JP2011224255A - Game unit and game system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game unit and a game system, in which an enclosure type game machine and inter-machine are communication-connected under high security.SOLUTION: The game unit 2 of the game system 1 includes: the enclosure type game machine 5 in which a game is played without releasing balls outside a game machine housing; and the inter-machine 6 for controlling the rent of game balls in the enclosure type game machine 5. The enclosure type game machine 5 incorporates a game-machine-side communication IC chip 29, and the inter-machine 6 incorporates an inter-machine-side communication IC chip 19. The transfer and reception of information between the enclosure type game machine 5 and the inter-machine 6 is carried out by communication between the game-machine-side communication IC chip 29 and the inter-machine-side communication IC chip 19. This makes fraudulence of communication information less likely to occur from outside, compared to the case where the enclosure type game machine 5 and inter-machine 6 are connected by a communication line that uses a plurality of cable wires. Accordingly, fraudulent replacement of the enclosure type game machine 5 can be reliably monitored.

Description

  The present invention provides high security between an enclosed game machine where a game medium such as a game ball is played without being paid out and a pedestal machine that controls the rental of game media to the enclosed game machine. The present invention relates to a connected gaming unit and gaming system.

  As a game machine, for example, a pachinko machine, an enclosed pachinko machine described in Patent Document 1 is known. The pachinko gaming machine described here records the number of game balls lent out as the number of possessed balls when it is rented to a player by a prepaid card or the like in an adjacent pedestrian machine and stores it in the gaming machine. The game is played using the game balls that have been played. During the game, the number of balls used is subtracted from the number of balls held, and the number of balls obtained by winning is only added and the remaining number of balls is calculated and displayed. The acquired game balls are actually paid out. There is nothing. A predetermined amount of game balls are held inside the pachinko gaming machine, and these are circulated in the game table so that the game is played.

  In such an enclosed game machine, prize balls are not paid out, so there is a risk that game media will be lost, for example, if the paid game media falls to the floor, or the player brings the game media home. In addition, it is possible to accurately manage the rental, payout, and collection of game media.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-907

  Here, the enclosed game machine and the inter-table machine are generally connected via a parallel communication line made up of a plurality of cables, and the player's possession information, remaining ball information, game on the game machine Information such as the situation is exchanged by parallel pulse signals. For example, after the game is over, the remaining ball information is transmitted from the game console to the pedestal machine, the ball information on the player's prepaid card is updated, and prize exchange is performed based on the ball information on the prepaid card. Since the player's possession balls, remaining balls, etc. are managed only as information, not in kind, for example, if the remaining ball information is falsified due to unauthorized access to the communication path between the enclosed game machine and the inter-table machine It is difficult to see through such cheating.

  Therefore, it is desirable to enhance security so that fraudulent acts are not performed on the communication line between the enclosed game machine and the inter-game machine. It is also desirable that when an enclosed game machine is illegally exchanged, such illegal exchange can be monitored on the side of the intermediary machine.

  However, between the conventional enclosed game machine and the machine between the machines, at the start of communication between them, for example, when the power is turned on, only the authentication process of whether the communication partner is valid is performed, The fact is that there is not enough security.

  In view of this point, an object of the present invention is to propose a gaming unit and a gaming system in which an enclosed game machine and a machine between machines are connected with high security.

In order to solve the above problems, the gaming unit of the present invention is:
An enclosed game machine where the game is played without the game media being paid out of the gaming machine housing;
A pedestrian machine that controls the lending of game media to the enclosed game machine,
An IC chip for gaming machine side communication mounted on the enclosed gaming machine;
An IC chip for communication between the machine and the machine mounted on the machine,
Information transmission / reception between the enclosed game machine and the inter-game machine is performed by communication between the game machine-side communication IC chip and the inter-game machine side communication IC chip.

  In the present invention, a communication IC chip is mounted on both an enclosed game machine and a machine, and information is transmitted and received between the enclosed game machine and the machine by communication between the communication IC chips. . Compared to a communication network using cable wiring, the communication form between the communication IC chips is performed in a so-called close form, so that it is difficult for fraud to the communication information from the outside, and security can be improved.

Here, in the gaming unit of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration,
The gaming-table-side communication IC chip has first key information for authentication for establishing communication with the inter-tablet-side communication IC chip, and a first for specifying the enclosed gaming table. 1 game machine specific information is stored and retained,
The inter-machine-side communication IC chip includes second key information for authentication for establishing communication with the gaming machine-side communication IC chip, and the encapsulation assigned to the inter-machine 2nd game machine specific information for specifying the type game machine is stored and held,
The gaming-device-side communication IC chip and the inter-vehicle-device-side communication IC chip perform mutual authentication using the first key information and the second key information that are stored and held at the time of communication establishment, respectively. After the authentication, the gaming machine side communication IC chip transmits the first gaming machine specific information to the machine-side communication IC chip, and the machine-side communication IC chip receives the received first game machine-specific information. It is characterized by collating information with said 2nd game machine specific information.

  When establishing communication between the enclosed game machine and the machine, mutual authentication is performed, and on the side of the machine, the unique information of the enclosed game machine to be connected is also verified. Therefore, even when the enclosed game machine connected to the intermediary machine is illegally replaced, such illegality can be reliably monitored on the intermediary machine side.

  In the gaming unit of the present invention, the communication data between the gaming machine side communication IC chip and the inter-table machine side communication IC chip is encrypted communication data. Security can be further enhanced by encrypting communication data.

On the other hand, the gaming system of the present invention is
Multiple sets of gaming units;
A management device comprising a computer for managing each of the gaming units;
A communication line connecting each of the inter-machines of the gaming unit and the management device;
The gaming unit is a gaming unit configured as described above,
The management device monitors a communication state including the mutual authentication and the verification in each of the gaming units.

  In the present invention, a communication IC chip is mounted on each of the enclosed game machine and the inter-machine, and information is transmitted and received between the enclosed game machine and the inter-machine by communication between these communication IC chips. I am doing so. Therefore, security can be improved compared to the conventional open communication path via multiple cable wirings, tampering of communication information can be prevented, and illegal replacement of enclosed enclosures can be reliably detected. be able to.

It is a schematic block diagram of the game system to which this invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a control system of a set of gaming units in the gaming system of FIG. 1. It is a schematic block diagram of the IC chip for communication mounted in the enclosed game machine and the machine between machines. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the communication operation | movement in a game unit.

  Embodiments of a game system to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a gaming system according to the present embodiment. The gaming system 1 includes a plurality of sets of gaming units 2 and a management computer 4 connected to these gaming units 2 via a repeater 3. Each gaming unit 2 includes an enclosed game machine 5 (for example, an enclosed pachikon machine), and an intermediary machine 6 that controls lending of game balls that are game media necessary for playing games on the enclosed game machine 5. It has. Normally, a game store such as a pachinko store has a plurality of rows of game islands in which a plurality of sets of game units 2 are arranged, and these game units 2 are collectively managed by the management computer 4. The management computer 4 is connected to a server 7 of a management center that manages a plurality of game stores via a public line such as a LAN or the Internet.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram mainly showing a control system of one game unit 2. With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the structure of the inter-machine 6 and the enclosed game machine 5 will be described.

  First, the inter-machine 6 includes a bill insertion slot 11 disposed on the front surface thereof. A player who wishes to issue a game card, for example, a prepaid card 12, for renting game balls necessary for playing a game on the enclosed game machine 5 inserts a bill from the bill insertion slot 11. The inserted banknote is identified by a banknote discriminator 13 with a built-in machine. The inter-machine control device 14 that controls each part of the inter-machine 6 takes out a new prepaid card 10 from the built-in card stocker 15 and incorporates the frequency (value information) corresponding to the amount of the inserted banknote. Are written by the card reader / writer 16. After that, the prepaid card 12 is issued from the card insertion slot 17 arranged in the lower part of the front surface of the intermediary machine.

  A player who plays a game in the enclosed game machine 5 inserts the prepaid card 12 through the card insertion slot 17 of the inter-machine 6. From the inserted prepaid card 12, the built-in card reader / writer 16 reads out the frequency (held ball information) carried therein. When the player inputs the rental amount of the game balls via the operation unit 18 arranged on the front surface of the pedestal machine, the pedestal machine control device 14 performs the processing for renting the entered game balls, and the prepaid card. The frequency of 12 is updated to a value obtained by subtracting the number of game balls to be lent out, and a game ball rental command is issued to the adjacent enclosed game machine 5.

  On the other hand, the enclosed game table 5 includes a game board 21, a counter indicator 22 disposed below the game board 21, and an operation handle 23 for launching game balls disposed below the game board 21. When the gaming machine control device 24 that controls each part of the enclosed gaming machine 5 receives the above-mentioned lending instruction from the inter-machine 6 side, it remains on the prepaid card 12 on the display units 22a and 22b of the counter indicator 22. The number of playing balls and the number of remaining balls (the number of game balls lent out) are displayed. A game ball storage unit 25 is disposed inside the enclosure of the enclosed game table 5, and a game can be played using the game balls supplied from here.

  That is, in the enclosed game table 5, the game balls paid out from the game ball storage unit 25 to the game ball launching device 26 are fired toward the game board 21 by operating the operation handle 23 to play a game. Can do. Each time a game ball is fired, the number of remaining balls displayed on the remaining ball display portion 22b of the counter display 22 is decremented by one. In addition, during the game, the acquired balls acquired by winning are not actually paid out, but instead, the number of acquired balls is added to the number of remaining balls on the counter display 22.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, a communication IC chip 29 (game table side communication IC chip) is mounted on the enclosed game machine 5, and this is connected to the game machine control device 24. Similarly, a communication IC chip 19 (a communication apparatus-side communication IC chip) is mounted on the inter-station machine 6, and this is connected to the inter-machine controller 14. Information is transmitted and received between the enclosed game machine 5 and the inter-machine 6 by communication between these communication IC chips 19 and 29. For example, both the communication IC chips 19 and 29 are non-contact type, and information is transmitted and received by wireless communication.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the communication IC chips 19 and 29. The communication IC chip 19 on the side of the inter-machine 6 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM 34, and a transceiver unit 35 for wireless communication, and these include an internal control bus and a data bus. They are connected by a bus 36.

  The EEPROM 34 includes a chip ID 37 which is chip identification information assigned to the communication IC chip at the time of manufacture, a machine ID 38 for identifying the machine 6 on which the communication IC chip is mounted, Information including a game machine ID 39 for identifying the enclosed game machine 5 assigned to the inter-machine 6 and key information 40 for authentication is stored and held. The ROM 32 stores and holds a communication control program including an authentication program and a data encryption program, and the CPU 31 executes the communication control program under the control of the inter-machine controller 14 to provide an enclosed game machine. 5 communication IC chips 29.

  The communication IC chip 29 mounted on the enclosed game machine 5 has the same configuration, and includes a CPU 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM 44, and a transceiver unit 45 for wireless communication, which are controlled buses. And an internal bus 46 including a data bus.

  The EEPROM 44 includes a chip ID 47 which is chip identification information assigned to the communication IC chip at the time of manufacture, a game table ID 48 for identifying the enclosed game table 5 on which the communication IC chip is mounted, Information including a machine ID 49 for identifying the machine 6 assigned to the enclosed game machine 5 and key information 50 for authentication is stored and held. The ROM 42 stores and holds a communication control program including an authentication program and a data encryption program, and the CPU 41 executes the communication control program under the control of the gaming machine control device 24 to Communication is performed with the communication IC chip 19.

Here, for example, the following information is sent and received between the enclosed game machine 5 and the inter-machine 6.
(Example of information transmitted from the inter-machine 6 to the enclosed game machine 5)
Key information for establishing communication Number of balls lent out for game balls Remaining number of prepaid cards (example of information transmitted from enclosed game machine 5 to inter-machine 6)
Key information for establishing communication Game stand ID of enclosed game stand
Game ball counting information (number of remaining balls)
Game information (big hit, small hit, movement information, etc.)
Sound information (digital signal L / R)
Vibration information (left / right, up / down, large / medium / small level)
Image information (digital image information)
Optical information (left / right, top / bottom, RGB signal)
Scent information (wind balloon, scent release)

  Next, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing an example of communication operation between the enclosed game machine 5 and the inter-machine 6. If it demonstrates with reference to this figure, the communication establishment operation | movement between the enclosure-type game machine 5 and the inter-machine 6 will be performed at the time of power-on first. When communication is established by calling from both communication IC chips 19 and 29 (arrows A1 and A2), authentication processing is performed (arrows A3 and A4). In the authentication processing, for example, a common key is transmitted from the enclosed gaming machine 5 side to the intermediary machine 6 side, and encrypted data obtained by encrypting the common key with a secret key is transmitted to the intermediary machine 6 side. . The inter-machine 6 side receives the encrypted data of the common key, decrypts the encrypted data with the public key, and collates it with the common key. When the collation is obtained, the common key is transmitted from the intercom machine 6 side, and the encrypted data obtained by encrypting the common key with the secret key is transmitted to the enclosed game machine 5 side. On the enclosed game machine 5 side, the received encrypted data is decrypted with the public key and collated with the common key. The verification result is transferred from the inter-machine 6 to the management computer side.

  After the authentication is obtained, the game machine security information is transmitted from the enclosed game machine 5 side to the machine between the machines 6 (arrow A5). The transmission information is encrypted and transmitted as encrypted data. The gaming machine security information includes a gaming machine ID 48 and a machine ID 49. On the side of the platform machine 6, the consistency between the platform machine 6 and the enclosed game machine 5 is determined based on the received gaming machine security information, and whether or not the enclosed game machine 5 has been illegally replaced is confirmed. . That is, the received gaming machine ID 48 is checked against the gaming machine ID 39 stored and held, and the received gaming machine ID 49 is checked against the playing machine ID 38 stored and held. The collation result is transferred from the intermediary machine 6 to the management computer, and the management computer collectively manages (monitors) the state of each gaming unit.

  Next, when the player inserts the prepaid card 12 into the card insertion slot of the inter-machine 6 in order to play a game on the enclosed game table 5, and enters the number of balls to be rented, a game ball as a rent request (payout request) Lending information (remaining frequency of prepaid card, number of balls lent) is transmitted from the inter-machine 6 side to the enclosed game machine 5 (arrow A6). On the enclosed game stand 5 side, when these pieces of information are received, the player can play the game.

  During the game, the game ball information displayed on the counter display in the enclosed game machine 5 is transmitted to the inter-machine 6 (arrow A7). Further, the gaming machine information 1 (hit information, acquired ball information, etc.) is transmitted to the inter-machine 6 and the information is transferred from the inter-machine 6 to the management computer (arrow A8). Furthermore, game table information 2 such as sound and image is also transmitted to the inter-table machine 6.

  As described above, the communication between the enclosed game table 5 and the intermediary machine 6 is performed by the communication IC chips 19 and 29, so that the game machine controller and the intermediary machine 6 of the enclosed game machine 5 The inter-machine control device side can send and receive data without being aware of communication path authentication and encryption. In addition, since communication is not directly performed between the game machine control device and the inter-vehicle machine control device, the use of the communication interface can be made into a black box (closed), so the security of communication between the two can be reduced. Can be increased.

  Furthermore, since mutual authentication is performed before communication is started between both sides, the communication IC can prevent mutual spoofing.

  Furthermore, since the communication data is encrypted, unauthorized entry into the communication path between the communication IC chips can be reliably prevented.

  In addition, the communication IC chip on the enclosed game machine 5 side transmits the ID (specific information such as serial number) of the enclosed game machine 5 at the start of communication, and the communication IC chip side on the intermediary machine side. Since the received ID is collated, the illegal exchange of the enclosed game machine can be monitored on the stand machine side. Therefore, the security of the gaming unit and the gaming system can be increased.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the case where a prepaid card is used has been described as an example in order to simplify the description. A member card is also known as a game card, and the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a member card is used. Furthermore, game balls may be lent out using cash, and the present invention can be similarly applied to such cases.

  In addition, the above embodiment is an example in the case of using a game ball (pachinko ball) as a game medium, but the present invention also applies to a case in which a game table using a game medium of another form such as a medal is used. The same applies.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, information is transmitted and received by wireless communication between the communication IC chip 19 mounted on the enclosed game machine 5 and the communication IC chip 29 mounted on the inter-machine 6. Instead, information may be transmitted and received between the communication IC chips 19 and 29 by wired communication. In this case, each of the communication IC chips 19 and 29 is provided with a plurality of communication ports, and the communication port groups are wired and connected so that wired communication can be performed between the communication IC chips 19 and 29. What is necessary is just to comprise so.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Game system 2 Game unit 3 Relay device 4 Management computer 5 Enclosed game machine 6 Inter-machine 7 Server 11 Bill insertion slot 12 Prepaid card 13 Bill discriminator 14 Inter-machine controller 15 Card stocker 16 Card reader / writer 17 Card Insert 18 Operation unit 19 IC chip for communication 21 Game board (direction mechanism)
22 counter display 22a, 22b display unit 23 operation handle 24 game table control device 25 game ball storage unit 26 game ball launching device 29 communication IC chip 31, 41 CPU
32, 42 ROM
33, 43 RAM
34, 44 EEPROM
35, 45 Transmit / receive unit 36, 46 Internal bus 37, 47 Chip ID
38, 49 Inter-machine ID
39, 48 Game stand ID
40, 50 Key information

Claims (4)

An enclosed game machine where the game is played without the game media being paid out of the gaming machine housing;
A pedestrian machine that performs lending control of game media to the enclosed game machine,
An IC chip for gaming machine side communication mounted on the enclosed gaming machine;
An IC chip for communication between the machine and the machine mounted on the machine,
Information exchange between the enclosed game machine and the inter-game machine is performed by communication between the game machine-side communication IC chip and the inter-game machine side communication IC chip. unit. In claim 1,
The gaming-table-side communication IC chip has first key information for authentication for establishing communication with the inter-tablet-side communication IC chip, and a first for specifying the enclosed gaming table. 1 game machine specific information is stored and retained,
The inter-machine-side communication IC chip includes second key information for authentication for establishing communication with the gaming machine-side communication IC chip, and the encapsulation assigned to the inter-machine 2nd game machine specific information for specifying the type game machine is stored and held,
The gaming-device-side communication IC chip and the inter-vehicle-device-side communication IC chip perform mutual authentication using the first key information and the second key information that are stored and held at the time of communication establishment, respectively. After the authentication, the gaming machine side communication IC chip transmits the first gaming machine specific information to the machine-side communication IC chip, and the machine-side communication IC chip receives the received first game machine-specific information. A gaming unit characterized by collating information with the second gaming machine specific information. In claim 2,
A gaming unit characterized in that communication data between the gaming machine side communication IC chip and the inter-table machine side communication IC chip is encrypted communication data. Multiple sets of gaming units;
A management device comprising a computer for managing each of the gaming units;
A communication line connecting each of the gaming units and the management device;
The gaming unit is a gaming unit according to claim 2 or 3,
The game system characterized in that the management device monitors a communication state including the mutual authentication and the verification in each of the game units.

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