JP2742756B2 - Game machine inserted medal detection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting inserted medals of a gaming machine such as a slot machine, and in particular, can prevent improper operation regarding insertion of medals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of medal detecting device, as shown in FIG. 3, a medal slot 100 for inserting a medal M and a medal M inserted from the medal slot 100 are used.
Flowing down the medal flowing member 110 and the medal flowing member 1
A medal counting device 120 that is provided in the middle of the length of 10 and counts medals flowing down the medal flowing member 110,
A medal blocker 130 that is located between the medal counting device 120 and the medal insertion slot 100 and that switches a flowing direction of the medal M flowing down the medal flowing member 110 and discharges the medal M outside the machine. It has been known.

The medal counting device 120 comprises two optical sensors 121 and 122, and detects the number of medals M passing and the direction in which the medals M flow. The reason for detecting the flowing direction of the medals M is to prevent fraud. For example, a light shielding plate (not shown) such as a cell plate is inserted from the medal insertion slot 100, and the light sensor 12
The illegal operation of operating the medal counting device 120 by shading 1,122 was performed. In order to prevent this fraud, the moving direction of the light-shielding plate is detected by the two optical sensors 121 and 122, and when the light-shielding plate is pulled out, it is determined that the light-shielding plate is illegal.

[0004]

However, the conventional inserted medal detecting device has a problem that improper measures are not sufficient. That is, in order to prevent swallowing of the medal M into the machine, the operation of the medal counting device 120 is stopped after the start switch of the gaming machine is operated.

For this reason, if the start switch is operated after the light shielding plate is inserted and the medal counting device 120 is operated, and then the light shielding plate is pulled out, it becomes impossible to detect impropriety. In view of the above, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and has as its object to monitor the presence or absence of fraud even after the start switch is operated. It is.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to achieve the above-mentioned object, and its contents will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. The medal passing direction detecting device (1) detects a passing direction of a medal (M) flowing down a medal flowing member (30) between a medal slot (20) and a medal blocker (50). 60).

[0007]

[Operation] Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
After the start switch (not shown) is operated, when the user tries to pull out the light shielding plate (not shown), the passing direction is detected by the medal passing direction detecting device (60). For this reason, even after the start switch (not shown) is operated, the removal of the light shielding plate (not shown) can be monitored.

[0008]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a medal detection device, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a fraud detection process. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an inserted medal detecting device of a gaming machine (not shown) such as a slot machine.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inserted medal detecting device 10 includes a medal insertion slot 20 for inserting a medal M, a medal flow-down member 30 through which the medal M inserted from the medal insertion port 20 flows, A medal counting device 40 that is provided in the middle of the length of the flow-down member 30 and counts medals flowing down the medal flow-down member 30;
And a medal flowing member located between
A medal blocker 50 that switches the direction of flow of the medals M flowing down 30 and discharges the medals M to the outside of the machine, and a medal passing direction detection detecting device 60 located between the medal blocker 50 and the medal slot 20. Have.

The above-mentioned medal flow-down member 30 has a width slightly larger than the thickness of the medal M, and as shown in FIG. A medal inlet 32 is provided at the upper end of the medal flow passage 31 so as to communicate with the medal slot 20, and a medal intake is formed at the lower end so as to communicate with a medal discharge device (not shown) toward the medal discharge device. Exit
33 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, a medal counting device 40 is provided near the medal take-out port 33. As shown in FIG. 1, the medal counting device 40 has two optical sensors 41 and 42 arranged side by side along the medal flowing direction, and flows down the medal flowing path 31 of the medal flowing member 30 to collect medals. The number of medals taken into the medal discharge device (not shown) from the exit 33 is counted. In addition, the medal counting device 40
Is constituted by two optical sensors 41 and 42 arranged side by side in the direction in which the medals flow down, in addition to counting the number of medals flowing down, and detecting the direction in which the medals M pass to prevent fraud. .

In this embodiment, a medal counting device is used.
In the present invention, since the passing direction of the medal M is detected by the medal passing direction detecting device 60 described later in detail, the medal counting device 40 uses the medal M in the present invention. Is not detected, and the medal counting device 40 may be constituted by one optical sensor. The sensor is not limited to an optical sensor, and may be any sensor as long as it can detect the passage of the medal M, for example, a proximity sensor or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, a medal flowing member 30 is provided on the medal flowing path 31 on the upstream side of the medal counting device 40.
Is cut out at a length slightly larger than the diameter of the medal M, and a medal discharge port 34 is provided. Medal outlet 34 above
As shown in FIG. 1, a medal blocker 50 is attached so as to close the medal discharge port.

As shown in FIG. 1, the medal blocker 50 is mounted so as to be swingable in the width direction of the medal flowing-down member 30, and a drive device 51 for swinging the medal blocker 50 is mounted on one side. is there. The drive device 51 is made of, for example, a solenoid, and has a tip of a plunger attached to one side surface of the medal blocker 50. The plunger is always in a state of being protruded by the urging of an urging member (not shown) such as a spring.
Is closing the medal outlet 34. When the solenoid is excited, the plunger is attracted against the urging of the urging member, and the medal blocker 50 connected to the plunger swings toward the front of the gaming machine, retreats from the medal flow path 31, and the medal discharge port 34 Opens. On the other hand, when the solenoid is demagnetized, the plunger is protruded by the urging of the urging member, and the medal blocker 50 returns to the state in which the medal discharge port 34 is closed.

The above-mentioned medal blocker 50 always closes the medal discharge port 34 so that the medal flowing member 30
The state is such that the medal M flows down 31. When the medal counting device 40 counts the medals M of the predetermined maximum number of insertions per game and the maximum number of credits held (50), or when a start switch (not shown) is operated, the solenoid is activated. The medal M which has been excited and sucked the plunger, the medal blocker 50 has come off the medal discharge port 34 and has flowed down the medal flow-down path 31 is a medal tray (not shown) provided below the front panel from the medal discharge port 34. ). Thereafter, when the game is over, the solenoid is degaussed, the plunger is protruded, the medal blocker 50 closes the medal discharge port 34, and the medal M returns to the state in which the medal M flows down the medal flow path 31 of the medal flow member 30. .

As shown in FIG. 1, a medal passing direction detecting device 60 for detecting the passing direction of the medal is provided between the medal inlet 32 of the medal flowing member 30 and the medal blocker 50.
Is provided. The medal passing direction detecting device 60 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, two optical sensors 61 and 62 are arranged side by side along the flow direction of the medal M, and the same operation as the detection of the passing direction of the medal M performed by the medal counting device 40 described above. Is what you do.

Specifically, when the medal M has flowed down properly, the upstream optical sensor 61 first detects and operates the medal M, and then the downstream optical sensor 62 detects the medal M. Will work. On the other hand, if an illegal act such as pulling back the medal M once inserted is performed,
The medal M moves from the downstream side toward the upstream side. First, the downstream optical sensor 62 detects and operates the medal M, and subsequently, the upstream optical sensor 61 detects and operates the medal M. Will be done. In this case, besides the medal M,
The same operation is performed for an unauthorized use of a light shielding plate (not shown) such as a cell plate.

Therefore, based on the operation of the above-mentioned medal passing direction detecting device 60, the operation state when the medal passing direction detecting device 60 detects a properly inserted medal M is stored, and the stored normal operation is stored. The state is compared with the detected operation state, and if the behavior is other than the normal operation state, it is determined that an illegal act has been performed. In this embodiment, the medal passing direction detecting device 60 is constituted by two optical sensors 61 and 62.
Any sensor can be used as long as it can detect the passage of the vehicle, for example, a proximity sensor may be used.

The determination of impropriety is made by an electric control device such as a microcomputer provided at an appropriate place in the gaming machine. On the upstream side of the medal blocker 50 on the medal flowing path 31 of the medal flowing member 30, a different-diameter medal selecting device 70 is provided as shown in FIG. The different-diameter medal selecting device 70 is a device for selecting and discharging the different-diameter medals to the outside of the gaming machine when the medals M are smaller than a prescribed diameter. It consists of a sorting opening which is open on the side surface to be formed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sorting opening has a substantially rectangular shape. The lower side 71 is located slightly above the bottom surface of the medal flowing path 31 of the medal flowing member 30, and the upper side 72 is located at the medal flowing path. It is located slightly below the height (diameter) of the regular medal M flowing down 31. By adjusting the position of the upper side 72, the diameter of the medals M to be selected can be adjusted. That is, the closer the position of the upper side 72 is to the bottom surface of the medal flow-down path 31, the smaller the diameter of the selected medals M can be.

Therefore, the regular medals M flowing down the medal flow path 31 of the medal flow member 30 pass through the different diameter medal selection device 70. On the other hand, a different-diameter medal having a diameter smaller than the regular medal M falls through the selection opening when passing through the different-diameter medal selecting device 70, and is discharged to a medal tray (not shown). The different-diameter medals having a diameter smaller than the regular medal M are selected by the above-described different-diameter medal selector 70. Selection can be made by making the size slightly larger than the regular medal M. That is, a medal having a diameter larger than the medal insertion slot 20 cannot be inserted into the medal insertion slot 20 in the first place. Also, medals exceeding the specified thickness are prevented from flowing down.

Hereinafter, the processing procedure in the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When the process starts, the medal blocker 50 is turned on, and the medals M flowing down the medal flowing member 30 are taken into the medal storage unit. Then, the flow direction of the medal M is detected by the medal counting device 40, and a medal insertion check is performed.
If the passing direction is abnormal, abnormal processing is performed.

When the passing direction of the medals M is normal, it is determined whether or not the number of medals counted by the medal counting device 40 is a predetermined maximum number of inserted medals. Here, when the inserted medal M reaches the maximum medal insertion number,
The medal blocker 50 is turned off to switch the flow path of the medals M so that no more medals M are taken into the medal storage unit and the medal insertion check is not performed.

Then, the passing direction is checked by the medal passing direction detecting device 60. If the passing direction of the medals M is abnormal, an abnormal process is performed. This abnormality processing is, for example, to display the occurrence of an abnormality using a display lamp or the like, or to generate an alarm sound from a speaker, and the abnormal state is terminated, for example, a foreign object is removed or a release switch is operated. Continued until

When there is no abnormality in the passing direction of the medals M and the start switch is started, the medals passing direction is checked and abnormal processing is further performed.
The game process is performed, and the process returns to the initial stage after the game process is completed. On the other hand, if the number of inserted medals M does not reach the maximum number of inserted medals, it is determined whether or not the medals M have been inserted, and the medals M are inserted. Is switched so that no more medals M are taken into the medal storage unit, and the medal insertion check is not performed.

The passing direction is checked by the medal passing direction detecting device 60. If the passing direction of the medals M is abnormal, an abnormal process is performed. On the other hand, if the state is normal, the game process is performed, and the process returns to the initial stage after the game process is completed. In the above-described process, if there is no medal M to be inserted or the start switch does not start, the process from the medal insertion check is repeated.

The medal counting device 40 is composed of two optical sensors 41 and 42 arranged side by side in the direction of flowing the medals. In addition to counting the number of flowing medals, it also detects the direction in which the medals M pass. This is to prevent wrongdoing. In this embodiment, the medal counting device 40
Has described that the number of medals that flow down the medal flow path 31 of the medal flow-down member 30 and are taken into the medal discharge device (not shown) from the medal take-out port 33 is counted.

However, in a different embodiment, only medals that have passed through the medal counting device 40 are counted after a predetermined time has elapsed since the medal was detected by the medal passing direction detecting device 60. That is, the medal counting device 40 may count only the medals detected by the medal passing direction detecting device 60. Further, the predetermined time is determined in consideration of a time required for the medal to normally move from the medal counting device 40 to the medal passing direction detecting device 60.

As described above, the medal counting device 40 counts the number of medals detected on condition that the medal passing direction is detected by the medal passing direction detecting device 60, so that, for example, a light shielding plate (not shown)
Even if an attempt is made to reciprocate between the medal counting device 40 and the medal passing direction detecting device 60, the light shielding plate is not detected by the medal passing direction detecting device 60. Never be. In this case, not only the counting is not performed but also the above-described abnormality processing may be performed.

[0030]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. Claim 1
According to the invention described above, it is possible to provide an inserted medal detection device for a gaming machine that can monitor the presence or absence of an illegal act even after the start switch is operated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a medal detection device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a fraud detection process.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a conventional inserted medal detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Medal insertion device 20 Medal slot 30 Medal flow-down member 31 Medal flow-down path 32 Medal entrance 33 Medal exit 34 Medal exit 40 Medal counting device 41,42 Optical sensor 50 Medal blocker 51 Drive device 60 Medal passing direction detecting device 61,62 Optical sensor 70 Different diameter medal sorting device 71 Lower side 72 Upper side 100 Medal slot 110 Medal falling member 120 Medal counting device 121,122 Optical sensor 130 Medal blocker M Medal

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A medal insertion slot for inserting medals, a medal flow-down member through which medals inserted from the medal insertion flow down, and a medal flow-down member provided at an intermediate portion of the length of the medal flow-down member.
A medal counting device that counts medals flowing down the medal flowing member, and a medal counting device that is located between the medal counting device and the medal slot, switches a flowing direction of medals flowing down the medal flowing member, and moves the medals out of the machine. A medal passing direction detecting device for detecting a passing direction of a medal flowing down a medal flowing member, between the medal slot and the medal blocker. A medal detection device for a game machine.