JP2012016634A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine where it is possible to implement a wide variety of production control without increasing a burden on a main control unit or the other control unit.SOLUTION: The game machine includes the main control unit 21 that determines whether to establish an advantageous state advantageous to a player by a jackpot lottery arising therefrom when a predetermined winning state is established in relation to the movement of a game ball and outputs a control command CMD for specifying contents of production in relation to the result of the jackpot lottery a production control unit 22 that carries out production operation based on the control command, and a liquid crystal control unit 24. The production control unit 22 includes a first means that compresses a series of control commands according to a predetermined rule and consecutively outputs them as special commands on a communication unit-by-communication unit basis. The liquid crystal control unit 24 involves: second processing (ST24, ST25) of determining the subsequent reception procedure based on the header information of the special commands; and third processing (ST30 to ST34) of consecutively receiving subsequent data according to the procedure determined by the second processing.

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine configured by connecting a plurality of control boards including a computer circuit, and more particularly, to a gaming machine capable of appropriately realizing a complex and advanced performance operation without imposing an excessive communication burden or control burden. .

  A ball and ball game machine such as a pachinko machine has a symbol start port provided on the game board, a symbol display unit for displaying a series of symbol variation modes such as stopping a plurality of display symbols after varying a predetermined time, and an opening / closing plate It is configured with a grand prize opening that opens and closes. When the detection switch provided at the symbol start port detects the passing of the game ball, the game ball is in a winning state and the symbol display unit changes the display symbol for a predetermined time. After that, when the symbol stops in a predetermined manner such as 7-7-7, a big hit state is established, and the big winning opening is repeatedly opened to generate a profit state advantageous to the player.

  The symbol display unit is usually composed of a liquid crystal display and executes various symbol effect operations including a reach effect and a notice effect. Reach production is a design production that continues to be a big hit state in one step and excites the player, and the notice production is a sudden appearance of some character in the middle of the movement of the design, It is a design effect that warns of a big hit. Note that, in synchronism with the notice effect on the liquid crystal display or independently of the notice effect on the liquid crystal display, a notice effect by voice or a notice effect by lamp effect is also executed.

  And in order to implement | achieve said operation | movement, generally, a ball game machine is a sub-control which performs individual production | presentation operation | movement based on the main control part which mainly controls game operation | movement, and the control command from a main control part. And a control unit.

  In such a ball game machine, it is preferable that the variation of the notice effect can be increased, so that the player can enjoy a variety of reasoning and can have a variety of expectations. However, the main control unit executes game ball winning judgment and prize ball payout control within a limited time, and pursues a variety of production control until sacrificing these important controls. I can't do it.

  Therefore, in consideration of the control burden on the main control unit, it is conceivable that the details of the rendering operation are comprehensively controlled on the most upstream side of the sub-control unit.

  However, even in this case, simply increasing the type of notice effect only increases the control burden on the sub-control unit on the most upstream side. Further, as the amount of communication from the sub-control unit on the most upstream side to the sub-control unit on the downstream side increases, the possibility of occurrence of communication abnormality increases, which is also a problem.

  Therefore, there is a strong demand for a device configuration and a communication procedure that can increase the variation of the production contents without unnecessarily increasing the communication amount. In addition, in the unlikely event that a communication abnormality occurs, it is desirable to have a configuration that can quickly find and appropriately deal with this.

In addition, there is a need for a circuit configuration that can execute various production operations such as voice production, lamp production, symbol production, etc. without any contradiction regardless of whether there is a communication abnormality. In this case, the game ball directly connected to the player's interests Unlike payouts, etc., it is considered that a response in consideration of the small disadvantage that is directly given to the player is permitted for the effect operation such as the notice effect.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a gaming machine that can realize various presentation controls without increasing the control burden of the main control unit and other control units. To do. It is another object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine that can effectively suppress the occurrence of communication abnormality and can appropriately cope with equipment troubles including communication abnormality.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention determines whether or not a profit state advantageous to the player is generated by a lottery determination when a predetermined winning state related to the operation of the player occurs. An upstream control unit that outputs a control command that defines the content of the effect, and a downstream control unit that executes an effect operation based on the control command, in relation to the result of the success / failure lottery The upstream control unit includes first means for compressing a series of control commands based on a predetermined rule and outputting the compressed commands as a special command for each communication unit, and the downstream control unit includes the special command. Second means for determining a subsequent reception procedure based on the header information and third means for continuously receiving subsequent data according to the procedure determined by the second means are provided.

  The present invention is configured to include a main control unit that centrally controls game operations including the success / failure lottery, and a sub-control unit that controls various performance operations based on control commands from the main control unit. The upstream control unit and the downstream control unit are preferably both included in the sub-control unit. If such an embodiment is taken, even if the diversity of effect control is pursued, a control burden is not imposed on the main control unit. In this case, an intermediate board that receives various DC voltages and a power reset signal from the power supply board is provided between the upstream control unit and the downstream control unit, and the power supply voltage of the upstream control unit and the downstream control unit is When supplied from the power supply board via the intermediate board, it is effective in suppressing noise generation and preventing communication abnormality.

  Further, the upstream control unit includes an OR logic circuit, and the OR logic circuit receives the power reset signal supplied from the intermediate board and an abnormal signal indicating an operation abnormality of the upstream control unit. If the OR logic output is output to the downstream control unit, an unreasonable presentation can be prevented.

  In each of the above configurations, it is effective that the special command specifies a notice effect to be executed in the downstream control unit. The control command is preferably divided into first data for specifying the outline of the contents of the effects and second data for specifying the specific contents of the contents of the effects, which are transmitted by repeating a plurality of transmission processes. It is configured to Furthermore, it is preferable that the special command includes the second data of each control command for the series of control commands, but does not include the first data of each control command.

  The downstream control unit preferably includes an analysis unit that extracts the second data from the special command based on the header information, and identifies the first data corresponding to the second data based on the header information. ing. Moreover, it is preferable that the downstream control unit controls the symbol effect, and the upstream control unit controls the sound effect and the lamp effect.

  According to the above-described present invention, it is possible to realize a gaming machine that enables various presentation controls without increasing the burden on the main control unit. In addition, it is possible to realize a gaming machine that can effectively suppress the occurrence of communication abnormality and can appropriately deal with device troubles including communication abnormality.

It is a perspective view of the pachinko machine shown in an example. It is the front view which illustrated in detail the game board of the pachinko machine of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the pachinko machine of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure of an effect control part, an effect interface part, and a liquid-crystal control part. The control command for a notice effect is illustrated. It illustrates a header analysis table. It is a flowchart explaining the reception process of a liquid-crystal control part. It is a flowchart explaining the modification of FIG.

  Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the ball game machine according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a pachinko machine according to the present embodiment. The illustrated pachinko machine includes a rectangular frame-shaped wooden outer frame 1 that is detachably attached to an island structure, and a front frame 3 that is pivotally mounted via a hinge 2 fixed to the outer frame 1. It is configured. A game board 5 is detachably attached to the front frame 3 from the back side, and a glass door 6 and a front plate 7 are pivotally attached to the front side so as to be freely opened and closed.

  An upper plate 8 for storing game balls for launch is mounted on the front plate 7, and a lower plate 9 for storing game balls overflowing from or extracted from the upper plate 8 and a launch handle 10 are mounted at the bottom of the front frame 4. And are provided. The launch handle 10 is interlocked with the launch motor, and a game ball is launched by a striking rod that operates according to the rotation angle of the launch handle 10.

  A chance button 11 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the upper plate 8. The chance button 11 is provided at a position where it can be operated with the left hand of the player, and the player can operate the chance button 11 without releasing the right hand from the firing handle 10. The chance button 11 does not function normally, but when the game state becomes the button chance state, the built-in lamp is turned on and can be operated. The button chance state is a game state provided as necessary.

  On the right side of the upper plate 8, an operation panel 12 for ball lending operation with respect to the card-type ball lending machine is provided, a frequency display unit for displaying the remaining amount of the card with a three-digit number, and a ball of game balls for a predetermined amount A ball lending switch for instructing lending and a return switch for instructing to return the card at the end of the game are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the game board 5 is provided with a guide rail 13 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 5a inside. Has been placed. In addition, at a suitable place in the game area 5a, a symbol starting port 15, a big winning port 16, a plurality of normal winning ports 17 (four on the right and left sides of the big winning port 16), and a gate 18 serving as two passing ports are arranged. Has been. Each of these winning openings 15 to 18 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 19 in the upper right portion. The special symbol display portions Da to Dc execute a reach effect that expects a big hit state to be invited, and the special symbol display portions Da to Dc and the surroundings perform a notice effect that informs the result of the determination indefinitely. The

  The normal symbol display unit 19 displays a normal symbol. When a game ball that has passed through the gate 18 is detected, the displayed normal symbol fluctuates for a predetermined time and is extracted at the time when the game ball passes through the gate 18. The stop symbol determined by the random number for lottery is displayed and stopped.

  For example, the symbol start opening 15 is configured to be opened and closed by an electric tulip having a pair of left and right opening and closing claws 15a. The claw 15a is opened for a predetermined time. When a game ball wins the symbol start port 15, the display symbols of the special symbol display portions Da to Dc change for a predetermined time and are determined based on the lottery result corresponding to the winning timing of the game ball to the symbol start port 15. Stop at the stop symbol. In addition, in special symbol display parts Da-Dc and its circumference, a notice effect may be performed between a series of symbol effects.

  The big winning opening 16 is controlled to open and close by, for example, an opening / closing plate 16a that can be opened forward. When the stop symbol after the symbol change of the special symbol display portions Da to Dc is a big hit symbol such as “777”, the “big hit” Is started, and the opening / closing plate 16a is opened. A winning area 16 b is provided inside the big winning opening 16.

  After the opening / closing plate 16a of the big prize opening 16 is opened, the opening / closing plate 16a is closed when a predetermined time elapses or when a predetermined number (for example, 10) of game balls wins. In such an operation, the special game is continued up to 15 times, for example, and is controlled in a state advantageous to the player. In addition, when the stop symbol after the change of the special symbol display parts Da to Dc is a specific symbol of the special symbols, a privilege that the game after the end of the special game is in a high probability state is given. Usually, the big hit by this specific design is called “probable big hit”.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall circuit configuration of the pachinko machine 1 that realizes the above-described operations. Broken lines in the figure mainly indicate DC voltage lines. FIG. 4 shows the circuit configuration of the effect control board, the effect interface board, and the liquid crystal control board in a little more detail.

  As shown in FIG. 3, this pachinko machine 1 receives AC 24V, outputs various DC voltages and outputs a power reset signal SYR when the power is turned on, and a main control board for centrally controlling gaming operations. 21, an effect control board 22 that executes a lamp effect and a sound effect based on a control command CMD received from the main control board 21, an effect interface board 23 that transmits a signal received from the effect control board 22, and an effect A liquid crystal control board 24 that drives the liquid crystal display DISP based on the control command CMD ′ received from the interface board 23 and a payout motor M based on the control command CMD ″ received from the main control board 21 to pay the game ball A payout control board 25 to be put out, and a launch control board 26 to fire a game ball in response to the player's operation. It is configured.

  Here, the main control board 21, the effect control board 22, the liquid crystal control board 24, and the payout control board 25 are each mounted with a computer circuit including a one-chip microcomputer. Therefore, the functions mounted on the main control board 21, the production control board 22, the liquid crystal control board 24, and the payout control board 25 and the operations realized by the circuits are functionally named. Unit 21, effect control unit 22, liquid crystal control unit 24, and payout control unit 25. All or part of the effect control unit 22, the liquid crystal control unit 24, and the payout control unit 25 are sub-control units.

The main control board 21 receives from the power supply board 20 a power supply abnormality signal output when the voltage drops and a power supply reset signal SYR output when the power is turned on, in addition to DC12V, DC32V, and backup power supply (DC5V). . In the main control board 21, the received DC 12V is stepped down to DC 5V, and used as the power supply voltage of the computer circuit in the board.

  The main control board 21 is connected to each game component of the game board 5 via the game board relay board 27. And while receiving the switch signal of the detection switch built in each winning opening 16-18 on a game board, solenoids, such as an electric tulip, are driven. Note that the switch signal from the symbol start port 15 is received directly by the main control unit 21 without going through the game board relay board 27.

  The main control unit 21 transmits a control command CMD ″ to the payout control unit 25 in one direction, while the payout control unit 25 receives a prize ball count signal indicating a payout operation of a game ball and an abnormality in the payout operation. The status signal CON is received, and the status signal CON includes, for example, an out-of-supply signal, an insufficient payout error signal, and a lower plate full signal.

  The effect control unit 22 is connected to the main control unit 21 in one direction via the command relay board 28. Specifically, an 8-bit parallel signal line that receives a control command and a 1-bit strobe signal line that receives an interrupt signal STB are connected to the main control unit 21.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the effect control unit 22 includes a one-chip microcomputer 40 that executes processing such as sound effects, lamp effects, and data transfer, an EPROM 41 that stores a control program for the one-chip microcomputer 40, and the one-chip microcomputer. A voice synthesis IC 42 that generates a voice signal based on an instruction from 40, a voice memory 43 that stores compressed voice data that is the original data of the generated voice signal, and a watchdog timer WDT1. Yes.

  Here, the watchdog timer WDT1 is reset by a clear pulse periodically supplied from the one-chip microcomputer 40. When this clear pulse is interrupted due to a program runaway or the like, an L level reset signal RT is output. It is like that. The reset signal RT output from the watchdog timer WDT1 is output to the effect interface board 23 as the CPU reset signal RST via the negative logic OR gate G1. Further, after being output from the power supply board 20, the L-level power supply reset signal SYR via the power supply relay board 29 and the effect interface board 23 is also sent as the CPU reset signal RST via the negative logic OR gate G1. And output to the production interface board 23.

  Therefore, when the power reset signal SYR or the reset signal RT from the watchdog timer WDT1 changes to L level, the CPU reset signal RST becomes L level. As shown in the figure, the CPU reset signal RST passes through the effect interface board 23 and is supplied to the liquid crystal control board 24 as it is, so that the computer circuit of the liquid crystal control unit 24 is automatically reset.

As shown in FIG. 4, the interrupt signal STB output from the main control board 21 is supplied to the one-chip microcomputer 40 of the effect control board 22. And the production | generation control part 22 acquires the control command CMD by the reception interruption process started by the interruption signal STB. In addition to (a) error notification and other notification control commands, the control command CMD acquired by the effect control unit 22 includes (b) control for specifying an outline of various effect operations resulting from winning at the symbol start opening. Commands (hereinafter referred to as variation pattern commands) are included. Here, the outline of the production operation specified by the variation pattern command includes the production total time from the production start to the production end, and the result of winning or failing in the big hit lottery. In addition to these, the change pattern command including the presence or absence of the reach effect or the notice effect may be specified, but even in this case, the specific content of the effect content is not specified.

  Therefore, when the effect control unit 22 acquires the variation pattern command CMD, the effect lottery is subsequently performed, and the effect outline specified by the acquired variation pattern command is further specified. For example, the specific contents of the reach effect and the notice effect are determined. Then, according to the determined specific game content, the lamp production by blinking the LED group or the like and the voice production preparation operation by the speaker are performed, and the liquid crystal control unit 24 is adapted to the production operation by the lamp or the speaker. The control command CMD ′ relating to the design effect to be output is output. In this case, the effect control unit 22 outputs the command data CMD ′ to the effect interface board 23 together with the interrupt signal STB ′ for the liquid crystal control unit 24. In addition, when receiving the notification control command or other control commands related to the liquid crystal display, the effect control unit 22 outputs the control command as it is to the effect interface board 23 together with the interrupt signal STB ′.

  Corresponding to the configuration of the effect control board 22, the effect interface board 23 is configured to receive 8-bit command data CMD ′ and a 1-bit interrupt signal STB ′ from the effect control board 22. These data CMD ′ and STB ′ are output to the liquid crystal control board 24 as they are via the buffer circuit 45. The effect interface board 23 receives the lamp driving control signal output from the effect control unit 22 and outputs it via the buffer circuit 46. As shown in FIG. 3, the lamp drive control signal output from the effect interface board 23 is supplied to the LED lamp group via the lamp connection board 30, and as a result, corresponds to the control command CMD output from the main control unit 21. The lamp effect is realized.

  On the other hand, the audio signal output from the voice synthesis IC 42 of the effect control board 22 is amplified by the digital amplifier 44 and output. In addition, the mute signal output from the effect control board 22 is also supplied to the digital amplifier 44 to prohibit the output of the audio signal (see FIG. 4). As shown in FIG. 3, the audio signal output from the effect interface board 23 is supplied to the speaker via the speaker relay board 31, and as a result, the audio effect corresponding to the control command CMD output by the main control unit 21. Is realized. In this embodiment, two left and right speakers are provided at the upper part of the gaming machine and two left and right parts are provided at the lower part of the gaming machine, and receive audio signals through the relay board 32, respectively.

  By the way, this production interface board 23 generates not only the digital signal and analog signal relay processing functions as described above, but also a function for generating various DC voltages required for each part of the gaming machine and distributing them through the shortest path. Also have. That is, in each part of the gaming machine, not only the DC 5V power supply voltage for operating the computer circuit of each control board 21, 22, 24, 25, but also the DC voltage for lighting various decorative lamps with high force, A direct-current voltage is required to display the liquid crystal display DISP clearly, and a power supply voltage other than 5V may be required depending on a dedicated IC mounted on each substrate. Therefore, how these various power supply voltage lines are routed is an extremely important technical matter in terms of noise countermeasures.

Therefore, in this embodiment, an effect interface board 23 is provided between the power supply board 20 and the effect control board 22 and between the power supply board 20 and the liquid crystal control board 24. An optimal power supply line is realized by generating DC voltage and distributing DC voltage. Specifically, the effect interface board 23 receives three types of DC voltages 5V, 12V, and 32V from the power supply board 20. The effect interface board 23 uses the received DC voltage 5V as the power supply voltage of its own digital circuit and distributes it to the effect control board 22 and the liquid crystal control board 24. Therefore, the shortest power supply line is secured for the effect control board 22 and the liquid crystal control board 24. In addition, the effect interface board 23 is light in terms of its circuit configuration and is light in load on the power supply voltage 5 V, and thus is effective in that there is little fluctuation in the power supply voltage on the upstream side for the effect control board 22 and the liquid crystal control board 24.

  On the other hand, the decoration lamp on the game board requires DC voltages 12V, 20V, and 32V, so the effect interface board 23 directly transfers the DC voltages 12V and 32V received from the power supply board 20 to the LED lamp group. The direct current 32V is stepped down to the direct current 20V by the DC / DC converter 47 and supplied to the LED lamp group. The DC voltage 12V is also supplied to the liquid crystal display DISP via the liquid crystal control board 24.

Next, the configuration of the liquid crystal control substrate 24 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the liquid crystal control board 24 receives a control command CMD ′ via the effect interface board 23 and controls a one-chip microcomputer 48 that controls the design effect and a control program for storing the one-chip microcomputer 48. ROM 49, graphic controller (specifically, VDP / Video Display Processor) 50 for driving the liquid crystal display DISP based on instructions from the one-chip microcomputer 48, and basic data (sprite pattern data) drawn on the liquid crystal display DISP ) And the like, and a watchdog timer WDT2. Since the power supply voltage of the one-chip microcomputer 48 and the graphic controller 50 is 3.3V, the liquid crystal control board 24 steps down the DC voltage 5V received from the effect interface board 23 to 3.3V by the step-down circuit. Are used.

  The watchdog timer WDT2 is reset by a clear pulse periodically supplied from the one-chip microcomputer 48. When this clear pulse is interrupted due to a program runaway or the like, an L level reset signal RT is output. ing. The reset signal RT output from the watchdog timer WDT2 is supplied to the one-chip microcomputer 48 via the negative logic OR gate G2, and as a result, the one-chip microcomputer 48 is reset to the initial state.

  As shown in the figure, the output of the negative logic OR gate G2 is also supplied to the graphic controller 50 in common, so the graphic controller 50 and the one-chip microcomputer 48 are reset in synchronization with each other. There is no inconsistency in the content. Also, since the CPU reset signal RST is supplied from the effect control unit 22 to the OR gate G2, not only when the power is turned on, but also when the effect control unit 22 is forcibly reset due to a program runaway state or the like, the liquid crystal control The entire unit 24 is also reset synchronously, and there is no functional mismatch between the operation of the effect control unit 22 on the upstream side and the operation of the liquid crystal control unit 24 on the downstream side.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the payout control board 25 receives from the game board a switch signal such as a count switch for detecting the number of prize balls of the game ball in addition to the control command CMD "from the main control board 21. The payout control board 25 receives from the power supply board 20 a power supply abnormality signal indicating a voltage drop state and a power supply reset signal SYR indicating a power-on state in addition to DC12V and AC24V, and transmits AC24V to the launch control board 26. In addition, the payout motor M is driven by DC12V, and the DC12V is stepped down to DC5 to be the power supply voltage of the computer circuit of the payout control board 25. The computer circuit of the payout control board 25 performs the launch control. The operation of the launch control board 26 is controlled by the signal.

On the other hand, the launch control board 26 controls the launch operation of the game ball by driving solenoids based on the launch control signal from the payout control board 25 and the switch signal of the launch stop switch resulting from the player's operation. is doing.

  Subsequently, the characteristic operation content of the gaming machine 1 of the embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. In this gaming machine 1, among the control commands CMD ′ transmitted through the route of the effect control board 22 → the effect interface board 23 → the liquid crystal control board 24, a series of the notice effect control commands are grouped together as “ The amount of communication is reduced by transmitting in the format of “special commands with variable length configuration”. Here, the notice effect is an effect that causes the player to generate an unexpected action in the middle of the pattern changing operation on the liquid crystal display DISP, and to expect a subsequent big hit state. This is realized by any one of a design effect, a lamp effect, and a sound effect, or an appropriate combination thereof.

  The configuration of the control command will be described prior to the description of the special command. The control command has a fixed length of 2 bytes, and is divided into 1-byte MODE data and 1-byte EVENT data. Therefore, in principle, one control command *** H is divided into MODE data and EVENT data, each of which is 1-byte data, and transmitted. Note that * means an arbitrary numerical value of one hexadecimal digit, and the subscript H means a hexadecimal number. In this embodiment, the most significant bit of MODE data is always set to “1”, while the most significant bit of EVENT data is always set to “0”. Therefore, only by determining the most significant bit of the control command, it can be identified whether it is MODE data or EVENT data.

  FIG. 5 exemplifies a control command for a notice effect executed on the liquid crystal display DISP. For convenience of explanation, here, a control command D1 ** H relating to the background change of the liquid crystal display DISP and seven other kinds of control commands D2 ** H to D8 ** H relating to the appearance of a mini character are prepared. I will decide. The upper 1 byte such as D1H, D2H,..., D8H is MODE data, and the lower 1 byte indicated by ** H is EVENT data.

  As apparent from FIG. 5, the MODE data specifies the outline of the effect contents, and the EVENT data specifies the specific contents of the effect contents. The EVENT data is a value within a numerical range of 00H to 7FH, and the most significant bit is always 0. On the other hand, the MODE data is D * H in this example, but the most significant bit is always 1 even when it is a numerical value other than this.

  When the liquid crystal control unit 24 receives these control commands, it draws some symbols (characters, etc.) at a specific location on the liquid crystal display during the changing operation, and notifies the winning state at the end of the changing operation. . For example, when a control command (special command) of a combination of D103H → D204H is received, the background screen of the liquid crystal display DISP changes to a scene reminiscent of autumn and a monkey appears. For example, when a control command (special command) of a combination of D103H → D204H → D306H is received, in addition to the above production, once a monkey that appears once disappears, It becomes a notice effect that appears.

  As described above, with regard to the notice effect, a maximum of eight types of control commands are continuously transmitted to identify a series of notice effect contents. For this reason, with the conventional configuration, a data transmission amount of 8 × 16 bits at the maximum is necessary only for the notice effect, and the effect control unit 22 and the like become a burden on the control.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, a series of control commands for notice are not transmitted as they are, but are converted into a special command format and transmitted. Specifically, first, 8-bit header information (command header) is transmitted, and thereafter, EVENT data of the notice effect control command is continuously transmitted. Finally, the checksum value is transmitted. The number of data (number of bytes) transmitted following the command header is specified by the command header.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the above relationship. Specifically, the contents of the header analysis table TBL provided in the liquid crystal control unit 24 are illustrated.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the header analysis table TBL includes a 1-byte command header, the number of data (number of bytes) transmitted thereafter, and MODE data corresponding to the EVENT data transmitted after the transmission of the special command. And remembered. In this example, the command header is one of D0H to DFH, and the lower 4 bits of the command header specify the number of event data to be transmitted thereafter and the MODE data corresponding to each event data. The

  For example, if the command header is D9H (see the arrow in FIG. 6), then four EVENT data for notice effect and one checksum data are transmitted. The MODE values of the sequentially transmitted data are specified as D1H, D2H, D3H, and D4H. Therefore, for example, the special command transmitted in the order of D9H → 02H → 07H → 00H → 01H means the control command for the notice effect of D102H, D207H, D300H, and D401H as the whole special command. Incidentally, in the example of FIG. 6, the background associated with summer is specified by D102H, and the appearance of red fox and squirrel is specified by D207H.

  In this embodiment, the command header (the first byte of the special command) is D * H, similar to the control command for the notice effect shown in FIG. 5, but it is of course not limited to this configuration. It is. That is, the command header can use arbitrary data as long as it does not overlap with MODE data of other general control commands and the most significant bit is 1.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the control command for the notice effect is transmitted from the effect control unit 22 to the symbol control unit 24 in the form of a special command. FIG. 6B illustrates a transmission procedure in the effect control unit 22. As shown in the figure, the effect control unit 22 first transmits a 1-byte command header, then sequentially transmits n pieces of EVENT data (n bytes in total), and finally, n pieces of EVENT data. The checksum value (1 byte length) is transmitted. Since the most significant bits of the n pieces of EVENT data are all “0”, the checksum value is also composed of 8 bits, and the most significant bit is “0”. Therefore, the checksum value is substantially a 7-bit configuration.

Thus, since the special command is composed of a command header + EVENT data string + checksum, (n + 2) bytes are sufficient to transmit n control commands. In the case of an original control command composed of MODE data + EVENT data, a communication amount of 2 × n bytes is required, whereas in the configuration of the present embodiment, even if an evaluation is performed by adding 1 byte of the checksum, The amount of communication is reduced by 2 × n− (n + 2) = (n−2) bytes, and the communication load of the effect control unit 22 and the like can be greatly reduced. In addition, the possibility of communication abnormality is reduced as the communication amount decreases. Furthermore, it is possible to immediately detect the communication abnormality of a group of EVENT data strings by the checksum process. If a communication abnormality is detected, for example, in this embodiment, the notice effect itself is canceled, so that the player is not distrusted by the unnatural notice effect.

  As described above, the effect control unit 22 outputs control commands and special commands to be executed by the liquid crystal control unit 24 to the effect interface board 23 together with the interrupt signal STB ′. Then, the effect interface board 23 transmits these as they are to the liquid crystal control unit 24 through the buffer circuit 45 (see FIG. 4).

  On the other hand, the liquid crystal control unit 24 is configured such that reception interrupt processing is started due to the interrupt signal STB '. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the reception interrupt process. Hereinafter, description will be given based on this flowchart.

  In the reception interrupt process, the liquid crystal control unit 24 determines the value of the continuation flag FLG after acquiring the reception data Dx (ST20) (ST21). Here, the continuation flag FLG is a flag indicating whether or not a series of special commands is currently being received. If a series of special commands is being received, the continuation flag FLG is 1, otherwise. The continuation flag FLG remains 0.

  Here, if continuation flag FLG = 0, it is next determined whether received data Dx is a command header of special data (ST22). As described above, in this embodiment, since the command header is any value of D0H to DFH, the determination of whether or not it is a command header is completed by determining the upper 4 bits of the received data. If the received data Dx is not a command header, the received data Dx is MODE data or EVENT data of a general control command. Therefore, the received received data Dx is stored in the received buffer BUF and received. The interrupt process is finished (ST23).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step ST22 that the received data Dx is a special data command header, the header analysis table TBL (FIG. 6) is searched using the received data Dx as a search key (ST24). . Then, the number of data strings following the command header received this time is grasped and substituted into the variable N (ST25). Therefore, the variable N is initially set to a value (= n + 1) obtained by adding the number of checksums (= 1) to the number n of subsequent EVENT data strings.

  Further, the variable SUM for performing the addition process of a series of EVENT data is cleared to zero, the continuation flag FLG is set to 1, and the pointer PT of the temporary buffer TEMP is cleared to zero (ST25). Since the continuation flag FLG is set to 1, the reception interrupt processing started after this is a special operation mode for acquiring a series of EVENT data.

  Therefore, in the next reception interrupt, the continuation flag FLG = 1 should be determined in the determination in step ST21. Then, following the determination process in step ST21, it is determined whether or not the received data Dx is within a predetermined numerical range (ST26). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the received data Dx is within a range of 00H to 7FH. As described with reference to FIG. 6B, the special command has a configuration of [command header] + [n pieces of EVENT data] + [checksum], and includes a total of n + 2 bytes. Since all the data other than the command header has the most significant bit of “0”, when the continuation flag FLG = 1, the reception data Dx is always within the range of 00H to 7FH. .

  Therefore, normally, after the determination in step ST26, the process proceeds to step ST28, the value of the variable N is decremented, and it is determined whether or not the variable N is 0 (ST29). The variable N is initially set to the number of data to be continuously acquired. Therefore, when N> 0, the acquired reception data Dx is stored in the temporary buffer TEMP and the value of the pointer PT for specifying the storage position is incremented (ST30). Further, the value of the reception data Dx is added to the variable SUM, and the interruption process is finished (ST31).

  Since the processes in steps ST28 to ST32 described above are executed for each reception interrupt, the variable N should eventually become zero. When N = 0, it means that the currently received data Dx is a checksum value. Therefore, the 7 bits excluding the most significant bit of the variable SUM are compared with the 7 bits of the acquired data Dx (ST32). Here, when each bit matches, it can be evaluated that a series of EVENT data has been correctly acquired.

  Therefore, next, MODE data corresponding to each EVENT data is grasped by referring to the header analysis table TBL, restored to the original 2-byte control command, and stored in the reception buffer BUFF (ST33). As a result of this processing, the special operation mode has been completed normally, so the value of the continuation flag FLG is returned to 0 and the interrupt processing is completed (ST34).

  On the other hand, in the determination of step ST32, there is a possibility that the 7 bits of the variable SUM and the 7 bits of the received data Dx do not match. In this case, it is considered that a communication error has occurred somewhere in the special operation mode, so the process of step ST33 is skipped and the process of step ST34 is performed. As a result, the data stored in the temporary buffer TEMP is not transferred to the reception buffer BUFF, and all data is substantially discarded.

  The reason for this processing is that the series of discarded data is at most EVENT data related to the notice effect. In short, the discard process does not cause a series of notice operations on the liquid crystal display. This is because there is virtually no harmful effect. In other words, even if an unreasonable and unnatural notice effect is performed based on the EVENT data garbled due to a communication error, it only gives the player distrust.

  By the way, in the determination of step ST26, the reception data Dx may exceed a predetermined numerical range of 00H to 7FH. As described above, the reception data Dx becomes Dx> 7FH while the continuation flag FLG = 1, for example, when a communication error occurs in the previous reception processing, and a general control command (completed in 2 bytes) May be misunderstood as a command header (usually not completed in 2 bytes). Alternatively, in the previous reception process, although the command header of the special command is correctly recognized, there is a possibility that the communication error occurred in the current reception process and the EVENT data could not be received correctly.

  Whatever the cause, even if the special command reception process is continued, only an unreasonable notice effect can be expected. Therefore, in this embodiment, the reception process of the special command is finished at this stage where the abnormality is detected (ST27). Specifically, after the continuation flag FLG is returned to 0, the process proceeds to step ST22. Since the continuation flag FLG is returned to 0, when the processing after step ST28 is executed in the future reception interrupt, the pointer PT is cleared to zero via the processing of step ST25 before that. The data stored in the buffer is virtually discarded.

As described above, in this embodiment, the content of the effect is finally specified by the effect control board 22, and the control command specifying the specific effect is transmitted to the liquid crystal control board 24. Then, the control command which specified only the outline production content is output. Therefore, the control burden on the main control unit 21 is reduced, and a variety of effects can be realized by a lottery process on the effect control board 22. In addition, since the production control board 22 controls the production operation in an integrated manner, it is possible to realize a production operation in which the contents of the lamp production, the audio production, and the design production are correctly matched and accurately synchronized. Further, in the present embodiment, in the effect interface board 23 arranged between the effect control board 22 and the symbol control board, the power supply voltage is distributed toward the upstream side and the downstream side, so that power noise can be reduced, and Since the downstream control board is also reset by the abnormal signal in the upstream control board, the rendering operation does not become inconsistent.

  Note that the control command related to the notice effect is converted into a special command format and transmitted. However, when the special command is formally acquired by the liquid crystal control unit 24, the control command is returned to the original control command having a 2-byte configuration. . Therefore, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, there is an advantage that the control program related to the rendering operation can be almost followed as it is.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was described concretely, the concrete description content does not specifically limit this invention. For example, not only a special command from the effect control board 22 to the liquid crystal control board 24 but also other control commands may have a variable length configuration. Similarly, the control command transmitted from the main control board 21 to the effect control board 22 may have a variable length configuration as exemplified in the special command. In this case, the effect control unit 22 also executes a reception process as shown in FIG.

  In the above-described embodiment, the transmission of the control command CMD ′ from the effect control board 22 to the liquid crystal control board 24 is one-way communication, and if a communication abnormality is recognized during transmission of the special command, the entire special command is discarded. However, the operation is not limited to this.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a reception confirmation flag ACK is provided, and if communication abnormality is recognized, ACK ← FFH is set (ST40, ST41). If a series of command data can be normally acquired, ACK ← 00H is set. (ST42) It is conceivable to terminate the reception interrupt and refer to the reception confirmation flag ACK in the subsequent processing. In this case, for example, in the timer interrupt (see FIG. 8B) in the symbol control unit 24, the value of the reception confirmation flag ACK is periodically checked (ST50). The command retransmission command RT is returned to the effect control unit 22, and then the reception confirmation flag ACK is returned to the normal value (ST51, 52). In FIG. 3, the transmission path of the command retransmission command RT is omitted in the middle of the drawing, but in practice, it is preferable to route it through the effect interface board 23.

  On the other hand, the effect control unit 22 that has received the command retransmission command RT retransmits the previously transmitted control command or a group of special commands. The liquid crystal control unit 24 does not send a retransmission command RT only when communication is abnormal, but receives one control command (16-bit fixed-length command) or a group of special commands (variable-length command). Each time it is done, a confirmation command ANS indicating whether or not there is a communication abnormality may be returned. In this case, the effect control unit 22 has an advantage that the sound effect and the lamp effect can be started after the proper communication state is confirmed by the returned confirmation command ANS.

CMD, CMD 'control command 21 main control unit 22 effect control unit 24 liquid crystal control units ST24, ST25 second means ST30-ST34 third means

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention outputs a control command for defining the contents of the effect in relation to the lottery result for each lottery decision to determine whether or not to generate a big hit state advantageous to the player. An upstream control unit that performs an effect operation based on the control command, a downstream control unit that notifies the lottery result, and outputs various DC voltages by receiving an AC voltage from the outside when the power is turned on. And a power supply board that outputs a power reset signal when the power is turned on. The upstream control unit receives the abnormal signal indicating an abnormal operation of its own control operation and the power reset signal. In addition, a reset circuit is provided for outputting the OR logic output to the downstream control unit .

In the present invention, further, a power reset signal, receiving an abnormal signal indicating an abnormal operation of the upstream control unit, since the output to the OR logic output to the downstream-side control unit, prevent unreasonable effect can do.

Claims (7)

A gaming machine that determines whether or not to generate a profit state advantageous to a player by a lottery determination due to the occurrence of a predetermined winning state related to the operation of the player,
In relation to the result of the lottery determination, an upstream control unit that outputs a control command that defines the content of the effect, and a downstream control unit that executes an effect operation based on the control command,
The upstream control unit includes first means for compressing a series of control commands based on a predetermined rule and outputting the compressed commands as special commands for each communication unit.
The downstream side control unit receives a second means for determining a subsequent reception procedure based on header information of the special command, and a third unit for continuously receiving subsequent data according to the procedure determined by the second means. And a gaming machine. A main control unit that centrally controls game operations including the winning / failing lottery, and a sub-control unit that controls various performance operations based on control commands from the main control unit.
The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the upstream control unit and the downstream control unit are both included in the sub control unit.   The gaming machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the special command specifies a notice effect executed in the downstream control unit.   The control command is divided into first data for specifying the outline of the contents of the effects and second data for specifying the specific contents of the contents of the effects, and is configured to repeatedly transmit these multiple times. The gaming machine according to claim 1.   The gaming machine according to claim 4, wherein the special command includes second data of each control command for a series of control commands, but does not include first data of each control command.   The downstream control unit includes an analysis unit that extracts the second data from the special command based on the header information, and identifies the first data corresponding to the second data based on the header information. Item 6. The gaming machine according to Item 5.   The gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the downstream control unit controls a symbol effect, and the upstream control unit controls a sound effect and a lamp effect.

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