according to a control program stored in the ROM 302a. The control program stored in the ROM 302a includes a program for realizing a power failure signal detection process and the like to be described later, like the main control unit 200.
The RAM 302b stores various data such as ball payout information and input / output signals. In the RAM 302b of the present embodiment, the stored contents stored in the RAM 302b are retained even during a power failure, etc., using the electric charge stored in the capacitor during energization, like the main control unit 100. Note that the storage contents of the RAM 302b may be retained using a non-volatile flash memory, as in the case of the main control unit 100.
The communication control circuit 303 is a circuit for receiving data transmitted from the main control unit 200 and the like, and the input processing circuit 304 is for receiving signals output from the initialization switch 102 and the power failure detection unit 104 and the like. Further, the output processing circuit 306 receives the data sent from the CPU 302 and controls the prize ball payout to the prize ball device 40 [drive control of the prize ball motor (typically a stepping motor)]. It is an output circuit which outputs the drive signal for performing.
The prize ball control unit 300 is connected to a clock circuit (not shown) that defines the processing cycle of the prize ball control unit 300. The timer 307 is an interval circuit that determines an interval for prize ball control.

The power supply device 100 is provided with a voltage transformer 106 that supplies power of a predetermined potential to each electrical device assembled in the pachinko machine 10, a power failure detection unit 104 that detects a power failure, a power switch 108, and the like.
The voltage transformer 106 supplies electric power of a predetermined potential to the main controller 200 and the prize ball controller 300, while various electrical devices (winning ball sensor 50, start port sensor 32, symbol display 22, solenoid 35, prize 35). A power of a predetermined potential is supplied to the ball device 40 or the like. That is, the voltage transformer 106 rectifies and smoothes the AC input from the AC power supply in the hall by a rectifier circuit, converts the rectified and smoothed DC power supply to a voltage suitable for each electrical equipment by a regulator, Supply to the device. In FIG. 2, illustration of power supply lines (shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2) to the electrical equipment other than the main control unit 200 and the prize ball control unit 300 is omitted.
The power failure detection unit 106 monitors the AC input from the hall AC power source, determines that a power failure occurs when the waveform becomes 0, and supplies a power failure signal to the main control unit 200 and the prize ball control unit 300. The power switch 108 is a switch for operating ON / OFF of the AC input from the Hall AC power supply.
Note that the voltage transformer 106, the power failure detection unit 106, and the power switch 106 only need to be provided in a normal pachinko machine, and do not particularly characterize the present invention, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. To do.

Next, processing (part relating to a power failure) of the main control unit 200 and the prize ball control unit 300 in the pachinko machine 10 configured as described above will be described. First, processing in the main control unit 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
When the power of the pachinko machine 10 is turned on by turning on the power switch 108 of the power supply apparatus 100, the access prohibition state of the RAM 202a of the main control unit 200 is first canceled (S10). The reason why the access prohibition state of the RAM 202a is canceled when the power is turned on is to protect the information stored in the RAM 202a when the power to the pachinko machine is cut off (at the time of power failure) in the pachinko machine of this embodiment. This is because access to the RAM 202a is prohibited. When the access prohibition state of the RAM 202a is released in S10, the main control unit 200 starts a power failure detection process (S12).

In the power failure detection process, as shown in FIG. 4, first, 2 is set in the count register of the RAM 202a (S30). This count register is for counting the number of times the power failure signal is received, and the time when the power failure signal is received is determined based on the number of times counted by the count register.
When 2 is set in the count register in S30, the main control unit 200 next determines whether or not a power failure signal is received by the input processing circuit 204 (S32). The input processing circuit 204 that receives the power failure signal in step S32 is an NMI terminal that is generally used for receiving the power failure signal, or an interrupt terminal (hereinafter referred to as an interrupt terminal for performing interrupt processing similar to the NMI terminal). It is a normal input processing circuit 204 having the same function as the input processing circuit 204 that receives an output signal output from the winning ball sensor 50, the start port sensor 32, or the like. Then, the CPU 202 captures and determines the state of the power failure signal connected to the input processing circuit 204 at a constant period from the terminal indicated as DATA in FIG. Therefore, even if a power failure signal is received by the input processing circuit 204, the CPU 202 does not immediately perform processing (such as power failure processing described later) defined based on the received power failure signal.
When the power failure signal is not received at the receiving port (NO at S32), the power failure signal detection process is terminated as it is, and when the power failure signal is received at the receiving port (when YES at S32). Then, it is determined whether or not the value of the count register is 0 (S34). If the value of the count register is 0 [YES in S34], the main control unit 200 determines that a power failure has occurred and prohibits access to the RAM 202a (S38). On the other hand, when the value of the count register is not 0 [NO in S34], the value obtained by subtracting 1 from the value of the count register is set as the value of the count register (S36), and the process returns to the step of S32.
Therefore, the main control unit 200 determines that a power failure has occurred only when the value of the count register becomes 0, that is, when it is determined that the power failure signal has been received twice.

When the power failure detection process described above is completed, the process returns to FIG. 3 and the main control unit 200 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the RAM 202a (S14). If an abnormality has occurred in the RAM 202a [YES in S14], the stored contents of the RAM 202a are initialized so that the main control unit 200 does not malfunction (S18). On the other hand, when there is no abnormality in the RAM 202a [NO in S14], a normal main process (game progress process) is performed (S16).
When the main process in S16 and the initialization process in S18 are completed, the main control unit 200 performs a standby process until it receives a reset signal transmitted from the clock circuit connected to the main control unit 200 at a predetermined cycle. (S20). In this standby process, for example, a process for calculating the initial value of the jackpot random number is performed. And if the main control part 200 receives a reset signal (S22), it will return to the power failure detection process of S12, and the process after it will be repeated.
As described above, the main control unit 200 performs the power failure detection process when the power is turned on and when the reset signal is received, and it is determined whether or not a power failure has occurred.

  The winning ball control unit 300 also performs the power failure detection process described above when the power is turned on and when a reset signal is received. When a power failure is detected, the stored contents stored in the RAM 302a are prohibited by prohibiting access to the RAM 302a. Is retained.

As described above in detail, in the pachinko machine according to the present embodiment, when each control unit receives the power failure signal output from the power failure detection unit 104 a predetermined number of times (the number set in the count register), It is determined for the first time that a power failure has occurred. Therefore, when it is determined that each control unit has temporarily received a power failure signal due to noise or the like, it is not determined that a power failure has occurred, and it is possible to prevent the processing during the power failure from being performed due to noise or the like. .
In particular, in the pachinko machine according to the present embodiment, by changing the value set in the count register, it is possible to easily change / correct the time for continuously receiving the power failure signal necessary to determine that a power failure has occurred. Can do. Therefore, fine adjustment and the like can be easily performed based on the situation of the game store where the gaming machine is installed (frequency of occurrence of noise).

The preferred embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a pachinko machine has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and many modifications are included in the present invention.
For example, in the power failure detection process of the above-described embodiment, it is determined that a power failure has occurred when a power failure signal is detected for two consecutive cycles. However, such conditions are the main control unit 200 and the prize ball control unit 300. However, the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, the value of the count register set in S30 of FIG. 4 may be set to a value of 3 or 4 or more.

  In the power failure detection unit 104 of the above-described embodiment, the AC input from the hall AC power supply is monitored, and a power failure is detected based on the waveform, and the power failure signal is output. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and any configuration may be used as long as it is configured to detect a power failure by performing some processing (monitoring voltage, current, etc.) and output a power failure signal to each control unit. Therefore, for example, a power failure may be detected by monitoring the voltage of the DC power supply after the Hall AC power supply is converted to the DC power supply by the rectifier circuit.

  In the above-described embodiment, the control unit that performs the power failure detection process and the storage content protection process of the storage device is only the main control unit 200 and the prize ball control unit 300, but is not limited thereto. These processes can also be performed by another control unit assembled in the gaming machine. Other control units correspond to, for example, a display control unit that controls symbols displayed on the symbol display 22, a sound control unit that controls sound output from a speaker (not shown in FIG. 1), and the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a pachinko machine. However, the present invention is not limited to other gaming machines (for example, slot machines, arrange hall machines, sparrow ball machines, video game machines, etc.). It is also possible to apply to.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described in detail, these are only illustrations and this invention can be implemented with the form which gave various change and improvement based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

10. Pachinko machine 100 Power supply device 104 Power failure detection unit 200 Main control unit 300 Display control unit

Claims (2)

  Detection means for outputting a power outage signal when a power outage is detected, receiving means for receiving a power outage signal output from the detection means, and that the receiving means has continuously received the power outage signal for a predetermined time or longer A game machine provided with determination means for determining that a power failure has occurred.   The gaming machine has an electrical component and a storage unit that stores information for controlling the electrical component, and is stored in the storage unit only when the determination unit determines that a power failure has occurred. The gaming machine according to claim 1, further comprising a protection means for protecting existing information.

Images