JP2784955B2 - Gaming equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a technique that is effective when used in a game machine such as a pachinko machine or an arrange ball machine that can execute a game in connection with insertion of a storage medium.

[Prior Art] In recent years, a card-type pachinko game system has been proposed as an example of a storage medium-type game facility in which a game is played using a card-shaped storage medium as a medium. The card method is
The player only needs to carry the card that is the storage medium,
There is an advantage that it is possible to reduce the trouble of carrying a large amount of pachinko balls that easily fall. Conventionally proposed card-type pachinko gaming systems are roughly divided into the following two types.

The first method is to store the number-of-balls data corresponding to the purchase amount at the time of issuance of a card in a card, perform a pachinko game within the range of the number-of-balls data, and store the number-of-balls data increased or decreased in the game process on the card (See JP-B-47-42227).

In the second type of card system, when a card is purchased, a card in which only the code number is recorded is issued, the number of balls held is stored in a management device, and the card is stored by inserting the card into a card reader of a pachinko machine. The player can play the game by calling the held ball count. (61-32709)
[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in this type of conventional gaming device which can be played by using a storage medium, the number of balls held is "0". At that point, it is determined to be zero, the firing of the hit ball is stopped, and the storage medium is discharged from the gaming machine.

For this reason, the conventional gaming machine has a drawback in that it does not consider the remaining balls remaining in the game area after the held ball number data becomes “0”.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. The purpose of the present invention is to determine whether or not all the balls once hit into the game area have been determined as a game result, and to make this determination. When both the amount of money and the number of game balls in the storage medium become "0" before output, the notifying means is operated to notify the player of the return-to-zero state, so that the player is not dissatisfied. It is to provide a gaming device.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a game machine (pachinko machine) comprising a game board having a game area and capable of executing a game in connection with insertion of a storage medium (card CD). Gaming machine constituted by the machine 100 and the control unit 160)
A money amount display means (money amount indicator 111) for displaying the money amount of the storage medium, and a conversion operation means (purchase switch) for giving an instruction to convert the money amount to the number of game balls in a predetermined unit.
113), game ball number display means (ball number display 112) for displaying the number of game balls converted from the above-mentioned amount, and fire ball detection means (for example, a fire sensor) for detecting a fire ball fired in the game area. SNS5 and foul sensor SNS4) and collected ball detecting means for detecting collected balls that are collected from the game area after being driven into the game area (for example, out sensor SNS1, first safe sensor SNS2, and second safe sensor SNS3). When there is an effective launch ball based on the detection output of the launch ball detection means, the number of game balls displayed on the game ball number display means is subtracted, and the game state becomes a predetermined winning state. Game ball number calculating means (for example, the unit control device 180) for adding a predetermined number to the game ball number in the case of the above, and the validity based on the detection output of the shooting ball detection means and the detection output of the collection ball detection means. firing Determining means (for example, a floating ball number counter of the unit control 180) for determining that the number of balls has become equal to the number of collected balls, and a notification can be made when both the amount of money and the number of game balls become "0" A notification means (for example, a search timer sound), and if the amount and the number of game balls both become "0" before the judgment output of the judgment means, the judgment means does not have the judgment output. The notification means is configured to operate.

[Operation] According to the above-described means, it is possible to accurately grasp at least the number of game balls held by the storage medium by determining whether or not all of the balls once hit into the game area are determined as game results. If the amount and the number of game balls in the storage medium both become “0” before this determination output, the notification means is operated to inform the player of the information of the amount and the number of game balls to “0”. By notifying that the game has become uncomfortable, it is possible to prevent the player from being dissatisfied.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a card-type pachinko gaming system as an example of a storage medium-type gaming facility to which the present invention is applied.

The pachinko gaming system according to this embodiment includes a pachinko machine 100 as a gaming device and an issuing machine as a storage medium issuing device that issues a card CD as a storage medium having a local value in order to start a game in each pachinko machine. Centrally manages and controls 200, a prize ball obtained as a result of the game and a payment machine 300 as a storage medium payment device for payment of remaining purchase money not used for the game, and the above-mentioned various terminals. And a data transmission path 50 as transmission means for organically coupling the management device 400 and each terminal.
And these constitute an organic conjugate. This organic combination can be interposed only by the card CD, and the card can be operated and its valuable data can be converted only by the organic combination.
Therefore, the pachinko machine 10 as each component of the organic conjugate
0, the issuing machine 200, the settlement machine 300, and the management device 400 are each provided with a card reader as a storage medium reading device (in this specification, a device that writes on a magnetic surface of a card is also referred to as a card reader). At the same time, the information of the card and the information of each terminal are stored in the storage device of the management device 400 in the form of a file.

Next, before entering into a specific description of each component of the organic conjugate, a card used in the storage medium type game facility of the present embodiment will be described.

Card CD used in the storage medium type game facility of this embodiment
Is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The information required for the player, such as the date of issue (= valid date), DATE, and the issue serial number n, etc., required when the damaged card is restored, are printed at the time of issuance. (Longitudinal direction).
Therefore, there is no need to prepare a plurality of types of cards on which different amounts of money are printed in advance.

Immediately above the print display unit PRT, a punch as a punch forming unit for recording the status of the card, that is, issued, resurrected, playing, returning to zero (zero), and settlement or status transition of the card in the form of a punch. A hole forming area PH is also provided along the card insertion direction.

By detecting the above-mentioned perforations formed in the card with the photoelectric detector, the number of balls held is read from the file of the management device using the code recorded on the magnetic surface, and the state of the card can be easily checked without checking. As a result, it is possible to reduce the load on the controller and the management device of the card reader required to determine the processing corresponding to the state of the card.

On the other hand, at a position slightly below the center of the card, a magnetic recording section MG coated with a band-shaped magnetic material from the front end to the vicinity of the center.
(See FIG. 2 (B)). However, the magnetic recording portion MG may be formed not only on a part of the card in the longitudinal direction but also in a continuous band shape from end to end of the card similarly to the print display portion PRT, or a magnetic material may be applied to the entire back surface of the card. May be used as a magnetic recording unit.

Further, in the card of this embodiment, a belt-like roller running area RRA slightly wider than the transport roller in the card reader is provided between the print display section PRT and the magnetic recording section MG, that is, in the center of the card, in the longitudinal direction of the card. The magnetic recording unit MG, the print display unit PRT, and the authenticity discrimination area TF, which have important information used for determining the card, are damaged due to contact with the transport rollers. To prevent the information from becoming unreadable.

In the card of this embodiment, a true / false discrimination area TF including a security mark concealed in characters such as a hole name printed on the surface of the card is provided below the magnetic recording unit MG. In other words, "PLAZ" printed on the surface of the card
The A "as the character, the legs of each character as shown in FIG. 2 (C) is then designed to come to a position corresponding to the detection bit pattern B ₀ .about.B ₉ provided at a pitch of 3.5mm, etc. Print it out. And the character width is 0.5-1.5mm,
It is set to 3.5 mm, and "1" or "0" of each bit is represented by shading of characters. Moreover, 10 5 th bit B ₄ from left of the bit and the last bit B _9, the bit B ₀ .about.B ₃
Previously determining the shading of text to represent the parity of the B ₅ .about.B ₈ and. It is more preferable that the security bits concealed in the character string be formed using a special ink that can be detected only by the sensor and cannot be distinguished by human eyes.

Further, on the surface of the game card of this embodiment, a head cleaning area HCN is provided in which a cleaning agent for removing dirt on the magnetic head is applied to a band-shaped area continuous with the magnetic recording section MG. At the same time, in the card of the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 (D), the magnetic recording portion MG is placed on a base material 11 made of a plastic such as polyester so as not to know where it is provided. A white layer 13 is formed on a magnetic layer 12 coated with particles uniformly, and a pattern printing layer 14 is further placed thereon, and then a part of the layer (a portion corresponding to the print display unit PRT) is subjected to heat-sensitive coloring. A layer 15 is formed, and a transparent protective film 16 is coated thereon. A cleaning agent of the same color as that of the white layer 13 is applied to the cleaning area HCN, and the surface thereof is exposed so that the protective film 16 is not coated, and the cleaning area hardly changes in color from other parts. In this way, the beauty is improved. Also,
A pattern printing layer 17 is formed on the back surface of the base material 11 of the card, and is coated with a protective film 18 thereon.

In the card having the above structure in which the white layer 13 is formed on the surface of the magnetic layer 12, since the magnetic layer 12 made of black magnetic particles is covered with the white white layer 13,
It is possible to provide a fashionable card by printing a picture and also has a function of concealing the magnetic recording unit MG.

Furthermore, since the surface of the card is coated with the protective film 16, the print display area PRT, the magnetic recording area MG, and the area holding important information used for discriminating the card such as the authenticity discrimination area TF is protected, Such information is less likely to be destroyed, and the reliability of the card is improved.

FIG. 2 (E) shows a magnetic recording section MG provided on the card.
An example of the configuration will be described.

The magnetic recording unit MG of the card of this embodiment is composed of two tracks, of which the first track TRC1 records clock data for giving a sampling timing.
The second track TRC2 includes, starting from the left, a 4-bit start code and a field STX containing the parity bit, a company code MKC indicating the card reader manufacturer, a device code MCC indicating the model of the card reader, and an identification code DSC of the game store. , Date DATE, card number No., issuance command code FNC given from the card reader at the time of card issuance, text field TXT containing security data SDC read from authenticity discrimination area, field ETX containing text end code, text It is composed of a field LRC containing an exclusive OR value (detection code) of data and an end code, and a field STX containing a start code. In addition, the date P is provided with a bit P indicating each parity every four bits, and the first four bits represent "month" and the sixth to ninth bits and the eleventh bit represent "month". The date, and the 12th to 14th bits and the 16th to 19th bits are recorded by binary coding the last two digits of the year.

In the case of a card having a magnetic recording section, it is generally easiest to decode the recording format and recording data from the date. However, in the card of the above embodiment, the order of the date is changed, and the parity is set every 4 bits. Put a bit,
Further, since the correspondence of the recording bits is changed, forgery of the card becomes extremely difficult.

Further, as described above, the information recorded in the magnetic recording unit of the card of this embodiment includes an identification code DSC for specifying the usable space of the card and an issue date for indicating the validity period of the card. Only the DATE, the card number as an identification code obtained from the issue serial number n using an appropriate function or conversion method, and a check code for error detection, the purchase amount and the number of balls held are not recorded. . These are managed by the management device 400 according to the card number NO.
It can be extracted in real time from the data file. This prevents fraud by copying the card and minimizes the damage caused by fraud. In other words, even if the card is copied, no damage occurs beyond the purchase price and the number of balls registered in the data file, so copying the card is a completely useless act.

Moreover, in the above embodiment, the authenticity of the card is determined not only by the magnetically recorded information recorded on the card but also by the authenticity discrimination area TF which is difficult to forge, so that the illegality of the card is more reliably prevented. be able to. In addition, since a fraudulent card can be immediately detected by checking the authenticity discrimination area TF, the fraudulent card can be found more quickly than sending the magnetic information to the management device 400 and determining the fraudulent card. It is to be noted that a hole is also formed in a telephone card or the like having a magnetic recording section, but a conventional card is provided to inform the user of the remaining balance, and a card reader is used to make a hole. Is not intended to be used for any processing or determination.

Next, an example of the configuration of a game device that provides an original game will be described with reference to FIGS.

The gaming machine of this embodiment is provided on a pachinko machine 100, an island facility or the like above the gaming machine main body in one-to-one correspondence with the pachinko machine, and mainly controls a display and a card reader and operates data during a game. The control unit 160 controls collection.

The pachinko machine 100 is mounted to be openable and closable by a hinge 102 in a machine frame 101 fixed to the island equipment of the pachinko parlor. A reinforcing plate 107 having an operation dial reinforcing member 107a that withstands the weight of the pachinko machine 100 and absorbs the vibration of the hit ball firing device 103 is fixed to a lower portion of the machine frame 101. In the lower part of the pachinko machine 100, a hit ball launching device 103 for firing the enclosed balls one by one into the game area and its operation dial 104 are provided, and above the operation dial 104, a game using the card is provided. A money amount display 111 as a money amount display means for enabling a start procedure, a ball number display 112 as a game ball number display means, a purchase switch 113 as a conversion operation means, an interruption switch 114, an end switch 115, a game An operation panel 110 including a status display 116 and the like is provided. The configuration of the game area on the front of the pachinko machine is the same as that of the conventional one. The purchase switch 113 is an instruction switch for converting the card into a game ball in units of 200 yen or the like within the range of the amount of the card assuming insertion of the card into the card reader 800 built in the control unit 160. , The converted game balls are the number of possessed balls. The remaining amount of the card is displayed on the amount display 111 in units of 100 yen as one unit, and the converted number of balls is displayed on the number-of-balls display 112. Each time the ball is fired, the number of possessed balls is decremented by one, and when a winning ball is generated, it is added and displayed for the number of prize balls. The end switch 115 is turned on at any time when the player wants to end the game (including when the player wants to change the game console), so that the control unit 160 can eject the card in use. At that time, the unit controller 190 stores the remaining amount of the player and the number of balls (the sum of purchased balls and acquired balls) at that time in the management device 40
Register the card in file 0 and then insert the card into the card reader 800
Is discharged from the insertion / ejection port 802a. Also, suspend switch 114
Is a switch used by the player to temporarily stop the game for a break, although the player does not intend to stop the game at the game machine currently playing, and when this switch is operated, the unit controller 190 Once the card is ejected, the system enters a standby state until the same card is inserted again, during which no other cards are accepted. The purchase switch 113 among the above switches is of a built-in lamp type, and the lamp in the purchase switch 113 blinks when the number of balls held becomes “0”.

The operation panel 110 is, as shown in FIG.
Is mounted on an openable front panel 105 at the lower part of the panel and has a hollow shape with a triangular cross section. The upper surface is inclined forward and downward so that the display is easy to read. Inside the operation panel 110, wiring boards 120A and 120B are arranged in parallel with the display surface 110a. On the board 120A, a money amount indicator 111 composed of 7-segment type LEDs and a ball number indicator 112 are arranged.
However, the switches 113 to 115 and the built-in lamp are mounted on the substrate 120B, and are covered with the display plate 117. A portion of the display plate 117 corresponding to the indicators 111 and 112 is a transparent window 117a, and a portion corresponding to the switches 113 to 115 is an opening 117b (see FIG. 5).
The switches 113 to 115 are provided in the opening 117b.
The operation button 118 is mounted so as to cover the upper part of the camera. 1
Reference numeral 21 denotes a built-in lamp corresponding to the purchase switch 113.

Further, at the front end of the operation panel 110, a game state display section 116 in which a display lamp 123 is covered with a translucent Fresnel lens 119 or the like is provided, and the display lamp 123 operates the operation dial 104 of the hitting ball firing device 103. It is lit when turned.

Further, an operation button 125 having a built-in stop switch 124 is mounted on a side portion (the left side in the embodiment) of the operation panel 110, and when the switch 124 is turned on, an accessory provided in the game section is activated. Commands relating to the game, such as stopping the operation, can be given. The stop switch 124 is mounted on a wiring board 120C provided in the operation panel 110, and a wiring group 126C extending from the wiring board 120C and a wiring group 126A extending from each of the boards 120A and 120B. 126B is pulled out to the outside, and can be connected to a pachinko machine control device 195 arranged at the lower part of the back of the pachinko machine via connectors 127A to 127C connected to its ends.

On the other hand, the pachinko machine 100 constituting the gaming machine of the present embodiment
Is configured as a closed-type game machine that circulates and uses game balls sealed in the machine, and has a sealed ball circulation device 130 for circulating the sealed balls on the back surface.

 FIG. 13 shows a configuration example of the back surface of the pachinko machine 100.

A game board in which a plurality of winning ball collecting troughs 131 covering a plurality of winning ball derivation holes formed so as to penetrate the game board corresponding to a winning area provided in a game area on the front of the game board are held by a frame 106. It is attached to the back of. Winning ball assembly gutter 13
The bottom wall 1 is inclined downward toward the center to form a guide shelf 131a, below which an out ball gutter 132a, a first safe ball gutter 132b, and a second safe ball gutter 132c are integrally formed as shown in FIG. The formed guiding gutter 132 is provided. This gutter 132
In the middle of each gutter inside, there are a first safe sensor SNS2 and a second safe sensor SNS3 as recovery ball detection means as well as an out sensor SNS1 as a photoelectric recovery ball detection means comprising a pair of light emitting and receiving devices. Installed. In addition, guide gutter 13
2 is a merging gutter section 132d that collects the balls flowing into each gutter at one place
The end of the merging gutter section 132d is connected to the upstream side of the guide gutter 133 which is gently inclined to align the pachinko balls in a line as shown in FIG. 7, thereby forming the ball circulation device 130. ing. Further, on the upstream side of the guide gutter 132, a foul ball receiving port 134 provided at an upper end of the firing rail to collect a so-called foul ball in which a hit ball hit along the firing rail returns toward the base of the rail.
Foul ball gutter 13 arranged to face (see Fig. 9)
The ball 3a is integrally formed, and the foul ball merges with the ball that has flowed down onto the guide gutter 132 via the guide gutter 132. A foul sensor SNS4 functioning as a part of the launching ball detection means is provided in the middle of the foul ball gutter 133a.

And, at the lower end of the guide gutter 133, there is a storage portion 135a for one ball, which opposes the ball gutter 135, which separates the balls on the guide gutter 133 one by one and allows them to flow downward. Mounted on A stopper 136 is fixed behind the ball feeder 135 to prevent the ball feeder 135 from rotating more than necessary.
When the ball 35 rotates downward by the weight of the ball that has flowed in, the upper end surface can prevent the ball from flowing down on the guide gutter 133. Further, a rotatable ball leveler 137 is attached in the middle of the guide gutter 133, and a slide type ball removing mechanism 138 is provided downstream.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the enclosing ball circulation device 130 is mounted on the back surface of the frame board 109, the ball removing mechanism 138 slides laterally by a blocking piece 148 protruding from the back surface of the frame board. He was blocked and could not remove the ball. The enclosed ball circulating device 130 is mounted so as to be able to rotate as a whole by a hinge portion 139 provided on one side (the right side in FIG. 8), and is rotated backward around the hinge portion 139. When moved, the ball removal mechanism 138
Slide to remove the ball. Moreover, the guide gutter 133
An elastic locking piece 133a is fixed to the end of the frame board 109. By engaging this with the engaging step portion 149 of the frame board 109, the sealed ball circulation device 130 can be fixed so as not to rotate. .

The pachinko balls separated by the ball feed 135 pass through ball passage holes 139 (see FIG. 9) formed in the frame board 109 disposed behind the front panel 105 and are fixed to the front of the frame board at an angle. One of them flows down to the base of the fired rail 140. Then, the firing rod 103a is disposed so as to face the base of the firing rail 140 (see FIG. 10). At the same time, below the base of the firing rail 140, there is provided an interlocking member 141 having a push-up piece 141a which is rotated in conjunction with the firing rod 103a and pushes up the ball feed 135 upward.

In addition, a concave groove for guiding a sphere is formed on the upper surface of the firing rail 140, and the frame board 109
A fire sensor SN as a fire sphere detection means consisting of a reflective photoelectric switch that detects a sphere passing on the rail on the front of the
S5 is mounted by a bracket 142 at a distance of at least one ball from the top of the rail, and the upper end of the mounting bracket 142 of the firing sensor SNS5 is a return ball block that prevents the return ball from jumping over this sensor. A wall 143 is provided. Further, a foul ball receiving port 134 is formed in the frame board 109 corresponding to the upper end of the firing rail 140 to guide the return ball into the guiding gutter 132 behind the frame board, and the ball extends along the lower side of the foul ball receiving port 134. A receiving piece 144 protrudes.

In addition, on the upper end of the frame board 109, the mounting portion 1 of the game board
09a is provided, and game board positioning projections 145 are provided upright at both ends. Also, frame board 1
Along the top edge of 09, a frame 10 for holding the game board
A frame engaging portion 146 having a groove engageable with the frame 6 is formed, and as shown in FIG. 11, the frame 106 is lowered along the positioning protrusion 145 from above the frame board 109, and the lower end is formed on the frame board 109. By engaging with the groove of the engaging portion 146, both can be connected. On the side wall of the frame 106, four locking members 106a for detachably engaging the game board are provided, and the game board held by the frame 106 is mounted on the mounting portion 109a of the frame board 109. In this state, the fastener 147 is tightened and fixed. In addition,
On one side of the front of the frame board 109 (left side in FIG. 9), a speaker 150 for generating a sound effect related to the game is attached.

On the other hand, a front panel 105 covering the front of the frame board 109
As shown in FIG. 10, is mounted at the lower part of the opening framed by the holding frame 108c inside the front frame 108 so as to be openable and closable with one end (left end) as a fulcrum.
A firing rail frame 151 positioned above is fixed, and a cutout 151a is provided in the middle of the firing rail frame 151 so that the firing sensor SNS5 can face the inside of the frame. Further, a lock lever 152 is provided on the back surface of the end of the front panel 105 opposite to the hinge. Above the front panel 105 in the front frame 108, a glass frame 154 is similarly openably opened. on the other hand,
On one side of the rear surface of the front frame 108 opposite to the hinge portion 102, a
As shown in FIG. 12, a locking device 156 for locking the front surface to the machine frame 101 and a locking device 157 thereof are mounted. Reference numeral 155 denotes an opening lever of the glass frame 154.

On the back of this front frame 108, a frame 1 holding a game board
06 (see FIG. 11) and the frame board 109 are joined to the fitting receiving portion 108b on the back of the front frame so that the fitting projection 106b on the back of the frame and the fitting projection 109b on the back of the frame board are aligned, and screwed. By doing so, the front frame 108, the frame 106 holding the game board, and the frame board 109 are integrated.

FIG. 13 shows the frame 1 on the back of the front frame 108 in this way.
06 and a state where the frame board 109 is attached, a winning ball collecting gutter 131 is further mounted on the back of the game board held by the frame 106, and a pachinko machine control device 195 is provided below the frame board 109. It is arranged. Further, a game control device 158 and a relay board 159 are mounted on the back surfaces of the frame 106 and the winning ball collecting gutter 131.

FIG. 14 to FIG. 16 show an embodiment of the control unit 160 which can form a part of the gaming machine separately formed from the pachinko machine 100 which forms a part of the gaming machine.

The control unit 160 of this embodiment includes a status indicator 162 on the front of the storage frame 161 indicating the status of the pachinko machine, an analog indicator 163 in which a plurality of lamps are arranged in a line, and a safe It has a ball lamp 164, a call button 165 for calling a clerk, and the like. The above analog display 163
Is used to display the number of balls in play in an analog manner, and to display a hit state and a free state by simultaneous blinking and moving blinking.

In the storage frame 161, a speaker 166 and a card reader 80 are provided.
0 is built in, and a card insertion / ejection opening 802a of the card reader 800 is exposed on the front surface of the storage frame. A card holding display lamp 167 above the insertion / ejection opening 802a indicates whether or not there is a card in the card reader. Below the card insertion / ejection opening 802a, a card insertion indicator lamp 168 for indicating whether or not a card can be inserted into the control unit 160 is arranged.

Furthermore, the front panel 16 of the storage frame 161 of the control unit 160
Inside 1a, a test switch 179 for enabling a game operation using a test card described later in a peculiar state in which the pachinko machine 100 is separated from the management device 400 is provided, and a switch is provided on the front of the storage frame. A pin insertion hole 169 for allowing the pin to be turned on externally using a pin.
And a nameplate indicating the machine number given to the pachinko machine
170 are provided respectively.

Then, inside the front panel 161a of the control unit 160, a setting switch 171 for the machine number displayed on the machine name plate 170 as shown in FIG. 15, the status indicator 162, the analog indicator 163, and the safe Built-in lamp group L11 to L of lamp 164
A lamp substrate 172 having 15, L21 to L28, L31, L32 (see FIG. 16), the speaker 166 and the card insertion lamp 168
The holding substrate 173 is mounted. Also, call button 1
A call switch 165a is provided behind 65.

Further, a card reader 800 and a unit controller 190 for controlling the entire control unit 160 are provided in the storage frame 161.
Control device 180, card reader control device 188, and power supply device 17 which also function as game ball number calculating means and determining means having
7 is built-in. Further, below the card reader 800, a storage box 178 for perforated pieces generated when a perforation is performed by a perforation device (described later) in the card reader is detachably arranged. A card ejection switch (not shown) for instructing the card reader to forcibly eject a card is provided on a substrate constituting the card reader control device 188.

The control unit 160 has a locking tool 179a and a release lever 179b provided on a free end side of the front panel 161a,
The release lever 179b faces the opening 161b formed at the lower end of the front panel 161a. Then, the control unit 160 controls the machine frame 101 of the pachinko machine 100 as shown in FIG.
In addition, the front panel 161a is arranged so as to be flush with the front frame 108 of the pachinko machine at this time. Therefore, the opening 161b of the front panel 161 facing the release lever 179b is normally closed on the upper surface of the front frame 108, and the opening 161b is exposed by opening the front frame 108 so that the release lever 179b can be operated. become. This eliminates the need for the control unit 160 to be provided with a locking device.

The unit control device 180 in the control unit 160 includes:
A transmission path such as an optical fiber or a coaxial cable is connected to the control device 195 of the pachinko machine 100 and to the management device 400 via a transmission controller and a local network (transmission cable) described later.

In the control unit 160 of the embodiment, an optical fiber connector 186 and a coaxial cable connector 187 are provided on the back surface of the storage frame 161 in order to perform data transmission using any transmission path (FIG. 20). reference).

FIGS. 18 to 20 show an example of an island facility on which a gaming machine including the pachinko machine 100 and the control unit 160 is mounted, and a state in which the gaming machine is equipped therewith.

In the island facility of this embodiment, a plurality of pillars 22 are erected on the base 21 at intervals equal to the width of the gaming machine, and 60 cm from the floor.
A horizontal mounting table 23 is fixed at a height of about a level by a column 22. In addition, above the mounting table 23,
A first installation shelf 24 is fixed at a position separated by the height of 101, and a second installation shelf 25 is further fixed above the first installation shelf 24 by a column 22, and above the second installation shelf 25. Prop 22
A top plate 26 is fixed so as to cover the upper end of the top plate. In addition, the front end of the mounting table 23 projects slightly forward from the support 22, and the first mounting table 24 has a front end that is closer to the machine frame than the support 22.
It is configured to be located rearward by the thickness of 101.

Then, the pachinko machines 100 are mounted together with the machine frames 101 on the mounting tables 23 between the columns 22, and the control unit 1 extends from the first mounting table 24 to the machine frames 101 on the same plane as this.
60 is placed. A transmission line (not shown) constituting a local network extends on the second installation table 25,
In addition, a transceiver 185 for transmitting data to and from the management device 400 via the transmission path is mounted between the columns 22. The front of the transceiver 185 is closed by the upper plate 27, and the lower part of the mounting table 23 is closed by the lower plate 28.

Further, although not shown, a 24 V power supply line extends on the lower surface of the mounting table 23, and a 100 V power line extends on the lower surface of the top plate 26. An outlet 30 for 24V power supply is provided at a position on the upper surface of the mounting table 23 corresponding to each gaming machine, and an outlet 31 for 100V power supply is provided on the bar 29 on the lower surface of the top plate 26 in correspondence with each gaming machine. They are provided individually (see FIG. 20).

FIG. 21 shows a configuration example of a control system of the entire gaming machine including the pachinko machine 100 and the control unit 160.

In the figure, reference numeral 188 denotes a transport motor 807 and a magnetic head 82, each of which is a component of the card reader 800 shown in FIG.
1. A card reader control device for controlling the punching device 820 and the like. Then, various switches 171, 179, indicators 162, 163, 164, 168, and speakers 16 provided in the card reader controller 188, the pachinko machine controller 195 and the control unit 160 are provided.
6 is controlled by the unit controller 180.

Further, although not particularly limited, in this embodiment, the control device 195 of the pachinko machine 100 is connected to the unit control device 180 via the optical cable 191 and detection signals from various sensors are input, and the display device and the like are connected. A drive control signal is output. To enable communication using an optical fiber cable, an optical multiplexed data link (interface) including a parallel-to-serial converter for converting parallel data and serial data, an optical-to-electric converter for converting electric signals to optical signals, and the like. ) Are provided between the unit controller 180 and the optical fiber cable 191 and at the connection between the optical fiber cable 191 and the pachinko machine controller 195 (described later).

By using the optical fiber cable 191 for data communication between the unit control device 180 and the pachinko machine control device 195, a large number of wirings conventionally arranged in a complicated manner on the back side of the pachinko machine are reduced, maintenance, In addition to facilitating management, malfunction due to noise can be prevented.

Under the control of the pachinko machine control device 195, the amount indicator 1
11, a ball number display 112, a purchase lamp 121, a game state display lamp 123, a control device 194 of the hit ball launching device 103, and an accessory control device 158 are placed, and a purchase switch 113, an interruption switch 114, and an end switch 115. Signals from ball detection sensors SNS1 to SNS5 such as pachinko machine
The waveform is shaped by 195 and supplied to the unit controller 180. In this embodiment, the power supply system is set to two systems of 24 V AC and 100 V AC, and the pachinko machine 100 side
24 V AC is supplied, and 100 V AC is supplied to the control unit 160 side. Separating the power supply in this way prevents the pachinko machine control unit from being inadvertently destroyed by the influence of the power supply in a pachinko parlor having many problems in the power supply system.

FIG. 22 shows a configuration example of the pachinko machine control device 195.

The pachinko machine control device 195 includes a pachinko machine controller CPU1 composed of a microcomputer, a reset circuit RST1 that monitors a regular watchdog pulse output from the controller CPU1 and generates a reset signal when the pulse is interrupted, A multiplex transmission controller CNT1 provided with parallel-to-parallel conversion means for converting parallel transmission data to serial data and serial-to-parallel conversion means for converting serial reception data to parallel data in order to enable optical data transmission with the unit controller 180. And a photoelectric conversion circuit OET connected to the optical cable 191 via the optical connector 193,
A filter circuit FLT that cuts noise of detection signals from various sensors, decoders DEC1 and DEC2 that decode display data to the money amount display 111 and the ball number display 112, and a display drive signal are formed based on the output thereof. Driver DRV1, DRV2
And a driver DRV3 for generating a drive signal for the hitting ball launching device 103.

Regarding the processing of the detection signal from the sensor in the pachinko machine control device 195, the noise is simply removed from the detection signal, shaped into a fixed pulse width, and then sent to the unit control device 180 as detection data of a launch sphere, a safe sphere, or the like. . In other words, the pachinko machine control device 195 does not calculate the number of safe balls or the like, and such calculation is performed on the unit control device 180 side.

In pachinko machines, noise is likely to occur due to static electricity, but a reset circuit that monitors watchdog pulses
Pachinko machine controller due to noise etc. due to RST1
Even if CPU1 goes out of control, a reset signal is generated and the CPU
Is initialized, runaway can be prevented.

The watchdog pulse can be easily generated by an interrupt or the like from a timer counter inside the CPU.

FIG. 23 shows a configuration example of the unit control device 180.

The unit control device 180 is a unit controller 190 that comprehensively controls the card reader control device 188 and the pachinko machine control device 195 to enable a pachinko game with a card, and data that controls data transmission with the management device 400. The transmission controller 551 includes a network controller 553 for establishing a transmission / reception right in a network and performing serial / parallel conversion of data under the control of the data transmission controller. And each controller 1
The transfer of data between 90 and 551 and between 551 and 553 is configured to be executed via dual port memories (RAM) 550 and 552. Of which, memory 552
Is divided into a transmission data storage area and a reception data storage area. An adjustment function for equalizing all transmission / reception data lengths (packetization) and a high-speed data transmission (2.
It has a buffer function to measure 5Mbps).

The packet memory 552 is composed of four pages each having a capacity of 256 bytes, of which page 0 is used for transmitting a transmission request packet and page 1 is used for transmitting a regular data transmission packet. On the other hand, pages 2 and 3 are used alternately for data packet reception. The data transmission controller 551 instructs the network controller 553 on which page to use. Data transmission controller 5
Even if the next packet data is sent during the processing of the received packet data by 51, all the packets can be received reliably because they are sent to another page. A common reset circuit 555 is provided so that the controllers 551 and 553 can be initialized at the same time.

On the connection side of the network controller 553 with the management device 400, an optical connector is provided via a signal conversion circuit 554 and a changeover switch 542 which perform waveform shaping of received data and level conversion of a signal in order to increase the drive capability of transmitted data. A branch circuit 540 which is connectable to 186 and separates and couples a transmission signal and a reception signal via a changeover switch 542 so as to cope with a case where the transmission line of the low-layer network is constituted by a coaxial cable. Can be connected to The optical transceiver 185 shown in FIG. 20 is connected to the optical connector 186.

Further, a data transmission controller 5 is provided between the data transmission controller 551 and the network controller 553.
A latch circuit 561 for the network controller 553 to store the data reception result in response to a request from 51,
A data transmission controller 551 displays a latch circuit 562 for storing a command such as a data transmission command to the network controller 553 and a latch circuit 563 for storing a low-layer network address, and displays an abnormality in a communication control state in the unit control device 180. Is provided with a latch circuit 564 for storing display data to the monitor display 556 composed of three LED lamps. A decoder 557 decodes an address given to each of the latch circuits 561 to 564 and generates a selection signal.

On the other hand, a transceiver 571 for performing level conversion of transmission / reception data is provided between the unit controller 190 and the card reader control device 188, and a multiplex transmission controller for performing parallel / direct conversion of transmission / reception data between the unit controller 190 and the pachinko machine control device 195. 572 and the photoelectric conversion device 573 are connected.

Furthermore, the unit controller 190 has a data bus 5
Latch circuit that latches the display data (segment data and common data) of the monetary value and number of balls display via 81
574, a purchase lamp, a game state display lamp, a latch circuit 575 for latching a control signal for the hit ball launching device, and input signals from various switches provided in the pachinko machine 100 and the control unit 160 at a predetermined timing on the data bus 581.
An input / output controller 576 for latching output signals for mounting on top or displaying various lamps, and a control unit 160
A latch circuit 577 for latching audio data and the like generated from the speaker 166 is connected.

582 is a voice synthesis LSI, 583 is a low-pass filter that cuts high-frequency components to improve sound quality, and 584 is an amplifier that adjusts the volume.The voice synthesis LSI 582 stores multiple voice data in a built-in EPROM. In response to the selection signal (S0 to S3) given from the unit controller 190, the audio data is selected, the audio signal is output in synchronization with the start signal ST, and the output is stopped by the reset signal R.

558 is a program ROM storing a control program of the unit controller 190, and 559 is a transmission controller 55
This is a program ROM storing the control program of No. 1. 58
Reference numeral 5 denotes a decoder that decodes an address signal output from the unit controller 190 and forms a selection signal for the program memory 558, the unit memory 550, the latch circuits 574, 575, 577, and the input / output controller 576.

As described above, the unit control device 180 includes the management device 400,
The three sides of the card reader control device 188 and the pachinko machine control device 195 have information exchange windows, and under the control of the management device 400, perform control for causing a pachinko game to be played with a card, and as a game result It has software for periodically transmitting generated pachinko machine game information to the management device. Further, in the unit control device 180 of this embodiment, the digit select signal (common signal) of the display data output from the unit controller 190 for driving the monetary value and the number of balls is displayed at intervals of, for example, 2 ms. Paying attention to the point of periodic output, this is input to the reset circuit 555 as a watchdog pulse. In addition to the power-on reset, the reset circuit 555 monitors the watchdog pulse and generates a reset signal when the pulse disappears.

Therefore, even if the unit controller 190 runs away due to noise or the like, the common signal is not output at regular intervals when the runaway occurs, so that the reset circuit 555 operates to initialize the unit controller 190 and the data transmission controller 551, and the runaway occurs. Will be avoided.

At the same time, the unit controller 190 has a timer counter inside, and ACK (positive) or NAK (negative) as a response to the transmission request is transmitted for a fixed time (ex. 1).
0 seconds), or after a certain time (e
x.2 seconds), when a packet cannot be transmitted, or when a disturbance in the internal memory (RAM) is detected, the common signal can be forcibly fixed to a low or high level to reset itself. I can do it. Note that the disturbance of the internal memory can be easily performed by writing a specific code (A55A or the like) at a predetermined address in the memory at the time of initialization, for example, and checking it by interrupt processing every 1 ms. Can be detected.

Further, the unit control device 180 of the embodiment initializes the unit controller 190 even when the data transmission controller 553 cannot transmit data within a certain time (5.12 seconds), so that abnormal data is not transmitted to the management device 400. Is being dealt with. That is, in the embodiment, a watchdog counter area is provided in the unit memory 550,
The data transmission controller 551 sets a predetermined code FF every time data is transmitted to the management device, and the unit controller 190 counts down this counter by “1” every 20 ms. Therefore, if the state in which the data transmission controller cannot transmit for 5.12 seconds or more continues, the watchdog counter of the unit memory 550 becomes “0”, and this counter is monitored. It can be determined that the transmission controller 551 has gone down and reset itself.

Moreover, in this embodiment, a special RAM is used as the unit memory 550 such that when data is written at a certain predetermined address (7FE), a predetermined terminal INT rises.
Using this function, at the time of system startup, the data transmission controller 551 writes data to the above-mentioned predetermined address to start up the terminal INT, and inputs the signal of the terminal to the unit controller 190 so that the controller for use of the unit memory can be used. Synchronize. Note that the specific terminal INT falls when the unit controller 190 reads data at the predetermined address.

On the other hand, at the time of system startup, synchronization with the management device 400 is performed by the data transmission controller 551.
This is performed by the data transmission controller receiving a line test command (described below) transmitted from the management device 400 and transmitting a reception response to the management device 400.

By the way, as described above, the pachinko machine control device 195 does not calculate the number of safe balls or the like, and such calculation is performed on the unit control device 180 side. A detection signal relating to a game ball, such as a signal, and a signal from the purchase switch 113 are input. Based on these signals, the unit controller 190 calculates operation data such as the number of payout balls, the number of outgoing balls, the number of possessed balls, and the sales amount, and generates the operation information (game information) and the monitor information related to the pachinko machine. Then, they are written in the transmission data area SDA (see FIG. 24) of the unit memory 55 composed of the dual port memory.

Operation data and the like written in the unit memory 550
The data is transmitted to the management device by data communication with the management device 400 by the transmission controller 551. Also, the management device 400
Is also once written in the reception data area RDA in the unit memory 550, and the unit controller 190 reads the data to receive the data. The unit memory 550 includes a communication area CCA for storing commands and status information for notifying the other controller that other transmission data and reception data are in the memory, a working area UWA and DWA for each controller, and a communication area between the controllers. A synchronization area CSA is provided.

FIG. 24 shows the overall configuration of the unit memory, and Tables 1, 2, and 3 show examples of the configuration of the transmission data area SDA, the reception data area RDA, and the communication area CCA.

The monitor information 1 shown in Table 1 includes a bit indicating that a test is being executed at the time of system startup, a bit indicating whether an initial value is set / not set, a bit indicating a hot code error, and a local network, as shown in Table 4. (Two bits for low-rise and high-rise), a bit indicating a game machine abnormality, and the like. Further, the monitor information 2 has bits indicating an abnormality of the card reader as shown in Table 5.

Further, the operation information includes a bit indicating a stop state as shown in Table 6, a bit indicating that the game is being interrupted, a bit indicating a forced termination state by a management device or a controller based on a communication error or fraud detection, etc. , A bit indicating that the gaming machine is in a free state without a player, and the like.

From the above Table 6, it can be seen that the actual state of the pachinko machine is represented by the free state, 0000000000000001 during the game, 0000000000000010 at the time of the forced termination reception, 0000000000000100 at the time of interruption, and 0000000000001000 at the time of the occurrence of the stop, as 0000000000010000.

FIG. 25 to FIG. 30 show a specific configuration example of the card reader 800 for a pachinko machine provided in the control unit 160. FIG.

At the front end of a box-shaped case main body 801 constituting the card reader 800, a front lid 802 having a card holding display LED1 and a card insertion / ejection opening 802a is attached, and the side wall of the case main body 801 houses the control unit 160. L-shaped brackets 803 for fixing in the frame 161 are fixed to the four corners.

As shown in FIG. 26, a base plate 804 serving as a card transport path is disposed in the case body 801. Supporting substrates 805 and 806 are mounted above the base plate 804 with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the card. It is supposed to be.

On the support substrate 805, a card insertion detection sensor 808 including a motor 807 and a microswitch is provided on the card insertion port side, a card insertion detection sensor 808 including a shutter solenoid 809 and a microswitch, a shutter solenoid 809, and a security code. Reading reflective optical sensors 810a and 810b are attached. In this embodiment, only one of the sensors 810a and 810b (810a) is used, and the other sensor (810b) is provided as a spare so that the security code may be increased in the future.

A second roller shaft 811 is rotatably mounted between the motor 807 and the shutter solenoid 809. A transport roller 812 is provided at the center of the second roller shaft 811. Is protrudable from the side wall 801a of the case body to the outside, and a pulley 813 is fixed to the protruding end. Further, a projector 814 for irradiating the card position detection sensor SNS1 with detection light is attached near the shutter solenoid 809, and a second roller shaft 811 and a motor 807 are provided.
A light-transmitting portion 815 through which the detection light of the second position detection sensor SNS2 can pass is formed between them. Furthermore, the motor 8
A projector 816 for irradiating the detection light to the punch hole detection sensor SNSp is attached to the side of 07, and a rotary encoder 817 is provided at one end of a rotating shaft 807a of the motor 807.
Is fixed, and the other end of the rotating shaft 807a protrudes outside from the side wall 801b of the case body 801 to which a pulley 818 having a small diameter is fixed.

On the other hand, a first roller shaft 819 is rotatably disposed on the support substrate 806 disposed on the opposite side of the card insertion / ejection port 802a, and a punch device 820 and a magnetic head 821 using a solenoid as driving means. Can be attached. A through-hole 822 is formed in the support substrate 806 corresponding to the magnetic head mounting position so that the head surface can face downward when the magnetic head is inserted downward from above. A transport roller 823 is fixed to the center of the first roller shaft 819, and both ends of the shaft are made to be able to protrude to the outside from the side wall of the case, and pulleys 824 and 825 are attached thereto. A belt 826 is wound between the pulleys 818 and 825, and a belt 827 is wound between the pulleys 824 and 813. The rotational driving force of the motor 807 is transmitted to the first roller shaft 819 by the belt 826. And transmitted to the second roller shaft 811 by the belt 827.

Further, on the lower surface of the support substrate 806, light projectors 828 and 829 for irradiating the third and fourth card position detection sensors SNS3 and SNS4 with detection light are attached.

A first interface board 830 is disposed above the support boards 805 and 806 so as to cover the support boards 805 and 806, and is fixed to the side walls 801a and 801b of the case. This interface board 830
For receiving various control signals from a card reader control device 188 provided in the control unit 160, and for passing a read signal from a sensor or a magnetic head provided on the card reader side to the card reader control device 188 An interface circuit is provided. In addition, on the lower surface of the interface board 830, the projector 831 is located at a position corresponding to the light transmitting section 815.
A speed detection sensor 832 is provided at a position corresponding to the encoder 817.

On the other hand, auxiliary rollers 836 and 837 urged upward by torsion springs 834 and 835 are provided on the base plate 804 at positions corresponding to the transport rollers 812 and 823 on the base plate 804 disposed below the support substrates 805 and 806. It is mounted so that the face slightly emerges from the formed openings 841,842. Further, the base plate 804 has an auxiliary roller 838 urged upward by a torsion spring 836 at a position corresponding to the magnetic head 821 attached so as to face below the through hole 822 provided in the support substrate 806, It is mounted so that its face is slightly above the opening 843. Along with this, the base plate 804
Has through holes 844 at positions corresponding to the projectors 814, 816, 828, 829 and 831 respectively. Further, the front end of the base plate 804 has a concave portion 845 (the
28 is formed, and there is a cylindrical shielding member 846
Is placed. The shielding member 846 closes the card insertion / ejection opening 802a to prevent intrusion of dust, and acts so as not to accept any card other than a card having a certain rigidity or more due to its superposition.

On the lower surface of the base plate 804, a second interface board 848 is attached by screws. On the second interface board 848, together with a circuit for interfacing with the card reader control device 188, light projectors 814, 831, 828, 829 and The first to fourth position detection sensors SNS1, SNS2, SNS3, S
NS4 and punch hole detection sensor SNSp are installed. Also, at positions corresponding to the auxiliary rollers 836, 837, 838,
A relief hole 849 for preventing contact with the roller is provided.

Corresponding to the cylindrical shielding member 846 placed on the front end of the base plate 804, an empty space 851 slightly larger than the shielding member 846 is formed at the front end of the upper support substrate 805, and on the base plate 804 When the support substrate 805 is arranged, the shielding member 846 is housed in the empty space 851 so as to be vertically movable. In addition, the frame 8 constituting the empty space 851
An opening 853 is formed on the rear wall of the 52, and the insertion detection switch 808 is disposed behind the opening 853, and the movable contact 808a projects from the opening 853 into the space 851. This movable contact 808a
Is normally positioned above the shielding member 846 as shown in FIG. 28 (A), and when a card CD is inserted through the card insertion / ejection opening 802a, as shown in FIG. 28 (B). The movable contact 808 is used because the card CD pushes the shielding member 846 upward.
is rotated, and the insertion detection sensor 808 is turned on.

Shutter solenoid 8 mounted on support substrate 805
29 is disposed downward as shown in FIG. 29 (A), and the pin 809b formed at the tip of the plunger 809a passes through the insertion hole 854 provided in the support substrate 805 in the solenoid demagnetized state, and As shown in FIG. 7B, the card CD is prevented from being inserted by engaging with a corresponding recessed hole 855 formed on the upper surface of the base plate 804.

FIG. 30 (A) shows the mounting positional relationship of various sensors and a magnetic head in the card reader.

The insertion detection sensor 808 is disposed closest to the card insertion / ejection opening 802a, and the first position detection sensor SNS1 is disposed immediately before the transport roller. The shutter pin 809b is disposed between the insertion detection sensor 808 and the first position detection sensor SNS1, and the security code reading sensors 810a and 810b are
It is arranged almost right beside the position detection sensor SNS1. The second position detection sensor SNS2 is located behind the transport roller 812, the third position detection sensor SNS3 is located behind the transport roller 823, the fourth position detection sensor SNS4 is located at the innermost part of the card reader, and To the fourth position detection sensors SNS1 to SNS4 are located on the same straight line.

Further, the punch hole detection sensor SNSp and the punch pin PP are disposed between the second position detection sensor SNS2 and the transport roller 823, and the magnetic head 821 is disposed between the transport roller 823 and the third position detection sensor SNS3. .

FIG. 30 (B) shows the timing of detecting a card at the time of card insertion by various sensors arranged so as to have a positional relationship as shown in FIG. 30 (A) and the timing of a control signal to the motor 807 and the shutter solenoid 809. Show. As can be seen from the figure, in the card reader of this embodiment, when the card is inserted, the insertion detection sensor detects the insertion of the card, drives the motor and the shutter, and detects the position of the card with the position detection sensors SNS1 to SNS4. At a predetermined timing, information on the card is read in the order of a security code, a punched hole, and a magnetic code.

In addition, since the relative distance between the various sensors and the punch pins is important for accurately performing processes such as reading a card and punching a hole, the components are accurately mounted so as to have a predetermined positional relationship. .

FIG. 31 shows a card reader control device 188 (see FIG. 21).
2 shows a specific circuit configuration example.

The card reader control device 188 includes a card reader controller CPU 2 composed of a microcomputer, a transceiver TRV that performs level conversion of data signals transmitted and received between the unit control device 180, and a monitor display provided in the control unit 160. Drivers DRV11 and DRV12 forming the drive signals of 175 and 176 and motor 807 in card reader 800
And a driver DRV13 for generating a control signal for driving a punch device 820, a magnetic head 821, an LED lamp 167, a shutter solenoid 809, a driver DRV14 for driving a relay RLY for turning on / off a power supplied to a motor 807, and a card. A waveform shaping circuit SNG comprising a Schmitt trigger circuit for shaping the waveform of read data of the magnetic head in the reader 800 and detection signals from various sensors, and a flip-flop circuit F for latching each read data of two tracks read by the magnetic head. / F1, F / F2, built-in power-on reset circuit and watchdog timer, monitor pulses periodically output from controller CPU2 (shared with reset pulses of latches LT1 and LT2) as watchdog pulses. Reset circuit RST2 that generates a reset signal when interrupted
It is composed of

The card reader controller CPU2 receives ON / OFF signals from a device code setting device MCS and a card ejection switch SWc provided in the control unit 160.

The four light-emitting diodes constituting the monitor display 176 include a power-on display LED 11 that is lit while the power is on, a card-in display LED 12 that indicates that the card is in the card reader, and a card reader. Lights when control by the controller can be executed normally.
Used as OK display LED 13, LED 14 is unused so that it can be used for any other monitor display.

On the other hand, the segment-type monitor display 175 displays the abnormal contents of the card reader with a code as shown in Table 7 below by combining seven segments representing numbers and one dot display segment DT. Has become.

The card reader controller CPU 2 operates in accordance with the control program in the built-in ROM, executes card travel control, reads card data, checks card data, and the like based on commands from the unit controller 180, and executes the card number and card reader Is transmitted to the unit controller. Communication with the unit controller 180 is performed by the built-in serial communication circuit using the serial ports TX and R.
Do this using X. Output of control signals to the components that make up the card reader 800 and input of detection signals from various sensors
This is performed via an interface circuit 198 as shown in FIG.

The flip-flop FF2 that latches the magnetic data a on the track TRC2 of the magnetic recording unit MG of the card is operated using the read clock b read from the track TRC1 and triggering the flip-flop FF1 as a sampling clock. The flip-flop FF1 outputs a periodic signal c by being triggered by a read clock b and reset by a pulse e output from the CPU 2.

FIG. 32 shows a configuration example of an interface circuit 198 provided between the card reader control device 188 and input / output components in the card reader.

In the figure, reference numerals SMG1 to SMG5 denote waveform shaping circuits including Schmitt trigger gates and the like, REC1, R
EC2 is a rectifier circuit, MCC1 and MCC2 are magnetizing current switching circuits, and AMP1 to
AMP4 is amplifier, MHD1 and MHD2 are magnetic head, MT is motor, S
OL1 and SOL2 are solenoids, LED1 is a light emitting diode, DRV21,
DRV22 is a driver, and SNS11, SNS12, SNSp, and SNS1 to SNS5 are sensors. CCC is a current switching circuit for switching the rotation direction of the motor MT, and VCC is a voltage switching circuit for switching the rotation speed of the motor MT.

Read clock signals of read data read by the two magnetic heads MHD1 and MHD2 respectively corresponding to the two tracks TRC1 and TRC2 are amplified by the amplifiers AMP1 and AMP3, and then rectified by the rectifier circuits REC1 and REC2. The signal is sent to the card reader control device 188 as a rectangular wave through the waveform shaping circuits SMG1 and SMG3. On the other hand, the write data and write clock supplied from the card reader controller 188 pass through the waveform shaping circuits SMG2 and SMG4, and the magnetization current switching circuit MCC.
1, input to MCC2, the direction of head drive current is switched according to write data “1”, “0”, and amplifier AMP2, AMP2
It is amplified by 4 and supplied to the magnetic heads MHD1 and MHD2.

Card reader controller 188 to drive motor MT
The current switching circuit CCC changes the direction of the current flowing to the driver DRV21 based on the forward rotation signal and the reverse rotation signal given from the controller, and switches the voltage applied to the motor by the driver DRV21 according to the speed switching signal.

On the other hand, security code reading Senna SNS11 (810
a) The detection signals of SNS12 (unused), punch hole detection sensor SNSp, position detection sensors SNS1 to SNS4, and speed detection sensor SNS5 (821) are waveform-shaped by the waveform shaping circuit SMG5, and then to the card reader controller 188. Supplied and inserted detection switch 8
The detection signal 08 is noise-cut by the low-pass filter LPF, and then the waveform is shaped by the waveform shaping circuit SMG5.

FIG. 33 shows the timing of writing and reading of magnetic data by the card reader control device 188.

In the signals shown in FIG. 3, (A) to (D) indicate write data information,
(E) to (G) show write clock information, (H) to (J) show read data information, and (K) to (M) show signal waveforms of various parts related to read clock information. 31 (N) to (R) show timings of signals indicated by reference symbols a to e in the card reader control device 188 of FIG.

Of these, the signals (H) and (K) represent the output signals of the amplifiers AMP1 and AMP3 constituting the interface circuit of FIG. 32, and the signals (I) and (L) represent the rectifier circuit REC1.
And REC2, and the signals (J) and (M) indicate the output signals of the waveform shaping circuits SMG1 and SMG3, respectively.

In this embodiment, a so-called NRZI method is adopted in which the polarity is inverted when the output is "1" and the polarity is not inverted when the output is "0" or when there is no signal. I have.

Therefore, the signals (B), (C), and (D) indicating the CPU output, the write current, and the magnetization state are inverted when the internal data (A) of the CPU changes from “0” to “1”. I have.

On the other hand, when the data written as described above is read by the magnetic head MHD2, when the magnetization state (D) changes, the output of the amplifier AMP1 changes to + or-depending on the direction of magnetization.
At the rising edge of the read clock b, the read data a corresponding to the signal (J) obtained by shaping the output of the amplifier AMP1 is latched by the latch F / F2.
When the signal a (N) is at a high level, it is recognized that the data is "1". When the signal a is at a low level, the data is recognized as "0". 33
(See FIG. (S)).

In this embodiment, since the recording density of magnetic data on the card is 4.134 bits / mm (= 105 BPI) and the card transport speed is 300 mm / sec, the pulse period of the read clock data is about 806 μS. Therefore, when the magnetic data write by CPU2 is adapted to output a period T ₀ of the CPU output (E) about the write clock twice the clock pulse as (1.612mS).

 FIG. 34 shows a configuration example of the card issuing machine 200.

The card issuing machine 200 of this embodiment includes a bill identifying device 210 for identifying bills for card purchase, and a card reader 22 for printing an amount corresponding to the purchase amount and recording a card number.
0, a balance payout device 230 for discharging change, various indicators 241 to 245, a control unit 250 for controlling the entire issuing machine 200, and the like.

Corresponding to the bill validator 210, the front panel 201 is provided with a bill insertion slot 211, a purchase price selection switch group 212 and a price display 213. Therefore, when the player first inserts a bill from the bill insertion slot 211, the money display 213
Displays the input amount. Then, the selection switch group 212
By pressing a switch corresponding to a desired purchase price from among the cards, a card corresponding to the desired purchase price is issued from the card outlet 202 of the card reader 220. Further, each of the money amount selection switch groups 212 is configured by a switch with a built-in lamp, and when the switch is operated, the corresponding built-in lamp is turned on. Then, the inserted bill is collected in the bill storage tank 214.

The card reader 220 takes out the blank cards stored in the card tank one by one, prints the purchase amount, the issue date and the issue serial number n given by the management device 400 on the surface, The card number and identification code (store code), date of issue, check code, etc., calculated by the management device 400 are recorded on the magnetic surface of the card, and further punched at the issued punching position PH ₁ (see FIG. 2). After making a hole, the card is discharged from a card discharge port 202 provided in the front panel 201. Issuing serial number n
Means that the management device 400, which has received an application for card purchase from the card issuing machine 200, determines the issue serial number n in the order of acceptance for purchase applications from a plurality of card issuing machines under its control, and issues each card. Number given to the machine,
The code obtained by performing the code conversion processing such as the above-described bit rearrangement based on the issuance serial number n is recorded as a card number on the magnetic surface of the card and issued, and information on the card is stored in a file in the management device 400. To be recorded. In addition, the issue serial number n is printed on the display PR
Since the information is printed on T, the card can be restored from the file information of the management device even if the information in the magnetic recording unit MG becomes unreadable due to damage to the card or the like.

In order to enable generation of a card number from the issuance serial number n, the control program of the management device 400 is provided with a card number generation routine and a code conversion routine. In order to confirm the coincidence with the serial number n, an inverse conversion and an inverse calculation routine are prepared.

On the other hand, when a bill is inserted from the bill insertion slot 211 of the issuing machine 200, the purchase amount is determined by the amount selection switch 212, and a balance is generated, a balance payment device for repaying the balance.
203 includes a bill tank 231 for stocking bills, and is configured to discharge bills corresponding to the balance through a bill outlet 232 provided in the front panel 201.

Further, on the front panel 201 of the card issuing machine 200,
Issue lamp 24 indicating that the card can be issued
1.Issuance stop lamp 242 indicating that the card cannot be issued, a bill pool over display 243 indicating that the tank 214 is full of bills inserted from the bill insertion slot 211, and unissued cards in the card tank 221 are empty. Card shortage indicator 244 that informs that the money has become empty, and the bill tank 231 of the balance dispenser.
A change shortage indicator 245 is provided to notify that the stock bills have run out. Further, in order to detect the above state and turn on the corresponding indicator, the bill tank 214,
Sensors 261, 262, and 263 are provided in the 231 and the card tank 221, respectively.

Further, in the card issuing machine 200 of this embodiment, the management device 400 can identify the issuing machine that issued the specific card by distinguishing each of the plurality (several tens) of issuing machines 200 installed in the game arcade. A device number setting device 205 is provided inside the device so that the device number set by the device 205 is transmitted to the management device 400 to generate a transmission address for data communication and to issue each device. Is used to create a data file.

Although not particularly limited, the same number as the machine number set by the setting device 205 is displayed on a name plate 206 attached to an upper portion of the front panel 201 of the issuing machine.

FIG. 35 shows a schematic configuration example of a card reader in the issuing machine. The card reader 220 of this embodiment includes a card tank 910 containing a large number of cards in which the magnetic recording unit MG and the print display unit RPT are blank, and a card ejection device 920 for taking out cards one by one from the tank. Is provided. The card removal device 920 includes transport rollers 924, 925 arranged along a card travel path 923, drive motors 926 thereof, and a photoelectric sensor 916 for detecting an end of the removed card. One card in the tank is separated by the transport roller 924 disposed opposite to the opening 910a provided in a part of the bottom wall of the tank 910, and sent out to the card reader 220 side by the transport roller 925. When the leading edge of the card reaches the roller 925, the sensor 916
And the rotation of the transport roller 924 is stopped. Thus, it is possible to prevent two cards from being fed.

The card CD removed from the card tank 910 by the card removal device 920 is inserted into the card intake 909,
When detected by the sensor 914, the conveyance motor 902 including a pulse motor is driven, and the conveyance roller 904 is rotated via the belt 903. Then, the card CD is transferred to the transport roller 9
The sheet is conveyed along the traveling path 906 between the guide roller 905 and the guide roller 905, and is taken into the card reader. Transfer motor 90
2 is provided with a rotation detector (sensor 5) 915 such as an encoder for detecting a rotation angle, and when the card is conveyed by a predetermined amount, the motor is stopped.

In the center of the main body of the card reader 220, a magnetic head 908 is provided.
a and 908b are provided. One head 908a writes data such as an identification code to the magnetic recording section MG of the card, and the other head 908b reads for confirmation.
(Since writing is not performed by the card readers 800 and 310 of the pachinko machine 100 and the settlement machine 300, the recording head 908a is unnecessary.) Then, a punch hole is formed between the magnetic heads 908a and 908b. A perforation device 907 is provided. In the card reader 220 of the issuing machine 200, the punching device 907 is driven when the card is issued, so that the punch holes drilled at a predetermined punching position PH _1.

In addition, a photoelectric sensor 913 for detecting a punched hole is provided near the punching device 907 to confirm whether the punching by the punching device 907 has been performed. The sensor 913 is a pachinko machine or checkout machine is used to grasp the status of the card by detecting the punched holes PH ₁ ~PH ₅ drilled in the card.

A sensor 911 for detecting the end of the card and an optical sensor 912 for optically detecting a security mark on the card are arranged near the card outlet 901.

Further, behind the card reader 220 (on the left side in the figure), a printing device 930 for printing the purchase amount AM, the issue date DATE, and the issue serial number n on the print display portion PRT of the conveyed card. Is arranged. Printing device 930
Are a pair of transport rollers 931 and their corresponding guide rollers 932 and their driving motors 933, and the transport rollers 931
And a thermal head 934 and a card detecting sensor 917 and a thermal head 934 which are arranged between the thermal head 934 and the card detection sensor 932.

The motor based on the detection signals of the sensors 911 to 917
The control of the 902, 926, 933, the punching device 907, the magnetic heads 908a, 908b, and the thermal head 934 is performed by a controller 228 composed of a microcomputer (188 for a pachinko machine, 31 for a checkout machine).
Performed by 9).

FIG. 36 shows a card issuing machine 20 configured as described above.
A configuration example of a control system of 0 is shown.

In the drawing, reference numerals L1 to L5 denote lamps built in the purchase amount selection switch group 212, and the lamp corresponding to the turned on switch is turned on to illuminate the operation button from behind. It is supposed to.

In this system, the magnetic heads 908a and 908b as components of the card reader 220, the transport motor 902, and the punching device 90
7, printing device 930, card removal device 920, sensors 911-91
5 is controlled by a controller 228 (see FIG. 4) such as a CPU (microcomputer) based on the detection signal from the controller 228, and various sensors and indicators provided on the controller 228 and the issuing machine; a bill validator 210; The balance payout device 230 is controlled by a unit controller 251 in a control unit 250 also composed of a microcomputer.

The unit controller 251 performs the card issuing process by controlling the above components and receiving the card number, collects the operation data, and transfers it to the unit memory as a parallel communication means comprising a dual port memory.
Write to the transmission data area SDA in 270. The operation data written in the unit memory 270 is transmitted to the management device by a transmission controller and a network control unit (NAU), which will be described later, by data communication with the management device 400 via a transmission cable (network). The data sent from the management device 400 is also temporarily stored in the unit memory 270.
The data is written in the reception data area RDA in the unit, and the unit controller 251 reads it to receive data. The unit memory 270 is provided with a shared data area CDA in which commands and status information for transmitting the transmission data and the reception data in the memory to the other controller are stored.

Tables 8, 9 and 10 show the unit memory 27, respectively.
5 shows a configuration example of a transmission data area SDA, a reception data area RDA, and a communication area CCA in 0.

The hot codes shown in Table 8 are written in the transmission area of the unit memory 270 by the management device at the start of the system, for example, by writing a code of 010101 ‥‥ 01, and periodically sent to the management device. Thus, it is possible to check whether or not the RAM data is destroyed due to noise such as static electricity, and quickly detect an abnormality in the transmission data.

Note that the monitor information 1 shown in Table 8 above corresponds to Table 11
As shown in the figure, a bit indicating that a test is being executed at system startup, a bit indicating initial value setting / unset, a bit indicating a hot code error, and a bit indicating a local network (transmission cable 500) error (for low and high layers) 2 bits), a bit indicating an issuer abnormality, and the like.

Further, as shown in Table 12, the monitor information 2 indicates a bit indicating an abnormality of the card reader, a bit indicating the presence or absence of a card, a bit indicating a state in the banknote tank, a bit indicating a banknote jam, and a forcible withdrawal of the banknote. It comprises a bit, a bit indicating the state of the balance dispenser in the bill tank, a bit indicating an abnormality of the balance dispenser, and the like.

FIG. 37 shows a configuration example of the payment machine 300 described above.

The settlement machine 300 of this embodiment includes a card reader 310 for reading the card number of the inserted card CD, a bill dispensing device 320 for refunding an amount corresponding to an unpurchased amount remaining unused for the card, and a coin. Dispenser 326
And a printer 330 for issuing a receipt printed with the number of balls possessed by the game, various displays 340 to 342, a control unit 350 for controlling the entire settlement machine 300, and the like.

Corresponding to the card reader 310, the front panel 301 has a card insertion slot 311, a ball number display 312 for displaying the number of acquired prize balls (the number of balls held), and an amount display 313 for displaying an unpurchased amount. Is provided. When a player first inserts a card through the card insertion slot 311, the card reader 310 reads the card number recorded on the magnetic surface of the card CD, sends the card number to the management device 400, and receives data related to the card. Then, the unpurchased amount is displayed on the amount display 313, the obtained number of balls is displayed on the number-of-balls display 312, and a receipt is issued by the printer 330. Further, the inserted card by punching apparatus 807 after settlement completion, the formation of punch holes at a predetermined punching position PH ₅ is discharged from being made.

In this embodiment, a recording head is not necessary for the card reader of the checkout machine. However, by providing a recording head and erasing and discharging the data on the magnetic surface of the settled card, the card number can be reduced. May be made impossible to decipher the conversion method, and forgery of the card may be prevented.

The configuration of the card reader 310 is the same as that of the card reader of the issuing machine 200.
It is almost the same as 220 (see Fig. 35), and the card removal device 9
The card storage tank 314 is arranged at that position without the 22 and the card tank 921. Then, the transport direction of the card is opposite to that of the issuing machine. The printer 330 pulls out the blank sheet stocked in a roll state, prints the date of issue, the number of balls acquired, the amount of unused money, and the card history on the surface, and discharges it from the receipt issuing port 331. I do.

At the same time, money corresponding to the unpurchased amount is paid out from the bill payout device 320 and the coin payout device 326. The bill dispensing device 320 includes a bill tank 321 for storing bills.
And a bill outlet 322. Also, 1000 for payment
Since a fraction smaller than a circle is generated, a coin dispensing device 326 including a coin tank 324 for storing coins in units of 100 yen and a coin payout port 325 is provided.

Further, on the front panel 301 of the settlement machine 300, a settlement lamp 341 indicating that the card is being settled, a settlement stop lamp 342 indicating that the card cannot be settled, and a tank 313 with a card inserted from the card insertion slot 311. Card overflow indicator and balance payout device 320 to indicate when full
Insufficient indicator indicating that stock banknotes in the banknote tank 321 have run out, and the coin tank 32 of the coin dispenser.
Monitor indicator lamps, such as a coin shortage indicator that indicates that the stock coins have run out in 4, and a paper-out indicator that indicates that roll paper has run out in the printer 330
340 are provided. In addition, sensors 361, 362, 363, and 364 are provided in the card tank 314, the bill tank 321, the coin tank 324, and the printer 330, respectively, in order to detect the above states and turn on the corresponding indicators. The coin dispensing device 326 is provided with a coin removal switch 327.

Further, the settlement machine 300 of this embodiment has a stand for distinguishing each of the plurality of settlement machines installed in the amusement store and allowing the management device 400 to recognize the settlement machine that has performed the settlement of the specific card. A number setting device 305 is provided inside, and the machine number set by the setting device 305 is sent to the management device 400 to generate a transmission address for data communication and to create a data file for each settlement machine. Provided.

Although not particularly limited, the same number as the unit number set by the setting unit 305 is the front panel 301 of the checkout machine.
Is displayed on a nameplate 306 attached to the upper part of the label.

FIG. 38 shows a configuration example of a control system of the payment machine 300 configured as described above.

Note that, in the figure, reference numerals L11 to L14 denote lamps constituting the monitor display lamp group 340.

In this system, a magnetic head 908b, a punching device 907, and a transport motor 902 constituting a card reader 310 are controlled by a controller 319 (a controller shown in FIG. 34) comprising a CPU (microcomputer) based on detection signals from various sensors 911 to 915. 228), the controller 319 and various sensors and indicators provided in the checkout machine, the bill dispensing device 320, the coin dispensing device 326, and the printer 33.
0 is controlled by a unit controller 351 in a control unit 350 also composed of a microcomputer.

The unit controller 351 controls the above components, checks the card number, receives and displays the card data, executes the settlement processing, collects the operation data, and stores it in the unit memory 370 including a dual port memory. Write to the transmission data area SDA. The operation data written in the unit memory 370 is sent to the management device by data communication between the transmission controller and the management device 400 via the transmission cable. The data sent from the management device is also temporarily written to the reception data area RDA in the unit memory 370, and the unit controller 3
The data is received by the reading of this by 51. Unit memory 370 is provided with a shared data area CDA for storing commands and status information for notifying the other controller that transmission data and reception data are in the memory.

Tables 13, 14 and 15 show the unit memory 37, respectively.
5 shows a configuration example of a transmission data area SDA, a reception data area RDA, and a communication area CCA in 0.

As shown in Table 14, in this embodiment, the card history data is also received, printed on a receipt together with the time data and ejected, thereby impressing the player that the settlement data is highly reliable settlement data. Can be. However, the history data is up to 20 in the card file
It is data up to times.

Note that the monitor information 1 shown in Table 13 above corresponds to Table 16
As shown in the figure, a bit indicating that a test is being executed at system startup, a bit indicating initial value setting / unset, a bit indicating a hot code error, and a bit indicating a local network (transmission cable 500) error (for low and high layers) , 2 bits), a bit indicating an abnormality of the payment apparatus, and the like.

The monitor information 2 includes a bit indicating a printer error, a bit indicating a card reader error as shown in Table 17, and
Bits indicating the state in the coin tank, bits indicating a jam in the coin dispenser, bits indicating an abnormality in the coin dispenser, bits indicating a state in the bill tank of the bill dispenser, bits indicating an abnormality in the bill dispenser, etc. It consists of.

Next, the pachinko machine 100, the card issuing machine 200, and the payment machine 300 configured as described above are collectively controlled, and operation data is collected in real time. A management device 40 that restores the data state, resumes the operation of each part of the system, enables the aggregation of data necessary for the management of the amusement store, and issues a resurrection card of the same qualification when the card is damaged
0 will be described.

FIG. 39 shows a specific configuration of the management device 400, and FIG. 40 shows a system configuration of the management device.

The management device 400 includes a main control device 401 storing a central processing unit CPU of a minicomputer class, a main storage device M-MEM including a semiconductor memory (RAM), a timer (including a calendar) TMR, a communication control device SCC, and the like. The main control device 401 includes a floppy disk storage device 402 as an auxiliary storage device, a hard disk storage device 403, and a personal computer 410 provided above the main control device 401. The personal computer 410 also has a CRT display device 411 for displaying messages and collected data, a console 412 for the operator to give commands and setting data, a built-in CPU, and communicates with a central processing unit in the main control device 401. It comprises a local processing unit 413 connected via a line and an interrupt circuit, and a printer 414 for printing collected data and the like.

Communication control devices 406a and 406b are provided in the main control device 401 in order to connect the local processing device 413 and the central processing unit CPU.

The printer 414 includes a buffer 414a for temporarily storing data to be printed in order to improve the throughput of the management device 400.

In addition, the management device 400 includes a card reader 407 that issues a resurrection card or a test card as a medium for causing the system to perform an action from each terminal, and a “card generated by a pachinko machine”, which is unique to the pachinko gaming system. The auxiliary printer 408 that prints emergency information generated by the system such as “stop” in real time is provided by the main controller 4.
It is provided above 01 and is connected to the central processing unit CPU via the communication control devices 406c and 406d.

The SCC is a transmission control device for enabling data transmission with each terminal via a network.

In addition, in the event of a power failure, at least 10 data is transferred to the hard disk storage device 403 to protect the operation data of all terminals volatilely held in the main storage device and the data of all issued cards to the hard disk storage device 403. An auxiliary power supply 409 that enables the management device to operate for about a minute is provided below the main control device 401.

In this embodiment, a system mainly including a pachinko machine, a card issuing machine, a checkout machine, and a management device will be described. However, the present invention also includes an in-store broadcasting device, a prize exchange device, a vending machine, and the like. It can be extended to systems that are under control. In particular, there is a possibility that the prize exchange apparatus can easily apply a method that allows the prize exchange apparatus to directly exchange prizes without passing through the checkout machine 300 using a card.

Further, the console 412 configuring the management device 400 also has a unique key configuration most suitable for the pachinko gaming system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows a configuration example of the console 412. FIG. 1B shows the upper surface of the console, that is, the panel surface, and FIG. 1A shows the rear surface of the console.

In FIG. 41, reference numeral 421 denotes a store opening switch for instructing the start of business for each terminal of the system, and reference numeral 422 denotes a store close switch for instructing the end of business.
After the 421 is turned on, the card can be operated in each terminal until the store closing switch 422 is turned on. Also, 423 is an end switch for storing the operation data of all terminals in the floppy disk storage device 402 after the business is closed, and instructing the management device to stop the operation, and 424 for instructing the recovery process of the damaged card. It is a card resurrection switch.

The four switches of the store opening switch 421, the store closing switch 422, the end switch 423, and the card resurrection switch 424 are particularly important switches for the present system, and in order to prevent the system from being easily operated during the operation of the system, Key switch (upper in the figure)
It is linked to 420, and unless the key switch 420 is turned on, the switches 421 to 424 cannot be operated to be turned on.

Reference numerals 425, 426, and 427 denote ten keys, a return key, and a delete key similar to those provided on a console of a normal personal computer or the like.

On the other hand, reference numeral 428 denotes a display menu switch for giving an instruction to display data related to the card and operation data of each terminal on the screen of the CRT display device 411, and reference numeral 429 denotes a CRT clear switch for requesting deletion of data displayed on the CRT display device. It is. Reference numeral 430 denotes a print menu switch for giving a command to cause the printer 414 to print data related to the card, operation data of each terminal, and the like. Reference numeral 431 denotes a print stop switch for requesting the printer 414 to stop printing. 432 is a setting switch for requesting the setting of the number of hits or the hitting mode in the pachinko machine, and 433 is hitting, that is, the game cannot be continued because the prize balls of the set hitting number are paid out. A stop release switch 434 for giving a command to release the stop state of pachinko machines that have been shut down, forcibly shuts down terminals by type at the end of business, normal control and data collection due to communication network abnormalities, etc. Forced termination switch for forcibly terminating all terminals if it becomes impossible or forcibly stopping specific terminals if a player's fraud is discovered, 435 cancels termination of forcibly terminated terminals An end release switch 439 is a date / time setting switch. Further, the console 412 of the embodiment is provided with a buzzer 440 that generates a sound to urge the operator to wake up when an emergency such as a pachinko machine is hit and a buzzer stop switch 436 that instructs to stop the sound generation. Have been.

Of the above switches, the switches 421 to 424 and 432 to 436 indicated by double frames in the figure are switches with built-in lamps. Lights up. However, the lamp in the buzzer stop switch 436 is linked with the buzzer, lights up while the buzzer is sounding, and the stop switch 43
Turns off when 6 is pressed.

Further, the console 412 of this embodiment has a test card switch 437 for giving a test card issuance command on the back thereof, an exchange rate of purchased balls and store codes, a total number of terminals, a winning ball 1 when the system is introduced. A built-in switch 438 is provided for making a setting request such as the number of prize balls per piece. These switches 437 and 43
8 is a switch that is rarely used unlike other switches, and is a specific person (such as a manager of a game store).
Is a switch that only needs to know its presence, so it is provided on the back of the console.

Here, the test card will be described. As is clear from the configuration already described, the gaming system of this embodiment includes all terminals (pachinko machines, card issuing machines,
The settlement machine is under the control of the management device, and shifts to an operable state by exchanging card numbers and the like, and cannot be operated by the terminal alone. However, since pachinko machines are frequently used, jams and so-called tulips and other accessories often break down, and it is necessary to adjust nails in the game area to adjust the payout rate. In this case, a test drive is performed after repair or nail adjustment. In this embodiment, the test switch 179 in the control unit 160 of each pachinko machine described above is turned on, and a special device issued by the management device is used. When a test card is inserted through the card insertion / ejection port 802a of the control unit 160, a certain number of balls is given, and the pachinko machine can execute a game operation alone. As a result, it is not necessary to start up the entire system in trial running during non-business hours. In addition, during business hours, a trial hit can be performed without losing operation data during the game.

Note that the card reader 407 provided in the management device 400
The configuration is exactly the same as that of the card reader 220 in the card issuing machine shown in FIG.

However, a method may be employed in which a blank card is inserted from outside, a code is recorded on a magnetic surface, and the blank is ejected, without a blank card inside. In that case, the card tank can be omitted. Further, since the test card and the resurrection card issued by the management device 400 do not always need to specify the date of use and the serial number of the issuance as in other general cards, the printing device may be omitted. However, it is also possible to incorporate a printing device and print out and issue the fact that the card is a test card. Incidentally, it has become so punch holes in a predetermined punching position PH ₂ of the card by the perforating apparatus 807 during resurrection card issuing.

As described above, the terminals 100, 200, and 300 of this embodiment are all under the control of the management device 400, and cannot operate independently unless the management device 400 is activated. Therefore, when the system is started up, the management apparatus 400 gives setting values to all terminals and initializes them.
In addition, prior to this initialization, the terminal number is collected from each terminal to enable data transmission, and one by one.
Form two transmission addresses. During operation of the system, operation data of all terminals is collected in real time and stored in the main storage M-MEM.

As described above, in this embodiment, the amount of data handled by the management device 400 is enormous. Therefore, in the embodiment, these data are organized by file management to facilitate handling.

Table 18 shows a file configuration example of data managed by the management device 400.

These files are usually recorded in the main memory M-MEM, but all files are saved in the hard disk storage 403 at the time of power failure. Further, the data files relating to the terminals, that is, the pachinko machine files (hereinafter referred to as P machine files), the issuing machine files and the settlement machine files are stored in the floppy disk storage device 402 at the end of business hours, and are provided for monthly operation data totaling and the like. You.

Next, each file shown in Table 18 will be described in more detail.

The setting value file FL1 in the table depends on the characteristics and configuration of the system such as the exchange rate of purchased balls, the store code, the number of terminals, the number of prize balls, the number of hits, etc. Is a setting value that fluctuates. This setting value file is normally loaded from the hard disk HDD to the main storage device at the start of business.
The set value file FL1 can be updated from the console by pressing a built-in switch when replacing a pachinko machine or the like.

 Table 19 shows a configuration example of the setting value file FL1.

In the table, the purchase ball exchange rate is the minimum number of balls to be lent, that is, the minimum number of balls for a purchase amount unit (for example, 200 yen), and the number of NAUs is the number of high- and low-layer networks as a data transmission system. Is the total number of network adapter units (communication control devices) provided in the connection section of FIG. Further, the number of prize balls from a certain pachinko machine to a certain pachinko machine is set in a table indicated by a symbol i. Two types of prize balls can be set for each prize ball. In addition, as shown by i = 1 to 16, in this embodiment, all the pachinko machines of the amusement store are divided into 16 groups, and two main and sub prize balls can be separately set. ing. However, consecutive machine numbers are given to pachinko machines having the same set value, and the target range is specified by the start number and end number.

Further, the number of hits is set in the table indicated by j, and the hitting mode is set in the table indicated by k. Here, the hit mode indicates a method of calculating the number of hits (arithmetic formula). For example, a mode in which hitting is performed when the number of payout prize balls reaches the hit number, or the number of payout prize balls. There is a mode in which the ball is hit when the number of hit balls is subtracted from the number of hits reaches the hit number. Although not particularly limited, in this embodiment, as shown by j = 1 to 16, k = 1 to 16, the number of hits and the hitting mode can be independently set for each of 16 groups.

Table 20 shows a configuration example of a transmission address file FL2 used for data transmission.

In Table 20, the type flag is a flag for indicating the type of terminal. “1” indicates a pachinko machine, “2” indicates a card issuing machine, “4” indicates a checkout machine, and “0” indicates a terminal. Indicates the absence of each. Vehicle number and serial number are "4"
And the serial number of the terminal created except for “9”, and the unit number is the number of each terminal placed under one NAU (network adapter unit) regardless of the type of terminal, ie, The number which is an address on a low-layer network described later, and the channel number are the addresses of the respective terminals viewed from the management device, that is, the numbers which are addresses on a high-layer network described later. However, in the system of the embodiment, the number of pachinko machines connected under one NAU is set to 64 or less.

The NAU number and the unit number are set by the setting switches (1
73, 205, 305, 561). In the case of a pachinko parlor, the pachinko machine numbers are customarily "4" and "9".
It is a jump number given by a number excluding. Here, the fact that "4" and "9" are not used indicates that an octal representation is possible. Therefore, the unit numbers expressed in decimal notation are represented by only the numbers 0 to 7 using the conversion table shown in Table 21. According to this, for example, a stand number of “258” is described as “247”.

If this is represented by a binary code in a binary octal system, it will be "010/100/111". This code indicates the decimal "167", which results in "4" and "9"
Pachinko machine numbers that are missing are consecutive serial numbers.
On the other hand, in order to reduce the address on the low-layer network to 8 bits, the lower 8 bits of the above code are taken, and this is taken as 2 bits.
Assuming the code "1010-0111" expressed in the octal evolution system,
If this is expressed in HEXA, it will be "A7H". Furthermore, besides pachinko machines, terminals such as issuing machines and settlement machines are also connected under one NAU. To give them an 8-bit unit number, the number of pachinko machines under one NAU is increased by 64.
The number is limited to the platform, and the logical product of the code “A7H” and the code “3FH” is obtained to obtain “27H”. In this embodiment, this is used as the unit number. Then, “NAU number + unit number” in which an NAU number is prefixed to the unit number is used as a channel number. In this way,
In the practice of pachinko game arcades having a machine number that does not use “4” and “9”, efficient address processing that matches the characteristics of a microcomputer that performs data processing using only binarization becomes possible.

The file is created for all terminals based on the response data of the unit table request by the management device after the line test.

Table 22 shows a configuration example of the card file FL3. The card file FL3 contains information for each card.

In the same table, the card number is a number obtained from the issue serial number n using the function f (n), and the number of balls and the amount of money, and the card status is the current status of the card specified by the issue serial number n and the card number. This information is referred to as a card text in this embodiment. Here, the card state is, as shown in Table 23, a bit indicating a free state that is not used in a game, a bit indicating a game, a bit indicating a pause temporarily leaving the gaming machine, A bit indicating that the card has been settled, a bit indicating that both the number of balls held and the balance of the card have become zero, a bit indicating that one or more hits have occurred in the past, It is composed of a bit indicating that the card has been used in the punching machine, a bit indicating that the card has been restored, and the like.

Returning to Table 22, on the other hand, in the card file FL3, a terminal serial number indicating the position of the terminal where the card is currently present and a terminal number are registered. Since pachinko machine gaming stores do not use the numbers “4” and “9” as unit numbers as a convention, two types of terminal numbers, back and front, are generated.

In Table 22, the i-counter indicates the number of actions taken by the card, that is, the number of times the card has been ejected from the organic binding system to the outside. Number, number of balls, amount,
Card information such as time, that is, card history is recorded. Statistically, most players play with less than 20 pachinko machines per day.
It is decided to record the card history up to 20 times. However, 20
When the number of times exceeds the limit, the data is recorded in a form in which the table indicated by i = 20 is updated. In the above case, the i counter does not count the interruption of the game. That is, each card information is recorded in a new area at the time of interruption, but the value of the i-counter is substantially updated by recording the card information in the same area without updating the counter when the game end switch is turned on after the interruption is released, and recording the card information in the same area. The number is matched.

Here, the state and action of the card and the registration of the FL3 card information in the card file will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when a card is issued in the card issuing machine 200, the card is ejected, and the card shifts from the unissued (blank) state SSO to the free state SS1. then,
When the card is inserted into the desired pachinko machine 100, the gaming state S
Move to S2. Here, when the ball and the amount of money of the card become zero by the game, the card is ejected and the state is returned to zero return SS3
Move on to Further, when the interruption switch 115 is pressed during the game, the card is ejected, and the state shifts to the interruption state SS4, and returns to the game state SS2 again by reinserting the same card. Then, when the end switch 114 is pressed to end the game during the game, the card is ejected and the state shifts to the free state SS1. The card is ejected by the forced termination or hitting by the CPU, and the game state SS2 is shifted to the free state SS1.
When the user goes to the checkout machine 300 with the card in the free state and performs the checkout process, the card is collected after an invalid mark is added, and the state is shifted to the settled state SS5. In the system of this embodiment, it is also possible to go to the checkout machine 300 without returning to the pachinko machine with the card in the interrupted state SS4 and perform the checkout process.In that case, the state shifts from the interrupted state SS4 to the settled state SS5. .

In the state transition diagram described above, an action accompanied by recording of card information in the card file FL3 is indicated by a circle in the arrow indicating the transition direction. In each block, the code indicated by XXH represents the corresponding state in hexadecimal using the code indicating the card state in Table 23 (HE
XA expression).

 Next, Table 24 shows a configuration example of the P machine file FL4.

In the figure, items from the machine number to the card status are as follows:
The data held in the transmission data area shown in Table 1 is sampled once a second by the management device 400 and registered in a file. In addition, the number of main prize balls, the number of sub prize balls, the number of hits, and the hit mode,
Setting value files shown in Table 19 at system startup
It is registered in the P machine file FL4 based on FL1.

Tables 25 and 26 show the issuing machine file FL5 and the checkout machine file FL6, respectively. The data items shown in Table 25 are shown in Table 8
The data stored in the transmission data area of the issuing machine shown in FIG. 26 and the data items shown in Table 26 respectively correspond to the data stored in the transmission data area shown in Table 13. These are sampled by the management device once a second.

In Tables 24 to 26, data marked with a circle in the save column is data saved on the floppy disk FDD at the end of business.

Next, the card issuing machine 200 as a terminal configured as described above, the pachinko machine 100, the payment machine 300, and the management device 400 that performs centralized control of those terminals are organically connected to perform data transmission and card transfer. A data transmission path (local area network) that enables operation will be described. FIG. 44 shows a configuration example of a pachinko game system using a hierarchical data transmission path.

That is, 100 to 1000 terminals are grouped in units of 20 to 40, for example, in units such as amusement park island facilities, and each group of terminals is a token that circulates at high speed on a ring-shaped transmission path. A network adapter unit (hereinafter, referred to as NAU) by a token-passing-type low-layer network (token bus) 510 in which a node (terminal) having access right has a right to transmit and receive data in the form of a packet. Connected to 530.

A plurality of NAUs 530 that control each low-layer network (token bus) 510 are connected to the management device 400 via a high-level network 520 of the CSMA / CD system.

The low-layer network 510 is 2.5Mbps (megabit /
Second) and have a high-speed network 520
Is controlled to have a transmission rate such as 10 Mbps,
The NAU530 acts as a buffer that absorbs the difference between the two transmission rates and enables smooth data transmission,
The burden on the management device 400 is reduced, and a large amount of operation data can be collected.

In FIG. 44, a pachinko machine as a terminal is indicated by reference numeral P, a card issuing machine is indicated by reference numeral H, or a checkout machine is indicated by reference numeral S.

Each of the terminals P, H, S is connected to a branch line branched from the network 510. The control units 160, 250 and 350 of each terminal are connected to the end of each branch line. No.
In FIG. 44, a control unit of each terminal is indicated by reference numeral U.

FIG. 45 shows a circuit configuration example of the NAU (network adapter unit) 530 that buffers data transmission between the low-layer network 510 and the high-layer network 520.

The NAU 530 of this embodiment includes a low-layer network controller 533 that establishes a transmission / reception right in the low-layer network 510 and performs serial-parallel conversion of data, and a high-layer network that establishes a transmission / reception right and serial-parallel conversion of data in a CSMA / CD high-layer network. Network controller 537
And a data transmission controller 535 for controlling data transfer between these network controllers 533 and 537. Among the above controllers, the low-layer network controller 533 is composed of a communication LSI dedicated to token passing, and the high-layer network controller 537 and the data transmission controller 535 are composed of general-purpose microcomputers. Further, between these controllers 533 and 535 and between 535 and 537, buffer packet memories 534 and 536 for absorbing a difference in data transmission speed between the low-layer network 510 and the high-layer network 520 are provided.
And are connected respectively. The above packet memory 534,
536 is constituted by a dual port memory and has a transmission data area and a reception data area. Between the low-layer network controller 533 and the low-layer network (talks bus) 510, a branch circuit 531 for separating and coupling a transmission signal and a reception signal, and a level conversion circuit 532 for converting the level of a transmission / reception data signal are provided. It is connected. Similarly, a level conversion circuit 538 and a branch circuit 539 are connected between the high-layer network controller 537 and the high-layer network 520.

Further, the NAU 530 of this embodiment includes a NAU number setting unit 561 for setting a number for distinguishing a plurality of connected NAUs from each other, and a terminal existing on the low-layer network 510 under the control of each NAU 530. And a number setting device 563 for setting the number of terminals existing on the low-layer network. The set values of the setting units 561 to 563 are input to the data transmission controller 535 in the NAU 530, and the NAU number is used for forming the transmission address of each NAU in the high-layer network 520. Also, the transmission address of each terminal in the low-layer network 510 is formed by the minimum number and the number.

In the hierarchical local network (FIG. 44), when the system starts up, the management device 400 performs a line test through each NAU 530 and sets a set value for each terminal, and the NAU 530 connects the low-layer network 510 during system operation. It collects operation data from the terminals P, H, and S once a second and stores it in its own memory. The stored data is transmitted to each N through the high-layer network 520 once a second in response to a request from the management device 400.
The data is stored in the data file in the management device 400 from the AU 530.

As described above, since the communication network has a hierarchical configuration using the NAU 530 as a buffer and the high-layer network 520 has a transmission speed four times the transmission speed of the low-layer network 510 of 2.5 Mbps, 100 to 1000 In a system having terminals, Tables 1, 8 and
A large amount of operation data as shown in Table 13 can be collected in the management device once a second.

Table 27 shows the types of packets received from the pachinko machine transmitted from the management device to the control unit of the pachinko machine in the data transmission system, and Table 28 shows types of transmission packets transmitted from the pachinko machine to the management device. Each is shown.

The "Card In" packet listed in Table 28 is
When a card is inserted into the control unit 160 of the pachinko machine 100, the packet is used by the unit to request the management apparatus 400 for information "card text" relating to the card. Here, the card text is a data field containing four pieces of information such as a card number, the number of possessed balls, an amount (unused portion), and a card state. The packet “return to zero” is used to transmit the card text from the pachinko machine control unit 160 to the management device 400 when both the number of balls held and the amount of the card become zero during a game with a certain pachinko machine. Packet.

In addition, the packet `` interruption end '' is when the player presses the interruption switch 115, receives the card, leaves the pachinko machine, and then inserts the card into the checkout machine without returning to the suspended pachinko machine and performs the settlement Is a packet for issuing a command for canceling the suspended state of the pachinko machine that is being suspended by the management device. As a result, the player can return to the pachinko machine that has been interrupted and can perform the settlement without pressing the game end switch 114.

ACK and NAK packets are acknowledgments and negative acknowledgments to the other party when a transmission request is made between the management device 400 and the control unit 160. When there is no card text corresponding to the request, the NAK packet Is returned. On the other hand, when the ACK is returned, requested data such as a card text may be added. Further, in this embodiment, a "forced termination request" packet for giving an operation stop command to the pachinko machine based on the judgment of the management device 400 based on a line test, a monitor abnormality, a token bus abnormality, and the like is prepared. .

Note that the codes 09H, 8OH, and パ ケ ッ ト of each packet shown in Table 27 and Table 28 are represented in hexadecimal, and the codes are merely examples and are not limited to these. Not even.

FIGS. 50 to 55 show typical examples of packet formats used in the data transmission system (local network).

Fig. 50 shows the "line test" for pachinko machines.
The structure of the packet (common to other terminals) and the “AC” as a response from the pachinko machine to the management device are shown in FIG.
Shows the structure of a K "packet.

In the column of “P machine number” to “channel number” in the packet of FIG. 50 (A), NAU is calculated in advance based on the setting values of the NAU number setting switch 561 and the unit number setting switch 562 at the time of initialization. When the “line test” packet from the management device is received, the entered number is entered and sent to the corresponding pachinko machine. On the other hand, in the “P machine number” to “channel number” columns in the packet of FIG. 50 (B), the numbers previously calculated by the unit controller 180 based on the setting values of the unit number setting device 171 are entered. To be sent.

In FIG. 50, LHD indicates a packet head used in the low-layer network 520, and data transmission between the NAU 530 and each terminal in the low-layer network 510 uses the packet head LHD. The data transmission between the management device 400 and the NAU 530 in the high-layer network 520 is performed using the high-layer packet head HHD.

Data transmission from the management apparatus 400 to each terminal via the NAU 530 is performed using two packet heads HHD and LHD. In this case, the network adapter to which the transmission destination terminal belongs is specified by the upper packet head HHD, and when a packet is captured therein, the upper packet head HHD is removed and the lower packet head LHD is removed.
The packet is sent out onto the low layer network 510 with only the head as the head, and the packet is transmitted to the designated terminal.

On the other hand, when transmitting data from each terminal to the management device 400, first, the terminal attaches only the packet head LHD for the low-layer network to the head of the data and sends out the data to the low-layer network 510. Then, the packet is fetched by the NAU 530, where the packet head LHD is further attached with a packet head HHD for a high-layer network, sent out over the high-layer network 520, and transmitted to the management device 400.

FIG. 51 shows a configuration example of an “initial value setting” packet from the management device to each pachinko machine. The data column indicated by * 1 contains data read from the setting value file (see Table 19) of the management device, and these are stored in the reception data area of the unit memory. Only the hot code of the received data is copied to the transmission data area of the unit memory. There is no response to this received packet.

FIG. 52 shows a configuration example of various command packets without data from the management device to the pachinko machine. Codes 90H (opening code), 91H (closing code), 95H (request for forced termination), 96H
(Forced termination release), 97H (stop release), 98H (interruption termination)
Or any code of B1H (restart) is entered.
There is no response to the management device with respect to these received packets, and the command transmission is one-sided.

FIGS. 53 (A) to 53 (C) show examples of the structure of a “card-in” packet for notifying the management device that the card has been accepted, and its response packets “ACK” and “NAK”.

In the data field of the “card-in” transmission packet, a card text in which only the card number is written is read from the unit memory and sent. On the other hand, the data column * 2 of the response "ACK" packet contains the card text among the data on the card read from the card file of the management device. In addition, the card state in the card text indicates the updated card state.

The transmission / reception packet when the interruption switch is turned on, the transmission / reception packet when the interruption card is inserted, the transmission / reception packet when the settlement switch is turned on, and the transmission / reception packet when the “return to zero” or “stop” occurs The configuration is the same as the “card-in” packet and its response packet in FIG. 53, and the point where the corresponding packet code A2H, A1H, A3H, A4H or A5H enters in the packet type column and the card text in the data column respectively. The only difference is that different data of the other card is entered. Especially “Card In”
In the packet, the "ball count", "amount", and "card status" fields of the card text are "0", while in other packets of the same type, data relating to the card is also stored in those fields. Send it in.

Further, FIG. 54 shows a configuration example of a “periodic data transmission” packet, and FIGS. 55A and 55B show a configuration example of a “unit recovery” transmission / reception packet.

Among these, the "scheduled data transmission" packet contains all the data in the transmission data area of the unit memory and sends it, and the management device receives this data and updates the data of the pachinko machine in the P machine file. . On the other hand, in the “unit recovery” packet, all data in the P device file of the management device, the date read from the set value file, the identification code and the hot code are sent in accordance with the configuration of the data area of the unit memory. Come. However, for the received data packet head and card text that overlap the transmission data area of the unit memory, duplicate transmission is omitted,
The unit controller copies data from the transmission data area to the reception data area. In the response packet to the above packet, only the entire data in the transmission data area is inserted and transmitted.

The packets shown in FIG. 50 to FIG. 55 are not the whole of the original packet put on the network but only the main part, and in addition, alert bursts and synchronization data for finding the head of data, There are a header section including a source address field indicating a transmission source and a destination address indicating a transmission destination, a count section indicating data length, and a check code section for error detection. These are automatically generated and added by the network controller in the control unit of each terminal.

Next, a control procedure regarding data transmission in the unit control device (see FIG. 23) will be described with reference to FIGS. 46 to 49.

When a reset pulse is supplied from the reset circuit 555 to each of the controllers 190, 551, and 553, each controller clears the internal register and the internal RAM, and the data transmission controller 551 executes a unit memory for parallel communication with the unit controller 190. 550 is also cleared (steps S101, S201, S301). Then, the data transmission controller 551 writes appropriate data to a predetermined address (27FF) in the unit memory 550 (step S202).
Then, the unit memory 550 raises the level of the signal INT output from the predetermined terminal. As described above, this signal INT is used as an initialization signal as a unit controller.
Supplied to 190.

On the other hand, after clearing the internal register and RAM, the unit controller 190 clears the I / O port (step S1).
02), it is monitored whether the initialization signal INT from the unit memory 550 has risen (step S10).
3) When the signal INT rises, the value set in the unit number setting unit 171 is read, and then the terminal serial number and the channel number are calculated from the unit number (steps S104 and S10).
Five). Then, the channel number is written to the transmission data area SDA of the unit memory 550 (step S106).

The data transmission controller 551 uses the transmission data area S
The channel number in the DA is read and it is determined whether or not it is "0" (steps S203, S204). If the channel number is not "0" by writing by the unit controller, the read channel number is stored in the latch LT3 (563). Then, a command specifying the page configuration in the packet memory used for data transmission / reception is written to the latch LT2 (562) (steps S205 and S206). Then, the network controller 553 reads the channel number in the latch LT3, stores it in the internal RAM, determines its own address in the low-layer network (step S302), and reads the page configuration of the packet memory from the next latch LT2. It is stored (step S303). Thereby, the configuration of the transmission / reception page is determined.

Thereafter, the data transmission controller 551 writes the page number used for the next data reception to the latch LT2 (Step S207). Then, this becomes a reception permission command to the network controller 553. Therefore, the network controller checks whether there is a reception page number in the latch LT2, and if there is a page number, determines that the reception is permitted, and shifts to the reception processing after step S305 (FIG. 47) (FIG. 47). Step S304). In step S305, the network controller determines whether there is a transmission request from the NAU. Then, when there is a transmission request, after transmitting to the NAU that reception is possible, the NAU
The packet received from the device is received, the unnecessary portion such as the source address is removed by the received packet, the data portion is converted into parallel data, and the received data is written to a designated page in the packet memory 582 ( Steps
S306 to S308). After a while, the network controller 55
3 writes the received command into the latch LT1 (561) (step S309).

Then, the data transmission controller 551 sets its latch LT1
After confirming that there is a received command by reading the data, the received data is read from a predetermined page of the packet memory 552 and temporarily stored in the working area of the unit memory 550 (steps S208 and S209). Then, the data transmission controller 551 writes the next received page to the latch LT2. This is a command to permit reception of the next packet (step S210). This command (received page) is read and stored by the network controller 553 (step S310), and the next data can be received in parallel with the transmission of the received data from the data transmission controller 551 to the unit controller 190.

That is, the data transmission controller 551 determines in step S21
If the received page is written to the latch LT2 at 0, the command register CR2 in the unit memory 550 is checked to confirm that it is "0", that is, that there is no other transmission request to the unit controller 190 (step S211). The write position in the reception data area is determined from the reception packet type, and the reception data in the working area is moved to the reception data area in the unit memory (steps S212 and S21).
3). Then, the received packet type name is written in the command register CR2 of the communication area (step S214).

Then, when the unit controller 190 monitors the command register CR2 and determines that the packet type has been written, the unit controller 190 starts processing corresponding to the packet type (steps S107 and S108). Then, when the processing is completed, the command register CR2 is cleared (step S109). On the other hand, the data transmission controller 551 stores the received packet type name in the command register CR in step S214.
After writing to 2, it is determined whether the packet is an “initial value setting” packet. If the packet is an “initial value setting” packet, a regular timer (1 second) in the unit memory is set to start transmission of the regular data. (Steps S215 and S216).
If the received packet is not the "initial value setting" packet, it is determined in step S217 whether the packet is a "line test" packet. If the packet is a "line test" packet, in step S218, a process is executed to transmit the "ACK" packet as a response. If the packet is not a "line test" packet, the process directly proceeds to another process.

Next, the packet transmission processing will be described with reference to FIG.

When a packet transmission factor such as “card-in” or “interruption switch” occurs, the unit controller 190 first writes a packet type name in the “packet type” column in the transmission data area of the unit memory 550. That is, a packet head is created (step S121). Then, check the command register CR1 in the unit memory to see if another transmission packet has already been entered, and if there is no other transmission packet, write the packet type name to be transmitted in the command register CR1 and then The transmission timer is set (steps S122 to S124). Command register
Writing the packet type name to CR1 is a transmission command to the data transmission controller 551. On the other hand, the data transmission controller 551 monitors whether the packet type has entered the command register CR1 (step S221).
When the packet type is received, the transmission data corresponding to the transmission packet type is read from the transmission data area in the unit memory, and the address (fixed) of the destination NAU and the number of bytes of the transmission data are read in the packet memory. Write to page 0 (steps S222, S223).

Thereafter, the data transmission controller 551 writes a command for transmitting data in page 0 to the latch LT2 (step S224).

Then, this becomes a transmission command to the network controller 553, and the network controller 553 checks for a transmission command, and when there is a command, waits for acquisition of a transmission right on the network, and when the transmission right is obtained, permits transmission from the NAU. (Steps S321 to S32)
3). Then, after transmitting the data in the page 1 of the packet memory, the transmission result is written into the latch LT1 (steps S324, S325). In response to this, the data transmission controller checks the latch LT1 to see if the transmission was successful,
When the transmission fails, the above transmission processing is repeated up to three times (steps S225, S226).

Then, after writing the transmission result in the status register STR in the communication area of the unit memory, the command register CR1 is cleared (steps S227 and S228).

On the other hand, after setting the transmission timer in step S124, the unit controller 190 continuously monitors the command register CR1 (step S125).
In 28, if a time-over occurs before the command register CR1 is cleared by the data transmission controller 551, the common signal (watchdog pulse) of the display data sent to the pachinko machine control device 195 is fixed at a low level, and the watchdog pulse is output. The operation is stopped (step S127). As a result, a reset is performed by the reset circuit 555, and steps S101, S201, and S301 are initialized.

Next, the scheduled data transmission processing will be described with reference to FIG. The data transmission controller 551 determines in step S
Check the regular timer set in step 216 (step S23
1) When one second has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S232, where all data in the transmission data area of the unit memory 550 is read and written to the working area (step S233).
Then, the data is compared again with the data in the transmission data area (step S234).
Check CR1 to see if there is another transmission request (packet type) to the data transmission controller (step
S235), data is read from the working area and written to the packet memory 552 as transmission data (step S).
237, S238). At this time, together with the transmission data, the destination address (NAU), the length (the number of bytes) of the transmission data, and the packet type name are written in page 1 in the packet memory. In step S235, the command register CR1
If another packet name is included in the packet, the packet is transmitted (S236), and the process proceeds to step S237.

The reason why the data match is determined in step S234 is that when the unit controller rewrites one byte of the 2-byte data portion with respect to the transmission data area and transmits the scheduled data, the undetermined data is transmitted. This is because it will be transmitted. By confirming the coincidence of the data, it is possible to determine the determination of the data in the transmission data area.

After writing the transmission data (step S238), the data transmission controller 551 writes a transmission command of the data in page 1 to the latch LT2 (step S239).

Then, this becomes a transmission command to the network controller 553, and the network controller 553 checks for a transmission command, and when there is a command, waits for acquisition of a transmission right on the network, and when the transmission right is obtained, permits transmission from the NAU. Wait for (Steps S331 to S33
3). Then, after transmitting the data in the page 1 of the packet memory, the transmission result is written into the latch LT1 (steps S334, S335). In response to this, the data transmission controller 551 checks the latch LT1 to determine whether the transmission has succeeded. If the transmission has failed, the data transmission controller 551 repeats the transmission process up to three times (steps S240 and S241).

Next, the operation state of the pachinko machine reflected in the operation information of the transmission operation data shown in Table 1 and a transition method thereof, and a control method of the pachinko machine using the operation state and the card state will be described.

In the system of this embodiment, as the operating state of the pachinko machine, a reset state SS10 as shown in FIG.
Non-playable forced termination state SS11, free state SS12 open to all players, game state SS13 in which games are played by specific players, and reservation of gaming rights to specific players Suspending the game by suspending SS14
And a stopped state SS15 in which a predetermined number of prize balls are discharged and the game is stopped. Of these, the free state SS12
Only the interrupted state SS14 is a state in which the card can be accepted, and the reset state SS10, as well as the forcibly terminated state SS11 and the stopped state SS15 are the states in which the card cannot be accepted. In the suspension state SS14, only the card that caused the suspension is accepted. On the other hand, in the gaming state SS13, a specific card is held inside the pachinko machine.

Each of the above-mentioned states can be changed in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure, and no other state changes occur.

That is, the reset state SS10 shifts to the forced termination state SS11 only when an "initial value" packet is received. However, when a “unit recovery” packet is received in the reset state after the recovery from the power failure, the pachinko machine returns to the state before the power failure occurred. The transition from the forced termination state SS11 to only the free state SS12 can be made, and the transition is made when a “store opening” packet or a “forced termination release” packet is received. In addition, from the free state SS12, it is possible to shift to the gaming state SS13 or the forced ending state SS11, shift to the gaming state SS13 by receiving the "card-in" packet, and forcibly terminate by receiving the "closed" packet or the "forced ending" packet. Move to state SS11.

Then, in the game state SS13, the operation returns to the free state SS12 when the end switch is turned on or the return to zero state is generated, and when the interruption switch is turned on during the game, the operation returns to the interruption state SS14. Move to each.
The transition from the suspended state SS14 or the stopped state SS15 to the free state SS12 is made when the “suspended” packet (when the settlement is performed by the checkout machine) or the “suspended release” packet is received, and the interruption is performed in the suspended state SS14. When the triggered card is inserted again, the game state returns to SS13.

In addition, free state SS12, gaming state SS13, suspended state
In all the states of SS14 and the stop state SS15, when the “forced end request” packet is received from the management device 400, the state immediately shifts to the forced end state SS11.

Moreover, in the system of this embodiment, a test mode for enabling a game with a test card is prepared. In this mode, when the power of the entire system is turned on and online, the state transition is almost the same as in FIG. 43 (A). I do. FIG. 43 (B) shows a state transition diagram of the pachinko machine in the online test mode. In this case, the condition of the state transition is slightly different from that in the normal operation mode.

That is, when a normal test card is inserted after the test switch is pressed in the free state SS12 in the normal operation mode, the control space is switched, and the state of the pachinko machine shifts to the game state SS13 'in the test mode. Even in the test mode, it is possible to shift to the stop state or the interruption state. However, it is possible to shift from the gaming state SS13 'to the free state SS12 when the end switch is turned on or when a return to zero occurs, and from the hit state SS15' to the free state SS1.
2 'is not received by receiving the "cancel release" packet, but by turning on the end switch. Also, when the original test card or another test card is inserted in the suspended state SS14', the state returns to the test game state SS13 '. When the end switch is pressed in the suspension state SS14 ', the state shifts to the normal free state SS12. The control space is switched at the same time as the transition from each state in the test mode to the free state SS12. In other words, the test mode is not the test mode, but the normal operation mode. If the player wants to play the game again with the test card, it is necessary to turn on the test switch again before inserting the test mode. On the other hand, when a "forced termination request" packet is sent from the management device 400 in each state of the test mode, this is stored in the unit control device 180, and when the termination switch is turned on, each state SS
The transition from 13 ', SS14', SS15 'to the forced termination state SS11 is made.

The transition to the forced termination state SS11 is also performed at the same time as the switching of the control space, and the test mode ends.

FIG. 43 (C) shows a state transition in the test mode when one of the pachinko machines is powered on independently and disconnected from the management device 400 in the offline mode.

When the pachinko machine is off-line, the pachinko machine is initialized by turning on the power, and then the test switch is turned on or a standby state for waiting for a “line test” packet from the management device SS20.
Becomes Here, when the test switch is turned on and a regular test card is subsequently inserted, the game mode shifts to the game state SS13 'in the test mode. Thereafter, the state shifts to the interruption state SS14 'and the stop state SS15' under the same conditions as in FIG. 43 (B), and when the end switch is turned on in each state, the state returns to the standby state SS20.

When the “line test” and “initial value setting” packets are received in the standby state SS20, the process shifts to the forced termination state SS11 in the normal operation mode.

The unit control device 180 of the control unit 160 of the pachinko machine of this embodiment communicates with the control and management device 400 of the pachinko machine and the card reader while referring to the operating state and the card state of the pachinko machine, While reducing the burden on the management device, while maintaining the independence of control for the predetermined processing while avoiding malfunctions due to communication errors,
It is possible to promptly respond to a player's action or the like.

Hereinafter, processing in the unit controller 190 using the pachinko machine operation information and the card status will be described.

First, before describing the processing by the unit controller 190, the unit controller 190 and the pachinko machine controller 1
FIG. 56 to FIG. 63 show the procedure of mutual data transmission and mutual operation of the card reader controller 188 and the card reader controller 188.
This will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 56 shows the procedure from initialization to opening of a store.

Communication between the card reader controller 188 and the unit controller 190 is performed by a function code, and the function code from the unit controller 190 to the card reader controller 188 is a function code that matches the magnetic data read from the card. "Initial value setting" function to give the card reader a date code and identification code to perform, "Card accepted" function to allow the card reader to accept the card, Card acceptance to the card reader "Card not accepted" function to instruct to cancel the card, "Card eject" function to instruct to eject the card, "Reload" function to instruct to re-read the magnetic data of the card,
A "retransmission request" function for requesting retransmission of the function code sent immediately before, a "status request" function for requesting transmission of a bit indicating the status of the card reader held in the card reader controller, and a punching area forming area The ball of the card in place,
Amount is eight command for "zero-reset" function gives an instruction to drilling the null Reiana PH ₄ indicating that becomes zero is prepared.

On the other hand, as a function code from the card reader controller 188 to the unit controller 190, a "card number transmission" function for sending the card number read by the card reader to the unit controller,
A "test card" function to notify the unit controller that a test card has been inserted, an "initial value request" function to request initial values such as date and identification code at reset, and that the requested processing has been completed normally. "Normal end" to inform the unit controller
Function and conversely, an "abnormal termination" function that informs that processing has not been completed normally, and a "self-informing" that the card reader controller determines that the inserted card is invalid and detects the card by its own volition. "Discharge" function, "Resend request" function to request the unit controller to resend the function code sent immediately before and "Reload"
There are eight types of “status transmission” functions for transmitting the status of the card reader in response to a request or “status request”.

However, the communication between the card reader controller 188 and the unit controller 190 does not send the function code unilaterally, but first, the transmitting side sends a call signal (calling code) ENQ, and receives the permission response ACK from the receiving side. After the function code is sent.

In FIG. 56, when a reset occurs due to power-on, the unit controller 190, card reader controller CPU2, and pachinko machine controller CPU1 initialize internal registers and the like (steps S401, S501, S601). When the initialization is completed, the pachinko machine controller CPU1 waits for input of a detection signal from each sensor or switch (S4
Ten).

The unit controller 190 reads the set value from the unit number setting device 171 to calculate a serial number and a channel number, and stores them in the unit memory 550 (step S602). And
It waits for a "line test" packet to be sent from the management device (step S603).

Next, upon receiving the "initial value setting" packet, the reception control from the card reader is started, and the presence or absence of the call signal ENQ from the card reader controller CPU2 is determined (steps S604 to S606).

On the other hand, upon completion of the initialization, the card reader controller CPU2 transmits a call signal ENQ to the unit controller 190, and waits for a response signal ACK to the call signal ENQ (steps S502 and S503). Before sending the call signal ENQ, consider the case where the unit controller sends a call such as the “initial value setting” function, and
If there is no ENQ, it is determined whether there is an ENQ (step S504).
Then, if there is an ENQ, an ACK is transmitted to wait for reception of a function code (steps S504 to S506).

When the unit controller receives the transmission of the call signal ENQ from the card reader controller in step S502 in step S606, it returns a response signal ACK (step S607). Then, the card reader controller transmits an "initialization request" function (step S51).
1). This is received by the unit controller and transmission control to the card reader is started, and first, an "initial value setting" function including an identification code is transmitted (steps S608 to S610).

Upon receiving this initial value, the card reader controller stores the date and the identification code in the internal RAM, and then returns the "normal end" function (steps S512 to S514).

When the unit controller receives the "normal end" function (step S611), it waits for a "store opening code" packet from the management device, and upon receiving the "opening code" packet, scrolls the analog display 163 to display a customer wait and displays the unit memory. Is changed to "free" (steps S612 to S614). Then, the unit controller sends a "card accepted" function to the card reader controller (step S615).

When the card reader controller receives this, it first opens the shutter and then starts card insertion detection (steps S515 to S517). Then, the "normal end" function is returned (step S518), and a state of waiting for insertion of a function or a card from the unit controller is entered (step S520). On the other hand, when the unit controller receives the "normal end" function from the card reader, it enters a state of waiting for a packet from the management device or a function from the card reader controller (step S620).

FIG. 57 shows an operation procedure when a card is inserted into the card reader.

When the card reader controller CPU2 is in the function or card waiting state (step S520), when the card is inserted, it is detected by the insertion detection switch 808, and the motor is driven to take the card inside (step S521). Next, after checking the punched holes and the security code, the magnetic data is read, and the date and the identification code are inspected (steps S522 to S525). If the card is a normal card, the function including the read card number is transmitted to the unit controller, and then the shutter is closed (steps S526 and S527).

When the unit controller 190 receives the card number, it sends a “card-in” packet to the management device 400,
The presence of the card is confirmed by the "ACK" packet, and the operation information is changed to "playing" (steps S621 to S625). Then, the status display lamp 162 is turned on to notify the outside that the game is being played, and then the hit ball launching device 103 is made drivable, and waits for the input of a detection signal from each sensor (steps S624 and S624).
625).

During this time, the pachinko machine controller CPU1 is in a state of waiting for detection signals of the sensors and switches (step S410),
After the launch control of the hit ball launching device is started, when the detection signal from the launch sensor SNS5, the safe sensors SNS2, SNS3, the foul sensor SNS4, and the out sensor SNS1 is detected, it is notified to the unit controller (steps S411 to S416). In addition, at this time, the return ball and the launch ball are distinguished from each other based on the difference in the detection time of the launch sensor, and the number of returns is output as a foul ball detection signal (step S416). On the other hand, when the unit controller receives the detection signal of the sensor, the unit controller performs an operation according to the type of the signal, obtains the number of balls being played, updates the unit memory (steps S626 to S630), and receives the detection signal of the purchase switch 113. And an operation to reduce the unused amount of the card and increase the number of balls held (step S631).

FIG. 58 shows an operation procedure when the interruption switch 114 is turned on during the game.

When detecting that the interruption switch is turned on, the unit controller 190 stops the control of the hit ball launching device 103 and transmits a “suspension switch” packet to the management device 400 (steps S632 to S634). Then, from the management device,
When "K" is returned, the operation information in the unit memory 550 is changed to "interrupted", the game status indicator lamp 123 is driven to blink and the interruption is displayed, and then the "card ejection" function is executed. The data is transmitted to the reader controller (steps S635 to S637).

When the card reader controller receives this function, it opens the shutter, reverses the motor, ejects the card, sends a "normal end" function to the unit controller (steps S528 to S531), and waits for card insertion or function (steps S528 to S531). Step S532).
On the other hand, after receiving the “normal end” function (step S638), the unit controller waits for reception of a packet or function (step S620).

Thereafter, when the interrupted card is inserted into the card reader, the card reader controller CPU2 proceeds to step S5.
In accordance with the same procedure as in steps 21 to S527, the card is taken in, checked and transmitted, and the shutter is closed (steps S533 to S538). On the other hand, the unit controller compares the received card number with the card number in the unit memory to check whether the card is interrupted, and if they match, transmits a “suspended card-in” packet to the management device (step S639-S641). Then, when the response "ACK" is received, the operating state is changed to "playing", the game state display lamp is changed to a continuously lit game display, and the control of the hitting ball firing device is started (steps S642 to S644).

By the way, in the system of this embodiment, when the suspended card is settled by the settlement machine, the suspended pachinko machine is released. Then, when the packet of step S620 in FIG. 58 or the “interruption end” packet is sent from the management apparatus in the function reception waiting state, the unit controller changes the operation information to “free” and the lamp is turned off.
After the display of 123, 163 is changed to the customer waiting display, the reception of the packet or the function is waited again (step S620).

FIG. 59 shows an operation procedure when the end switch 115 is turned on.

When detecting that the end switch is turned on, the unit controller 190 stops driving the hit ball launching device 103, and then sends a “end switch” packet to the management device 400 (steps S645 to S647). When the response “ACK” is received, the operation information is changed to “free”, and the game status display lamp
123 is turned off, the analog display 163 is scrolled to change to the customer waiting display, and then the "card ejection" function is sent to the card reader controller (steps S648 to S6).
50).

Upon receiving the function, the card reader controller CPU2 opens the shutter, drives the motor, ejects the card, and returns a "normal end" function to the unit controller (steps S539 to S542). Then, it waits for card insertion or function reception (step S520).

On the other hand, upon receiving the “normal end” function from the card reader controller, the unit controller waits for a packet from the management device or a function from the card reader controller (steps S651 and S62).
0). During this time, the pachinko machine controller is waiting for the input of the detection signal of the sensor (step S410).

Next, a procedure in the case where a return-to-zero state in which both the number of balls held and the amount of money become “0” during the game shown in FIG. 57 will be described with reference to FIG.

As a result of the calculation of the number of balls in steps S626 to S631, it is determined whether or not the number of balls and the amount of money have become “0”, and if “0”, a search timer of 10 seconds after stopping the drive control of the hit ball launching device 103 Is turned on (steps S652 to S654). Then, it is checked whether the number of floating balls (the number of launched balls−the number of collected balls) existing in the game board has become “0”, and the search timer is set to 10
It is determined whether or not seconds have elapsed (steps S655 and S656), and if the number of floating balls becomes “0” or the search timer has elapsed for 10 seconds, a “return-to-zero” packet is transmitted to the management device 400 (step S655). S658). Also, if the number of floating balls exists within 10 seconds after the launching device stops, check if there are safe balls, foul balls, out balls, and if so, steps S626 to S631
Then, the number of balls is calculated again (step S657).

When an “ACK” packet is received from the management device, the operation information is changed to “free”, and then the lamp 123,
163 is changed to the customer waiting display, and the “return to zero” function is transmitted to the card reader controller (steps S659 to S659).
S662).

When the card reader controller CPU2 receives this function, it punches a punch hole at the return-to-zero hole punching position of the card, opens the shutter, and ejects the card (step
S543-S546). Then, the “normal end” function is sent to the unit controller 190, and the card is inserted or the function is waited for (steps S547, S52).
0).

On the other hand, upon receiving the “normal end” function, the unit controller enters a packet or function waiting state (steps S663, S620).

FIG. 61 shows a processing procedure when a hit state occurs during the game in FIG. 57.

After calculating the number of balls and the amount of money in steps S626 to S631, a hit calculation is performed, and it is determined whether or not the calculated value has reached the hit number (steps S664 and S665). When the number of hits has been reached, the driving control of the hit ball launching device 103 is stopped, and then the management device 400
To the "stop" packet (steps S666, S66
7).

When an "ACK" packet is received from the management device, the operation information is changed to "stop", and the game status display lamp is changed.
Turns off 123 and stops display on analog display 163 (flashing drive)
(Steps S668 to S670). After that, the tap sound is output from the speaker 166, and then the "card cannot be accepted" function is transmitted to the card reader controller CPU2 (steps S671, S672).

When the card reader controller receives this function, it opens the shutter and ejects the card, then closes the shutter to prohibit card insertion. Then, a “normal end” function is transmitted to the unit controller 190, and the function waits for function reception (steps S551 to S556). Then, the unit controller receives the “normal end” function and enters a packet waiting state (steps S673 and S674).

After that, when a “cancel release” packet is sent from the management device, the unit controller changes the operation information to “free”, changes the lamps 123 and 163 to the customer waiting display, and then sends a “card accepted” to the card reader controller. Is transmitted (steps S675 to S678).

Then, the card reader controller opens the shutter to start card insertion detection, transmits a “normal end” function (steps S557 to S560), and waits for a function or card insertion (step S520).
On the other hand, the unit controller receives the “normal end” function (step S679), and waits for reception of a packet or function (step S620). During this time,
The pachinko machine controller CPU1 is in a state of waiting for input of a detection signal of each sensor and switch (step S410).

FIG. 62 shows a processing procedure at the time of forced termination. When a “forced end” packet is sent from the management device 400 in the packet or the function reception wait state (step S620) of FIGS. 56, 59, 60, and 61, the unit controller 190 Is changed to "forced termination", the lamps 123 and 163 are turned off, the number of balls and the amount display are cleared to "0", and then the "card cannot be accepted" function is transmitted to the card reader controller CPU2 (steps S681 to 684). .

Then, the card reader controller determines whether a card is present in the function receiver or the card reader. If the card is present, the shutter is opened and the card is ejected.
The flow shifts to 65, the shutter is closed, and then the "normal end" function is transmitted, and the function is awaited (steps S561 to S567).

On the other hand, when the unit controller receives the “normal end” function from the card reader controller, it waits for a packet (steps S685, S686).

After that, when a “forced termination release” packet is sent from the management device, the unit controller changes the operation information to “free”, changes the lamps 123 and 163 to the customer waiting display, and then sends the “card accepted” to the card reader controller. Is transmitted (steps S687 to S690).

Then, the card reader controller opens the shutter to start card insertion detection, transmits a “normal end” function (steps S568 to S571), and waits for a function or card insertion (step S520).
On the other hand, the unit controller receives the "normal end" function (step S691), and waits for reception of a packet or function (step S620). During this time,
The pachinko machine controller CPU1 is in a state of waiting for input of a detection signal of each sensor and switch (step S410).

FIG. 63 shows the procedure of unit recovery processing after a power failure occurs.

When the power outage recovers, each controller CPU1, CPU2, 19
0 initializes the internal registers etc. (Step S
421, S581, S701), and then the unit controller reads the unit number from the unit number setting unit 171, calculates the serial number and the channel number, stores them in the unit memory 550, and waits for the reception of the "line test" packet (step S702). , S703).

On the other hand, the pachinko machine controller CPU1 waits for input of a detection signal of a sensor or a switch after initialization (step S410), and the card reader controller CPU2 executes the call signal in the same manner as steps S502 to S506 at the time of power-on reset in FIG. After sending ENQ, signal ACK from unit controller
It is determined whether or not ENQ has been received, and upon receiving ENQ, returns ACK and then waits for function reception (step S582).
~ S586).

Upon receiving the “line test” packet in step S703, the unit controller 190 subsequently receives the “unit recovery data” packet sent from the management device 400, and returns the data in the unit memory to the state before the power failure occurred. “ACK” packet is returned (steps S704 and S70)
Five). Then, after turning off the firing drive control irrespective of the state before the power failure, if the previous operating state is a game, the operating information is set to "free" (steps S706, S707).
Next, since a "restart" packet is sent from the management device, when the "restart" packet is received, transmission / reception control with the card reader controller is started.
Is transmitted (steps S708 to S710). Then, if a response signal ACK is received, an "initial value setting" function is sent to the card reader controller (steps S711, S712).

When receiving the "initial value setting" function, the card reader controller stores the date and the identification code, and then returns the "normal end" function. Upon receiving this, the unit controller responds to the lamp 123,
163 is displayed (steps S713, S714). That is, the original operating state returns to the original display state except for “in game”.
Subsequently, the unit controller transmits a function corresponding to the operation information (step S715). In other words, if "free", the "reload" function of the card, if "suspended", the "card accepted" function,
In other cases, a "card cannot be accepted" function is transmitted.

Then, the card reader controller executes a process corresponding to the transmitted function, determines whether a card is present in the card reader, and transmits a "status" function when there is no card (step). S590-S592). When a card is present in the card reader, after performing the authenticity determination of the card corresponding to steps S522 to 525, the card number is inserted into the function and transmitted, and then the function reception or card insertion wait corresponding to step S520 is waited. State.

On the other hand, when the unit controller receives the "status" function from the card reader, it proceeds to step S6.
Waiting for a packet or function equivalent to 20, and receiving a function with a card number,
After transmitting the "card-in" packet corresponding to step S622 to the management device, the game processing is started according to the procedure of steps S623 to S631 in FIG.

As described above, when the operating state before the power failure occurs is “in game”, the game is restarted after rereading and checking the card, so that erroneous data (particularly card number) at the time of power recovery is restored. Can be avoided, reliability can be improved, and illegal acts such as removal of a card during a power outage can be eliminated.

Next, a specific control procedure in the unit controller 190 will be described with reference to FIGS. 64 to 79.

The processing in the unit controller 190 includes an initialization task after power-on or reset, and 10
There are two types of main tasks: timer interrupt processing based on an interrupt signal received from the timer every millisecond, and serial interrupt processing that occurs when a function is transmitted to and received from the card reader controller.

Of these, ten types of main tasks are repeatedly executed in real-time processing. Here, the ten types of main tasks are a packet reception task and a card reader control task, a packet transmission task, an error control task, a ball count calculation task, a switch detection task, a sound output task, a timer control task, a lamp drive task, and a port. There are 10 types of output control tasks.

FIG. 64 shows the procedure for timer interrupt processing, and FIG. 65 shows the procedure for serial interrupt processing.

In the timer interrupt processing shown in FIG. 64, first, the hot code (A55A) in the unit memory is checked (procedure P1), and if there is an abnormality, the reset is performed. If the abnormality is normal, the timer for the timer interrupt is reset. Yes (procedure P
2). Next, after updating the timer prepared in the internal RAM of the unit controller 190, the watchdog counter in the unit memory is set to "FFH" every time the data is transmitted by the data transmission controller and is decremented by 1 every 20 ms. Check (procedure P3, P4). Here, if the watchdog counter is "0", it is determined that the data transmission controller has gone down, and the common signal for driving the segment type display is fixed and reset by the reset circuit 555 is applied.

If the watchdog counter is normal, the next sensor and switch detection processing (see FIG. 66 (A)) is executed, and then the switch detection signal invalidation processing (see FIG. 66 (B)) is executed (procedure). P5, P6).

Thereafter, the amount and the number of balls are read out from the unit memory and converted into a code.
Then, the segment data and common data of the ball number display 112 are formed and output, and the amount and the number of balls are dynamically displayed (procedures P7 and P8).

On the other hand, in the serial interrupt processing shown in FIG. 65, when an interrupt comes in from the transmission buffer or the reception buffer inside the unit controller 190, it is first determined whether or not it is a reception interrupt. internal
Transfer to RAM (procedure P11, P12). Further, when the serial interrupt is an interrupt from the transmission buffer, a one-byte transmission process of converting the one-byte transmission data into serial data by shifting the transmission buffer and outputting the serial data is executed (procedures P13 and P14). ). In the serial interrupt, an interrupt signal is automatically input to the CPU when transmission / reception data enters a reception buffer or a transmission buffer.

The sensor and switch detection processing during the timer interrupt processing (FIG. 64) is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 66 (A).

That is, first, the purchase switch 113, the interruption switch 114,
The on / off states of the settlement switch 115, the test switch 179, and the call switch 165a are read and compared with the previous states (procedures P51, P52). In the comparison of the states, for example, whether a state has changed can be easily known by performing a logical operation such as an exclusive OR. Here, if there is a switch that is newly turned on, the on state of the switch is saved in the internal RAM (procedure P53).

Next, whether sensor detection is in progress (procedure P54),
That is, it is determined whether or not “playing”, and if the sensor is being detected, the states of the firing sensor SNS5, the safe sensors SNS2, SNS3, the foul sensor SNS4, and the out sensor SNS1 are read and compared with the previous state (procedures P55 and P56). ). If there is a sensor that is newly turned on, the on state of the sensor is saved in the internal RAM (procedure P57).

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not drive control of the hit ball launching device 103 is being performed.If the drive control is being performed, the process jumps to the procedure P60,
If it is not controlled, the on-state of the firing sensor saved in the RAM in procedure P57 is invalidated (procedures P58 and P5
9). Then, if the firing sensor is turned on after looking at the data saved in the RAM, the counter provided in the RAM for counting the number of floating balls is added (procedures P60 and P61). If the firing sensor is off, the process proceeds to the next procedure P62 without incrementing the number of floating balls, and determines whether the number of floating balls is “0”. Here, if the number of floating balls is "0"
The ON state of the first safe sensor SNS2 saved in the RAM is invalidated (procedure P76), and if it is not “0”, it is checked whether the first safe sensor is in the ON state. If it is ON, the number of floating balls is reduced (procedures P63, P64). ), If the first safe sensor is off, the process directly proceeds to the procedure P65, and it is determined again whether or not the number of floating balls is “0”.

And if the number of floating balls is “0”, the second saved in RAM
Disable the ON state of the safe sensor SNS3 (procedure P7
7) If it is not “0”, check whether the second safe sensor is on or not. If it is on, subtract the number of floating balls (procedures P66 and P6).
7) After that, if the second safe sensor is off, the process directly proceeds to the procedure P68, and it is determined again whether or not the number of floating balls is “0”. Here, if the number of floating balls is “0”, the on state of the foul sensor SNS4 saved in the RAM is invalidated (procedure P7
8) If it is not "0", check whether the foul sensor is on and if it is on, subtract the number of floating balls (procedure P69, P70)
After that, if the foul sensor is off again, the process directly proceeds to the procedure P71, and it is determined again whether or not the number of floating balls is “0”.
Here, if the number of floating balls is "0", the ON state of the out sensor SNS1 saved in the RAM is invalidated (procedure P79),
If it is not "0", it is checked whether the out sensor is on or not. If it is on, the number of floating balls is subtracted (procedures P72 and P73). If either of the above is valid, an instruction is made to reserve the hit sound and turn on the safe sphere display lamp, and then add (+1) the on-time counter for the valid on-state sensor saved in the RAM (procedure) P75).

Thereafter, the switch invalidating process shown in FIG. 66 (B) is executed. In this process, first check whether the operating state is "playing",
If "Playing", invalidate the ON state of the test switch saved in RAM (procedures P81 and P82). If not "Playing", disable the ON state of the suspend switch 114 and purchase switch 113 (procedure P83), and then play the card. It is determined whether the state is “return to zero”. If the state is “return to zero”, the ON states of the saved purchase switch, interruption switch, and end switch 115 are invalidated (procedures P84, P85).

As described above, in the control of the pachinko machine by the unit controller of the present embodiment, the concept of a floating ball is adopted, and a ball obtained by subtracting the number of winning balls, out balls, and foul balls from the number of firing balls is used as a floating ball. It is regarded as existing in the game board, and if a winning ball or the like is detected such that the number of floating balls becomes “0” or less, it is invalidated. Thus, an erroneous detection signal due to noise or the like can be eliminated, and the calculation accuracy of the number of balls can be improved.

Next, an initialization task by the unit controller 190 and ten kinds of main tasks to be processed in real time will be described.

 FIG. 67 shows the initialization task.

The unit controller 190 starts an initialization task when a reset signal is input from the reset circuit 555 at the time of power-on or at the disappearance of the watchdog pulse,
First, the internal RAM is cleared, a check code is written at a predetermined address, and then an initial value is set in the internal register, and the I / O port is set to a predetermined initial state (procedures P91 to P93). Then, after setting a plurality of reference timers prepared in the RAM, it waits for a rise of an initialization signal INT output by writing to the unit memory 550 by the data transmission controller 551 (procedures P94 and P95). Then, when the INT signal rises, the setting number of the unit number setting switch 171 is read, and
After calculating the serial number and the channel number and writing them to the transmission data area of the unit memory, the management device 400
(Steps P96 to P98), and checks the test switch 179. If a "line test" packet is received, an "ACK" packet is returned to the management device and then to the main task. If the test switch is turned on before the "line test" packet is received, the test mode flag is set. To the main task respectively.

FIG. 68 shows the processing procedure of the “packet receiving task” among the ten types of main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, first, the unit memory 550 is checked to determine whether a packet has been sent from the management device 400, and if there is no received packet, it is checked whether it is in a state of waiting for the return of an “ACK” packet (procedures P101 and P102). ). If NO (No), the procedure returns to the procedure P101 and repeats the above procedure. If an "ACK" packet is awaited in the procedure P102, the procedure shifts to the procedure P103 and is set in the procedure P157 in the packet transmission task in FIG. 72. Read the timer waiting for ACK.
Then, the timer checks whether or not the timer has timed out.
Set the CK reception error flag (procedure P104, P10
Five). This flag is used for the error control task described later (Fig. 73)
Referred to by

On the other hand, if it is determined in the procedure P101 that there is a received packet, the type name of the received packet is read from the unit memory into the internal RAM, and it is first determined whether or not the received packet is a “NAK” packet (procedures P106 and P107). If it is "NAK", the NAK flag prepared in the RAM is set (procedure P108).
Then, if it is not “NAK”, the process directly proceeds to the procedure P109, and it is determined whether or not the received packet is registered. If it is an unregistered packet, the packet type name in the command register CR2 of the unit memory is cleared to "0" in procedure P110, and the procedure returns to procedure P101. It is determined that no packet has been received by clearing the command register CR2.

If it is determined in step P109 that the received packet is a registered packet, it is determined in steps P111 to P125 which packet the received packet is.
69 (A) to (N) are executed.

FIG. 60 (A) shows the procedure of the "initial value setting" packet receiving process in the packet receiving task.

Upon receiving the "initial value setting" packet, unit controller 190 copies the hot code to the corresponding column in the reception data area of unit memory 550, and similarly the hot code to the transmission data area (procedures P301 and P302).
By writing the head part of the transmitted packet in the reception data area and the transmission data area, the creation of the packet head of the transmission data area by the unit controller can be simplified. Next, "initial value not set" in monitor information 1
Check the bit to determine whether the initial value has been received (procedure P3
03) Immediately proceed to procedure P306 if it has been received, or “forced end” the operation information in procedures P304 and P305 if it has not been received.
To a state in which transmission to the card reader is prohibited, and then the flow shifts to procedure P306 to enable communication control (reception) with the card reader. “Initial value setting”
The packet may also be transmitted when the prize ball or the number of hits is changed on the console of the management device 400 after opening, and in that case, it is not preferable to change the operation information. Then, check the flag of the internal RAM to check whether it is in the test mode or not (procedure P307). If it is in the test mode, proceed to the procedure P310. If it is the normal operation mode, send the initial value to the card reader in the procedure P308. Whether or not the flag has been transmitted and the flag has been transmitted, the initial value transmitted flag is cleared (procedure P309), and then the process shifts to procedure P310 to permit transmission to the card reader. Then, after making a transmission reservation by writing an "initial value setting" function to a predetermined area (transmission buffer area) of the internal RAM, it is determined whether the initial value has been received again by checking the flag (procedures P311 and P312). ).

"Initial value setting" to the card reader in procedure P308
If the function has not been sent yet, the procedure jumps to procedure P312 in order to transmit the initial value after receiving the "initial value request" function from the card reader at the time of the initial initial value transmission. is there. If it is determined in step P312 that the initial value packet has not been received, the process proceeds to step P313 to clear the "initial value setting" bit of the monitor information 1, and if it is determined that the initial value has been received, the procedures P312 to P314 Go to and make a transmission reservation for the "initial value setting" function, and then return to the original processing routine (Fig. 68).
Return to

FIG. 69 (B) shows the procedure of the "opening code" packet receiving process in the packet receiving task.

Upon receiving the “store opening code” packet, unit controller 190 first sets the operation information to “free” and then checks the flag to determine whether or not the mode is the test mode (procedures P321 and P322). Then, in the test mode, the process returns to the original routine.
After the display by 3,163 is changed to the customer waiting state, the "card accepted" function is written in the RAM to make a transmission reservation, the card insertion lamp 168 is changed to the blinking drive, and the process returns to the original routine (procedure P323, P324, P325).

FIG. 69 (C) shows the procedure of the "close code" packet receiving process in the packet receiving task.

When the unit controller 190 receives the "closing code" packet, it first checks the operation information, and if the operation information is "playing" or "interrupted", returns to the original routine. The "close code" is normally sent after the "forced end" packet, so the "close code" should not be sent even if there is a pachinko machine being played or suspended. Thereby, it functions as a safety device when the store closing switch is turned on by mistake. If the operation information is not “playing” or “interruption”, the status is changed to “forced termination”, and then the flag is checked to determine whether or not it is in the test mode (procedures P331 to P333). If it is in the test mode, the process returns to the original routine. If it is in the normal operation mode, all lamps are turned off, a "card cannot be accepted" function is written in the RAM, transmission is reserved, and the process returns to the original routine (procedure P334). , P336).

The reason why the test mode is determined (P333) after the operation information is changed to “forced termination” in the procedure P332 is as follows.
This is because a “closed” packet during online test mode operation is received, and the pachinko machine is immediately shifted to the forced termination state after the test mode ends.

FIG. 69 (D) shows the procedure of the “forced end” packet receiving process in the packet receiving task of FIG. 68.

Upon receiving the "forced end" packet, unit controller 190 first clears the card text data in the transmission data area of unit memory 550, and then changes the operation information to "forced end" (procedures P341 and P342). Then, in the next procedure P343, the "test mode" flag is checked, and if in the test mode, the process returns to the original routine as it is, and after the test mode ends, it can be shifted to the forced termination state immediately. On the other hand, in the normal operation mode, the detection of the sensor and the control of the hit ball launching device 103 are stopped, then all lamps are turned off, and a “card cannot be accepted” function is sent to the card reader, and then a sound is sent to a predetermined address in the internal RAM. The data for designating the type is written, the output of the forced end sound is reserved, and the process returns to the original routine (FIG. 68) (procedures P344 to P348). As a result, the pachinko machine ejects the card during the game and becomes unplayable, and in other cases, does not accept the card.

FIG. 69 (E) shows a processing procedure when a "forced termination release" packet is received.

Upon receiving the "forced termination release" packet, the unit controller 190 first checks the operation information to determine whether or not the forced termination is in progress. If not, the unit controller 190 returns to the original routine without doing anything (procedure P351). If the operation is forcibly terminated, the operation information is changed to "free", and then the flag is checked to determine whether or not the operation is in the test mode (procedures P352 and P35).
3). Here, during the test mode, the routine returns to the original routine as it is, and the pachinko machine can be immediately shifted to the free state after the end of the test mode.

On the other hand, when the mode is not the test mode, the display of the lamp is changed to the customer waiting state, the transmission of the “card accepted” function for the card reader is reserved, and the card insertion lamp 168 is changed to the blinking state. (No. 68
Return to the figure) (procedures P354 to P356).

FIG. 69 (F) shows the procedure of the “cancel release” packet receiving process.

This procedure is almost the same as the procedure for canceling the forced termination in FIG. 69 (E). The only difference is that after the operation information is set to "free" in the procedure P362, the stop operation register in the unit memory 550 is cleared and then the test mode is judged.

FIG. 69 (G) shows the procedure of the “interruption end” packet reception process.

This procedure is almost the same as the procedure for canceling the forced termination in FIG. 69 (E). The difference is that after making the operation information "free" in procedure P372, the test mode is judged after clearing the card text data in the unit memory 550, and the card can be accepted even during suspension. Therefore, there is no need to make a transmission reservation for the “card accepted” function corresponding to the procedure P355.

FIG. 69 (H) shows the procedure of the reception processing of the “unit recovery” packet in the packet reception task of FIG. 68.

When this packet is received, the unit controller 19
0 first copies the packet head of the reception data area to the transmission data area, and then clears the "initial value setting" bit of the monitor information 1 (procedures P381, P382). The “unit recovery” packet is transmitted when an abnormality is found during scheduled data collection or when power failure is recovered. In the former case, the unit controller has already received and held the initial value, Also, this is because a "unit recovery" packet is transmitted after the "initial value setting" packet is transmitted when the power failure is recovered.

After the bit of the monitor information 1 is cleared, the control of the hit ball launching device 103 and the detection of the sensor are stopped, and the transmission reservation of the packet or function that occurred before the abnormality was detected is canceled to clear the flag relating to the packet transmission and the control of the card reader. To stop the operation, and then
The transmission of the CK "packet is reserved (P383 to P387).

Next, the operating information of the restored transmission data area is checked, and if the original operating state is not playing, the operation returns to the original routine (FIG. 68). If the operating state is playing, the operating information is "free".
And return to the original routine. This is to make it match the actual state and to smoothly execute the processing according to the operation information in the processing of the “restart” packet transmitted thereafter.

FIG. 69 (I) shows the procedure for receiving a "restart" packet.

Upon receiving the "restart" packet, unit controller 190 first starts communication control with the card reader and makes a transmission reservation for the "initial value setting" function (procedures P391, P392).

Next, the operation information is checked, and if the operation is "forced termination", the flow shifts to the procedure P341 in FIG. 4D, and the pachinko machine is operated in the same manner as before the operation stop by the "unit recovery" packet according to the same procedure as the forced termination request processing. State (procedure P39
3).

If the operation information is "stop", the procedure goes to the procedure P483 described later in FIG. 69 (N) to put the pachinko machine in the stop state (procedure P394). After making a transmission reservation for the "card accepted" function to the reader, the process shifts to the procedure P427 described later in FIG. 69 (K) to put the pachinko machine into a game suspended state (procedure
P395, P396).

On the other hand, when the operation information is other than “forced end”, “stop” or “interrupted”, that is,
The operation information does not indicate “playing” due to the unit recovery processing procedure P389 in FIG. 69 (H)). The “reload” command instructing the card reader to reread the card after setting the lamp display to the customer waiting state. The transmission of the function is reserved, the card insertion lamp 168 is driven to blink, and the process returns to the original routine (FIG. 68) (procedures P397 to P399).

FIG. 69 (J) shows a processing procedure when a response to the “card-in” packet is received in the packet reception task of FIG. 68.

When there is a response to the "card-in" packet, the unit controller 190 checks whether the controller is in the ACK waiting state (procedure P401). If the "ACK" packet containing the card text arrives without waiting for the ACK, it is regarded as an error. To clear the card text data in the reception data area (procedure P402). On the other hand, if a packet arrives in the ACK waiting state, it checks whether the packet is a NAK (negative acknowledgment) (procedure P403). If the packet is a NAK, it is determined that the card does not exist and the "card ejection" function is transmitted to the card reader. The sound output for generating a sound indicating that the card reception is unsuccessful makes a reservation and returns to the original routine (procedures P405 and P406). Further, even when the response is not NAK, when the card number in the "ACK" packet does not match the previously transmitted card number, the procedure shifts to procedures P404 and P405 and rejects the card (procedure P404). .

If the card numbers match in procedure P404, "ACK"
The card text data in the reception data area sent by the packet is copied to the corresponding position in the transmission data area, and the number of balls in the card text is copied to the “number of balls” field in the operation data area ( Procedure P4
07, P408).

Thereafter, the card status in the card text is checked (procedure P409). If the card is in the "stopped" status, the card status is set to "free", and the operation information of the pachinko machine is set to "playing". After rewriting, the transmission of the "end switch" packet is reserved for the management device 400 (procedures P421 to P423). As a result, the "end switch" packet is transmitted to the management device, and when the "ACK" packet is returned, the card is ejected by the end switch processing described later (FIG. 69 (L)), and the game using the hit card is performed. Is disabled.

On the other hand, if the card is not a hit card, the procedure shifts from procedure P409 to P410 to check the operation information. If "free", the column of the number of customers in the transmission data area is updated (procedure P411). When the time (during interruption), proceed to the procedure P412 as it is, change the operation information to "playing", change the lamp display to the game state, clear the floating ball counter in the internal RAM, and detect with the sensor Is started (procedures P413 to P415). Next, the number of balls in the card text is checked, and if it is "0", it is left as it is.
Go to and make an appointment for the card reception success sound (procedure
P416-P418).

It should be noted that when a response "ACK" packet from the management device to the "interrupted card-in" packet is received, the packet is processed according to the same procedure as the processing procedure of the response packet to "card-in" shown in FIG. 69 (J).

FIG. 69 (K) shows a processing procedure when a response to the “interruption switch” packet is received in the packet reception task of FIG. 68.

The unit controller 190 checks whether the controller is in the ACK waiting state when there is a response to the "interrupt switch" packet (procedure P425), and returns to the original routine without performing any operation when the "ACK" packet arrives without waiting for the ACK. Return. Next, it is checked whether or not the response packet is a NAK (procedure P246). If the response packet is not a NAK, the operation information is changed to "interrupted", and the lamp display is changed to the interrupted display state, and then the detection by the sensor and the operation of the hit ball launching device 103 are performed. After the drive control is stopped, transmission reservation of the card ejection function and reservation of card ejection sound output are made (procedures P427 to P43).
2).

On the other hand, when it is determined that NAK is received in procedure P426, procedure P
The process then proceeds to 433, where it is determined whether or not the pachinko machine operation information in the received data is "playing". When the pachinko machine is not playing, the response to the interrupt switch itself is strange, and the original routine (No. 68) is executed. Returning to Fig.), When the game is being played, the card state is changed to "playing", and then the detection by the sensor and the hit ball firing control are started (procedures P433 to P4).
36). That is, if the NAK is returned from the management device 400 and the operation information indicates that the game is in progress even if the interrupt switch is pressed, the card state is returned to the game and the shift of the pachinko machine to the interrupted state is refused. To interrupt the operation, press the interrupt switch again.

FIG. 69 (L) shows a processing procedure when an “ACK” packet for the “end switch” packet is received.

This process is executed along substantially the same flow as the "ACK" reception process of the "interruption switch" in FIG. The difference is that the card text in the transmission data area is cleared (procedure P443), the operating information is changed to "free" instead of "interrupted", and the lamp display is changed to customer waiting display (procedures P444 and P445). Is a point. NAK also in this process
If the operation information indicates that the game is being played when the is received, the card status is returned to the game and the end processing is stopped (procedures P451 to P454).

FIG. 69 (M) shows “ACK” for “return to zero” packet.
The processing procedure when a packet is received is shown.

This process is executed according to the same flow as the "ACK" reception process of the "end switch" in FIG.
74).

The reception processing of the "ACK" packet for the "stop" packet shown in FIG. 69 (N) is executed along substantially the same flow as the "ACK" reception processing of the "interruption switch" in FIG. 69 (K). (Procedures P481 to P494). The only difference is that in addition to the card ejection function, a transmission reservation (procedure P488) of a card rejection function is entered.

FIG. 70 shows a processing procedure of the card reader control task among the ten types of main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, first, a flag in the internal RAM is checked to determine whether or not the card reader can be controlled. If no, the serial transmission interrupt and the reception interrupt are prohibited (procedures P131 to P133).

On the other hand, when the card reader can be controlled, the process shifts from procedure P131 to P134 to determine whether the function is being transmitted. Next, determine whether the function is being received,
If the reception is being performed, it is checked whether the reception is completed within the set time (procedures P135 and P140). Also, it is checked whether there is a function in the reception buffer area of the internal RAM, and if there is a reception function (procedure P136), the reception data transformed into a form that is easy to transmit is restored to the original form, or a parity error is generated. After checking whether there is no code or the length of the code is correct (procedure P141), the type of function is determined (procedures P143 to P150), and the corresponding processing (FIGS. 71 (A) to (H)) is executed. I do.

If it is determined in step P136 that there is no reception function, the flow shifts to step P137 to determine whether a response function from the card reader controller CPU2 is in a waiting state, and checks a time required until a response is received ( Procedure P142). When not waiting for a response function, it is determined whether or not the function can be transmitted.
If transmission is possible, it is determined whether there is a function to be transmitted (procedure P139). If there is a transmission function, function transmission processing (see FIG. 71 (I)) is executed.

FIG. 71 (A) shows the procedure of the reception processing of the “test card” function in the card reader control task.

When this function is received, first, it is determined whether or not the "test card" function is in a waiting state by checking the flag (procedure P501). This flag is set when the test switch 179 is turned on in the switch detection task (see FIG. 76 (E)). If waiting for a function,
Next, it is checked whether the operation information is “free”, and if it is free, it is checked whether or not it is offline (procedures P502, P503). Here, if the state is offline, the same or a different number of test game prize balls as sent from the management apparatus 400 when online stored in the program ROM is set (procedure P504).
This is because the number of prize balls is not sent from the management device during offline. After setting the number of prize balls, the initial number of balls (0) and the amount (1000 yen) fixedly given to the test card are set (procedure P505).

When online, the procedure jumps from procedure P503 to P505, skips the setting of the number of prize balls in procedure P504, and sets the number of balls and the amount. After that, clear the counter that counts the number of floating balls, change the lamp display state, start the control of the hit ball launching device 103 and start detecting the sensor, and make a reservation to output a sound indicating successful card reception, The operation information in the test mode operation data area is changed during the game, and the process returns to the original routine (procedures P506 to P511).

On the other hand, when the test card function is received without waiting for the test card function, the procedure moves from the procedure P501 to the procedure P512 to determine whether or not the operation information in the test mode operation data area (see Table 1) is “interrupted”. If the interruption switch 114 is pressed during the game in the test mode and the operation is interrupted, the interruption is released by inserting the test card without pressing the test switch, and the game can be resumed. Since the number has already been set, the process immediately shifts to procedure P506 to enable the test game to be restarted.

If it is determined in the above-described procedure P512 that the operation information is not interrupted, the process shifts to procedure P513 to determine whether or not the device is offline. Here, when it is determined that the game is offline, the process shifts to the procedure P504 to set the number of prize balls and the like, and prepares for a test game. This is because an unexpected situation is assumed, and if there is a test card at offline, there is no particular support even if the test mode is entered.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the user is online in procedure P513,
Make a transmission reservation for the "card ejection" function and an output reservation for the card reception failure sound (procedures P514, P51)
Five). In other words, when the test card is inserted without pressing the test switch 179 when online, the test card is ejected and does not enter the test game. As a result, it is possible to prevent an illegal game by a player.

FIG. 71 (B) shows a processing procedure at the time of accepting the “send card number” function in the card reader control task of FIG. 70.

Here, first, the flag is checked to determine whether it is in the “test card” function reception waiting state, and then it is determined whether it is in the test mode (procedures P521 and P522). Here, if it is determined that the function reception wait or the test mode is being performed, the process jumps to procedure P525 to make a “card ejection” function transmission reservation, and then makes an output reservation for a card reception failure sound (procedure P526). In other words, even if a regular game card is inserted immediately after the test switch is turned on or during the suspension of the test mode, the normal game card is ejected immediately to prohibit the transition to the normal game.

On the other hand, if neither the "test card" function reception waiting state nor the test mode is set, the process shifts to procedure P523 to determine whether the operation information is interrupted. If not, the transmission reservation of the "card-in" packet is made ( Procedure P52
7) If interrupted, compare the card number read in procedure P524 with the card number in the transmission data area. If they do not match, proceed to procedure P525 to make a card ejection reservation and match the card numbers. Shifts to procedure P528, and reserves the transmission of the “interruption card-in” packet.

FIG. 71 (C) shows the procedure of the “status” function reception processing in the card reader control task of FIG. 70.

When this function is received, first, the "abnormal termination" flag is cleared, and then statuses 1 and 2 in the reception buffer are saved in the internal RAM (procedures P531, P532). The "abnormal end" flag is referred to in the error control task procedure P170 in FIG. 73.

Next, it is determined whether or not the “card accepted” function was transmitted in the previous transmission, whether or not the card is present in the card reader, and whether or not the operation information is “in game” (procedures P533 to P535). ). Here, since the previous transmission was the "card acceptable" function and the card is present in the card reader and the game is not in a normal state except during the game, the "card ejection" function transmission and ejection sound output reservation are made. Thereafter, it is determined whether the end of the test mode is online or offline. If it is still offline, the flow shifts to procedure P98 in FIG. 67 to wait for reception of a "line test" packet (procedures P536 to P538).

On the other hand, when the previous card accepting function has not been sent or the card is not in the card reader even after sending it, or when the card accepting function is sent and the card is in the card reader, "playing" If no, the process goes to the procedure P538 without making a card ejection reservation and determines whether the test mode is online or offline at the end of the test mode. If offline, the process jumps to the "line test" packet wait.

FIG. 71 (D) shows a processing procedure when the “retransmission request” function is received.

In this case, it is first determined whether or not a retransmission request was made in the previous transmission (procedure P541). If yes, it is strange that the retransmission request is returned in response to the retransmission request, so a reader error flag is set (procedure P543). This is because, when a retransmission request is returned in response to a retransmission request, this is repeated thereafter, and other function transmissions cannot be performed. On the other hand, if no in step P541, the retransmission reservation of the already transmitted function (procedure P542) is performed again, and the process returns to the original routine. The reader error flag is referred to in the procedure P163 in the error control task in FIG.

FIG. 71 (E) shows the processing procedure when the unit controller 190 receives the “normal end” function, and FIG. 71 (F) shows the processing procedure when the “abnormal end” function is received.

When the "normal end" function is received, the error flag is cleared (procedure P545), and the flow shifts to the procedure P531 in FIG. 10C, whereafter processing is performed according to the same procedure as when the "status" function is received. On the other hand, when the "abnormal termination" function is received, the status 1 sent at the same time is checked, and if the initial value to the card reader is not set, the process jumps to the procedure P532 in FIG. If not set, the "abnormal end" flag is set, and the routine jumps to the procedure P532 to execute the same processing as the status reception processing (procedures P546 and P547).
The "abnormal end" flag is referred to during the error control task in FIG. 73, and the card cannot be accepted thereafter.

FIG. 71 (G) shows the procedure of the “initial value request” function receiving process in the card reader control task of FIG. 70.

When this function is received, first "initial value setting"
After making a function transmission reservation, it is determined whether transmission is prohibited by checking the flag (procedures P551 and P55).
2). Here, if transmission is prohibited, transmission is permitted in procedure P555.If transmission is not prohibited, the operation information of the pachinko machine is checked in procedure P553, and if "free", "playing" or "suspended", "card accepted" Make a transmission reservation for the function (procedure P554). On the other hand, if the result of the determination in the procedure P553 is other than “free”, “in game”, or “interrupted” (stop or forced termination), the transmission reservation of the “card cannot be accepted” function is made (procedure P556).

When it is determined that the "self-discharge" function is received during the task in FIG. 70, the output of the card unsuccessful sound is reserved as shown in FIG. 71 (H), and the process returns to the original routine (procedure P558). .

Next, FIG. 71 (I) shows a transmission processing procedure when it is determined in step P139 that there is a transmission function during the processing of the card reader control task in FIG. 70.

In transmitting the function, first, the number of retries (for example, three times) is set in the internal RAM, the ACK reception timer (5 seconds) is set, and the call signal ENQ is transmitted to the card reader (procedures P560 to P560). P562). then,
If ACK does not arrive, it is determined whether the timer set in procedure P561 has expired (procedures P563 and P564). Even if a time-over occurs, the number of retries is checked and a predetermined number (3
If not, the procedure returns to procedure P561 to reset the timer and repeat transmission of the ENQ. If the number of retries is exceeded without receiving an ACK, the error flag is set and the function transmission is stopped.
P565, P566, P567). On the other hand, if the ACK is returned within the number of retries, the transmission data is created, then the STX code is first put into the transmission buffer to start transmission, and the transmission flag is set (procedures P568 to P570).

FIG. 72 shows the processing procedure of the packet transmission task among the ten types of main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, it is first determined whether or not there is a packet to be transmitted, and if so, the packet type name is written in the packet head portion of the transmission data area of the unit memory 550, and then the packet type name is written in the command register CR1 in the communication area. And sets a packet transmission timer (procedures P151 to P154). The data transmission controller 551 starts transmitting the corresponding packet by writing the packet type name into the command register CR1, and clears the command register CR1 when the transmission is completed.

When there is no transmission packet in procedure P151 or procedure P1
After setting the transmission timer in 54, it is determined in step P155 whether the transmission timer has been set. If the transmission timer has been set, the process proceeds to step P156, and if not set, the process returns to P151. In the procedure P156, it is determined whether or not the command register CR1 is "0" upon completion of the transmission, and if it is not yet "0", it is checked whether or not the transmission timer is over (procedure P159). Here, if the transmission timer has not exceeded, the process returns to the procedure P151. On the other hand, when the transmission timer is over, the "Z-80 error" flag is set, and then the transmission timer is reset (procedures P160, P158).

When the command register CR1 becomes “0” in the procedure P156, if the transmitted packet is of a type that receives “ACK” such as “card-in”, an ACK
After setting the wait timer (10 seconds), the transmission timer is reset (procedures P156 and P157). This ACK wait timer is
Reference is made to procedures P103 and P104 in the packet reception task in FIG.

FIG. 73 shows the procedure of the error control task among the main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, the “Z-80 error” flag (72nd
(See Figure P160) and “Packet ACK Error” Flag (See Figure P.68)
105) (procedures P161 and P162). If either flag is set, the process proceeds to procedure P174 to prohibit timer interrupts and serial interrupts, and to stop the task processing before the CPU Is powered down (procedures P175, P176). The above procedure (P174 ~ P17
Step 6) can be executed by fixing the level of the common signal for the segment display, for example, a watchdog pulse, and resetting the unit controller by the reset circuit 555.

On the other hand, when neither the "Z-80 error" flag nor the "Packet ACK error" flag is set, the "reader error" flag (see FIGS. 71, P543, P545, P566) is checked and the flag is not set. When unit memory 55
After resetting the "reader abnormal" bit of the monitor information 2 in 0, the process returns to the procedure P161 (procedures P163 and P164). If the "reader error" flag has been set, proceed to procedure P165, set the "reader error" bit in monitor information 2, clear all reader control flags, and then control the card reader (Procedure P166, P
167). Thereafter, it is checked whether or not the test mode is being set and whether or not the initial value is set (procedures P168 and P169).
In procedural mode or when the initial value is not set,
The following test mode end processing shown in FIG. 74 is executed.

If an initial value is set instead of the test mode, an “abnormal end” flag is set in procedure P170 (FIG. 71 (F), procedure P5).
Check if the flag is “0” and the procedure is
Returning to P161, if the “abnormal termination” flag is set,
After proceeding to the procedure P171 to change the operation information to “forced termination”, make a transmission reservation of the “card cannot be accepted” function and clear the “abnormal termination” flag, and then proceed to the procedure P161.
Return to (procedures P172, P173).

FIG. 74 shows the procedure of the ball number calculation task among the ten types of main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, first, it is determined whether or not a sensor is being detected, that is, a game is being performed by looking at a flag or a signal (procedure P181). During sensor detection, the firing sensor SNS5, the first safe sensor SNS2, the second safe sensor SNS3, the foul sensor SNS4, and the out sensor SN obtained by the processing of FIG. 66A according to the procedures P183 to P199.
Read the number of times each sensor of S1 is turned on,
The number of out-balls and the difference are calculated, and finally the total number of prize balls is added to the hit calculation register (procedure P200).

FIG. 75 shows the procedure of the switch detection task among the main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, first, a flag or a signal is checked to determine whether or not sensor detection is being performed (procedure P201). If detection is not being performed, an interrupt switch 114, a purchase switch 113, and an end switch 11 are determined.
5. Check whether the call switch 165a or the test switch 179 is turned on (tests P202 to P206). When any one of the switches is turned on, the corresponding process (see FIGS. 76 (b) to (e)) is executed. When the call switch among the above switches is turned on, the status display lamp 162 of the pachinko machine is changed to blinking, and the output of the switch operation sound is reserved (procedure P21).
9).

On the other hand, if the sensor is being detected in procedure P201, procedure P2
The process proceeds to 07 to determine whether or not a search timer (procedure P216) described later is operating. If not, it is determined in procedures P213 and P214 whether or not the number of balls and the amount of the playing card are “0”. If the number of balls is "0" and the amount is not "0", purchase request processing (procedure P217) is performed. Specifically, an output reservation for a sound prompting the ON of the purchase switch 113 and a display update reservation for blinking of a lamp built in the purchase switch are made.

However, when both the number of balls and the amount of money are "0", the search timer (10 seconds) is operated to start the return-to-zero determination, and the notification means is operated to make a sound output for notifying that the search timer is operating. Then return to procedure P201 (procedure
P215, P216).

Then, it is determined again in the procedure P207 whether the search timer is operating, and if it is operating, the process proceeds to the procedure P208, and it is determined whether there is any floating ball remaining in the game board. Here, if there is no floating ball, the flow shifts to procedure P212, where the occurrence of a return-to-zero packet is determined, and transmission of a “return-to-zero” packet is reserved.

In addition, a test mode end process as shown in FIG. 76 (f) is performed in this zero-return determination procedure.
If a zero is generated during the test mode, the test mode is terminated.

On the other hand, while floating balls remain during the search timer operation,
Proceeding from procedure P208 to P209, it is determined whether or not the search timer (10 seconds) has expired. If the time is over, even if the number of floating balls is present, the procedure moves to procedure P212 to return to zero. This is because it is usually impossible for floating balls to exist even after 10 seconds have passed since the number of balls reached “0”.

If the search timer has not expired, the procedure shifts from the procedure P209 to P210, and it is determined again whether or not the number of balls is "0". If not, the search timer is stopped and the return zero determination is made. Cancel (procedure P211). This considers the case where the floating ball wins the winning opening during the operation of the search timer and the number of balls held is added, whereby the game control is continued again. If the number of balls is not “0” during the non-operation of the search timer, the procedure shifts to procedure P218 to determine whether or not the value of the hit calculation register has become larger than a predetermined number of hits. At that time, a hitting process as shown in FIG. 76 (a) is executed. For the number of hits, a plurality of hitting modes may be prepared in advance, a mode may be selected by a program or the like, and the number of hits according to the mode may be compared with the value of the hitting operation register.

FIG. 76 (a) shows a procedure of a hitting process during the process of FIG. 75.

When entering the stop processing, first, it is determined whether or not the apparatus is in the test mode by checking the flag (procedure P581). After the number of hits is updated (+1) and the card status is set to "hit and free", the detection of the sensor and the drive control of the hitting ball launching device 103 are stopped, and the output of hitting sound is reserved (procedure P582- P587). Note that, here, the card ejection command has not been issued, but the "stop" packet is transmitted to the management device 400, and when the ACK is returned, the reception process (FIG. 69 (N)) of the packet is performed. Since the "card ejection" function is sent to the card reader (procedure P487), the card is ejected when a hit occurs, as described above.

On the other hand, if a stop occurs during the test mode, procedure P5
Shift from P81 to P591, ACK for "stop" packet
Procedures P483 to P489 in FIG. 69 (N) when
Steps P591 to P597, which are substantially the same as those in step S88, except for the step S88, are executed and the state is stopped. The test mode takes into account that the test mode is executed even when the device is not connected to the management device and is offline. If a stop occurs during the test mode, the end switch 115 is turned on to shift to the test mode end processing, and the subsequent state is determined depending on whether the operation is online or offline (FIG. 76 (e)). , (F)).

FIG. 76 (b) shows the procedure of the interrupt switch process during the switch detection task of FIG. 75.

This process starts when the interruption switch 114 is turned on, and it is first determined whether or not the test mode is being performed (procedure P60).
1). Here, if not in the test mode, the process proceeds to procedure P602, in which the transmission of the “interruption switch” packet is reserved, and then the card state is changed to “interruption”, and the detection of the sensor and the driving control of the hit ball launching device 103 are performed. Stop and return to the original routine (procedures P603 to P605). The ejection of the card or the like due to the turning on of the interruption switch is performed when an ACK packet corresponding to the above packet is received (see FIG. 69 (k)). On the other hand, when the interruption switch is turned on during the test mode, the operation information is updated, transmission of the card ejection function is reserved, and the display of the control stop lamp is changed in the interruption switch processing (procedures P611 to P611). P616). This is for offline test mode.

FIG. 76 (C) shows the procedure of the purchase switch process in the switch detection task of FIG. 75.

When the purchase switch 113 is turned on, first, an instruction to turn off the lamp 121 (hereinafter, referred to as a purchase lamp) built in the purchase switch is given (procedure P621). This lamp is lit as long as the amount does not become "0", and is driven to blink by a purchase request procedure P217 in FIG. 75 performed when the number of balls becomes "0". The blinking is stopped at the same time when the purchase switch is turned on. Next, it is determined whether the amount of the card is "0", and if it is "0", nothing is performed and the process returns to the routine of FIG. 75 (procedure P622).

On the other hand, if the amount remains, proceed to the procedure P623, read the conversion rate of the purchased ball, and then read the unit memory 55
The number of balls for 200 yen is added to the number of balls and the number of balls in 0 (procedure P624). Then, the frequency of the amount of money (the balance) is "-
2), it is determined whether or not the amount has become “0” after the number of purchases is “+” and the number of sales is “+2” (procedures P625 to P628). Here, if the amount is "0", the purchase lamp is not turned on, and if the balance remains, the purchase lamp is turned on, and then the driving control of the hit ball launching device 103 is started (procedures P628 to P630). Accordingly, the purchase lamp is temporarily turned off when the purchase switch 113 is turned on, but is turned on immediately while there is a balance. Further, when the player turns on the purchase switch based on the purchase request sound and the display, the purchase lamp shifts from blinking to lighting or from blinking to off according to the amount of the card.

After the control of the hit ball launching device is started, the output of the purchase request sound is canceled, the output of the switch operation sound is reserved, and the process is terminated (procedures P631, P632).

FIG. 76 (d) shows the procedure of the end switch process in the switch detection task of FIG. 75.

When the ON of the end switch 115 is detected, first, the detection of the sensor is stopped, and then the drive control of the hit ball launching device 103 is stopped (procedures P641, P642). Then, the procedure P643
It is determined whether the mode is the test mode or not. If the mode is the test mode, the processing shifts to the test mode end processing shown in FIG. 76 (f).
In the normal operation mode, the transmission state of the "end switch" packet is reserved, and then the card state is changed to "free" (procedures P644, P645). The card ejection command and lamp display change are performed during the process of receiving the response packet ACK to the "end switch" (FIG. 69 (L)).

FIG. 76 (e) shows a procedure of a test switch process in the switch detection task of FIG. 75.

When the ON of the test switch 179 is detected, first, the output reservation of the switch operation sound and the test card function waiting flag are set (procedures P651, P652). This flag indicates the procedure of test card processing.
In the procedure P501. Then, it is determined whether or not it is offline, and if it is offline, it makes a reservation for transmission of the "card accepted" function to the card reader,
Do nothing online. That is, the transmission of the “card accepted” function is not performed. Therefore, when online, the mode shifts to the test mode only when the acceptance of the card is enabled. However, even if the card can be accepted online (interrupted), the test card is ejected when the operation information is other than "free" (see FIG. 71 (A) procedure). Refer to P502, P513).

The above test switch processing (procedures P651 to P654)
In, it is also possible to set a timer and return to the original state when the test card is not purchased within a certain time after the test switch is turned on.

FIG. 76 (f) shows the error control task of FIG. 73 and FIG.
76 shows a specific procedure of the test mode end processing during the end switch processing of FIG.

When this process is started, first, all lamps are turned off, the detection of sensors and the drive control of the hit ball launching device 103 are stopped, and it is determined whether the device is offline or online (procedure P6).
61-P664). Here, if online, it is checked whether the operation information of the pachinko machine is “forced termination” (procedure P665), and if forced termination, transmission reservation of the “card cannot be accepted” function and output reservation of the card ejection sound are made, and the routine returns to the original routine ( Procedures P671, P672). When the card reader receives the “card cannot be accepted” function, the card reader ejects the held card and then enters a state in which the card is not accepted. In cases other than the forced termination, the display of the lamps 123 and 163 is changed to the customer waiting state, and then it is checked whether the operation information in the operation data area in the test mode is "stop" (procedures P666 and P66).
7). If it is a stop, the procedure jumps directly to the procedure P670, and if it is not a stop, the transmission reservation of the “card discharge” function and the output reservation of the card discharge sound (procedure P6)
68, P669), and then proceed to the procedure P670, change the display of the card insertion lamp to blinking, and return to the original routine. Therefore, the pachinko machine returns from the test mode to the “free” state of the normal operation mode.

As described above, when the player is in a stopped state, omit the procedure P668 (card ejection function transmission reservation) and proceed from the procedure P667
The reason why the process jumps to P670 is that the process is performed in the stopping process shown in FIG. 76 (a) (procedure P591), so as to avoid duplication of the procedure. Also, the procedure P669 (card ejection sound output reservation) is omitted at the time of the stop,
This is to prevent the ejection sound from being output when the card is not ejected. That is, in the test mode, when a hit occurs, the card is ejected at that time, and when the end switch 115 is turned on, the process shifts to the test mode end process (procedure P642 in FIG. 76 (d)). The reason why the card ejection sound is output here is that it does not match reality.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step P664 that the device is offline, the process proceeds to step P673, in which the transmission reservation of the “card cannot be accepted” function and the output reservation of the card ejection sound are made, and then the “offline at the end of the test mode” flag is set. It is set and it is checked whether the "reader error" flag is set (procedures P673 to P676). Here, if there is no reader error, the process returns to the original routine. If there is a reader error, the process proceeds to procedure P677 to clear the “offline at the end of test mode” flag and then “line test”.
The process waits for a packet (procedure P98 in FIG. 67). The above flag is referred to in the procedure P538 in the "status" function reception processing (FIG. 71 (c)), and when the status is transmitted, the state shifts to a line test wait upon seeing this flag. That is, when there is no reader error, the procedure P6
After the end of 73 to P676, the process returns to the original routine, and thereafter, upon receiving statuses 1 and 2 together with the “normal end” function after the card is ejected from the card reader, shifts to a line test wait. On the other hand, when there is a reader error, if the card ejection process is executed in response to the function of the procedure P673, if the status “1” or “2” is sent together with “abnormal termination” from the card reader, the status shown in FIG. In order to prevent the system from shifting to the line test wait state in step P538 and preventing the card from being removed, the "offline at the end of the test mode" flag is cleared in step P677.

FIG. 77 shows the processing procedure of the sound control task among the ten types of main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, "hit sound", "switch operation sound",
It is checked whether there is an output reservation for “card ejection sound”, “card reception success sound”, or “card reception failure sound” (procedures P221 to P225). If there is a reservation, the type of sound to be output Is set in the internal RAM, and then the voice synthesis circuit (sound IC) 582 is reset.
The sound being output is stopped (procedures P231 and P232). Then, the process shifts to a procedure P234, where a control signal is supplied to the sound IC to output the selected sound. Then, it is determined whether or not the set output time has elapsed, and if it is over, the output is stopped (procedures P235, P237). On the other hand, if the output time has not elapsed, it is determined whether the output sound is a repetitive sound, and if not, the output of the sound is stopped (procedures P236, P237). However, even if the sound output stop command is issued in the procedure P237, the sound IC does not stop sound output until one phrase of the sound being output ends, and stops at the end of the phrase.

If there is no output reservation for any of the above five types of sounds, it is checked in step P226 whether sound is being output, and if output is in progress, the process proceeds to step P235 to check whether the output time is over. On the other hand, when the sound is not being output, it is checked whether there is an output reservation of “search timer sound”, “purchase request sound”, “stop sound” or “forced end sound” (procedures P227 to P230). After setting data and time for designating a sound to be set (procedure P233), the process proceeds to procedure P234 to start sound output, and stops sound output when a time-over occurs. In other words, these four sounds are output after the output of other sounds is completed.

FIG. 78 shows the procedure of the timer control task among the main tasks of the unit controller.

This task manages two reference timers, 10mS and 100mS, which are the reference for the blinking lamp, packet transmission timer, ACK reception timer, etc., updates (decrements) the 10mS timer every 10msec, The 100 ms timer is updated every second (procedures P241 to P244).

FIG. 79 shows a processing procedure of the lamp display control task among the main tasks of the unit controller 190.

In this task, the safe ball lamp 164, the P machine status display lamp 162, the purchase switch built-in lamp 121, the card insertion lamp 168, the game status lamp during the above various processes.
When 123 is updated, the display state is changed (procedures P251 to P255). Next, it is determined whether it is necessary to display “waiting for customer” or “stop display”. When the display is waiting for customer, the analog display 163 is scroll-displayed. At the same time (procedures P256 to P259). Further, the necessity of displaying the number of balls is determined, and if necessary, the lamps of the analog display 163 are turned on in order from the left according to the number of balls (procedure).
P260, P261). In addition, the analog display of the number of balls is performed in a so-called log display in which the number of balls displayed by one lamp increases as the number of lit lamps increases. If you do not need to display any of the "waiting customer display", "stop display" and "ball count display", an analog lamp
163 is turned off (procedure P262).

The following Table 28 shows an example of the display state of each lamp according to the state of the pachinko machine.

In the same table, the mark x is off, the mark ○ is lit, the mark Δ is blinking, S is a scroll display, and A is an analog logarithmic display according to the number of balls. In addition, "search" during the game
In the column, the amount of money and the number of balls become zero and the search timer (10
Seconds) Indicates the display status during operation, and shifts to the zero return state after 10 seconds.

The main tasks of the unit controller include a port output control task in addition to the above nine types of tasks. In this task, a process of outputting the output state determined in each task to the corresponding I / O port is executed (not shown).

FIG. 80 shows the timing of input / output signals when the pachinko machine is controlled according to the above control flow.

The number representing the number of balls is, for example, a value calculated by setting the purchased ball rate to 50 balls / 200 yen, the number of main prize balls to 13, and the number of sub prize balls to 7.

At timing t _1, after receiving a response packet ACK for "card in" packets, an ON signal of the purchase switch 113 at timing t ₂ comes in, firing drive control signal is changed to the high level, hitting launcher 103 Can be driven. At the same time, the frequency of the balance of the card is subtracted by “2”, the number of balls for 200 yen is added, and the display of the amount of money and the number of balls are updated.

Thereafter, when a detection pulse is received from each sensor, the number of floating balls and the number of held balls are calculated in the unit controller 550 in real time, and the number of balls and the display thereof are changed one after another. Incidentally, when the number of floating balls in the controller is set to "0", even detection pulse safe sensor (see P ₁₎ is It is invalidated, the number of prize balls correspondingly is not added.

During such game control, when the ON signal of the interruption switch 114 comes in (timing t ₃ ), the firing drive control signal is turned off. However, the display is maintained in the state at the time of interruption. Thereafter, when the ACK pulse of “interrupted card-in” is received (timing t ₄ ), the game control is started again, and the game ends when the end switch 115 is turned on (timing t ₅ ). display and the number of balls at the time of receiving the ACK of the end switch "(timing t _6), the amount data is cleared to" 0 ".

On the other hand, if a return-to-zero state occurs in which both the amount of money and the number of balls are “0” during the game (timing
t ₇ ), the search timer is started, and if there is no detection pulse of the safe sensor 1 or 2 within 10 seconds, a “return-to-zero” packet is transmitted. When the ACK is received (t ₈ ), the number of floating balls is reduced. Cleared to "0". If the number of floating balls becomes “0” during the operation of the search timer, a “return-to-zero” packet is transmitted at that time.

Next, an example of a procedure for controlling a card reader by the card reader controller 188 based on a command from the unit controller 190 will be described with reference to FIGS. 81 to 104.

Communication between the card reader controller 188 and the unit controller 190 is performed by a function code, and the function code from the unit controller 190 to the card reader controller 188 is read from the card to the card reader. "Initial value setting" function to give the date code and identification code to collate with the magnetic data, "Card accepted" function to allow the card reader to accept the card, Card acceptance to the card reader "Card not accepted" function to instruct to cancel the card, "Card eject" function to instruct to eject the card, "Reload" function to instruct to re-read the magnetic data of the card,
A "retransmission request" function for requesting retransmission of the function code sent immediately before, a "status request" function for requesting transmission of a code indicating the status of the card reader held in the card reader controller, and a The ball of the card in place,
Amount is eight command for "zero-reset" function gives an instruction to drilling the null Reiana PH ₄ indicating that becomes zero is prepared.

On the other hand, as a function code from the card reader controller 188 to the unit controller 190, a "card number transmission" function for sending the card number read by the card reader to the unit controller,
A "test card" function to notify the unit controller that a test card has been inserted, an "initial value request" function to request initial values such as date and identification code at reset, and that the requested processing has been completed normally. "Normal end" to inform the unit controller
Function and conversely, an "abnormal termination" function that informs that processing has not been completed normally, and a "self" that the card reader controller determines that the inserted card is illegal and informs that the card has been ejected by itself. "Discharge" function, "Resend request" function to request the unit controller to resend the function code sent immediately before and "Reload"
And a "status transmission" function for transmitting the status of the card reader in response to the "status request". Each function is STX indicating the beginning
A code, a function code FNC, and an ETX code indicating the end are provided, and there are some which include data, status, and the like between the function code FNC and the ETX code.

However, the communication between the card reader controller 188 and the unit controller 190 does not send the function code unilaterally, but first,
The function code is sent after receiving the permission response ACK from the sending unit and receiving side with ENQ.

The "normal end" function, the "abnormal end" function and the "status" function include 8-bit status 1 and status 2 fields indicating the status of the card reader as shown in Tables 30 and 31. The status is sent to the unit controller together with the function code. The "self-discharge" function is provided with a column for entering an 8-bit code indicating the cause of fraud as shown in Table 32, and is sent together with the function code.

FIG. 81 shows the entire procedure of the main control by the card reader controller 188, and FIGS. 93 (A) and (B) show the control procedure of the interrupt processing generated by the timer interrupt separately from the main control. ing.

When the card reader controller is reset,
That is, when the reset input terminal changes to low level,
As shown in FIG. 81, first, internal initialization (procedure R1) is performed, and then an initial value request is issued to the unit controller 190 (routine R2). Then check if the unit controller contains the challenge code ENQ (routine R
3) If there is, go to routine R11 and reply code AC
Return K before receiving the function code. Then, after executing the processing (routine R12) corresponding to the received function code, it transmits a function code indicating the processing result such as normal end or abnormal end, status transmission, etc. (routine R13).

Then, check whether the initial value has not been set (Routine R1
4) If not set, return to the routine R2 and request the unit controller for the initial value again. on the other hand,
If the initial value has been set, the process returns to the routine R3 to check whether the calling code ENQ is included. Where ENQ
If not, go to R4
By looking at a predetermined flag prepared in M, it is checked whether the card insertion is prohibited. This "card insertion prohibition" flag is set to "1" in the initial value routine R1 and is cleared to "0" when a process for permitting the acceptance of a card is performed in the reception function processing routine R12. Therefore, if "1" is set in the "card insertion prohibition" flag in the routine R4, the process returns to the routine R3, and if the flag is "0", the process proceeds to the next routine R5. Determine if it has been inserted. If the card insertion sensor is off, the routine returns to the routine R3, and if the sensor is on, the routine proceeds to the routine R6 to read the card.
Then, the read data is analyzed to check whether or not the card is an illegal card (routine R7). If the card is determined to be an illegal card, the card is ejected by its own instruction, the fact is notified to the unit controller, and the routine returns to the routine R3. (Routine R21). On the other hand, when it is determined in the routine R7 that the card is a legitimate card, the process proceeds to the routine R8, where it is determined from the magnetic code whether the inserted card is a special card for testing, and the In this case, the "test card" function is transmitted to the unit controller, and the process returns to the routine R3 (routine R22).

On the other hand, if the inserted card is a regular card that is not a test card, the process proceeds to the routine R9, and the “card number transmission” function is transmitted to the unit controller.

FIG. 82 (A) to FIG. 82 (E) show more detailed procedures of the processing flow of FIG. 81 described above.

FIG. 82 (A) shows details of the initialization routine R1 and the initial value request routine R2 in FIG. 81.

That is, upon resetting, the card reader controller 188 first clears the internal memory including various flags, counters, buffers, work areas, registers, and the like (routine R101). Then, after setting the stack pointer at the time of interrupt occurrence, initializing the I / O port and setting the state of the input / output terminals, read and store the setting code from the device code setting device MCS, The relay RLY1 for supplying power to the motor 807 is turned on (routines R102 to R105).

Next, the monitor display 175 for displaying the cause of the error is set to the OFF state, and the power-on lamp LE indicating the power-on state is set.
After turning on D21, "1" is set to the initial value non-setting instruction bit of the status register in the RAM (routines R106 to R1).
08).

Thereafter, the "card insertion prohibition" flag in the internal RAM is set to "1", and then the shutter solenoid 809 is turned off to close the shutter (routines R109 and R11).
0). Then, in the routines R111 to R113, it is checked whether the position detection sensors SNS2 to SNS4 in the card reader are off or on, and if any one of the sensors is on, the card indicating the card insertion state After turning on the in-lamp LED 12 (routine R114), and if all the sensors are off, the routine R1
Proceed to 15. This makes it possible to notify the outside that a card is in the card reader at the time of reset at the time of restoration from power failure. In the routine R115, the “initial value request” function code and the termination code are stored in the transmission buffer.
After setting the EXT, the process proceeds to the function transmission processing routines R401 to R423 according to the procedure as shown in FIG. 94. After the execution of the transmission processing routine,
The flow shifts to the routine R132 shown in FIG. 82 (B) (see reference numeral M1).

In the routine R132, the OK lamp LE among the status display lamps
After turning on D13, the process proceeds to the routine R133, where it is checked whether the "transmission incomplete" flag is set. This flag is set in the routine R423 in the flow (FIG. 94) showing the function transmission procedure. That is,
Unit controller 190 and card reader controller 1
88 is provided to avoid a collision in the case of simultaneous transmission processing. In this embodiment, when two transmissions collide, the transmission right is passed to the unit controller, and the card reader controller transmits “transmission not completed”. After setting the flag, the process proceeds to the receiving process.

Returning to FIG. 82 (B), if the transmission has been completed in the routine R133, the process also proceeds to the routine R121. When the “transmission incomplete” flag is “0”, the process proceeds to the routine R121 to allow the reception of the reception data into the reception buffer in the RAM, and then the error information area provided in the RAM is cleared. Clear (routine R122). Next, the state of the "transmission suspended" flag is checked. If "1" is set, that is, if the transmission is suspended, the routine jumps to the routine R134, and the transmission saved to the stack area in the transmission processing routine of FIG. 94 is executed. After transferring the data to the transmission buffer, the "transmission interruption" flag is cleared to "0" (routine R135), and the transmission processing routine is executed again (routines R401 to R423).

On the other hand, when the "transmission interruption" flag is "0" in the routine R123, the process proceeds to the routine R124, where it is checked whether or not the transmission interrogation code ENQ from the unit controller is included. Jump to (sign M5
If the ENQ has not been entered, then in the next routine R125, it is checked whether or not the discharge switch provided on the control board in the control unit has been turned on, and if it has been turned on, the routine of FIG. ) (See M6), and if it is off, check the state of the "card number waiting" flag. The "card number waiting" flag indicates that the card reader is holding only the leading end of the card immediately after the motor has been rotated and the card has been ejected and is waiting for the player to remove the card (at this time, the insertion detection sensor 808 and the first position). This flag indicates that the detection sensor SNS1 is on. When this flag is "0", the routine proceeds to the routine R130. When the flag is "1", the routine proceeds to the routines R127 and R128 until the both sensors are turned off. R124 to R128 are repeated, and when turned off, the process proceeds to the routine R129 to clear the "card reception waiting" flag, and then proceeds to the routine R130.

In the routine R130, the state of the "card insertion prohibition" flag is checked. If "1", the process returns to the routine R124.
After executing the card insertion processing routine shown in FIG. 97, the "card reading end" flag is checked in the routine R131, and if not completed, the process returns to the routine R124.
Proceed to R132. Then, after the OK lamp is turned on, if the determination in the routine R133 is YES and if the determination in the above-described routine R124 is YES, the process shifts to the routine of FIG. 82 (C) (see reference numeral M5).

Here, first, the reception processing R4 as shown in FIG. 95
After executing steps 31 to R441, the routine sets the state in which the reception of the reception data into the reception buffer is prohibited in the routine R141. Then, after turning off the monitor display section 175 and the OK lamp LED 13 indicating the cause of the abnormality of the card reader (routine R142, R143),
Reads out and decodes the function code of the received data received in the above reception processing and stored in the buffer (routine
R144, R145), in the case of a regular function code, the processing corresponding to the code (FIGS. 83 to 90) is executed. On the other hand, if the function code is not a legitimate function code, the routine jumps to the routine R150, writes a function code error in the error information area in the RAM, and shifts to the error processing in FIG. 82 (E) (see reference numeral M7).

After executing the processing according to the reception function code, the "initial value not set" flag is checked in the routine R147, and if "0", the process proceeds to the routine R132 in FIG. 82 (B) (see the symbol M1). If the initial value has not been set, OK with routine R148
After turning on the lamp, check the "transmission incomplete" flag.
If "1", the process returns to the reception processing routines R431 to R441 (see reference numeral M5). If "0", the routine R115 of FIG. 82 (A) is executed.
The process proceeds to (M4).

If it is determined in the routine R125 that the discharge switch has been turned on, the process jumps to the routine R161 in FIG. 82 (D), and firstly inhibits the reception of the reception data into the reception buffer and then OKs.
The lamp is turned off (routine R162), and card ejection processing and R451 to R484 are executed in accordance with the procedure shown in FIG. 96. Thereafter, the "card reception waiting" flag is set (routine R163), and then the transmission buffer self-discharge function code in RAM and the ETX code indicating the cause of the invalidity and the end of the transmission data are sequentially set (routines R164 to R164).
166) After that, the transmission processing (routines R401 to R423) is executed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 94. Then, after turning on the OK lamp in routine R167, "Transmission not completed"
Check the flag (routine R168), and if it is "1", Fig. 82 (C).
(Refer to symbol M5), and if "0", the routine
After the monitor display 175 is turned off in R169, the flow shifts to the routine R121 in FIG. 82 (B) (see reference numeral M2).

Further, after writing the error information in the routine R150 shown in FIG. 82 (C), the process proceeds to the error processing routine of FIG. 82 (E) in accordance with the code M7, and the monitor display data corresponding to the error information written in the RAM is first stored in the ROM. And outputs the display data to the monitor display unit 175 to display the cause of the error by a number or the like (routines R171 and R171).
172). Then, the OK lamp is turned off, the timer interrupt is locked so as not to be interrupted, the card transport motor 807 is stopped, and the shutter solenoid 809 is turned off so that the card cannot be inserted (routines R173 to R17).
6). Next, in the routine R177, it is determined whether or not the cause of the error is a parity error. If the error is a parity error, the “retransmission request” function code and the ETX code are set in the transmission buffer (the routines R178 and R179), and the transmission processing shown in FIG. 94 is performed. After execution of the routines R401 to R423, the process proceeds to the routine R180, where the "transmission incomplete" flag is checked, and the routine R1 of FIG. 82 (B) is checked.
The flow shifts to the reception processing R431 to R441 in FIG. 21 or FIG. 82 (C).

On the other hand, if it is determined by the determination in the routine R177 that there is no parity error, the error information is checked in the routines R181 and R182.
As shown by M6, the flow goes to the card ejection processing routine of FIG. 82 (D). If the error is caused by an interface error, the flow goes to the routine R121 of FIG. 82 (B) as shown by reference numeral M2. At this time, after executing the abnormal end processing routines R293 to R296 shown in FIG. 89, the "transmission incomplete" flag is checked in the routine R180, and the routine shifts to the routine indicated by reference numerals M2 and M5.

FIGS. 83 to 90 show a routine R12 of the flow of FIG. 81.
And a flowchart for executing a process corresponding to each reception function code appearing in the routine R146 of FIG. 82 (C).

Among them, FIG. 83 shows a processing procedure when the "initial value setting" function code is received. In this flowchart, the routine R202 removes an extra bit and a parity bit added to match the number of bits from the date code expressed in the binary-coded decimal system, converts it to a binary code, and then converts the binary code in the RAM. This is set in the initial value area. The reason why the “transmission not completed” flag is cleared in the routine R204 is that the unit controller 190 sends an initial value while the card reader controller 188 is transmitting the “initial value request”. In this case, the card reader controller temporarily suspends transmission and preferentially processes reception.

FIG. 84 shows a processing procedure when a “card accepted” function code is received.

The "Card Acceptable" function code is
From the unit controller 190 to the card reader controller 188 when a packet such as “opening code”, “cancel release”, “forced release”, and “restart” is sent from the 400 to the control unit. Sent.

It should be noted that the state of the position detection sensors 2, 3, and 4 is checked in the routines R213 to R215 in the flow of the figure because a power failure occurs while a card is inserted in the card reader and the power supply is thereafter restored. This is to save the trouble of re-inserting the card again. Further, the shutter closed in the routine R218 is opened when the ON of the insertion detection sensor 808 is detected. On the other hand, when the shutter is closed in the routine R225, since the “card insertion prohibition” flag is set before that, the shutter is not opened even if the insertion detection sensor is turned on unless this flag is cleared.
This avoids double insertion of the card.

FIG. 85 shows a processing procedure when a “card cannot be accepted” function code is received.

In this flow, if at least one of all the sensors in the card reader is turned on in the routine R233, it is determined that the card is present in the reader, and the card ejection processing R451 to R484 is performed.
Is to be performed.

The reason why the “transmission incomplete” flag is cleared in the routine R231 is that when the transmissions of the unit controller 190 and the card reader controller 188 overlap, the card reader controller interrupts the transmission, and receives the function, the “card reception is completed”. This is because, in the case of the "impossible" function, reception is only required until a reset is performed or a status request is issued from the unit controller.

In addition, this “card rejection impossible” function is transmitted from the management device 400 to the control unit,
The packet is transmitted from the unit controller to the card reader controller when a packet such as "forced termination" is transmitted or when it is determined that the stop condition is satisfied.

FIG. 86 shows a processing procedure when the "card ejection" function code is received.

In this flow, when the function interrupted and received is the “card ejection” function, if the transmission interruption function is “card number transmission”, “test card” or “self ejection”, “transmission interruption The flag is cleared (routine R244
~ R248). As a result, retransmission after the reception processing can be omitted. This is because there is no longer a valid card in the card reader, and there is no need to transmit again. If the transmission of the function codes other than the above three is interrupted, the transmission is performed again after the card ejection processing by referring to the “transmission interrupted” flag.

The punching process performed after the routine R250 is performed according to the procedure shown in FIGS. 91 and 92 (routines R301 to R351).

FIG. 87 shows a processing procedure when a “reload” function code is received.

In this flow, first check whether the initial value is set,
If not set, the process proceeds to the “abnormal termination” function transmission processing routine R293 to R296 in FIG. 89 (routine R26).
1).

If the initial value has been set, the "insertion prohibition" flag is cleared in the routine R262 to allow the card to be inserted, and then the position detection sensors SNS2 to SNS4 are checked. "Security unread"
Set a flag. Thereafter, the flow shifts to the magnetic processing routines R541 to R579 in FIG. 97, where the magnetic data and security of the card, rereading of the punched holes and inspection of the read data are performed, and the result is transmitted to the unit controller.

On the other hand, when all the position detection sensors SNS2 to SNS4 are off, that is, when there is no card in the reader, the insertion detection sensor 808 and the position detection sensor SNS1 are checked (routines R266 and R26).
7) If both are off, the shutter is closed to turn off the card-in indicator LED 12 and turn on the card holding lamp LED 1 (routines R269 to R271). R291, R294-R296)
Then, the unit controller 190 is notified that no card has been inserted.

When the sensor is turned on in either of the routines R266 and R267, it is considered that only the leading end of the card is held in the card reader, and the routine sets the “waiting for card reception” flag in the routine R268. The routine goes to the routine R269 and the shutter is closed.

FIG. 88 shows a processing procedure when the “return to zero” function code is received.

In this flow, first, the position detection sensors SNS2 to SNS4 are checked (routines R281 to R283). If any of the sensors is turned on, it is determined that a card is present. It is determined whether or not a game hole is opened in the punch hole forming area of the card. And
If the game hole is open, the process jumps to the routine R286. If the game hole is not open, the position information of the game hole is set in the routine R285, and then the punching process shown in FIGS. 91 and 92 (routine R301). To R352) to open a game hole in the card, and then proceeds to a routine R286 where the position information of the return-to-zero hole is set and the punching process (routines R301 to R352) is executed again. Then, the card discharge processing R451 to R484 in FIG. 96 is performed.
To set the “card reception wait” flag, and then execute the “normal end” function transmission processing (R2
92, R294-R596).

FIGS. 89 and 90 show the procedure for transmitting the “status” function code and the “retransmission request” function code.

These function transmissions are performed in response to a "status request" and a "retransmission request" from the unit controller 190. First, codes to be transmitted are sequentially set in a transmission buffer, and then transmission processing R401 in FIG. 94 is performed. The process proceeds to R402.

FIG. 89 also shows the processing executed when the processing result is transmitted after executing each processing of FIGS. 83 to 88.

In the punching process shown in FIG. 91, first, the punch failure bit in status 1 is cleared to "0", and then the distance from the reference position to the ROM is determined based on the punch hole position set in the RAM by an initialization routine or the like. Then, after reading from the buffer and storing it in the buffer, the punching process (R311 to R352) shown in FIG. 92 is executed.

In the punching process, first, the card is moved to the innermost position of the card reader 800 (routine R311), the "punch OK" flag is cleared (routine R312), and then the motor is reversed to start the timer (3 seconds). , Set the "movement amount detection" flag and then clear the movement amount counter (routine R3
14-R318). Then, the "timer 2 operation" flag is set to enable the timer interrupt, the movement amount is detected by the timer interrupt, and the rotation of the motor is stopped when the punching position is reached (routines R321 and R322). After waiting for 150 msec (routine R323) to wait for stopping, the punch device 820 is operated (routines R324 to R32).
7). The above routines R323 to R327 are repeated twice to make sure the hole is opened, then the moving amount counter is cleared and the motor is reversed at high speed to move the card in the direction where the opened punch hole faces the punch hole detection sensor SNSp. . Then, it is determined whether or not the punch hole detection sensor is turned on. If the punch hole is opened at a regular position, the “punch OK” flag is set, and then the first position detection sensor SNS1 is turned on to turn on the card. When the rear end is detected, the timer interrupt and the motor are stopped (routines R329 to R34).
0). Then, returning to the processing of FIG. 91, it is determined in the routine R303 whether the “punch OK” flag is “1” and “0” is determined.
If so, the process proceeds to error processing as a punch hole defect (routine R304, R305).

In the above routine, if a time-over occurs during the movement of the card, it is determined that a card jam (paper jam) has occurred, and error processing is started (routines R315, R332).

Next, processing when a timer interrupt occurs will be described with reference to FIGS. 93 (A) and 93 (B).

As described above, in the card reader of this embodiment, the detection signal from the sensor 832 for detecting the rotation speed of the motor is input to the card reader controller 188 as an interrupt signal, and the “timer 2 operation” flag inside the controller is set. When this signal comes in while it is set to "1", the timer 2 interrupt processing of FIG. 93 is executed.

The speed sensor 832 is provided so as to face the rotary encoder 817 attached to the rotating shaft of the motor, and receives an interrupt signal every time the card moves 0.1 mm regardless of the rotating speed.

In the timer 2 interrupt processing, first, the routine reads the "security read" flag and the "punch hole read" flag in the routine R701, and when both are "0", enters the movement amount detection mode.
The flow shifts to R710, where the movement counter is incremented, and the interrupt processing ends. Note that the movement detection mode is set during the magnetic processing (routine R572) in FIG. 99 (A) and the punching process (routine R317) in FIG. 89 or FIG. 90 (routine R317). This is a case where the user wants to know the movement amount, and the movement amount detection mode is set by clearing the “security reading” flag and the “punch hole reading” flag.

If the "movement amount detection" flag is "0" after entering the timer 2 interrupt processing, the process proceeds to the routine R702, and the movement amount counter is incremented. Then, it is checked whether the "security reading" flag is set in the routine R703. And
If set, go to R704 and move 4.8mm
It is determined whether the above has been completed (if the "security reading" flag is "0", the flow proceeds to the punch hole reading routine of FIG. 93 (B)). The "reading security" flag is set when the punch sensor SNSp is turned on in the routine R523 during the security reading process in FIG.
At this time, the security code reading sensor 810a is located at the beginning of the security area (TF) of the card. Then
The first security mark is provided at a position at least 4.8 mm away from the beginning of the security area. Therefore, it is determined in the routine R704 that the movement amount has become 4.8 mm or more. If it is 4.8 mm or less, the interrupt processing is terminated, and the movement amount counter is incremented again by the next timer 2 interrupt. Then, when the movement amount reaches 4.8 mm, the routine R71
The process then proceeds to step 1, where the moving amount is compared with the reading range set in the RAM in the routine R519, and if it is within the reading range, it is determined whether the security code reading sensor is on. The counter for counting the width of the code is incremented, and the interrupt processing ends (routines R712, R713). When the code reading sensor is turned off, the value of the counter is checked (routine R714). If the width of the security code is “0”, it is determined that there is no code,
The interrupt processing ends. On the other hand, security width is “0”
Otherwise, the width of the counter is moved to the buffer, the counter is cleared, and it is determined whether or not the security width is 0.5 mm or more (routines R715, R716). Where the width is 0.5mm
If it is less than 0.5 mm, it is regarded as abnormal. If it is 0.5 mm or more, "1" is set to the most significant (or least significant) bit of the security buffer operated as a shift register.

Then, when the next timer interrupt is entered and the reading is out of the reading range in the routine R711, the process proceeds to the routine R721 as the end of reading the first code, and the security reading number (counter) is decremented. Then, the security buffer storing the read code is shifted by one bit in the routine R723, and then the read range is added by the security code pitch (3.5 mm), and the processing is terminated. Security 1
By shifting the security buffer every time a bit is detected, the serially read security code is converted into parallel data. By repeating the above routine, the number of security readings becomes “0”
Then, the process proceeds from the routine R722 to R714, and when the read security width is 0.5 mm, "1" is written to the most significant bit of the security buffer. Then, after the security reading, the process proceeds to the magnetic data reading process and FIG. 99 (A)
When the "punch hole reading" flag is set to "1" in the routine R553 and the "security reading" flag is cleared to "0", and the timer 2 interrupt shown in FIG. The flow shifts from R703 to the routine R731 in FIG. 93 (B) to check whether the punch hole detection sensor is on, and if it is on, the counter for counting the punch hole width is incremented in the routine R732 and the interrupt processing ends. Then, if the punch hole detection sensor is turned off at the next interruption, the process proceeds to routine R733 to check the punch hole width. Here, when the detected width of the punched hole is 0.8 mm or more, it is regarded as a regular punched hole, and the uppermost (or lowermost) of the buffer (operated as a shift register) storing the presence or absence of the punched hole in the routine R734. After writing "1" to the bit, and when the width of the punch hole is 0.8 mm or less, the punch hole width counter is cleared in the routine R735, and then the routine proceeds to the routine R736.

Here, it is determined whether or not the card movement amount is within the reading range, and if so, the above procedure is repeated, and the routine shifts to routine R741 and below, which is outside the reading range.

In the routines R741 to R745, the buffer containing the read bits is shifted by one bit by subtracting the number of punched holes read, the punched hole width counter is cleared, the read range is set again, and the processing ends. Then, when the number of readings becomes "0", the "timer 2 operation" flag is cleared and the subsequent timer 2 interrupt operation is stopped (routines R742 and R74).
6).

FIG. 94 shows a procedure for transmitting a function code appearing in the main routine shown in FIGS. 82 (A) to (E), and FIG. 95 shows a procedure for receiving a function code similarly. .

Further, FIG. 96 shows a procedure of a card ejection process appearing in the main routine, FIG. 97 shows a rough procedure of the card insertion process, and FIGS. 98 to 104 show a ninth embodiment.
Specific procedures of various processes appearing in the routine of FIG. 7 are shown.

In the function transmission processing of FIG.
Set the number of retransmissions to the counter in M (Routine R401)
Then, 2 seconds is set as the transmission time in the timer (routine R404). Then, the response code ACK is sent from the unit controller 190 within 2 seconds after transmitting the challenge code ENQ.
Returns to the routine R411 to prohibit reception, then transmits the code (FNC, ETX, etc.) already set in the transmission buffer following the STX code indicating the head, and receives the reception buffer. After the permission, the "transmission incomplete" flag is cleared, and a series of transmission processing ends (routine R412).
~ R416).

On the other hand, if the ENQ code is input before the response code ACK is returned from the unit controller, the routine R421
And save the transmission data set in the transmission buffer to the work area in the RAM, set the “transmission interrupted” and “transmission incomplete” flags, and return to the main routine to prioritize reception. (Routines R421 to R423).

If the response code ACK is not returned within 2 seconds after the transmission of the ENQ, the retransmission counter is decremented, and the process returns to the routine R402 to transmit the challenge code ENQ again. Then, when time-out occurs five times, a reset is performed (routine R409).

In the function reception processing of FIG. 95, first, a response code ACK is sent to the unit controller 190, and a timer is set to 2 seconds (routines R431, R432). If the head code STX of the function is not sent from the unit controller within 2 seconds, the type of error is written in the error information area of the RAM, and then error processing routines R171 to R180 in the main routine (FIG. 82 (E )) (Routine R433 → R441). Also, ST
After receiving the X code, the timer is reset to 1 second. If the next data (function code, ETX, etc.) is not sent within 1 second, the process shifts to the error processing routine similarly. Data reception is performed in units of bytes (4 bits), and when data exceeds the capacity of the reception buffer, error processing is performed (routine R439).

In the card ejection process shown in FIG. 96, when the card ejection function comes in the middle of card insertion, that is, with the first position detection sensor SNS1 turned on and the insertion detection sensor 808 turned off, the motor is first corrected. (Routines R451 to R457). Then, open the shutter, rotate the motor in reverse, and turn off the position detection sensor SNS2.
After 2 seconds, the motor is stopped, the shutter solenoid is turned off, and the shutter is closed (routines R455 to R467). This takes into account the time required for the card to come off the transport roller 812. When the card is removed from the card transport roller 812, the card cannot be discharged any more. At this time, both the first position detection sensor SNS1 and the insertion detection sensor 808 are on.

After the shutter is closed, the jam display bit of status 1 is cleared, the security read flag is cleared, the card-in display LED 12 is turned off, and the fact that there is no card in the status area in the RAM is written (routine R468- R471). In the above-mentioned routines R451 to R471, if a time-over occurs during normal rotation or reverse rotation of the motor, the motor is stopped, and if the card is inside, the jam is processed (routines R481 to R484).

In the card insertion processing shown in FIG. 97, after reading various information (security code, magnetic code and punch holes) of the card, various inspections such as parity and LRC inspection of magnetic data and security inspection are performed. After the execution, the card number transmission function code and the read card number are written into the transmission buffer (routine R493), and then the transmission processing routines R401 to R423 are executed. If the card number read from the magnetic recording unit is a test code indicating that the card is a test card, a "test card" function code is written to a transmission buffer before transmission processing is executed. Yes (routine R492 → R494).

Note that since there are many routines common to the rereading process and the card insertion process shown in the routine at the time of receiving the “reload” function in FIG. 87, the rereading process is shown in FIG. 97 showing the card insertion process routine. Are also shown.

Further, FIGS. 98 to 104 show card reading processing, magnetic processing, parity and LRC inspection processing which appear in the card insertion processing routine and the re-reading routine shown in FIG. 97,
Each flowchart of the security inspection process, the punch hole inspection process, the card data inspection process, the date, and the identification code inspection process is shown.

In the card reader of the present embodiment, as described above, the security code reading sensor 810a is provided on the side closest to the card insertion / ejection port, and this sensor 810a is located at the end of the security area (TF). opposed yet punched hole detection sensor SNSp at the spacing of the sensor so as not to reach the first punch hole forming portion PH ₁ is determined. Therefore, after reading the function code, the detection of the punched holes and the reading of the magnetic data are performed in parallel.

The program is configured so that the actual reading of the security code is performed by a timer interrupt triggered by the output of the encoder that detects the rotation speed of the motor. In the card reading process of FIG. 98, the routine R5 is executed.
In steps 01 to R523, security reading is prepared. After the flag for permitting the timer interrupt is set in the routine R524, the process proceeds to magnetic code reading processing.

Further, the card reader of this embodiment has a sensor for each sensor so that the punched hole and the magnetic recording section do not reach the punched hole detection sensor SNSp and the magnetic head 821 until the rear end of the card reaches the first position detection sensor SNS1 at the time of insertion. The interval is set. Therefore, in the magnetic code reading process shown in FIG. 99, the detection of the punched holes and the reading of the magnetic code are performed after the position detection sensor SNS1 is turned on in the routine R545.

In reading magnetic data, a work area for storing data read bit by bit is operated like a shift register to convert the data into parallel data (routine R590). Moreover, the card reader embodiment is longer than the card length l ₀ distance l ₃ is normal between the first and third position detection sensor SNS2, SNS3, second and third position detection sensor SNS1, SNS3 between the distance between the sensors as the distance l ₄ is shorter than the card length l ₀ of the normal is set (see Figure 30 (a)). Therefore, during the 1-bit reading process shown in FIG. 99 (B), the first to third position detection sensors SNS1 to SNS1 to
By checking the output of SNS3, a card size defect is detected (routines R584 to R587).

In the processing routine shown in FIG. 100, the exclusive OR of data, ETX, and LRC data in byte units is taken in routines R603 to R609 and sequentially put into the work area.
The LRC is checked by judging in step 11 whether the operation result is "0". Note that the STX is set in the work area in the routine R604, and the first byte read out in the routine R605 is the STX. As a result, the STX is not included in the exclusive OR.

Since the parity bit (fifth bit of each data) is not subject to the LRC check, masking is performed in the routine R610, and the process proceeds to the determination of R611. Also,
In FIG. 100, a parity check is performed for each byte of data in routines R614 to R620, and this is repeated by the number of data (routines R621 and R622).

In the security inspection process shown in FIG. 101, the 10-bit security code stored in the security buffer read by the security sensor 810a is divided into upper 5 bits and lower 5 bits. First, the upper 5 bits are divided by routines R632 to R638. Read it out and put it in the shift register, "1"
The parity check is performed by counting the number of bits in which there are bits, and then the lower 5 bits are read from the buffer and parity check is performed in the same manner (routine R639).
~ R645).

In the processing routine of FIG. 102, first, it is determined whether the issued code in the read magnetic data is correct (routine R6).
51 to R653), and then inspect whether the punched holes are correctly opened (routines R654 to R657). The issue code is
51H is given to a normal game card, 52H is given to a resurrection or reissue card, and 53H is given to a test card. If the code is any other code, the processing shifts to error processing (routine R66).
5, R666). If the issuance code is reissued, the process proceeds to routine R661 to check whether a hole is formed at the reissue hole forming position of the card. If not, the card is processed as an invalid card (routines R662 and R664). In addition, it is impossible that both the issuing hole and the re-issuing hole are open, so that it is eliminated in the routine R656, and the card having the return zero hole or the settlement hole is not used in the game, so it is eliminated when inserted. (Routine R656, R
663).

In the card data inspection processing routine of FIG. 103, first, the company code in the magnetic data read from the card is compared with the code given as an initial value by the program (routine R671), and then the device code in the magnetic data is compared with the device code in the magnetic data. The code set by the code setting switch is compared (routine R672) to determine a match, and then it is checked whether the security in the magnetic data matches the security code read from the authenticity discrimination area (routine R67).
Four).

In the processing routine of FIG. 104, the identification code and the date code previously sent from the unit controller 190 as initial values are compared with the data read from the magnetic recording unit (routines R681 and R682), and the values are matched. If not, write the cause of error and error information in the RAM, and then proceed to error processing.

105 (A) to 105 (E) show the pachinko machine controller C
FIG. 106 shows an example of a main control flow of the PU1, and FIG. 106 shows an example of an interrupt control flow by a timer interrupt.

The task of the pachinko machine controller of this embodiment is to monitor the output signals of the five sphere detection sensors of the launch sensor SNS5, the first and second safe sensors SNS2, SNS3, the foul sensor SNS4, and the out sensor SNS1, and detect the launch sphere. Identify the return sphere,
In addition, only the signal having a constant pulse width is recognized as a detection signal, and the number of detections of each ball is counted, and the waveform-shaped detection signals having a constant pulse width (emission signal, safe 1 signal, safe 2 signal, foul signal and out signal) The main content is to output the signals to the unit controller 190 at predetermined intervals.

Specifically, the output signal of each sensor is sampled in a 200 μs timer interrupt process to determine the presence / absence of a detection signal, and then the counter is updated. We guarantee time intervals (pauses).

First, the main control flow in FIG. 105 will be described.

When the pachinko machine controller CPU1 is reset, it first clears the internal memory and then writes check data to the memory (routines R801 and R802). After setting a stack pointer to be a save area at the time of interruption, the timer is activated by a 200 μs timer counter to start a timer interruption shown in FIG. 106 (routines R803 and R80).
Four).

Thereafter, the flag is checked to determine whether or not the firing signal to be output to the unit controller 190 is being output (routine R805). If not, the process proceeds to routine R806, and the output is paused after seeing the "pause" flag. Is determined. In the routine R807, by looking at the counter, it is determined whether or not there is a portion of the detected firing spheres that has not output a firing signal. If there is any remaining firing signal output, the routine proceeds to routine R810, in which the number of remaining firing signal outputs is reduced by one, and then the firing signal output is raised from a low level to a high level. Is set (routine R811). Then, after setting the firing signal output timer (5 ms), the process proceeds to the next sensor output process (FIG. 105 (B)).

Then, when the routine returns to the routine R805, it is determined that the firing signal is being output, and the process proceeds to the routine R813 to determine whether or not the output timer set in the routine R812 has timed out. If the time is not over, the process directly proceeds to the next sensor output process. If the time is over, the output of the firing signal is lowered from the high level to the low level in the routine R814. This means that a detection signal having a pulse width of 5 ms has been detected. In the routine R814, the flag indicating that the firing signal is being output is reset, and thereafter, the “pause flag” is set to “1”.
Is set, the pause timer (10 ms) is set, and the process proceeds to the next sensor output processing (routines R815 and R816).

And when I came to routine R805 again,
The routine proceeds to R806, where it is determined that a pause is being made, and the routine R8 is executed.
Move to 08. Here, it is determined whether or not the time of the pause timer has expired. If the time has not elapsed, the process directly proceeds to the next sensor output process. ). by this,
Even when the output of the sensor is continuous, a pause period of 10 ms is always provided, and the detection signal is accurately transmitted to the unit controller.

FIG. 105 (B) shows the procedure of the output processing of the safe 1 signal corresponding to the detection signal of the safe sensor SNS2. This procedure is almost the same as the output processing of the firing sensor SNS5 in FIG. 7A, and outputs the safe 1 signal having a pulse width of 5 ms at an interval of at least 10 ms when the remaining number of safe 1 signals is present (routine R817-R828).

Following the same procedures, the safe 2 signal output processing (FIG. 105 (C) routines R829 to R830), the foul signal output processing (FIG. 105 (D) routines R831 to R842), and the out signal output processing (FIG. 105) (E) Routines R843 to R854)
Is executed.

Next, the pachinko machine controller CPU1 will be described with reference to FIG.
The procedure of the timer interrupt process will be described.

Routine R804 in the main control flow of FIG. 105 (A)
When the timer counter is started, a timer interrupt every 200 μS is started. First, the check data written in the internal memory in the routine R802 is checked to check whether there is any abnormality in the memory (routine R901). Here, if there is an abnormality in the check data, the power of the CPU itself is reduced (routine R940). Then, since the watchdog pulse is not output, the external reset circuit RST1 (the
The reset can be performed by the operation shown in Fig. 22).

On the other hand, if there is no abnormality in the check data, the routine R9
Proceeding to 02, the output signals of all five game ball sensors in the pachinko machine are read and then converted into positive logic (routine R903). In other words, there are sensors that indicate "valid" when the output signal is low level and those that indicate "valid" when the output signal is high level. Therefore, the detection signals of all sensors are converted to indicate valid at a high level. I do. Thereafter, the on-edge of the sensor, that is, the change from off to on is detected by comparing the previous read data with the present read data (routine R904). Then, it is determined whether or not all sensors including the firing sensor, the first safe sensor, the second safe sensor, the foul sensor, and the out sensor have an on-edge (routines R905 to R909).
For sensors that have detected an on-edge, the on-timer prepared for each sensor is cleared (routines R910 to R9
14). Then, update the on-timer of each sensor (+1)
After that (routine R915), it is determined whether or not each sensor has an off edge, that is, whether there is a change from on to off (routine R9).
16-R920).

When the off edge of the firing sensor is detected in the above routine R916, the process proceeds to the routine R921, and the sensor on time is 0.4 ms.
It is determined whether it is less than 3.0 mS, and if it is within this range, it is regarded as a normal detection signal, and the counter for counting the remaining number of fired signal outputs (the number of fired balls) is updated (+1) (routine
R922). On the other hand, if the ON time of the firing sensor is equal to or longer than 3.0 ms, it is considered that a foul ball has been detected, and the counter for counting the remaining output of the foul signal is updated (+1) (routines R923 and R924). This is because, due to the configuration of the pachinko machine, the ball struck from the firing rail toward the inside of the game board may pass through the firing sensor in the opposite direction without returning to the foul ball receiving port 134 and return to the base of the rail. Because there is. Such a difference in the direction of the sphere can be detected by arranging two or more sensors along the rail, but the present inventors focused on the difference between the speed of the returning sphere and the speed of the firing sphere, and It was found that the firing sphere and the returning sphere could be distinguished by one sensor because it was always faster. Looking at this with the output time of the sensor, the sensor on time when detecting a shooting ball with a fast ball speed is 0.
On-time when detecting a returning ball with a slow ball speed of 8 to 2.4 ms is several tens of ms
It turns out that it becomes above. Therefore, when the on-time of the firing sensor is 3.0 mS, it is regarded as a foul sphere and the number of remaining foul signal outputs is updated.

On the other hand, when the on-time of the firing sensor is less than 0.4 mS, it is regarded as noise, and the process proceeds to the routine R917 without updating any counter of the firing signal and the foul signal (routine R923).

In the routines R917, R918, R919, and R920, a first safe sensor, a second safe sensor, a foul sensor,
When the off edge of the out sensor is detected, it is determined whether or not the on time of each sensor is 4.0 ms or more, and when it is 0.4 or more, the remaining output of each detection signal is updated (+1) (routine R925). ~ R932).

Thereafter, the output timer and the pause timer of each of the above sensors are updated in the routine R933, respectively, and then a watchdog pulse is output to terminate the interrupt processing (routine R933).
R934).

In the above embodiment, the first valuable data equivalent to the amount is given to the card at the time of issuing the card, and the player himself / herself uses the second valuable data equivalent to the number of balls from the first valuable data in the pachinko machine. The game is converted to data and played, but it is not limited thereto. At the time of issuing the card, valuable data of the number of balls corresponding to the purchase amount is given to the card,
Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a system that enables a game based on only the valuable data.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the card number is stored in the card and the money amount and the number of game balls are managed by the management device based on the card number is applied to the gaming machine used for the game equipment is described. The invention is not limited thereto, and can be appropriately modified and implemented within the scope of the configuration described in the claims. For example, the amount of money and the number of game balls can be stored in the card itself. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a card having a magnetic storage unit is used as a storage medium, but the present invention can be applied to a game device which can be played by using a so-called IC card using a semiconductor memory as an information storage unit.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention provides a gaming machine including a game board having a game area and capable of executing a game in relation to insertion of a storage medium, the amount of money displayed on the storage medium. Display means, conversion operation means for giving a command to convert the amount of money to the number of game balls in a predetermined unit, game ball number display means for displaying the number of game balls converted from the amount of money, and fired in the game area Launch ball detecting means for detecting a fired ball that has been fired, collected ball detecting means for detecting a collected ball collected from the game area after being driven into the game area, and effective based on a detection output of the fire ball detection means. A game in which the number of game balls displayed on the game ball number display means is subtracted when there is a shooting ball, and a predetermined number is added to the game ball number when the game state becomes a predetermined winning state. Ball number calculating means, and judging means for judging that the number of effective firing balls and the number of collected balls are equal based on the detection output of the shooting ball detection means and the detection output of the collected ball detection means. And notifying means that can notify when both the amount of money and the number of game balls have become “0”,
If the value and the number of game balls both become "0" before the judgment output of the judgment means, the notification means is operated without waiting for the judgment output of the judgment means. By judging whether or not all of the balls hit into the area are determined as game results, it is possible to accurately grasp at least the number of game balls held by the storage medium, and to determine whether or not the storage medium has When both the amount and the number of game balls become “0”, the notification means is operated to notify the player that the information of the amount and the number of game balls has become “0”, and the player There is an effect that it can be made not to give dissatisfaction to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a pachinko gaming system to which the present invention is applied, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are front views showing an example of a card used in the system according to the present invention; FIG. 2 (C) is an explanatory view showing a configuration example of a true / false identification area in the card, FIG. 2 (D) is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a cross-sectional structure of the card, and FIG. 2 (E). Is an explanatory view showing a configuration example of a magnetic recording unit in the card, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of the whole pachinko machine constituting the gaming system, and FIGS. 4 (A) and (B) are front views of the pachinko machine. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the operation panel unit, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the inside of the operation panel unit, and FIG. 7 is a rear view of the pachinko machine. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a sealed ball circulating device, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the details of the base of the hitting ball launching rail, FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state where the front panel of the pachinko machine is opened, and FIG. 11 is a game board. FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a frame board provided with a frame holding a frame and a firing rail coupled thereto, FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a rear configuration of a front frame of a pachinko machine, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a pachinko machine control unit, FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the internal configuration of the control unit, and FIG. 16 is a front panel of the control unit. 17 is a perspective view showing a positional relationship between a pachinko machine and a control unit, FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a framework of an island facility in which the pachinko machine is installed, and FIG. 19 is an island facility. Pachinko machine and control unit FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing the back of the island equipment, FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a control system of the entire pachinko machine, and FIG. 22 shows a circuit configuration example of the pachinko machine control device. Block diagram, FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of the pachinko machine control unit, FIG. 24 is a memory map showing an area configuration of the unit memory, and FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a card reader of the pachinko machine. FIG. 26 is an exploded perspective view of the card reader, FIG. 27 is an exploded perspective view showing details of a card insertion portion of the card reader, and FIGS. 29 (A) and (B) are cross-sectional side views showing details of a shutter portion at the entrance of the card reader, and FIG. 30 (A) is mounting of various sensors provided in the card reader. Plan view showing a positional relationship, FIG. 30 (B) is a detection timing chart of a sensor when a card is inserted, FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of a card reader control device, FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing an interface circuit of the card reader, FIG. Figure is a timing chart showing data reading and writing timing of the card reader, FIG. 34 is a front view showing a configuration example of a card issuing machine used in the gaming system according to the present invention, FIG. 35 is a card reader for the issuing machine Schematic configuration diagram, FIG. 36 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control system of a card issuing machine, FIG. 37 is a front view showing a configuration example of a checkout machine, and FIG. 38 is a configuration example of a control system of a checkout machine Block diagram, FIG. 39 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of the whole management device, FIG. 40 is a block diagram showing a system configuration example of the management device itself, FIG. 41 shows a configuration example of a console of the management device,
(A) is a plan view, (B) is a rear view, FIG. 42 is an explanatory view showing a state transition of a card in the gaming system of the present invention, and FIGS. 43 (A) to (C) are operation of a pachinko machine. FIG. 6A shows a state transition, and FIG. 6A shows a normal operation mode, and FIG.
FIG. 3C is a state transition diagram in the online test mode, and FIG. 3C is a state transition diagram in the offline test mode. FIG. 44 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a transmission system in the game system of the present invention. FIG. 45 is a NAU for controlling data transfer on a network.
FIG. 46, FIG. 47, FIG. 48 and FIG. 49 are flowcharts showing the procedure of packet transmission / reception control in the NAU, FIG. 50 to FIG. FIG. 50 shows a configuration example of a "line test" packet, FIG. 51 shows a configuration diagram of an "initial value setting" packet, and FIG. 52 shows a pachinko machine from a management apparatus. 53 (A), (B), and (C) show the configuration of a “card-in” packet and its response “ACK” and “NAK” packets. FIG. Fig. 55 (A) and (B) show the configuration of the "unit recovery data" packet and its response "ACK" packet. Figs. 56 to 63 show the configuration in the control unit. Transmission / reception and processing between controllers FIG. 56 is a flowchart at the time of initialization and reception of a packet for opening a store, FIG. 57 is a flowchart at the time of inserting a card into a card reader, FIG. 58 is a flowchart at the time when an interruption switch is turned on, FIG. 59 Is a flowchart when the end switch is turned on, FIG. 60 is a flowchart when a zero-return state occurs, FIG. 61 is a flowchart when a stop state occurs, and FIG. 62 receives a “forced end” packet FIG. 63 is a flowchart at the time of unit recovery after power failure recovery. FIGS. 64 to 77 show the task processing flow of the unit controller. FIG. 64 is a flowchart showing the procedure of timer interrupt processing. FIG. 65 is a flowchart showing the procedure of serial interrupt processing. A) and (B) are flowcharts showing specific procedures for sensor, switch detection processing and switch invalidation processing in the interrupt processing flow of FIG. 64, and FIG. 67 is an initialization task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. FIG. 68 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a packet receiving task. FIG. 69 (A) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of an “initial value setting” packet receiving process in the packet receiving task. FIG. 69 (B) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “opening code” packet receiving process, and FIG. 69 (C) is a flowchart showing the “closing code”. FIG. 69 (D) is a flowchart showing the specific procedure of the “forced termination request” packet reception processing, and FIG. 69 (E) is a flowchart showing the specific procedure of the “forced termination release” packet reception processing. FIG. 69 (F) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of “cancel release” packet receiving processing, and FIG. 69 (G) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of “interruption end” packet receiving processing. FIG. 69 (H) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “unit recovery data” packet receiving process. FIG. 69 (I) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “restart” packet receiving process. FIG. (J) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “card-in ACK” and “suspended card-in ACK” packet reception processing, and FIG. 69 (L) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “end switch ACK” packet receiving process, and FIG. 69 (M) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “return zero ACK” packet receiving process. FIG. 69 (N) is a flowchart showing the specific procedure of the “stop ACK” packet reception process, and FIG. 70 is a reader control task procedure which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. FIG. 71 (A) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “test card” function receiving process in the reader control task. FIG. 71 (B) is a flowchart showing the “card number” in the reader control task. FIG. 71 (C) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the function receiving process. FIG. 71 (C) shows a “status” file in the reader control task. FIG. 71 (D) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the function receiving process, FIG. 71 (D) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “retransmission request” function receiving process in the reader control task, and FIG. FIG. 71 (F) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “normal termination” function reception processing during the control task. FIG. 71 (F) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “abnormal termination” function reception processing during the reader control task. FIG. (G) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the “initial value request” function receiving process in the reader control task. FIG. 71 (H) is a flowchart of the “self ejection” function receiving process in the reader control task. FIG. 71 (I) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure, during the reader control task. FIG. 72 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the function receiving process in FIG. 72. FIG. 72 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a packet transmission task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. FIG. 73 is an error control which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. A flowchart showing the procedure of the task, FIG. 74 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the ball number calculation task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller, and FIG. 75 is a procedure of the switch detection task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller FIG. 76 (a) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of a hitting process during the switch detection task in FIG. 75, and FIG. 76 (b) is an interrupted switch process in the switch detection task in FIG. 75. FIG. 76 (c) is a flowchart showing the specific procedure of FIG. FIG. 76 (d) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the purchase switch processing during the switch detection task, FIG. 76 (d) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the end switch processing during the switch detection task of FIG. 75, and FIG. A flowchart showing a specific procedure of the test switch processing during the switch detection task of FIG. 75, and FIG. 76 (f) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the test mode end processing during the end switch processing of FIG. 76 (d). FIG. 77 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a sound control task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. FIG. 78 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a timer control task which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. Indicates the procedure of the lamp display control task, which is one of the main tasks of the unit controller. Fig. 80 is an input / output timing chart of the unit control device. FIG. 81 is a flowchart showing an outline of the entire control procedure by the card reader controller; FIGS. 82 (A) to (E) are flowcharts showing a more detailed procedure of the flow in FIG. 81; FIGS. 83 to 90 82 shows a specific procedure of processing (R146) according to the reception function in the control flow of FIG. 82. FIG. 83 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of receiving an “initial value setting” function. Is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when receiving the "Card Acceptable" function, FIG. 85 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when receiving the "Card Not Acceptable" function, and FIG. 86 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when receiving the "Card Eject" function FIG. 87 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the “reload” function is received, and FIG. 88 is a flowchart showing the processing when the “return to zero” function is received. FIG. 89 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a “status request” function is received, FIG. 90 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a “retransmission request” function is received, and FIG. 91 is FIG. FIG. 92 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the punching process in the flow of FIG. 88. FIG. 92 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the punching process in the flow of FIG. 91. (B) is a flowchart showing a procedure of a timer interrupt process in the card reader controller; FIG. 94 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of a transmission process during the control flow of FIGS. 82 (A) to (E); FIG. 82 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the reception processing during the control flow of FIGS. 82 (A) to (E), and FIG. 96 is a flowchart of FIG. 82 (A) to FIG. Control flow and the second 85
Fig. 88 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of card ejection processing during each function reception processing, etc. Fig. 97 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of card insertion processing in the control flow of Figs. 82 (A) to (E). FIG. 98 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the card reading process in the flow of FIG. 97. FIG. 99 (A) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the magnetic processing in the flow of FIG. 97 and FIG. 98. FIG. 99 (B) is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the 1-bit reading process during the magnetic process of FIG. 99 (A), and FIG. 100 is a flowchart of the parity and LRC inspection process in the flow of FIG. FIG. 101 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure, FIG. 101 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the security inspection processing in the flow of FIG. 97, and FIG. 102 is a flowchart showing the specific procedure in the flow of FIG. 97 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the punch hole inspection processing, FIG. 103 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of the card magnetic data inspection processing in the flow of FIG. 97, and FIG. 104 is a date in the flow of FIG. And FIG. 105 (A) to (E) are flowcharts showing control procedures in the pachinko machine controller, and FIG. 106 is a flowchart showing timer interrupt processing procedures in the pachinko machine controller. It is. 100: Pachinko machine, 110: Operation panel, 113: Purchase switch, 114: Interruption switch, 115: Exit switch, 130: Ball circulation device, 160: Control unit, 180: Unit control device, 188: Card reader control device, 195 ... Pachinko machine controller, 190 ... Unit controller, 200 ... Card issuing machine, 300 ... Payment machine, 400 ... Management device, 550 ... Unit memory, 551 ... Data transmission controller, 553 ... Network controller, 800 ... Card reader, 802 ... Card insertion / ejection slot, 807… Transport motor, 809… Shutter solenoid, 820
… Punch device, 821… Magnetic head.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A game machine comprising a game board having a game area, wherein a game can be executed in connection with insertion of a storage medium, amount display means for displaying an amount of money of the storage medium, Conversion operation means for giving a command to convert the number of balls in a predetermined unit; game ball number display means for displaying the number of game balls converted from the amount of money; and shooting balls for detecting the shooting balls fired in the game area Detecting means, collected ball detecting means for detecting a collected ball collected from the game area after being driven into the game area, and detecting an effective fired ball based on a detection output of the fired ball detection means. Game ball number calculation means for subtracting the number of game balls displayed on the number of game balls display means and adding a predetermined number to the number of game balls when the game state becomes a predetermined winning state; Ball test Determining means for determining that the number of effective launch balls and the number of recovered balls are equal based on the detection output of the output means and the detection output of the recovered ball detection means; and Notification means capable of notifying when both become "0"; and determining by the determination means when both the amount and the number of game balls have become "0" before the determination output from the determination means is provided. A gaming machine characterized in that the notifying means is operated without waiting for output.