JP3002696B2 - Gaming equipment controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game machine control device for controlling the operation of a game machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, game machines such as pachinko machines and throttle machines have been provided with a game machine control device for controlling the operation of the game machine body. The game machine control device includes an electronic circuit in a package. It is composed of a single-chip integrated circuit housed.

In halls handling such gaming machines, there is a demand to collectively monitor a plurality of gaming machines by a hall management host computer. It is technically easy to connect the gaming machine control device provided in each gaming machine to the host computer via a line so that data can be exchanged between them.

[0004]

However, in a conventional gaming machine control device, if a line is connected to a host computer, unauthorized intrusion of data can be easily permitted. Because there is a risk of cheating such as controlling emissions,
Connecting the line to the host computer was virtually impossible in terms of security.

For this reason, conventionally, a signal from a peripheral portion such as a detection unit (for example, a winning switch) of a game machine main body is directly output to a host computer without passing through a game machine control device. The gaming machine is monitored from the state of the peripheral portion of the gaming machine body. However, in such a configuration, the wiring from the peripheral portion is complicated, and the host computer needs to constantly monitor the state of the peripheral portion, so that the load on the host computer is heavy.

The gaming machine control device of the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and prevents data from being transmitted to and received from a host computer while preventing unauthorized operations such as controlling the operation of the gaming machine by external communication. The purpose is to make it possible.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following structure as means for solving the problems. That is, the gaming machine control device of the present invention is an integrated circuit having an electronic circuit for controlling the operation of the gaming machine housed in a package, and a storage element for previously storing various information required for the operation of the electronic circuit, In the gaming machine control device provided with, a security check circuit that determines that the storage element is a predetermined valid storage element is provided in the electronic circuit, and the storage element or the security check circuit is externally provided. The gist is that a control processing device such as a host computer provided stores a data transfer program indicating a procedure for transferring information indicating an operation state of the gaming machine.

[0008]

In the gaming machine control apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configuration, the security check circuit determines that the storage element is a predetermined valid storage element, and determines whether the storage element or the security check circuit is in use. By the operation of the electronic circuit according to the provided data transfer program, information representing the operating state of the gaming machine is transferred to a control processing device such as a host computer provided outside.

Therefore, only information according to the data transfer program stored in the storage element or the security check circuit can be transferred to the control processing device. In addition, since the storage element cannot be replaced with an unauthorized one and the security check circuit paired with the storage element cannot be illegally rewritten, the data transfer program is not illegally rewritten.
As a result, information that can be transferred to the control processing device is limited to information that follows a data transfer program stored in a storage element or a security circuit in advance.

[0010]

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main part of a control system of a pachinko machine equipped with a pachinko machine control device as one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a pachinko machine control device 1
Is a writable and erasable EPROM (Erasable PROM) 5 centering on an integrated circuit 3 as a controller.
Are connected to each other via a system bus 7. The pachinko machine control device 1 includes a host computer 9 for hall management installed in a game arcade and a LAN
(Local Area Network).

The integrated circuit 3 is a C-MOS type 8-bit microcontroller with a built-in security check function, and has a CPU (central processing unit).
11 as a center. The CPU 11 sends a RAM (random access memory) 1 via a common bus 12.
3, an I / O interface 15, a serial I / O interface 17, a security check circuit 19 for performing a security check described later, a timer 21, and the like. In addition to the system bus 7, the I / O interface 15 includes a waveform shaping circuit 27 directly connected to the winning switch 23, the digital start switch 25, and the like of the pachinko machine main body, and the hit lamp 2 of the pachinko machine main body.
9. A driver 35 directly connected to a display device 31, which is a collection of LEDs in the digital portion of the center role, a solenoid 33 for opening a special winning opening, and the like. Serial I / O interface (hereinafter simply referred to as SIO) 1
7, a host computer 9 is connected via a LAN.

In the EPROM 5, a control program and various data necessary for executing the arithmetic processing in the integrated circuit 3 are recorded in advance. The control program includes a serial I / O interface program P1 necessary for exchanging data with the host computer 9 via the LAN. The various data is data such as a random number table for generating a random number for determining a jackpot, including data of a symbol displayed on a digital (display device) of the center role. The EPROM 5 stores an identification code (security code) CD written by a predetermined method.
A security check described later is performed using D.

Next, the operation of the integrated circuit 3 having the above configuration will be described. The integrated circuit 3 has three operation modes: a security check mode, a test mode, and a normal mode. The security check mode is a mode executed by the security check circuit 19 at the time of system reset, and determines whether or not the security code CD stored in the EPROM 5 corresponds to a code assumed in advance, and determines whether or not the security code is illegal. Check if.

The test mode is a mode that is executed when the result of the security check is incorrect, and assumes that a product test or the like is performed. More specifically, the operation is performed for a limited time (for example, 90 seconds) using a test PROM that operates even without the security code CD, and under an environment different from the normal test environment. Otherwise, the same processing as in the normal mode is executed. In addition,
After the lapse of the limited time, the integrated circuit 3 stops operating. The normal mode is a mode that is executed when the result of the security check is valid, in which a normal operation as a pachinko machine is performed.

Next, how the operation of the integrated circuit 3 is specifically executed by the CPU 11 of the integrated circuit 3 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The pachinko machine processing routine shown in FIG.
One of the control programs stored in the OM5,
U11 takes in the pachinko machine processing routine from the EPROM 5 and executes it.

After power-on or system reset, C
First, the PU 11 executes an initialization process for setting initial values for various variables such as a table (step 100). Next, the security check circuit 19 is operated to execute the security check mode (step 11).
0).

Subsequently, it is determined whether the check result in the security check mode is valid or invalid (step 120). Here, it is valid, that is, "O
If "K" is determined, the normal mode is executed while exchanging data with peripheral devices such as the RAM 13 and the I / O interface 15 (step 130). Thereafter, when an instruction to end the normal mode is issued, the present process ends. During execution of the normal mode, a data transfer interrupt processing routine, which is an interrupt process at predetermined time intervals, is executed. This data interrupt processing routine will be described later in detail.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 120 that the result of the security check mode is invalid, that is, NG, the RAM 13 and the I / O interface 15
While exchanging data with peripheral devices such as
The test mode is executed (Step 140). After the time limit of the test mode has elapsed, the present process ends.

Next, a data transfer interrupt processing routine executed by an interrupt when the normal mode is executed will be described together with a processing routine by the host computer 9 related to the interrupt processing routine.

The data transfer interrupt processing routine is a process for transferring data to the host computer 9 in response to a data transfer instruction from the host computer 9, and is shown in the flowchart of FIG. The processing routine by the host computer 9 is processing for instructing the pachinko machine control device 1 to transfer data, and is shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG.
As shown in (1), when the processing is started, the host computer 9 first issues a data transfer output request to the pachinko machine control device 1 (step 200). Next, a process of transmitting a read code, which is a predetermined code, to the pachinko machine control device 1 is performed (step 210).

On the other hand, the CPU 11 executes a data transfer interrupt processing routine at predetermined time intervals. As shown in FIG. 3, when the process is started, the CPU 11 first determines whether an output request has been received from the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 (step 220). Here, when it is determined that an output request has been received, it is determined whether or not there is a signal input from the host computer 9 (step 230).

If it is determined in step 230 that there is a signal input, a process of receiving a read code from the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 is performed (step 240). Subsequently, a response code corresponding to the read code is generated using the security code CD written in the EPROM 5 (step 250). The generation process may be, for example, a process in which a result obtained by performing an operation using the security code CD on the read code is generated as a response code. Subsequently, a process of transmitting the generated response code to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 is performed (step 260).

On the other hand, the host computer 9 determines whether or not there is a signal input (step 270). If it is determined that there is a signal input, then the response code transmitted from the pachinko machine control device 1 is determined. Is received (step 280). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the received response code is a valid code (step 29).
0) Here, if it is determined that the code is valid, the pachinko machine control device 1 transmits a reception instruction signal to the effect that the code has been properly received (step 300), and the pachinko machine control device 1 requests data. (Hereinafter simply referred to as a request type) is transmitted (step 310).

The exchange of the read code and the response code using the security code CD in steps 210 to 290 is performed by an external control processing device (host computer 9) connected to the pachinko machine control device 1 in a legitimate manner. A security check function for determining whether or not there is a function is performed. If such a function is not particularly required, the processing of steps 210 to 290 may be omitted.

The data transmitted to the pachinko machine control device 1 at step 310 is data indicating the state of each part of the pachinko machine main body such as the winning switch 23, the digital start switch 25, and the display device 31. The pachinko machine controller 1 updates and stores the updated information in the RAM 13 of the integrated circuit 3 as the game progresses. The request type is code data for selecting data indicating the state of each unit stored in the RAM 13. For example, the request type corresponding to the winning switch 23 is “SW1”, and the request type corresponding to the digital start switch 25 is “SW1”. SW
2 ", the request type corresponding to the display device 31 is" LED ".

The data indicating the state of each part of the pachinko machine main body stored in the RAM 13 can be read only by this data transfer interrupt processing routine, and in the processing according to the pachinko machine original game program, By making it possible to write only (not to read), it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of data indicating the status of each unit.

If it is determined in step 290 that the code is not a valid code, the EPRO of the pachinko machine control device 1 is provided.
It is determined that M5 is not valid, and error processing such as error display is performed (step 320). Step 270
Also, when it is determined that the signal input is not within the predetermined time, error processing such as an error display in step 320 is performed.

The CPU 11 of the pachinko machine control device 1 determines whether or not the reception has been performed by determining whether or not the reception instruction signal transmitted from the host computer 9 in step 350 has been received (step 330). . If it is determined that the request has been accepted, first, the request type transmitted in step 310 from the host computer 9 is received (step 340). Next, it is determined whether the request type is “SW1”, “SW2”, “LED” or the like (step 350).

At step 350, the request type is "SW1"
Is determined, the data SW1 indicating the state of the winning switch 23 is read from the RAM 13 and
Then, a process of transmitting the data to the host computer 9 via the server 7 is performed (step 360). Note that this transmission processing is performed by the EPR
According to the SIO program P1 stored in the OM5, the CPU 11
RAM 13, input / output I / O interface 15, SI
The data SW1 is transmitted to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 by integrating and controlling O17 and executing a logical operation. After the execution of step 360, the data SW1 is cleared (step 370).
The process returns to "return" and the process of this routine is temporarily ended.

In step 350, if the request type is "S
If it is determined to be "W2", data SW2 indicating the state of the digital start switch 25 is read from the RAM 13 and transmitted to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 (step 380). The process is cleared (step 390), the process returns to "return", and the process of this routine is temporarily ended. If it is determined in step 350 that the request type is “LED”, the data LED indicating the state of the display device 31 is stored in the RAM.
13 is read out and transmitted to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 (step 400).
After that, the process returns to “return” and the process of this routine is temporarily ended.

Further, if it is determined in step 350 that the request type is any other type, other data indicating the status of the portion of the pachinko machine main body corresponding to the type is obtained.
A process of reading from the RAM 13 and transmitting it to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 is performed (step 41).
0) After that, the process exits to “RETURN” and ends the processing of this routine once. Steps 380, 400, 41
0, the transmission process of the SIO program P1 stored in the EPROM 5 is performed in the same manner as in step 360.
It is executed according to.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 330 that the reception has not been performed, an error process is performed to display that the EPROM 5 storing the security code is not valid (step 420), and then to "END". Exit and end this routine. In addition, even if it is determined in step 230 that the signal input is not during the predetermined time,
Error processing such as an error display in step 420 is performed, and this routine ends.

The pachinko machine control apparatus 1 of the present embodiment described above stores various data representing the operation status of the pachinko machine main body into the SIO program P1 stored in the EPROM 5.
Is transmitted to the host computer 9 via the SIO 17 in accordance with the above, and the security check circuit 19 determines that the EPROM 5 is a predetermined legitimate one. For this reason, only the data according to the SIO program P1 can be transferred to the host computer 9, and the EPRO
M5 cannot be replaced with a fraudulent one. Therefore, data that can be transferred to the host computer 9 is limited to data that conforms to the SIO program P1. That is, it is possible to transfer data to and from the host computer 9 while preventing fraud such as controlling the operation of the pachinko machine main body by communication from the outside.

Further, since data can be exchanged between the pachinko machine control device 1 and the host computer 9, as in the related art, the pachinko machine main body such as the winning switch 23, the digital start switch 25, etc. Need not be transferred to both the pachinko machine control device 1 and the host computer 9, and wiring from these peripheral portions can be simplified. Further, since the host computer 9 can prompt the pachinko machine control device 1 to transfer data when necessary, there is no need to constantly monitor the state of the peripheral portion of the pachinko machine main body unlike the related art, and the load is light. I'm done.

The pachinko machine control device 1 of the above embodiment
Is configured to transfer data corresponding to the request type instructed from the host computer 9 to the host computer 9, but instead of this, the host computer 9
May be configured to sequentially transmit all data indicating the state of each unit of the pachinko machine main body stored in the RAM 13 when a transfer instruction is issued from the RAM 13.

According to the pachinko machine control apparatus 1 of the above embodiment, the data indicating the state of each part of the pachinko machine main body stored in the RAM 13 usually differs in data name and storage order depending on the model of the pachinko machine. However, by unifying programs, data names and storage order can be unified. Therefore, the same type of data can be transferred to the host computer 9 by the same command from the host computer 9 even if the pachinko machine model is different by unifying such a program.

The pachinko machine control device 1 of the above embodiment
Has been configured to store the SIO program P1 in the EPROM 5, but instead may be configured to store the SIO program P1 in a memory built in the security check circuit 19.

Although the embodiment of the gaming machine control apparatus of the present invention has been described in detail, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the data transfer interrupt processing routine is executed at predetermined time intervals. Instead of the configuration to be executed by interruption,
The present invention may be configured to be executed by hardware interrupt generated from a communication circuit or the like, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0040]

As described above, the gaming machine control apparatus of the present invention prevents unauthorized operation such as controlling the operation of the gaming machine by communication from the outside, and then performs control processing of an externally provided host computer or the like. Information representing the operation status of the gaming machine can be transferred to the device.

Further, since the information can be transferred from the gaming machine control device to the control processing device, a signal from the peripheral portion of the gaming machine body is transmitted to both the gaming machine control device and the control processing device as in the related art. The wiring from these peripheral portions can be simplified.
Further, since the control processing device can prompt the gaming machine control device to transfer data when necessary, there is no need to constantly monitor the state of the peripheral portion of the gaming machine main body as in the related art, and the load can be reduced. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main part of a control system of a pachinko machine equipped with a pachinko machine control device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an integrated circuit C provided in the pachinko machine control device.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing routine executed by a PU.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a data transfer interrupt processing routine executed by the CPU.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing routine executed by a host computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pachinko machine control device 3 Integrated circuit 5 EPROM 9 Host computer 11 CPU 17 SIO 19 Security check circuit 23 Winning switch 25 Digital start switch 31 Display device CD Security code P1 SIO / program

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A game machine control comprising: an integrated circuit in which an electronic circuit for controlling the operation of a game machine is housed in a package; and a storage element for preliminarily storing various information necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit. In the device, the electronic circuit is provided with a security check circuit that determines that the storage element is a predetermined valid storage element,
The storage element or the security check circuit stores a data transfer program indicating a procedure for transferring information indicating an operation state of the gaming machine to a control processing device such as a host computer provided outside. Gaming equipment control device.